YOU’LL WANT TO BE RICH

Proverbs 22:7 (KJV)
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

A lot of people have it out for the rich.
It’s like there is something inherently evil about having wealth.

The democrats base their entire political platform on it.
Seems like everything they do is meant to take from the rich to give to the poor.

Of course,
· They ignore the fact that they are rich and
· They hide the fact that they want to keep the poor well, poor

I think there are a lot of explanations for this dislike of the rich:
· It’s a learned habit dating back to the days of the feudal system where there was one rich land-lord who kept everyone on his land whipped into submission.
· It’s a product of our corrupt nature to be jealous of those who have more than we do and
· It is a misunderstanding of the Biblical teachings concerning the rich

James 5:1-6 (KJV)
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

If we do not keep this passage, and others like it, in context, we can get to thinking everyone who has more than us deserves whatever trouble they get – in this life and the next.

It occurs to me, however, that this passage gives a definite benefit to being rich, and a definite problem with not.

The rich get authority, the others are servants.

I. WHO IS THE RICH?
Proverbs 22:7 (KJV)
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

The word rich means, “to accumulate or to grow.”

There is nothing inherently wrong with:
· Making money and
· Saving money so that one day you have
Enough and even more than enough money.

There were a number of people in the Bible who were considered rich and it did not hurt their character nor did it harm their relationship with God.

· Abraham was very wealthy in cattle and substance
· Job was a rich man who, after being tried, became even richer
· David had riches and
· Solomon had even greater riches than David

Joseph of Arimathaea was rich enough to give Jesus His tomb.[1]

II. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Proverbs 23:4 (KJV)
Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

There are things much more worthy of my life than that I would simply be rich.

It should not be my goal, or at least my only goal.

Matthew 6:19-20 (KJV)
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

I should want to accumulate treasures, but my priority would be to lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth.

1 Corinthians 7:21-22 (KJV)
Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.

This passage, I think, speaks directly to our text in Proverbs 22:7.
If I can be free, so that I am no man’s servant, I should rather want that.

If I can’t, I can be the servant of Christ in either case.

But if I can accumulate enough that I do not have to be obliged to anyone other than Jesus. That would be, according to my Bible, the preference.

So what then is
III. THE PROBLEM WITH RICHES
James 5:1-6 (KJV)
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

The trouble is not with the riches themselves but with:
A. The love of it
1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV)
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

B. The abuse of it
James 2:6-7 (KJV)
But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

C. The trust in it
Luke 12:16-21 (KJV)
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Conclusion

The wisest of us will:
· Work hard
· Plan ahead and
· Save
So that we become free to dedicate ourselves to Christ.

We would still work because there is honor in work.

But we would not be slaves to others for our care.

[1] The prophet implies that Joseph was a rich man, Isaiah 53:9 (KJV)
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Matthew 27:57 (KJV)
When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: