When my daughter was little, we were driving along a country road, and she spotted a deer. She asked, “Does the deer have any doe?” I said, “Ya. Two bucks.”
Today, we will have a look at “dough” and “bucks.” I am not referring to the kind of “deer” that God created, but rather when we hold the bucks and dough that man created too dear to our hearts.
I am talking about money.
The phrase, “Money is the root of all evil,” is one that is often used by both Christians and non-Christians alike.
[hold up money]
So, what makes this so bad? It actually says, “In God we trust,” on it, and we know that God is good, so how could this piece of paper be the root of all evil?
This piece of paper, especially when combined with others just like it can do great things – things that actually do serve God. So, why does the Bible tell us that it is the root of evil?
You heard it just a few moments ago in Paul’s letter to Timothy. The problem is, that’s only part of the sentence. Listen again to what the Bible actually says, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” It’s just a subtle difference between what the Bible says and what we humans often say, but it turns out that those few words have a great deal of significance in the meaning of what is being said.
Now that we have established that this in of itself is not evil, and is not the root of evil, but rather it is the love of this - this stuff – that is the root to all kinds of evil – and all kinds of problems.
What does it mean to love money? Does it mean to adore a piece of paper or admire hunks of metal?
To know what it means to love money, one have to ask, What, exactly, is money?
I would answer that question like this: Money is simply a token that has value only to humans, which is used to trade for other things of value with other humans. Because we live in a society where most of us do not grow our own food, build our own houses, or cars, and whatnot, we have to pay others to do these things for us. So, money is necessary.
This piece of paper is lifeless. It has no power. It does not hear or speak. It does not see. It has no feelings. But you know what? Even when people love money with all their hearts, money doesn’t ever love them back.
However, because other people want it, and will do a variety of things to get it, it can bring power to the one who has it. People tend to thirst for power. Money brings with it power that could be harnessed for good or unleashed for evil.
What comes into question here are two things.
How the power is obtained, and how the power is used.
People will do almost anything to possess this. Most of the things that they will do to get it are good and honorable, such as providing manual labor and or mental brainpower that benefits others, for which they are paid a salary.
However, There are people who want money so badly, and love it so dearly, they will do whatever it takes to get their hands on it, including commit dishonorable acts, such as lie, cheat, steal, rob and take advantage of other people, animals, and the environment without care or concern for others.
They will bring harm to others, and even commit murder. They will sell their souls to the devil, and some will even prostitute their own bodies for money. But why?
People tend to do harmful and evil things when they love money more than they love themselves.
When people place a high value of this – getting it, and then getting more and more of it, they have a tendency to drift away from God and toward all kinds of evil. They lose their focus on a loving God.
There are a number of legitimate ways to acquire money including:
Earn it.
It is certainly honorable to earn money, but when people get to a point where earning money steals their focus from other things, in an effort to “become somebody,” they often become somebody that they don’t like. Proverbs 23:4 states, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.”
Inherit it.
When money is inherited from someone who couldn’t take it with them, do remember, that there is a reason that they had to leave it behind. However, one must ask, “Did they leave it where it will do the most good – for God?”
Receive it as a gift.
Receiving money as a gift means that someone placed a value on you. What you do with it shows how much you appreciate their gift.
Obtain it in a settlement or insurance claim.
Money obtained in this way means that someone has suffered or is suffering.
And Win it.
People like to win money. People like to see other people win money. TV Game shows have been popular for decades.
People often daydream about winning big in the lottery. When I researched this sermon, I found that over 70% of lottery jackpot winners go bankrupt, financially, and often spiritually, morally, and every other kind of way.
In effect, money bought them misery.
Money can do things for people, but it can and often does things to people.
There is a video about a young couple. After a date, the man drives the woman home, parks the car, and then tells her that he has something that he wants to tell her. She also has something she wants to tell him. She lets him go first.
He says, “I don’t love you anymore and I want to break up.”
When she started to cry, he didn’t know what to say, so he asked her what it was that she wanted to tell him.
Through her tears, she said, “I won the lottery.”
Suddenly, he loves her again. Pfffft.
Money changes people. In this scenario, a man suddenly changed in that he wanted to marry a woman that he didn’t love – for money.
How people got their money, then what they do with it comes into question. A mistake that is often made is the notion that having an abundance of money not only brings power, but also brings a freedom from responsibilities.
What is true is that having a great deal money brings a great deal of responsibilities, and being wealthy does not excuse us from honoring our commitments to God.
People will thoughtlessly and heartlessly destroy God’s beautiful creations, including the planet on which we live – which was a gift from God – for money. That, in of itself tells God himself that His gifts are not appreciated, and that they have less value than money.
