money

God calls all men to work. Actually, Paul tells the church to let men starve if they aren’t willing to work (2 Thes. 3:10-12). God called Adam to work and keep the garden, and he calls men to work and provide for family. As God commands all men to work and earn their own living, working for money is understood as a spiritual act of worship. God calls some to be pastors, some to be teachers, some to be construction workers, and some to be restaurant workers. He does this so that we may walk in the good works which he has set up beforehand for us (the elect) to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). In the parable of the talents, God commends the faithful stewards who act wisely with their money and earn extra on what the Lord had given. So obviously money is not evil. God delights in his people making money and making more money.

Unfortunately, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” and has causes some to wander away from the faith (1 Tim. 6:10). With money, we may fall into sin more easily as we strive to quench “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions.” 1 John 2:16 reminds us that these are not from the Father but are from the world. When our desire is not bringing glory to our awesome God or when our boast is not solely found in the effective work of Jesus on the cross, we wander away from the one who fully satisfies, and we begin to hunger and thirst after this world. In Hebrews, the reader is encouraged to “keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).” Is it random that our contentment in this world is coupled with the fact that God will never leave the elect nor forsake them? This unveils the mystery of why the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. Money becomes our God. Money brings us happiness. We trust in our bank accounts as we look at the days ahead. The best thing that could happen to a Christian in love with money is to lose it all and finally realize that “whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf (Prov. 11:28).”

Lastly, even though we have been obedient to spend our time working as God has commanded we must never forget that “the silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts (Haggai 2:8).” God doesn’t give us money for our comfort and satisfaction with things of this world. He tells us that “this world is passing away” but “the one who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:17).” In Isaiah chapter 1, the Lord rebukes Israel for bringing offerings and making many prayers while neglecting the oppressed, the fatherless, and the widow. He says that their “silver has become dross” and this may not be the reason but one result of their wickedness and poor use of money was that “they [did] not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause [did] not come to them (v.23).” Luke also commends the believers in Acts 2:45 for “selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

Does this mean that we all must prescriptively look at this text in Acts and claim that all believers must sell all possessions? I would argue that we ought to sell unnecessary possessions and always be looking for ways to give generously to one another. I would also suggest that dumping out our money and giving it all to the poor would be following in the footsteps of the one who was not a good steward and was chastised by his master. Instead of dealing hastily with our money, I think we ought to be more apt to rebuke a brother who buys the new boat, the new car, or the new gadget to satisfy the desires of the flesh and to take pride in things of this world. We should consider our motives. Does buying a certain house, eating a certain meal, buying a computer, or even donating money to a certain missions organization bring glory to God? Rather than making decisions in our heart to spend money in various ways and then justifying our reasons in the Word in a similar fashion as Satan offering scripture to Jesus in the wilderness, we need to reform our minds to view all money as God’s money and carefully spend, give, and save every dollar of it to the glory of God.