Wealth & Greed
Good morning Chapel family! Great to be with you today. I want to take a minute to personally thank everybody who made Chapel Kids Camp at-home edition and the Lockdown Games such a great success this past week. Not the same as it usually is, but we had hundreds of kids involved; there was an awesome team of volunteers; they had great fun; and the gospel went out in creative ways. So good job to all who made it such a success.
We’re taking the summer of 2020 to walk through the book of Proverbs, which is all about how to navigate life skillfully and wisely. And one of the topics that comes up a lot in Proverbs is the topic of wealth and greed. There is no way you will live life well if you don’t learn to handle money well.
Have you ever watched the show American Greed? It’s one of my favorites. It’s about people who have gotten so greedy, that they’ve self-destructed. Like the dermatologist who would tell all his patients they had skin cancer, and he did hundreds of surgeries removing these spots, which were actually just freckles. There was an episode about Kenneth Lay from Enron, and how he deceived people into thinking the company was strong, and so people kept buying the stock, and then the whole thing fell apart. It’s a very interesting show, and it’s very popular.
Why do you think it’s so popular? I have a theory. I think we enjoy watching these radical examples of greed to assure ourselves that we’re not that bad. So every time we see another bizarre story, we say, “That guy’s crazy! I’m normal.” It makes us feel better about ourselves.
But here’s the thing: when I read the Bible, it seems like God is trying to tell me, “You have a problem with greed.” When I read the teachings of Jesus, he seems to be warning me of my materialism. When I read the book of Proverbs, over and over again it tells me that I probably have an unhealthy relationship with money. So if I am truly open to the voice of God—this is a place where I need to lean in and listen carefully. So that’s what we’re going to do today.
Our Scripture reading actually consists of three separate passages, starting with Proverbs 18 verse 10. Hear the Word of the Lord…
10 The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.
11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;
they imagine it a wall too high to scale.
Proverbs 23:4-5…
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
have the wisdom to show restraint.
5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings
and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
And finally, Proverbs 11:24-25…
24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
25 A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. This is the Word of God.
So, today I want to talk about three things: Loving Money, Loving God, and How to Love Money Less and God More. Loving money, loving God, and how to love money less and God more.
So, first: let’s talk about Loving Money. In Jesus’ most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, he says that in every person’s life, there are these two rival masters who are competing for your love and allegiance. Do you know who those two rival masters are? God and money. And Jesus says you can’t serve both at the same time! Because whichever one you choose, you’re basically turning your back on the other.” So let’s get really practical: how do you know if you’re loving money? Proverbs points us to three signs in our life. Here’s the first one…
Security. Look at Proverbs 18:11…
The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;
they imagine it a wall too high to scale.
If you lived in the ancient world, the number one thing that would give you a sense of security was a good wall. So a “fortified city” meant a city with a strong wall around it—a wall so high that no intruder could scale it and attack you. So look what this is saying: when you acquire a lot of wealth—when your salary becomes comfortable, and your investments are growing; when you’ve finished paying for college or if you manage to pay off your house…how does that affect your mindset? You start to feel more secure. It’s like a high wall around your life—so you start to feel safer. (exhale). The future is going to be okay. So Proverbs is teaching us that the more wealthy you are, the more tempted you’re going to be to find security in your wealth.
The problem is: it’s not true. Look at the second line of that Proverb: they imagine it a wall too high to scale. Let me ask you, is it too high to scale? If you had a net worth of $10 million, would that wall be too high to scale? Nope. How about $20 million? You’d be secure then, right? Nope. Does anyone think the job market is safe with Covid-19? Does anyone think the stock market is safe with Covid-19? So if we look for security in our wealth, a lot of us are freaking out right now. We’re having high levels of anxiety. As Jesus said, no matter how high your wall, thieves break in and still, and moth and rust destroy.
So be honest with yourself: how much of your deep security and sense of well-being do you find in money? Is God using the pandemic or a job layoff or something else to reveal that you love money a little too much?
The second sign of loving money is our Priorities. Look at Proverbs 28, verse 20:
A faithful person will be richly blessed,
but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.
Throughout the Bible—Old Testament and New Testament—having money is never condemned. It is not wrong to have money, or even to be rich. But consistently the Bible says, if you’re eager to get rich, you’re headed for trouble. Listen to 1 Timothy 6:9-10…9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 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. So it’s not having money; it’s wanting to get rich and loving money and being eager for money. So think about your heart—this sermon has a lot of opportunities for self-reflection. If your priority in life is to become wealthy—if that’s what you’re after—you are in spiritual danger. Because you can’t love both God and money at the same time.
