The Sin of Greed

People joke about when I remember Winston Churchill. Back in the 30s when he was in his wilderness years, a lot of the other MPs used to joke about him and say, like, when God made Winston, he gave him just an enormous amount of intelligence and wit. and, you know, courage, and then he just accidentally left out this one ingredient of discernment because everybody thought Winston was crazy at that point. And, you know, a lot of churches can tend to be like that where there's, you know, often a direction where if a church was to fall into sin or neglect some duty, it would be in one kind of big area, and often those even correspond to some strength, right? So, and I say all this because, one area where I am very encouraged by our people, by this congregation, this church, this little tree, and body this growing up here, is that we tend to be a very productive people, right? We tend to be very concerned with productive households and turning a profit on the talents that the Lord has distributed in our midst, whether you're a one talent guy, a five-talent guy, a 10-talent guy. I think a lot of you are deeply concerned with things like leaving an inheritance of faith, and productive property, and even monetary inheritance, and wisdom to your children and their children, and lots of you are deeply concerned with being those who love God's wisdom, and so don't, you know, love death, as those who hate wisdom love death.

and their children, and lots of you are deeply concerned with being those who love God's wisdom, and so don't, you know, love death, as those who hate wisdom love death. We tend to be a people who are very interested in putting down productive roots in our community, starting businesses, et cetera. And so with that emphasis, which I hope you'll see in this class this morning is a tremendously good emphasis. That's one that God, if we were to obey the scriptures, would encourage us in, but that that emphasis does come with the possibility of failing in certain of our duties or temptation to sin and see sin corrupt those pursuits and turn them from good things in service of the glory of God and the good of his people into things that would work. us and lead to death and frustration and loss if they become objects of false worship. So there's some passages of Scripture that should cause a congregation like ours with that cultural ethos and strengthen those areas, particularly to tremble before God and then to set a vigilant watch for certain sins and enemies that would love to invade our souls and bring death in those pursuits. I'm going to read three passages for you. Number one, 1 Timothy 6, 9 and 10. 1st Timothy 6, 9, and 10, Paul says, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation,

1st Timothy 6, 9, and 10, Paul says, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. And actually, in Greek, it literally says, for the love of money, is the root of all kinds of evils. Or is a root of all evils. It's through this crape. that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. First Timothy, 6, 9, and 10. So there's something in a love of money that has caused many to wander from the faith and pierce themselves with many pangs. Proverbs 2820. A faithful man will abound in blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. And then finally, Matthew 1322, Jesus is telling the parable of the seeds in the sower. And one of them, he says, as he's explaining, as for what was sown among thorns, you remember that the seed fell in the soil that seemed to come up and then thorns choked it out and killed it. And Jesus is going to explain, what are the thorns that did that, that killed the gospel seed? As for what was sewn among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. So obviously there's a temptation here that we need to understand,

As for what was sewn among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. So obviously there's a temptation here that we need to understand, that comes along with this good gift of things like wealth and all sorts of physical blessings that wealth can signify. Because wealth can be turned into just about anything that you'd like. So wealth is almost a symbol for things in a way. And we need to understand and name this sin and be sure that we keep a watch for it and learn how to mortify it because apparently this is such a serious sin that there's something in it that's at the root of evil itself. And so this morning we're going to be doing or we're going to be taking up the sin of greed or we could we could say the sin of the love of money in our class. This is the fifth of the seven sins that we'll take up here in the sixth class. We have two sins remaining that we're going to take up. And we're going to do many of the same things we've done in previous classes, trying to understand it and, you know, see what happens if we don't mortify it and how to mortify it. But we're going to take a little bit of a different road as we do that and actually talk about first, the glory of wealth, understanding what it is, why it's a glory, and why it would

glory of wealth, what do I mean? Because maybe you're like, I'm a good reformed Protestant. And so I know that we're supposed to live to the glory of God alone. Right? Solideo Gloria. True. True. Does that mean that there are no other glories that can be properly identified in pursued. Well, no, clearly not. Scripture tells us things like man is the glory of God in 1 Corinthians 11, or that the cedars are the glory of Lebanon in Isaiah. God says that. So there are other glories in the world, and properly obeying that, you know, fifth sola, the glory of God alone, actually requires us to understand those other glories properly and relate them properly to what we could call the archa, the primary first glory, God himself. So when I talk about the glory of some created saying, the glory of man, the glory of woman, the glory of wealth, the glory of whatever it is, what I mean is the weighty goodness of a thing when it's at peace with God. So when something is being used and it's relating properly to God, in doing what God created it to do and to be, that thing is a glory. When a man, you know, let's say Adam before sin entered the world, when Adam related properly vertically to God, you know, vertically downward to creation, as the Lord of Creation,

