Some are rich — just in all the wrong ways. Jesus had something different in mind.

Let's unpack what it means to step off the expressway of self and into the off-road adventure of Kingdom generosity. From investing in relationships to leveraging resource for others, living rich toward God is not just a posture. It's a path toward the greatest treasures on earth and beyond and in the New Heavens and New Earth on the horizon.

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See the full episode transcript below.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Rich in All the Wrong Ways. Are You Rich Toward God?

Friend, welcome to Jesus Smart X. I'm Brian Del Turco, your host.

What does it mean to be rich toward God? Jesus coined that phrase. We're going to touch on it today in this short episode. Being rich toward God points to a lifestyle that yields the highest harvest, both now and forever.

This episode is based on a guest post by Matt Peterson, a pastor in North Carolina, published on JesusSmart.com. It might just change how you invest your days and weeks.

A quick encouragement: check out the last episode, Willing and Obedient: The Blessing Is in Motion, a Jesus Smart 180. We looked at obedience as the on-ramp to God's blessing. Today we're staying in that neighborhood, unpacking what it means to live rich toward God.

The question on the table: are you rich toward God? Am I? What does it mean?

Before we get into it, subscribe to the Smart Edit newsletter for weekly Kingdom insight at jesussmart.com/smartedit.

The Parable of the Rich Fool

Jesus was teaching in Luke 12 when someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter over you?" And then he said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."

He told them a parable. The land of a certain rich man was very productive, and he began reasoning to himself. Notice what he said to himself. He never once thought, I have a superabundance. Maybe I should give some of it away and help the poor.

Instead he said, "This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul: you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry."

But God said to him, "You fool. This very night your soul is required of you. And now who will own what you have prepared?"

Then Jesus concludes: "So is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

There's the phrase.

The Expressway of Me

Jesus knows that a lifestyle of generosity and sowing reaps the highest harvest, in this life and in the age to come. The question worth sitting with: will our future self thank our current self for how we lived?

Jesus is not saying don't prepare for the future. He's not saying never spend anything on yourself or enjoy life. Paul told Timothy that it is God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

What Jesus is sharing is a secret more important than self-preservation or self-increase. It's the secret of stepping off the wide expressway everyone's racing on. Call it the expressway of me. Onto an off-road adventure of living as a giver of riches.

What does it mean to live rich toward God? It means living on a path where you discover the greatest treasures on earth. And what are the greatest treasures on earth? People. Jesus came and gave it all for people.

It's a journey with constant opportunity: encourage the wilted, give water to the thirsty, celebrate the successes of others, ask how you can add value, multiply value, enhance someone's progress. Weep with the suffering and find ways to free the oppressed.

You can find the full show notes for this episode at jesussmart.com/375.

Serving the King

What we're really doing when we live this way is serving the Kingdom of Heaven. In effect, we are serving the King himself.

Being rich toward God means joyfully volunteering in the mission of serving the purposes of the Kingdom, and that is fundamentally an investment in people. When I invest in relationships, serving my now-adult children, my wife, brothers and sisters in Christ, even those outside the Kingdom, I am being rich toward God.

The world defines success as being rich toward yourself. And those who go all the way down that road will tell you, if they're honest, that it's empty. Depressing. There's no real fulfillment in it. No peace.

But when we leverage our resources, our energy, our prayers toward others in need, we are richly lavishing on God. Remember what Jesus said: when you've done it to the least of these, you did it to me.

When I spend the best part of my day conversing with God, walking with him, listening to my Father, I am being rich toward him. And out of that intimacy, that conversational relationship, I will be rich toward God by investing in others.

Give What You Have

Living rich toward God means giving what we do have instead of waiting for more to give. You have time. You have energy. You have some money, some talents and giftings, some material things. We don't wait until we have more before we start giving. We start with what we have.

