Sunday, June 23, 2012 pm
THE CHRISTIAN AND MONEY
(5)
The Sinful Use of Money
While there are more principles to consider, in my lesson today I want
to look at some ways that money can be used that is sinful.
The Bible certainly has plenty to say about the misuse of money.
There are warnings and there are examples.
We will examine a handful of each.
a.
Within scripture we find
examples of money being use for sinful purposes.
Within these examples we find attitudes and principles to
consider as we deal with to NOT use our money.
b.
Jesus was betrayed for
30 pieces of silver
– Matt. 26:14-15. Perhaps
the best known example.
Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing
to give me if I deliver Him to you?”
They gave him 30 pieces of silver.
I am told, that was the price of a slave.
And with that “bribe” Judas sought opportunity to betray Jesus.
While later Judas regretted it, it was too late as the damage had been
done. As a result, he went
out and hanged himself. (Matt. 27:3-5)
Often those who make horrible betrayals and criminal conduct
cannot “live with themselves” when they are caught!
c.
Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers for 20 shekels of silver (Gen.
37:28). In the account of
Joseph and his brothers, who despised him because of the favoritism his
father showed and other boastful acts he had engaged in (his dreams,
telling on his brothers, etc.), we find that when they found opportunity
they got rid of Joseph by selling him into slavery.
Oh the sins involved here:
Betrayal, lies, greed, selfishness, etc.
d.
Balak bribed Balaam to
curse Israel
(Num. 22:7, 18, 24:13).
While in the wilderness, as Israel was journeying toward Canaan, Balak,
king of Moab, sent for the prophet Balaam to come and curse Israel for
“the diviner’s fee”. While Balak could not curse Israel, he found a
“workaround” which resulted in Israel being cursed (namely, the people
committed harlotry with a foreign nation – cf. Num. 25)..
It is clearly evident that Balaam was GREEDY and wanted the money
and would find a way to be “paid”.
Money meant more than truth to Him.
And Balak, who was will to pay to bring about harm upon others was
equally guilty of a sin involving money.
e.
Delilah was bribed to
defeat Samson
(Judges 16:4-5, 18). We find
in Judges 16 the account of Samson and Delilah.
The Philistines basically bribed Delilah with 100 pieces of
silver to seduce Samson and find the secret of his strength (which was
his hair). Here we find
greed, deceit, cruelty, and other sins motivated by a love for money.
f.
Haman offered to pay for the destruction of the Jews
(Esther 3:9-11, 4:7). The
book of Esther is about the deliverance of Israel from destruction
through the workings of Esther.
The reason the Jews were in danger of destruction was because of
Haman, the king’s “right hand man” wanted them destroyed because they
(and Mordecai) would not bow down and pay him homage.
He got permission from the king to hire one to destroy all the
Jews and he offered to pay the fee of 10,000 talents of silver to the
ones who would do it. That
was a huge sum driven by arrogance and hatred.
He was willing to use his wealth to wipe out an entire race.
It backfired because of God’s providence.
g.
Abimelech conspires to be king
- Judges 9:4 – Perhaps the least known of these
accounts. In the times of
the judges we read, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
On one occasion Abimelech, wanted to rule the people and
conspired to have all his brother killed so that he could rule alone.
For 70 shekels of silver we read that he hired worthless men and
murdered all his brothers (69) except one (Jotham).
For money he was willing to have people killed.
He was arrogant, ruthless and power-hungry.
All enabled by his wealth.
h.
Charging usury
– Nehemiah 5:7
finds Nehemiah confronting the leaders of Israel around Jerusalem for
taking advantage of their own brethren.
This was STRICTLY against the Law of Moses (Lev. 25:36-37, Deut.
23:19-20). It reached the
point where people could not work because everything they had was being
taken by greedy leaders. The
leaders were guilty of greed, breaking God’s laws, uncompassionate, etc.
i.
Perhaps others could be added to these, but we find here
– some examples of why
money is sometimes called “dishonest gain” or “filthy lucre.”
(Titus 1:11)
a.
Obviously we cannot
discuss all the sins associated with money in the Bible but here we
mention a few. BEAR in mind, as
we have noted before, money within itself is NOT evil or good.
It is morally neutral.
It is HOW WE USE IT and our attitude toward wealth that we
consider in this lesson.
b.
Greed, covetousness,
love of money
– perhaps the most common and
obvious of sinful attitudes is that of greed.
Greed is the strong desire to attain wealth and hold onto it.
1 Tim. 6:9-10 is the poster text for this and one we have discussed
before. In it Paul speaks of
“the love of money is the root of
all kinds of evil.” But
he also notes, “those who desire
to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and
harmful lusts…”
Eccl. 5:10 says, “He who loves
silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance,
with increase. This also is
vanity.”
In James 5:1-5 describes the fate of the greedy (though they are
described here as “rich.”
I link greed together with covetousness which means
“a strong desire to acquire more and more material possessions or to
possess more things than other people have.” (L&N 25.22).
Covetousness is included in various lists of sins (Rom. 1;28, 1 Cor.
5:10-11, 6:10, Eph. 5:3-5, Col. 3:5.
The latter two verses in that list describe covetousness s
idolatry (because you are worshipping things over God, thereby making
them your god.
