The Love of Money

Money can be a tool for good, but it becomes dangerous the moment we start treating it like a savior. We walk through 1 Timothy 6 and slow down on the phrase people misquote all the time, not “money is the root of all evil,” but “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” That shift opens up a practical, honest conversation about financial anxiety, ambition, integrity, and what we’re really hoping will keep us safe.

We define the love of money in plain terms: the belief that more money will rescue me. Rescue me from discomfort, from fear, from limits, from the hard edges of life. From there, we explore why Scripture calls this craving a snare. Money makes big promises, but it cannot deliver peace, and it often invites temptation, the kind that shows up in everyday decisions where nobody is watching. If you’ve ever felt pulled to protect profit at the cost of doing the right thing, you’ll recognize the crossroads.

Then we get concrete about the way forward. We talk about Christian contentment as a learned virtue, not passive resignation, and we name the habits that reveal malcontentment: grumbling, discouragement, and bitter jealousy. Finally, we turn to generosity as both a command and a healing practice, a way to break money’s grip and rediscover what is truly life. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What part of the love-of-money trap feels most familiar to you right now?

Transcript

Scripture Reading And Charge

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For the rest of us, I will invite us to stand for the reading of God's Word, which this morning comes from First Timothy chapter six, beginning in verse six, the word of God reads this way. 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. 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. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness, 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 immortal immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion, amen. 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. They 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. This is God's word. Thanks be to God, you may be seated, and may God bless this reading and preaching of his

Clearing Up The Money Myth

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word. A mentor of mine told me once that a pastor should talk about money at least once a year. And today we conclude our series in biblical economics, and we've been talking about money for seven weeks now, so maybe we don't need to revisit it again for another seven years. But we'll we'll see. We'll look at the budget next year and see see what we're what we're working with. But we've talked a lot about money over these past seven weeks and the many, many facets of this important part of our lives. We've talked about stewardship, we've talked about poverty, we've talked about work and wealth and investment and the household economy, and we've seen how the Bible celebrates the wise use of money. The Bible celebrates building wealth and leaving an inheritance. The Bible celebrates productive and efficient labor that leads to greater profit, uh, what is sometimes called the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, how some of these things can be found in the scriptures. But we can't move on without listening to what the Bible warns us about the love of money. So this is where we will leave our series today with this subject. Our scripture reading for today is a very famous passage and a very often misunderstood passage. Most people know very little about the Bible, but if they know anything, they know that the Bible says, judge not, and that the Bible says money is the root of all evil. Those are probably the two things that most people know. But Paul does not say that money is the root of all evil. He says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. So there's lots of little nuances in there.

Defining The Love Of Money

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And what does he mean? Well, that's what we're gonna focus on. We're gonna look at three things from this passage to answer that question. What is the love of money? And then we're gonna look at two ways to fight the love of money in our own lives. So, what is the love of money, and then two ways to fight the love of money. So, first, what is the love of money? Well, just to give a little bit of context to what we've read here, Paul is writing to Timothy. This is his first letter to Timothy. Timothy is a young pastor, and he is Paul's protege, he's his son in the faith, and he had left Timothy in Ephesus to oversee the churches there and to ordain elders. And even in Paul's time, even in these early days of the church, there were some that were thinking that gospel ministry could be a means of financial gain. It could be an opportunity to make some money. And Paul alerts Timothy that this way of thinking is very dangerous. He has made it clear elsewhere, even within this own letter, that gospel ministers deserve to be paid and compensated for their labor. But he warns Timothy that at least in terms of the work of the church and gospel ministry, he warns Timothy not to be incentivized by money. And listen to his warning. In verse 9, he says, 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. And again, first I want to point out that Paul does not say that money is bad. The Bible does not say that money is bad, or that it is particularly spiritual or righteous to be poor, or that it is wicked to be wealthy. The scriptures do not teach this. Paul says that the love of money is bad. So, what does he mean by the love of money? Well, the love of money has nothing to do with whether or not we have money. Those who have lots of money may not suffer from the love of money because they may have put some things into practice that Paul talks about here. And those who have no money may have a great love of money. So the love of money does not have anything to do with whether or not we have it, it has more to do with how we view money. And so I would offer this definition. The love of money is the belief that money will save you. The love of money is the belief that money will save you. If I have more money, then I will be less anxious. If I have more money, then I will be saved from the difficulties and the discomforts of life, and they won't be able to touch me. If I have more money, then I will be happier, and my life will be easier, my problems will be solved. It will save me, money will save me. The love of money is the belief that money will save us from whatever troubles that we might face. And Timothy must beware this mindset because Paul says it is a trap, and he says that it is senseless and harmful, and ultimately will lead to loss, to ruin and destruction. How so? Well, Paul first of all says that it's a snare. He says the love of money is a snare. So a snare back in that day of the same as today, used to trap animals, bait is placed, the animal goes for the bait, but it never gets it because it is caught by the snare. Likewise, money promises many things. For example, it promises to alleviate anxiety. It says, if you have more of me, then you won't be anxious, you won't be worried anymore. And so we run after it. But once we get it, we learn that it might alleviate some anxieties, but at the same time, it opens up many others that we never even thought to be anxious about. On the whole, having money does not make us less anxious, it just makes us anxious about different things. It did not save us from our anxiety after all. Whether it's anxiety or something else, money is never able to deliver on these promises. Paul also says that those who desire to be rich fall into temptation. He says that it's a temptation. If we believe that money will save us and that it's the most important thing, then we will be tempted, we will be tempted to do many things to get it or to keep it, and we will lead ourselves into temptation, the thing that we pray that the Lord would not do, we will do it ourselves. We will be tempted to sacrifice our integrity. We will be tempted to sacrifice friendships or relationships with our family. We'd be tempted even to abandon our faith just to make or to retain a little more money.

Temptation And The Integrity Test

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This past week I was uh I was doing a uh really cool job. I was doing a trim install at a customer's house and they weren't there. Their floor was covered with floor protection, but I dropped my saw, my heavy saw, on their newly finished floor. It was covered, but I paused and I considered what I should do. Should I pull up the protection and check for damage? Well, I did. I checked. Um, and I saw that I had gouged their floor, their newly finished floor. Oof. What do I do now? I could cover it back up. By the time he discovers it, who's I'll be long gone. Who's to say what happened? Who's to say that I did it? It's in moments like this that I must choose my savior. I must choose who is the savior. Is money the savior? Is that the most important thing? Or is Jesus the savior? If money is my savior, if it's the most important thing, then I will readily sacrifice my integrity. Uh, I will sacrifice the well-being of the client just so that I can make a little bit more money. You see how we do that? It's a temptation. If we love it, it will tempt us to do many things we shouldn't do. Uh in that instance, what do you think I did? I didn't tell him about it. I'm just kidding. I told him. Uh the Holy Spirit prevailed, and I called the customer, I told him what happened, and I offered a consolation, I offered to forfeit a chunk of money, which he graciously accepted. The love of money will plunge us into temptation. We will be tempted by the love of money to do many wicked things. But it's a snare, and in the end, it doesn't lead to gain, it leads to greater loss. So do not be deceived. We must all beware the love of money. We need money, all of us need money, and the Bible encourages us to make lots of money. Uh, but money is never the most important thing. It's never the most important thing, and money cannot save you. It cannot save you from the discomforts of life, it cannot save you from anxiety, it cannot save you from sadness or despair. What is more important than money? Character and integrity, fulfilling your duties and your responsibilities, doing what you say that you will do, dependence upon God, healthy friendships, all of the things that Paul tells Timothy to pursue instead, if you look again at verse 11, he says, But as for you, O man of God, flee these things, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. We must parse this out in the little decisions that we make every day. In any circumstance, am I sacrificing things, these things, these important things, for money? Am I sacrificing righteousness and godliness? Am I sacrificing love or gentleness just for a few more dollars? Beware the love of money. It is a snare that will plunge us into ruin and destruction. So how can we fight against it?

