WEBVTT 00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:04.839 Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:07.719 Trinity Sermons. Have you ever played a game 00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:10.980 of telephone, where you start out with a message, 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:12.960 and they tell that to one person, and they tell 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.080 that to the next person, and then the next person, 00:00:15.220 --> 00:00:18.359 and by the end, the message sounds nothing at 00:00:18.359 --> 00:00:21.420 all like where you started? I think that's kind 00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:23.620 of what happened with the verse that we're talking 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:27.519 about today. Money is the root of all evil. At 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:30.750 least, that's what we think the Bible says. But 00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:32.490 in reality, the Bible says something a little 00:00:32.490 --> 00:00:34.710 bit different. So Rob's going to unpack that 00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:37.630 for us and help us to uncover some of the biblical 00:00:37.630 --> 00:00:41.950 truth that is behind this verse and how it applies 00:00:41.950 --> 00:00:50.289 to our lives today. So let's listen in. But godliness 00:00:50.289 --> 00:00:54.210 with contentment is great gain, for we brought 00:00:54.210 --> 00:00:57.270 nothing into the world, and we can take nothing 00:00:57.270 --> 00:01:00.700 out of it. But if we have food and clothing, 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:04.840 we will be content with that. Those who want 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:07.959 to get rich fall into temptation and a trap, 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:12.159 and into many foolish and harmful desires that 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:16.400 plunge people into ruin and destruction. For 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.640 the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:23.859 Some people eager for money have wandered from 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:27.700 the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 00:01:28.289 --> 00:01:31.750 The word of the Lord. So to open up today, what 00:01:31.750 --> 00:01:33.870 I would like to do is just ask you guys all an 00:01:33.870 --> 00:01:36.530 honest question. Here's the question. Would more 00:01:36.530 --> 00:01:40.290 money make your life easier? Would more money 00:01:40.290 --> 00:01:42.150 make your life easier? Hands up if the answer 00:01:42.150 --> 00:01:44.069 is yes. More money would make my life easier. 00:01:45.269 --> 00:01:48.150 Okay. Hands up if the answer is no. More money 00:01:48.150 --> 00:01:52.480 would not make my life easier. Okay, so now that 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.299 I got you thinking about that, I wanted to let 00:01:54.299 --> 00:01:56.019 you know that we've decided to do something a 00:01:56.019 --> 00:02:00.140 little fun this morning, just to bless you. We 00:02:00.140 --> 00:02:03.879 have taken three $100 bills, and we have taped 00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:08.560 them under various seats in the sanctuary here. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:11.599 And if you're online, unfortunately you can't 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:13.319 participate in this, but I want to just give 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.819 you a few moments to check under your seat. and 00:02:16.819 --> 00:02:19.379 see if you might be one of the lucky ones. Go 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:21.819 ahead. I'll wait. Okay, some of you are looking. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:24.780 Actually, more of you are looking than I thought 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:29.780 were going to look. Others of you are not looking, 00:02:29.819 --> 00:02:32.659 and you're saying, there's no way that Rob did 00:02:32.659 --> 00:02:35.159 that. You know, he's Dutch, and there's no way 00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:39.120 that... Tightwad is going to give away $300 on 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:40.759 a Sunday morning. And that's absolutely true. 00:02:40.900 --> 00:02:44.539 We would never, never do that. And it might, 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:46.479 I mean, it would be fun if we did, but we're 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:49.719 not going to do that. But that question actually 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:52.979 leads into the statement that we want to look 00:02:52.979 --> 00:02:55.860 at today, which, you know, many people think 00:02:55.860 --> 00:02:57.939 it comes from the