The Desire to be Rich

[0:00] As I was preparing for this message, one of the things I always do is I talk to people as! I go through my work week, just asking them questions. The other thing I do is I focus on! whatever the topic is or the message, and I reflect on my personal life, things that have transpired, things that have happened, and this is what I came up with. For the Love of Money is a soul-funk song written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Hough and Anthony Jackson and recorded by Philadelphia soul group, the OJs, from the album Ship Ahoy. Produced by Gamble and Hough for Philadelphia International Records. For the Love of Money was issued as a single in late 1973, with People Keep Telling Me as its

[1:05] Buy Side. The single peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and at number nine on Billboard's Pop Singles chart in spring 1974. Though the album version of the song was over seven minutes long, it received substantial radio airplay. The song's title comes from a well-known Bible verse, 1 Timothy 6.10. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have aired from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. And that is the King James version. The song goes like this, money, money, money, money. Some people got to have it, some people really need it. Listen to me, y'all. Do things, do things, do bad things with it. You want to do things, do things, do things, good things with it. Talk about cash, money, money. Talk about cash, money, dollar bills, y'all. For the love of money, people will steal from their mother. For the love of money, people will rob their own brother. For the love of money, people can't even walk the street because they never know who in the world they're going to beat. For that lean, mean, mean, green, almighty dollar money. For the love of money, people will lie. Lord, they will cheat. For the love of money, people don't care who they hurt or beat. For the love of money, a woman will sell, a precious body. For a small piece of paper, it carries a lot of weight. Call it lean, mean, mean, green, almighty dollar. I know money is the root of all evil. Do funny things to some people.

[3:03] Give me a nickel. Brother, can you spare a dime? Money can drive some people out of their minds. Got to have it. I really need it. How many things have I heard you say some people really need it? How many things have I heard you say got to have it? I really need it. How many things have I heard you say lay down, lay down? A woman will lay down for the love of money. All for the money.

[3:29] Don't let, don't let, don't let money rule you. For the love of money, money can change people sometimes. Don't let it, don't let money fool you. Money can fool people sometimes. People don't let money, don't let money change you. It will keep on changing, changing up your mind.

[3:53] Now, when I was listening to this song as a teenager, I enjoyed the lyrics, but more importantly, the drive, the beat. But what I didn't know is what I read to you just now. I never knew that it was based around something that I would be preaching from today.

[4:15] And there's something else that I found out. The lead singer of this song, he complained that in the years, because the song is being redone so many times by so many different groups, he said that in the years since the song became a hit, its message has been spun into one of pro-idolatry and not of awareness and self-control. I found that very interesting. Of course, I'd like to comment that, see, music has changed over the years. And they call this kind of music old school.

[4:55] But what I have come to understand, old school is the best school. And you're going to see how over the years, this song and what it says, things have not changed. Things have not changed.

[5:16] Now, we are continuing our message series from the book of Timothy.

[5:28] And when we last looked at 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verses 3 through 5, the Apostle Paul was giving Timothy warnings about false teachers.

[5:40] False teachers who promoted their false doctrine for the sake of worldly wealth. And what these false teachers did, they mingled error with the teaching of godliness to the church at Ephesus.

[5:53] And so what Paul is doing, he's rightly warning Timothy about these false teachers who, because they were deprived of the truth, they turned godliness into a means of financial gain.

[6:07] Now, it's not wrong for those who've been appointed by the Lord a shepherd of the flock. to receive payment for their work. But what he is referring to is heretics, who despite their best efforts, to the contrary, they often offer some godly truth in a toxic mess.

[6:29] And that is what they sell to us. They might profess salvation in Christ, but they give false promises of wealth and prosperity in order to entice people to give or they may present the gospel as a way a person can buy their way into heaven.

[6:49] These are the kind of people that should be avoided at all costs. And some of you know some of these people. They're on TV every single day. Some of you even watch some of these people.

[7:02] It's all about love offerings. It's all about seed. And when you look at their lives, you realize that these people are living lives like celebrities.

[7:15] But, it goes on. And, this is why Paul, and by extension to us, he was warning the church at Ephesus about covetousness and greed.

[7:33] Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word today. And Lord, what you want is fruit in the lives of your people.

