Category Archives: God and money

1 Timothy 6:6-10 (ESV)
⁶  But godliness with contentment is great gain, ⁷  for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. ⁸  But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. ⁹  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 (ESV)
¹⁷  As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. ¹⁸  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, ¹⁹  thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

 Our lesson today is on a topic that you know something  about.  Our  topic  is  money.  Yes, money, money, money. I cannot open my eyes without seeing money. You are wearing clothes and they cost money. The roof of this building, the brick walls, the lights came about because of money. You have eaten or you will eat food today. It will be in your stomach. In other words, money is not only something you see, it is something within you. Food costs money.

The parking lot costs money. If we had in our church treasury the money that our automobiles cost, it would be one huge chunk of money. Money got us here. Money will keep us here. Money will take us back home. Money is as close as our bread. The idea that we could live without money is absurd. The idea that money within itself is evil is absurd.

Thank God for money. It puts food on our tables, clothes on our backs; it brings us the necessities and the privileges of life. So, when I talk about money, I am talking about that which even little children can understand. God has nothing against money.

It is not only necessary, but Paul says God gives it to us richly, so that we might have things to enjoy. God is happy to bless His people. He wants us rich, not poor. He wants us fed, not hungry. He wants us happy, not miserable. He wants us to be better, not worse. He wants us to be more responsible, more blessed, and more generous. If He can use money to reach these goals, wonderful!

Now I want to make a statement. I hope by the time our sermon is concluded you will have memorized it. It is a simple statement. It is what Paul said in the two passages that we have read today. Will you please listen to it. “If you have money, that’s good; if money has you, that’s bad!” That is all Paul taught in 1 Timothy 6. “If you have money, that’s good; if money has you, that’s bad!”

Money, Paul says, is a great servant. Missionaries can be sent out with it. Orphans and widows can be fed with it. God can be glorified with it.

But money is a bad master. It ruins, destroys, alienates, and corrupts. Money is a blessing, a responsibility. The Bible plainly says in 1 Timothy 6:19, as well as in Matthew 6, that you cannot take money with you but you can send it on ahead.

Jesus said we can lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Paul says in verse 19 that while you can’t “bring it in” and you can’t “take it out,” you can “lay it up” in heaven. You can send it ahead. We can open an account in heaven’s bank.

1. “IF MONEY HAS YOU, THAT’S BAD!”

In the two paragraphs I have read there is no contradiction.  Two  distinct  truths  are  being taught in these two paragraphs. Somebody has said, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” That is true. We can know just enough to make fools out of ourselves.

Many people think that money within itself is bad. We think it is bad to be rich. We think it is bad to have money. We think God does not want us  to  have  money.  But  we  have  misquoted 1 Timothy 6. We have said money is the root of all kinds of evil. The Bible doesn’t teach that notion. The Bible says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Nowhere does the Bible teach that money within itself is evil.

A lot of people have read the two passages I have read and concluded that the Bible contra- dicts itself. They think Paul teaches us in the first passage to avoid being rich. Then he turns around and says in the second passage that if you are, here is how to live.

Listen to what Paul taught in 1 Timothy 6:6-10. Will you look at verse 9. If we would read what the Bible says rather than read our preconceived ideas, we would learn the truth about money. A lot of times when we read the Bible we are reading it out of our minds rather than with what our eyes are seeing again. Paul said in verse 9, “They that are minded to be rich. . . .” Some of you have said, “That doesn’t apply to me.” You

say, “Brother Hodge, I am not rich, and Paul said those that are rich had better watch out.” That is not  what Paul said. Paul said, “They that are greedy. . . .” We need to restore an old Greek word here: avarice. That is Greek for greed. Here is  a  man  who  grabs.  He  is  selfish.  He  has “wantitis.” His eyes are bigger than his tummy. He says, “I’ve got to have this. I’m gonna have this.” He is a covetous man, a lover of money. Paul did not say, “They that are rich. . . .” He said, “They that are minded to be rich. . . .” A man as poor as Job’s turkey is in verse 9 as well as a man that has a jillion dollars. He is not talking about what you  have;  he is talking about what you want.  A man without a dime in his blue jeans who wants a million is condemned in verse 9, and a man who has a million and wants a second million is condemned in verse 9. The million is not the issue; the greed, the lust, the avarice; the covetousness is what God is condemning.