It means finding ways to make another life richer with intentional words of encouragement. What if we took up the habit: every day, do something intentional. Text somebody. Email someone. Call someone. Go analog and tell someone face to face. Give a word of blessing. Give a word of encouragement and support, rather than being fixated on our own needs and our own quest for pleasure.

Here's the thing: we will enjoy life better when we are rich toward God, which means being rich toward others for whom Jesus died.

Investing in Eternity

Living rich toward God means making the most of our time now, with eternity in view. Ten thousand years from now, in the new heavens and the new earth, what the Bible calls the age to come, we will gather with the thousands of lives we touched on earth. Our future selves will be grateful for how we chose to live in this age: serving others, blessing others, living rich toward God instead of building bigger barns, hoarding it all up, and eating, drinking, and being merry.

The Rich Young Ruler was invited by Jesus onto that off-road journey. He couldn't release what he had. He declined.

We can say yes. We can live rich toward God.

About Matt Peterson

I'm grateful for this content from Matt Peterson. He is the Lead Pastor at Awake Church in North Carolina and the founder of Hydrating Humanity, an organization working in the poorest areas of the world with water, economic, social, spiritual, and physical development. Look them up. Links are on the show notes page at jesussmart.com/375.

This is a wrap on Episode 375. Show notes and links at jesussmart.com/375. And if you haven't yet, subscribe to the Smart Edit newsletter. It's free, comes out weekly on Thursdays, and is packed with Kingdom-focused content. Subscribe at jesussmart.com/smartedit.

Christ is reigning.

This is jesus smart x with brian del turco.

Live the difference.

Friend.

Welcome to Jesus Smart X the Podcast.

I'm Brian Del Turco, your host.

What does it mean to be rich toward God?

Jesus coined that phrase.

We're going to touch on this today in this short episode.

And being rich toward God, it really points to a lifestyle that yields the best, the highest hearth harvest, both now and forever.

This episode is based on a guest post by guest writer Matt Peterson, a pastor in North Carolina.

A guest post on Jesus smart.com and we're going to unpack this just a little bit in this episode.

It really might change your approach to how you invest in your days and in your weeks.

An encouragement to check out the last episode Willing and Obedient the Blessing is in Motion.

It's a Jesus Smart 180 episode.

We looked at obedience as on ramp, so to speak, of God's blessing.

Today we're sort of staying in that neighborhood, but with this content of what it means to live rich toward God.

The question on the table is, are you rich toward God?

Am I?

What does it mean?

Before we get into it, subscribe to the Smart Edit newsletter for weekly kingdom [email protected] smartedit Jesus was teaching in Luke 12 and somebody in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.

And Jesus said to him, man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter over you?

And he said to them, beware and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.

And he told them a parable saying, the land of a certain rich man was very productive.

And he began reasoning to himself, listen to what he said to himself, what shall I do since I have no place to store my crops?

Can I just add, he never thought that I have a superabundance.

Maybe I should give some of it away and help the poor.

He said, this is what I will do.

I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and then I will store all of my grain and my goods and I will say to my soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come.

Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said to him, you fool, this very night your soul is required of you.

And now who will own what you have prepared?

And then Jesus concludes, so is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

There's the phrase.

You see, Jesus knows that a lifestyle of generosity and Sowing reaps the highest harvest in this life, in this age and in our future life in the age to come.

And we need to ask the question, will our future self thank our current self for how we lived?

Jesus is not saying don't prepare for the future.

He's not saying never spend anything on yourself or enjoy life.

Paul told Timothy that it is God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

Jesus is sharing a secret that's more important than self preservation or self increase.

It's the secret of stepping off this wide expressway that everybody's racing on.

We could call it the expressway of me and onto an off road adventure with the Lord of living as a giver of riches.

What does it mean to live rich toward God?

It means living a life on a path we discover the greatest treasures on earth.

What are the greatest treasures on earth?

People.

People.

Jesus came and gave it all for people.

It's a journey with constant opportunity to encourage people to give water to those who are thirsty, to celebrate the successes of others.