[7:46] Lord, help your word to convict us of sin, of righteousness, and the judgment to come. Lord, help your word to transform our hearts and minds.

[7:58] Help us, Lord, to be the people who live lives that please you. And Lord, help our hearts as it relates to greed, materialism, and covetousness.

[8:12] So, Father, have your way with us. Have your way with me. And Lord, let Jesus Christ be glorified at the end of the day.

[8:23] Amen. Now, in a world of poverty and riches, believers are reminded of a great gain and warned about a great danger.

[8:43] So, let us turn to the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verses 6 through 10. Amen. Amen. 1 Timothy 6, verses 6 through 10.

[9:08] Now, there is great gain in godliness with contentment. For we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these, we will be content.

[9:22] But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a sneer, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

[9:37] For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

[9:50] and I base this message on two main points that we are going to consider today. The first being a great gain.

[10:03] The second being a great danger. A great gain and then a great danger. Godliness Now, let's begin by looking at this word godliness.

[10:23] Which means reverence, piety, and godlikeness. And by godliness what we mean is the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the hearts and minds that is worked throughout the Christian life.

[10:40] You see, real godliness has nothing to do with promoting and uplifting ourselves. But rather, it is subjection to the needs of others without concern for reward.

[10:56] Real godliness is seen in my obedience and in your obedience my faithfulness and your faithfulness to God's word.

[11:07] And that is what you use as a measuring stick for godly living. That's the criteria. Godly living is not a means to financial gain.

[11:20] Living godly is the gain. Godliness or living godly is not just merely gain but it is a great gain.

[11:34] John Calvin comments goes like this. Godliness is a very great gain to us because by means of it we obtain the benefit not only of being heirs of the world but likewise enjoying Christ and all his riches.

[11:51] Brothers and sisters, the great gain of knowing Christ is not only for this life but the life to come. And Paul has expressed this already in 1 Timothy 4 verse 8.

[12:07] You see your faith your trust in Jesus Christ is the ultimate investment because it yields eternal life and never ending substantial dividends.

[12:22] So if you're looking for the right kind of investment that could never fail this is what you have to invest in. Now one of the things about living godly as we read is that godly living is a great gain provided that we learn to be content with our present circumstances.

[12:46] Godly living is a great gain provided that we learn to be content with our present circumstances. Now let's look at this word contentment and the Greek word is artikeia and it was often used in Greek philosophy to describe a person who had all their resources within themselves.

[13:12] They did not depend on anyone or anything else. These people were completely self-sufficient. contentment but you see Paul is referring to something quite different here.

[13:27] The Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs described contentment as a work of the spirit indoors. A work of the spirit indoors.

[13:41] And this is what he wrote. I find sufficiency of satisfaction in my own heart through the grace of Christ that is in me. And those of us who are believers Burroughs says this this rare jewel of Christian contentment has all the resources in God.

[14:08] So you see this rare jewel of Christian contentment has all the resources but they are found in God. Now in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verse 5 the apostle Paul he takes this concept and he sanctifies it for us stating not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything that is coming from us but our sufficiency is from God.

[14:43] And later on in 2nd Corinthians 9 verse 8 he says it another way and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work.

[15:01] Now please note this contentment is always based on the sufficiency of God. You see we are not self-sufficient.

[15:14] Christians believers you're not self-sufficient but Christ is sufficient. Anyone who has Jesus Christ has everything he or she needs.

[15:28] Now I know that's going to work against your heart because I was saying this to somebody this week and he said yeah I said but you know we were passing it as a commentary and he said I know what you're saying it's the truth that's God's word but people just don't see it that way and that is where your adjustment that is where your hearts have to change that you've got to see Christ as being sufficient Christ is really our true contentment you see the trouble is we're not content people we most of the time we're not content and some of our contentment it comes out of natural frustration and that natural frustration is because we live in a fallen world and we're waiting for Jesus to make things new but most of our contentment also comes from not being satisfied in

[16:30] Jesus we want something more or we want something else now a familiar passage of scripture that we often quote is I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content I know how to be brought low I know how to abound in and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger abundance and need I can do all things through him who strengthens me and further down in verse 19 the apostle Paul adds this and my God shall supply every need of yours according to his get this word riches in glory in Christ