Then verse 10 says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” He is talking to all of us. What is our attitude about money? He says if you want it, if it leads you around by the nose, you will be tempted. Oh, there are all kinds of temptations for people who don’t know how to handle money. He says you will be in a snare— that is an animal trap. Remember how we used to try to trap mink and fox with all kinds of manipulations. He says a man who craves money will find himself in all kinds of bear traps. Paul mentioned “hurtful lusts.” A covetous man faces temptations which drown men. He says it is not worth it. There is not a friendship on earth that is worth money. Your own honesty, integrity, and self-respect are not worth the price of money. He says these men, these men that lust and covet, these greedy men, selfish men, yes, they will err from the faith. They will leave the simplicities of the New Testament life and they will “pierce themselves through with many sorrows.” Paul is showing us the pathetic conditions men find themselves in, not because of money but because of their lust and desire for it. One man said, “To whom little is not enough, nothing is enough.”

I want to throw out real quickly a word we don’t  use  anymore,  the  word  content.  I  have never heard that word in a prayer. Maybe you have. Maybe I have missed it. I have never had parents come in to me and say, “Preacher, I just hope my children turn out to be contented.” I never get in a meeting of the men of the church where we say, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to teach contentment.” How many of us today can honestly say, “I am content”? Did you know Paul commands this of everyone of us? He says if you have food and raiment, you need to be content. There is not an adult here today that doesn’t have food in his tummy, clothes on his back, and a roof over his head. I am not talking about the Rockefellers and the sheiks of Araby. I am talking about us. If we have enough to eat and have health, what more can a man want? What more can a Rockefeller have than I have?

There is not one thing more he can have. I am healthier than he is. I eat as well as he eats. My car will get here just about as fast as his. Paul says, “Hodge, you had better be content.” The more a man has to keep, the more a man has to lose. “If you have money, that’s good. If money has you, that’s bad!”

1. “IF YOU HAVE MONEY, THAT’S GOOD!”

Let us drop down to our second reading in verse 17. He says, “Charge them that are rich.” Verses 9 and 17 are about two different people. Verse 9 refers to “they that will be rich”; verse 17 refers to “they that are rich. “ Here is a blessing that is now a responsibility.

God says Christians can be rich. Paul didn’t say, “I charge them that are rich that they have to give every penny of it away.” We read where Jesus told one young man, the rich young ruler, “Your problem is avarice.” His problem was not money. It was his love and trust in money. Jesus was trying to do that boy a big favor. He said, “If you will get ‘moneyitis’ out of your eyes and heart and come and be a Christian, you will be a good  man;  but  until  that  time  you  have  got trouble.” No, Paul didn’t say that if you have money, you have to give it away. Some people say, “Christianity is Communism.” No, no, no, folks. Communism says, “What is yours is mine; I’ll take it.” There is no volunteering in Communism. Communism says, “If you have a dollar, I’ll take it.” Paul didn’t say if a man in the church is rich, take it away from him. No, the Bible doesn’t teach Communism in any form or fashion.

Paul says, since God has blessed you and you have a talent, you have a privilege, you have an opportunity. He says, “I want to give you a special charge; I want to give you some special commands.” Notice what these three truths or commands are.

Number one, be not highminded. Somebody says, “I’ll out-dress my fellow Christians. I’ll out-diamond my fellow Christians. I’ll live in such a way that I can look down my nose upon the brethren.” This attitude gets into the church more than we want to admit. We run harder after rich men than we do after poor men.