How can we add value?

How can we multiply value?

How can we enhance their progress?

Weeping with the suffering and generally finding ways to free the oppressed and to bless people.

You can find the full show notes page for this [email protected] 375.

You see, what we're doing is we are serving the kingdom of heaven.

In effect, we are serving the king, the king of the kingdom, Jesus himself.

Being rich toward God, joyfully volunteering in the mission of serving the purposes of the kingdom of heaven, which really is an investment in people.

When I spend time investing in relationships, let's say I'm serving my now adult, young adult children, or serving my wife, or serving other brothers and sisters in Christ, or even serving my enemies, people who are outside the kingdom.

Whenever we invest in people, we are being rich toward God.

And that's the question.

Are we just being rich toward ourself?

The world will say, be rich toward yourself.

The world will define success as being rich towards yourself.

That's success.

Well, the people who go that far with it will tell you if they're honest, that it's empty, it ends up being depressing.

There's not fulfillment in it.

There's really no peace in it.

But when we leverage our resources, our life energy, our prayers toward others in need and we throw ourselves into the category of helping people, we are richly lavishing on God.

Remember when Jesus said, when you've done it to the least of these, you did it to me.

So if I spend the best part of my day, conversing with God, walking with him, listening to my father.

I'm being rich toward him.

And then out of that intimacy, out of that conversational relationship, I will be rich toward God by investing in others.

You see, living rich toward God means giving what we do have instead of waiting for more to give.

You do have time, you have energy, you have some money, you have talents and giftings.

You have material things.

Instead of waiting, I have to have more before I start to give.

No, we start to give with what we have.

It means finding ways to make another life richer with intentional words of encouragement.

What if we were to take up the habit?

I've heard of people doing this, that every day, do something.

I'm going to text somebody, email someone, call someone, or go analog and tell somebody face to face.

I'm going to encourage.

I'm going to give a word of blessing.

I'm going to give a word of encouragement and support rather than simply being fixated on my own boring needs and my own quest for pleasure.

Okay, we will enjoy life better if we are rich toward God, which means being rich toward others for whom Jesus died.

He invested.

Living rich toward God means making the most of our time and when we gather with thousands of lives that we've touched on Earth 10,000 years from now in the new heavens and in the new earth.

Some call it eternity.

I just like to say what the Bible says it is.

It's a restored heavens and a restored earth, the age to come.

When we gather with people 10,000 years from now, we will thank our previous self as a new age life, if you will.

Okay, our, our our self in the new heavens and in the new earth will thank, will be grateful for how we sought to live in this age right now by serving others, blessing others, living rich toward God instead of just trying to build bigger barns, hoard it all up, spend it on myself, eat, drink and be merry for many years to come.

You see the rich young ruler in that passage in Luke.

He was being invited by Jesus to an off road journey.

This is what Matt Peterson says, get off that expressway of me and get into the off road adventure of living rich toward God.

That individual in Luke declined.

He couldn't release it.

We can say, yes, we can live rich toward God.

That's the admonishment that Jesus gives us.

I'm grateful for this content that Matt Peterson created.

He's a lead pastor at a wake church in North Carolina.

He's also the founder of something called hydrating humanity.

Working in the poorest areas of the world with water and economic, social, spiritual and phys development, and I encourage you to look them up.

Pastor Matt Peterson, Awake Church, North Carolina look up hydrate humanity in the show notes page.

JesusSmart.com 375 we'll have links there as well, so this is a wrap on episode 375.

Show notes page and links again.

JesusSmart.com 375 if you haven't yet, subscribe to the Smart Edit newsletter.

It's weekly, comes out on Thursdays, sometimes Friday.

It's a weekly dose of kingdom focused content and you can subscribe to it for free at jesussmart.com smartedit.

Christ is reigning.

Go live like it.

This has been Jesus Smart X with Brian Del Turco.

Until next time.