There is a prophecy that comes from the Cree Native American tribe:
“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”
Genesis 2:15 tells us that God made the earth, then made man to take care if it. That’s our purpose. Our focus should be on serving God, not money.
It’s not only having money, but worrying about money that is noted here. If we think we don’t have enough money, we tend to worry ourselves into slavery, with money being the master, which has power over us.
When people who have lots of money, more than they can ever use in a lifetime, seem to only want more money, they have made money their master. The bible tells us that one cannot serve two masters, for he will love one and despise the other. One cannot serve God and money.
There are hoarders and misers, who don’t like to spend money at all because their love of money dictates how they should live their lives.
There are also those who go to great lengths to keep money out of the hands of others. Perhaps this is because there is a fear of the loss of power. But, if my neighbor has more money than I do, how is that hurting me?
By the same token, if we have empty pockets, but a full heart – filled with Christ’s love, maybe, just maybe, others will see the value in that, which is priceless, and want some of what we have.
And, Christ’s love is meant to be shared, not hoarded, so we generously spread his love, for it is a lot easier to share Jesus than money.
Money can seem to fill an emptiness in our hearts, but it really just makes for more emptiness. Scrooge comes to mind when I say this, because, he wasn’t always a heartless self-absorbed miser. He got that way because he was grieving the death of his sister, the only person he thought understood and loved him. So, he turned his love toward money, and the thought of losing it was like losing his sister all over again.
Once he saw things with fresh eyes, he was instantly transformed into a loving, caring person.
Paul seems to say that having material goods is not bad in and of itself. When the problems begin, though, is when all of our energies are focused solely on wealth and material gain. So then, putting the pursuit of riches above other things will cause problems for us too.
It’s the love of money that can lead us astray from God’s kingdom and God’s work. So that’s why it’s so important to have a healthy perspective about money and about life in general. That’s what Paul is really getting at in this first letter to Timothy.
What should be directed to God becomes focused on something else entirely. In a word, it’s idolatry. And the problem with such idolatry is that it leads us to make poor decisions, decisions that lead us into temptation, decisions that are sinful, and decisions that ultimately separate us from God.
Money can be used to do amazing, wonderful, beautiful, helpful things that further God’s work and build up God’s kingdom.
So, here’s what this all boils down to, I think. As with so many things in life, we have a choice.
We can love money and material goods, and then drive ourselves crazy with worry and want, all for that which we can’t take with us when we die, anyway.
Or we can love God, and then find love and happiness, which has great value here on Earth, and we get to take it with us when we enter the kingdom of Heaven.
Money will not buy our way into heaven. When you stand before the gates of heaven, suppose you are asked, “I see that you were wealthy and powerful on Earth. How were you using that wealth and power to help God?”
If you find the answer is something on the selfish side, then you may want to consider changing your ways and priorities. There is still time, but only God knows how much time.
You see, my friends, we can love God, and thus see money as a resource for serving God, knowing that our “reward will be great in heaven.”
Because remember, money is not the root of all evil, but how we obtain money, and use money along with the power that it brings might just define our worth in the eyes of God.
So if money itself is not the issue, how do we remove the love of money from our lives?
The answer is simple, though often times it may not be very easy. Here’s how we do it.
To remove the love of money from our lives simply make the choice to always prioritize relationships with other people over financial gain and the power that comes with it. It isn’t always an easy decision, but God honors that choice.
When I was growing up, the neighborhood kids loved to play baseball. The rich kid had all the power because he had the bats and balls, and the field on which we played.
He was able to make up his own rules to suit him. He was left handed, so he made the right field fence much much closer than the left field fence, so that he could hit the most home runs. Fairness was not his strong suit. In fact, if he had to cheat to win, he did. He got away with it because by virtue of his wealth, he had all the power.
Although he did share his possessions, he did so for his own benefit, not so much for the benefit of others. At first, we were blinded by his generosity, until one day, the rest of us realized that we were being used to inflate his ego.
We found a new place to play that wasn’t as nice, yet suited our needs. We collected our menial funds to buy our own crappy equipment, and when we played, it was actually more fun.
We learned that we didn’t need the rich kid anymore, but that he actually needed us.
For there he was, miserable and all alone with all his money and all his stuff, but he couldn’t buy a friend.
And he couldn't buy God.
It was his lust for power that brought him misery.
There is an old Beatles song, “I don’t care too much for money, ‘cause money can’t buy me love.”
God’s love is free.
If you love God and know that money is a way to serve God, you have set yourself on the holy path.
We cannot eliminate money from our lives, and we shouldn’t even try. What we can do, however, is change how we think about money – and what it can do for us, by asking what can money do for God?
