Dr Greg Bahnsen - Economic Ethics: Wealth (Part 3)

This morning we're continuing in a series that I have begun a few weeks ago entitled Economic Ethics. And it is an attempt to find what the word of God has to say to us as believers as to how we should manage our outward estate, our finances, our property, our holdings, if you will, our possessions, how we should look upon those things and how we should treat them. There are a number of facets of this question. We have been looking at some fairly basic ones up to this point. The first installment in our series had to do with the standard of Christian ethics, that is, what we would be using as a yardstick to measure the decisions that have to be made about finances and wealth. And that, we decided, was the word of God and the law of God in particular, which in terms of the psalmist, is more important than silver or gold in indeed, is to be more highly desired than honey to the taste, or gold for its worth. And so the law of God is our standard. And secondly, we in this series looked at the question, the most elementary question in economics, and that is the question of private property. On this question rests the decision between an essential capitalistic view of economics and a socialistic view of economics. And we saw that the eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal, presupposes the right of private ownership and protects private property. And therefore, this is an elementary premise in all Christian thinking about money. We saw in our last installment that the Bible also teaches the need for a free market, the right of free exchange and free contract between people, so that there is a mutual benefit in any economic transaction. The buyer gets what he or she wants and the seller gets what he or she wants. One person does not coerce the other. Therefore, as we see taking place when the government intervenes in the marketplace. And so what we have thus far are three basic ingredients to an economic ethical outlook. One, the law of God is the unchanging standard of ethics. Secondly, the right of private ownership, and thirdly, the privilege of free exchange or the free market. Now, this morning we're coming to the fourth of the basic concepts that we have to master before we look at particular applications, I guess before we start saying things that might be stepping on toes. And this morning we want to look at the concept of wealth in the Bible. There is so much on this subject that a good deal of what I have to tell you this morning will consist in going from one passage of Scripture to another to fill, fill in, if you will, the outline. The Bible tells its own story when it comes to this, and it will not require a great deal of explanation. And for my text, this is a long way of getting around to explaining to you why we are not going to read one particular passage, but rather we are going to take the Book of Proverbs as our text. We could also look at any of the Gospels. Jesus had plenty of teaching about wealth and money, but the Book of Proverbs has a good deal to say about wealth. And what I'd like to do is to have you open to Proverbs and I'll tell you what passage I'm going to be reading. I'll give you a second to turn to it, then we'll read that passage. And I'm going to try to string together a number of texts that have to do with the subject of wealth. And this morning I'm actually following a very handy little book that has recently been published, Wisdom for Today's Issues, which is a topical outline of the Book of Proverbs. And I'll be reading for you the selections on wealth. So turn with me in God's word to Proverbs, and we'll begin in the third chapter. Hear now the word of God as it's found in Proverbs 3, 9, 10. Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce, so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. Then verses 13 to 16 how blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding, for its profit is better than the profit of silver, and its gain than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire compares with her long life is in her right hand in her left hand are riches and honor. In Proverbs 8, 10, 11 this is wisdom speaking, and she says, take my instruction and not silver and my knowledge rather than choicest gold. For wisdom is better than jewels, and all desirable things cannot compare with her. Then in the same chapter, verses 18 to 21, again wisdom is speaking. Riches and honor are with me enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield than choicest silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice, to endow those who love me with wealth, that I may fill their treasuries. And then Proverbs 10:2 Ill gotten gains do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. Verse 4 Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Verses 15 and 16 the rich man's wealth is his fortress, the ruin of the Poor is their poverty. The wages of the righteous is life, the income of the wicked punishment. It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and he adds no sorrow to it. Chapter 11 verse 4. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. Verse 16. A gracious woman attains honor, and violent men attain riches. Verse 28. He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf. Chapter 13 In Proverbs, verses 7 and 8 there is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing another pretends to be poor, and has great wealth. The ransom of a man's life is his riches, but the poor hears no rebuke. Verse 11. Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, but the one who gathers by labor increases it. Verses 21 and 22 Adversity pursues sinners, but the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. Chapter 14 Verse 4. Where no oxen are, the manger is clean but much increase comes by the strength of the ox. Verse 20. The poor is hated even by his neighbor but those who love the rich are many. Verses 23 and 24 and all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. The crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools is foolishness. Chapter 15, verse 6. Much wealth is in the house of the righteous, but trouble is in the income of The Wicked. Verses 16 and 17. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and turmoil with it. Better is a dish of vegetables, where love is, than a fattened ox, and hatred with it. Verse 27. He who profits illicitly troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live now. Chapter 16 verse 8. Better is a little with righteousness than great income with injustice. Verse 16. How much better it is to get wisdom than gold, and to get understanding is to be chosen above silver. 1811. A rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own imagination then chapter 19, verse 4. Wealth adds many friends, but a poor man is separated from from his friend. Verse 10. Luxury is not fitting for a fool, much less for a slave to rule over princes. Verse 14. House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. Chapter 20, verse 14. Bad, bad, says the buyer, but when he goes his way, then he boasts. Verse 21. An inheritance gained, her beginning will not be blessed in the end. Chapter 21, verse 6. The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor. The pursuit of death chapter 21, verse 17. He who loves pleasure will become a poor man. He who loves wine and oil will not become rich. Verse 20. There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man swallows it up. Chapter 22, verse 1. A good name is to be more desired than great riches. Favor is better than silver and gold. Verse 4. The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor, and life. Verse 16. He who oppresses the poor to make much for himself, or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty. Chapter 23, verses 4 and 5 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone for wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. Chapter 24, verses 3 and 4 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Chapter 27, verses 23 and 24 know well the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds, for riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations. Chapter 28, verse 8. He who increases his wealth by interest and usury gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor. Verses 19 and 20. He who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty. A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished. Verse 22. A man with an evil eye hastens after wealth, and does not know that want will come upon him. Verse 25. An arrogant man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper. And one last passage in the 30th chapter of Proverbs, verses 7 to 9 two things I ask of thee, do not refuse me before I die. Keep deception and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny thee, and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be in want and steal, steal and profane the name of my God, and thus far the reading of God's word. I suppose it has been impressed upon you just by the length of this morning's reading, that the word of God has a lot to say about riches, affluence, and wealth. We've only looked at one book of the Bible, and I've only looked at one Narrow topic dealing with finances. In that book, I could have talked about greed this morning. I could have talked about giving this morning. I could have talked about the poor. And we would have had similar readings from the Book of Proverbs. And that's only one book of the Bible. Economic ethics is not some peripheral subject to the Christian life. The subject of economics is central to the way we live our lives as Christians. And there's a reason for that. You see the English word economy, from which we get economics. The English word economy comes from a Greek word. I'm not going to give you a language lesson this morning, but you might be interested in this much. It comes from the Greek word oikonomia. Now, the oikos in Greek is the house or household. The nomia or the nomos is law or rule. So the oikonomia is the rule of a household and is the management of a house. Our English word comes from that. Economy means management. It means to be a steward. The steward was the manager of the household, the person who ruled over the owner's resources for him. And according to the teachings of Jesus, stewards must be found faithful because they will give an accounting of what they do with their owner's resources. They are the managers of somebody else's property. Christians must be interested in the subject of economics because the Bible teaches that all of us are stewards. All of us own things which belong to God. All of us have had entrusted to us as trustees or managers, as stewards, the wealth of God's creation, the good things that God gives us, not only of a, if you will, material sort, our homes or our car, clothes, our TVs, whatever, but also the blessings of God. Our abilities, our minds, our good health, our children, our futures, our educations, everything that is a blessing from God. The Bible teaches us that there is no good thing that we have that does not come down from God himself. That's an interesting thing. There is nothing good that we can take credit for. It's certainly true that we have worked, we have earned certain things relative to those round about us. But the Bible says that everything comes nevertheless from the hand of God. God gives us the ability. God gives us the opportunity. God gives us the success and therefore all the prosperity that we enjoy at whatever level belongs to God. And so we are all interested in economics. We're all interested in managing the resources of another. We're all interested in managing the resources of God. God will call upon us to give a full accounting of how we've done so. He will not Only ask us to give an account of those abilities that have been entrusted to us, whether we have used them for the sake of the kingdom of God. But God will also call on us to give an account of those financial resources that he has entrusted to us. What have we done with them? Have we squandered them? Have we used them for lazy, luxurious pleasures solely? Have we used them to benefit others or to advance our outward estate for the sake of future generations? What have we done with our money? The Puritans had a very interesting habit, one which probably will grate a little bit on you if you thought about doing it yourself. It does not fit into the 20th century