Bible. They believe this phrase 00:02:57.939 --> 00:02:59.699 is in the Bible. They quote it as if it's from 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:02.520 the Bible. And that is this, money is the root 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:04.900 of all evil. How many of you have heard that 00:03:04.900 --> 00:03:07.460 phrase? before. Yes, money is the root of all 00:03:07.460 --> 00:03:09.400 evil. I mean, I was just doing a little looking 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:14.280 around. I found this tip jar that someone had 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:16.659 written. Money is the root of all evil, so cleanse 00:03:16.659 --> 00:03:19.080 yourself here. In other words, get rid of that 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:24.439 evil money and just tip your waitress or something 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:27.939 like that. Or I found this for the mathematicians 00:03:27.939 --> 00:03:29.860 that are here. You can get t -shirts with this 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:32.610 on it. So I don't know if you understand. you 00:03:32.610 --> 00:03:34.310 know, I don't fully understand all of it, but 00:03:34.310 --> 00:03:38.550 money equals the root, right? And that is a sigma, 00:03:38.569 --> 00:03:43.009 which means the sum of all evil. So money is 00:03:43.009 --> 00:03:45.650 the root of all evil. And if you're not a mathematician, 00:03:45.870 --> 00:03:47.409 then you'll probably at least understand this 00:03:47.409 --> 00:03:51.050 bumper sticker that I came across that says, 00:03:51.050 --> 00:03:54.689 if money is the root of all evil, why do churches 00:03:54.689 --> 00:04:00.610 beg for it? Burn. Boom. Oh, man. I feel so. Actually, 00:04:00.669 --> 00:04:04.310 though, jokes on them. Jokes on all those waitresses 00:04:04.310 --> 00:04:06.909 and mathematicians and people who drive around 00:04:06.909 --> 00:04:09.689 with bumper stickers. Because the truth is that 00:04:09.689 --> 00:04:11.509 even though they may believe the Bible says or 00:04:11.509 --> 00:04:15.030 God says that money is the root of all evil, 00:04:15.050 --> 00:04:17.149 today we're going to realize that actually the 00:04:17.149 --> 00:04:21.269 Bible doesn't say that. It's actually a major 00:04:21.269 --> 00:04:24.509 misquote and a major misunderstanding. So, ha! 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:29.600 Joke's on you, guy, right? And let's just start 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:31.379 by acknowledging a couple things before we get 00:04:31.379 --> 00:04:34.379 going, and that is that money is a big part of 00:04:34.379 --> 00:04:36.540 your life. If you are living and you are breathing 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:40.750 on this planet, then you cannot avoid... The 00:04:40.750 --> 00:04:44.750 experience of having to work with money. It's 00:04:44.750 --> 00:04:46.629 just part of the human experience. And it has 00:04:46.629 --> 00:04:49.829 been that way for about 4 ,000 years since a 00:04:49.829 --> 00:04:53.649 bunch of people in a town called Lydia in present 00:04:53.649 --> 00:04:57.129 -day Turkey started using little silver coins 00:04:57.129 --> 00:05:00.529 and little copper coins to pay for goods and 00:05:00.529 --> 00:05:02.550 services, right? That's where money came from. 00:05:02.589 --> 00:05:05.730 And everybody uses money. Now, I actually, I 00:05:05.730 --> 00:05:08.449 asked ChatGPT, I said, okay, does everybody use 00:05:08.449 --> 00:05:11.639 money? Give me an example of somebody who might 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:15.019 not use money. And it gave me this example. It 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:19.379 said, maybe if you were a Dutch farmer living 00:05:19.379 --> 00:05:24.379 in an off -grid house who bartered with goats. 00:05:25.069 --> 00:05:28.310 then maybe you wouldn't use money. You would 00:05:28.310 --> 00:05:31.449 just be paying for things with goats. Here, I'll 00:05:31.449 --> 00:05:33.730 give you two goats for a wheel of cheese or something 00:05:33.730 --> 00:05:36.970 like that. But for most of us, and for all of 00:05:36.970 --> 00:05:39.990 us, I would say, money is actually a reality 00:05:39.990 --> 00:05:43.389 for us that we cannot avoid. That's why and the 00:05:43.389 --> 00:05:45.149 reasons why we have to deal with money. But the 00:05:45.149 --> 00:05:47.430 other reason we have to deal with money is that 00:05:47.430 --> 00:05:50.230 money is actually also a very big part of the 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:52.709 Bible. I think I read this week that there's 00:05:52.709 --> 00:05:55.949 something like... 500 pieces of scripture that 00:05:55.949 --> 00:05:58.389 deal with faith and maybe another 500 that have 00:05:58.389 --> 00:06:00.550 something to do with prayer. But there's like 00:06:00.550 --> 00:06:04.769 2 ,300 pieces of scripture that have to do with 