[17:30] Jesus so what Paul is doing here he's sanctifying this idea of contentment it is a Christ contentment in other words the provision of God and the provision of Christ result in contentment and earlier as I mentioned this Greek word from Greek philosophers Paul put a spin on it it's more than just philosophy and it's more than some human mind control exercise our contentment is related to our sufficiency of God it's related to the sufficiency of Christ it's related to the confidence that says I want to live godly and take whatever God wants to give to me that ain't easy I want to live godly and

[18:32] I want to take whatever God wants to give to me I want to live within a sovereign providential will and trust that no matter no matter what difficulties in life come my way God is the one who has engineered the circumstances for my good no matter what happens no matter what challenges you face no matter how difficult life gets God is the one who has engineered the circumstances for your good that is hard to grasp it's not easy to accept that truth but one of the things I always say and God always checks me with this brother you sing those songs pretty good and you know those lyrics now live it you see we like to talk about the sovereignty of

[19:36] God we say it but now when things in life get tough when things get hard God says do you still believe I'm sovereign can you still trust me do you still believe I'm in total control of your life see these are the things that we grapple with these are the things that are difficult for us as believers to accept but this is how this is the way we are called to live for Christ now there are a few ways to make great gains and the only way to make great gains is as I said earlier godliness with contentment as stated in verse 6 and I'd like to share three reasons that contribute to this and the first is you cannot take anything with you when you die those of us who attend funerals and it always strikes me when

[20:53] I go to funerals you ain't carrying nothing I don't care what you've accomplished I don't care what you've achieved material possessions car house boat plane all you're looking at and as Lyndon alluded to earlier a hole in the ground with a casket or coffin the clothes may be a full suit maybe but we take nothing with us when we die now these are two undeniable and unchangeable truths about human possessions nothing in nothing out every single person that has ever lived enters and exits the world the same way all your belongings are checked out at the graveside and this was true of our first parents

[22:02] Adam and Eve who came into this world with nothing and they left the world with nothing for you are dust God said to Adam unto dust you shall return ashes ashes to ashes dust to dust are you familiar with a man called Job and Job was the wealthiest man in the ancient world Job had great possessions riches beyond compare however in a flash of a moment they were all taken away he lost his oxen he lost his donkeys his sheep his camels his servants even his children every single thing when it happened now I want you to get this get this attitude Job fell on the ground and worshipped you think you could do that when you lose everything

[23:06] Job fell on the ground and worshipped and he said naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return you see Job was no different from anyone else all of us die penniless every human being every mortal person who returned to the death with nothing one of the things they found interesting was pharaohs Egyptian pharaohs who would be buried with everything they own every single thing and you know what's amazing about it they had this concept that they would have these things in the afterlife the embalming was precise I mean servants material possessions everything that they had acquired over the years and now we can go to a museum and we can look at the stuff

[24:17] I mean it's there for us to look at you see they couldn't take anything with them either the psalmist says it like this be not afraid when a man becomes rich when the glory of his house increases for when he dies he will carry nothing his glory will not go down after him psalm 49 verses 16 through 17 the second reason to be content in order to make a great gain is what you have is that what you have and that is enough probably more than enough if you come into this world with nothing and you leave with nothing what do you need in the meantime not much eh verse 8 but if we have food and clothing with these we will be content and this word used here for clothing also refers to shelter so in the broad sense having nourishment of food having clothing and shelter the basic necessities of life we should be satisfied and

[25:48] Jesus says it similarly do not be anxious about your life what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body what you will put on and the reason Jesus said that we're not to worry is because he was alluding to the fact that the same God who takes care of the birds who takes care of the plants is the same God who's going to provide the basic necessities for our lives you see every single one of us every single follower of Christ should be content with the basic necessities of life the Westminster shorter catechism puts it well when it speaks of a competent portion of the good things of this life a competent portion of the good things of this life you see we don't need luxuries we just need necessities and theologian

