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Firstly,
Yahushua was NOT speaking to the taught ones. The Scriptures state He
was in the “house of one of the rulers” (14:1)
and was speaking to “those who were invited” (14:7).
A whole range of people obviosly, including Pharisees and those
learned in the Torah (14:3)
The
second excuse is answered by the first, in that Yahushua WAS talking
to ALL who are listening both THEN and NOW, and is testified by the
closing statement of the chapter: “He
who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Yahushua
said, “He
who possesses
My commands and guards them,
it is he who
loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I
shall love him and manifest
Myself to him.”
(John
14:21). If
He reveals
Himself to only those who guards all His commands; is
it any wonder in this day and
age why so few hear from Him? Yahushua also
gave
specific
instructions to His taught ones:
Matthew
10:9 “Do
not acquire
gold or silver or copper for your moneybelts”
And again:
Luke
12:15
“Mind, and beware of greed, because one’s
life does not consist in the excess of his possessions.”
The
genuine response ought to be, “How much did Yahushua mean
when He
said forsake ALL?” It is quite clear from Scripture that
Yahushua
Himself and His taught ones possesed clothing and staffs and items of
general living but little else: “And
Yahushua said to
him,
“The foxes have holes and the birds of the heaven nests, but
the
Son of Adam has nowhere
to lay His head.”
(Mat
8:20)
It
is possible that some of the disciples had humble homes, as they had
wives.
Most
people in this world (including believers) work in the world's
system, have many possessions and positions in this world that they
take pride in...
1
John 2:15
“Do
not love the world nor that which is in the world. 16
Because all
that is in the world
– the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life
–
is not of the Father but is of the world.”
James
4:4
“Adulterers
and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship
with the
world is enmity with Elohim?
Whoever therefore intends to be
a friend
of the world
makes himself an enemy
of
Elohim.”
Romans
12:2
“And do
not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and
well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim.”
Many
who initially recognise the worldliness in their lives when Yahweh
leads them will be zealous for His Word and obedience, yet seem to
reach a point where they lose that ardour and slowly slide back into
the world's system and capitalistic theology, compromising the
Commands by hoarding possessions (mostly graven images) and spend
hours serving them by increasing wealth to purchase bigger and better
things and cleaning and polishing them.
The
Messiah warned of this:
Matthew
13:22
“And
that sown among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the worry
of this age
and the deceit
of riches
choke the
word, and it becomes fruitless.”
2
Peter 2:20
“For
if, after they have escaped the defilements
of the world through
the knowledge of the Master and Saviour Yahushua
Messiah, they are again entangled
in them and overcome,
the latter end is worse for them than the first.”
The
most unmistakable observation of the collection of earthly
possessions is:
THE
MORE POSSESSIONS – THE LESS TIME FOR YAHWEH.
When
a Torah observing person asked Yahushua,
“What shall I do to
inherit everlasting life?” Yahushua
responded, “You know the commands,
‘Do
not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’
‘Do not
steal,’ ‘Do
not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not rob,’
‘Respect
your father
and your mother.’ ” 20
And he answering, said to Him, “Teacher, all these I have
watched
over from my youth.”
It
seems as this was not enough in this case and possibly many of our
own day and age, “And Yahushua,
looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One matter
you lack: Go, sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you
shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me, taking up the
stake.” 22
But he, being
sad at this word, went away grieved, for
he had many
possessions. 23
And Yahushua,
looking around, said to His taught ones, “How hard it is for
those who have riches to
enter into the reign of Elohim!” (Mark
10:17-23)
This
is quite a staggering statement for some to take in, and indeed many
who were listening to His words could not handle this Truth,
“And they were
immeasurably astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then
is
able
to be saved?” (Mark
10:26)
The
question must be asked - what is our purpose in this world? The
Scriptures refer to true believers many times as
“sojourners” or
“pilgrims”. Spiritually and physically we are no
different
than
Yahweh's people sojourning in a worldly
“wilderness”,
waiting for
our Messiah to take us into His “promised land”.
1John
2:17 “The world passes
away, and the lust of it, but the one
doing the desire of Elohim remains forever.”
We
are raised learning from those before us that to be considered
successful in this life we ought to have a good education from a
credible college, a moderate to high paying job, a car for the
husband and one for the wife, a nice home in the suburbs, blah, blah,
blah, etc...
2
Timothy 2:4 “No
one serving as a soldier gets involved
in the affairs of this life,
in order to please only
Him who enlisted him as a
soldier.”
We
have no excuse to involve ourselves in all this nonsense. All these
“things” involve “serving”
them. The education
systems in
this world are NOT for Yahweh! They teach as fact; things (evolution
etc.) spoken against in Scripture and promote worldly success.