Proverbs 23:4 also speaks to this issue of priorities—listen to this:
Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
have the wisdom to show restraint.
Are you wearing yourself out to get rich? Think about your typical work week. Are you killing yourself, and killing your family, and killing your body—so you can maximize your income? What is being sacrificed to the money god? You say, “Well, I have no choice. If I want to keep my job, I have to work like that.” Maybe. There are some hard jobs—I get that. And most jobs have tough seasons where you need to sacrifice. But we also have the power to make choices and set priorities. Because if we don’t do that—if we don’t intentionally choose to love God over money—we will never be happy.
Over and over again, researchers have found that anything beyond meeting your basic needs of food and clothing and shelter—anything beyond that doesn’t make you happier, and in many cases, makes you less happy. USA Today recently ran an article, where they quoted a psychologist from the University of Illinois named Ed Diener. And he said, quote, “Materialism is toxic for happiness.” In other words—listen carefully—when our priority is wealth and possessions, that actually destroys happiness. And yet there’s something in us that doesn’t want to believe that.
Here’s the third evidence Proverbs gives us for loving money: our Generosity. Look at Proverbs 28:22…
The stingy are eager to get rich
and are unaware that poverty awaits them.
So there’s another warning about being eager to get rich, right? But let’s focus on that word “stingy.” What a terrible word, isn’t it? To be stingy means you’re tight-fisted with your money. “No, I’m just thrifty. I’m just careful with my money. That’s why I give a 10% tip to waiters. If they’re good. If not, I give 5%. Or nothing. Because I’m careful.” No, you’re stingy. One of my sons delivered pizza for a while. So when he would come back after a night of delivering pizzas, he would give me the report on how his tips were. I was amazed at how stingy people are with tipping the pizza guy. It was very common for people to tip $2. Two bucks! For a college kid who’s out there hustling and driving all over town--$2! Some people actually tipped nothing! And maybe you think this is a silly example. But it indicates something deeper. When we don’t live generously—when we’re not open-handed with our money and our possessions—it means money has a grip on our hearts.
You want to hear something even sadder than $2 tips for the pizza guy? In our country, as people’s wealth increases, the percent of their income that they give away decreases. Let me say that again: in our country, as people’s wealth increases, the percent they give away to charity decreases. Significantly. Researchers have known this for a while. Why would that be? I mean, you would think that as you make more money, all your needs are met and you’d have more left over to give away, right? But it doesn’t work that way. For some reason, the wealthier we are, the stingier we become. Could it be that wealthier people feel more entitled? Or maybe they’re obsessed with keeping up with other wealthy people? I don’t know. But Proverbs says when you hold your money tightly—when you’re not living generously—that’s a clear sign that you love money. You’re replacing God with the idol of money.
So would you take a minute to look in to your heart? Give yourself a grade on those three things: your security, your priorities, and your generosity. And be honest. Is it possible that you are spiritually dry or that you’re just very unhappy because you’re allowing money to take the place of God?
Now: in our country there is a movement that recognizes the danger of greed and materialism. It’s called “minimalism.” So you can turn on HGTV, and you can watch people move into tiny houses. Have you seen that? Tiny little houses—like 3-400 square feet—you have a kitchen table that folds down into the shower, and then you later us it as your bed—things like that. They’re really cute. And you hear people say, “Now that I live in this tiny house, I don’t have to worry about all this stuff anymore! I’m finally free!” Or you can turn on Marie Kondo—right? Extremely popular, and she says go through all your stuff, and whatever doesn’t “spark joy,” just get rid of it. So you can live a much simpler lifestyle. And I don’t want to criticize the minimalist movement; I think for some people it could be great. But here’s the thing: if you pull the greed and materialism out of your life, that’s good, but it leaves a hole. And if you don’t fill that hole with something better, you’re just going to have emptiness. And so usually, the materialism will just creep back in. Because money is that powerful.
So here’s what I’m saying: all those warnings we just heard in Proverbs—don’t find your security in money, don’t prioritize money, don’t be stingy—if you just stop doing those things, you’re just going to have a hole. It’ll never work. So the message of this sermon is not, “Stop loving money!” The message is, “Start loving God.” That’s the only thing that’ll fill the hole.
So, point number 2: Loving God. Let’s take those same three tests—your security, your priorities and your generosity—and see how those will look when we’re loving God.