[27:00] John Stott gives us some good practical advice in this regard and I found this very interesting possessions are only the traveling luggage of time they are not the stuff of eternity it would be sensible therefore to travel light possessions are only the traveling luggage of time they are not the stuff of eternity it would be sensible therefore to travel light are you traveling light another perspective as it relates to great gain is to understand that contentment is never related to how many possessions a person has and last week in my giving exhortation I referred to Luke 12 15 where Jesus was instructing us to be aware be on guard because our lives do not consist of the possessions that we have so one of the things that we have to understand is in a lot of cases the more possession possessions a person has the more empty their life becomes and that's not again one of the easy things to accept the more possessions a person has the more empty their life becomes and I want you to think think about famous people who you know people who you know are wealthy or were wealthy and I remember something that I read it was about

[29:01] Henry Ford the great automobile maker and he said it's like he said he said he said it like this after all those years and amassing so much money I was happier when I was a mechanic and you know I thought about that because you know I'm saying to myself you got all this wealth you accomplished all of this you were pioneering the auto American industry you amassed a great fortune and you're saying you were happier when you were a mechanic and see that is something we need to think about see riches and wealth has an illusion that is going to make you happy but that's not always the case some of us dare to try and when we get there we realize that it was not all that it was cooked up to be because you see you've got to be worrying about who's going to con you who's going to take your money from you you got to worry about people who say they're your friends but they're just merely hanging hanger on that's hanger on they're just around you because of what they could get you got to invest in all type of security whether it's your place where you live or some people when they go out in public they cannot live a simple ordinary life so your life tends to get more complex so these are things you have to consider because what you're saying is you're looking at these people and saying

[30:39] I want to be like that but it comes with a cost and remember God has you exactly where he wants you to be and again that's hard to accept God is the one who's in control and God is the one who's promised to take care of you and me now the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer observed that gold was like seawater the more one drinks of it the thirstier one becomes and Schopenhauer was right but another gentleman Herbert Schlossberg explains why all true needs such as food drink companionship are satiable illegitimate wants pride envy greed are insatiable by their nature they cannot be satisfied enough is never enough and the Bible describes this insatiably addictive power of money like this in Ecclesiastes 5-10 he who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves wealth with his income you see brothers and sisters what our hearts really crave is not gold not money but God that's really the longing desire in our hearts but you see we use these things as a substitute and what it does is as Jesus said the cares of this life under deceitfulness of riches chokes the word of God in our hearts and as a result you don't bear fruit now anyone any person who comes to

[32:42] God through Jesus Christ finds meaning finds purpose joy and even satisfaction and one man who discovered this secret as I said earlier was the apostle Paul he found out the secret of being content because he is the one who put his trust in God he is the one who realized that Christ was all sufficient for him no matter what the circumstances no matter what he endured when you read his letters his writings he always honored and thanked God through Jesus Christ he is the one who as I read earlier that people often quote quote out of context about knowing how to be content knowing how to live with little knowing how to live with a lot knowing how to be hungry knowing how to be filled with food the abundance and the need but he realized something that is

[33:52] God who supplies God is the one who gave him the strength in his difficult circumstances now how is contentment working out in your life and I want you to be honest do you struggle with being content now one of the things I know because I live in this world too and I like nice things what the culture that we live in it's all about consumerism and what it does it feeds on our lack of contentment by rewarding us when we are discontent and with the slick advertising that makes us feel discontent when we don't have the product one of the things about advertising is and I guess

[34:57] Clarence could concur with this you have people that's what they go to school for they study human behavior they know all the buttons to press they know how to get you to respond to ads and I have a customer who does this many of you have seen these KFC stickers some of them plastered all over cards well if you want to know I'm the one who cleared them through customs like KFC but I like the money that my client pays me for the services that I offer and many times I sit down and I think about advertising and as you know they did this campaign last year but it was so successful they said okay we can do it again this year and you know it's all designed about on a round winning a

[36:10] Mercedes Benz so people are just saying to themselves I could get that car and all I have to do is buy a meal and get a ticket you see and this is what advertising this is what it all comes down to see they make us feel discontent about not having something and this ranges from clothes to shoes to cars to bags to watches and listen to this the sale of the Apple iPhone 6 they sold 700 million so far Apple TV along with 25 million Apple TV and they have a 49% growth from last year now listen