sin entered the world, when Adam related properly vertically to God, you know, vertically downward to creation, as the Lord of Creation, the Lord of Creation, I mean, lower L Lord, and properly horizontally to his wife Eve before sin, that was a glorious thing. And Adam's manhood was glorious. It was the weighty goodness of a thing at peace with God, with what he had created Adam to be and do. Sin perverted that, and diminished the glory and perverted the glory or deflected the glory. But that's what I mean when I say the glory of wealth. I mean the weighty goodness of wealth when it's at peace with God. So what is wealth for? Again, when I say wealth, I mean money, but also just land is wealth. You know, property is wealth. Businesses are wealth. Possessions are wealth. Your car is wealth. Your house is wealth. Money and everything money can buy is what I mean when I say wealth this morning. What is wealth for? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it neutral? Well, you've heard me say this before, but it's important to lay out on either side, as we often do, to think rightly about something, the ways that we could fall into error. And both of these are very common in our world today with wealth. One of them is what you've heard probably called the prosperity gospel or prosperity theology.

And both of these are very common in our world today with wealth. One of them is what you've heard probably called the prosperity gospel or prosperity theology. This is basically the idea that God loves rich people and that material blessing is a good measure of spiritual faithfulness, you know, basically without asterisk. And that if you have enough faith, God will bless you with wealth, period. And so if you don't have wealth, it just means you didn't have enough faith. And it's really, it's actually an easy theology to fall into this oversimplification. Because all you have to do is pretty much read the Proverbs, misuse the promises of the Mosaic covenant, grab onto some of Jesus' words like asking it will be given to you, out of context, and then point at righteous, rich people like Job and Abraham, who were tremendously wealthy in Scripture, by the way, and you pretty much have prosperity theology with a whole lot of verses attached. And all of them, true, if you were to understand them rightly. The other ditch might be called poverty theology, and all you have to do to arrive here is to pull out the parable of the rich man in Lazarus, turn to the passage of the rich young, ruler, read the book of James, and then rounded out with some of the harsher statements from the prophet Amos, and pretty much, poof, you believe that all money is evil and that God hates rich people. And you're in the other ditch all of a sudden. And in this theology would basically say

prophet Amos, and pretty much, poof, you believe that all money is evil and that God hates rich people. And you're in the other ditch all of a sudden. And in this theology would basically say that the poor are more righteous because of their poverty than the rich. Right? Both of these are oversimplifications to the max. Both of them are unsophisticated ways about thinking of this question and that basically results in error when you go about living your life and trying to relate to something like wealth. The problem with both of these views is that they're too simple and that they fail to anchor their theology of wealth to the bedrock. Neither one really goes deep enough, right? A correct theology of something like wealth understands first what wealth is, which is a good thing from God. Wealth is a blessing. Proverbs 10, 22, the blessing of the Lord makes rich. And he adds no sorrow with it. So wealth is or can be a blessing from God. When it's truly being received and used as a blessing from God, then there's no sorrow with it. Right? In other words, money is a good gift from God. And if you see any, if you're looking at some instance of somebody that has wealth and it has brought sorrow with it, then you're looking not at something God. brought to the table, but something their sin brought to the table. You're looking at some way

father. So he gives us blessings so that we can go reflect him. He's the God from whom all good things come, and we're to be like him. So in the family likeness, therefore, as children of God, imitate God, to paraphrase Paul. Okay. What does that mean? Well, it means that we're going to have to have some good things in our lap. So that like the father, we can give them out generously. If we're going to image him properly, we'll need blessings to give out just as he has blessings to give out. And so that's why God gives wealth. It's one of the reasons. At his right hand are pleasures forevermore, the scriptures say. Wealth is a blessing. It's good. It's good in the way that all sorts of other good things are good, and that means that it has enormous potential for life and joy or for devastation and sin. So wealth is not the root of evil itself. It's just not there. What is the root of evil? The love of money, what we might call disordered loves, or improperly relating the glory to the ultimate glory, improperly relating those things together. So a good man can be tremendously good and tremendously wealthy, or a man can be very bad and very poor, or a man can

tremendously good and tremendously wealthy, or a man can be very bad and very poor, or a man can be very poor and very good, or a man can be whatever the one that I left off. You know, right? You can have any of those four categories, and they're pretty much all possible depending on how we relate to wealth. Wealth can be a servant of the wise, or it can be a destroyer of fools. So the dangers of wealth, when we talk about what does it look like if we don't mortify the a sin of the love of money, where we make money instead of a sub-glory that leads us to understand properly the glory of God and image him. What happens if we were to actually say, money is a God? Money is a God. What would happen? Why is it so dangerous in that way? And what happens when we give into those dangers? Well, there's something that, I remember this years ago, I said this in our Proverbs series talking about money, but the author John Bloom at Desiring God, He wrote that money is at least as dangerous as pornography. And at the time, I remember reading that going, huh, because it's so obvious to me as a pastor, like one of the most common things that people would come and say, hey, Pastor, I need help with this, the Lord's convicted me of the sin. A lot of times there's pornography involved somewhere.