So, first: your Security. Remember what Proverbs 18:11 said? The wealth of the rich is their fortified city. They find their sense of security and well-being in their wealth. But look at the verse just before that—Proverbs 18:10…
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.
See, when you’re loving God, you realize that the only true security in life comes from a relationship with God. Everything else is so fragile: our money, our health, our job. I think that’s one of the things God is trying to teach us through this pandemic—everything is more fragile than we thought it was. But there’s one thing that can’t be taken away: the name of the Lord. If we can learn to hold everything else loosely, but hold him tightly, then we will have real security.
I was in a nursing home once, visiting someone. And right next door—actually, just separated by a curtain—there was an elderly African-American woman. And the family of the woman that I was visiting had gotten to know this roommate, so they introduced me to her. They called her Miss Daisy. So I went over and sat down with Miss Daisy, and I said, “Tell me about yourself—are you from around here? Do you have family?” And she said, “Well, most of my family is gone; my kids don’t live around here.” I said, “Are they treating you well here?” She said, “Oh, yeah—they’re good to me here.” And I was really trying to be a pastor to her, but then she started pastoring me. She said, “You know, one day the Lord is going to take me home, and I don’t know when that is, but that’s up to Him.” And then she smiled this really wise smile. And she said, “But this is where He has me right now, and I’m okay with that.” And I remember walking away, thinking, “This woman has nothing…but she has everything. She has true security.” Money can’t give you that.
How about our Priorities? Look again at Proverbs 23:4…
Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
have the wisdom to show restraint.
Have the wisdom to show restraint. I once heard a wise man say we should have finish lines built into our schedule. So every day, there should be a time when you’re done with work. You’ve given it your best shot; you’ve been diligent; and you shut down the computer, or you put away the tools, and you head home. You could stay longer; you could do things better; you could possibly even make more money. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Because you realize that if you’re constantly working, there’s not enough of you left over to love God and love the people in your life.
Speaking of priorities, look at Proverbs 15, verses 16 and 17:
16 Better a little with the fear of the Lord
than great wealth with turmoil.
17 Better a small serving of vegetables with love
than a fattened calf with hatred.
Do you hear that? Wisdom means prioritizing the fear of the Lord over great wealth. It means prioritizing love over a fattened calf. There are some things way more important than money.
And then, third, our Generosity. I love this passage—Proverbs 11:24-25…
24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
25 A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
It doesn’t seem to make sense mathematically, does it? If you’re generous, you’ll gain more, you’ll prosper, and you’ll be refreshed. Now, let’s be clear: this doesn’t necessarily mean that being a generous person will make you financially rich. It might. But it might not. But the point is, there is a kind of prosperity and refreshment that are way deeper than financial. So Proverbs is telling us, “Be a generous person, and you will be blessed by God in ways you cannot even imagine.”
Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton are researchers who wrote a book called Happy Money. In the book they talk about an experiment where they went to a college campus and handed out Starbucks gift cards to students. To some of the students, they said, “Go buy something for yourself. Enjoy!” To another group, they said, “You have to give this card to someone else.” And to a third group they said, “Use the card to buy something for someone else, but then you have to hang out and have a coffee with them.” You know which group reported the highest level of happiness? The third group. The ones who treated someone else and spent time with them. Very simple study, but I think it taps into something important: we are happiest when we live generously—sharing our wealth and sharing ourselves. It seems like God made us to thrive on generosity.
Latonya Young is a hairstylist in Georgia, and she also drives an Uber to make extra money. About a year ago one of her passengers was a guy named Kevin Esch, and as they drove, Latonya shared that she was recently forced to withdraw from college, because of an unpaid student debt. She said, “Every time I’m about to pay the bill, my kids need something, so I’ve had to wait.” They made some more small talk, and she dropped him off. A few days later, Latonya was notified by Georgia State University that her debt had been paid—it turns out that Kevin Esch has paid off her bill of about $700. So this past December, Latonya graduated from college with a degree in criminal justice. Kevin Esch was in the audience, cheering for her. This is a picture of the two of them at the graduation. Kevin said, “I could've bought new clothes or I could've helped someone out. And what has come back to me has come back a hundredfold and I would do it 1,000 times over.” I think that’s what Proverbs means when it says, “Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” It’s powerful.