[37:12] I'm not knocking those of you who have Apple products what I'm saying is you understand the power of marketing the power of advertising you see I gotta make you feel as if if you don't have this type of phone if you don't have this type of car if you don't have this type of clothing you ain't nobody to be somebody you gotta have this and these people play on our hearts and our minds and before you know it we end up purchasing these things sometimes they are a great benefit often times we're in a situation where you're in debt because of making bad decisions based on slick advertising how much of a place does shopping and buying have in your life are you the person every time there's a sale anytime something is advertised you run to purchase how does the loss of material goods affect your happiness how happy do you get when you purchase something new what are the needs you're trying to fill in your life as I alluded to to make you somebody some socioeconomic status symbol unless we see we gotta be honest we live in this country and all of us know this is the way it goes people respect you for the things that you have the designer clothes you know my wife told me something and I never forget this she says

[39:23] David look at these children that are in the malls and we talking babies babies have one designer clothes name brand and think about it why does a baby need a name brand clothes that they're gonna mess up anyhow but you see I gotta show you that this is where I am that I have arrived this is the way I live so we have to be careful remember that whatever the need we try to fulfill with material things they only can truly be met by relationship with God the one who made us see that's the void we all are trying to fill and my advice is let God fill the void and let the other things take care of themselves so if

[40:28] God chooses to provide more than the basic necessities to some people there's nothing wrong with that there's nothing wrong with them receiving and enjoying it but however we all have to remember that the money and the things are not the be all and end all of life and when we see other people with things we gotta check ourselves and remember not to make demands on God or to covet the things that other people have we have to be very careful in that regard and you see Paul is not condemning having possessions but what he does condemn is this desire that rises out of discontent now the second area

[41:30] I'd like to cover is called a great danger and the third and final reason we ought to be content with what God has given to us is that discontent always leads to disaster and apparently people who desire to be rich see they do not see the danger in this pursuit and they've never read this passage or they've never listened to that song but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation into a sneer into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils and it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs and if you look at it it's a progression one thing leads to another the first thing is the desire to get rich which on the surface seems harmless then there is the temptation to get rich by some immoral means but that is actually a snare of the devil that leads to more and more evil desires then eventually the greedy person is plunged into ruin and destruction the greedy person drowns in the sea of their own greed eventually they come to ruin and ruin means moral failure in this present life and destruction meaning spiritual death in the life to come so that is the great danger now it is not people who are rich who fall into this trap but I want you to notice people who want to be richer people who want more than what they already have and this goes for both the rich and the poor because everything in life when it comes to money is relative because one of the things

[44:20] I found out is that rich is relative and rich is relative especially in this region that we live in what a Bahamian makes in a week a person in Haiti makes in a year or a person in Cuba so I've learned that rich is relative but and we have to always be aware of the fact that this desire this need for more it's inherent in us as people now what scripture condemns is people who live for money those who have their fixed desires on material wealth and what they do they make it their overriding motive and reason for living you see money is not the root of all evil and this may probably be one of the most misquoted verses in the bible money is the root of all evil people say when really it is the love of money that is the danger you see money in and of itself is morally neutral and money could be used for many good purposes greed is not rooted in money therefore greed is in the fallen nature of the human heart again theologian

[45:56] John Stott says and this is wise this passage is not for poverty against wealth but for contentment against covetousness all of what we're talking about is not for poverty against wealth or for the poor criticizing the rich but it's for contentment versus covetousness you see brothers and sisters the overarching principle or the umbrella for all life of the believer as it relates to money is not to love it see up front that is something you got to determine I'm not going to love money because Paul states that this love of money this is at the root or the source and what it does it produces all kinds of evil and it becomes the branches of whatever is hanging on that metaphorical tree the root is the love of money that produces all kinds of evil what he is saying is that if you love money there is usually nothing that would stop a person in pursuit of it and therefore it leads to all kinds of sins there is no kind of evil that you or I could imagine which could not be the result of loving money and history has shown for the love of money people have committed every conceivable sin every conceivable sin anything that you could imagine that is sinful people have done because of their love of money and that is where the danger lies now let's look at some of them people who love money in order to get money will take bribes they will distort justice they will manipulate they will take advantage of the poor they will lie they will cheat they will extort they will sell drugs one of the things that in our time that is fueled by greed is the pornographic industry the people behind it make millions of dollars they will deceive they will steal and they will rob people will abuse one another for it they will commit again any type of sin that you could imagine fornication adultery anything if they think there is some money to be gained they will do bodily harm to a person they will kill for money and those of us who live in this country we know that all so well this is what people will do for money they will teach a false doctrine for money as I alluded to earlier televangelists appealing for love offerings which are never

