Lent WEEK 6: March 25-31 - THE COST OF RICHES

WEEK 6:

THE COST OF RICHES

March 25-31 / Weekly Fast: Shopping for Non-Essentials

Reading

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. LUKE 18:18–34

Supplemental Passages to Consider Throughout the Week

Matthew 13:44-46, Hebrews 13:5-6, 1 Timothy 6:6-12, Matthew 6:19-24

 

O Changeless God,

Under the conviction of thy Spirit I learn that 

the more I do, the worse I am,

the more I know, the less I know,

the more holiness I have, the more sinful I am,

the more I love, the more there is to love.

O wretched man that I am!

O Lord, 

I have a wild heart, 

and cannot stand before thee;

I am like a bird before a man.

How little I love thy truth and ways!

I neglect prayer, 

by thinking I have prayed enough and earnestly, 

by knowing thou hast saved my soul.

Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be 

an evangelical hypocrite, 

who sins more safely because grace abounds, 

who tells his lusts that Christ’s blood cleanseth them, 

who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell, 

for he is saved, 

who loves evangelical preaching, churches, Christians, 

but lives unholily.

My mind is a bucket without a bottom, 

with no spiritual understanding, 

no desire for the Lord’s Day, 

ever learning but never reaching the truth, 

always at the gospel-well but never holding water.

My conscience is without conviction or contrition, 

with nothing to repent of.

My will is without power of decision or resolution.

My heart is without affection, and full of leaks.

My memory has no retention, 

so I forget easily the lessons learned, 

and thy truths seep away.

Give me a broken heart that yet carries home the water of grace.

PRAYER FROM “THE VALLEY OF VISION”

This is taken from the Seasons of Lent Guide from The Village Church.