DAY EIGHTY-SEVEN:
The Love of Money
As I was thinking about an appropriate picture to go with this study, the Gollum from the Lord of the Rings movies came to mind. The hideous and obsessed Gollum was once a Hobbit named Smeagol. He found the ring that the dark Lord Sauron had forged. It became his reason for being. He referred to it as "My Precious" He guarded it zealously and when it was stolen from him he fought to get it back. The very thing that Smeagol considered precious was his undoing. This is a picture of what the love of money does to us.
Paul put material things in their proper perspective. "But godliness with contentment is great gain, 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." The word contentment means self-sufficient, not wanting anything else. Paul echos what Job said when he lost everything: "And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job was rich, but he regarded his relationship with God as his true treasure. We're born with nothing, and we can take with us nothing when we die. I've heard many people who grew up in the Depression say that they didn't know they were poor because everybody around them was in the same situation. Somehow they got what they needed. Most of us already have everything we really need. Yet the media taunt us, showing us the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Businesses try to create a desire for their products through commercials. We want, we want, we want.
Paul warned us: "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation,into a snare, 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. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." People who make it their chief aim in life to get rich become like the Gollum pictured above. He thought he was happy when he possessed the ring, but that ring actually warped him and turned him into a monster, living away from the other Hobbits so that no one could steal "My Precious." And when the ring was stolen from him the Gollum didn't stop to reflect on his life and consider a different path. He remained the Gollum, wanting only to find the ring again. Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit who stole the ring, began to experience the same covetous desires. Only the wizard Gandalf's intervention saved Bilbo from the Gollum's fate.
"The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." Often we hear this verse corrupted to say "money is the root of all evil." That's not what Paul said. Money itself is a thing, a tool in our hands. It's OK to have money, even lots of it, if we remember what it's for. We are to love people and use things. We reverse that and love things and use people to get more things. Wealthy Christians have done much to support churches and missionaries and to further the Kingdom. They blessed people with their money. It's easy to see where the love of money leads: drug cartels, prostitution rings, gambling, crooked business deals, embezzlement. I could go on and on. Many people have died so that other people could make more money. Oscar Wilde said there are but two tragedies in life: not getting what one wants, and getting what one wants. This describes the state of those who love money. If they don't have it they crave it and can't stop thinking about money. And if they do happen to become rich, it just eats holes in their very souls.
Paul told Timothy, "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness." The Greek word for flee gives us the root for our word fugitive. It means to run away from someone who's pursuing you. Run away from sin! Then Paul told Timothy to pursue righteousness. The word pursue here means to chase down, It's most commonly translated as persecute. When Paul was a persecutor he zealously tracked down any Christian he could find. That's the way we must chase after the things of God:
- righteousness- the very righteousness of Christ Himself, which He gave us in exchange for our sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21;
- godliness- a reverence and respect for God and the things of God;
- faith- believing in God's character and promises even when we see no outward evidence;
- love- the same love that God has for us, a self-giving, unconditional love;
- steadfastness- literally to stay a long time. It means to remain faithful no matter what; and
- gentleness- the same word that Jesus used in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." It means to be kind, considerate and loving toward others.
"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen." Paul commanded Timothy as a general would command a subordinate officer. He charged him most solemnly, remembering all that Jesus did for us, to "make the good confession," as Jesus did before Pilate. What is this good confession? That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus told Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world- to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." Whereas the Jews responded angrily to His confession, Pilate merely shrugged his shoulders and said "What is truth?" (John 18:37-38) It's our charge to proclaim the truth of God, the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. He is King of kings and Lord of lord! Hundreds of thousands of Christians died in the first four centuries of our era because they would not perform a simple act. Every inhabitant of the Roman Empire was commanded to appear once a year before a statue of Caesar, offer up some incense and say "Caesar is Lord." The Christians wouldn't do this because Caesar is not Lord, Jesus is Lord!
After showing us what our real treasure is Jesus, Paul returned to the subject of money: "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 1hey are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." He urged rich Christians not to show off but to use that wealth to help others and to grow the Kingdom of God.
Paul concluded: "O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called 'knowledge,' for by professing it some have swerved from the faith." A deposit is a partial payment to reserve something. 2 Corinthians 1:22 says that the Lord "...put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." Ephesians 1:14 says that the Holy Spirit is "...the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." Paul told Timothy to guard, to hang onto, that down-payment God has given him. Beware of those who claim to have "knowledge." This is a reference to Gnosticism, which comes from the Greek word gnosis. The Gnostics are one of the groups that brought outside religious beliefs and merged them with Christianity. The Gnostics claimed to have secret knowledge that God withheld from all but them. They argued, in the vein of Greek Philosophy, that the material world is evil and that only spiritual things matter. Thus Jesus wasn't born of the Virgin Mary- that would be beneath Him as a spirit being. And He didn't die on the cross- that, too, was uncouth. The earliest church struggled against Gnosticism, and in our time Gnosticism has been revived in the New Age Movement. We, too, need to guard that deposit, and not trade it for false promises.
"Grace be with you." May God's grace keep and sustain you, Timothy, as you fight the good fight of faith. Grace to all of us! We desperately need it!
For those of you who aren't familiar with the Lord of the Rings, here's a clip showing the struggle that Bilbo goes through when he knows he must give up the ring. It's destroying him, turning him into another Gollum. Gandalf encourages his friend to give it up. It's a picture of how we struggle with our attachment to the things of this world.
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