As far as I can detect, the little widow didn’t have much to say in Mark 12. But Jesus said that little old widow had more religion than all of them put together.

Brethren,  we  are  rich.  If  you  look  at  the world’s economy, any man that makes over five hundred dollars a year is rich. Compared with almost any place, the poorest man in Rosemont is a rich man. Somebody says “He’s taking about jillionaires and all those guys downtown who own the banks.” No, Jesus is talking to me. By any kind of a worldly standard, Charles Hodge is rich. People on Social Security in the United States are rich, so some of you had better wake up. You say, “He’s talking to somebody else.” No. Jesus is talking to you and me and He says money in your hip pocket ought not go to your head. Just because you can write a big check should not do anything to your mind. It doesn’t make you better. It doesn’t give you a right to run the church. It doesn’t give you superiority. Paul says it ought to humble you that God has blessed you, that God can use you, that you have the privilege of sharing your blessings with less fortunate men. Paul says if you have money, don’t let it go to your head.

Number two, trust not in money. There is the problem. A man believed in God and said, “God, I’ll go with you all the way.” Then, when he got some money, he said, “God, I don’t need you.” I remember back in World War II that a P-47 got out of control. That was a fighter plane, which was also called the F-47. It had a four- blade prop and two thousand horsepower. It dived out of control and the man blacked out. They estimated he exceeded the speed of sound. He approached nine hundred miles an hour, which back in the early ’40’s was a rare occurrence. Someway, the plane rode it out. The boy, of course, had on his oxygen mask and in a minute or two he came to. He looked out and everything was all right. He said this: “Thank you, God. Now I’ll take back over.” I was a little boy when I read that, and I have never forgotten it. This is kind of the way we live life. We want God in a dark night, when we are between a rock and a hard place, but in level life, in everyday life, we say, “I’ll just handle it. I don’t need anybody.” But God says, “I want rich people always to put their trust in Me.” I don’t care if you have a million dollars. It does not give you one reason less for trusting God. You need God even more than you did when you were poor.

Number three, use it—be givers, be communicators, be distributors. If God gives you a mil- lion, it is not for your own selfish indulgence, for your own little sandpile castle down by the beach. But you are to look around and see boys and girls who need God. You are to see widows and orphans who need God. You are to see the less fortunate people and you are to have a compassionate heart. You are to have a generous pocketbook and write many big-sized checks. Why? God has given. And the Bible says of those to whom much is given, much is required. God gives me money, not for me but for everybody. I am a channel, a dispenser. I am a bank through which God can allocate His funds. You didn’t bring anything in; you are not going to take anything out. But Paul says to the rich, “You can send it on ahead.”

Do you have money? If so, that’s good. Does money have you? If so, that is bad. Do you want money? Are you greedy and covetous  after  money  and  power?  Have  you used the blessings that God has given you? We are all rich today. We are all filled. We are all blessed. We are the world’s richest people. We

need to thank God today and say: “God, give us money. Help us then to share it, to distribute it, and to give it. Teach us compassion and humility.”

Money as a Master – Paul says greed is a form of idolatry (Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5). Luke is teaching us the same thing in his gospel. In Luke 12:15 Jesus says to listeners: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

What is greed? In the surrounding passages of Luke 11 and 12, Jesus warned people about worrying over their possessions. For Jesus, greed is not only love of money, but excessive anxiety about it. He lays out the reason our emotions are so powerfully controlled by our bank account—”a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

To “consist” of your possessions is to be defined by what you own and consume. The term describes a personal identity based on money. It refers to people who, if they lose their wealth, do not have a “self” left, for their personal worth is based on their financial worth.

Later Jesus comes right out and calls this what it is. “No servant 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.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”

Luke 16:13–15 Jesus uses all the basic biblical metaphors for idolatry and applies them to greed and money. According to the Bible, idolaters do three things with their idols. They love them, trust them, and obey them.

