334: Robert Evans - Exhortation: I am a Rich Man, and You are Too!

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1. 0:13

   Welcome to good Chris Selfian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now?

2. 0:37

   Let’s talk more about. This week’s talk. Hi, this is Levi. This week’s talk is an excitation by a brother, Robert Evans, that he gave at the Abilene, TX Ecclesia. His title is I Am a Rich Man and so are you. Robert does a really good job kind of honestly having the conversation about how wealthy almost all of us are here in North America and he really dives into comparing what our wealth can do to our mindset and how it can distract us from a reliance on God.

3. 1:26

   I think this is kind of a maybe an obvious topic, but he presents it so well and and brings in so really great verses make it. I think like some of the best talks are really basic themes, kind of obvious points expanded on and that is definitely what’s done here. Robert is a high school teacher by trade and you can tell in his presentation style, he’s very easy to listen to.

4. 1:55

   And I think this was a really excellent example of that. So I was excited to share it with everyone. I think it would be very helpful as an excitation. And it definitely had me thinking a lot about my own life and my own mindset around money. So really excited to share this. This was a suggestion by a member of the audience that day.

5. 2:18

   So thank you to that person who sent that in. So here is Robert Evans. I’m a rich man and so are you. Good morning brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is, as always, a wonderful, beautiful thing to see you all on a Sunday morning where we are coming together to remember our Lord Jesus Christ.

6. 2:47

   Now you may not know this, but I am a rich man. I’m a very rich man, as are you. No matter how poor you may think you are, if you live inside of a closed building in the United States in 2023, you are a rich man. You know if asked by a random person on the street about my socio economic status I would say I’m probably somewhere in the middle class right? But even being lower class in our country compared to much of the world leaves a man with far more luxuries and conveniences than millions upon millions upon millions upon millions of people across the world.

7. 3:38

   I mean, I saw this first hand even when travelling in countries that aren’t necessarily destitute third world places in the world, like when Tabby and I went to Costa Rica or when we travelled to Ireland, we saw some things that were very different from the lifestyle that we’re accustomed to and kind of makes you realize just how rich even the average person is over here. I remember going, ’cause when we travelled to Costa Rica, and same with Ireland and most places we went aside from Africa, we stayed in Airbnb’s.

8. 4:14

   And so Airbnb’s in Costa Rica, nobody had AC in the homes we stayed in. You know, nobody had hot water running. You could get it from the shower. And like two of the three Air BNBS ’cause they had this little electrical thing on there that they were like, be very careful touching it ’cause it might shock you. And surprisingly to us in Ireland, two of the three Air MB, SB, MB S, we stayed there, it was the same thing actually. They didn’t have hot running water. You had to have the electrical thing attached to it. That’s something that, you know, growing up in America, even I can remember when I moved to Dallas and I was apartment searching and the 1st place I tried to search ’cause I thought I was gonna be very poor because I my, I was getting my job at the Dallas World Aquarium and I was gonna make starting out $15.00 an hour.

9. 5:03

   And I was like, OK, this is like I’m really low income. And the first department I looked at had AC and heat and it had a refrigerator and a stove and all these things. And I didn’t qualify because I was looking at a low income housing apartment and they said I made too much money at my $15.00 an hour to qualify. So people that you know, $15.00 an hour, I don’t qualify for this apartment that had all of these amenities. So when I say I am a rich man, I’m comparing myself to much of the outside world where it’s like, yes, I am a rich man, as are you, right?

10. 5:42

    So yes, by worldwide standards, in present day, we are rich men. And then if we compare ourselves to, you know, the past, we are certainly rich men. Even just go back 300 years and royalty would love to live the lives and have the luxuries that we have. The richest man in the world 300 years ago didn’t have a button on his wall that he pushed or nowadays even on his phone sometimes that he pushed to make the house get cooler if he felt a little bit warm, or a button to make things get warmer if he felt a little bit cool.

11. 6:17

    You know, we have an insane amount of luxuries and conveniences that sometimes we don’t even realize because we’re in this rat race of a world that tells us that we need more and more and more and that we don’t have enough and that we are actually down here. But in reality, we are all very rich men now, kind of before I I dive into James, James 5, where we’re going to start out before I, I get into there, you know, it’s what really kind of stuck out to me.