Learning Christian Contentment

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Well, here's our next point. Uh, the first way to fight against the love of money is to practice Christian contentment. Look again at verses six through eight. Paul says, 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. Now, when I first started to look at this, um, I thought I understood what contentment was. And the more I began to press into it and to look into it, I realized that contentment is a most profound and most mysterious Christian virtue. What is contentment? Contentment does not have much to do with our circumstances. Paul says here that we can be content even with the most basic necessities. He says, if we have food and clothing, even with these, we will be content. He elsewhere says that he has learned the secret of contentment. In Philippians 4, Paul says, I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. So contentment is not just a natural disposition. It's not just some people are content and some people are fussy. It is something that we must learn. Paul says, I have learned the secret. And it is a secret that we must learn. Jeremiah Burroughs was a Puritan minister who wrote a wonderful little book in the 1700s called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. And it's probably, even though it's a short book, it's probably the most in-depth meditation on this mysterious virtue. And here is how he defines contentment. So pay attention, this is worth a million dollars. He says, Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. Now, this is such an important definition. What he is showing us is that contentment is not about our circumstances. It's not even about our attitude toward our circumstances. It is primarily about our attitude toward God in the midst of every circumstance. In whatever condition we find ourselves, will we trust that God our Father is in control? And will we submit to the circumstances in which God has placed us? Contentment really is all about submission to God. That's what contentment is. If you are not content with your circumstances, then you are not upset with your circumstances primarily. You are upset with God. And this is what we must reckon with. And once we grasp this, we immediately see two other important truths. Here's the first one. Christian contentment does not mean, it's not complacency. It doesn't mean that we don't desire or strive to improve our circumstances. All of us have many areas in our lives where things are not as we wish they were, or maybe even where things are not as they should be. We all have money and career frustrations, relationship disappointments and frustrations, personal health frustrations. We deal with innumerable frustrations and sadnesses of life. And the mystery of contentment is that we can wish these things were different, and we can even strive to improve our situation while still being perfectly content. Okay? It's not about your circumstances or your attitude toward your circumstances. It is about your attitude toward God in your circumstances. To simply accept brokenness and dysfunction and to give up on doing anything about it is not Christian contentment. That is complacency, and it is not a Christian virtue. So how does this work? We must remember God, and that is the second truth. The second thing that we see is that contentment, real contentment, is only possible with God. Even in bitter circumstances, we must recognize that God is in control, that God, in his most wise providence, has put me in this circumstance, even if I hate it, and that God has a most wise and gracious reason for putting me in this circumstance, even if I don't know what it is. I hate the circumstance, but I love God and I trust God and I'm trusting him in the circumstance. So the question is not how do I feel about my circumstances? How do I feel about my life? The question is, will I submit to God? Will I submit to God in this painful circumstance? So we cannot be content without a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul finishes his thought in Philippians by saying, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And contrary to popular understanding, this verse is not about scoring touchdowns. It is about being content even in the most bitter circumstances. It would be more appropriate to quote that verse after a loss, after the loss of a football game, because we were content even in the circumstances that we don't like. The primary mentor of my life is a godly and faithful and gifted man. I look up to him in many ways, but for some reason that I cannot explain, he has had a number of difficult years that we have witnessed from afar. He today lives in a different state. And he's had a number of bitter circumstances. He has dealt with an adult child who has walked away from the faith, someone who was raised in the knowledge of the Lord, who has turned from the Lord. He's dealt with many years of employment difficulties, trouble finding work, getting work, and then suddenly losing it due to no fault of his own. And recently, he and his wife realized that they must sell their home and downsize because of his continued employment difficulties. And to me, if that were me, that would be heartbreaking. And I would likely struggle with contentment. And I think that I would be very upset with God, even if I didn't put it like that, even if I was just grumbling about my circumstances, I would be upset with God for not saving me from these struggles. But recently he posted a picture of a for sale sign in his yard on Instagram, and the caption said this. He quoted 2 Samuel 22, God's way is perfect, all the Lord's promises prove true, he is a shield for all who look to him for protection. And then he said, It's just brick and mortar. God is still faithful, and he is our shield. And I'm sure that my mentor reached that position through many tears. But this is that rare jewel of Christian contentment. And practicing contentment is any in any circumstance is one way that we fight against the love of money.

