22. God and Riches
22
GOD AND RICHES
Our whole approach to material things should orbit around the extensive teachings of Christ on money and wealth. Three principles for handling our financial affairs are most clear:
First, we cannot serve God and money at the same time. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
God and riches are mutually exclusive masters. We must choose one or the other.
Money will either be our master or our slave. In Luke 16, we are told God cannot entrust true riches to us unless we have conquered and subdued our natural attraction to the riches of this world—and controlled them for the kingdom. Here we are told we are stewards only. That means we’re to administer the possessions of our Master—not even consider the things we own as ours.
Nowhere does the Bible teach we can’t earn or have money, but it does teach that we cannot love it. We cannot be friends with it for an instant. We cannot secretly desire the normal extravagance of our worldly neighbors, or we will find ourselves consciously or unconsciously doing things to obtain it. Either we love God or we love money. No middle ground is tolerated.
Watchman Nee, in his book The Spiritual Man, emphasizes this truth:
We need to follow our Lord’s admonition to remember Lot’s wife, for she was one who did not forget her possessions even in a time of the greatest peril. She was not guilty of having retraced a single step toward Sodom. All she did was look back. But how revealing was that backward glance! Does it not speak volumes concerning the condition of her heart?
It is possible for a believer outwardly to forsake the world and leave everything behind and yet inwardly cling to those very elements he had forsaken for the Lord’s sake. It does not require a consecrated person to return to the world or to repossess what he had forsaken in the world to indicate that the soul life is still active. If he casts one longing glance it is sufficient to disclose to us that he does not truly recognize where the world stands in relation to the cross.
Gaining spiritual life is conditional on suffering loss. We cannot measure our lives in terms of “gain”; they must be measured in terms of “loss.” Our real capacity lies not in how much we retain but in how much has been poured out. Those who can afford to lose the most are those who have the most to give. The power of love is attested by love’s sacrifice. If our hearts are not separated from love of the world, our soul life has yet to go through the cross.[1]
Each of us must settle this point once and for all, or we will find it coming up again and again. Throughout our lives, Satan will use it as a lever to weaken and destroy our walk with God. We must not be satisfied until we have internalized a hatred for the true, idolatrous nature of money. The Holy Spirit longs to bring us all to a place at which we have no more attraction for it.
Second, we are to lay up treasure in heaven—not on the earth. Matthew 6:19–21 says, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
This passage is not difficult to understand if you simply take it at face value. We are not to store up wealth on this earth and accumulate things down here but invest everything beyond basic necessities in expanding the kingdom of God.
The deepest meaning turns on the definition of treasure.
When does money become a treasure in our lives? When it is $1,000 or $50,000 or a million dollars? Jesus very wisely refused to define an amount or percentage. He did this for a very good reason. I have seen even $1 become a treasure for the poor brother or sister who desires to possess and hold it.
If anything of this world has its grip on us—be it a bank account, securities, retirement plan, car, house or clothes—that is a treasure. We are not to attempt to “possess” it, hoard it or hold it, because nothing of this world is ours to keep.
Everything that comes into our hands belongs to our Lord and Master, Jesus. Thus we must always hold it loosely, willing for Him to ask us for it at any time, investing it gladly in the salvation of souls and the furtherance of the Gospel.
Third, we are not to be anxious or worried about the future. Matthew 6:31–34 says,
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 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.
How ridiculous for us to plan and pursue riches, saving for “a rainy day” when Christ has promised us that God will supply our every need when the time comes. How many millions of Christian lives are wasted and remain useless for the Master because we are preoccupied with worries about the future?
Detachment in the Old Testament
God has always honored the believer who has learned how to stay detached from the things of this world. The Old Testament is filled with many examples, some positive and some negative, that teach us the importance of nailing our love of material things to the cross.
Job lost everything and was still able to worship God.
“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,” he says in Job 1:21. He was tested, as I think we all are in this area—but he was able to say, in effect, “Praise the Lord, I won’t be bothered!”
Abraham responded graciously and refused to fight for material advantage.
In Genesis 13 we see a family feud developing over grazing land between Abraham and his nephew, Lot. Money divides families and friends. But Abraham backed off and let Lot have the well-watered plains of Sodom because he wouldn’t let riches become an issue. This is the attitude of a godly man, and the Lord blessed him for it. He promised him all the land he could see from Hebron. Lot, meanwhile, lost everything in the end, including his family and wayward children. What a lesson today for those families who have to have two incomes to keep up with the Joneses and are willing to sacrifice the future of their children for material gain.
Balaam sold out his ministry and eventually lost his life.
In Numbers 22 we see the tragic decline and fall of a good prophet who had refused to deal with his attachment to the things of this world. He was only able to resist up to a certain point. When Balak offered a small bribe, he said no. But finally, when the price was too much to resist, he yielded and lost everything. How many still fall for this trap today! If there’s money involved, without praying we automatically consider it a blessing, but it can just as often be a test from the Lord or a snare from hell.
Achan wasted the lives of his family and brought defeat to his nation because he lusted after material things.
In Joshua 7, we see how Achan first gazed upon forbidden treasures, then coveted them, took them and finally hid them—all against the commands of God. These are the four inevitable steps to sin in this area of material matters. In the end, we find poor Achan shamefully hiding these spoils. Whenever you have to hide and apologize for your financial affairs or wealth, you know something is desperately wrong.
Gehazi pursued a gift that brought the curse of leprosy upon him.
Here is the sad story of a servant who went after Naaman for a financial gift that the prophet Elisha had already refused. God was doing a spiritual work in the heart and life of Naaman, but Gehazi made the foolish mistake of trying to profit from it. Here is a man we would call a full-time Christian worker today, privileged to serve on staff of a great prophet. Perhaps if he had only been faithful, he would have in turn received a double portion of Elisha’s spirit as Elisha had from Elijah. Instead, he and his descendants went to their graves as lepers forever.
Detachment in the New Testament
The rich young ruler left Christ brokenhearted, unwilling to trade wealth for his own soul.
Here was an outwardly perfect young man who kept the law and sincerely appeared to want eternal life. But then Jesus put him to the test. He was told to go and sell all, give to the poor and follow Jesus. The request proved too great. He went away sorrowful because he loved and trusted his riches more than God. This prompted Jesus to make a remark that amazed the disciples: “A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.” They had been raised to believe that riches were a sign of God’s favor and blessing, but Jesus identified them as a great hindrance to salvation.
Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and ended up a suicide.
Here is a well-educated, religious man who walked and lived with Jesus throughout His earthly ministry. He was patriotic and so well respected that none of the other disciples ever suspected that he was a traitor. But the Bible tells us that he was a thief who was so enslaved to money he could betray the Son of God for a few coins. Judas undoubtedly knew by heart the teachings of Christ about wealth, yet when the test came, greed won out.
Ananias and Sapphira lied, holding back part of their offering—and both lost their lives for it.
They thought they were fooling men with the way they handled this pledge, but Peter makes it clear that they were trying to lie against God and the Holy Spirit. We cannot hold back our tithes or fail to keep our vows in matters of finances.
From these examples and the teachings of the New Testament, it is plain to see that even religious, apparently godly people can easily be destroyed by an unsanctified love for earthly things.