Love of Money
Written by Ed Allen
Saturday, 21 August 1999 19:00
Effective Living in a Busy World
A woman named Roxane Malecek wrote the following illustration into Today?s Christian Woman magazine last year: "My second grader, Rachel, recently discovered that when one of her friends lost a tooth, the friend received ten dollars from the tooth fairy. When Rachel realized the tooth fairy only gave her two dollars, she asked her friend?s mother, "Mrs. Kraft, would you mind doing me a big favor? Would you please call my mom and tell her which tooth fairy you use?"
One writer called Michael Douglas? speech "America?s Creedo" because our entire economic system is based on greed. Even though there is truth in that I don?t think greed is an American problem. I think it is a human problem. It comes quite naturally to us. Just like Rachel, the second grader, we come by greed very early and very naturally.
My dictionary defines greed as "selfish, and eager desire; avarice." So what?s wrong with it and what?s the alternative?
Luke 12:13-21
- (13) Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
(14) Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" (15) Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
(16) And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. (17) He thought to himself, `What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
(18) "Then he said, `This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. (19) And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."
'(20) "But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
(21) "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
- 1. It causes strife.
- A. The parable Jesus tells is inspired by family strife. Two brothers are at odds over money.
- B. Jesus' parable illustrates the Proverb (15:27) "Those who are greedy for unjust gain make trouble for their households."
C. Illustration
In September of 1996 the Chicago Tribune ran a story about Buddy Post entitled "Living Proof that Money Can?t Buy Happiness." In 1988, Buddy won $16.2 million in the PA lottery. Since then, he has been convicted of assault, his wife has left him, his brother was convicted of trying to kill him, and his landlady successfully sued him for one-third of the jackpot.
"It didn?t change me," insists Post, a 58-year-old former carnival worker and cook. "It changed people around me that I knew, that I thought cared a little about me."
Post is trying to auction off seventeen future payments, valued at nearly $5 million, in order to pay off taxes, legal fees, and a number of failed business ventures. He plans to spend his life as a former lottery winner pursuing lawsuits he has filed against police, judges, and lawyers who he says conspired to take his money.
- 2. Greed is an offense to God.
- A. Jesus made that clear í Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
B. The Bible equates greed with idolatry Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5
- 3. Greed is foolish.
- A. Jesus can?t avoid making that point in the parable itself. After the man has spent all his time organizing his stuff, God says to him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you."
B. Greed is foolish because it invests all its short-term resources in what offers no long-term yield. That which greed seeks is temporary and transitory.
- John Piper offers an excellent illustration of the foolishness of greed. "Suppose someone passes empty-handed through the turnstiles at a big city art museum and begins to take the pictures off the wall and carry them importantly under his arm. You come up to him and say, "What are you doing?" He answers, "I?m becoming an art collector." "But they?re not really yours," you say, "and besides, they won?t let you take any of those out of here. You?ll have to go out just like you came in." But he answers again, "Sure, they?re mine. I?ve got them under my arm. People in the halls look at me as an important dealer. And I don?t bother myself with thoughts about leaving. Don?t be a kill-joy."
- Proverbs 23:3-5 "Do not crave the ruler?s delicacies, for that food is deceptive. Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle."
- C. Greed is foolish because it seeks more than it needs.
- Haddon Robinson defines greed as "craving more of what you have enough of already."
- Jesus said, "Why do you worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear? Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable then they?"
- 4. Greed destroys you.
- A. Proverbs 11:28 "Whoever trust in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf."
B. 1 Timothy 6:9 "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction."
C. Like cancer perverts healthy cells and eventually will kill the whole body, so greed will pervert our desires and our energy output. It demands that more and more energy be invested in what is unimportant so that we eventually get cut off from what is truly important.
- D. George Orwell offers a vivid illustration of the blinding, destructive power of greed in one of his essays. Orwell describes a wasp that "was sucking jam on my plate and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed esophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him."
E. Cyprian quote.
Greed Markers
- Credit card debt
- Possession-envy
- Frequent arguments with spouse about money
- Stinginess
- You always want the best
- Rat pack
The Purpose of Money
We said at the beginning that there was an alternative ? and there is. We want to look at the purpose of money. The Bible makes it clear that the wise use of money can secure the foundation of eternal life for us. (1 Timothy 6:18-19) So what is the wise use of money?
- 1. To meet your own needs.
- A. The Bible says the one who doesn?t work should not eat. God provides gainful employment to most of us so that we can take care of our own needs.
B. Part of that need is our own joy. 1 Timothy 6:17 "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."
- 2. To meet the needs of others.
- A. 2 Corinthians 9:10-11 "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."
B. "Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy."
C. Best-selling author John Grissom said, "My wife and I measure financial success not by how much we make but by how much we can give away."
- 3. To build relationships.
- Luke 16:9 "I tell you use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself." Not buy friends, but use material resources to promote friendships, because friendships are what matter.
- 4. To accomplish the work of the church.
- A. The entire system of tithes, and offerings in the Old Testament was designed to maintain the work of the Temple.
B. Similarly, in the New Testament believers are encouraged to support those who work for the church. 1 Timothy 5:17-18 "The elders who direct the affairs of the church are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ?Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,? and ?The worker deserves his wages.?"
C. Two comments:
2) We must insure that the church is doing the work that God has called it to. Then, we must encourage one another to support that work.
- 5. To accomplish the business of evangelism.
- Name brand indifference.
- Utilitarian view toward possessions.
- Your home is a place of rest, comfort and restoration (not a testimony to style and accumulation.)
- You are content.
- A. This really is the work of the church, but it should be singled out in our minds as a special priority for our investment.
B. Three billion people today do not know the intoxicating love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Two thirds of those people have no way of hearing about that love. If they are to hear ? and our Lord commands that they hear ? then missionaries must be sent and paid for. All of the wealth needed to send this army of good news ambassadors is already in the church.
Simplicity Indicators
God is not against investment. He is against bad investment. He is against investing your heart on comforts and securities that money can afford in this world. Money is to be invested for eternal yields in heaven! Luke 12:32-34