A Spiritual Lesson In Toon Language: Lesson 24
Topic: Spiritual Contentment VS. The Love Of Money
Series: Tom And Jerry
Episode: The Million Dollar Cat
Lesson PDF link: 24.pdf
Introduction
As the title of this lesson indicates, we are talking about both spiritual contentment and the love of money. We are discussing which one is better. This may even no doubt be easy to answer on the surface. However, this is hard to put into practice. This in a sense can be made into an extension of the Greed lesson (Lesson 13), but this in my opinion is a slightly different lesson.
For this lesson though, I used the Tom and Jerry episode "The Million Dollar Cat" to illustrate this lesson. It looks painfully obvious after this cartoon that the love of money isn't worth it. We are showing definitely why we should follow the Bible's teachings and heed the quote: Buy the truth and do not sell it.
Scriptures Used Include: Proverbs 23: 23, Matthew 13: 44-46; Matthew 19: 16-30; Proverbs 15: 16-17; Matthew 6: 19-24; Psalms
What is your idea of the word contentment? Is this the same as joy or happiness?
Introductory Bible Study: Proverbs 23: 23, Matthew 13: 44-46.
The Bible States In Proverbs 23: 23
23 Buy the truth and do not sell it - wisdom, instruction and insight as well.
The Bible States In Matthew 13: 44-46:
44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."
45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls."
46 "When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."
One passage talks about buying the truth, the other passage talks about the Kingdom of Heaven like finding treasure in the field and then buying the field and then about buying a pearl. Why do you think that Jesus links buying this field or a pearl to the Kingdom of Heaven? What do you think about the words of Proverbs 23:23a which is "buy the truth and do not sell it"?
Cartoon Show: We are going to look at a cartoon that talks about a situation in which contentment isn't found because of the circumstances. I will now show the Tom And Jerry short "The Million Dollar Cat".
Cartoon Show: Tom and Jerry: "The Million Dollar Cat":
Bible Study I: Matthew 19: 16-30
The Bible States:
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
17 "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments."
18 "Which ones?" he inquired. Jesus replied, "'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony,'"
19 "'honor your father and mother,'and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"
20 "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven."
24 "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
27 Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?"
28 Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life."
30 "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."
In this lesson, we will say that Tom and Jerry are doing what they are supposed to do In God's sight. This even includes the professional looking "William Tell" game that Tom is playing with Jerry because it looks like they are rehearsing for a show to me or something similar. Enter the telegram that Tom receives here. How did Tom react to the telegram and how did Tom's personality change? How would you react? Would you change who you are physically and/or spiritually? In short order, we see that Jerry isn't very nice to Tom. Why? What would you do in real life if you had a problem like Tom has here?
Bible Study II: If we look at Proverbs 15: 1617, we see something interesting to answer the question correctly.
The Bible states:
Pr 15:16 Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.
Pr 15:17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.
In the main scripture we are studying, Jesus is talking to the rich young man and the man is sad. Why? The man according to Jesus isn't content with the right thing and is spiritually poor. This rich young man loves his money more and therefore is discontented with Jesus's words. However, Jesus's words are the very means for him to be truly content spiritually. On top of this, Jesus has the words for true general spiritual contentment for us.
The Bible States In Matthew 6: 19-24:
Mt 6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Mt 6:20 "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Mt 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Mt 6:22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
Mt 6:23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Mt 6:24 No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
Food For Thought:
What have we learned? How will you apply this lesson to your life? I want to leave you with yet another scripture. It is probably the most familiar besides John 3:16, or the Golden Rule. It is Psalms 23. It is the biggest picture of spiritual contentment that I see in the Bible. Just think!! If we sell ourselves out to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we will have nothing but this in our future; not even death can destroy it, nor your enemies, or even Satan (the biggest enemy of them all)!!!
The Bible States:
Ps 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
Ps 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
Ps 23:3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Ps 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Ps 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Ps 23:6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
It is important that we remember just like buying that field or the pearl that we commit all our resources to Jesus Christ. He knows exactly where we need to put it so His kingdom's goal of salvation is met in as many as possible and as many lives get changed for the better. We cannot be selfish or greedy because we know where our resources first come from. We also know in the end that the promise is clear.
We will be blessed in ways we can't imagine as well, however we don't know what that particular blessing entails, except that eternal life in Christ is definite. We also know that money or land etc. is important, we just need to help as many with it as possible that need some blessings too. True life in Jesus is our goal and He has to be the most important thing, only He knows what's best for us in respect to His kingdom. We need to be ready to serve where needed with any resource that's needed. This could include time, money, land, or any other thing God sees fit. Pray about this in earnest, do what God needs you to do, be fully committed and be blessed.