Money is the Root of All Evil

There’s a man who has an opportunity to ask God anything he wants, so he asks him
questions only God can answer.

His first question is, “God, a billion years? What is that like?”

God says, “That’s a good question. A billion years for me is like one second.”

The man goes, “Wow! God, what about a billion dollars? What is a billion dollars like?”

God says, “A billion dollars is like one penny.”

The guy gets a little clever and says, “God, can I have a penny?”

God says, “Of course! Just give me a second.”

Alright, we’re in the series “Not in the Bible,” looking at some of the common things we think God said (phrases we attribute to God or we think are in Scripture).

It’s important to talk about some of these things, because if our understanding and our view of God is off even by just a little bit, it can become this major stumbling block in our ability to know him, and worship him, and trust him.

The phrase we’re going to look at today is, “Money is the root of all evil.”

How many of you have ever heard that before — “Money is the root of all evil?”

How many of you think it’s in the Bible? How many of you would like to make a bet about it?

Well there is something similar in the Bible. It’s in a collection of letters written by Paul to his young friend, Timothy.

But here’s the thing — it’s important whenever we read the Bible or when we study Scripture not to pull a verse or a phrase out of Scripture and then use it to make a point, because the verses and the Scriptures are part of a larger narrative, a bigger conversation written to a particular people at a particular time, oftentimes to address a specific situation.

When we read the Scriptures, we have to take context in mind, and if we just pull a phrase out like, “Money is the root of all evil,” it can be quite a dangerous misapplication of the true meaning and intentions of the writers of Scripture.

If you just take that phrase alone (money is the root of all evil), it’s pretty straightforward.

Therefore, we might think money is a bad thing. It’s evil. We should avoid it. Stay away from money. Warning!

The writers of Scripture actually have a lot of things to say about money. There are a lot of warnings by the writers of Scripture when it comes to money and our attitude toward money, but there’s also a lot of wisdom as well.

If we take this phrase, “Money is the root of all evil,” out of context and we add to it some of the other warnings and admonitions we find in Scripture, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that it’s better to be poor than rich, that it’s better to have less than more, that a life of poverty is more spiritual than a life of wealth.

For instance, when we hear Jesus teach in the Gospels, he says that it’s easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.

We can hear that admonition, and we can say, “Being rich and being wealthy is a bad thing. It’s next to impossible to enter into heaven if you have a lot of resources.”

What about the time when a rich young ruler comes to Jesus and says, “Good teacher, what must I do to obtain eternal life?” and Jesus says, “Observe all of the commands.”

He says, “I’ve done all of those ever since I was young and ever since I was a youth.”

Then, Jesus says, “Then sell everything you have and give it to the poor.”

We can hear that and say, “Oh, man! That must mean having a lot of things, having a lot of riches or wealth, is not good. It’s spiritually better to have less than more. If you have too much, you might get into trouble with God.”

Here’s the thing. Some of us might actually believe this is true.

Throughout church history there have been a lot of saints and church leaders, people like Saint Francis and Mother Teresa, who took vows of poverty, and we look up to them, and we put them on pedestals.

Even John Wesley, the great founder of the Methodist Church, really struggled with this tension — the disparity between the rich and the poor.

There were many people in his congregation who came from very little means but would acquire a fortune or would amass great wealth. Then, they would wander from their faith or they would stop coming to church, so John Wesley was really concerned about this and in one of his sermons, this is what he said.

“Do you gain all you can and save all you can? Then, you must in the nature of things grow rich. Then, if you have any desire to escape the damnation of hell, give all you can. Otherwise, I can have no more hope of your salvation than that of Judas Iscariot.”

Wow! John Wesley is giving advice to the people in his church, saying, “If you are acquiring great wealth, and if you want to obtain salvation, you have to give it all away. Give it all away.”

Even today in our world, we can look around at the disparity between the rich and the poor, and we can become very uncomfortable or uneasy about riches and possessions.

But here’s the truth.

Money is morally neutral. Money is God’s idea.

Money is what God gives to his people. It’s a blessing, but the idea that money and wealth are evil can still show up in our hearts and in our thinking in very dangerous ways.

For instance, how many of you have ever resented someone who is wealthier than you?

How many of you have ever had a judgmental thought toward someone who drives a really nice car, or someone who wears expensive designer clothing, or lives in a really big house?

How many of us have ever held someone like that in contempt?

I had a friend in college who bought a really nice sports car during our second year of school.

Even though I pretended to be really excited about his new car and impressed with it, inside my heart there was a very different reality going on. I was feeling kind of judgmental toward him.

I know you’re probably thinking, “Matt, that’s called jealousy,” but it wasn’t jealousy, because at the time I was driving a ‘Honda CRX that had power windows and a CD player. You can’t even get those anymore! You can’t buy a car with a CD player, and I had one!

When my friend came to school with his new car, my mind went straight to judging the use of his resources. I thought, “Why does he need that car when he could just drive a Honda like me?

