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by Charlie Wolcott

While the Gospel is for the destitute, the Gospel is a call to the affluent as well. Not everyone in affluent positions got there by greed, power grabs, or corruption. Some got there simply because they worked hard and are reaping the rewards of their efforts. Not all who are rich are evil people seeking to crush those below them under their feet. But the wealthy, the celebrity, the politician, and the star all need the Gospel too, and the Gospel can change them just as it does for the destitute.

A classic case of Jesus dealing with the wealthy is the case of the rich young ruler, who knew Jesus had everything for eternal life and he did not. Jesus addressed the law and the young man thought he had kept it, but Jesus exposed his fatal flaw: his wealth, or rather, his love for his wealth. Jesus told him to sell it all, to give it all away, and then to follow Him, and he walked away sad because he was unwilling to let it all go for eternal life.

A more modern example of the Gospel reaching the affluent is C.T. Studd. He was born in riches, living in one of those “Pride and Prejudice” or “Sense and Sensibility” homes. He was also a star athlete, the #1 cricket player in the world. Then Jesus got ahold of him. He literally gave away his cricket career, his academic endeavors, and his entire fortune to follow Hudson Taylor in interior China before going on to India and then to interior Africa. We hear of David Livingstone being the first missionary to interior Africa. C.T. Studd was the man who answered the call to go there when Livingstone gave his report. Studd left all his wealth behind and became a true warrior for Christ who would not back down from anything.

When it comes to the affluent, the Gospel will work one of two ways. It will release them from the grip of their money, prestige, and title and drive them to use their position purely for God’s glory. Or it will curse them, and their idols will utterly consume them. One thing regarding the rich young ruler is that Jesus did not tell every wealthy man to give up his money. Jesus’ goal was to give up control of the money. Jesus’ own ministry thrived on the donations and gifts of wealthy, affluent people. There are good churches and good business people who do build up their resources but they have a goal and purpose which is to be a storehouse to be able to give at sudden notice in large quantities. I am by no means rich or wealthy, but God has put me in a position financially that if I see a need with a larger request than most people could give, I can. I could not drop $10k in one go, but there have been times when I have dropped $1k because the Lord gave me an opportunity to do so. I say this not to boast but to give an example of what someone can do if they have resources and how they can use it if the Gospel has reached them. They become Kingdom-minded.

My parents are an even better example. When I lived with them in Fabens, TX, and then far east El Paso, their mindset was how they could use their property, their tools, and their resources for ministry. They didn’t have a lot of money, but even when my dad did make a decent income before we moved to the mission field, the first thing I remember us doing in this regard was using our place to bring in buses we used for ministry to take mission teams to Mexico. We would fix the buses as needed, and then we used our house to stage for outreach.

This was demonstrated in the early church, too. The early believers would sell off extra land and property and give to the church. They kept the land and houses they needed and what would be useful for the church. The wealthier ones used their homes for Bible study, meetings, prayer, breaking of bread, tending to the poor, and bringing in families, especially those women whose husbands were persecuted or killed. The Gospel did not tell them to give away every penny. The Gospel changed their hearts so that all their resources were for God to use at His desire.

But for those who do not hear the Gospel’s call to repent, their own affluence will become their own death sentence. The love of money and the seeking of power, prestige, and glory brings a curse when one finds it. It never satisfies and always leaves the seeking of more until it has eaten the soul completely. As Scripture says, God’s word will not return void. It will go do what it was sent to accomplish; that includes saving some from their idols, and it also includes judging and condemning those who refuse to let them go.

There are more whom the Gospel reaches than these. The Gospel also reaches the addicted, which we will look at next week.

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