at all. The Puritans, at least some of them, we know historically from their diaries, made intricate records of every penny they spent. They didn't have, if you will, a little bit laid aside for the electric bill and a little bit for gas for the car and so forth every month. And then this wide area of miscellaneous which who knows where that miscellaneous money goes, right? So many households today, and I'm sure that's the way I would manage money if it was left to me as well. So many households run on that sort of thing. But the Puritans didn't do that. The Puritans, if they spent a penny for going to the theater or for buying a new pair of shoes or whatever it may be, they recorded that. And then at the end of the year, they'd add up, if you will, all their accounts. They would look at each one of the accounts in their corporation, if you will, to see where their money was going. And the disciplining thing about doing that is that none of us really have very good feel for how much money goes where proportionately. Now, if you're buying a home, you probably would all correctly guess the largest portion of my paycheck goes for my mortgage payments. Or if you're renting, probably for your rent payments, that just is the way seems to work out. But apart from that very easy answer, you might be surprised to find how much money, if you were to keep record, how much money goes for luxuries, how much money goes for entertainment, how much money goes for food, for helping the poor, tithing to the church, whatever it may be. And the Puritans at the end of the year would take an account of all these things, and then they would hopefully adjust their lives, because on a day to day, month to month, week to week basis, we don't have a very good feel for where the money is going. But when you take that year end, look back at the sums then you can see that you've been giving too much here or too little there. They attempted to be stewards of the money that God entrusted to them. Puritans had another very good understanding of economics, it seems to me, because they understood that every one of them, whether they were preachers or not, had a calling from God. Modern Christians tend to think that a calling from God means a calling to the mission field, or if you will, a calling to be a preacher, to stand behind the pulpit like I'm doing this morning and to instruct God's people. Or a calling, if you will, to be an evangelist, a calling to be a teacher. But as a matter of fact, the Bible teaches us that God calls each and every one of his people. God calls every one of us to use our gifts for the furtherance of his kingdom. And his kingdom doesn't pertain, if you will, just to ethereal spiritual matters internal to the heart. God's kingdom pertains to all of creation. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and he wants the earth developed to his glory. And therefore he calls some people to be businessmen, and he calls some people to be engineers. He calls some people to be salesmen, and other to be doctors. He calls some to be lawyers. I wish he called few fewer of those. And he calls a number of people to different types of tasks, but they are all tasks within God's kingdom. Now a calling is a vocation from the Latin to call. And we see that in the word vocal, right? Okay, so if you vocalize something, you are calling something. When God calls you to be something, he's giving you a vocation. That's where we get the English word vocation from the concept in the Reformed churches that God gives to every man a job to do. Alright, so you know about economics, you know about stewardship, and you know about calling. God entrusts certain things to you. He gives you a calling and he to improve your outward estate. Now the improving of your outward estate is called wealth. And in our modern day there is a very ambivalent attitude toward wealth. This has been expressed as well as I've seen it anywhere, in a position paper written by R.J. rush Junie, entitled Wealth. And I want to read just the opening paragraph where it says the modern attitude towards wealth is a most ambivalent one man's materialistic bent makes him desire wealth and hunger passionately for it. Modern advertising appeals to this lust for wealth and much of current selling and buying is motivated by the urge to appear wealthy while appearing unconcerned about wealth. To be wealthy is seen as a reproach by the very people who hunger for wealth. However, in their envy, they try to make wealth into the great sin of the times. Wealth is presented as the product of exploitation. It is depicted as evidence of unconcern for the poor and needy. And it's something to feel guilty about. Modern man has a love hate relationship and attitude towards wealth that hits the nail right on the head. A love hate relationship for wealth. You look to certain sectors of our current day and you see a love for wealth. Pursue it, go for it, get it, enjoy it, flaunt it, be wealthy. It's yours. You only go around once in life. You know, you have to grab for all the gusto you can get. But on the other hand, we have this concern for the hungry children of Africa and India and we're all supposed to feel badly because whatever wealth we have has come from multinational corporations that have exploited third world countries and they keep all the wealth of these people flowing to us and deprives them of it. There's a great deal of guilt manipulation that goes in another sector of our culture today. A great deal of guilt manipulation for our being so be wealthy, but then feel guilty about being wealthy. I mean, if our culture were to speak with one voice, we would get that kind of message. And so what I want to do today is to tell you that the word of God says we ought to have an ambivalent attitude toward wealth. And I'm going to do a little scissors criss cross here because the ironic thing is that our culture is right to be ambivalent toward wealth. But in each of the poles of the ambivalence of our culture, our culture is wrong. It should be just the opposite on both questions. Alright? So I'm going to try to convince you today that the ambivalence that we see round about us is the wrong kind of ambivalence. And the Bible teaches