like one of the most common things that people would come and say, hey, Pastor, I need help with this, the Lord's convicted me of the sin. A lot of times there's pornography involved somewhere. And much less often do people come and say, Pastor, I just really love money. I almost can't remember a time when somebody has, you know, proactively sought out help for that. And then I realized, actually, that was probably part of John Bloom's point, is that pornography is something, or a lot of obvious sins, lust, pride, are sins that are obvious to us. We're like, yeah, it's bad. It's really bad. But in order to get money a lot of the time, you actually have to be a pretty responsible, you know, put together self-controlled person. If you just spend all the money, you have and more before you get your money, you probably won't have a lot of money. You probably still love money, and that's a problem. But, you know, most of us don't think of ourselves as lovers of money, or when we think about money, we usually just think, yeah, it's good and I need more of it. That's how I think about this blessing. Most of us don't think that way about other sins. So why is it that money, according to Paul, or the love of money, is at the root of all evil? Let's start there. Why does First Timothy 6, tell us that. And fundamentally, the issue comes down to trust. The issue comes down to trust.

of all evil? Let's start there. Why does First Timothy 6, tell us that. And fundamentally, the issue comes down to trust. The issue comes down to trust. Hebrews 11 tells us, 116 specifically, says that without faith, it's impossible to please God. Which means that whenever you please God, whenever you do a good work, something authentically good, that involved in that good work somewhere will be faith. That somewhere in that good work you've believed God, you've obeyed God, you've acted as if God is telling the truth about something. You've trusted him. And so why is it that money, the love of money is at the root of all evil according to Paul? Well, it's because money is so easy to put your faith in. Money is very, very tempting to hang the hook of your faith on. If you think about it, what in the world is more easy to trust in than money? One of your friends, your spouse, your kids? You know, maybe you're like, yeah, my husband's so great. always tempted to just hope in him completely. And maybe it, you know, my wife is so awesome. I just, I'm tempted to trust in her. Yeah, maybe that's an idol you could fall into. Right. But money is easy to do that with. Money can be turned into anything. Money can give you the illusion of security. Money protects me. It's my shield and my reward. It's my high tower. I can go get a really good security

difficult to trust in God when he's like, I will give you trial and it will be good for you. And money says, trust me, I'll give you whatever you want. There'll be no trial ever. No pain, no suffering. Completely insulate yourself from all lack and want. So wealth is easy to trust in. And what that means is that when the love of money takes root, it will begin to subtly shift us if we don't mortify this sin from doing what we do out of trust of God and his blessing. So we're believing his promises, believing his character, going and obeying his word. And we begin to trust in our resources, our money, in our own hand to get these things. And ultimately what it does is you end up hanging the hook of your trust and your hopes and your longings and your plans and eventually almost every aspect of your entire life on this hook of money and your own strength. And the reason that's tremendously dangerous is because all of those things will inevitably let you down. All of those things cannot deliver on the promises that are ultimately giving you. Think about it. If you had all of the money and resources in the world, all of it, every penny, every square foot of land was deeded to you, can that still give you what God promises to give you? And it's laughably no. Of course not.

resources in the world, all of it, every penny, every square foot of land was deeded to you, can that still give you what God promises to give you? And it's laughably no. Of course not. Because you're going to die. Even if you lived your whole life and you were like, you know, in champagne every day. And you just, I don't know, you could afford to fill up your whole gas tank in one go every single time, even under Joe Biden's presidency. And you just, you had a lack for nothing, right? You filled up your car and you said, you know what, get the gas can out of the back, babe, put five more gallons in there. And you could do your mower two. You were just loaded. You had it all. You know, you're living the dream. The problem is that no matter what money can buy, it can only buy that for as long as your mortal body continues going forward in life. You're still going to die. It's just like Ecclesiastes. When Solomon's, he's like, I looked at the world, I pursued all these pleasures, and anything money could buy. Solomon's a guy that had 666 talents of gold coming in a year. A talent, I think, is something like 75 pounds. It's an enormous amount. And so here's this guy, he can get anything he wants. All the ladies, all the land, all the cows, all the whatever he wanted. he did. He said, I tried my heart with pleasure. And he realized, it's the end of the rich man and the poor

he can get anything he wants. All the ladies, all the land, all the cows, all the whatever he wanted. he did. He said, I tried my heart with pleasure. And he realized, it's the end of the rich man and the poor man of the same. The grinders stop grinding. Your teeth all fall out. That's literally one of the things he says. You get old. Stuff stops working. And then you just, you die. At the end of the day, money gives us such a false assurance because what it offers us is, is perfect life. And all it can give us is some comfort and life here. But what God says is, I can actually, not only can I satisfy your desires, God actually does say that. God blesses his people, God delight to provide for us, all sorts of things like that are true. But God also says that he is going to cause us to inherit with the firstborn son, which means we're going to inherit with Christ. We're going to inherit new life, eternally. So that though you die, you shall live. So what compares? Let's say 80 years at the outset with the best medical care that that man has to offer, the best dentures that medical technology has to offer, all of the stuff that money can buy you. Okay, 80 years versus 1,000 billion years. Let's just throw out a number. One quadrillion years. Eternity. Eternality with the God at whose right hand are pleasures

