Riches and covetousness

1. Why Christ’s Brethren Abstain from Parliamentary VotingNo. 12 · 1 January 1869 · 21 min read aloud

   Speaking during a general election, the speaker argues that political reformers cannot cure human misery: greater wealth would only increase wickedness, as in Sodom, and God has chosen the poor as heirs of His kingdom.

2. Christ’s Humiliation, and Salt and LightNo. 18 · 1 March 1870 · 20 min read aloud

   The speaker says the breaking of bread directs the brethren to the sorrowful side of Christ’s life, which brings comfort and courage because he was tempted and suffered as they do, and which gives an example of doing good.

3. Doing God’s Will, Not Merely KnowingNo. 21 · 1 June 1870 · 18 min read aloud · Read: 1 Peter 4

   Starting from the griefs of this mortal state and the way sickness and death show what is of real value, the speaker urges the brethren to give themselves wholly to the truth rather than to the pursuits of the flesh.

4. Reconciled to the World’s Rejection, Choosing ChristNo. 24 · 1 September 1870 · 33 min read aloud · Read: 1 John 3

   Taking 1 John 3 as its starting point, the exhortation says believers, as sons of God, must accept that the world knows them not, as it knew not Christ.

5. Serving Christ while awaiting the good timeNo. 25 · 1 November 1870 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Revelation 6

   The exhortation contrasts the present violent, vain world with the good time coming through Abraham and his seed, and urges that those who belong to Christ be a peculiar people who do good without ostentation, obey his commandments, and sow to the spirit rather than seek worldly pleasure and riches.

6. Christ Our Captain: Diligence and True HonourNo. 34 · 1 February 1872 · 26 min read aloud

   Begins from the weekly breaking of bread as Christ’s appointed reminder of himself, whom the world offers nothing to recall, and presents him as the captain who chooses his followers, requiring loyalty and promising immortality in return.

7. Children of the Day: Laodicea and Daily ReadingNo. 39 · 1 August 1872 · 28 min read aloud · Read: 1 Thessalonians 5

   Says the day of the Lord will come as a thief only upon those who cry ‘peace and safety’, not upon believers who are children of light, yet an ecclesia may contain members who fall short, as the message to Laodicea shows.

8. Seek Things Above, Beware of CovetousnessNo. 43 · 1 April 1873 · 22 min read aloud

   Expounding Colossians 3, Roberts explains that believers baptised into Christ are risen with him and must set their affections on things above, which he distinguishes from the popular idea of going to heaven, since those things are to be brought to the saints at Christ’s coming.

9. Contentment Without Covetousness and the Sacrifice of PraiseNo. 47 · 1 August 1873 · 21 min read aloud

   Starting from the reading in Hebrews 13, Roberts warns against covetousness and the world’s pursuit of money, holding up Job as an example of riches rightly used and urging contentment in God’s promise never to leave or forsake His people.

10. Uncarefulness: Christ’s Free Men in a Passing WorldNo. 55 · 1 June 1874 · 23 min read aloud

    Takes Paul’s counsel to the Corinthians to be without carefulness, applying it first to slave and free, master and servant: the believer in either condition belongs to Christ, and the present state is short, so its burdens may be borne patiently until the freedom and change of body that Christ will give at his coming.

11. Keeping the Things of Christ in MemoryNo. 60 · 1 November 1874 · 18 min read aloud

    The speaker says that those called by the gospel must see their present life as part of God’s long plan, and that acceptance at Christ’s coming follows from the course pursued now, as harvest follows seed-time.

12. Paul’s Exhortation: Holiness, Love and Liberal GivingNo. 62 · 1 January 1875 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 32, 1 Thessalonians 4

    Taking comfort from the psalm read, the speaker turns to Paul’s example and to 1 Thessalonians, urging the brethren to abound more and more in a walk that pleases God.

13. God’s Standard Versus the World’s RespectabilityNo. 67 · 1 July 1875 · 26 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 58, Luke 10

    Contrasts the judgment of natural men, who commend whoever does well for himself, with God’s standard, which puts duty to God first; on that standard the world, though outwardly pious and respectable, is wicked, and God will punish it when his time comes.

14. Waiting for God: Obedience, Chastening and Scripture ReadingNo. 69 · 1 September 1875 · 25 min read aloud

    Starting from Jesus’ words about the blessedness of those who see and hear, says the blessedness is yet future, that present life is brief, and that the long reign of evil teaches God’s greatness and trains the sons of God through chastisement.

