In last month’s Business Tip,1 I discussed the idea of using temporal wealth, which only has value in this existence, to buy true wealth, which has value not only now but in eternity. This means that true wealth transcends this existence, but temporal wealth does not. Perhaps the most familiar example of temporal wealth is money.
For most people, money drives virtually all major life decisions, such as, what we do, where we live, what cars we drive, where we vacation, what clothes we wear, and perhaps even who we marry. But in the end, money is powerless to save us from the ultimate reality of this existence—physical death. Therefore, if one wishes to be a wise investor, one should consider how to use money to acquire true wealth that can offer hope in light of physical death, that is, hope for life that transcends this existence. Jesus offered such hope2 and commanded his followers to seek wealth that is congruent with this hope. Consider his command to his disciples:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19–21 NKJV)
Disciples of Jesus should value true wealth over temporal wealth because our hearts need to be on matters that transcend this existence. This does not mean that the current existence has no value; it means the value of the current existence is found by living in light of the next existence. That is, we should use temporal wealth to store up true wealth; we should “trade up.”
Some examples of true wealth as noted in Scripture are:
• Divine wisdom, knowledge, and instruction
Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. (Proverbs 8:10–11 ESV)
• Reputation
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. (Proverbs 22:1 ESV)
• Righteousness
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. (Proverbs 11:4 ESV)
• Respect
A gracious woman gets honor, and violent men get riches.
(Proverbs 11:16 ESV)
• Divine revelation
The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (Psalm 119:72 ESV)
• Godliness with contentment
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. (1 Timothy 6:6–7 ESV)
• Genuine faith
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6–7 ESV)
If Scripture informs your worldview, I trust that you find these examples compelling and wish to entertain the question of how to trade up.
To trade up, you must be more than simply a convert to Christianity, you must be a disciple of Jesus Christ. By the term convert I am referring to a person who claims to be a Christian but whose lifestyle does not align with a Christian worldview. By contrast, a disciple not only professes to be a Christian but also his or her lifestyle aligns with a Christian worldview. This means that a disciple is progressively submitting his or her will and ways to live congruent with God’s will and ways.
To live according to a Christian worldview, a person must be in the process of transformation. Man’s natural state is contrary to God’s will and ways.3 This means that our thinking is contrary to God’s. Therefore, to align with God requires a transformed mind.4
To be transformed requires a humble, submitted, and teachable spirit. Scripture explains that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.5 Therefore, a humble heart is an essential trait of a disciple—a person God is not opposing. A humble person will also be submitted to authority and be teachable. And in particular, a humble person will be submitted to spiritual authority, who will teach the disciple how to walk in the will and ways of God. This includes guiding the disciple to find and fulfill his or her life purpose.
To be a disciple requires the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s heart and mind. It is our human responsibility to invest our time, talents, and treasures (T3) in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Correspondingly, this means that a disciple must be willing to sacrifice. Instead of investing T3 to do his or her will and ways, a disciple must invest T3 to align with God’s will and ways.
In a world consumed with pleasure, comfort, and convenience, sacrifice is not popular even among disciples of Jesus Christ. Sacrifice is a test of commitment. Will a person give up temporal pleasure, comfort, and convenience to invest T3 to gain true wealth? Will a person pay money to not align with the allures of the world? This requires the attitude of Moses who chose “rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”6
To mature as a disciple of Jesus requires a great price. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”7 To deny yourself implies deferring your will and ways to the will and ways of Christ. And to take up your cross reinforces and intensifies the necessity of sacrificing whatever is required to obey the will and ways of Christ.
There is one way to trade up: become a disciple of Jesus Christ. When Jesus departed, he gave his disciples a final mandate.8 He commanded them to go and make disciples. According to this mandate, true followers of Christ are regenerated and trained to live according to a Christian worldview. These followers are then charged to reproduce themselves. Therefore, according to Jesus’ metric, a true follower of Christ is one who bears witness to the reality of continually trading up to acquire true wealth and training others to do likewise.
Many professing Christians think that discipleship does not require sacrifical living. Consider Francis Schaeffer on this point:“We are born again through faith in Christ and then we are called to purity of life.”9 Purity of life means a life that sacrifices the fleeting pleasures of sin and uses T3 to trade up. This indeed should be a key mark of a genuine follower of Christ.
While a person’s lifestyle of growing alignment with a Christian worldview does not save him, such a lifestyle validates the reality that a person is a disciple of Christ. There is no other way to validate that someone has been truly saved by grace. If a person is truly saved, he or she will obey the command of Christ to store up “treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”10
Indeed, Christ set a high standard for measuring the genuineness of a person’s faith. In this existence, the only evidence that one has eternal life is fruit—fruit that God values, that is, the fruit of obedience to the will and ways of God. Without the grace of God at work in a person, no one could bear the fruit that God values. This reality should keep us humble, submitted, and teachable. May the Lord give us grace to live accordingly and learn how to trade up.
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1 http://strategieswork.net/publications/BusinessTips/2016/2016-08.htm.
2 John 6:27.
3 Genesis 6:5.
4 Romans 12:1–2.
5 James 4:6.
6 Hebrews 11:25 ESV.
7 Matthew 16:24 ESV.
8 Matthew 28:18–20.
9 Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality (Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition, Location 224).
10 Matthew 6:20 ESV. 
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