“What Jesus Has to Say about Money”
July 29, 2007
I am scared to death to be speaking about the subjects of the next three weeks. This message is not about our present church financial issues.
We live in a society that is fascinated with money, sex and power (pride). We are bombarded with cultural messages that tell us that if we want to be truly happy we will seek out these three things. The problem is that our society has a distorted view of how to gain these, how to handle these, and how to control these. In order to gain a better understanding, I feel it necessary for us to tackle some difficult subject matter to see what Jesus has to say about it.
Our culture is saturated with negative images of life. Everyday, the average American is bombarded with 3,000 images of advertisements. The main message behind these ads is usually one of money, sex, and power.
“Throughout history, and in our own experience, money, sex and power seem inseparably intertwined. Money manifests itself as power. Sex is used to acquire both money and power. And power is often called the best aphrodisiac.” Richard Foster, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life
In and of themselves, money, sex and power are not evil. In fact, they are God’s design and idea. However, in our human experience we have distorted and confused God’s plan with our own desires. What we need to experience today is a renewed vision of God’s purpose and plans for our lives in these areas that so strongly dominate our culture.
Over the course of the next three weeks we are going to look at the negative influences of money, sex and power. We are also going to look at what Jesus has to say about them and what principle we can learn from the words of Christ to help us deal with these areas of life in a biblical and godly fashion.
We must never forget that the power of God is the ability to change lives that have been distorted by human desire.
Alice Cooper
“Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s rebellion.” That’s an especially interesting perspective coming from a man who works with a guillotine every night.
At the height of his worldwide fame, Cooper drank a bottle of whiskey a day. But the bottle almost destroyed his marriage to Sheryl, his wife of twenty-five years. He started heading off to church with her and felt as if God was speaking to him every Sunday. Even at the pinnacle of his ghoulish career (which he believed was no more provocative than a horror movie musical) he still believed in God. The son and grandson of preachers, Cooper’s faith was crippled by the weight of fame and the toxicity of alcoholism.
He experienced every pleasure that money could buy but found it did not satisfy. “I was the prodigal son. I left the house, achieved fame and fortune, and found out that that was not what I wanted,” he tells HM magazine. “Now I read the Bible every day, I pray every day. That’s really what I’m about.” He continues: “I was one thing at one time, and I’m something new. I’m a new creature now. Don’t judge Alice by what he used to be. Praise God for what I am now.”
At then end of the day, the question we all must answer is “Am I willing to be changed by the eternal truth of Jesus?”
Today, we are talking about money. We have a tendency to feel like the church is always about money. We have this idea that money is the driving force of church life and people are skeptical that the church is after their money. I want you to understand that my goal is not for you to give more to the church. My goal is for you to have a biblical understanding about the role of money in your life and what Jesus had to say about the issue. We often feel like speaking about money is a taboo, but Jesus spoke more about money than he did any other subject except the Kingdom of God.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 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! 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.”
Matthew 6:19-24 (NIV)
This verse is often used by pastors to convince people in the church to give more. The context is so much greater.
Whatever has your heart is your god.
Jesus notes that money can be a threat to our relationship to God.
The word that Jesus uses for money in this passage is an Aramaic word that brings about a personal and spiritual characteristic of money. What Jesus is saying is that money is a power that tries to control us. Behind money is a very real spiritual force that if not put under the authority of God is capable of inspiring devotion in our lives.
“Our hearts have room only for one all-embracing devotion, and we can only cleave to one Lord.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Let’s look at a couple of instances where Jesus interacts with people on the issue of money and see it from the reality that money is a rival competing for our devotion.
“Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" Jesus said, "Why do you question me about what’s good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you." The man asked, "What in particular?" Jesus said, "Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself." The young man said, "I’ve done all that. What’s left?" "If you want to give it all you’ve got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me." That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go. As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God’s kingdom? Let me tell you, it’s easier to gallop a camel through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter God’s kingdom." The disciples were staggered. "Then who has any chance at all?" Jesus looked hard at them and said, "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it." Matthew 19:16-26 (The Message)
The instruction makes sense only when we see that money had become a rival god seeking his complete devotion. Richard Foster
Jesus did not chase after him and water down the message. He did not say he was only speaking metaphorically. He said that it was almost impossible for a rich man to get into heaven. Why?
Many times the more we have the more we worship what we have.
Money causes very real fear in our lives. We are afraid that we have too little and we are afraid that we have too much. Our fears are often irrational.
Those who own a car are among the world’s upper class. Those who own a home are wealthier than 95% of the world’s population. Yet for many of us, we have an unhealthy view of money. If we only had more life would be better. If we only did more life would be better. If we only gave more life would be better.
Let’s look at another instance where Jesus dealt with money as a “false god.”
“Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 "It is written," he said to them, "’My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ’den of robbers.’ " Matthew 21: 12-13 (NIV)
The clearing of the temple was a deliberate act to symbolize the cleansing of Israel of its worship of money.
The temple trade was good business in many ways. It provided goods for worship and although prices were inflated, they were not overbearing. But Jesus saw through all that to the idolatry, the threat of worship of the one true God.
Two final thoughts:
1) Money is not the path to heaven.
Giving more to the church will not increase your standing with God. True life with God only comes from faith in Jesus.
2) Money can be a rival to your love of God.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV)
Note that the scripture does not say money is evil. The love of money is the beginning of evil.
What role does money play in your life? Is it a competing god? Is it a distortion of the truth of God? Does it give you a sense of impending failure or a sense of security?
In the fall we will be holding a small group series on dealing with the issues of money and finances.