15. Obeying the Commandments of the Sermon on the MountNo. 72 · 1 December 1875 · 43 min read aloud

    Beginning from the breaking of bread, the exhortation says obedience is the great lesson of the faith and the test by which Christ’s friends will be known at his coming.

16. Solomon’s Proverbs as the Oracles of GodNo. 76 · 1 June 1876 · 28 min read aloud

    Taking Peter’s rule to speak “as the oracles of God”, the speaker argues that Solomon’s Proverbs carry apostolic authority and that they supply correctives against extremes: diligence against shiftless trust, warnings against haste to be rich, firmness towards fools and false brethren alongside kindness, and knowledge against the dangers of pride.

17. Finding Christ through the Word and BreadNo. 82 · 1 March 1877 · 22 min read aloud

    Christ is not found in daily surroundings or in nature, but through the preaching of the apostles’ written word and the breaking of bread, by which faith in him is created.

18. A Rebellious House: Understanding and WitnessingNo. 89 · 1 November 1877 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 12

    Starting from the reading of the prophets, the exhortation says believers now understand what Israel and the churches around us do not, and that this shows them, like Ezekiel, living in the midst of a rebellious house whose ways, not only its opinions, are contrary to the Scriptures.

19. Death of a Sister: Mourning, Hope and WarningNo. 91 · 1 January 1878 · 24 min read aloud · Read: 1 Thessalonians 4

    Spoken after the sudden death of a sister who had broken bread the Sunday before, it says that sorrow is for ourselves, since the dead in Christ are at rest, and that death teaches the wisdom of the house of mourning over the pursuit of present cares, riches and pleasures.

20. Comfort in God’s Promises: Faith Against FeelingsNo. 93 · 1 March 1878 · 28 min read aloud · Read: Zechariah 8

    Starting from the comfort the Scriptures give, the exhortation takes God’s question in Zechariah 8:6, ‘if it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant... should it also be marvellous in mine eyes?‘, and applies it to the believer’s hope of Christ’s return, the kingdom and bodily change.

21. Minding the Things of the SpiritNo. 100 · 1 October 1878 · 21 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s contrast between those who are after the flesh and those who are after the spirit, the speaker says the weekly breaking of bread does not lose its interest, and that the world is almost wholly given to the things of the flesh.

22. Gentile Fellow-Heirship and Walking Worthy of the CallingNo. 101 · 1 November 1878 · 29 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s words in Ephesians about the mystery that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, the speaker argues that orthodox believers in the immortality of the soul cannot understand it, since before Paul’s mission the Gentiles were without hope and were admitted only through the gospel.

23. Paul as the Appointed Pattern for BelieversNo. 102 · 1 December 1878 · 27 min read aloud

    Starting from the proverb that he who walks with wise men shall be wise, the speaker says that society dismisses Paul as obsolete, whereas Christ chose him and he repeatedly told believers to follow his example.

24. Baruch’s Sorrow and God’s Message to HimNo. 112 · 1 October 1879 · 19 min read aloud

    Takes Baruch, Jeremiah’s companion, as a sorrowing man, and shows from Jeremiah and James that the prophets were fellow-sufferers with believers today.

25. Election by Moral Fitness: Romans 9 ConcludedNo. 124 · 1 October 1880 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Romans 9

    Returns to Romans 9 and argues that God’s family is not developed on mere descent but on faith and docility like Abraham’s, so that heirs must do the works of Abraham.

26. Right Views of Life: Tyre, Britain, PaulNo. 135 · 1 November 1881 · 29 min read aloud · Read: 1 Chronicles 15, Ezekiel 27, Ezekiel 28, Galatians 1

    The exhortation argues that right views of life are of great consequence, since human life and history look aimless without the testimony of Scripture.

27. Prophecy’s Delay and the Parable of the SowerNo. 150 · 1 November 1883 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 12

    Taking Peter’s call to desire the sincere milk of the word, the speaker turns to Ezekiel 12, where the proverb ‘the days are prolonged and every vision faileth’ was rebuked, and compares it with the scorn now met at the delay of Christ’s coming.

28. Equal with the Angels: Confidence, Joy and DoingNo. 157 · 1 June 1884 · 26 min read aloud

    Starts from the prospect of being made equal to the angels and notes that Christ says not all who are called will be chosen.

29. Light from Job, Jonah and HebrewsNo. 175 · 1 February 1887 · 27 min read aloud

    Taking the morning’s three readings as the “words” of God that give light, the speaker finds in Job a rich man who used wealth faithfully and a pattern of patience toward God in unexplained trouble, which God uses to teach dependence and which is the preliminary discipline of those who will inherit the kingdom.

← All topics · All exhortations by year