The other day I met a crack addict. He was really stressed out and sad because he didn't have money to buy more drugs. I helped him to realize that it was really his own fault because he had not been diligent in putting some of his crack away for a rainy day. Also, he hadn't been working very steadily, so it was hard for him to get more crack. But, lucky for him, I am a good advisor, and so we came up with a plan so he could have a job, and put away some money each month. By taking small steps, at the end of 3 years, he will be able to buy all the crack he wants each day for the rest of his life. Isn't that exciting?!
What is wrong with this picture? What is wrong with the picture is that I have reinforced this man's belief that what he needs in his life is drugs. I have helped him continue in the delusion that drugs will satisfy him. Any thinking person (who is not on drugs) would recoil at the thought of anyone doing what I described in the above paragraph.
And yet, this is almost verbatim the kind of counseling that is done in order to help people in debt by most "Christian financial ministries" today. The idea is that people are stressed and miserable because they are in debt. So they need to get rid of their credit cards, pay off their debt, and save up a lot of money. Yet just like the crack addict, the misery of the person in debt is not the real issue. THE REAL ISSUE IS THAT THEY ARE LOOKING TO MONEY TO SATISFY THEM. And money can never satisfy.
Why do we recoil at the example of helping someone save up money for drugs, but not at saving up money to consume on our own lusts in other ways? Because most of us are not blinded by a craving for crack cocaine. But most of us are blinded by our love for money. And so we think that the real problem IS our debt. No!
Who is the world's greatest authority on money? I'm not sure who you think it is. But I'll tell you who it really is: God. What does God say about money?
"You cannot serve God and money." (Matthew 6:24)
"Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses." (Luke 12:15)
"It is hard for those who have riches to enter into the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:23)
"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." (James 5:1)
"Go your way, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven." (Mark 10:21)
"The love of money is the root of all evil." (1 Timothy 6:10)
"No covetousness man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." (Ephesians 5:5)
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." (Matthew 6:19)
"But they that want to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." (1 Timothy 6:9)
"Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God." (Luke 6:20)
"Do not love the world or the things in the world." (1 John 2:15)
"You took joyfully the spoiling of your goods." (Hebrews 10:34)
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36-37)
"If any man sees his brother in need and does not help him, how does the love of God dwell in him?" (1 John 3:17)
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:39)
Do these statements seem unclear? Are they ambiguous? No, God is clear in what He says about money. The Scriptures are not hard to understand concerning money. But they are hard to obey concerning money. And so rather than listen to what God says about money, we like to listen to ear-tickling advisors who will tell us how to save up enough money that we can retire early, buy a lakehouse, and play golf the rest of our lives.
Among evangelical churchgoers in America, "Christian financial advisors" have replaced the Lord Jesus Christ as the last word on money matters. 4 million people a day listen to an hour-long radio program from one celebrity advisor. He encourages people to save up millions of dollars, buy a second home on the lake, and "live like no one else". Do 4 million people a day spend an hour with the Lord in our land? What are we told to do in 1 Timothy 6?
We are commanded to flee from the love of money. In the New Testament Epistles, believers are only commanded to flee from four things: fornication, idolatry, youthful lusts, and the love of money. We are not commanded to flee from the devil or from smoking or from atheists or from terrorists. We are commanded to flee from the love of money. What does flee mean? As my four-year old son could tell you, flee means to run away from something really fast. We are supposed to run away from the love of money.
If I am supposed to run away from the love of money, does it make sense to try to become a millionaire? If I am commanded not to store up treasures on earth, should I be trying to amass a huge fortune in the bank? If I am to help my brother in need, should I be spending a million dollars on a lakehouse while millions of my fellow human beings are starving to death? If I am to follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, should I live my own little life and be happy, while forgetting the multitudes that have never heard His name?
My brothers and sisters, this is not Christianity. Those who would teach that Christians are to try to become rich and store up treasure on this earth are liars and deceivers. We are to rebuke such men and have nothing to do with them. Because of such teaching, the name of Christ is blasphemed among the nations.
Suppose that you were living in Bangladesh. You have four children. Your combined household income is $400 a year. You can barely afford to put food on the table. You live in a slum. Suppose you could see American Christians listening to a radio show talking about how they can save a million dollars, buy a new car, a second house, and live comfortably for their remaining years--how would you feel about their Jesus? Of course, those living in Bangladesh cannot always see this. But God does.
May we stand for God's truth about money in a day when syncretism is rampant. We are rightly disgusted when people spread a thin veneer of Christianity over pagan animistic practices and call it Christianity. And yet when we try to serve both God and money, we do the same thing.
I do not speak as one who has arrived, but as one who is seeking the Lord and asking that He would free me from the love of money and materialism that I see around me and within me. May God continually change us into His image, and work in our hearts in such a way that He Himself is the treasure!