“Lovers of money” are those who find themselves daydreaming and fantasizing about new ways to make money, new possessions to buy, and looking with jealousy on those who have more than they do.

“Trusters of money” feel they have control of their lives and are safe and secure because of their wealth. Idolatry also makes us “servants of money.” Just as we serve earthly kings and magistrates, so we “sell our souls” to our idols. Because we look to them for our significance (love) and security (trust) we have to have them, and therefore we are driven to serve and, essentially, obey them.

When Jesus says that we “serve” money, he uses a word that means the solemn, covenantal service rendered to a king. If you live for money you are a slave. If, however, God becomes the center of your life, that dethrones and demotes money. If your identity and security is in God, it can’t control you through worry and desire. It is one or the other.

You either serve God, or you become open to slavery to Mammon. Nowhere is this slavery more evident than in the blindness of greedy people to their own materialism. Notice that in Luke 12 Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” That is a remarkable statement.

Think of another traditional sin that the Bible warns against—adultery. Jesus doesn’t say, “Be careful you aren’t committing adultery!” He doesn’t have to. When you are in bed with someone else’s spouse—you know it. Halfway through you don’t say, “Oh, wait a minute! I think this is adultery!” You know it is. Yet, even though it is clear that the world is filled with greed and materialism, almost no one thinks it is true of them. They are in denial.

Sin in our hearts affects our basic motivational drives so they become idolatrous, “deep idols.” Some people are strongly motivated by a desire for influence and power, while others are more excited by approval and appreciation. Some want emotional and physical comfort more than anything else, while still others want security, the control of their environment.

People with the deep idol of power do not mind being unpopular in order to gain influence. People who are most motivated by approval are the opposite—they will gladly lose power and control as long as everyone thinks well of them. Each deep idol—power, approval, comfort, or control—generates a different set of fears and a different set of hopes.

“Surface idols” are things such as money, our spouse, or children, through which our deep idols seek fulfillment. We are often superficial in the analysis of our idol structures. For example, money can be a surface idol that serves to satisfy more foundational impulses.

Some people want lots of money as a way to control their world and life. Such people usually don’t spend much money and live very modestly. They keep it all safely saved and invested, so they can feel completely secure in the world.

Others want money for access to social circles and to make themselves beautiful and attractive. These people do spend their money on themselves in lavish ways.

Other people want money because it gives them so much power over others. In every case, money functions as an idol and yet, because of various deep idols, it results in very different patterns of behavior.

The person using money to serve a deep idol of control will often feel superior to people using money to attain power or social approval. In every case, however, money-idolatry enslaves and distorts lives.

¹³  Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴  But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵  And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶  And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, ¹⁷  and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸  And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹  And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ ²⁰  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹  So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Jesus had no qualms talking about materialism. There are 196 verses in the Gospels on money. Jesus actually talked about materialism more than anything else. Our greatest temptation and sin is materialism. The word  materialism  makes us feel uncomfortable. We all have one huge problem handling materialism. It also reveals that Jesus confronted life out on the streets-not down at the seminary. Jesus confronts us in daily living.

USED. A man attempted to “use” Jesus. This aspect in preaching is seldom taught in “preacher schools.”

Aristides (1^st century):“They walk in all humility and kindness, and falsehood is not found among them, and they love one another. They despise not the widow, and grieve not the orphan.  He  that  hath, distributeth liberally to him that hath not. If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof, and rejoice over him, as it were their own brother: for they call themselves brethren, not after the flesh, but after the spirit and in God; but when one of their poor passes away from the world, and any of them see him, then he provides for his burial according to his ability; and if they hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of them provide for his needs, and if it is possible that he may be delivered, they deliver him. And if there is among them a man that is poor and needy, and they have not an abundance of necessaries, they fast two or three days that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.”

In this context came Jesus’ advice on materialism: “beware of covetousness.” This is the real issue. Covetous members can put preachers in “hot water.” Covetous preachers keep themselves in “hot water.”

