MONEY IN THE BIBLE
A few weeks ago, I did a sermon on, “The Top 10 Misunderstood Bible Verses” …
… & from time to time I’ll be returning to topics I covered in that sermon & expanding on them …
& so today I’m talking about MONEY IN THE BIBLE.
1 Timothy 6:10-12 says:
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
& as we covered last time, it’s the LOVE of MONEY that’s the ROOT OF ALL EVIL & not MONEY ITSELF.
But when we put money in an idolatrous position over & above God.
& there’s 2 extremes when it comes to MONEY …
… & then there’s what the BIBLE has to say about MONEY.
First you have the PROSPERITY, NAME IT & CLAIM IT movement & their Satanic false teachers like:
… JOEL OSTEEN, CREFLO DOLLAR, KENNETH COPELAND, & others …
& the entire focus of their fraudulent ministries is centered around …
… obtaining FINANCIAL SUCCESS & PROSPERITY by thinking & speaking our own REALITIES into existence …
If you research this, you’ll find that this mode of thinking is rooted in the NEW AGE, LUCIFERIAN THOUGHT MOVEMENT …
… which actually goes back several centuries …
& within the fake PROSPERITY churches, you have CON-MEN like CREFLO DOLLAR who made this BLASPHEMOUS statement:
“Jesus bled and died for us so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity.”
This is an incredibly offensive statement about the suffering & redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Such a statement should deeply offend every SAVED, BORN AGAIN Christian.
Jesus didn’t die so that we could lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity.
No, Jesus died to SAVE SINNERS FROM ETERNAL TORMENT IN THE LAKE OF FIRE!
And you don’t hear these CONMEN PREACHERS ever preach about the reality of Hell!
Romans 4:25 says that Jesus: “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”
Jesus died in order to save us!
Jesus bled & died in order to rescue us from the penalty of sin, which is death and Hell!
1 Peter 3:18 says: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”
CREFLO DOLLAR & preachers like him make a mockery of the death, burial, & resurrection of our precious Lord & Savior Jesus Christ!
Another false preacher named MIKE MURDOCK out of tells his viewers that if they donate $1,000 to his ministry using their credit cards …
… that God will wipe away their credit card debt.
MURDOCK should be admonishing his listeners w/ Proverbs 22:7 about not getting ensnared with debt: “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower [is] servant to the lender.”
Instead, he’s lying to them for personal gain & placing them further into financial bondage because he’s an outright CON MAN.
He preaches this lie that PROSPERITY PREACHERS teach that if you SEW A SEED of MONEY to their ministry …
… that God will increase that SEED & return a financial blessing to them.
That’s a LIE – it’s not anywhere in the Bible.
Look it up on youtube, it’ll make you sick to your stomach listening to this devil asking people to send him a $1,000 in order to receive a miracle: “Dr Mike Murdock selling miracles for a thousand dollars”
Elsewhere, in a small local church, I recently saw a picture of a church bulletin board where they hung a sign quoting Malachi 3:8: “Will a Man Rob God?”
& publicly display a list of all their members who don’t tithe.
These are all abuses of God’s Word and serious errors in doctrine.
ON THE OTHER HAND, there’s this mindset that Christians …
… are supposed to shun wealth & seek poverty as a means to greater spirituality.
But this is the leaven of self-abasing CATHOLIC MONKS and ASCETICS.
All you have to do is look to the Bible for examples of Godly men, who God had blessed with great wealth.
There are many examples from Job, to Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob & even Joseph of Arimathea.
& so on both extremes are anti-Biblical.
The example that the Bible actually gives us is to seek neither POVERTY nor RICHES …
… but rather to FIRST SEEK THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
YOU MAY HAVE HEARD Proverbs 30:7-9:
7 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
The Biblical example according to Proverbs 30 is to be NEITHER POOR NOR RICH …
… but to have what is needed for sustenance.
The idea is not to be so poor that you turn to unethical means to survive …
… & not to be so rich that you forget that you need God for sustenance.
In other words, the Bible is promoting the idea of a “Middle-Class” so to speak …
… if you want to put it in today’s terms.
But here’s the thing: in today’s world, what we need to survive and to pay our bills and not to become slaves to debt …
… can add up very quickly.
It’s EXPENSIVE living in today’s world …
THE SYSTEM of this WORLD is run by the devil, who the Bible calls the “prince” or “god” of this world (with a small “g”) …
… and I believe he has literally rigged our worldly economic system in order make it difficult for Godly families to survive and thrive.
