Sell it all?

[B-A-C]

Matt 19:21; Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Mark 10:21; Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Luke 18:22 ; When Jesus heard this, He said to him, "One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Luke 12:33; "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.

It seems that if we want to be "perfect" as KJV says in Matt 19:21 we have to sell all our possessions and give to the poor. Now there areplenty of discussions about being "perfect" so that isn't the point here. But rather, how many of us give to the poor? How many of us are willing to give up our "stuff" our material "things" and give to the poor?

Luke 22:36; And He said to them, "But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.

Now it's interesting to me, that the one thing we are encouraged to buy, is a sword. Even to the point of selling your coat that keeps you warm. Why do you think this is?

Matt 6:21; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 12:21; "So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Luke 12:34; "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where is your treasure? If I am honest, I think I have more than I need in many areas. How many vehicles, televisions, cell phones, computers, boats, planes and pairs of shoes do we really need?

Are you a sheep or a goat?

Matt 25:32; "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
Matt 25:33; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

How do you know if you are a sheep or a goat?

Matt 25:35; 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
Matt 25:36; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'
Matt 25:37; "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
Matt 25:38; 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
Matt 25:39; 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
Matt 25:40; "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

Acts 4:34; For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales

Some use the phrase "brothers of mine" in Matt 25:40 along with Acts 4:34; above to say we are supposed to give to the needy "in the church" before we give to the needy of the world. But even if this is true, would
you be willing to sell your land and/or house to give to the needy?

Now the question arises, how severe is the punishment if I don't do this?

Matt 25:41; "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
Matt 25:42; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
Matt 25:43; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'

Matt 25:46; "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

I would ask... how "perfect" do you want to be. But actually the question here is... "what are you willing to do to avoid the eternal fire and punishment"?

Now I realize this promotes works, and isn't really a "grace only" kind of thing and that offends people.
But nonetheless, this IS what the Bible says.

James 1:27; Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

 

[B-A-C]

"@Fragrant Grace"

How do we love our neighbour as much as we love ourselves?

Surely this is something we all fail in many times?
I'm sure I put self first a lot of the time above my neighbour?

Could this be part of the answer? I didn't really create this thread in response to that question, but after
going back and reading the OP in that thread, I couldn't help but wonder.

 

[Dave M]

This is probably my favorite subject in the bible, yet I get scared to talk about it because of the below verse saying to give in secrete, but I think its really more about the condition ones heart when giving then it is about giving in secrete. When we give do not prideful and post it all over face book etc..... What do you think @B-A-C

Matthew 6:1-4
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.


One of my favorites sayings is show me a mans check book and I will show you where his heart is. You want a real world test on whear you heart is just look at whear you spend all your money. What percentage goes to helping others or spreading the gospel??

 

[Fragrant Grace]

Matt 19:21; Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Such a powerful convicting thread @B-A-C thank you for posting.

O Lord in this modern day materialistic world.....show us what to do and how to do it
Open our hearts to Your word

 

[Dave M]

Now I realize this promotes works, and isn't really a "grace only" kind of thing and that offends people.
But nonetheless, this IS what the Bible says.

Amen to that, I was on another Christian forumn recently, and there is a guy on there that goes on and on all about Grace to the point of he said that the below scripture proved we needed grace for salvation. Seems to me the below scripture shows the condition of a mans heart and how he is not getting grace at that point and time. Seems many out there cling on to the hope of not having to do anything, seems to me anyone who receives grace wants to please our heavenly father by doing lots of stuff for him.

Mark 10:21; Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

 

[Dave M]

How about the old saying I am sure everyone has herd "you cant take it with you" or "you came into this world with nothing and you will leave with nothing"

However the bible tells us clearly that we can send our money ahead, if we use our money (really Gods Money)for his kingdom now we can store up treasures in heaven that will last forever. So if we take money now that will eventually be burnt up and worth nothing anyways we can invest in the kingdom of God now and store of treasures that will last forever, that will be waiting on us.

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So here Jesus tells us (which I might even say commands us) to start storing up treasure in heaven. How cool is that !!!

Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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Then he tells us how to store up treasures in heaven (in many places in the bible), or as I like to say how to send it ahead. In the business world its called ROI this is the best Return on investment that was ever created, but few seem to realize it.

Luke 12:33
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

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I have come to realize we here in America for the most part are the rich people the bible speaks about and so often warns of the dangers of being rich. If you make like 50k a year you are in something like the top 5% of the world top earners. When you start looking around at the third world countries and just everywhere there are so many people who have nothing. We better be helping them out. GOd provides us instructions for that in more detail here

1 Timothy 6:17-19
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

So how awesome is God he tells us to use our money (his money) now in the this life time that is going to be worth nothing and burn up one day to help people, then he tells us we will be rewarded with real riches for doing this. And as a another added factor the joy God give us for helping others is the most amazing joy in the world.

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It really just keep getting better and better because once you start being a giver look out !!! because God keeps blessing you and you really start seeing miracles things that are just incredible start happening for God loves a cheerful giver and ask you to test him on this. As I am sure most of you know this is the only place in the bible God says to test him on is our giving.

Malachi 3:10
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.


2 Corinthians 9:6-7
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

I hope this is not to far off topic you started here @B-A-C if it is just let me know

giving to the poor relates to storing up treasures is the way I see it, God is so awesome how he has things layed out for us if we just listen to what he tells us to do !!

 

[Br. Bear]

Greetings,

I recall reading Tortured For Christ (several times) and the stories of those men in such poverty in prison who gave their meals to those weaker than themselves.
The meals were hardly what you lot would call a meal, by the way. You wouldn't even feed your dog such muck, but it was all they were given to eat.
They gave the riches they had.


Bless you ....><>

 

[Dave M]

the word give appears more then 2,000 times in the bible, that is far more then faith and love appear!!

Spiritual health and giving could go hand do they not?