Grace for Your Day April 19

According to a recent article in the Chilliwack Progress, February is usually a slow month in the real estate market. Typically, only a few houses sell. However, in February of this year, 533 houses were sold in Chilliwack which was three times the normal amount. Altogether the revenue came to over $361 million.

This means that our town is getting richer. People are earning more money than ever before which is a good thing for the economy. It is a good thing for the town but it brings its own set of problems because the Bible says that “the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). It does not say that money itself is evil. It does not say that money itself is wrong. It just says that the love of money is wrong. The worship of money is wrong. First Corinthians 6:10 also says that greedy people will not inherit the kingdom of God. They will not go to Heaven and Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters . . . You cannot serve both God and wealth.”

All of this leads to what Paul says in the Book of Ephesians. It leads to what he tells us in Chapter 6 about the relationship between slaves and masters. As I will mention in the sermon, slaves were the poorest people in the First Century. They had no money at all while masters had everything. They were the wealthiest people around so Paul tells them in Ephesians 6:9: "And masters . . . give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him."

Paul says that there is no partiality with God. There is no bias or prejudice with Him because everyone is the same in His eyes. He judges all of us by the same standard.

This means that it does not matter how much money you make. It does not matter how wealthy you are to God because, if you are in Christ, you all have the same Master. You all have the same Lord which puts you all on the same playing field. It puts everyone on equal ground.

This is important to remember as our city gets richer and richer. It is important to remember as the economy of Chilliwack continues to grow because God does not care about that. He is not interested in your money. Ultimately, He is interested in your soul. Ultimately, He is interested in your heart. He judges you by who you are on the inside which is what we are going to talk about this week at Grace Fellowship Church.

This week, we are going to look at how the Lord views money. We are going to look at how He views wealth and possessions in Ephesians 6:5-9 so please join us for this helpful study. We are still working out the details of this weekend but, if we are able to have services, the sermon will be preached at our 9:15 and 11:00 services on Sunday. It will also be available on our You Tube Channel for those who cannot make it out in person. I am praying that the Lord will use it to show us where our true priorities should lie. They should not be found in the things of this world but in the things of eternity. May the Lord bless you and keep you until then. –Jeremy Cagle