The way we handle money and care for material things shows whether we live for God’s administration; we all need to be faithful to live for God’s administration in resurrection and by the power of resurrection so that we may be saved from the usurpation of mammon and material riches.
The Bible clearly shows us that it is God who richly supplies all things for our enjoyment – it is not our hard work or labor but it is God who is the source, and He richly supplies us.
He gives us all that we need for our enjoyment so that we may live a life of serving God; therefore, we need to set our hope in God.
We may have many things or we may not have many things; we may be in lack or we may abound; we may be abased or we may have all things we need – no matter what happens, we need to set our hope in God.
Our hope is not on the things of this earth; our hope is not in what we can do or what we are able to do but in God, who richly provides.
On our side, we need to be delivered from the usurpation of mammon and realize that Satan is behind the desire of gaining more wealth and accumulating more money, and we need to serve and worship God only.
We cannot serve God and mammon; we can only serve one of the two, and if we are not delivered from the usurpation of mammon, we do not serve and worship God with all our heart.
Actually, if we look around us, what we see is man serving money and wealth; everyone wants to get more money and more wealth, and everything is quantified or valued against money.
What about us? After being saved, our system of value needs to change; we need to set our hope in God and not in the uncertainty of riches.
We do need to study, work, and do our best in the place where the Lord put us, and we shouldn’t be idle; however, we depend on God’s blessing.
So we need to be ready to distribute the surplus of our material riches to the needy ones so that we may lay hold of that which is really life; we need to be willing to share and do good works, not holding on to what we have nor desiring to accumulate wealth or money but being willing to distribute and give what we have as surplus.
Amen, may the Lord bring us all in this experience of life, and may He recover us to the principles in the word of God concerning handling money and material riches.
May He bring us fully in the experience of the resurrection life so that we may live under God’s administration even in the matter of handling money and material possessions.
Experiencing Christ’s Resurrection Life to Overcome Mammon and the Love for Material Possessions
![And the heart and soul of the multitude of those who had believed was one; and not even one said that any of his possessions was his own, but all things were common to them...For neither was anyone among them in need; for as many as were owners of lands or of houses sold [them] and brought the proceeds of the things which were sold and placed [them] at the feet of the apostles; and it was distributed to each, as anyone had need. And Joseph, who was surnamed Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated, Son of encouragement), a Levite, a Cyprian by birth, Who possessed a field, sold [it] and brought the sum of money and placed [it] at the feet of the apostles. Acts 4:32, 34-37](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/And-the-heart-and-soul-of-the-multitude-of-those-who-had-believed-was-one-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "And the heart and soul of the multitude of those who had believed was one; and not even one said that any of his possessions was his own, but all things were common to them...For neither was anyone among them in need; for as many as were owners of lands or of houses sold [them] and brought the proceeds of the things which were sold and placed [them] at the feet of the apostles; and it was distributed to each, as anyone had need. And Joseph, who was surnamed Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated, Son of encouragement), a Levite, a Cyprian by birth, Who possessed a field, sold [it] and brought the sum of money and placed [it] at the feet of the apostles. Acts 4:32, 34-37")
How we thank and praise the Lord for saving us and bringing us out of the authority of darkness and into the kingdom of God! Hallelujah, we are now sons of God, citizens of the kingdom of God, those who no longer live by their natural human life but by the divine life! Amen!
Around us, however, all fallen mankind are under the domination and usurpation of mammon and material possessions (see Matt. 6:19-21, 24-25, 30; 19:21-22; Luke 12:13-19).
The Lord didn’t come to help us sort out our money problems or divide the inheritance from our parents; He came to become our Lord and King, and for Him to dispense His life into us so that we may live by this other life.
On the day of Pentecost, the early disciples experienced the power of the Holy Spirit, and one of the effects was that they overthrew the domination of mammon and material possessions and had all their possessions in common (see Acts 2:44-45; 4:32, 34-37).
They spontaneously had all things in common, and they distributed them according to the need, so the needy ones among them were cared for.
This is such a good practice, and it was the result of their experience of Christ’s resurrection life.
However, this practice didn’t last long; due to the weakness of the believers’ fallen nature, it stopped (see Acts 5:1-11; 6:1).
By the time of the apostle Paul, this practice was already over.
So the believers needed grace to overcome the power of mammon and material things, and to be released from Satan’s domination so that they would offer to the Lord to fulfil His purpose.
For us to overcome the domination of mammon and the love for material things, we need to experience Christ’s resurrection life.
Only Christ’s life, the life that passed through death and entered into resurrection to live again, can supply us to live a life of trusting in God.
Only by living by Christ’s resurrection life can we live a life not trusting the treasures of material possessions, a life not for today but for the future!
Amen, when we live by the resurrection life of Christ, we live a life not for this age but for the coming age (Luke 12:16-21; 1 Tim. 6:17-19); we live a life that overthrows the usurpation of temporal and uncertain riches. Amen!
