THE LOVE OF MONEY
Study Text: 1 Timothy 6: 6 - 10
Introduction:
- There is a tremendous difference between money and the love of money. And what Paul speaks of here to Timothy is not a Christian possessing money, but money possessing a Christian, or money possessing anyone, for that matter.
- He is speaking of the love of money giving rise to something evil, the love of money causing something evil, the love of money being that from which something evil springs.
- So, when you love money something evil happens, something evil springs from that root, something evil grows and is nurtured by that love you have for money.
- Now, by "all evil" we must not understand that all instances of evil can trace their origin to the love of money. Because we know that there was no money in the Garden of Eden, and yet Eve sinned, and so did Adam. So, Paul does not here refer to every instance of evil having as its source as the love of money.
- What he is saying here is that "all kinds of evil" is produced by the love of money. The love of money is the root of every imaginable kind of evil.
- The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. No one can imagine what sorts of evil springs from the heart of someone who loves money.
- You do know that men have killed for the love of money, that women have sold themselves into prostitution for the love of money, mothers and fathers sell their own children for the love of money.
- We shall discuss the topic under three sub-headings:
1. The Desire for Money
2. The Deception of Money
3. The Destruction by Money
1. The Desire for Money
- The love of money is not the only root of evil, but it is a powerful one. This is because loving money leads to all kinds of evil.
- The love of money is a decision or desire to pursue wealth for personal consumption and luxury. The love of money can be either a deliberate decision (“want to,” v. 9) or a desire (lust, v. 9) that hasn’t been carefully thought through.
- In either case, the person has a goal in life to make a lot of money so that he can enjoy life in style.
- The goal may stem from a lack of contentment, which in turn may be due to not having the purpose of godliness or the perspective of eternity.
- It may stem from “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:16), which tempt us all. But the love of money is an aim, a goal, a focus.
- Love of money can be a goal that sometimes is a deliberate choice, and sometimes just a strong inner longing to be rich.
- It stands in opposition to the contented Christian whose aim is godliness because his focus is on eternity, not on this fleeting world.
- Often this desire for wealth stems from pride. The person is seeking the affirmation and status that wealth brings. He needs to prove to himself and others that he really is somebody, and one way to do that is to make a lot of money, live in luxury, and impress people.
- In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
- Here, Jesus likens a “love of money” to idolatry. He refers to money as a “master” we serve at the expense of serving God. We are commanded by God to have “no other gods” before the only true and living God (Exodus 20:3; the first commandment).
- Anything that takes first place in our lives other than our Creator God is an idol and makes us guilty of breaking the first commandment.
- Jesus had much to say about wealth. His most memorable conversation about money is His encounter with the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16–30). The young man asks Jesus what he must do to obtain eternal life, and Jesus tells him to follow the commandments.
- When the man tells Jesus that he has done all that, Jesus tests his ability to obey the first commandment and tells him to sell all his possessions and give it to the poor and to follow Him. The young man couldn’t do this; his wealth had become an idol—it was his master!
- After this encounter, Jesus turns to His disciples and says, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23–24).
- Jesus is saying that wealth is one of the biggest obstacles to coming to faith in Christ. The reason is obvious: wealth becomes a slave master in our lives and drives us to do all sorts of things that drive us further and further away from God.
- In the Old Testament we have an example of Lot and Abraham. Abraham never wanted to get rich but God blessed him and he was rich. But Lot wanted to get rich. He went to Sodom to make money. What was the result? He destroyed himself.
- Balaam wanted to get rich as a preacher. What was the result? He lost his calling and went to hell.
- Gehazi, the servant of Elisha wanted to get rich. He not only missed the opportunity to be the next prophet after Elisha, but also brought leprosy upon himself and his children.
- Judas Iscariot wanted to get some money and he destroyed himself and went to hell. We have enough warning there.
- Demas could have been an apostle like Paul; he could have written scripture. Instead of that, he went after money and destroyed himself and lost his calling.
2. The Deception of Money
- The desire draws you in. If you don’t confront your love of money and tackle it by the roots every time you see it spring up in another corner of your life, it will delude you until it takes over and destroys you.
- Note verse 9: “fall into temptation and a snare.” A snare points to something hidden and unexpected. So the picture is that of an unsuspecting animal stepping on some branches only to discover, too late, that they cover a deep pit. The animal falls in and is trapped.
- The reason the pursuit of riches deceives is that money does not last and it never brings true happiness. You can be very wealthy, but it won’t extend your life if you get terminal diseases.
- Money will buy a bed but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements but not happiness; religion but not salvation; a passport to everywhere but not to heaven.
- Money can’t bring true happiness because it can’t reconcile us to God or to other people, because it doesn’t deal with our sinful self-will that alienates us from God and others.
- Only Christ through His death on the cross can forgive our sins. Only Christ can deal the death-blow to our love of self as we enthrone Jesus as our rightful Lord.
- He said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:23-25).
- Thus first is the desire for riches. If we don’t confront and crucify it every time it raises its head, it leads to the deception of riches.
3. The Destruction by Money
- And here is the danger: You want money so badly that it causes you, your love of money motivates you, so that you actually err from the faith. That is, you will stray from the Christian faith in your pursuit of, because of your love for, money.
- Some have left Churches where the truth of the word of God is being preached, to attend those that are not, simply because there were business prospects in the bad Churches.
- Anything that results in you erring from the faith, it’s bad. Recognize that the greatest evil is that which deprives you of the greatest good. Something bad is not to be evaluated by, how nasty you think it is, but by what good it takes from you and deprives you of.
- What, then, can remove you from the Christian faith? What will pull you away from God’s people, from Christ’s Church, and from the Gospel? The love of money. You’d better watch out. It’s worse than you think it is. More subtle. More dangerous.
- Now, the tragedy is that when someone departs from the faith they don’t think they have departed from the faith. They think they have made adjustments or become more sophisticated, but almost never do they believe they have departed from the faith
- A person pursuing riches can go along looking fine, but he isn’t prepared for a crisis. He hasn’t been living each day by trusting God and looking to Him, so when he is swamped by a catastrophe, he has nowhere to turn. He goes down.
- People who pursue riches “wander away from the faith.” The picture here is of a person getting lost. No one plans to get lost. It happens when you think you know where you’re going.
- Pursuing riches often seems like a shortcut to happiness. But if you go off in that direction, you’ll soon be far from the faith, lost and confused.
- Those who truly believe in Christ will root out the temptations that lure people to destruction. When Satan sets his trap of pursuing riches, a person born of God will resist and flee, seeing it for what it is (1 Tim. 6:11).
- Every time greed rears its head, a believer must deny that worldly desire, and rather, live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age (Titus 2:12).
Conclusion:
- The love of money is the root of all evil, causing some to depart from the faith, piercing themselves through with many sorrows.
- The desire for money will deceive and ultimately destroy you. Paul outlines a three step process: (1) The desire for money; (2) The deception of money; (3) The destruction caused by money.
- The desire draws you in; the deception gets you comfortable and oblivious to the danger; the destruction polishes you off.