00:06:04.769 --> 00:06:07.170 money, wealth, and possessions. And believe me, 00:06:07.189 --> 00:06:09.629 I read every single one of those 2 ,300 this 00:06:09.629 --> 00:06:13.589 week to get ready for today's sermon. Jesus also 00:06:13.589 --> 00:06:17.050 talked an incredible amount about money. In Matthew 00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:21.029 and Mark and Luke, something like one out of 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:23.680 every six... verses has something to do with 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:26.699 money, wealth, and possessions. And 11 out of 00:06:26.699 --> 00:06:29.720 Jesus's 39 parables have something to do with 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:33.420 money, wealth, and possessions. This guy named 00:06:33.420 --> 00:06:35.620 Randy Alcorn, he said that Jesus talked more 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:39.819 about money than about heaven and hell combined. 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:44.300 But, okay, so the Bible talks about it, but does 00:06:44.300 --> 00:06:48.899 the Bible say that money is the root of all evil? 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.939 And you might come to the conclusion that, yes, 00:06:52.980 --> 00:06:56.319 money is evil if you read through some of the 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:59.180 stories that concern money in the Bible. So, 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:03.459 for example, Joseph's brothers sold Joseph into 00:07:03.459 --> 00:07:08.089 slavery for 20 pieces of silver. Evil. Eli's 00:07:08.089 --> 00:07:11.009 sons stole offerings from the temple. That's 00:07:11.009 --> 00:07:13.889 evil. Ahab killed a guy to steal his vineyard. 00:07:13.930 --> 00:07:16.910 Evil. Ananias and Sapphira, they lied about their 00:07:16.910 --> 00:07:20.009 charitable givings. You know, that's evil. One 00:07:20.009 --> 00:07:22.870 of Paul's friends, Demas, abandoned him and left 00:07:22.870 --> 00:07:25.269 him because of pursuit of money. That's evil, 00:07:25.370 --> 00:07:28.129 right? And Judas, of course. Judas, the ultimate 00:07:28.129 --> 00:07:32.689 tragedy, betrayed Jesus himself for 30 pieces 00:07:32.689 --> 00:07:36.569 of silver. So, boom. Evil. Money is evil. With 00:07:36.569 --> 00:07:38.790 all that negative press, it would be very easy 00:07:38.790 --> 00:07:41.649 for you to come to the conclusion that, yes, 00:07:41.670 --> 00:07:46.129 money is the root of all evil. And it has led 00:07:46.129 --> 00:07:49.990 certain people to adopt a posture and even a 00:07:49.990 --> 00:07:55.050 lifestyle, something that we might call the poverty 00:07:55.050 --> 00:07:57.529 gospel. By the way, if you want to follow along 00:07:57.529 --> 00:07:59.170 with some of the things I'm going to be teaching 00:07:59.170 --> 00:08:01.009 this morning, we handed out these little teaching 00:08:01.009 --> 00:08:04.129 notes, so I invite you to follow along. But yes, 00:08:04.329 --> 00:08:07.970 Some people believe in what you might call the 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:10.110 poverty gospel. And this is the poverty gospel. 00:08:10.329 --> 00:08:12.709 Since money is the root of all evil, then it 00:08:12.709 --> 00:08:15.670 is just important to avoid money altogether. 00:08:16.089 --> 00:08:20.629 The poverty gospel says this. If I am a godly 00:08:20.629 --> 00:08:24.170 person, then I will be a poor person. Because 00:08:24.170 --> 00:08:27.269 being poor is more spiritual than being rich. 00:08:27.509 --> 00:08:32.710 And poverty is holier than wealth. And some... 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.220 Christians have actually taken a vow of poverty. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:39.580 A vow of poverty is the serious commitment that 00:08:39.580 --> 00:08:42.700 is sometimes made by monks or nuns or other saints, 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:47.259 people like you, to give up their personal wealth, 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:51.620 to give up money and live simply. Has anybody 00:08:51.620 --> 00:08:56.159 here taken a vow of poverty? No? No, me neither. 00:08:56.460 --> 00:08:58.279 Me neither. Although if you looked at my bank 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:00.519 account, you might think that I had. But actually, 00:09:00.820 --> 00:09:03.100 it's not because I took a vow of poverty. It's 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:05.559 just because I had too many kids. That's what 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:08.419 happened. But if you think of people like St. 