Signs Of Malcontentment

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One place to start in terms of growing in contentment is recognizing what it looks like to be malcontent. So what does that look like? Well, I'm gonna give a few descriptors. We could say even more than what I'm gonna give here. And if you want to dig deeper, you can read Jeremiah Burroughs' little book. But here's just a few. What does it look like to be malcontent? Number one would be grumbling. The Bible often talks about grumbling, and it doesn't take a positive view of it. Using our words to give full vent to our frustration and to complain about our circumstances. When we do this, even though we're talking about our circumstances and how sad we are and how unfair they are, when we do this, we are really complaining about God's providence. We are really bringing charges against God and accusing God of wrongdoing. And we are suggesting that if we were God, then we would have done things much differently and we would have done things much better. It's okay to voice our lament and to voice our sadness, especially to voice these things to God, to cry out to God in these things. And if we voice them to one another, to our brothers and sisters, we should voice them as a confession. And we should say, I am really struggling with this circumstance. I'm really struggling with what has happened here. Could you please pray for me that I would find contentment? Because I'm really struggling. That's okay, but we must repent of our grumbling. Number two, malcontentment looks like discouragement. We look at our situation and we get deeply discouraged because we cannot see. How it could change. We cannot see how it could improve. And so our spirits sink into discouragement and despair, and we become like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, and we're we're we have such a morose view of our situation. But when we do this, we forget God. We forget God. We forget that nothing is impossible with God. We forget that He can solve our most bitter problems with a simple word, without even breaking a sweat, in ways that we could never foresee. In the days of Elisha, the king of Israel went out to fight, but there was a drought and there was no water for his army, and they were in danger. And Elisha spoke to him, and it says, and he said, Thus says the Lord, in 2 Kings 3, thus says the Lord, I will make this dry stream bed full of pools, for thus says the Lord, you shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals. This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. It's an easy thing. He doesn't even need to send the rain. That's not hard for God. Bitter circumstances are very hard, but we must not be discouraged. You must not be discouraged in your bitter circumstances. Remember God and be encouraged. And then here's another one bitter jealousy. We can also recognize our own malcontent by how we feel about the good fortune of others. When you see your friends all getting married, but you're still single, when you see a competitor have great success and you're still struggling and you've been doing it the hard way, and everything seems so easy for them. When friends are having babies and you're struggling with infertility, all of those and more, these are all very hard, bitter circumstances. But if we harbor nasty feelings toward others who get what we want, we are really upset with God. We are upset with God. We are upset that he has dealt thus with his servants and he has not dealt thus with us. And we think that God is treating us very unjustly and unfairly. We must repent of our bitter jealousy. Christian contentment is indeed a rare jewel, and it's a mysterious virtue, but what a virtue it is to be content. Because what we are doing is this in our bitter circumstance, we are saying, I do not understand what God is doing, but I submit myself to what God is doing, and I trust my Father. Strive to grow in contentment in all things. That's the first way we fight against the love

Generosity That Breaks Money’s Grip

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of money. But the second way, and this is our last point, is generosity. The second way to fight the love of money is by practicing generosity. We think about the rich as those who don't have a lot of needs. But Paul says here that the rich have many needs. Listen to verse 17 through 19. He says, As for the rich in the present age, what do they need? 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. They 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. So what do the rich need, according to Paul? Well, Paul says first that they need to remain humble, not to be haughty. Like what God told Israel in Deuteronomy 8, he says, as he's bringing them into the land, he says, Beware lest you say in your heart, My power in the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. He says, You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers as it is this day. One way that we combat the love of money is by giving glory to God. We ought not to imagine that if we are successful, that we are successful by our own strength or power or wisdom or because we were so smart, but by God's wonderful grace and provision. This doesn't mean that we didn't work hard, of course we did, but it means that our hard work only produced results by God's blessing. So we must be generous toward God. We must be rich toward God, giving glory to God. We must not be arrogant. Paul also says that the rich need true wealth. Material wealth, as he says, is uncertain. It comes and goes. It's uncertain. We cannot rest our hearts on material wealth. If we lay up material wealth, but if we have no depth with God, then we do not have enduring wealth. It can be difficult for those who have money to develop a deep faith, sometimes because money makes us think that we do not need God. It makes us less dependent upon God. Jesus says, Blessed are the poor, and the reason for that is they have nothing else other than God. They must depend on God. So it's a little easier for them to do that. It's harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter God's kingdom. So again, the rich must be generous toward God. And then Paul says that the rich need to do good. Those who have money, he says, must be rich in good works. They must be generous and ready to share. And Jesus taught that it is more blessed to give than to receive, which is amazing. Let's think about that for a moment. What does that mean? It means the same thing that Paul means here: that sharing and giving makes us happier than consuming and receiving. I like consuming and receiving. I like buying things. But the interesting thing is, and this is what Jesus teaches, and this bears out in reality, that when you that sharing and giving is actually more blessed than receiving. It makes us happier. We were made for this. We were made to help one another and to live together in loving relationships, and we just we discover great joy in giving our time and our attention and our resources to enriching the lives of others. When the rich live lives of generosity, they discover this gospel secret that it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive. So generosity is not just a command to be obeyed, but it is actually a medicine that brings healing and health to the soul. As you practice it, you discover joy and healing and freedom. So altogether, Paul is teaching this the love of money will destroy you, and money's power over us must be broken. One way that it is broken is by making sure that we give a lot of it away, making sure that we are generous with our time and our resources and our attention. Whatever you give away simply has less power over