And I know that many of you are living this. The Chapel is filled with some of the most generous people I have ever met. They give extravagantly to the work of The Chapel and all kinds of other causes, and God blesses them extravagantly, in all kinds of different ways. Some of you—if you’re really honest, you don’t live this way. And I don’t say that to make you feel guilty; this is not a guilt sermon, at all. This is really an invitation—to look at Proverbs, and take God at his word. To believe that you will be most joyful, and most wise, when you’re living generously.
Now: the final question is…how? How do you make that shift from loving money to loving God? Point 3: How to Love Money Less and God More. I believe the key to this last question is found in Proverbs 11:24. Look at that verse again: One person gives freely yet gains even more. What does it mean to give freely? Well, it means to give, not expecting anything in return. Not calculating the benefit—like, “If I give this, I’ll get that.” So even though Proverbs tells us about all these great blessings for generous people, giving “freely” means you don’t give so that you’ll get those blessings. The motivation has to be something deeper.
So here’s the big question: what is that deeper motivation that can replace the love of money with the love of God and transform our relationship with wealth? And the answer is grace. The more we understand and receive the grace of God, the more we will love God, and the less we will love money, and the more we our financial lives will be healthy. There is a beautiful New Testament example of this in the life of a guy name Zacchaeus.
Luke 19 tells us that Zacchaeus was a tax collector. And tax collectors were hated by almost everyone, because they collected taxes from their own Jewish people for the occupying Roman government. In addition, most tax collectors abused their position by extorting more than the official tax rate. So tax collectors were rich; they were corrupt; they were sell-outs. Now, think about this: if you were a Jewish person living in Israel in the first century, you would know how despised tax collectors were. So why would you ever take that job? There’s only one possible answer, right? The money! In a poor society, this was one of those rare opportunities to be financially comfortable. And the temptation of that was so strong, some people were willing to sacrifice just about everything else…for the paycheck. So…Zacchaeus was a greedy person.
So Jesus came to town, and it says Zacchaeus was short, so he couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a tree to get a better view. You know what this tells me? Even though Zacchaeus was financially well off, he was empty. He was searching for something. And he thought maybe Jesus could help him find it. Because grown men don’t climb trees. But Zacchaeus swallowed his pride and climbed the tree.
So Jesus looks up at him, tells him to get out of the tree, and invites himself over for dinner. And off go Jesus and Zacchaeus to Zacchaeus’ house. Verse 7 says All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” Because in that culture, when you shared a meal with someone, it meant more than just eating. It meant that you wanted to be associated with them and have a friendship with them. And the crowd couldn’t believe that out of all the people there, Jesus would single out the biggest sinner to have a friendship with! And I’m sure Zacchaeus was just as surprised: Jesus wanted a relationship with him—and he knew he didn’t deserve it!
Let me ask you: when you think about God, do you think of Him as someone who knows how messed up you are, and yet He invites himself into your life anyway? Like Jesus did with Zacchaeus? Or do you view God as someone who expects you to clean up your act first, before you can come to Him? See, the essence of the Christian faith—what makes the gospel “good news”—is that Jesus came and died for messed up, greedy people. And so every time we try to distance ourselves from those terrible people on American Greed; every time we look down on others, we are so far from grace. Zacchaeus knew he wasn’t better than anyone else. So when Jesus invited him down from the tree, it says he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. Because when you get a taste of grace, it’s like oxygen, and you want to breathe more of it.
You know what else? When you get a taste of grace, it changes you. Look at Luke 19:8… But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Why was he suddenly so generous? Because he had experienced grace. See, religion is all about rules and duty and responsibility. “What do I have to do for God?” But grace is all about what God has done for me. And when you experience that, there’s this inner release of gratitude and generosity. So we don’t know what else was said between Jesus and Zacchaeus. But Jesus had dropped a Grace-Bomb into his life, and everything looked different.
And at the end of this scene, look what Jesus says—Luke 19:9… Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. Notice what Jesus didn’t say. He didn’t say, “Okay, Zacchaeus. I hear your good intentions. And I’m going to be watching. If you really follow through—if you really give away half of your possessions, and pay back all the people you ripped off, then salvation will come to you.” He doesn’t say that, does he? He says, “Salvation has come.” And that is the difference between the gospel and religion! Religion says, “Do good, so that you’ll be saved!” The gospel says, “Do good, because you’ve been saved!” Radical difference!
A generous person gives freely.
Do you see any Zacchaeus in yourself? A little too focused on money? You need to experience grace in a personal way. See, if you just pull out the greed and materialism, it’s just going to leave a hole. But when you fill that hole with the grace of God, money starts to lose its grip on your life. The grace of God really is that powerful. Have you received it?