an ambivalent attitude toward wealth too. One that endorses wealth, but warns us that it is a grave danger. If I were to take to heart the message that I have to give to you this morning, I would have to say I'm not so sure that I want to be a wealthy man. But I do know that God wants me to strive for wealth. Let's see if we can put that whole package together in terms of what the word of God says. First of all, the word of God teaches us that wealth is not in itself, wrong. Who is the prime example of faith in the Bible? Who is the father of the faithful according to the New Testament? Well, all students of Scripture know the answer is Abraham. Abraham is the father of us all. Paul says, indeed, we are the seed of Abraham if we are believers in Jesus Christ. And Paul says we are to try to walk in the steps of our father Abraham. The interesting thing is that if you read the book of Genesis, the book of Genesis does not hide the fact. It says explicitly. And Abraham was very wealthy in cattle and silver and gold, sheep, oxen, so forth and so on. He had many servants. Abraham was a plantation owner in his day. He had a great deal. He had property, he had livestock. He had servants. He had means of exchange. He had silver and gold. And the Bible says Abraham was a rich man, a wealthy man and a fluent man. Consequently, we cannot begin our consideration of wealth by thinking that it's somehow dirty or polluted or wrong to have money. Abraham himself had money and was called of God and is the father of the faithful. And indeed, the Bible teaches us in so many ways that when we obey God, we should expect visible success. In Exodus 20:12, Exodus 20 is the Ten Commandments. You remember how children are told to obey their parents, to honor their father and mother? Why? That their days may be long upon the land. And in Ephesians the sixth chapter at verse two, Paul says, children, obey your parents, for this is the first commandment with promise. God says, there's going to be outward benefits from keeping his word, from obeying him. In Proverbs 31234, we see that as the opening understanding of the book of Proverbs. So turn back to Proverbs 3. My son, forget not my law, but let thy heart keep my commandments. For length of days and years of life and peace will they add to thee. Let not kindness and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck, write them upon the tablet of thy heart. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. My son, if you obey my law, you will have long life, you'll have prosperity, and you will have favor in the sight of men, and most of all, in the sight of God. Do these things, it will bless you. The 28th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy is a chapter filled with promises to a people who will obey the law of God. If a community will keep the covenant law of God, God says, you will have this kind of wealth, this kind of prosperity, this kind of safety, these kinds of blessings and so obedience does bring visible success, and God's people should seek for prosperity. It is the right thing to do. One illustration of that is found in Proverbs 13, verse 22. Just one aspect of this where we read, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Now, few of us at this point in this congregation understand how we're going to leave an inheritance to our own children. And I've even heard it expressed by some people that that isn't the next generation's business. I don't care about them. I'm going to live for me. I'm going to live for today. I'm going to get the most out of the money that I've made. Let them grow up and make their money, right? Well, of course they are to grow up and make their money, no doubt about that. But the attitude that says, I don't want to leave an inheritance for my children is an ungodly attitude. But the interesting thing is that Proverbs doesn't leave it there. He says, the good man, the righteous man, leaves an inheritance for his grandchildren. Of course his children are taken care of. He wants to build up a fortune. He wants to build up outward wealth in an estate that he can leave even for his children's children. That's the godly thing to do. And you cannot do that if you're a mismanager of funds, if you're not a good steward of the resources God has put in your possession. And so if we're going to follow the example of godly Abraham, if we're going to look for that outward success that accompanies obedience, then we should seek prosperity. We should seek wealth. After all, the book of Proverbs does not give us so many promises that wisdom and understanding and righteousness and charity will increase our own affluence without doing so as a motivation for us. The reason the book of Proverbs tells us that about wisdom is because it wants us to seek wisdom. And the rewards of wisdom. Wealth should be respected. Consider Proverbs 12:9. Better is he that is lightly esteemed and hath a servant than he that honoreth himself and lacks bread. Isn't that true? There may be somebody that really is not very accepted in your social circles. He's not esteemed by very many people, but he has increased his outward estate, so at least he has a servant. And the Proverb says, better is he that is in that situation than the person who has a high regard for himself, but doesn't have the bread that he Needs to eat. No, we should honor those who have done well, who have gotten ahead. Of course, the proverb has a great deal to say about those who get ahead by ill gotten gain, by fraud and bribery and oppression, and by cheating and lying and all the rest. They have an end that is not to be desired, that lies ahead of them. But at this point the proverb says, look, you should respect the fact that a man has done well. That is respectable. Of course, the fact that a person gets ahead shouldn't be made a basis for preference, as though we have a respect of persons. Proverbs 22:2 says that the rich and poor were both made by God, and both are made equal at the grave as well. I mean, you don't come into this world having money, you don't leave this world having money. That's just something in between, if you will. And in terms of eternal standards, rich and poor aren't going to count very much at all. It's