It's not About the Money
1 Timothy 6:6–19 NKJV
Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
The world thinks it’s all about money. How often do we see the topic of money on the Internet, magazines, and books? How often is the topic of money discussed in various conversations? We hear sayings like “Money makes the world go round” or “In Gold we Trust.” There are even many programs about money and money management on Christian media. Someone thinks that Ecclesiastes 11:1 “Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days.” is meant to be advise on diversifying one;s monetary investments. Others say that the Bible speaks more about money than any other topic. But is it all about money? Let us see.
When we look at the passage from First Timothy 6 which we read this morning, we came across the well-known phrase that “Money is the root of all evil. Most modern translations use “a root” rather than “the root like the New King James Version which we read this morning does. Many are uncomfortable with the idea that money is evil. Of course, this is not what is said. What it clearly does NOT say is “Money is the root of all evil” but rather says “the LOVE of money is the root of all evil.” Money or some equivalent, such as barter in some societies is vital to the function of societies. The Bible does indeed value money, so long as it is not made a god. The Greek does not have an indefinite article “a” in its language. It does have the definite article “the”, however. “The” is not in the Greek text either. Nouns without an article have to be supplied in translation into English. The exact translation in Greek is "For root of all evil is the love of silver.” the fact that “root” is at the front of the sentence gives it extra emphasis. When translated into English, we read “For the love of money is (a) (the) ROOT of all evil.” To me “The root” fits the context better. the fact that it is immediately connected to “covetousness” adds weight to this. Paul, in another place, seems to indicate that covetousness is the gateway towards the breaking of all of the other commandments as it is the initial motivation and temptation which leads to evil. Jesus, in the sermon on the Mount warns us to store our treasures in heaven where thieves can’t break in and steal or moth corrupt. He also in the same sermon that if a man desires (covets) a woman, he has already committed adultery with her. The problem is not with the woman, even if she dresses suggestively or otherwise desire to get your attention. that is her sin in that case, but the “devil made me do it” is no excuse for our sin.
Money is not evil in itself as we have already noted. and yes, the christian should be a good manager of money. There is a lot of good advice for the management of money which you can consult. What I want to zero in here is the word “root.” In a tree, it is the roots which supports and nourishes the tree so that it might bear fruit. In this case, the love of money produces spoiled fruit. this is the fruit of the evil tree in the sermon on the mount. But there is another type of tree in the Sermon on the Mount. this is a good tree which produces good fruit as it springs forth from a good root.
If a bad root leads to being pierced with the thorns of sorrow and whose fruit is poisonous, what is the characteristic of the good root. Since we are God’s children who believe on the Son Jesus Christ? Romans 11:18 tells us that we do not bear the root, but the root bears thee. “God is the ROOT of all good.” We hear of Jesus being the true vine which produces fruit in us. We read that Christ is made the sure foundation. He is the true cornerstone. He is everything that we as individual Christians and the church as a whole is built.
The goal of our life is to lay hold on eternal life as Paul tells Timothy to which we are called. We are not called to perdition and destruction, so we must flee the snare of riches and other temptations that lead to perdition and destruction. Instead, Paul tells Timothy to diligently pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. We do not fight as the world fights with human weapons, but with these virtues with which we stand as witnesses to the world. Paul reminds Timothy of the Lord’s confession before Pontius Pilate as an example to follow in his witness. We realize that the Lord’s confession before Pilate cost Him His life. Jesus was more interested in witnessing to Pilate than to protect His own life. This serves as a stark reminder of the cost of our discipleship. We, too, may be asked to be faithful unto death. The Greek word for “witness” is “martyr” which originally meant bearing testimony in a court of law. But so many Christians were condemned in this world for their testimony (confession) that the meaning of the word changed to “martyr”, on who dies for a cause.
Money is the standard for establishing value in this life. But money will one day become worthless. Even in this age, money has lost its value many times. In the days of Rome which used gold and silver coin, this was done by mixing the coin with cheaper metals which is called debasement. Eventually, there was very little gold in the gold “Solidus” or the silver drachma. Today. we just print money. Many over the ages have been pierced through with many sorrows when their money became worthless through the fraud of the government. Ultimately, all of this age will be rolled up and end. There will be a great shaking in which only that which cannot be shaken will remain. This is why we must put out trust in God who is eternal, immortal and the only wise God. Those who say “In gold we trust will ultimately be disappointed. Gold will just be paving stone in heaven. The Christian says “In God we trust.”
We have an example of the sorrow of God in the story of the Golden Calf. When Israel was delivered by the had of God from Egypt, the Scripture says they spoiled the Egyptians of their gold and other valuables which they carried into the wilderness. Some of the gold and precious materials was used to build the Ark of the Covenant and the utensils of the Tabernacle. This was a proper use of gold. But some of it was used to make the golden calf which angered God to no end. They ended up eating the dust of the golden calf, and many died as a result.
I remember from one of the Olympic games, I think Calgary, of a saying “carpe diem” which is Latin for “seize the day!” This athlete, needed to take advantage of the opportunity he or she had to go for the gold as this opportunity might not pass that way again. This was for a gold medal which wasn’t even a gold medal but gold plated silver. The glory of earthly gain is so temporary. Soon that athlete aged, and someone else had to try to seize the next gold medal. Instead of “Carpe diem” the Christian needs to “Carpe Deum” which is to grab hold upon God unto eternal life, an unfading prize. Yet, the idea of “carpe diem” also fits as one needs to take advantage of the opportunity while it is yet day. As the Scripture says:
Isaiah 55:6–7 NKJV
Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
The love of money will continue to plague life in this world. We can think of wars, robberies and deaths caused by the pursuit of more wealth. Unfortunately, this lust for money plagues the church as well. We have those who preach a prosperity gospel which claims that Christians need to exercise faith to become rich in this world’s goods. Some of these “evangelists” go round in multi-million dollar jets. But how many sheep were fleeced to pay for the luxury of these hucksters. Money which should go to the paying of bills and feeding of one’s family goes to fuel the jets of the prosperity preachers. They promise “Your best life Now”. If this world is the best there is with all its violence, the idea of this being the best life isn’t very inspiring. We must, instead, realize that our treasures are in heaven. As far as this life is concerned, most of the greatest blessings cannot be purchased with money, Money should not be the root of the Christian’s life. Rather we should seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We should read the words of Jesus thus: “SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, and these things shall be added unto you” and not “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, AND THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU.” Let us instead love God more, for the love of God is the ROOT of all goodness.