that money can buy you. Okay, 80 years versus 1,000 billion years. Let's just throw out a number. One quadrillion years. Eternity. Eternality with the God at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore. You find out that money is ultimately, if it's a God, it's a really poor one. It just doesn't do a whole lot. The problem is, it's really hard for us to believe that, is it not? Because right now, when God makes this promises to us, we have a guarantee of our inheritance in the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1, 13, and 14. It's a guarantee of our inheritance. But right now, not all of our faith is sight. There's still a gap between our faith and our sight. We haven't seen all of it yet, right? But with money, there's very little gap. If you had $100 million in your bank account right now, you could get almost anything that want fairly quickly, you know, maybe a couple weeks at the most. You could get it if you had that money. So faith in money is easy. Faith in God is much different. It's much harder in some ways. And so the reason that the love of money is so dangerous is because fundamentally, it stands in for all of the other pleasures of the world. It stands in, in a way, for many of the other idols. And it's sort of an image that can be, or a symbol that can symbolize almost any other thing that we might be tempted

that we will always have to keep a watch for. Always have to keep a watch for the love of money, idolizing money, doing an inventory of our heart. So let's get practical here and talk about how we can keep a watch for this sin and mortify it when it comes up. And one of the things that's important to note right at the beginning is that when you talk about other sins, it's easy to see this, but with money it's not as easy is that when we talk about sexual sin, for example, the solution to sexual sin isn't necessarily to pursue perpetual abstinence, right? But part of God's solution to the temptation of sexual sin is actually to pursue not just the negation of the negative part, but also pursuing the positive thing that it's for. And so we ought to pursue joyful marriage beds, not just hatred of sexual sin. right? We don't take up the weapon of asceticism to fight sin. That's not how we do it. It's not it's like going into a fight with a dragon with a butter knife trying to kill sin with asceticism. It just doesn't work. Paul says that in Colossians. We come up with all these rules, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. They have an appearance of wisdom, he says, in promoting self-made religion and severity to the body and asceticism. But then he says, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Aestheticism won't do it. So just like we do with any other sin,

and severity to the body and asceticism. But then he says, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Aestheticism won't do it. So just like we do with any other sin, when we think about the love of money, we need to be asking at the same time, how do we kill the sin and how do we pursue the right use of the thing? How do we use the tool rightly that God is given, and how do we avoid sinning with it and worshiping it and making it into a God? Scriptures have a lot, a lot, a lot to say about how to use money properly in order not to worship it. And if I could just summarize, like, this is almost every money, practical money help class on earth, Dave Ramsey, rich dad, poor dad, you know, and there's like a bunch of nuances there where everyone's like, yeah, Dave Ramsey doesn't understand, like, interest in the age of inflation and collateralized debt against risk. Okay, I get all of that. But you could almost summarize everything good about most money guru's advice with this sentence. work hard as unto the Lord spend less money than you make save a good portion of it diligently and you could say save and invest wisely and stop looking for loopholes to this everything I just said before that you could pretty much summarize almost all money advices that's wise that work really hard as unto the Lord spend less than you make save diligently and invest diligently and stop looking for loopholes to those four things

advices that's wise that work really hard as unto the Lord spend less than you make save diligently and invest diligently and stop looking for loopholes to those four things that's pretty much it I mean the reason that a lot of us aren't good with money isn't because being good with money is really complicated. It's because we're sinners. It's because we're sinners. We lack self-control. And a lot of us are like a 400-pound obese person who knows a tremendous amount about dieting and exercise. We're like, yeah, you know, you really need to get this savings account and you know, you're going to want to save 20% and invest diligently this percentage every month and you're like $50,000 in debt. You know, took out a $100,000 student loan to get a degree in feminist basket weaving. And it's like many of us are like that. I'm not accusing you. I mean, many of us, people, we tend to be like this. It's often not that we don't know what wisdom would be. It's just we don't believe it's true. We don't believe God. We don't believe what God said. We don't believe the rules he built into reality. And so we just say, I'm out of here. I'm not listening to that. I'm not actually going to do it. The two ingredients in scripture to avoid poverty, which is not actually a good thing, the way. Poverty is not a good thing intrinsically. Shane Claiborne is not correct about that. Is to work heartily and to have self-control. Like Proverbs 10-4, a slack hand causes poverty.