12. 6:53

    The start of James 5. It says go to now you rich men weep and howl. And I started to think it really stuck out to me, you know, and with my 9th graders, I’m an English teacher. And with my 9th graders, we’ve been reading Romeo and Juliet. And a a little piece near the end of Romeo and Juliet that we actually spent a lot of time talking about this past week with the students was this part that they were very confused by, where if you don’t know Romeo and Jr. and Juliet, they end up, you know, killing themselves at the end. But Romeo, he goes to an apothecary to buy a poison that he’s going to use to kill himself. And the apothecary is like, well, it’s illegal to sell this poison, But Romeo’s like, well, I have all this gold and you’re very poor and starving, so just sell it to me, you know, The apothecary ends up agreeing to sell him this poison that Romeo’s going to use to kill himself. And Romeo kind of comforts the apothecary in a sense. And he tells him, he says, you know, I’m really the one selling poison to you because gold has caused far more death and hurt in this world than poison ever has. And I thought that was really interesting, you know, ’cause that’s been on my mind this week. It’s been a big discussion I’ve had with students throughout the week.

13. 8:10

    And then, you know, I open this up and it says, see, rich men weep and howl, for your miseries shall come upon you. That’s James 5 verse one. All right. I think Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet had a keen mind because it’s true. Poison. Things like that are deadly. But we all know full well how deadly and dangerous they are. They have warning labels these days. Gold, on the other hand, gold is dangerous and deadly also, but we don’t always fully understand it. We don’t always see it because it is shiny and it’s beautiful, and instead of a warning label with a skull and crossbones, it instead has a society and a world that tries to convince us we need more of it.

14. 9:01

    It’s put up as a good thing rather than something that’s kind of dangerous. What we see in our world is that the wealthy of all the nicest things, They occupy covers of magazines. They grace the recommended video section of every teenager’s Instagram and TikTok and YouTube. Gold is the reward that we all get for a hard day’s work. And obtaining that is their motivation to go back to work and to work harder often.

15. 9:30

    And why we try and put in extra hours and our promotions and grow and grow. Because we’re going to get a raise with those promotions and with the more work that we do. And then we can purchase new things and have a bigger bank account and have more comforts and luxuries and so on and so forth. We all know to not drink a bottle of poison, but we don’t necessarily know to be careful about wealth. OK, so in James 5 verses one to three it says go to now you rich man, weep and howl, for your miseries shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten, your gold and silver is cankered, and the rest of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.

16. 10:20

    Ye have heaped treasures together for the last days. Now, as I made clear earlier, I am a rich man. And as thus sometimes when I read verses like this, I get a bit of trepidation, ’cause I’m like, that’s me. If I think about it, I’m a rich man. I’m full of luxuries and wealth, you know, so I think you know.

17. 10:48

    Am I to be weeping? Am I to be howling as the rest of my riches are a witness against me? Is that me that is being talked about here? Have I slowly been heaping treasures together which are going to rust and rot for the last days? Now this phrase rich men here in James 5 verse one, Thayer’s Greek lexicon defines it as wealthy and abounding and material resources. And so yes, that does apply to me in that sense. I am, like I said, compared to millions upon millions upon millions in the world and then all men of history, I am absolutely abounding and material resources. And this is the same Greek word that is used in Matthew 19 verses 23 and 24, where we read Then said Jesus to his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man, same Greek word there shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.

18. 12:05

    That rich man there that Christ repeats twice in those verses. It’s the same as here in James 51, Ye rich men. We can look at Christ’s words in Luke chapter 6 if we turn to Luke 6 and we’ll start at verse verse 20. In Luke 6 it says and he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said, Blessed be the poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God, right? Kind of the the exact opposite of what we just read of hardly shall a rich man enter the Kingdom of heaven right here he says, blessed be the poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you that weak now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you. Cast out your name as evil for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice you in that last.

19. 13:10

    In that day leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the manner did their, in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. But woe unto you that are rich. That’s that same word that’s used for rich men and James, or that is used for rich man in Matthew 19. Woe unto you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.

20. 13:39

    Woe unto you that are full, for you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.

21. 13:54

    Thinking about reading verses with trepidation. I’m like, oh, right, I’m rich. I don’t hunger right now. I’m full. I laugh now. And so you know, it’s, it’s, it’s kind of this, this message gets hit again and again. Woe unto you that are rich. You have received your consolation. It’s the same word from Matthew 19, from James 5.

22. 14:24

    It’s also the same word in Revelation. Revelation chapter 3, right? Revelation 3 and I’m sorry, 14 Revelation 314. And unto the Angel the Church of the Laodiceans writes these things, saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth, because you say I am rich. It’s the same Greek word again.

