Rulership and Judgment

On one occasion during the final days of Jesus’ ministry, the mother of Jesus’ close disciples James and John came to Jesus and said: “Give the word that these my two sons may sit down, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” (Matthew 20:21) Clearly, she was not speaking about something in the heart of her sons. She understood that the Kingdom involved rulership with Jesus, and she wanted her sons to have a share in it. In fact, Jesus did promise his 11 faithful apostles that they would be in his Kingdom and “sit on thrones” and “judge” with him. (Luke 22:30) To his followers, then, Jesus’ Kingdom was to be a real rulership—an administration, a government.

What about the people in general in Jesus’ day? Did they understand the Kingdom to be just a personal transformation, or did they expect something more? Well, shortly before Passover 33 C.E. when Jesus was entering Jerusalem riding a colt, the crowd welcomed him and some cried out: “Save, we pray, the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:9) Why did they cry out that way? No doubt they had come to recognize that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that God would give him an everlasting Kingdom, “the throne of David his father.” They longed for the salvation, peace, and justice that they Kingdom would bring.—Luke 1:32; Zechariah 9:9.

The Narrow Way (1)

ON EITHER SIDE of the narrow way of righteous business lies a trap based on wrong thinking about money. The first trap is the failure to achieve business success, (and then camouflaging that failure by calling it “ministry”). The second is to pursue business success at the expense of Biblical principles and personal spiritual growth. Often, the root of both mistakes is the sin of covetousness. This sin is found when our hearts are focused more on the pursuit of money than on the call of God.

On the one hand, denial of covetousness and failure to deal with it as sin can prevent the believer from breaking fleshly bondage to greed. In the end, deliberately yielding to the spirit of greed destroys the believer’s conscience, witness, and ultimately his effectiveness in the marketplace. Freedom from greed protects a believing businessperson from “walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the path of sinners or sitting in the seat of the scornful.” (PSALM 1.1) the blessing of the Lord will be the result. The first _Psalm goes on to promise that whatever such a person does will prosper. A blessed businessperson is not striving in the flesh, making costly mistakes and breaking valuable relationships. He or she may therefore prosper in business through simple perseverance and faithfulness.

Reference: Peter Tsukahira . . “My Father’s Business Guideline for Ministry in the Marketplace”