going to be obedience, faithfulness, submission to the Lord that's going to make the difference. But at this point at least we understand then that wealth is not polluted, it's not wrong, it's not somehow mucky, and to be, if you will, gotten rid of. We don't want to have the attitude of Christians that the prophet motive is a bad motive. In fact, In Matthew, the 25th chapter, which was our text for last week, you remember how three servants, three stewards, were given a certain amount of money by their master, and when he came back he demanded an accounting. And the good and faithful servants, the profitable servants, were those who had doubled the master's investment, the one who went out and buried his money in the ground and brought it back, the one piece of silver returned. Now the master found to be an unprofitable servant, to be cast into the outer darkness, to be rejected altogether. We should be encouraged to add then to our outward wealth. It should be remembered as well that when we add to our outward wealth, for instance, as Americans living in a very nice situation in this country, we are not as somehow to be thought of capitalist pigs who are just eating up everything and depriving the rest of the world of what it could otherwise have. Capitalism has come under a great deal of rhetorical abuse over the last 30 or 40 years. And it's not really deserved. And it's not right, I think, for me to come to this subject of wealth and to talk about this without at least making passing reference to the violation of the ninth commandment that is repeatedly found in Ads and newspaper articles and television programs, not to mention scholarly pieces and textbooks that are written to tell us that capitalism market, the profit and motive and private property have somehow done the rest of the world wrong. We should realize, just to take one illustration illustration here, that capitalism has made life a great deal happier and less burdensome for all people. Life was much, if you will, grimmer prior to the days of the Industrial Revolution and the advance of capitalism and the growth of the middle class. Let me give you one example here that professor von Mises has always, which I think is a particularly pointed one. He says this all the talk about the so called unspeakable horror of early capitalism can be refuted by a single statistic precisely in these years in which British capitalism developed precisely in the age called the Industrial Revolution. England. In the years from 1760 to 1830, precisely in those years, the population of England doubled. So what you say? Well, that means that hundreds of thousands of children who would have died in preceding times survived and grew to become men and women. Karl Marx, living just after that period, thought the workers condition was hopeless. This was of course absolutely wrong. And if Marx were alive today, I think he would probably embarrass his followers by admitting the obvious fact that he was wrong. The conditions of workers has improved enormously in the capitalist world and precisely in those periods when profits were the highest. The current recession in which profits are down and unemployment is high, underscores the community of interest between capital and labor. And so we have numerous illustrations if you want to take an empirical approach to economics to demonstrate that capitalism has been a benefit, a boon to people everywhere. The third world today does not suffer from capitalism. You go back to most third world countries 30, 40 years ago and you'll find it be very difficult to get an automobile to drive through the capital. You'd have an ox cart going on dirt roads. The coming in of will, the marketplace and the industrial revolution imported to these countries has made it possible for traffic jams to develop there. Another form of curse, you might think, but nevertheless a curse that shows that people are being benefited by the fact that a capitalist economy has been brought to them. Economies that do not believe in private property, the free market and the advantages of wealth. Our economies stagnate. We have different worldviews that create different economic systems. The most obvious illustration, it seems to me, is the worldview that is promoted in India where reincarnation leads people to believe that cattle are sacred because there's some higher form of reincarnate life. And because cattle are sacred, they Are not eaten. And so what happens is you have one of the most available sources of food and nourishment for people being lost totally because it cannot be used. And those cattle, of course, are eating the grass and other sorts of things. And so they are constantly consuming more of the resources of the land, and they are growing beyond any proportion. That worldview has its own economic fits. Another worldview, the worldview of chance. It says, well, if I apply myself, that doesn't mean I'm going to get ahead. And if I'm lazy, I might get rich anyway. The worldview that leads to the gambler's attitude that says, well, who knows what's going to happen? So I can just go out and gamble with life or play games, and I might get wealthy anyway. That worldview has its economic consequences also. The fact of the matter is the taking of a capitalist economy. To the extent that it is true to the scriptures, the taking of a capitalist economy to the third world has been a blessing to the third world and ought to be seen as such. And it's a violation of the ninth commandment not to admit that. So what is the first thing that we want to learn today about our ambivalent attitude toward wealth? Wealth is good. Wealth should be pursued. We should increase our outward estate. But now I want to turn the corner here a bit and tell you the other side of the story. Wealth is not just a blessing for obedience. Wealth is also a very, very grave danger. You remember how In Matthew the sixth chapter, verse 24, Jesus said, you cannot serve God and money. You cannot serve God and money. And in Matthew 19, Jesus went on to say that it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven Than for a camel to go through the eye of the needle. The eye of the needle was the name of one particular gate for entrance into