Saint Francis And Jesus The Giver

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you. In the late 1100s, there was a successful merchant family in Italy. Pietro di Bernadone made a fortune importing rare, fine cloth and selling it, traveling to France and bringing it back to Italy and selling it there. And their family traveled, their family lived in luxury, they associated with high society, they built an empire. Pietro's ambitious son, Francis, was slated to inherit his father's empire. And as a young man, Francis wanted glory and honor. He dreamt of becoming a knight. So when war came to his doorstep, he joined the battle. But it went poorly for him, and he was captured, and he was imprisoned for a year. And he went from the palace to the pit. He went from living in luxury to living in a prison. And this experience changed him. He was taken from his luxury and thrust into the most profound human suffering. And in prison, God did a work in his heart. It was difficult for him to return to his luxurious lifestyle after he was liberated. He secretly used his father's wealth to help the poor or to finance the building of churches until finally he completely divested himself of his inheritance. He found more blessing and happiness in alleviating suffering than in enjoying luxury. We know him today as Saint Francis of Assisi. And this is not to say that luxury is bad. I'm a trim carpenter, I sell luxury. I'm the one person in your life that wants you to get rich so that you can hire me to put pretty things in your home. Paul says here that God richly provides us with everything to enjoy. No one's saying that luxury is bad. It's simply to say that there is more joy in giving than in receiving. There is more joy in serving than in being served. Even the Son of Man, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who dwells in unapproachable light, he came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus Christ is the blessed and only sovereign, and yet he divested himself of his wealth in order to live among the lowly, in order to suffer and to be hanged on a cross to save sinners. And he did this not begrudgingly. Jesus did this out of great joy. It brings our Lord great joy to save us. It brings him great joy to save sinners. And it's not because we are so worthy to be saved. It's not because we are so wonderful and so cooperative with Jesus. It's because of who our Lord is. It's because He's a giver. So we must beware the love of money. Money is good, and we need to make a lot of it. I hope you guys do. I hope you make a lot of it. I hope you prosper. I hope this our church prospers. Money can be put toward very good things, toward building good things, toward helping people. It's a good thing. But money cannot save you from your most significant problems. In order to fight the love of money in our lives, we must practice Christian contentment and we must practice generosity, and we can only do this with Jesus. When Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, Peter was offended. And he said, Lord, you will never wash my feet. I'm the one that's supposed to wash your feet. You're the master, you're the Lord, and I'm the servant. And Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, unless I wash you, you have no part in me. We must come to Jesus as needy sinners, and we must receive his ministry from the King of Kings, and this will empower us to be content and to be generous.

Prayer And Closing Exhortation

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To these ends, let us pray. Lord, we thank you for making us aware of this snare, of this uh temptation, of this uh thing that will lead us to ruin and destruction. You have warned us this morning from your word about the love of money and the desire to be rich. Lord, may we not confuse that with the proper use of money and with the um with the desire to build wealth and to make money in a godly way, but help us, God, in our pursuits of doing that, to do to be content in our circumstances, even though we're still struggling, even though there's many things in our lives that we wish were different, Lord, we trust you. We trust you in our circumstances and we submit to whatever circumstance you have placed us in. We don't know what you're doing, but we know that it must be good and it must be smart. We know this because you died for us. We know because you came to lay down your life for sinners, and if you will not withhold your your most beloved son from us, how will you withhold anything else? So help us to be content, Lord, and help us also, as we prosper, to be generous. Lord, I pray for the people in this church and myself included that we would prosper, that you would bless us with opportunities and with with uh with with income and with increase. And as that happens, Lord, help us to be rich in good works, help us to be generous and ready to share. Um, help us not to be arrogant, not to be haughty, to do the things that you say to do in this passage. All this we pray in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. Let's stand and worship together.