What if he just saved his money to help the poor or to serve missionaries around the world? Doesn’t he know there’s great need?”

That’s just naturally where my mind and my heart went.

Has that ever been true of you? Have you ever gone to that place? Have you ever come across someone else’s social media seeing something they posted online?

Maybe they’re showing off a new purchase.
Maybe it was a new car.
Maybe it was a dinner at a fancy restaurant.

You see, if we misunderstand the way God thinks about money and possessions, we can easily fall into the trap of resenting people who have a lot of it, and we can spiritually justify that feeling.

Or worse, we might feel morally or spiritually superior to people who are wealthy if we just take the phrase, “Money is the root of all evil,” and apply that to our thinking.

Without really understanding what God thinks about money and possessions, we can go to some pretty extreme places.

On one hand, we can uphold the gospel of poverty teaching the way to be truly spiritual is to be poor.

On the other hand, we can easily promote the prosperity gospel — the idea that the good life is about using all of our money and possessions for our own happiness, and God wants us to be happy, so if we’re really good Christians, he’ll give us more.

Now, I think we all know that either extreme could be pretty dangerous.

The prosperity gospel — let’s be honest — it’s just greed covered under the veneer of religion.

The poverty gospel — that can be dangerous, too, because there’s actually nothing spiritual about poverty. There’s no one who has actually become better off by becoming poor.

Dallas Willard, who wrote The Spirit of the Disciplines, really wrestled with this dynamic as well, and he devoted an entire chapter to this.

Dallas writes:

“The idealization of poverty is one of the most dangerous illusions of Christians in the contemporary world. Wealth is but a part of created reality, pronounced by God as good.”

At the beginning of creation, God saw what he made and said, “It is good. It is good.”

“But like the body before redemption the wealth of this fallen world usually tends toward evil. This ‘normal’ tendency can and must be removed through possession and purification by us, its owners, who live to see it submitted to God. Riches are not holy; riches are not evil. They are creations we are to use for God.”

You see, money is a valuable resource, and it can be a great source of blessing to the world.

We can use it to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, to care for the needy, to heal the sick, to help those who are seeking spiritually to find and follow Jesus.

The money we’re able to generate together can be used to make our world and our communities better and healthier places.

If we go back to Paul’s letter, if we go back to what he wrote to Timothy and we read the full passage and not just take that phrase out of context, it gives us a more complete picture of what Paul is telling the church.

This is what he writes:

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 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. 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. (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

You see, Paul here is not warning Timothy about money.

What is he warning Timothy about?

“The love of money” — about greed.

Paul is saying, “Watch out for greed.”

He says, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap…”

Paul says, “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith…”

Paul says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

Jesus gives a similar warning in the gospel of Luke. He says:

Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. (Luke 12:15)

What does Jesus mean by “all kinds of greed”?

Well, both Jesus and Paul warned people about greed because greed is like a trap.

It’s hard to see in ourselves.

And you don’t have to be rich to fall into this trap.

Paul says, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation…”

You don’t have to be rich to want to be rich. You can be poor and want to be rich.

You don’t have to be wealthy to be eager for money.

You don’t even have to have a fortune to love money.

Anyone with a lot or a little can be eager and can love money, and anyone can be controlled by greed.

Anyone can be consumed with thoughts about money (how they’re going to spend it, how they’re going to get more of it, how they’re going to use it, and how they’re going to protect it).

You can have a very little amount and still fall into a trap like this.

That’s how it works — because we almost never see greed in ourselves.

We look at what others have. We look at how others spend, and we’re often quick to pass judgment, but we never think we’re the ones who are greedy — that I’m the one who is wasting my resources or that I’m being selfish.

The reason why that’s the case is because our hearts are deceitful above all things.

Instead of comparing what I have to the rest of the world that doesn’t have nearly what I have, I tend to only compare what I have with people who have more than me.

That’s just the way it works, and that’s why it’s hard to see in myself.

I only compare myself to those who have more.

In his book, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller describes greed like this:

“…money can be a surface idol that serves to satisfy more foundational impulses.

“Some people want lots of money as a way to control their world and life. Such people usually don’t spend much money and live very modestly. They keep it all safely saved and invested, so they can feel completely secure in the world.

“Others want money for access to social circles and to make themselves beautiful and attractive. These people do spend their money on themselves in lavish ways.

“Other people want money because it gives them so much power over others.

“In every case, money functions as an idol and yet, because of various deep idols, it results in very different patterns of behavior.”

I think this is what Jesus means when he says, “Watch out for all kinds of greed.”

Keller is saying money is just the tip of the iceberg, but beneath the surface there are more likely deeper idols and motivations that are at work in our hearts.

That’s why Paul calls it a root of all kinds of evil. It’s hidden beneath the surface. It’s not what we think it is all of the time.

In other words, someone who saves every penny and never spends any of it on themselves to feel secure, protected, and in control of their finances might be no less selfish than someone who spends carelessly on themselves to look attractive to others.

