As believers in Christ who want to follow Him and serve Him, we need to be delivered from money so that, though we may gain spoils from the world, these would be used for the building up of the church and not for our worship of idols. Oh, Lord!
The Gospels clearly show us how the Lord Jesus not only was not rich and didn’t seek to be rich, but He called all those who follow Him to be voluntarily poor before the world so that they may be qualified to be His disciples.
This has been lost throughout the ages, and especially in the affluent world today, so many believers trust in their riches, have money as an idol, and pursue money rather than the Lord Himself.
We human beings are created to serve God, and being filled with God and flowing Him out fulfills the meaning of our existence.
However, Satan has systematized all things, and especially the matter of money is so near and dear to our heart; if we do not have a lot of money, we desire to have more, and if we have a lot of money, we love money and want to get more money.
A believer is truly saved by the Lord and enjoys eternal life, peace, and salvation when he is delivered from the love of money, that is, when he’s delivered from mammon.
Outwardly we may say with our mouth that we love God and serve Him, but after the meeting is over, our heart may be set on mammon instead of God.
The Lord Jesus came into us, saved us, and brought us into another kingdom – the kingdom of God; in this kingdom, there’s a different banking system, a different accounting system. In God’s eyes, it is more precious when we give all we have to Him than when we accumulate more and more riches for ourselves.
The early disciples practiced the matter of selling all they have and giving it to the apostles to distribute according to the need.
Later Paul said that, even if we gather much, we should not have in excess but rather, sow unto eternal life and deposit our riches in the heavens.
Our real bank account is eternal and in eternity, not here on earth; we can invest in that account by giving to the Lord in secret, by consecrating all we have to Him for His purpose.
However, before we can do that, we need to contact the Lord, fellowship with Him, and be led by Him; as He leads us, we can do things in secret, give in secret, and sell all we have to live for Him and unto Him.
May the Lord save us from the love of money, and may we use the unrighteousness of mammon for the building up of the church rather than being usurped by money.
Plundering the World and using Money and Riches for the Building up of the Church and not for Idolatry
In Exo. 12 we see how the Lord delivered His people of out Egypt, and how they left this place that usurped them for four hundred years.
Before they left, however, each one asked their neighbour for things of gold, silver, and other riches, and the Lord gave them favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they plundered Egypt.
These riches were later used for the building up of the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God.
This is also our experience today: the Lord not only wants us to be delivered from the usurpation of the world – He also wants us to plunder the world so that the riches in this world would be used for the building up and preparation of His dwelling place.
However, in the history of the children of Israel, we see that, before the tabernacle was built up, the children of Israel made a golden calf with the gold they had; this shows that riches and money lead to idolatry and fornication.
In Col. 3:5 we are told that we need to put to death our members which are on the earth, one of which is greediness, which is idolatry.
In our sinful members there is the law of sin, making us captives of sin and causing our corrupted body to become the body of death (Rom. 7:23-24); our members – which are sinful, are identified with such sinful things as fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and greediness (which is idolatry).
Greediness is idolatry; the love of money is the worship of money, serving mammon. Before we can build up the church as the dwelling place of God with the riches we plunder from the world, we need to be first delivered from the love of money.
The gold we take from the world should be used for the dwelling place of God and not for building an idol; may the Lord expose our greediness, which is in our fallen nature, and may we give all we have to Him for His building.
When our person is first delivered, then the money will follow; when the love of money is uprooted in our being, all we have and are can contribute to the building up of the church.
But if we give just a little bit here and there, still holding to most of what we have, we are not wholeheartedly contributing to the building.
The same gold can be either for the building up of the church or for the building of an idol; there are only two places the gold can be. Oh, Lord!
The same material can be directed toward two different objects: one is an idol, and the other is the tabernacle.
Covetousness and greediness are linked to idolatry (Col. 3:5); when we are delivered from idolatry, we are delivered from the love of money, and all we have will be the Lord’s for the building up of the church.
The Lord doesn’t want our money: He wants our whole being, our full consecration; once He delivers us from idolatry, from worshipping mammon and loving money, we can become useful to Him in the building up of the church.
We must first consecrate ourselves with our whole being, allowing the Lord to expose the matter of idolatry and the worship of money and riches; when the matter of the golden calf is settled, it will be ground to powder and all we have will be for the building up of the church.
We may not see this fully or we may think we’re free from the love of money, for we may not have much outwardly and we may not desire to have more money, but we need to bring this to the Lord and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, we are here for the building up of the church as the tabernacle of God! We do not want to worship money or riches. Oh Lord, deliver us from the love of money; deliver us from the desire to pursue riches and gain more wealth. We consecrate ourselves to You with all we have, all we are, and all we do. May our very person be delivered from the love of money and be brought fully into Your service. Amen, Lord, all we have and are, we give to You for the building up of the church. We want to be those who plunder the world and use its money and riches for the building up of the church as the house of God, the dwelling place of God!