Heb. 13:5 says, “Let your conduct
be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have.”
c.
Stealing –
means taking from another that which doesn’t belong to you.
It was one of the Ten Commandments – Ex. 20:15. Deut. 5:19.
This is an obvious WRONG acquiring of mammon.
Rom. 2:21, “You who preach that a man should not steal, do you
steal?” Rom. 13:9 places it
in the commandments governed by “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.”
Eph. 4:28 admonishes those who have been converted who used to steal to
quit!
Stealing is a product of greed and materialism!
d.
Gambling
– is an interesting word, especially because it is never found in the
Bible. But the concept is
there and principles which would condemn it are also there.
i.
When we speak of
gambling we are not merely talking about someone who takes a chance or
“drawing straws” to see who will do something.
ii.
We are speaking of two
or more parties that wager against one another in a game of chance in
the hopes of winning that which the others have wagered.
iii.
This is fundamentally
sinful on a number of fronts
1.
It involves covetousness
by definition.
A strong desire to have more.
2.
It violates the
principles of labor
– we are told in scripture to work – Eph. 4:28, 2 Thess. 3:10.
In essence, when one gambles he wants an easy out with his
responsibilities.
Prov. 14:23 says, “In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.”
3.
It is poor stewardship
– usually,
when one gambles, he is using that which he cannot afford out of
desperation. And even if he
is a “recreational gambler” he is still wagering against others who
ought not be there and often preying upon them.
Rom. 12:1-2 calls upon us to be living sacrifices to God.
4.
It is worldly and
associated with many evil practices
– often associated with
organized crime, petty crime and neglect (by the desperate), rampant
materialism when one does win, etc.
e.
Going into debt
– there is great debate as to what constitutes sinful conduct where
credit is concerned. We are
going to deal with this in great detail in a future lesson.
But here we want to notice that debt can be sinful!
i.
Rom. 13:8 says, “Owe
no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has
fulfilled the law.” IF
you are paying your bills on time then you are honoring your
obligations.
ii.
BUT there are other
considerations:
1.
Prov. 22:7 says, “the
rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”
1 Cor. 7:23 says, “You were bought
at a price; do not become slaves of men.”
2.
Is your debt hindering
you from doing what you ought to do? (giving, sharing,
etc.)
3.
Is your debt causing
trouble in your home, marriage, self-image (stress, worry,…)
4.
Is your debt a product
of materialism?
iii.
NOT paying your debt –
Psalm 37:21, “the wicked borrow
and do not pay back, but the righteous give generously.”
That such is a sin is clearly described.
f.
Usury – is
charging high or excessive interest for a loan.
i.
It was absolutely
forbidden in Israel among their brethren.
We noted an example above from Nehemiah.
ii.
God condemns such -
Prov. 28:8, “One who increases his
possessions by usury and extortion gathers it for him who will pity the
poor.” The point being
he will be called into account.
Prov. 22:16, “He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he who gives to
the rich, will surely come to poverty.”
iii.
NOTE how these
descriptions fit in line with what some of our credit card companies are
doing. Something for us to
consider when we go into debt.
g.
Exploiting the poor - along with usury, we find examples and condemnation of
those who take advantage of the unfortunate.
Mark 12:40 – robbing widows’ houses, Jas 5:1-4 – vs. 4 speaks of
them keeping back owed wages.
Clearly such are driven by greed and materialism, as well as
selfishness and a failure to show compassion for others.
h.
Trusting in riches
– Job 31:24-28, in Job’s summary defense he acknowledges that if he has
trusted in riches he deserves his “punishment.”
Just like the “rich fool” in Luke 12:20.
How many Christians today trust in their riches and things more than
they ought to?
Passages we have discussed show the clear fault in this attitude - Matt.
6:19 – treasures on earth.
Matt. 16:26 – what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and
loses his own soul?
i.
Materialism
– the pursuit of things. We
have already discussed this.
j.
Refusing to work, laziness – I put this as a sinful use of money, because often those of
this caliber depend upon others to support their conduct.
They take advantage of people and often manipulate circumstances
to their advantage. Is there
any wonder Paul said, “if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.”
(2 Thess. 3:10)
Prov. 18:9, “He who is slothful in
his work is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.”
Prov. 26:14-16 – the lazy man sleeps late, won’t take care of himself &
refuses advice.
k.
Pretending to be rich – Prov. 13:7, “There is
one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself
poor, yet has great riches.”
This is the one who lives beyond his means and status in life.
It involves deceit as well as worldliness.
l.
Not paying taxes, cheating on your taxes
– Rom. 13:1, 5-7; Matt. 22:21 – we may deal with this in more detail in
a future lesson, but for now we find as we are to be in subjection to
the governing authorities that includes paying our taxes.
Those who don’t pay or cheat are sinning in that conduct.
Thus we can see some sins associated with money.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but my point in this lesson
to demonstrate that sinful practices involving money are all around us
and we need to be cautious that we not be caught up in any of them.
Our amoral society is becoming more and more tolerant of that
which the Bible calls sin.
And MUCH of it is driven by the pursuit of worldly pleasures.
May we, as we seek to serve God strive to “keep
oneself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27) and in so doing be
an example that shines His light in this “crooked and perverse
generation.” (Phil. 2:15).