Money Your Master Or Your Servant

Money Your Master Or Your Servant

1/9/2000 Proverbs 1:8-19 I Timothy 6:6-16

Money is one of the things Jesus spends a lot of time talking about, because the way in which we use our money says more about the health of our spiritual life than anything else that we use. It does not matter how much or how little money we may have, we must still ask the question, "is money my master or my servant in my life." Everybody is going to have some money in their lives. You get a different feeling inside when you reach into your pocket and pull out a wad of Franklins than you do when you reach in and come out empty.

Now we say money can’t buy happiness, but do we believe it. No. Do you realize that somebody can give you a million dollars and your happiness can be changed in less than 10 minutes. If the same person then turns around and for no apparent reason gives everybody else in the church 5 million each. Most of us would have a hard time being happy and content with our one million simply because everybody else got 5 million and we got one. The problem is knowing, they can buy more than we can.

The Bible does not teach there is any value in being broke or being poor. Not having any money in your pockets or bank account is not going to make you more spiritual. It takes money to live. What the bible does teach is balance. God wants us to realize that it is never in the power of things to bring contentment to our lives.

William Barclay said of money: Money in itself is neither good nor bad; it is simply dangerous in that the love of it may become bad. With money a person can do much good; and with money he can do much evil. With money a person can selfishly serve his own desires; and with money he can generously answer to the cry of his neighbor’s need. With money a person can buy her way to the forbidden things and facilitate the path of wrongdoing; and with money she can make it easier for someone else to live as God meant her to live. Money brings power, and power is always a double- edged thing, for it is powerful to good and powerful to evil.

The bible does not teach money is the root of all evil. It does not teach that the love of money is the root of all evils. It does teach that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some of us sacrifice our families for the love of money. We’re working two and three jobs trying to get rich, with no time to invest in the lives of those we supposedly love.

Some of us intentionally choose to stop growing in Christ for the love of money. We tell God, I will not tithe no matter how much money I make. Some of us sacrifice our values and principles because we want to get rich. We steal and embezzle from our companies and then claim a mental disability of some sort or another.

Money allows us to become gods. We can get what we want, go where we want, and do just about anything we want as long as we have enough money. So we’re tempted to keep on buying, keep on going, and keep on doing. The love of money causes us three main problems. It causes us to become jealous of what others have. It causes us to wander away from the faith. It causes us to pierce ourselves with many sorrows. There’s a lot of people in jail today driven by the love of money.

The bible teaches there is a difference between wanting to get rich at all cost and obtaining wealth. It condemns the first position and commends the second. Jesus expects us to be wise with what God blesses us to have. Remember the story of the talents in which people are given five, two and one talents. Jesus commends the servants who takes their money and get more, whereas he yells at the servant who wastes what is given to him. Jesus says, if you had of just put the money in the bank, I would have gotten something for it. Jesus has no problem with us investing for the future to make a profit.

We are told in the Bible the first enemy of collecting wealth is laziness. Prov 6:6-7 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. Even an ant knows it has to prepare for the future today, if it expects to make it tomorrow. Young people God has made available to you thousands of dollars as soon as you get out of high school if. But only if you are like the ant who is smart enough to work hard today because it knows tomorrow is coming.