the way. Poverty is not a good thing intrinsically. Shane Claiborne is not correct about that. Is to work heartily and to have self-control. Like Proverbs 10-4, a slack hand causes poverty. The hand of the diligent makes rich. If you work hard, work wisely, do everything hardly as unto the Lord and not for men, then you are likely, at least, barring providential hindrances to get some measure of wealth. It's not the prosperity gospel. That's just like saying that math is true. economics are true. Proverbs 2117 is true. Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil will not be rich. So then you say, whoever loves, you know, whatever the equivalent of wine and oil today, which might still be wine, actually, and now that seed oils are lame, it might be like real good oils or something like that. I don't know. It's not a complicated idea here. So the first thing we need to do is actually believe that that's true. Believe that God wrote the laws of economics and by faith obey them. The second thing that we ought to be aiming to do, and this is where we begin to get into the heart of the matter with mortification of the sin of love of money, is that we need to move. The love of money is the thing that's curved inward. It's a love of me, ultimately. You know those little fat Buddhist statues at Chinese restaurants? Is it Chinese restaurants? I always get the Indian restaurants and the Chinese, they all have

me to love with my money. It's not the poor in Kenya, by the way. It's not. It's not compassion international. None of these are bad things, by the way. I'm not knocking any of these. It's not the poor. First, who has the first dibs on your money? Men, the answer is your wife and children. It's your family. They have first dibs. They're in the first tier. So when I curve money out of the love of it for myself, the first thing it means is that I will be sure to diligently provide insofar as it's up to me. Providence of God factored in for my family, those who are my economic responsibility. This is why Proverbs 1322 says that a good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous. It's why Paul says in 1 Timothy 5.8 that if anyone doesn't provide for his family and especially members of his own household, he's denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. It's one of the strongest rebukes Paul gives anywhere. He says, men, if you don't provide for your family, especially your household, you're functionally denying the faith. And your work, because the unbelievers even do that, right? It's very stern, very stern, charge. And so one of the first things is we pry the love of money out of our souls, and by, I mean, the spirit of God, working through our willing and working,

that, right? It's very stern, very stern, charge. And so one of the first things is we pry the love of money out of our souls, and by, I mean, the spirit of God, working through our willing and working, is that we tear it out and we turn it outward. First to those who are my responsibility. my family, my children, my children's children. I have economic responsibilities downstream. I'm not aiming to build a fat 401k so that I can just coast and spend the last dollar, the last day of my life. I'm honk. I'm spending my children's inheritance. Dumbest bumper sticker ever made. That's not our goal. Our goal is to love our people. Who has God given us to love? It means then working our way out from there, my aging parents, my brothers and sisters in the church. Paul says, that it would be a shame on us if some of us were hungry and some of us were full. Specifically referring to, like, literal basic needs. If we had members of this church who did not have enough to eat, and particularly if that not having enough to eat, was due to all kinds of providential hindrances that can happen. Cancer, car accidents, all sorts of problems can come up. Disability. There are so many reasons that a righteous person might have needs. Well, it's an opportunity for us to do what the father does and to give blessings to other people. So we start working our way outward. We have our house, our family, or our household, then our

Well, it's an opportunity for us to do what the father does and to give blessings to other people. So we start working our way outward. We have our house, our family, or our household, then our relatives, and then we have the church body, and then we start working our way out into our duties to be generous to the poor, and we have our duty, and it starts working its way out. There's a biblical principle, though, that the closer my proximity is to a person, especially relationally, the higher my moral obligation to them is, which is why you don't need to, you know, stay up anxious at night that you can, that you had enough to eat and somewhere, someone somewhere in the world didn't. You're not God. But it's why you should take care to inventory your life and say, are there people who are my responsibility? Do I have more than enough? Even as I pursue to leave inheritance to my children's children, how generous is my measure? Jesus says with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. That's one of those verses in the Bible that makes it uncomfortable. Okay, use a small measure with your generosity. God will use a small measure with you. He says that. If you use a profligate measure, a big, you know, a big old scoop when you take blessings out of your bucket and you pour it out to your children and your family and your church and the poor and working your way out, then you know what God seems to love to do is take a big scoop, probably bigger than yours, and keep pouring it down. That's not the prosperity gospel. That's just verses in the Bible. But it's all about getting

probably bigger than yours, and keep pouring it down. That's not the prosperity gospel. That's just verses in the Bible. But it's all about getting wealth curved from hooked in to curved outward and turned upward and outward. And so we mortify money by aiming for radical generosity in our giving, in all of those spheres. As we are generous to the poor, we lend to the Lord, God says. Proverbs 1917, and he will repay him for his deeds. He's generous to the poor, lends to the Lord. Giving to the poor is like lending to God himself. Paul took collections from local churches in places like Romans 15, 1 Corinthians 16, 2 Corinthians 8, and 9 in order to take care of poor brothers and sisters. This is why things like fostering and adoption are such good illustrations and displays of the kind of outward curving of the use of money that we could think of. You know, and lots of you participate in things like that. Proverbs 22, too, reminds us that the rich and the poor meet together and the Lord is maker of them all. We display something the world rarely displays in the church, which is that we actually believe that rich people are not more important than poor people fundamentally. We actually believe that because we believe they're both made in the image of God,

which is like the first thing that comes in from the food, field. The first thing we think about, before we think about anything else, what are my giving duties? In the tithe, in that time, supported the temple system, the Levittical priesthood. Paul references that to the Corinthians, and he says essentially that's how ministry of the gospel is funded today. That's why you guys tithe and support the work of the gospel in this church. The first fruits, when the first fruits of all your produce, when you honor the Lord with them, with the wealth, then he says, your barns will be filled with plenty. And you, you're, your vats will be bursting with wine. And so, believe that verse. It's the application. Literally, believe that verse. When you start by curving the money outward, when you start there, it tends to do something. It tends to do something in your soul. When you start to think about the resources that God is giving you, again, not as a zero-sum game, where, well, hey, if I get $100 and I start by giving 10 or 15 away or I start by giving some away, then I have 80 or I have 90 or I have 87. And that seems less than 100. True. That is good math. That is correct. But God says that he actually likes to make the 100 bigger. Again, I'm just reading and interpreting the verse

