The Love of Money...

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." -Matthew 6:24

I was flipping through the channels earlier today and decided to turn on one of the Christian stations out of curiosity. The person speaking was a well-known charismatic minister who often preaches what I call the "Prosperity Gospel." In the minute I watched, this minister said something striking, that "apart from God's love, the subject Jesus talks about most is money." This was a lead into a standard charismatic prosperity message that God wants His people to receive material blessings to show forth His glory on the Earth.

This is an amazing distortion of the message of Jesus. The topic Jesus deals the most with is poverty! Poverty is inextricably linked to the greed of others. The consistent message throughout the teachings of Jesus is that those who are materially blessed should be concerned with helping the poor and should stop treating them unfairly.

Preaching a message that treats God like a hedge fund manager is dangerous. Putting money in an offering plate was never intended to be a personal investment with a guaranteed material outcome. Giving money to reap major material benefits defeats the entire purpose of giving with a pure heart to help the needy. In essence, it is nothing more than thinly veiled selfishness cloaked in misguided intentions derived from verses which are plucked out of context and misapplied to Christian living. Why should we expect God to look favorably upon us if our sole intention is to be materially prosperous on this earth? How can we expect to really know God when we ignore God's call to serve the poor?

Here's another question which is partially derived from those listed above. If God calls us to give to the poor, why do we expect to be materially blessed by God for giving money to those who already have more than us? I don't see the point in giving large sums of money to people who fly around in private jets, have no scruples about spending the tithes of their church members on opulent lifestyles, and erect massive monuments to their own success (megachurches).

Why are we seeking the hand of God instead of seeking God Himself? The simple point is that if we are truly following God, we will be blessed (though not necessarily materially) but if that is our primary motivator, we've missed the entire point of the gospel. If we are here on this earth to demonstrate God's love to all people and to preach the good news to the ends of the earth, how can we possibly do any of that if all we care about is getting our blessing?

In case you need more scripture references to validate what my argument here are a few:

"But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Tim. 6:6-10

"Listen my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?" -James 2:5-6

"And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." -Mark 4:18-19

"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick , and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'" -Matthew 25:41-43

"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it." -Ezekiel 16:49-50

"Make sure that your character is fe from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will neer desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." -Hebrews 13:5