[49:57] publicly audited and promises of personal prosperity on the condition that you send enough seed money pastor most alluded to the fact and I saw it about this billionaire believers summit and one of the things that we talked about was this they want about $300 for you to attend so I'm thinking like if a guy is a billionaire what you need my $300 for that don't make no kind of sense but you see they play on your emotions they play on your desperation because of that see one of the things about the word of God the word of God as I alluded to earlier you see it could be used for good and evil this desire for gain as Paul alluded to you see people ministers of the gospel they are aware of this they know this and they use sickness death poverty desperation to get your money and these people they live lives

[51:25] I mean the planes the homes the cars and one of the things that I found out is these things are not audited by the U.S.

[51:37] government because they are tax exempt and there are those who I found out they would submit their reports but the majority they don't because they know they got a gravy train that's going to last for a long time because they know the nature of the human heart you see every imaginable category of sin can flow out of loving money because if a person is consumed with the love of money that is going to be the driving force of their life and they are going to do whatever it takes to get it however if a person is consumed with loving God with their heart their soul their mind and their strength then this love this affection this friendship with money will not take priority in their life and what that does that puts you on the path of righteousness you see what it's really all about is changing your affection

[52:56] I don't know if some of you would recall that one of the translations for covetousness and great is being a friend of silver so what you got to do you got to break this friendship with this love of money your affection has to change for loving God primarily and that is where the shift in your heart comes from when you decide to make this change and remember Jesus said it like this you cannot serve both God and money because either you love God and use money or you love money and you use God to get it and the translation there is slave so many people become slaves to the love of money something happened to me as I was preparing this message and one of the things is

[54:10] I always try to figure out God what you are saying to me now over the past two weeks I have a client who is extremely wealthy and I don't communicate with this client I communicate with the people who work for him and I've been working for them for a few years and it all has to do with they are refurbishing their house and his accountant what he did he wired me some money in anticipation of doing the customs clearance now I didn't send them an invoice I didn't send them any supporting documents so one morning as I was checking my account

[55:11] I checked my account I don't trust banks I don't many of you have been the victims of people who work in banks moving money and you know I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm you know I'm saying that with humor but but I woke up one morning and I found I had a hundred thousand dollars on my bank account and I told my wife you know she could tell you man and I'm looking at that I'm saying to myself well you know what you could do with this you know the things which you could get accomplished in your life things that you want things that things that you want you know all the things that I'm you know I'm thinking about doing and and then it occurred to me here it is I'm preaching this passage of scripture and you know one of the things that

[56:16] I've worked on for the past couple years is to build up my reputation as being a person who ain't a crook and I'm going to be I try to be straight up we live in a country where there are a lot of crooks some people don't they don't want to hear that but I'm telling you you do business in this country the majority of people they're not going to be fair with you and in the industry that I'm in I can tell you we got some shady characters so I've been working on that and so I communicate with the gentleman I said why did you send all this money he said well Mr.

[56:57] Humes that's in anticipation of the goods that are coming and mind you the goods have not they didn't reach the country yet and then he says Mr.

[57:09] Humes we trust you I'm saying to myself boy that's some serious trust you know but be it as it may you see temptation I'm not exempt these things cross our minds and our hearts but I just found it very interesting that this happened during the course of preparing for a message like this questions do you spend more time thinking about how to get how to do a better job than thinking about money in other words are you more concerned on your job at how much you make or the quality of your service see these are things we gotta ask ourselves are you into excellence or into money is your job a means to finance your indulgences or is it a means through which you can show the excellence of your commitment and glorify

[58:26] God so whenever you find yourself thinking more about how to get money than how to do a good job you got money love in your heart you see one of the things we gotta do is when we're buying things we gotta ask ourselves does the Lord need this and what I buy is it gonna bring glory to God how is this purchase going to advance the kingdom of God you see and these are things we have to ask ourselves as it relates to purchases as it relates to acquiring and getting material things you've got to do this people because if you don't as

