1. Good Eyes
Matthew 6:22-23
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Before this verse, Jesus talked about laying up treasures in heaven and about Mamon, the unrighteous money. Therefore, the context of Matthew 6:22-23 is about money.
What does it mean by “good eyes”? The opposite of “good eyes” is “evil eyes”. Let’s see what Bible says about evil eyes.
Proverbs 28:22
A man with an evil eye hastens after riches,
And does not consider that poverty will come upon him.
Evil eyes here mean chasing after riches in an ungodly way: being stingy, all about money, saving for own self etc.
Therefore the opposite, good eyes, is interpreted as being rich with God’s way: being generous and giving.
Based on this understanding, if you have good eyes, means that you are generous, your whole body will be full of light, which means you will attract opportunities, you will be at the right place at the right time and open yourself to blessings. When you are generous, your heart is getting bigger. A big heart receives big things.
Jesus took our curse, so we may be blessed. Jesus took our poverty, so we may be rich. Jesus took our place of sin and poverty so we can take His place in righteousness and wealth.
Definition of prosperity: abundantly supplied, with plenty leftover to bless others. Prosperity does not talk about riches only although wealth and health are included.
2. Proclaimer of Prosperity
2 Chronicles 31:14
14 Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the East Gate, was over the freewill offerings to God, to distribute the offerings of the Lord and the most holy things.
Kore means proclaimer or Cryer while Imnah means prosperity
Kore is the son of Imna, means the proclaimer of prosperity
The interpretation of the verse: He who proclaims prosperity, God will put him in charge of God’s wealth
The true proclaimer of prosperity is Jesus Himself. He came to redeem our poverty in all ways. Let the poor say I am rich because of what Jesus has done on the cross.
Bible is alive and can talk to your situation
Wrong mentality
- God bless people at your expense. The truth is nothing at your expense.
- If you see others are being blessed, you feel less. The truth is God is not partial.
- If you give, you become less. The truth is give and it will be back to you.
God wants us to be a giver and distributes wealth to bless others. God can you give you both money for lunch and to give to charity. You dont have to always sacrifice to give, not always suffer to give.
Reference: Principles for Interpreting The Bible#4 – The Significance of Names in the Bible
3. Cheerful giver
2 Cor 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor (on the cross), that you through His poverty might become rich.
Paul contexts: Macedonians, as he continues to explain in chapter 9. It is given in the context of money, don’t afraid to receive that
God loves cheerful/hilarious givers. The opportunity to give is also an opportunity to receive. If you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly, if you sow bountifully, you will reap bountifully. It talks about attitude in giving. If you invest in other people’s prosperity, you will be blessed, God has a harvest for you. if you want to reap, you need to sow. For every harvest, there is a seed.
Sow in secret, not for show, and when you harvest, it is very hard to hide.
God will not bless somebody at your expense, God can bless everybody without taking from you
Everywhere Jesus went, He made people rich. Don’t set your eyes on means, but on the source
2 Cor 9:6-8
But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows [d]bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
Grace abounds for cheerful givers
2 Cor 9:10
Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness
He supplies seeds to sow and bread to eat. God is a big God. He can supply you both to sow and for you to eat. You don’t always need to sacrifice lunch to give to charity. God wants you to have lunch.
The law of seed and harvest
- how rich you want is depend on you
- if you sow “second hand”, you will reap “second hand”, if you sow “apples”, you will reap “apples”
- what you make happen to others , it will happen to you. when you make someone else’s dream comes true, he will make yours come true
- God can strecth the blessings you have
Ecclesiastes 11:6
In the morning sow your seed,
And in the evening do not withhold your hand;
For you do not know which will prosper,
Either this or that,
Or whether both alike will be good.
We still have to sow. give a portion of 7 or 8, we don’t know which seeds to prosper. You get to have lots of places to sow
Hagai 1 says if you take care of God’s house, God take care of your house.
The benefit of Jesus work, you become more and more complete. Everybody has the deepest need which only God can fulfil. Loneliness is spiritual problem. Tthe same person, with revelation, the person will be transformed