23. 14:58

    Because you say I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked ’cause you say I am rich and increased with goods. And I look around my life and other lives and I’m like, we are all rich materially and we are all increased with goods, whether we think we are or not. Because like I said, society tries to convince us we always need more and we never have enough. But compare yourselves to the rest of the world, or compare yourselves to men 200 years ago, or 50 years ago even, or 100 years ago, and you are absolutely increased with goods abounding and wealth and luxuries, whether you realize it or not.

24. 15:49

    So what are we to do? We are all rich. We are all rich and we have this little clump of verses. I didn’t go to all the verses that popped up when I searched that Greek word and concordance. But does this mean we’re all doomed? Does it mean that we need to quickly give everything away we have and run out and live in the streets, or run off to a third world country, or live as the Amish do? No, it does not mean that.

25. 16:20

    For it’s not simply the act of being rich, of having wealth, that is the issue. It’s the way in which one allows those riches to affect and rule their lives that really matters. So let’s let’s take a look again back in James 5. James 5 starting in verse one said, go to now, you rich men weep and howl for your miseries will come upon you.

26. 16:47

    Your riches are corrupted, garments are moth eaten, gold and silver is canchored. The rest of them will be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold the higher of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud cries, and the cries of them which reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanted. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed the just and he does not resist you.

27. 17:34

    So if we really think about those verses, it’s not just you are wealthy, you are rich men and therefore you’re done with. It’s the attitude and the actions of these rich men, the hire of laborers who reaped your fields, which you kept back by fraud. They cry. You lived in pleasure, you nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed the just. The issue is the attitude and the actions of those who are rich.

28. 18:08

    These rich who shall weep and howl are those who place their trust and confidence in their riches. They have heaped them for the last days. All right. They’ve mistreated their laborers. The attitude and actions are the opposite of what we know. God calls us to act. But that is the difficult part. Though I wish Tabby was still in here because she would like this line.

29. 18:39

    A famous rapper once said MO money, MO problems. I don’t even know who that rapper was, right? But you know, there’s there’s some truth in that. In a sense, having riches, it makes our lives a little bit more difficult to live in a godly manner often times, because the richer you are and the more comforts and luxuries you have, the easier it is to fall into the thinking, even if it’s subconscious, that you don’t need God.

30. 19:12

    You’ve solved your difficulties in life, and whenever a new difficulty pops up, you get more money and that will solve that difficulty. Oh, I have a difficulty of, I don’t know, whatever it could be, my house doesn’t heat as well as it should. It’s fine. I’ll get more money and then I can heat my house better.

31. 19:30

    What Like any difficulty that comes up, we have this tendency or man has this tendency, especially Richmond, I think, to just use their riches to try and solve every little difficulty in life. You know, we trust and rely in the things and the luxuries we have. We have homes that can withstand all weather save the very most extreme events, you know, like tornadoes, but those are extremely rare. Most people live their whole lives not being affected by one. We have refrigerators and pantries almost always full of food, and even if they aren’t, we have, within a 10 minute drive, hundreds of options from which to get food at all various prices from regions and cultures all around the world. Our food comes in prepackaged with nutrition facts and expiration dates.

32. 20:23

    We don’t even know where it came from most of the time or how it got on the shelf at HEB, but it’s delicious and ready to eat. So why are we going to give a half second of thankfulness to God for the origin of this food? We didn’t need to pray for the rain to come down to grow the crops, or we didn’t need to pray for the safety of our livestock that we had to slaughter.

33. 20:45

    We just went to HEB and bought this, and the thing that got us the food was our paycheck and our money in our bank account. When we get sick, we have doctors and hospitals and urgent cares and pharmacies galore. The list of luxuries we have go on and on and on. And I think maybe you can see a little bit why Richmond are in a dangerous position in a sense.

34. 21:08

    It’s so easy to rely on all of those luxuries, right? It’s an easy way to be caught up in man made systems of doing things with purchased money rather than relying on God. The rich have no feeling of a need to pray to God because they just take out their credit card, right?

35. 21:32

    First Timothy 617 to 19 says charge them that are rich. This is the same word used in James 5, Matthew 19, Revelation 3. I charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. That they do good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

36. 22:17

    So, as said earlier, the point of all this talk of the rich man is not to say that things are impossible for him or that we are doomed because we are rich men. But it’s rather that there is hope and that we, no matter how wealthy we are, we have a correct way that we’re given to live our lives. But it’s good to keep in mind the warning of how you can easily fall into trusting in your riches instead, right? Notice the point that Paul that Paul has, as he puts it here to Timothy, he’s saying don’t trust in uncertain riches, but trust in the living God.