Because the world is aborting their children and limiting their family size to 2 children …
… the world economy has been custom-designed with small families in mind.
Economic prices are adjusted accordingly for the average size family.
And so it’s very difficult for a Godly family to have more than 2 children on a 1-income household …
… as the Bible instructs us to do.
& so the Christian family must work harder than ever to live according to God’s Will …
& to overcome the Satanic pattern of this world that the devil has established.
& so for the Christian family, there’s NOTHING WRONG with WORKING HARD & EARNING MONEY.
In fact, the Bible commands it.
MINIMUM WAGE is not going to be enough to raise a household of Godly children!
In 2 Thessalonians 3:10 Paul says: “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”
We are commanded to work, and I say to the Christian family: there’s nothing wrong with earning a great deal of money honestly in order to support your family …
… as long as it doesn’t get your focus off of God.
One of the most fascinating Bible passages in the Bible is Proverbs 6:6-11:
6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
The Bible doesn’t want us to live in poverty.
The Bible instructs us to WORK HARD in order to AVOID POVERTY.
Proverbs 13:11 says: “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.”
& while the Bible tells us not to worry or stress about money …
… The Bible also teaches us to be wise stewards & to think ahead.
In fact, the Bible teaches that the way you handle money is an indication of how you will handle spiritual matters.
Luke 16:10-11 says:
10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
In other words, if you can’t manage something as base & worldly as money …
… how can you be trusted to handle the things of God?
God wants us to be wise with our finances, because the source of our income ultimately comes from God.
If God can trust you with money, He can trust you with more important things also.
We also see example so this in JESUS’ PARABLE of the TALENTS …
… where the WISE SERVANT invested what his master had given him and increased his wealth …
… and received praise & honor from his master …
…. whereas the unprofitable servant pilfered his master’s money …
… & had all that he had taken from him & given to the wise steward.
While this is ultimately a parable about the Kingdom of God …
The practical lessons of being wise with all that God has entrusted us with is also present in the parable.
Matthew 25:29 says: “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.”
& A GREAT EXAMPLE of being WISE with our MONEY & RESOURCES …
comes from Genesis 41.
… where JOSEPH interprets PHARAOH’S DREAM about 7-YEARS of PLENTY followed by 7-YEARS of FAMINE.
* READ GENESIS 41:1-8, 25-37.
& The reason I chose this passage is because there’s a lot of practical wisdom to be learned from Pharaoh’s dream …
… & from Joseph’s wisdom & interpretation of it.
It might seem like a simple concept, but if you know that there you’re going to have 7-years of financial blessing & prosperity …
… followed by 7-years of famine & drought …
… you don’t spend away all that you have during those 7 years …
INSTEAD, you store up & save what you cultivate in plentiful years …
… so that you’ll continue to be sustained in years of famine & want.
I remember when I first started our business …
… after investing many years of intensive, hard work for about 5 years working 60-hour weeks or more ….
… we began to have some very plentiful years …
I was really making some serious money all of a sudden …
… & I thought that our business had come into its own
… & that our income stream would just continue unhindered for years to come …
I mean, we were doing really good there for awhile!
But little did I know that things were about to change dramatically!
But at the time …
… our income justified investing in & purchasing a very nice house in a good neighborhood to raise our growing family …
… and so we took out a big mortgage, because our income could justify it at the time …
… & we put everything that we had into our home.
But it was October 2006 …
… & I didn’t realize that the economy was very unstable …
& that we were about to experience some VERY LEAN YEARS in our business.
In fact, we were about to enter the BIGGEST ECONOMIC CRASH of my lifetime …
… I had grown up in the 80s as a teenager when the nation was very prosperous …
& people of my generation really couldn’t imagine an America as anything but perpetually prosperous.
We had this feeling growing up that we were untouchable.
This was all we knew for over a QUARTER CENTURY.
IT WASN’T UNTIL 9/11 that the first BUBBLE BURST for many of us –
(& whether that was an inside job or not) …
… for many of us, it was our 1ST REAL WAKE UP CALL to the fact that we were not impenetrable.
But now it was the end of 2006 …
… & AS SOON AS WE MOVED OUR FURNITURE INTO OUR NEW HOUSE …
… the MARKET BEGAN TO HEAD INTO A MAJOR DOWNWARD SPIRAL …
… until it FINALLY CRASHED w/ the HOUSING BUBBLE & GOVERNMENT BANK BAIL-OUTS of 2008.