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:10.779 Francis, think of people like Mother Teresa, 00:09:10.860 --> 00:09:15.940 they equated holiness. and spiritual growth with 00:09:15.940 --> 00:09:19.000 poverty. And you can't really blame them because, 00:09:19.139 --> 00:09:21.299 you know, even Jesus said things like, go and 00:09:21.299 --> 00:09:23.240 sell your possessions, give to the poor, and 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:25.299 then you'll have treasure in heaven. Or it is 00:09:25.299 --> 00:09:27.639 easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:29.799 needle than it is for a rich person to enter 00:09:29.799 --> 00:09:33.360 the kingdom of God. So it is better to be poor, 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:37.460 right? Saint Jerome, this fourth century church 00:09:37.460 --> 00:09:41.100 leader, he was fiercely against wealth. And he 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:44.519 said that either a rich person is unjust, or 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:47.980 he's inherited his wealth from somebody who is 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:51.600 unjust. In his mouth, in his mind, wealth was 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:55.220 evil. Money was the root of all evil. Or how 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:58.720 about this guy? John Wesley, this is some serious, 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:02.059 serious words here. If any of you have a desire 00:10:02.059 --> 00:10:06.740 to escape the damnation of hell, give away all 00:10:06.740 --> 00:10:09.899 you can. Otherwise, you can have no more hope 00:10:09.899 --> 00:10:14.059 of your salvation than Judas Iscariot. Yikes. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:19.580 That's like a 18th century mic drop moment. Put 00:10:19.580 --> 00:10:22.059 another way, I think what he would say is if 00:10:22.059 --> 00:10:27.330 the Amazon, delivery van shows up at your house 00:10:27.330 --> 00:10:31.470 more than once a week, then you're going to hell, 00:10:31.549 --> 00:10:35.330 according to John Wesley. Why? Because, because 00:10:35.330 --> 00:10:40.429 rich equals bad and poor equals holy. That is 00:10:40.429 --> 00:10:44.909 the poverty gospel. Now, some people have said, 00:10:45.070 --> 00:10:48.250 wait a second, wait a second. Doesn't the Bible 00:10:48.250 --> 00:10:52.450 actually say that God gives us wealth? And you're 00:10:52.450 --> 00:10:54.720 absolutely right. The Bible does say that. So 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.960 wait, there's a problem here. If we read in Deuteronomy, 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:58.639 it says, remember the Lord your God, for it's 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:00.759 he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. 00:11:00.899 --> 00:11:03.379 So if God's the one that gives us the ability 00:11:03.379 --> 00:11:06.000 to produce wealth, then that means that producing 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:10.120 wealth must be a good thing. And the more wealth 00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:13.080 I can produce must be an even more good thing. 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:17.659 And in fact, the more I have, the gooder it is 00:11:17.659 --> 00:11:21.820 and the gooder I am. And so this thinking led 00:11:21.820 --> 00:11:24.940 to another kind of mindset, which is called the 00:11:24.940 --> 00:11:28.320 prosperity gospel, which says, if I'm a godly 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:33.360 person, then I'll be a rich person. If I do what 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:37.080 God wants, God will do what I want. If I go to 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:40.019 church on a Sunday morning, there very well may 00:11:40.019 --> 00:11:43.460 be a $100 bill taped underneath of my pew, right? 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:47.669 Because God gives... stuff to people who do what 00:11:47.669 --> 00:11:50.549 God wants. It's like God becomes this divine 00:11:50.549 --> 00:11:53.490 vending machine, right? You put in your prayers, 00:11:53.590 --> 00:11:55.830 click. You put in your Bible reading, click, 00:11:55.889 --> 00:11:58.610 and you go, beep, beep, and out comes, you know, 00:11:58.669 --> 00:12:01.710 a beach house, right? Or you put in your church 00:12:01.710 --> 00:12:05.409 attendance, and you put in your, you know, volunteer 00:12:05.409 --> 00:12:08.450 hours at church, and beep, beep, out comes, you 00:12:08.450 --> 00:12:10.330 know, a car with leather seats, or out comes 00:12:10.330 --> 00:12:14.590 a granite countertops, or out comes, you know, 00:12:14.610 --> 00:12:17.070 European vacations or whatever the case may be. 00:12:17.149 --> 00:12:20.409 The idea is that if we, you know, God is not 00:12:20.409 --> 00:12:23.970 just my savior, he's my stockbroker in a way. 00:12:24.009 --> 00:12:28.929 That is the prosperity gospel. But like the poverty 00:12:28.929 --> 00:12:31.090 gospel, it's got a major problem too. And the 00:12:31.090 --> 00:12:33.870 biggest problem with the prosperity gospel is 00:12:33.870 --> 00:12:37.690 Jesus. Darn it, you know, Jesus always getting 00:12:37.690 --> 00:12:39.570 in the way of our fun. But the problem is, is 00:12:39.570 --> 00:12:42.980 that Jesus Jesus himself was the most godly, 00:12:42.980 --> 00:12:44.860 righteous, and upstanding person the world has 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:47.340 ever seen, and yet he was poor. Jesus had no 00:12:47.340 --> 00:12:50.799 place to lay his head. Jesus did not have any, 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:54.200 you know, private jets or RSPs or anything like 00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:56.440 that. And most of the people who followed Jesus, 00:12:56.539 --> 00:12:59.580 they didn't get, you know, mansions and yachts. 