Money

It is ok to make money. In fact, it is ok to make a lot of it. You can’t serve both God and money, but you can serve God with money. It is all a matter of the heart, keeping Christ in center perspective.

Recently in Christian circles it has been taught that to be ‘radical’ for God you have to give all your money away, quit your job and move to some remote village. For some, that is what God tells them to do. But overall, this is not how God views money.

Money is not evil, how people use it can be.

So money is a medium, a storehouse of value that can be used for good or evil depending on who owns it.

Biblically we are taught stewardship, not only with our money but our time and talents. In Luke 19:11-26 we see through the Parable of the Ten Minas that Christ gives us money, time and talents to steward for the Kingdom. We will all be held accountable for what He gives us. Also in the passage we see that to those whom are responsible, more will be given.

This parable precedes the account of the Triumphal Entry in Luke that we celebrated on Sunday as Palm Sunday. We spoke at Man Night on Monday about how this placement is not a coincidence. That the idea of being a good steward with what God has given us is always important, especially before His second ‘Triumphal Entry’.

So how should we look at money?

1. It is neutral. It is neither good or bad, but can be used for either one depending on the nature of the person who owns it. It is a medium for exchange and a storehouse of value.

2. The acquisition of it is good. The more you have, the more can be used for good. And the proper investment of it is important as we see in Luke 19. Both your time, talents and treasure are to be invested. Invested on earth for the Kingdom, and invested in Kingdom work.

3. The love of money is the root of all evil. Since money is tied to self preservation is holds a special place in our hearts. Since our hearts are an idol factory and prone to evil, money has to be cautiously subdued from taking over the position God holds in our heart.

So when you aquire it, do you give it all away as Jesus said?

Depends.

What is the Holy Spirit telling you? Not a person, but the Holy Spirit?

There is a wealthy business man that my family knows. He married into money and when I say money and mean BIG money. They met at a Christian college and both had a heart for the mission field. When they married he told his wife they needed to give their money away to the poor. But his wife, who grew up with money, knew how to manage it and showed him that investing the money reaps return which increases Kingdom giving.

In the long run, since they have invested their money, they have been able to give 30% more over the course of their life. They are baby boomers reaching retirement and they do amazing funding for Kingdom initiatives as well as for AIDS efforts and their own missionary travel.

Your money is a seed. After the harvest, seed has be retained and re-sown or reinvested so that it reaps return. In other words, you should give based on the harvest not the seed money. It is ok to aquire wealth. Just remember that at the point where that money takes the place of God in your heart, He will come knocking and test you to remind you of His position.

But God loves you and wants to bless you.

The first time I acquired a large sum of money [which wasn’t large, but large for me] I felt guilty for being out of debt and having excess. My dad in his wisdom counseled me. He said, “Son, God loves you and wants you be healthy in all areas of your life, including finances. Sometimes we have a dysfunctional view of God. That if He isn’t beating us up, He doesn’t love us. This isn’t true. Although suffering is apart of the Christian walk, so is abundance and blessing.”

That was a life changer for me.

To be prosperous is ok, so long as I keep Christ as my center focus and His Kingdom work my top priority.

Jesus teaches us to “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” – Matthew 10:16. Jesus also says that the children of the world are more shrewd with dealing with the world than we are. “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” – Luke 16:8

In short, Christians tend to be naive and short sighted in their efforts. Moved by the heart while disregarding the intellect which Christ gave us as well. Both of these working in tandem bring great Kingdom reward. That means we have to excercise discerment with how we invest/spend our time and money.

Time is money, and honsetly the most precious commodity you have.

Spend it well.

When we realize money can be a force for good we stay in, rather than leave the workplace. And we work with excellence to achieve both fiscal and Kingdom returns, bringing the Gospel into the workplace.