To Be Rich Toward God Pt. 2 With Carolyn Calupca

FaithFi: Faith & Finance | Apr 19, 2024

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Show Notes

What does it mean to be Rich Toward God?

It doesn't mean just giving money and possessions away. Anyone can do that. And the spiritual ramifications are different depending on your heart. But Jesus is inviting us to set our hearts on an imperishable inheritance.

So here's the context, a man from the crowd asks Jesus to settle an inheritance dispute, and Jesus deflects that question. He gets to the heart of the issue by telling a parable about man's greed and envy, not just the man who asked the question or had the issue, but ours. So this parable is about a rich man who poured his whole heart into accumulating and essentially worshiping his wealth and died before he could enjoy it. So obviously, perishable worldly inheritance is a false solution.

Where can we find more about this imperishable inheritance?

1 Peter 1:3-9 talks about our inheritance as believers, which calls it imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. And here are a few things the passage says about our inheritance.

It includes a living hope in Christ, which is an eternal hope. Because we have the mind and spirit of Christ, we can also have joy amid trial. And then we have our genuine faith, which it says is more precious than gold. The result of faith in Jesus Christ is what we long for, and that's the salvation of our souls and abundant life. That's our imperishable inheritance.

How should Christians view wealth?

The Bible isn’t saying that money is evil and it’s not even saying that wealth is evil. There is nowhere in Scripture that condemns someone for being rich. Money is just a tool, it’s a matter of the heart. God’s concern is with the use of money and your attitude towards money, not the amount.

Is wealth dangerous?

It definitely can be when it becomes our priority. Paul David Tripp once said, “Money is one of God’s good creations, but this good thing becomes a bad thing for you when it becomes a ruling thing. You simply cannot serve the King of Kings and have acquisition of wealth as the organizing dream of your heart.”

So what is Jesus inviting us into?

Jesus is inviting us to set our hearts on imperishable things. Jesus is calling us to make him the desire of our hearts every moment of every day. He's asking us to surrender our lives our plans and our finances to him, to allow Him to be our ultimate treasure. Jesus invites us to say that God is our abundance now and we have an imperishable inheritance in heaven. That's good news for everyone!

You can get a copy for personal study or several copies for everyone in your Bible study group to experience together. Visit FaithFi.com/rtg to purchase Rich Toward God today.

On Today’s Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:

My mom is an 85-year-old widow who lives with my sister. In 2009, my dad had enough strokes that my mom realized that she couldn’t take care of the whole house by herself. So after that, my older sister built an addition to her house and they moved in after that. My dad then passed away in 2013 and now she is a widow and now my sister is charging her rent to live in that addition of her home. I’m wondering if that is biblically acceptable.
We want to put money into an existing 529 plan that our son has for their children. Do I get a tax break from it or do they get the tax break from our donation?
We have a life insurance policy that is ending, and we can cash it out or roll it into a whole life policy. We also have other adequate life insurance, so we were just wondering if there is a way to put that money into a savings account for that expenditure that wouldn’t be painful for taxes, with a child going to college in about a year.
I’m about to be 71 years old and I’ve been taking some monthly income from my IRA, which was based on high-dividend stocks. But as of late, I’m afraid the stocks are a little too volatile for my comfort level so my financial advisor suggested I go with a GMIC annuity that pays 7%. Should this be something I look into? I’ve always felt wrong about annuities so I just wanted to hear your thoughts.

Resources Mentioned:

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