1242 verses about Materialism

As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, see what kind of stones and what kind of buildings!”

But there were some who were indignant among themselves, saying, “Why has this ointment been wasted?

For this might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor.” They grumbled against her.

He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty.

The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want.

If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.”

“But woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation.

Woe to you, you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again.

But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts.

Other fell amid the thorns, and the thorns grew with it, and choked it.

That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey—neither staffs, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats each.

For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?

Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way.

But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces.

One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”

He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”

He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly.

He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’

He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’

So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear.

Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height?

Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious.

For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.

But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.

Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken,

They all as one began to make excuses. “The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.’

“Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.’

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?

So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.

The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ He divided his livelihood between them.

Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.

When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.

He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions.

I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.

If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.

He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.

They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;

In that day, he who will be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back.

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’

When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me.”

But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.

Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!

For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”

Peter said, “Look, we have left everything, and followed you.”

There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

He said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina away from him, and give it to him who has the ten minas.’

“They said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’

‘For I tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.

He entered into the temple, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it,

Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” They answered, “Caesar’s.”

“Beware of those scribes who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts;

He looked up, and saw the rich people who were putting their gifts into the treasury.

As some were talking about the temple and how it was decorated with beautiful stones and gifts, he said,

“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.

He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting.

To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!”

Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.

“Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?”

For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.”

All who believed were together, and had all things in common.

They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.

The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.

For neither was there among them any who lacked, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession,

until there arose a different king, who didn’t know Joseph.

They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen,

whom he gathered together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, “Sirs, you know that by this business we have our wealth.

Not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be counted as nothing, and her majesty destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worships.”

I coveted no one’s silver, or gold, or clothing.

You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in fleshly things.

For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.

But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble;

Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,

For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.

No, but you yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that against your brothers.

nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.

“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.