87. And that seems less than 100. True. That is good math. That is correct. But God says that he actually likes to make the 100 bigger. Again, I'm just reading and interpreting the verse pretty straightforwardly. With all of the asterisks that sometimes in God's providence, the saints will suffer. You know, there are poor righteous people. The Lord Jesus had no place to lay his head. All those things are true. But this verse is also true. All of these passages are actually there in the Bible. And so Paul takes it for granted, especially again, if you look at like 1 Corinthians 9, 13, and 14, he takes it for granted that the New Testament people of God are going to bring the first fruits of their resources to fund things like the Minutes. ministry of the gospel. He says, do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple? Those who serve at the altar, sharing the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, all of that came in through the tithe and other offerings. In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaimed the gospel should get their living from the gospel. He's saying, here's how God did it in the Old Testament. It's how God aims to do it in the New Testament. And so here's what you should do. You should start by giving. You just start by giving. That's what he says. It's culturally radical, but it's deeply for us.

And so here's what you should do. You should start by giving. You just start by giving. That's what he says. It's culturally radical, but it's deeply for us. Practically, what that means is that as we continue to mortify sin, we ought to set a watch. And I mean, audit ourselves quite regularly. Because one of the things you need to know about yourself is that you are self-deceiving. All of us are. All of us are very good at tricking ourselves into thinking that we're better than we are. It's not actually difficult. We all do it. I do it. You do it. We all do it. all think of ourselves by default more highly than we ought. We just do. And so one of the most helpful things we can do is to actually make sure that we set a watch and audit ourselves and go through and say, man, I consider myself a pretty generous guy, pretty wise with money. Okay, okay. Well, let's go look at the books. Let's like actually go look at my money. Does my money say the way that I use my money and save my money and invest my money and give my money, does it say about me if somebody else were to look, that's a guy that doesn't love money. That's a guy that's generous. That's the guy that lends to the poor or that gives to the poor and so lends to God. That's the guy that gives generally to the ministry of the gospel. That's the guy that takes care of his family first. That's a guy that doesn't spend 30% of his income on his personal hobbies and then tell his wife, sorry, you can't get new shoes for the kids for school

and so lends to God. That's the guy that gives generally to the ministry of the gospel. That's the guy that takes care of his family first. That's a guy that doesn't spend 30% of his income on his personal hobbies and then tell his wife, sorry, you can't get new shoes for the kids for school because it's extravagantly expensive. Inflation, I'm sorry. I didn't, it was, it's out of my control, babe. Right. What would our money actually say about? about us. Would it say this guy actually really loves money? We need to ask like, what are my plans for money and how can I actually keep watching those plans? Am I undisciplined and lazy? How much do I give? Literally, put a dollar amount into what and why? Who am I responsible for economically? How do the ways I've used money and used money today, or in the past and today speak about what I believe about money. Who does my money say I love? Does my money say I love me? Or does my money say I love me? Or does my money say I love thee? Does it say I love my neighbor, my family, God, or just myself? Most of us don't think about this stuff very often. We tend to get on autopilot. It's very helpful to set a watch for the love of money. And then one of the, I hope you're getting in this series that one of the most important principles for you to take to the bank is that a lot of the time we get bogged down when we're thinking about the conviction of sin and repenting for sin. We get bogged. down and thinking in these big kind of lofty principles. And we don't, we get confused about how to

I check my investments 80,000 times a day. I'm obsessed with them. And so repentance for me means that I am actually going to set a limit on how much I think about this. When I think about it, I'm going to get accountability. We need to repent of our actual sin. Our specific sins. We repent of our particular sins, particularly, not just every week I feel vaguely guilty about the love of money. And so I confess it during the confession time and I repent vaguely about it. It's not how repentance work. We sin particularly. And so if you would kill this sin, then what it means is that we need to develop a habit of repenting particularly for our particular sins. You can't repent of vagaries. You can't repent of vagaries. You can't repent in general. You can only repent in particular. And then finally, and I'll leave you with this before we go to questions, all of this is set in the context of the fact that we have all been blessed beyond imagination by our good father. This whole conversation, instead of thinking about it in terms of lack, where there's just so few resources and it's scarce out there. And so, and God wants me to give away a little bit more of the scarce resources I have. And he knows I don't have enough. So why is he doing it. Well, he must not love me. Think about the context of your entire life. Being a massive mountain of grace, you deserve none of it. God gave you life. You exist. You're breathing right now.

