2015 Volume Two

13:2. You’ll see that Lott was
also a rich man. As was Job,
whose wealth God doubled. And
then there was little David who
slew Goliath, who would grow
up to be King of Israel and very,
very wealthy. And then there was
David’s son, Solomon, who God
fl at-out blessed with more wealth
than most of us can possible
imagine. God blessed Solomon
with extreme wealth! So why
would God do this if wealth was
wrong or evil? He wouldn’t. As
a matter of fact, God actually
enjoys our success. Want proof?
Read Psalm 35:27 “…Let the
Lord be magnifi ed, which hath
pleasure in the prosperity of his
servant.” You just read it with
your own eyes. The Lord feels
magnifi ed and actually takes
pleasure in your prosperity.
Don’t you feel good when your
children do well? In fact in Psalm
1:2-3 you’ll see that when you
stay close to the Lord you will
prosper in whatever you do! The
Lord wants you to be productive,
and successful.
Being productive and successful
is exactly the lesson given in the
story of talents (which are silver
coins) which was mentioned
earlier (Matthew 25:14-30). In
this life changing parable, those
servants who are the most
productive with their money,
those who multiply their money
the most (although this parable
applies to more than just money)
are the servants who are given
even more, and are celebrated.
Read it for yourself!
“But Robert, the Bible says
money is the root of all evil and
that we are blessed for being
poor.” My answer? Read it for
yourself. I Timothy 6:10 says it is
the “love of money is the root of all
evil.” What is the love of money?
It is called, GREED. That verse
is best understood by reading
it as, “For GREED is the root of
all evil.” And greed my friends,
exists at all socioeconomic
levels, not just with the rich.
Greed, is everywhere.
As for the poor being blessed
for their poverty, again, read it
for yourself. It is Matthew 5:3.
It doesn’t say, “Blessed are the
poor.” It says, “Blessed are the
poor in spirit.” The defi nition of
“poor in spirit” is “humble.” So
this scripture could be read,
“Blessed are the humble.” And
why are the humble, blessed?
Because they recognize their
need for the Lord and make
room for Him, and when you
make room for the Lord, you
become a very powerful asset to
the kingdom.
As for the fi nancial compensation
for pastors, I believe pastors,
preachers and other ministers
should be among the highest
paid professionals, and so does
God. First of all, read 1 Timothy
5:17-18, “Let the elders who rule
well be worthy of double honor,
especially those who labor in
the word and doctrine. For the
Scripture says, ‘You shall not
muzzle an ox while it treads out
the grain’ and, ‘The laborer is
worthy of his wages.’”
Not the words, “Double honor.”
In context as defined by the
concordance, the word “honor”
is defined as “wages.” In fact,
if you search various Bible
translations you will fi nd some
use the word “wages”, while
others, such as the New Living
Translations use the wording,
“paid well.” The other word to
look at is the word “especially.”
Those who labor in the word or
doctrine are “especially” worthy
of double the wages. This is the
Lord speaking, not myself.
This teaching is totally contrary
to the Old Testament curse of the
Law which was sickness, poverty
and death. Christ redeemed us
from the curse when He died
on the cross! Therefore, those
working in ministry need to do a
180-turn on their thinking in this
regard! Think about it. If poverty
was a “curse”, should we being
striving to live on the end of this
spectrum? Does living in poverty
honor the Lord? Does living in
poverty cause people to want to
come closer to God? Of course
not. And what about heaven?
The Lord’s Prayer tells us to
pray “on earth as it is in heaven.”
Well, what’s heaven like? It’s
made of gold, gems and has a
sea of crystal. So if heaven is a
city of gold and that’s where God
lives, how should we be living?
Food for thought.
One more thought on pastors
and compensation. Hebrews
11:6 says that,
‘…the Lord rewards those who
diligently seek him.”
Diligent is defined as “painstaking
effort.” Therefore you could read
this scripture as, “…the Lord
rewards those who put forth
painstaking effort to seek him.”
Can you think of anyone who
puts forth more effort to seek
the Lord than pastors do? So let
them have their “reward.” This is
the Word of the Lord.
Do I think more people would