Jerusalem. And because that gate was closed early, Anybody who arrived late in Jerusalem after the closing of the city gates had to send their camels through the eye of the needle, it was called. And camels had to get down on their front haunches and. And hobble through this. And if they had a great deal on their backs, a great deal of cargo, it was very hard to get through the eye of the needle. And Jesus is telling an obvious story. He says, very hard for a rich man with all of his accumulated goods to get through the eye of a needle. He said, it's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven Than for that camel to go through the eye of the needle. And he tells that story right after the incident with the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler came and he said, master, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus has a little theological discourse about whether he is a good teacher and about the commandments of God. And then he finally comes to the point. He says, you sell everything you have and give it to the poor. The rich young ruler stopped in his tracks. He ponders it and silently turns and leaves. He doesn't want to be a disciple of Jesus. Now Jesus looks after this young man with a great deal of sorrow. And the Bible adds his commentary, for he had many possessions. That's when Jesus said, it's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom than for a camel to go through the eye of the needle. Possessions might easily keep you from the kingdom of God. And it's no socialist who tells you that. It's your savior who tells you that possessions are a grave danger. If you don't believe that, turn to Luke 8:14. Jesus had already said, we find in Mark 4. 9 that riches can be deceitful. But in Luke 8, he speaks of the deceitfulness of riches, and he puts this way, Luke 8:14, speaking of the four kinds of soil and that which fell, the seed which fell among the thorns. These are they that have heard, and as they go on their way, they are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. The word of God is cast out. It falls on some forms of ground where it begins to grow up, and then it is choked off. And Jesus says that choking takes place because of the cares and riches and pleasures of this world. Riches are deceitful. You pursue them because God wants you to improve your outward estate. Riches can be used for so many good things. But you see, in the pursuit of them, people tend to make riches the goal, tend to make riches the thing that we pursue in and of itself. And when we get into that syndrome, we find out that the word of God is choked out. And a rich man finds it very hard to give up what he has to enter the kingdom of God. Wealth, in short, makes one forget God. I'm not going to stop here to make all of the. All of the provisos and say, oh, yeah, but I know that there are wealthy Christians. Yes, I know there are wealthy Christians. But I think any wealthy Christian who is reflecting on his or her lot in life will have to admit that the living of the Christian life is difficult if you are wealthy. Consider Deuteronomy, the eighth chapter verses 11 to 14. Listen to these words God says to the Israelites entering the promised land. Beware, lest thou forget Jehovah thy God in not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I command thee this day. Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thy heart be be lifted up and thou forget Jehovah thy God who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. God says, beware, be on the alert that when your outward estate increases you will forget God. Your heart will be lifted up. Notice verse 17. The pride that comes. Unless thou say in thy heart my power and the might of my hand and hath gotten me this wealth, I'm no wealthy man by anybody's accounting. People kid me about the big bucks of being a minister, but they all know what a joke that is. But I can illustrate this from my own life. Even without having some kind of outward estate that is magnanimous in the eyes of people. I know what it was for Kathy and I to see the day come. We had once said, it'll be wonderful if we can just find the day when we can go into the doctor and pay the bill. The day we go in. And I know what it was to go through even open heart and just to be brought to your knees in gratitude that God made provision for our needs. And then the day came when once I went to the doctor and I paid him on that particular day we had enough money. And lo and behold, if I wasn't more grateful on previous days and more mindful that everything that I had came from God than I was on the day when it was most evident that I had been outwardly blessed enough so that that one little silly thing between my wife and I could be fulfilled. When we have what we want, we forget God. That's just a fact of life. And again, it's not communist rhetoric here. It's the word of God that takes tells you this. Wealth is a grave danger to your soul. Wealth can be dangerous to your spiritual well being. The Bible says that riches can condemn us on the day of judgment and cannot save us on the day of judgment. Just look upon it that way. Riches don't have to condemn you. But they can. But they never can save you again. The book of Proverbs, chapter 11, verse 4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath. But righteousness delivereth from death. When the day of judgment comes, riches will do you nothing. God will not say. Okay, now there's going to be a certain financial fine here for all these sins. And the wealthy will get off. The wealth of the wealthy will mean nothing on the day of judgment. But righteousness, you see, will. Will count for eternal life. Riches will not save us, but riches can condemn us. Look at James, the fifth chapter, the first six verses, where the Book of James warns the rich in this world of the danger they are in. Come now, ye rich. Weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and your silver are rusted, and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud. Crieth out. And the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived delicately on the earth and have taken your pleasure. Ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned. Ye have killed the righteous one. He doth not resist you. James says, watch out, rich people, watch out. Howl for the miseries that will come upon you, when everything that you've gained and all the luxury you enjoy is now gone and rotted away. Consider first Timothy, the sixth chapter, well known passage dealing with wealth in the Bible, 1 Timothy 6, 8. We'll begin at verse nine. But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, which some reaching after, have been led astray from the faith and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. The love of money has led many away from the faith. Paul tells Timothy, the love of money is the root of many kinds of evil, and it leads to perdition. And so my friends, you need to understand that though wealth should be pursued, wealth is a relative and subordinate value. Value. In life there are values much higher than riches. Much higher. I wish we had time to read all of these passages, but just think of what we learned in Proverbs. Proverbs 15 says that reverence for God is of higher value than silver or Gold. Chapter 16 says, Righteousness is to be more highly valued than our riches. Chapter 22. A good name is to be more highly regarded than silver or gold. In chapter six of Matthew's Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ told us not to lay up treasures on earth where moth and rust are going to destroy them, but rather lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven, where these things won't happen. In Mark 8:36, Jesus teaches the relative value, it seems to me, of material things as well. This is verse 36 for what doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? If you were wealthy enough to gain the whole world, but lost your eternal soul, what good would it have done you then? Luke 12:16 21 perhaps the most devastating story of all I trust it is well known to you. Jesus spoke a parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he reasoned within himself, saying, what shall I do, because I have not where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do I will pull down my milled greater, and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, you fool, this night is thy soul required of thee, and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? So is he that layeth up trust treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Fools who will pursue their outward estate, and not develop their inward souls fools who will not acknowledge that even their outward estate comes from God. Fools who will build and build and build to have more things stored into their storehouses, and then die and have to meet their Maker. Men who are not rich toward good Our wealth is fleeting. It is valuable, but it is a subordinate value. The Bible teaches so much against the abuse of wealth, the abuse of forgetting God, the abuse of oppression of the poor, of fraudulent dealings with men. 1 Timothy 6, which we looked at a moment ago, actually is a longer passage than the well known verses that I read for you about the love of money being the root of many kinds of evil. 1 Timothy 6, beginning at verse 17, if you want to put it in context, says, charge them that are rich in this present world, that they be not high minded, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on the life which is life indeed. Boy, those are piercing words. Paul says. Charge those that are rich in this world not to be high minded, not to think that they are great. Yes, the wealth is there to be enjoyed, but they should be rich in good works, rich in communicating to the needs of others, laying up a foundation of eternal life, true life. For you see, even the poor, when they are given to God, will be liberal people with their money. I found this to be true. Wealthy people often are the stingiest people you could ever meet, and very, very poor people are just open hearted when it comes to helping others. We see this in 2nd Corinthians 8:8 where Paul commends the Corinthians. He says, because even in your poverty you wanted to make a contribution to the poor in Jerusalem because you had first given yourselves to God. And in Luke 21:1 4 you must remember the story of the poor widow who came and she had only two pennies. And Jesus, seeing all the rich giving their offerings from the temple, says that nevertheless this poor woman giving 2 cents had given far more than any of the others because she gave everything that she had. Isn't that interesting? The poor will contribute to the needs of others. The poor will pay their tithes and will even give over and above what's required of them. And yet the rich will so often be greedy and high minded and oppressive when it comes to their money. The fact of the matter is that we are all stewards of what God has given us and and that stewardship requires a responsible lifestyle. For to whom much is given, much will be required. Money need not have a high place in the ministry and discipleship of Christ's kingdom. The rich young ruler apparently could have gotten by without anything if he followed Jesus. In Luke 12:33 we are similarly told to sell what we have and to seek heavenly treasure instead. In the ninth chapter of Luke, when Jesus sent his followers out on an emergency mission of preaching, he said, don't take any money with you, just go out and God will make provision for your needs. Now whether we live under circumstances where we need to sell everything and get about an emergency mission or not, the fact is that the Lord is our shepherd, and we shall not want. He. He has come to give us abundant life, and he'll keep that promise. Jesus said, don't be anxious. Just look at the fields round about you and the flowers. They don't get all excited about having their provisions met. Consider the birds of the heavens God provides for them. He says, aren't you of more value than These things indeed, Solomon, in all of his glory, wasn't clothed as beautifully as the flowers of the field. And so what should you do? What should your attitude be? Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. You see, wealth is important. God will provide the outward needs of life to you. But seek first the kingdom of God. Seek first the righteousness of God. The book of Proverbs has many, many passages to tell you how to be wealthy. And in every case, wealth comes not by an economic transaction, not by some kind of wisdom in the marketplace, although those are certainly valuable as stewards go. But wealth comes by an attitude of heart and a relationship to God. In chapter three, Proverbs says, wealth comes from offerings. We make many offerings to God. He will make our storehouses full. In chapter 8, wealth comes by wisdom. In chapter 10, it comes by diligent work. In chapter 13, by honest labor, in the same chapter, by righteousness. We are told, chapter 14 says, it comes by hard work. Chapter 22, through humility and reverence for God. Chapter 28, through steady and faithful work and trusting in the Lord. The path to wealth, you see, is found in making wealth subordinate to the right righteousness of God's kingdom. Can we believe that? Is this really the way to become wealthy people? Well, do you believe in Providence? The doctrine of Providence. The doctrine of Providence teaches us that what happens in this world to us is not impersonal, isn't by chance, isn't a mechanical, cause, effect sort of thing, but happens because God is personally involved in our lives, planning out our lives and everything that happens. God providentially controls whatever takes place in the lives of his people. And because what happens in this life is governed by our ethical responses to God, and not by chance, and not by, if you will, some kind of metaphysical machinery that keeps everything flowing without any kind of freedom or working against us. The problems in this life are not in the nature of things. The problems that we have in this life are ethical in nature because we believe these things. We believe that God intervenes and God takes care of his people, even his poor people. And God can reward righteous, faithful, honest, diligent work. And we need not cheat and become fraudulent in order to get ahead. The doctrine of Providence was once a foundation for a capitalist understanding of economics. But of course, throughout history, people have given up their belief in a sovereign God who's involved personally in the lives of people. See, nature became that which controlled all things. And then finally, Social Darwinism said that the Harmony that was essential to our economic system previously couldn't exist. That there was in fact a conflict of interest in the world. A dog eat dog life and everybody has to try to get ahead. And now, finally, Providence has been taken over by the state. An interventionist economy where the state tries to see to it that everybody is rewarded in the way the state thinks is right. We as Christians believe in Providence. We don't ask for the state to bless us. We don't ask for a dog eat dog life. We simply ask that the provisions of the commandment, thou shalt not steal, the openness to free enterprise and the pursuit of a godly vocation be guaranteed to us. And God in his Providence will guarantee our outward estate. So let's conclude Two things we must know about wealth this morning. An ambivalent attitude. To be sure, wealth is first a blessing, the blessing of obedience. But secondly, wealth is a great temptation, a temptation to become so self confident and to transgress God's word. Remember the threat. Those who are wealthy will forget God. Blessings can become a snare to us, therefore, and lead us into sin. And the prosperity of the unrighteous can be set before us as something that bothers us. We envy at the prosperity of the unrighteous. But I think that what the Psalmist had to say for us in Psalm 73 is a fitting conclusion to that. The psalmist said, I thought that the righteous were to get ahead in this world, and the unrighteous were to get their comeuppance. I don't like the fact that those people round about me who don't play fair are getting ahead. The Psalmist says, as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death. Their strength is for they are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck. Violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish. Haven't you ever felt that way? They don't feel the problems. I feel these people have enough money where nothing hurts them. They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression. They speak loftily. They have set their mouth in the heavens, and they their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return hither, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, how doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked and being always at ease, they increase in riches. Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart. I have washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened Every morning if I had said, I will speak thus. Behold treacherously with the generation of thy children. When I thought how I might know this, it was too painful for me. David complains all the way up to this verse. He says, look, I've tried to be right before God, and it's got me nothing but oppression and trouble. And all these other people sit at ease and they continue to grow in fatness and luxury, and they don't care anything for God. And so I thought I had cleansed my heart for nothing. And then verse 17 says, and until I went into the sanctuary of God and considered their latter end, surely thou settest them in slippery places. Thou castest them down to destruction. Oh yes, my friends, wealth is to be pursued. Improve your outward estate. It is a blessing of God or it is a very slippery place. How God uses it to cast people down very quickly, quickly to destruction. A blessing for obedience and a temptation that leads to destruction. I think we need to have that ambivalent attitude toward wealth if we're going to have a biblical attitude toward wealth. When you look at the prosperity of the wicked round about you, consider what Jesus had to say about the rich man who built his barns and died that night. Night Jesus said. So is it in the case of everybody who is not rich toward God? Those of us who know the living and true God truly are rich. Even if at this point we are still building up our outward estate. We are rich because we have something that's going to last eternally. Life from God.