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Doing Money Right
The Lord Jesus said that if we are not faithful with unrighteous mammon, or money, then we cannot be trusted with the true riches (Luke 16:11). God’s promises certainly include wealth and prosperity. But it doesn’t happen automatically. There is instruction about it. The Bible says He “teaches us to profit”. Therefore, part of my responsibility as a preacher is to help Christians do money right. Our financial life matters. Money is not separate from our spiritual life, but integrally connected. How we earn it. How we spend it. How we give it. How we save it. How we never trust in it. How we’re never moved by it or covetous about it. It’s all important. And it begins with how we think of it. Once we know we are seeking first the Kingdom and following God’s money principles, we begin to feel confident again. Then that great prosperity revelation that awakened the Church in recent decades will begin to work for us…with one more stern warning.
The only solution for this is to give faith-attention to our covenant with God until our soul never sees the glass half empty, but only running over. We’ve got faith in seed planting, but we need more faith in harvesting. We need to know that the money will be there when we follow the Spirit and take the step of faith. And we can never worry. Ever. We need faith to obey Jesus who said, “Do not worry…” in Matthew 6. That’s basic Christianity. When we consider lack, we are worrying and doubting. We’ve got faith in giving, but we need to be even more generous and free about it. And finally, we need faith to save and invest. Saving and investing is a Bible principle that Jesus called a man “wicked and lazy” for not doing (Mat 25:26). Once we know we are seeking first the Kingdom and following God’s money principles, we begin to feel confident again. Then that great prosperity revelation that awakened the Church in recent decades will begin to work for us…with one more stern warning. There’s one scriptural disclaimer that we need to give almost every time wealth and prosperity is preached. If we don’t constantly say it as much as we say the other things about getting rich, people will fail financially. Without this anchor point about Bible prosperity, the preaching of it just won’t feel right. Because money is such a sensitive and controversial subject in life, and especially when preached as part of the gospel, we must preach the whole counsel of it. Here is the disclaimer, and it’s quite the paradox: Do not desire wealth. God’s people can be wealthy, but they can’t want to be. We can have riches, but we can’t desire them, “…those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Tim 6:9). So, do you want to be rich? That’s a desire that you’re not allowed to have. Wealth and riches are the one covenant blessing that we can’t spend time wanting. We can’t entertain thoughts about it. We can want it for others, just like John prayed “I wish above all else that you may prosper and be in health”. But we can’t want it for ourselves. Many Christians have been snared by this. They heard that God promises wealth and got very excited. They shouted in church and praised the Lord about it. But because we didn’t give consistent warning, they begin to yearn for it. They spend time thinking how they might become rich. Even if just in their own minds, they pursued money instead of the Kingdom. And even though they claimed the motive of, “so I can give to the Kingdom”, deep down, there was a hint of personal lust for it. A little love of money resides in some people’s “I’m believing God for prosperity so that I can finance the Kingdom”. Wealth never comes by bribing God. It comes as a result of passionate work. We told them they could have money as long as “it didn’t have them”. And we warned against the love of money. But let’s go one more step and warn that “we can’t desire riches”—at all. We expect wealth. But we don’t yearn for it, love it, think about it, crave it, nor dream about it. Christians should never find themselves imagining What would I do if I won the lottery… Why? Because first of all, gambling is not God’s method of prosperity. And second, because dreaming about riches is too close to the love of money. Never desiring to be rich, while at the same time expecting that wealth and riches will be in our house (Psalm 112), is a Christian discipline that we must emphasize to the Body of Christ. Godliness with contentment is great gain, and it will keep us from a great snare to our soul. Grace, peace, and power to all of you in your churches and ministries. Keep accelerating. Maintain the glory of the spreading of this gospel. And keep in touch with all your minister friends at ICFM! In Christ, |