doing it. Well, he must not love me. Think about the context of your entire life. Being a massive mountain of grace, you deserve none of it. God gave you life. You exist. You're breathing right now. You have a heartbeat that just miraculously continues to thump along at, you know, 80 to 120 beats a minute. God gave you that. You have abilities mentally intellectually. He put you in a world full of resources that he allows you to take and turn into things and sell them or participate in an economy. He gives you a house to live in. He gives you family, friends, a lot of health. Think of all of the thing. And then on top of that, then God forgave me my $10 billion sin debt, cleared it completely, paid the bill himself. And then he said, and also, by the way, here's a ring on your finger, here's a robe on you, all kill the fatted calf, welcome you back, call you, son. All of this discussion is situated in that reality. So if you don't remember the gospel, you will not be a generous person. If you don't understand the tremendous debt that you owed that was cleared for you by the father, then you will be very likely to be like the person in the passage we'll read today who goes out forgiven of that $10 billion debt and shakes down a buddy for $55. It's what we'll be like. We'll tend to be stingy. We'll tend not to believe that our father is good. So believe that the father is good and believe that he's good because he's already proved it.

It's what we'll be like. We'll tend to be stingy. We'll tend not to believe that our father is good. So believe that the father is good and believe that he's good because he's already proved it. And then go and live as if that were true and if you believe that. that he will continue to do you good as you obey him with your money. So that's all I've got. We've got 10 minutes. And if you have any questions, my man, Mr. Arncebia, we'll hand the microphone around, which is helpful so the recording can hear your question. Colton. Hi. So you spoke about the first, your first responsibility with your money being to your wife and kids, let's say I'm a single guy or I'm a single woman or, you know, and I think you can take that principle and say, well, your brothers and sisters in Christ around you, but I guess maybe are there hierarchies like I have family in another state and some of them aren't believers? I have roommates that I live with that are Christian, you know, are there hierarchies in that sense or people that you would have responsibility to first? Yeah, that's a great question, Colton. And one that most of us either had been at some point in our life or some of you are or, you know, a lot of our kids are going to be. So how do we equip them for this?

great question, Colton. And one that most of us either had been at some point in our life or some of you are or, you know, a lot of our kids are going to be. So how do we equip them for this? And I would say you still inventory your life in terms of your closest responsibilities. And one of those responsibilities, if you are not intending to be celibate for the gospel and go pursue some risky missions work, that that would include preparing a house to love a wife well, or as a woman preparing to be a good help meet and not get in $200,000 of debt. So there are real responsibilities to future people that you, you know, trust that the Lord will bring into your life at some point. And I think that's still important. You don't just start thinking about all of a sudden the day you get married and you're like, whoa, all of a sudden everything changes. Men typically need to, and women typically need to prepare themselves even economically for those kinds of big life decisions. And there's all sorts of layers to that in terms of ethics. Like that's why dowries were a thing and bride price was a thing. It was economic protection in the context of a world where lots of people died younger than we're used to. And there were different social safety nets. So I'll say as well, though, that beyond that, it starts to work out pretty similarly. You're still going to be situated most often in a family. And that means like if my literal mom and dad were struggling and I'm an able-bodied 22-year-old single guy. Yeah,

It does become difficult when you have to catechize your kids at night. And that happens from five to eight. You know, you can't not be there. So good question. Wouldn't an abundance of time be also considered a wealth? Time? Is that what you should be? head? Okay. Because then you can go glorify God by serving. I'm going to Planned Parenthood when we go to speak to the murdered. And anything else, you know, an abundance of time would be, I'm looking forward to that at retirement. To me, that would be the best thing to glorify God. Yeah. You have, you're available 24-7. Yeah. That's beautiful. Yeah, that's a good point. The time, foundationally, time is one of the most important resources you have. In fact, wealth, most of the secrets to wealth are time. There's a reason that the proverbs say, at the beginning, I read that passage that if you desire to be wealthy, quickly, you fall into a snare. Wealth gained quickly is quickly lost. Wealth gained slowly. It's more, you know, trust it better. Because it's usually the result of principles working out over time. So, you know, almost every aspect of economics actually is related to time. And time is one of our most precious resources. We have very little of it in the scheme of things because we're like a breath. So yes, when you're, when you're thinking about an inventorying, how your wealth goes out, again, as you're doing that circles outward, your time also

things because we're like a breath. So yes, when you're, when you're thinking about an inventorying, how your wealth goes out, again, as you're doing that circles outward, your time also applies. So when you're thinking, who do I have first priority to? That's why Paul says, a married man cannot do as much in terms of high risk or high time missions work. That's why he commends some single people who have a gift of celibacy where they don't have. have the normal sexual desires say of a young man or a young woman. And so, but a married man has real duties and distractions because of that triage. His children have real demands on him. It'd be a shame on us if we had, like, for example, I'll just use myself as an example. It'd be a shame if I became the most gifted street preacher in the world and spent four hours a day after work street preaching and then didn't catacized my children. I'd be a disqualified man. So time is also a resource that we need to think about in that way. It's very good. Mr. Adams. Joe Farley once told me that while 10% is a good standard, a man should give until it hurts and then add another percent to that. So my question is, what counsel would you give somebody who really is working hard? I mean, they're not just playing video games six hours. They're really working hard, but maybe they've racked up a ton of debt. Yeah. And they can give seven percent. They can't hit

