Last week I gave a chapel presentation at the Christian School on the Story of the Rich Young Man in Luke 18. This Rich man wanted to receive eternal life. He had obeyed the law to a tee, but was now asking what more must I do. Jesus said sell all your possessions and give what you raise to the poor. The man walked away sad, as he couldn’t do it. Jesus explains to his disciples that it was because he was “rich” and said that it is harder for a “Rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a Camel to go through the eye of the needle.” So, what does this mean, does it mean that wealthy people can’t be saved. Well, no cause later Jesus admits that no one can enter the kingdom of heaven, because with man it’s impossible to enter the kingdom on your own, but that with God all things are possible, meaning that with God a rich man or a poor man can enter the kingdom. So Jesus was not saying that rich people don’t go to heaven, but he was outlining how difficult it truly is.
Maybe other Scriptures might shed some light on this question.
1Ti 6:9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
1Ti 6:11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
1Ti 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
1Ti 6:8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
1Ti 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
1Ti 6:9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
Jas 1:11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
Heb 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
One text that gets overlooked here is from 1 Timothy 6:10, I think this explains it. “Some people eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs”. Let’s look at this. It is said they “Wandered from the faith” they did not loose their faith. They were those tossed “too and fro by every wind of doctrine” there are folks who while still claiming to know Jesus are now subscribing to a false gospel, and because of this they will pierce themselves with many griefs.
See the problem with wealth is that if we focus on wealth we have to maintain a lifestyle of abundance and wealth which takes time and attention. That’s obvious, but what is forgotten is that living as a follower of Jesus Christ is also something that takes time and attention. Can you do both? Well Jesus says no when he says “you cannot serve mammon and God”.
Let’s look at this practically. Along with wealth come temptations. If you are wealthy you have technology, you have freedom, you have power, you have the ability to be apathetic, you have far greater temptation to be greedy, thus you are “pierced” with “many griefs”. To keep up the lifestyle you have to be round other people of wealth and power, this means there is a pressure to engage in a similar lifestyle, the easy access to sin, greed, and lust.
So according to these texts, having enough is a blessing, and being content with enough is our command, but having too much is a curse and a stumbling block. While much of our popular Christian speakers are telling us we should “Claim wealth” God is saying in His Word what he says in 1 Timothy 6:9 that “people who want to get rich fall into temptation”. The history of the Church will tell you just that, going back as far as Ananias and Sypharias, to opulent Church of the Roman Empire, to the Church that said you had to pay your way to heaven, to the numerous and destructive scams and financial failings of the 20th century. We don’t have to look far to see a path of destruction and hurt left by those who preach that we should never be content and that God wants us to be financially wealthy.
Just recently one of the world most well love Christian Speakers in Asia got caught up embezzling money. In the 1980’s Jim Bakker defrauded thousands as a Preacher. Here is what Baker said during this time.
“Why should I apologize because God throws in crystal chandeliers, mahogany floors, and the best construction in the world?”
Jim Bakker
I started out by believing God for a newer car than the one I was driving. I started out believing God for a nicer apartment than I had. Then I moved up.
Jim Bakker
You see God didn’t give them those things, he took those things from his congregations and TV fans. Him and his wife were the first to use the prophetic ploy about the little old lady with the jar in her kitchen. The ploy is that they say that God told them that listening to them is a little old lady with a jar of money hidden away, and that God is telling them to tell her to put that money in an envelope and send it in to their ministry and she will be blessed. It’s a ploy that is used all too often. But here is what Jim Bakker said later...
My dream became bigger and bigger. And the box got bigger than the message, than the Gospel.
Jim Bakker
The box got bigger, the outside, the buildings. And all that we were doing. I had to raise about $1 million every two days just to stay alive.
Jim Bakker
Bakker’s life and the life of his family were torn apart as well as the many people who gave their life savings to him. He indulged in temptation and sin while being funded by selling people a false hope. That hope was greed in disguise.
So the call to us is, as these texts point out, to be content with what we have. To work harder at keeping ourselves from sin and making the most out of what we have than on making ourselves wealthy. The call is to be content with the love of God as God tells Paul “my grace is sufficient for you.”
The call is to ignore those who tell you that God doesn’t want you to be content with what you have, that you should claim and expect more wealth more power, this is not true. Simply by knowing God and being surrounded by his people you are blessed, and despite whatever you might be going though now in your poverty, there is a room in his house waiting for you where you will experience something far greater than any earthly prosperity or pleasure, you will experience the light of God for all eternity.
We have to be careful lest we become like the rich man in the parable of the “rich man and Lazarus” who while looking pius and religious made wealth and idol and was condemned for eternity. While he experienced great pleasure and wealth in this life he suffered in eternity.
Chances are that God has given us a good deal to be content with. What he has given us is indeed a blessing, but we never want to make an idol of those things he blesses us with. The reason we follow Jesus is not so that we can be made happy, healthy, or wealthy. The reason we follow Christ is because he is the “Way, the truth, and the life”.