There is a war
going on. All talk of a Christian’s right to live luxuriously “As
a child of the King” in this atmosphere rings hollow. Especially
since the King himself is stripped for Battle.
These are good days
for cashing in on godliness. The godliness market is hot for book
sellers and music makers and dispensers of silver crosses and fish
buckles and olivewood letter-openers and bumper stickers and lucky
water crosses with Jesus on the front and miracle water inside
guaranteed to make you win at Bingo or your money back up to 90 days.
These are good days for gain in godliness!
And so they are
dangerous days. What you do with your money – or desire to do with
it – can make or break your happiness forever. Paul makes it very
clear that what you feel about money can destroy you: “Those who
desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many
senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and
destruction” (1 Tim. 6:9). So how you feel about money can kill you.
Paul is warning
timothy about some slick deceivers who discovered they could cash in
on the upsurge of godliness in Ephesus. He says they “image that
godliness is a means of gain” (1 Tim. 6:5). They are so addicted to
the love of money that truth is a wax nose in the service of
selfishness. Nothing is sacred. If the bottom line is big and black,
the advertising strategies are a matter of indifference. If godliness
is in, then sell godliness.
Paul’s response to
this was not: Gain is vain. His response was, “There is great gain
in godliness with contentment” (1 Tim. 6:9). If your godliness has
freed you from the desire to be rich and has helped you be content
with what you have, then your godliness is tremendously profitable.
“For while physical training is a little profitable, godliness is
profitable for all things, as it holds promise for the present life
and also for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:8). Godliness that
overcomes the craving for material wealth produces great spiritual
wealth. So it is very profitable not to pursue wealth.
The Best Investment
Don’t get me wrong.
Making a lot of money is not the same as amassing a lot of wealth. Big
income does not have to mean “bigger barns.” John Wesley said,
make as much as you can and give as much as you can.
But wanting more and
more money for ourselves is folly. Paul gives three reasons.
1)
“We brought
nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world”
(1 Tim. 6:7). In other words, there are no U-Hauls behind hearses. You
can’t take it with you.
2)
“If we have food and clothing, with these we shall be
content” (1 Tim. 6:8). Why? Because no matter which way the
market is moving, God is always better than gold. “Be content with
what you have. For he has said, “I willnever leave you or forsake
you.”’ (Heb.13:5).
3)
“The love of money is the root of all evils. It is through
this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced
their hearts with many pangs” (1 Tim. 6:10). The relish to be
rich is suicidal.
But what if you do
come into a lot of money? Say an inheritance or a live insurance
settlement or a well-deserved bonus or raise.
Some would say,
“Invest!” Well, Jesus and Paul are not against all investments,
only bad ones – the kind that aren’t still paying interest in a
thousand years.
Jesus said, “Lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven!” (Matt. 6:20). Paul said, tell
the rich to “lay up for themselves a good foundation for the future,
so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed” (1 Tim.
6:19).
How do you do that?
Jesus said, “Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide
yourselves with…treasure in heaven that does not fail (Luke 12:33).
That’s how you
invest your money in eternity: you use it for others. Paul said the
same thing: “Be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous” –
that’s how the rich lay a foundation for the future. Use your money
for mercy and missions.
The reason generosity
provides a good foundation for the future is not because it
earns eternal life, but because it shows where your hope is. “Charge
the rich not to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God” (1
Tim. 6:18). We don’t earn eternal life. It is a gift of grace (2
Tim. 1:9). We receive it by resting in God’s promise. But how we use
our money confirms or denies the reality of that rest.
Resting in the
promises of God releases money for missions and makes the soul more
sure of heaven.
Wartime Lifestyle
There is a wealth and
prosperity doctrine afoot today that has been shaped by the half-truth
that says, “We glorify God with our money by enjoying thankfully all
the things he enables us to buy. Why should a son of the King live
like a pauper?” And so on! The true half of this ideal is that we
should thank God for every good thing we have (1 Tim 4:3; 6:17). The
false half is the subtle implication that God can be glorified by all
kinds of luxurious purchases.
But if this were
true, Jesus would not have said, “Sell your possessions and give
alms” (Luke12:33). He would not have said, “Do not seek what you
are to eat and what you are to drink” (Luke 12:29). John the Baptist
would not have said, “He who has two coats, let him hare with him
who has none” (Luke 3:11). The Son of Man would not have walked
around with no place to lay his head (Luke 9:58). And Zachaeus would
not have given half of his goods to the poor (Luke 19:8).
God is not glorified
when we keep for ourselves – no matter how thankfully – what we
ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized,
uneducatied, unmedicated, and unfed missions. The evidence that many
professing Christians have been deceived by this doctrine is how
little they give and how much they own. God has prospered them. And by
an almost irresistible law of consumer culture (baptized by a doctrine
of health, wealth, and prosperity) they have bought bigger (and more)
houses, newer (and more) cars, fancier (and more) clothes, better (and
more) meat, and all manner of trinkets and gadgets and containers and
devices and equipment to make life more fun.
But what is
specifically called for today is a wartime lifestyle. I mean a style
of life that is unencumbered with nonessentials. I don’t mean
primitive “simplicity.” I mean wartime effectiveness. I mean a
kind of Spartan commitment to maximize everything for the mission of
the church. A glad-hearted Christ-like austerity that can see his
imminent victory, and will make any sacrifice for the joy of being on
the cutting edge of god’s kingdom.
There is a war going
on. All talk of a Christian’s right to live luxuriantly “as a
child of the King” in this atmosphere is hollow. Especially since
the King himself is stripped for battle.
Test yourself. Where
do you fall in the following three levels of Ephesians 4:28? “Let
the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work
with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.”
Too many Christians
live on level two – working to get and keep. Almost all of the
forces of our culture urge them to live on level two. But the Bible
pushes us relentlessly to level three. “God is able to provide you
with every blessing in abundance…” Why? “…So that you may
always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for
every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8). That’s level three: enough for
us; abundance for others.
Three billion people
today are outside of Jesus Christ. Two-thirds of those do not have a
viable Christian witness in their culture. If they are to hear – and
Christ commands that they hear – cross-cultural missionaries will
have to be sent and paid for. All the wealth needed to do this is in
the church.
Part of that practice
will be turning carnal cash into kingdom currency. If we, like Paul,
are content with a glad-hearted wartime lifestyle, missions of dollars
will be released to take the gospel to the unreached peoples.
A $100,000 salary
does not have to be accompanied by a $100,000 lifestyle. God is
calling us to be conduits of his grace, not cul-de-sacs. Our great
danger today is thinking that the conduit should be lined with gold.
It shouldn’t. Copper will do. May the Lord release unprecedented
power in the Church to turn carnal cash into kingdom currency!
John Piper
pastors the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He
is the author of “Desiring God” and” The Pleasures of God,”
and is one of Pastor Casey’s favorite authors. This article was
originally published in Equipping the Saints, Vol. 6, No. 1, Winter
1992.