OBAMA came to POWER that same year …
… solidifying our economic WOE with his GLOBALIST, SOCIALIST, LIBERAL, COMMUNIST, Entitlement, anti-business, anti-BIBLICAL POLICIES …
& FOR THE NEXT 8 YEARS our business seriously declined …
… & our family went into major debt …
… & we almost lost both our HOUSE & our BUSINESS …
… & had to sell off everything we had at the low of the market …
… & move to WASHINGTON STATE …
… WHERE GOD HAD CALLED US TO START THIS CHURCH.
In the midst of that economic woe, God was calling me to ministry.
& I REALIZED that I had experienced 7-years of PLENTY …
… followed by 7-YEARS OF FAMINE …
In my own personal life …
… & that GOD HAD USED OUR CIRCUMSTANCES to start this church.
*** & WHILE MONEY & FINANCES are among the top things that MEN STRESS OVER …
God tells us in His Word not to worry about money.
& the reason I say MEN – is because MEN tend to really stress over finances …
… because we are traditionally the PROVIDERS of the HOUSEHOLD.
DESPITE the fact that God has seen me through a multitude of FINANCIAL STRUGGLES …
… time & time again, sometimes at the LAST MOMENT …
… I still continue to GET STRESSED pretty easily when we run into FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY …
But Jesus tells us in His Word to take no thought for such things, because He will always provide for us.
It’s just that God will sometimes use our circumstances to steer us in a certain direction that He wants us to go.
Like He did with us, when He moved us to WA.
There was no way that our business was going to turn around, until we came here.
Because it was His intention to move us.
In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells his disciples:
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Jesus’ words need no commentary.
It’s really self-explanatory.
We are told in God’s Word that our SUSTENANCE comes from God.
JESUS COMPARES feeding the birds & clothing the flowers & the grass …
… with how HE WILL likewise CARE FOR US.
He also tells us that it is the GENTILES – the UNBELIEVERS of those days …
… who worried & sought after money.
And by contrast, He’s saying with that statement, that GOD’S PEOPLE are not supposed to worry about MONEY …
… but TRUST that He will care for us in every circumstance.
& SO THE LESSON we learn from these 2 Bible accounts …
… is to BE WISE when we do have money … to be good stewards of what God has given us …
… & not to worry about it when we don’t, knowing that GOD HIMSELF will provide for us.
GOD USES our FINANCIAL BURDENS to TEST OUR FAITH …
… to TEST if we are really RELYING on HIM for sustenance.
Psalm 69:10 says: “… if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.”
So even when we are blessed with riches & wealth, we are not supposed to put our hope or trust in them.
Proverbs 23:4-5 says:
4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
We see that financial wealth in this life is temporary.
It comes & it goes – but God remains the same.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 says: “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
Ever heard the modern maxim that the RICHER YOU ARE …
… the more you want? and are never satisfied?
Material gain, by itself, doesn’t have the ability to fulfill you …
… since you’re ultimately a spiritual, not just a material, being.
Ecc. 5:12 says: “The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.”
While EARNING INCOME to support a family is Godly …
… The focus of our lives should never be material gain, but good works & the preaching of the Gospel.
Matthew 6:19-20 says:
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Material possessions are temporary at best.
While they provide us with a measure of comfort in this life …
… they do nothing for us in heaven.
Job said in Job 1:21: “ … Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Paul says the same thing in 1 Timothy 6:7: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
SPIRITUAL RICHES & ETERNAL REWARDS, on the other hand, are …
… PERMAMENT …
… they can’t be eaten up by the moth, meaning they won’t dissolve …
… they can’t be consumed or used up …
… but will always remain throughout eternity …
… HEAVENLY TREASURES won’t RUST …
… meaning that they won’t become corrupted or corroded …
And they can’t be stolen … again speaking of the permanent state of HEAVENLY RICHES.
1 John 2:15-17 says:
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
And there’s a serious warning in this for the Christian …
… because the DESIRE FOR WEALTH & the LOVE OF MONEY turn saved Christians …
… into unfruitful & useless workers in the Kingdom of God.
In the PARABLE OF THE SOWER, we have a picture of 4 types of people having the WORD sewn in them …
… & the 3rd one is about SAVED BELIEVERS who receive the WORD & get saved …
… but because of the LOVE OF MONEY & the LOVE OF THE WORLD …
… BEAR NO FRUIT & become USELESS as Christians.