I was reading recently about John Paul Getty. The museum down in LA is named after him. Have you been to the Getty Museum down in LA?

It’s an incredible art museum. It’s located in one of the most beautiful and expensive neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

John Paul Getty was a multi-billionaire. He was considered to be the richest living American when he was alive.

Despite his incredible, vast wealth, Getty was also known to be infamously and notoriously frugal.

For instance, in one of his mansions (this was before cell phones) he installed a pay phone so that anyone who wanted to make a call from his house would have to pay for it themselves.

Another time, he was with a group of friends. He took them to London to go see a show, and he had them walk around the block for 10 minutes so the tickets could drop to half price after 5:00 p.m.

We’re talking about a billionaire here.

There was a movie made about Paul Getty in which one of his grandsons — this is a true story — was kidnapped, and he was unwilling to budge on the ransom.

John Paul Getty was one of the richest people in the world. Yet, he was incredibly frugal with his resources.

What I’m trying to get at is that you don’t have to be rich to be greedy, and you don’t have to be poor to be frugal.

It’s a trap, and anyone can be controlled by the love of money.

That’s kind of how this works, and that’s why we have to watch out for it in our own lives and in our own hearts.

The only way we can break free from this trap and deal with this is not by changing our view of money or our spending patterns. It’s not behavior modification, actually.

The only way we can break free from this trap is by examining our hearts.

Our hearts have to be transformed by the grace of God.

We have to deal with what’s beneath the surface. We have to look at the roots — the deeper idols in our lives — at a heart level.

We have to deal with idols like control and security and acceptance.

On the surface, these things can appear to hold a place in our lives.

Maybe it’s in the form of a job. Maybe my job is my security.

Maybe a relationship I worship is my idol. It makes me feel accepted.

Maybe it’s something I own.

The only way to break free from this is for God to become our ultimate hope and our ultimate love.

When we understand God gave us everything in his Son, Jesus, and that he died to make us his own, then and only then will we be able to make him our own.

Only then will money cease to be the currency of significance and security.

Only then will we want to be truly generous and bless others with what we’ve received.

That’s the only thing that can break the power of greed over us.

You see, my security is not in a bank account. It’s in God’s love and his acceptance.

My identity is not found in my net worth or my investment portfolio. My identity is found in the fact that I’m a child of God, and my Father is a King.

I don’t have to be in control of my finances or worry about what other people think because I know what he thinks. I know what he thinks when he thinks about me.

If that’s true and if our security and our acceptance and our worth is not found in what we possess but in a God who loves us, what more could we possibly ask for in this life? What more could we possibly want if that’s true?

Faith in Jesus changes everything. It changes everything in us, and it changes us from the inside out.

When we get that, when we accept that, and when we understand that, money and greed lose their control. They lose their power over our lives.

Jesus said, “You can’t serve two masters.”

If you serve money, you’ll be consumed with it. You’ll be consumed with greed and worry and anxiety. You’ll just think about it all of the time.

If money is your god, ironically it will cost you everything to serve it, but if you love God and if God is your master and you serve him, you’ll be free of those things like greed and anxiety and worry, and you’ll be free to love and free to give and free to serve.

You’ll be free to do all of those things because you’ll know that he already paid the ultimate price to have you.

Now, this is what Paul wants to steer Timothy away from (this trap), and he tells Timothy:

Godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6)

You see, contentment is recognizing that we come into this world with nothing and everything we have is a gift from God.

If that’s true, our job is simply to steward everything we have and all of the gifts we’ve received.

Our job is to manage the resources God has entrusted to our care.

Not only does God give us what we have, but he also blesses us with the abilities and the skills and the talents to earn and acquire and achieve everything we have.

These days when I think about where I am today and everything I have, I can’t help but be grateful to God for the opportunities he’s given me in my life to become the person I am today.

I’m grateful to God because I could have been born in a developing part of the world where I didn’t have the opportunity to go to school, and find a job, and start a church.

I could have been born in any period of time in any part of the world. Yet, I was born where I was for a time such as this.

I did not come into this world with anything, everything I have is a gift, and one day when I leave this world I will leave with nothing.

Contentment is recognizing that we come into the world with nothing and everything we have is a gift from God.

That’s what Paul is explaining to his young friend, Timothy.

Paul goes on to say in chapter 6:

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. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

How does someone get a life like that? How do you live a life that is truly living?

Paul says, “You can live a life that is truly life by putting your ultimate hope and your ultimate love in God the Father.”

He says, “You can live life that is truly life by finding your identity in his great love and acceptance for you. You can live a life that is truly life by stewarding all of the gifts and all of the resources you have in a way that reflects his grace to you and his purpose for your life.”

Later today, if you have a chance to talk to God, I hope your conversation and your prayer with God will go something like this:

“Heavenly Father, thank you for every second and every penny I have.

More than a billion years or a billion dollars, I am grateful to have you and your love. Help me to use all of my time and all of my resources in ways that will reflect your goodness and your glory.”

Alright, let me pray for you.