Scripture instructs US to “raise a child in the way they
should
go”, NOT give them into the hands of Satan's system. We serve
the
loans on our fancy cars and mortgages on our homes... We are SLAVES
to the world when we involve ourselves in materialism
1Peter
4:1-2 “Therefore,
since Messiah suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the
same mind, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from
sin, 2
so that he no
longer lives the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men,
but according to the desire
of Elohim.”
According
to Scripture which one is the desire of Elohim?
1.)
Storing up worldly goods for oneself, or...
2.)
Going into all the world to share the Good News.
Matthew
6:19 “Do
not lay
up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20
but lay
up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break
in and steal.”
Why
do the majority of believers pursue their own selfish pleasures and
gains while this world is lost in sin and millions of people die
daily who may benefit from YOUR testimony! People who live in bondage
to their evil governments, who are forced to work for cents per day,
children who are sold in to slavery or prostitution. Some of these
people long to hear of a Heavenly Father who loves them and sent His
Son to redeem them from their disobedience.
James
1:27 “Clean
and undefiled religion before the Elohim and Father is this: to visit
orphans and widows in their affliction, and
to keep
oneself
unstained from the world.”
Another warning from the
book of James applies to those in these last days:
James
5:1-3 Come now,
rich ones, weep,
crying aloud over the hardships coming upon you! Your
riches have rotted, and
your garments have become moth-eaten. Your
gold and silver have become rusty, and their rust
shall be a witness
against you and shall eat your flesh like fire. You
have laid up treasure in the last days.
A
COMMON EXCUSE
1Timothy
5:8 “And if
anyone does not provide for his own,
and especially for those of his household, he has denied the belief
and is worse than an unbeliever.”
At
the heart of this excuse is usually a self-justification for the
accumulation of temporal possessions. Then again this is a legitimate
concern for those of us with families, but does
“provide”
constitute all the things listed above: worldly education, houses,
cars, boats, toys, bikes, ornaments (idols), excess clothes &
shoes, furniture, trinkets, etc, etc...
To
provide simply means the bare necessities of life, and Yahushua even
stated that we need not worry about these:
Luke
12:29-31 “And do not seek
what you shall eat or what you shall drink, and do
not
keep worrying. 30
“For the
gentiles of the world seek all these,
and your Father knows that you need these. 31
“But seek
the reign of Elohim, and all these shall
be
added to you.”
What
simple advice from the Master; the one who we ought to follow.Some
may say that work is part of the curse when Adam sinned, but again,
he was to work for necessities of life; to provide for his family,
not all the trappings this age sells us. Ask yourself who you work
for... Is your company or organisation working for the betterment of
Yahweh's people or is it just another worldly
“fat-cat”
organisation serving their own bellies? If the latter is the case,
then you are serving the world!
Listen to the advice given to Timothy:
1Timothy
6:8-11 “When
we have food
and covering,
we shall be satisfied with
these. 9
But those wishing to be rich
fall into trial and a snare, and into many foolish and injurious lusts
which plunge men in ruin and destruction. 10
For the love
of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some, by
longing for it, have strayed from the belief, and pierced themselves
through with many pains. 11
But you, O man of Elohim, flee from all
this...”
It
is also ironic that we feel the need to purchase washing machines and
dryers and dishwashers, etc. that will supposedly give us more free
time, yet we work many extra hours to pay for them! Then we are
trapped into paying extra dollars for insurances and regular
servicing, and more often than not the device breaks down just after
the warranty expires.
The
simple truth is that to aquire all the possessions of this world that
bring conformity nearly always involve some sort of DEBT!
Proverbs
22:7 “The rich rules
over the poor, And the borrower is servant to
the lender.”
There
is a general sense of warning about getting loans as you read through
Scripture and when you borrow money from the banks of the world, you
become their SERVANTS.
Luke
16:13 “No servant
is able to serve two
masters,
for either he shall hate the one and love the other, or else he shall
cling to the one and despise the other. You
are not able to
serve Elohim and mammon.”
You
CANNOT serve Yahweh AND your loan. How much clearer does it need to
be? Debt always brings pressure to the debtor to pay on time and
whether or not they can afford the necessities after having repaid.
Loans cause WORRIES.
Luke
21:34
“And
take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down by
gluttony, and drunkenness, and worries
of this life,
and that day come on you suddenly.”
Much
more could be said with many examples from Scripture but let's just
end with a few more words of wisdom.
John
12:25 “He
who
loves his life shall lose it,
and he who hates his life in this world shall preserve it for
everlasting life.”
Luke
14:26 “If
anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife,
and children, and brothers, and sisters, and his
own life too, he is unable
to be My taught one.”
Colossians
3:1-2 “If, then, you were
raised with Messiah, seek
the matters
which are above,
where Messiah is, seated at the right hand of Elohim. 2 Mind
the matters
above, not those on the earth.”
Scriptures
quoted are taken from “The Scriptures –
1998”
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