Matthew 13:22 describes this type of believer:
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
The LOVE OF MONEY & the DECEITFULNESS of riches can be a major snare for Christians …
… who end up wasting their life in pursuit of earthly treasures …
… & end up receiving no rewards in heaven.
PURSUING WEALTH IN THIS WORLD can also be a stumbling block which keeps unbelievers from being saved.
The prime example of this is the self-righteous young rich man in Matthew 19.
Matthew 19:16-26:
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
This passage is highly misunderstood.
Works-Salvationist often quote this passage to say that we must follow Jesus & obey Him in order to be saved.
But Jesus was highlighting several things in this passage.
First & foremost, He was showing the self-righteous young rich man …
… that he was not so righteous …
The young rich man thought he was following the Law perfectly …
… & that He was keeping all of the commandments.
The YOUNG RICH MAN thought that he was saved by his works …
… by following the LAW.
Of course, no man can keep the Law perfectly …
… so Jesus simply pointed out the elephant in the room:
The young, rich man was idolizing his riches.
His wealth had become his idol …
… & he was unwilling to relinquish His idol in order to worship the living Christ who stood before him.
Notice also that Jesus told him: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast …”
NOT “If thou wilt be saved …”
Again, Jesus was highlighting the fact that the rich man was not following the Law perfectly.
Jesus was simply condemning the young man of his sin, using the perfection of the Law.
& then Jesus utters the now famous words that: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
Jesus did not say it was impossible for the rich to get saved … but nearly impossible.
People who are rich in this world …
… usually rely on their riches & are generally comfortable …
But sometimes it takes being desperate & at the end of your rope …
… to realize that you need God.
Sometimes it takes being broken to be humbled enough to seek God …
& to receive the truth of His Word.
James 4:6 says: “… God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
The young rich man was proud of his accomplishments …
…yet he was unwilling to give up his idol & be saved.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 says: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
The bottom line is that yes, we need to work hard to provide for our families …
… & there’s nothing wrong with wealth honestly earned with the blessing of the Lord.
1 Timothy 5:8 says: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
There’s even a verse that says, very practically speaking, that money can be an answer to all kinds of woes.
Ecc 10:19 says: “A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.”
That’s not a verse that you would think would be in the Bible.
But it is …
It speaks of the practical reality that we face in this world: MONEY IS NECESSARY …
… & life with money is easier than life without money.
But at the same time …
… we can’t be like the CONMEN prosperity teachers who TREAD UNDERFOOT the SON OF GOD …
… to fill their own BELLIES.
Secondly, we need to be WISE stewards of our MONEY when God blesses us with financial resources.
We learned this from the lesson of Pharaoh’s dream …
& Prov 21:20 says: “There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.”
We learned that MONEY is NOT the ROOT OF ALL EVIL …
… but that the LOVE OF MONEY is the ROOT OF ALL EVIL …
& the GOD BLESSED many of His most righteous men of God with WEALTH and PROSPERITY …
…. including JOB, ABRAHAM, ISAAC, & JACOB.
For example of Isaac, the Bible says in Genesis 26:12-14:
12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.
13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
& of Job, the Bible says in Job 1:1-3 that Job:
1 … was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
There’s nothing wrong with wealth when it is lawfully obtained.
Of Jacob & Esau the Bible says in Genesis 36:7: “For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.”
They were so great in material possessions that the land was not big enough for them to dwell together.
But in the end, the Bible wants us to be content with neither poverty nor riches.
Again, Proverbs 30:8-9 says:
8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
9 Lest I be full, and deny [thee], and say, Who [is] the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God [in vain].
The trouble is that in today’s society, providing for a family requires a good deal of financial blessing …
To live like Proverbs 30:8-9 admonishes us to do – especially those of with families, requires a healthy & steady income.
That’s partly why Paul says to the believers in 1 Corinthians 7:32-33:
32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
It requires HARD WORK to raise a FAMILY.
If you don’t have it in you & you want to be SINGLY FOCUSED on the work of the Kingdom ….
… perhaps it’s better for you not to marry & have children, if you can handle it.
Otherwise, you need to be PREPARED TO WORK HARD & EARN A HEALTHY LIVING TO PROVIDE FOR YOUR HOUSEHOLD.
That’s the REALITY THAT WE LIVE IN.
But all in all, know that the Lord cares for you & is never negligent towards you.
1 Peter 5:6-7:
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Hebrews 13:5: “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
& to the unbeliever I would just add Mark 8:36: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