[59:34] I said earlier the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches they're gonna choke God's word and you see you can't have God and your money in the same place in your heart you see it's either gonna be filled with your love of money or it's gonna be filled with the love of God in Christ and one of the things I'm always reminded of by my wife which I always thank her for she says at the end of the day it's about family you see people who are money hungry or lovers of money you find yourself neglecting your family but you see we use this excuse to say man

[60:35] I trying to make a living I trying to meet my various financial commitments and but at what expense is it at the expense of your your children your husband your wife your husband see these are personal things that we've got to settle because you see life is fast things just happen at a blur and you can find yourself on a fast track in the pursuit of money and you find that you've neglected your family and you see relationships are important to God the first being your relationship with him the second being your relationship with your family and other people because that's what

[61:39] God is all about relationships that's the business that he's being in from the beginning so I just like to advise those of us who are on this fast track to be careful not to ignore our families not to ignore our friends and to do our best to keep our lives as simple as possible now it is through this crib it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs the wounds caused by greed are self inflicted and in his sermon on this text Christoph said desires are thorns and as when one touches thorns he gauze his hand and gets him wounds so that he falls into these lusts so that he that falls into these lusts will be wounded by them and pierce his soul with griefs and those of us familiar with scripture can you think of a more sadder example than

[63:02] Judas Iscariot Judas Judas was a follower of Christ Judas had the gifts of the apostles but yet he saw the Lord of glory for thirty pieces of silver in the end passed with bitter grief Judas took his own life the bible means what it says the love of money leads to no end of evil and ultimately to eternal death the dangerous thing of course is that so many of us have money loving hearts we have to root out our greed we got to do some serious heart surgery our excessive interest in acquiring money and material things must be replaced with godliness the great thing we all need to do every single day is to repent of every covetous desire that we have in our hearts and ask

[64:17] God to fill us with the love of Christ because as I stated earlier godliness plus contentment equals great spiritual gain now god knows the need for money that we face every single person in this room god also knows the pressure we could be under to make money god also knows the allure that would pull us away from him you see money is intoxicating money is like a drug that addicts us easily and us completely and it has this iron grip on our hearts the same way how you know of people who are drug addicts they can't help themselves they can't control their passions or desires it's the same thing with money you see the power to change is very close to that of god very very close you see we say god could change a person's life the love of money do you see money possesses the power to rule our lives not for good and forever as christ but to lure us just like a moth just like an insect too close to the flame until it's finally ablaze that is what the love of money could do to us people you see we live in a world that's very materialistic but our hearts can be free and you see god wants to help us by posting a god over our hearts a god of gracious resolve love that's what god wants to do for us in this warfare with the love of money so what we need to do we need to guard our hearts from covetousness from this love of money and we do this by walking in grace the abounding grace from god that we may have all sufficiency in all things and at all times for you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for our sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich second corinthians eight nine now you see if we were to measure true wealth and riches by material assets against the kind of riches that god requires from us is not going to look too good material possessions material wealth as it opposed to godly wealth opposed to the riches in christ is not going to look good i recall a joke i think i shared it with brother c talking about this gentleman who went to heaven you know and as i alluded to earlier but you see he took all his gold with him and then he was asked well why are you traveling with all this luggage of course you see he wasn't traveling light he said man

[68:18] that's my goal the response was but that's what we used to pave the streets with so these are things we've got to remember there's humor in them but this is the reality and like everyone that's present in this room there are those who are more than some and not as much as others but if you measure your riches through what christ did at calvary god's wrath was appeased our sins were atoned our souls were redeemed you have immediately been transformed into the riches of the rich see that's god's perspective on riches this trusting this relying this dependence this sufficiency in christ and it was grace that moved christ to become poor so that we could become wealthy you see when this gospel that we preach when it gets big when it's enlarged this covetousness is in our hearts this desire for riches gets very small and that is what god desires for us so there is a great gain in godliness with contentment and there is a great danger in the desire to be rich amen heavenly father we again we thank you for your word we thank you for the convicting work of your holy spirit in our hearts to produce fruit in our lives help us lord to hold lightly to the things of this world and help us lord to be wise people who make investments in eternal things father we need your help because our hearts are deceitful only a work where you could transform our hearts and minds to be faithful to your word accomplish lord with your word i set out to do in our lives this is our prayer and we thank you in jesus christ's name amen