working hard? I mean, they're not just playing video games six hours. They're really working hard, but maybe they've racked up a ton of debt. Yeah. And they can give seven percent. They can't hit that, that tithe. What would you suggest to somebody who feels like that? I can't hit this 10% standard. Yeah. So when I think about that person, and I'll answer a specific question, the first thing I would tell them is let's get you mentoring, let's get other people's wisdom, because time, again, is one of the most precious resources and force multipliers, including time of learning things and gaining wisdom. So if you look at somebody who's in your, find somebody in your industry or in an industry you'd like to be in, and go figure out how to make more money, just to put it bluntly. Most men, a lot of men are too scared to make money because they're scared of doing something new. They get imposter syndrome. They don't want to take risk. They don't want to put themselves out there. And so there are lots of men who continue to work menial jobs because they're comfortable with it. And they're intimidated by the idea of going out and saying, yeah, I'd rather mow lawns for a guy with perfect security, 40 hours a week mowing lawns, rather than go, you know, take some risk, even get, you know, a $10,000 business loan, buy some lawn mowing equipment, and start my own lawn mowing service, right? So that's, that's one issue there is that I would always encourage the men to do an inventory and not fall victim to the lie, that it's a zero-sum game, that there's no, like, I'm fixed, I can't get any more than this. You really, I believe you can.

the men to do an inventory and not fall victim to the lie, that it's a zero-sum game, that there's no, like, I'm fixed, I can't get any more than this. You really, I believe you can. Secondly, they need to actually believe those verses. They need to actually believe those verses. Because I actually haven't met anybody in that situation. I haven't met anybody that once we've gone through their budget that they could not give 10%. Even, even with debt, even with that. I literally haven't met them. And I know a guy because he's me. I know what it's like to make very little money. When I was in my early 20s, I think we made, we were talking about this the other day. I had like three jobs. We made like $24,600. You know, I looked at our tax returns the other day. And we lived in some, you know, 600 square foot little condo and the carpet was like a different color than it started, its life. And all of that, we had multiple children. we built a bunk bed in the living room and put our couch under it so the kids could sleep in the room and we'd sleep in the living room. And it was just like, and then I'd meet single guys. They'd be like, I can't tithe man. I've got student loan debt. And I'd be like, you lazy coward. Like just, do you believe the things that the Bible says or not? Like, okay, all right, 7%. Sure. Go ahead. But I would say, I don't believe you, number one. Go for it and see what the Lord does. And actually, like,

and, you know, cost as much as, you know, a lot of people's houses, then we'll say you actually have the resources you need. You don't need the church to pay for you. You just, you're choosing not to pay this bill because you won't sell the car. So there are practical realities there. On the other hand, one of the things that the Lord does, you know, the Lord tends not to give qualifications when he says things like give to the poor. And I think one of the reasons that he does that, because I'm frustrated with that sometimes, just fully honest. As I read, I'm like, where are the qualifications? Where's the, but give us some, some boundaries here, because otherwise we're just kind of, you know, you can't, you can't charity somebody out of poverty who insists on being in poverty. It's kind of, they insist on continuing to sin and being unwise. And I think it's because the Lord knows that he knows our hearts and he knows that we will come up with all of the asterisks that we need on our own. And that most of the time our problem isn't that we're too generous, but it's that we're too stingy. So, like when he says lend to the poor, you're lending to God in Proverbs, one of the realities in Israel was that if everybody had just listened to God, nobody would be poor. He literally said that. There will be no poor among you like in the other nations if you listen to me. And so when there were poor people in the nation, it was literally because somewhere, whether it's him or his dad or somewhere there, there's sin

in the other nations if you listen to me. And so when there were poor people in the nation, it was literally because somewhere, whether it's him or his dad or somewhere there, there's sin involved here and folly. And still he says, go give. So for us, I think, don't take that as me saying there's no asterisk or qualifications, but we all need to make sure that we are, you know, being cognizant of our own hesitation of being wronged or ripped off. And a lot of the times what the Lord says is why not rather be wronged, right? Why not err on the side? of being wronged. If we're never wronged, if we never give somebody money where it turns out like, man, they misused it, we're probably not generous enough, right? Same principle about why Paul would say there ought not be lawsuits among you. Why not rather be wronged? Like, just lose the money. It'd be better, better than taking matters of the church before the civil courts of the pagans. So in that, though, I would specifically say, ask an elder, ask a pastor, because there are There are too many specific circumstances that play into it to give a blanket answer that's satisfactory for every situation.

There are too many specific circumstances that play into it to give a blanket answer that's satisfactory for every situation.