37. 23:05

    All right, He says, lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come that you they may hold lay hold on eternal life, which is the exact counterpoint. So the rich man described in James Five, who has heaped treasures together for the last days, which will corrupt and rot away and rust and be gone, the exact opposite, the way we should be doing things is laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come. And it’s not that only the poor can lay up a good foundation. Those who have material wealth can do that as well. First Timothy 6, he doesn’t say charge them that are rich, that they quickly get rid of everything so that they can lay up a good foundation.

38. 23:47

    No, he just says charge them that they’re not high minded and that they don’t trust in uncertain riches, but that they trust in the living God. And that’s the expectation to us as well as rich men. This needs to be our focus. We need to lay up a good foundation and take care that we are not simply heaping up treasures for heaping up treasures in this world is is what really the world around us tries to convince us is the thing to do and it’s foolishness. Our good foundation needs to be as described here in Timothy. Now, Speaking of foundation, this whole thing, it all goes back to the very start, ’cause it’s all a line of thinking. Which line of thinking are you following? We were expelled from the Garden of Eden, and we’ve been building a world filled with knowledge, the knowledge of good and evil, ever since.

39. 24:44

    We are rich men at the current pinnacle of all of man’s machinations, carved from the very wood that bore the fruit that Eve grasped at the word of the serpent. James 44 says You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever, therefore, is a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Are we a friend of the world that our riches want to embed us in, or are we a friend of God?

40. 25:17

    Are we Abraham’s seed or are we not? Are we the seed of the woman or the seed of the serpents? You know Abraham left the comforts of his father’s tent and set out for a land yet unseen. Are we walking that journey, stumbling over rocks and hills and mountains and wading through rivers?

41. 25:36

    Or are we just sunken down in an expensive mattress of memory foam as our shades darken the sun’s rays and thick walls stop the wind from tussling our hair or the bird song from reaching our ears that are likely focused in on some YouTube video or television show anyway, right? We are rich men living in overly comfortable times. We being in the truth.

42. 26:03

    We have seen the path of God, the way to the tree of life, but we have unfettered access to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and our riches only make that fruit tastes sweeter and sweeter and easier and easier to come by and to gorge ourselves upon in the modern world. So what will you do?

43. 26:25

    What would Jesus do? He said that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven. And I know that camels are exceedingly larger than a needle, and we are exceedingly rich even by modern standards compared to the world. But the good news is, is that it is all a choice.

44. 26:47

    All right. As James 48 says, draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. We must not be slack in doing so, for we are in a position of great difficulty. The world is at enmity with God, and it’s very tempting and very accessible to all of us, especially all of us who are rich men.

45. 27:10

    If we don’t take care, we could easily slip into a mindset that leads to serving mammon rather than serving God. Thanks be to God that we have all of these warnings and examples in Scripture that we as rich men may also be wise in our knowledge and our understanding, that we might avoid the pitfalls that come with wealth and abundant luxuries, right?

46. 27:38

    We are here to remember Christ this morning. You know Second Corinthians 8-9 says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, and that through his poverty you might be rich. Christ lived a life that was fully reliant upon and filled with thankfulness to His Father.

47. 28:03

    He did not live a life trusting in the riches of men, gold, silver, costly things. His life was lived in the trust of His Father. Christ is our example to follow. If we do not follow Him, then we are lost. We are chasing the wrong ending. We are friends with the world and at enmity with God. I’d like to close by going back to Revelation chapter 3, finishing out these verses to the Laodiceans who lived in environments characterized by apathy and lack of commitment and worldly riches but not being rich for God. As we read these verses, keep in mind that gold refined by fire is faith that has been tried.

48. 28:55

    White clothes are a symbol of righteousness and cover our nakedness. I salve so that we can see and have a clear vision of God in our lives. These all come from Christ we remember this morning. We can acquire them nowhere else. In Him we find faith, righteousness, and the vision needed to overcome worldly riches and instead become rich in God. Revelation 3 starting in verse 14 says, And unto the Church of the Laodiceans, write these things, sayeth the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

49. 29:36

    I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth, because you say I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that you are wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked. I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich and white raiments that you may be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear And anoint thine eyes with.

50. 30:23

    I salve that thou mayest see as many as I love. I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will Sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me and my throne, even as I also overcame, and him set down with my Father and his throne.

51. 30:59

    He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. Thank you for listening to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast. We hope this talk helped you in your walk and brightened your day. If you would like to hear more, please subscribe for new episodes. We are on all major podcast platforms and also on YouTube.

52. 31:33

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53. 32:12

    God bless and talk to you next week.