What Would Jesus Do in Today's World

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Your favorite band is coming to town. Tickets are $100-$150, and you want to attend the concert and enjoy a special dinner beforehand. However, you have other financial obligations which include credit card bills, tuition, books, rent, car payment, a cell phone bill, etc. What would Jesus do? Jesus preaches a kingdom without living in excess or greed; he values the humble servant role. According to Matthew, Kraybill, and in class worksheets, Jesus would spend his money on financial obligations and not on a concert. 
 Who is Jesus in the book of Matthew? In Matthew 6, Jesus advocated treasures in heaven over treasures on earth. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matthew 6:19-21, New American Bible). This verse is about material possessions. Jesus was preaching against material possessions. I think he was saying that material possessions on earth have no importance in God’s kingdom in heaven. He described earth as a dirty place in comparison to heaven; earth is decaying and heaven is God’s beautiful kingdom. It doesn’t make sense to accumulate material possessions during your time on earth, when earth does not even come close to what heaven is like. 
 Jesus also preached about God and money. “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Our society today is consumed with money; how to make money and how to get more money. Jesus was against living in favor of money. If one ...

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...e greed begets greed and materialism prevails” (Kraybill, 2011, p. 139). That is spending money on concert tickets. And that is not how Jesus would spend money. 
 Simply put, I think Jesus taught us to value our needs over the wants. As a Christian, I agree that putting a focus on acquiring material things is foolish. Today we live in a culture of greed, and sometimes it is hard to keep Jesus’ teachings in mind. Instead of trying to get our hands on the latest iPhone, we could be using that money to give back to those in need. 
 I agree that materialism in our culture is the complete opposite of Jesus’ upside-down kingdom. It can cause us to think more of how can we benefit ourselves, instead of focusing on the kingdom of God. It breaks our relationship with God, “attachment to wealth can compete with and unseat the rule of God in our lives” (Kraybill, 2011, p. 119).

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