ABUSED. Materialism is deceitful (Matthew 12:22). In the foundation parable Jesus said the deceitfulness of riches kept people from faithfulness. It literally “chokes out” spirituality. If Satan cannot get you with adversity he will use prosperity. Prosperity is the acid test. In my experience I have cried watching good brethren lose their faith over riches. “I  liked them better when poor.”

In the Parable of the Rich Fool Jesus said therich man mistook his soul for his body. You do not feed your soul with stuff stored in barns. Barns do not give security to the soul. A bigger barn usually makes a shriveled soul. The rich man also mistook himself for God. He thought he was in charge of life. Life is a vapor, a cloud, a cut flower. He also mistook time for eternity. He never saw beyond himself.

Men always think they can control money. I, personally, am scared of money. Money, in time, controls us. The tyranny of possessions! You have more to worry about and fret over. Barns really do not make men happy.

Material possessions are destroyed by moths, rust, and thieves (Matthew 6:19-21). Riches deteriorate in the form of inflation and the declining worth of the dollar. They ultimately fail. The rich fool had “eye trouble.” “I” was used six times in three verses. Paradoxically, the rich fool was a shining example of our success syndrome! He was  hard-working,  shrewd,  successful—yet empty. The rich fool expended all his wealth upon himself. Then, the Bible says, “He died.” The congregation that does the same “dies.”

1 Timothy 6:6–10 (ESV) But godliness with contentment is great gain, ⁷ for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Colossians 3:5 (ESV) Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

1 Timothy 6:6-10 and Colossians 3:5 contain some frightening language. Brethren pierce themselves with many sorrows. You could go insane if you really knew the materialism in any given congregation. Beware of covetousness!

The Deceitfulness of Wealth

Friedrich Nietzsche had a theory. He wrote that, with the absence of God growing in Western culture, we would replace God with money.

What induces one man to use false weights, another to set his house on fire after having insured it for more than its value, while three-fourths of our upper classes indulge in legalized fraud . . . what gives rise to all this? It is not real want—for their existence is by no means precarious . . . but they are urged on day and night by a terrible impatience at seeing their wealth pile up so slowly, and by an equally terrible longing and love for these heaps of gold. . . .

What once was done “for the love of God” is now done for the love of money, i.e., for the love of that which at present affords us the highest feeling of power and a good conscience.

In short, Nietzsche foretold that money in Western culture would become perhaps its main counterfeit god. Innumerable writers and thinkers have been pointing out “the culture of greed” that has been eating away at no one thinks that change is around the corner. Why? It’s because greed and avarice are especially hard to see in ourselves.

Greed hides itself from the victim. The money god’s modus operandi includes blindness to your own heart. Why can’t anyone in the grip of greed see it? The counterfeit god of money uses powerful sociological and psychological dynamics.

Everyone tends to live in a particular socioeconomic bracket. Once you are able to afford to live in a particular neighborhood, send your children to its schools, and participate in its social life, you will find yourself surrounded by quite a number of people who have more money than you. You don’t compare yourself to the rest of the world, you compare yourself to those in your bracket.

The human heart always wants to justify itself and this is one of the easiest ways. You say, “I don’t live as well as him or her or them. My means are modest compared to theirs.” You can reason and think like that no matter how lavishly you are living. As a result, most Americans think of themselves as middle class, and only 2 percent call themselves “upper class.”

But the rest of the world is not fooled. When people visit here from other parts of the globe, they are staggered to see the level of materialistic comfort that the majority of Americans have come to view as a necessity. Jesus warns people far more often about greed than about sex, yet almost no one thinks they are guilty of it.

Therefore we should all begin with a working hypothesis that “this could easily be a problem for me.” If greed hides itself so deeply, no one should be confident that it is not a problem for them. How can we recognize and become free from the power of money to blind us?