This can be seen in 1 Corinthians, where Paul speaks in ch. 15 concerning the reality of resurrection life and how we can experience it, and then, in ch. 16 he deals with dealing with material possessions and offering for the needs of the saints.
It is only by experiencing Christ’s resurrection life that we can overcome the domination of mammon and material possessions, and we can offer something every week, laying aside in store for ourselves to offer to the Lord from what He has blessed us.
May we be those who experience the resurrection life of Christ by turning to our spirit so that He may deliver us in our experience from the domination and usurpation of mammon and the love for material riches!
May we exercise our spirit day by day to enjoy the inner life supply and be empowered with the Holy Spirit so that we may overcome mammon and the love of material possessions.
Hallelujah, resurrection is not only the power over sin and death but also a power over mammon and material possession! Oh, may we know and experience Christ’s resurrection life day by day!
Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to enjoy and experience Christ’s resurrection life in our daily living! Amen, Lord, supply us with Your resurrection life for us to live a life of trusting in God and not in treasures of material possessions! May we experience Christ’s resurrection life today so that we may live a life not for this age but for the coming age, a life that overthrows the temporal and uncertain riches! Amen, dear Lord, we exercise our spirit and choose to live in spirit so that Your resurrection life may cause us to overcome sin, death, mammon, and material possessions in a practical way!
Being Faithful to Live for God’s Administration in Handling Money and Material Matters
In 1 Corinthians Paul deals with many spiritual and heavenly matters, especially from ch. 1 to ch. 15; then, in ch. 16, he turns to the very practical matter of finances.
Especially in the second section of 1 Corinthians, from chapter 11 to chapter 16, he deals with matters in the realm of the divine administration.
This section begins with the headship of God and consummates with the matter of giving material things for the saints.
The headship of God is very important, but we may consider that the gift of material things for the saints is quite insignificant.
Whether or not we’re truly in God’s administration, however, can be seen in a practical way we handle money and material matters.
We need to be faithful to live for God’s administration in the matter of handling money and material matters.
How we handle material things and how we handle our money shows us whether we live for God’s administration and by Christ’s resurrection life.
If we use our money just like the other people do, if we do things like the worldly people, we are not truly in God’s administration.
We may know about Christ and the power of His resurrection, but unless we are faithful to live for God’s administration in the matter of handling money and material matters, we don’t really experience resurrection life.
The extent to which we are in the divine administration is determined by how we care for money and material possessions.
We may say that we are under the headship of Christ, and we take Him as our head, but unless we live by Christ’s resurrection life to be delivered from the domination of mammon and material riches, we don’t really know His headship in a practical way.
We may talk about the victory of Christ’s resurrection over sin and death, and we may believe and treasure the matter of the resurrection of Christ, but unless we are practically living for God’s administration and are delivered from the usurpation of mammon, we don’t really know the resurrection life.
A very practical way to be delivered from the usurpation of mammon is to exercise our spirit every week and set aside a certain amount of money to give to the Lord.
We may even choose not to eat a meal at a restaurant but eat a simple meal at home, and in fellowship with the Lord, we set aside the money we would use for eating out to give it for His move.
May we all be faithful to live for God’s administration in caring for money and material matters; if we all do that, there would be no financial needs in the church life in the Lord’s recovery.
However, no one will check on us regarding this matter; rather, each one of us does this before the Lord, for we personally experience Christ’s resurrection life in our daily living.
And this experience leads us, in a very practical way, to be delivered from the usurpation and domination of mammon and material things, which results in our giving before the Lord and to the Lord.
May we realize the headship of Christ in a practical way in this matter, and may we all be faithful to live for God’s administration in the matter of handling money and material things.
What a privilege it is to live by the resurrection life of Christ and give for the Lord’s move on earth today!
Lord Jesus, we want to be faithful to live for God’s administration in caring for money and material matters. We want to know the headship of Christ in a practical way in our daily living, and we want to live by Christ’s resurrection life in our daily life. Save us from handling our money in a worldly way; save us from not living under the headship of Christ in our daily life. Oh Lord, we want to know You, experience Christ’s resurrection life, and live for God’s administration in our Christian life today. Save us from only knowing about the resurrection life and agreeing with the headship of Christ but not experiencing these in our Christian life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 69 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 5, entitled, Principles of Material Offerings (3).
- Hymns on this topic:
– Oh, may I know this resurrection life, / In every kind of death its pow’r outpoured, / In my experience ever realize / This life is nought but Christ my living Lord. (Hymns #639)
– Minding just the spirit, we the cross will know, / And His resurrection pow’r thru us will flow; / Minding just the spirit, Christ will live thru me, / And His life within will reach maturity. (Hymns #593)
– Today we must learn to submit to His throne, / How to have a strict life and His government own; / His authority then we’ll be able to share, / o’er the nations to rule with God’s Son as the heir. (Hymns #947)
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Amen. Praise the Lord for the Resurrection life poured its power upon every kind of death that we may completely be under His divine administration.