Tag Greed

Putting Our Money Where Our Faith Is

Todd R Leave a comment

We often make decisions without really knowing our own motives.  Without really thinking about why we are doing what we do.  However, if we estimate how many of our decisions are based on money from how often the New Testament talks about money, people probably follow financial motives more than they think they do.  Jesus spoke a lot about money, and so does the rest of the New Testament.  Too often our main concern is: will this make us money, or will this lose us money?  This post will briefly look at 3 stories from the book of Acts about money as a motivation.

The first comes from Acts chapter 16.  Verse 16 says, “As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.”  The Old Testament law clearly forbids fortune-telling (Deuteronomy 18:10), but the owners of this slave seemed to only care that the fortune-telling made them a fortune.  Unfortunately for them, Paul cast the spirit out of the girl, leaving her owners frustrated.  Verse 19 says, “But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.”  Paul and Silas ended up in prison, eventually to be miraculously freed, and the slave girl’s owners ended up poorer.

The next story comes from Acts chapter 19.  When Paul was in Ephesus and bringing many to Christ in the power of the Spirit, the new disciples gave up their other idols.  In response, a silversmith named Demetrius stirred up some opposition to Paul:

“Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.  And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” – Acts 19:25b-27

Did the silversmith care that many were finding salvation in Jesus?  No, he (and his fellow tradesmen) only cared that this new religion was hurting their business profits.  This led to a riot that lasted several hours and had to be quieted by the authorities to keep the Romans from violently intervening.

The last story shows a massive contrast from the first two, and is recorded in Acts 19:18-19, right before the riot in Ephesus occurred.

“Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.  And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.”

Warren Wiersbe estimated that “The total value of the magical books and spells that they burned was equivalent to the total salaries of 150 men working for a whole year!”  While the money was already spent, these new believers could have sold the items for some amount of money and recovered some of their cost, but they probably thought that if these items were evil, nobody should have them.  The financial cost wasn’t a concern for them.  They just wanted to get rid of things that separated them from God.

What a different perspective!  While the new believers willingly burned expensive objects related to magic arts, the owners of the fortune-telling slave girl and the idolatrous silversmiths were too concerned about money to consider Jesus.

Which perspective do we have?  Do we ever disobey God because we think it will help financially?  Do we ever hold on to things that are spiritually harmful because they cost us money?  Or are we willing to follow Jesus no matter the cost?

Today let’s pray that God will reveal where our loyalties are misplaced and help us to take a step in a better direction!  Let’s pray for the strength needed to follow through and not turn back.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” – Jesus, in Matthew 6:24

Is Money the Root of All Evil?

Todd R Leave a comment

Everyone has probably heard the phrase “money is the root of all evil” or some variation of it.  The phrase is usually directed at someone who has a lot of money by someone who doesn’t, with the implication being that the rich person is evil in some way, or many ways.  It’s a phrase that might make the ones with less money feel better about themselves.  At least they’re not “evil.”

However, while the phrase actually comes from the Bible (sort of), it isn’t biblical at all.  The source of the phrase is 1 Timothy 6:10 but notice some important differences in the wording in the ESV translation (the NIV, NKJV, NASB, and other translations are very similar):

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

The first thing to note is that in 1 Timothy, it’s “love of money” that is the problem, not just “money.”  This means that it’s possible to have a lot of money and for that not to be a moral problem.  As Voddie Baucham said, “Let me clear up something…God is not against you having things.  He’s against things having you.”  There are a lot of very generous rich people and there are a lot of good things that wouldn’t get done, in the church or otherwise, without the monetary contributions of these people.  Those who have money, but don’t love it (money doesn’t have them) often put large amounts of what they have to work for God’s kingdom in many different ways.  Having money doesn’t make them evil.  The root of all evil is therefore something else other than money.

Also notice 1 Timothy says, “a root,” not “the root.”  One means evil has one root, and the other means that there is more than one root.  The wording from 1 Timothy tells us that “all kinds of evil” can grow from things other than the “love of money.”  Money and the love of it are not required to make someone evil.  Many things can be the “root” or source of evil in people, including in some cases the lack of money, ironically.

Lastly, 1 Timothy says, “all kinds of evils” not “all evil.”  So, the “love of money” isn’t the source of all evil, but it can cause many different types of evil.  Greed, covetousness, and haughtiness are some that come to mind.  But also consider that the dislike of people who have money, whether they love it or not, can be the source of jealousy, envy, covetousness (which can come from having or not having money) and other “kinds of evils.”

So, what’s wrong with the saying that “money is the root of all evil”?  It can have the effect of elevating greed and related sins to a higher (worse) level of sin than other sins.  It can become a weapon in the hands of economic and political activists.  But the 1 Timothy version doesn’t do either of these things.  Instead of creating an “us vs. them” situation, with the poor on one side and the rich on the other, the Biblical text shows us that sin comes in many forms, has many causes, and that nobody is immune from sin.

Sin itself is the ultimate problem of humanity, not “love of money,” although that is one kind of sin.  If “money is the root of all evil” then those who don’t love money wouldn’t need Jesus.  But those who hate money are sinners too.  Poor people are sinners too.  They just have different faults.  In the eyes of a holy God, no fault can be tolerated, because His purpose is to have a perfect humanity.  The solution to our economic and political problems is not to eliminate money or the rich, but the solution is that we need a way to remove all sin so we can be reconciled to God and have a path to a sinless life.  “Money is the root of all evil” may cry out for revolution, but “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” cries out that Jesus is the only solution.

Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins is the only thing that will satisfy the requirements of our holy God, bringing us into His family and providing a way that “love of money” and all other sins can be destroyed forever.

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils,” but “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”