Being Truly Delivered from Money to Serve God for the Building up of the Church
![In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... And God said, Let there be light; and there was light...And God said, Let the earth sprout grass, herbs yielding seed, [and] fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kind with their seed in them upon the earth; and it was so...And God created the great sea creatures and every living animal that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good. Gen. 1:1, 3, 11, 21](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/In-the-beginning-God-created-the-heavens-and-the-earth-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... And God said, Let there be light; and there was light...And God said, Let the earth sprout grass, herbs yielding seed, [and] fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kind with their seed in them upon the earth; and it was so...And God created the great sea creatures and every living animal that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good. Gen. 1:1, 3, 11, 21")
God created all things; in six days, God created the heavens, the earth, and all things in them (Gen. 1-2). These “all things” include billions and billions of things, many of which we don’t even know exist.
The things that God created are so many and so diverse that, when man sees God’s creation, they are moved to worship God.
Just look around you, with all the things in nature, the animals, plants, and mountains, with the rivers and hills and rocks, and all the celestial bodies. It is truly amazing.
All the things created by God are diverse and complicated.
Satan, God’s enemy, wants to “unify” all these things and somehow quantify them or give them his system of value. It is not possible for us to add a chair and a table to make one unit, for they are different; but when you put the value of money, they can be added.
You can’t add a child plus a piece of luggage plus a bar of gold plus a piece of land, but if you “convert” them into money, they can be added up.
This is how businessmen do their accounting, by converting everything into money.
Even the souls of men can be quantified, for when someone gets a job, he sells his soul to that job, lending himself for a period of time to do something in that line of work (see Rev. 18 on men selling their soul).
When a man sells his time to work for others, he is selling his soul; when a labourer is hired for a period of time, he agrees to sell his whole being for that period of time that he works.
God created the earth, but man divided it up into pieces and reckoned the value of each piece with money.
The things that God created are so wonderful, so diverse, so colourful, and so beautiful, but man – being instigated by Satan – wants to quantify and convert everything into money.
Satan wants to simplify and unify all things under money; in this way, everything loses its value and beauty, for money is more important than all these things.
In order for us to serve God and live a life for the building up of the church, we need to be truly delivered from money.
Our system of value needs to be changed from the warped and distorted system of value in this world to the way that God sees things.
We should not view all things from the side of money, trying to quantify and convert everything into money; rather, we should view all things from the side of God.
We need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind by coming to the Lord in His word, being infused with Him, and having our system of valuation changed and updated to be according to God’s system.
The world with its flood of dissoluteness, with its way of thinking, leaves its imprint on us, and many times we find ourselves thinking the same way as the world.
May we remain in the Lord’s presence and be brought back to the divine revelation in the word of God so that we may think the same way as God thinks, not as Satan does.
May we learn to appreciate what God does, what He created, and what He is doing, and may we use money and riches for His kingdom rather than accumulate them or use them merely for our purpose.
May we offer up ourselves with all that we are to the Lord for His purpose, not looking at the price but rather, considering Him as being more excellent than all these things.
May our whole being with all we are and have be consecrated to the Lord so that the Lord may truly deliver us from money and we would live a life for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
Lord Jesus, we love You. We treasure You. We give ourselves to You. You are the most precious One. We have nothing and we are nothing without You. We simply offer ourselves up to You for Your purpose. We offer all we are and all we have for Your heart’s desire and Your move. Thank You for saving us so that we may serve You. Lord, truly deliver us from money and from the love of money so that we may serve You in a pure and effective way. Save us from viewing things from the side of money; may we view all things from the side of God. Deliver us from the love of money and bring us into a full consecration of our whole being with all we are for the building up of the church!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, The Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry, vol. 2, ch. 65, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 1, entitled, Principles of Material Offerings (1).
- Hymns on this topic:
– Though very great is all the world, / And very small is your heart, / Yet the great world with all its wealth / Never can fill your small heart. / He is so rich, He is so full, / He can fulfill all your needs! / He is so good, He is so sweet, / All your desire He exceeds! (Hymns #1025)
– God, thine everlasting portion, / Feeds thee with the Mighty’s meat; / Saved from Egypt’s hard extortion, / Egypt’s food no more to eat. / Art thou weaned from Egypt’s pleasures? / God in secret shall thee keep; / There unfold His hidden treasures, / There His love’s exhaustless deep. (Hymns #664)
– Within those whom You’d call / Put such a restless caring / For building to give all— / These times are for preparing; / The gates of hell cannot prevail / Against the builded Church! / The hours are few, the builders too— / Lord, build, O build in us! (Hymns #1248)
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