00:12:59.580 --> 00:13:02.659 They got imprisoned and beaten and martyred. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.620 So the poverty, so this is, it's confusing, but 00:13:05.620 --> 00:13:08.740 the poverty gospel says, if I'm godly, I'll be 00:13:08.740 --> 00:13:11.539 poor, and if you're not poor, you're not godly. 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.039 And the prosperity gospel says, if I'm godly, 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:16.779 I'll be rich, and if I'm not rich, then I must 00:13:16.779 --> 00:13:22.100 not be godly. But both are dangerous misunderstandings, 00:13:22.100 --> 00:13:25.019 right? Obviously, the prosperity gospel is, it's 00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:29.059 just, you know, greed covered up in a veneer 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:34.100 of religion. And the poverty gospel, it is really 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:36.980 dangerous to idealize poverty, right? You ask 00:13:36.980 --> 00:13:40.559 a poor person how spiritual it feels to be poor, 00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:42.679 and I'm sure they'll give you a piece of their 00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:47.379 mind, right? These are both misguided. And so 00:13:47.379 --> 00:13:50.460 I think that actually Dallas Willard gets it 00:13:50.460 --> 00:13:52.360 just about right when he says this. He says, 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:56.940 riches are not holy, and riches are not evil. 00:13:57.460 --> 00:14:02.559 They are creations. we are to use for God. In 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:06.700 other words, money is morally neutral. It's just 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:11.179 a thing. And like all sorts of things, depending 00:14:11.179 --> 00:14:14.299 on how you use it, it can either be a blessing 00:14:14.299 --> 00:14:19.700 or can be a curse. Now, all that preamble leads 00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:22.139 us to the point where we can finally now go into 00:14:22.139 --> 00:14:25.779 the Bible and we can look at that verse. that 00:14:25.779 --> 00:14:27.539 people think is in the Bible, but isn't really 00:14:27.539 --> 00:14:30.799 in the Bible, but kind of is in the Bible, because 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:34.500 it's a misquote of the Bible. You guys know, 00:14:34.659 --> 00:14:39.879 by the way, that you can make the Bible say anything 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:43.399 you want if you misquote it. So, for example, 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.740 I could make the Bible say that there is no God, 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:51.440 right? Psalm 14, verse 1, says there is no God. 00:14:51.899 --> 00:14:55.820 But, but... If I read the whole verse, it changes 00:14:55.820 --> 00:14:59.019 everything. It says, the fool has said in his 00:14:59.019 --> 00:15:02.059 heart, there is no God. So if you don't read 00:15:02.059 --> 00:15:06.419 all of it, you'll read it wrong. The same is 00:15:06.419 --> 00:15:11.179 true for this verse from 1 Timothy 6 .10. Money 00:15:11.179 --> 00:15:14.460 is the root of all evil. But again, if we don't 00:15:14.460 --> 00:15:17.539 read all of it, we read it wrong. And when we 00:15:17.539 --> 00:15:21.019 read all of it, we read what it really says is 00:15:21.019 --> 00:15:27.080 the love of money. is a root of all kinds of 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:30.139 evil. And those extra words in there make a huge 00:15:30.139 --> 00:15:33.879 difference to the meaning. First of all, first 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:37.960 of all, it's the love of money. It's not money 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:40.580 itself that's the problem. Money, again, it's 00:15:40.580 --> 00:15:42.700 just a tool. It can be used for good or for harm. 00:15:42.779 --> 00:15:44.820 It's like a hammer. You can build a house with 00:15:44.820 --> 00:15:47.820 it or you can smash your thumb with it. The Bible 00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:51.480 never... condemns people who have money. In fact, 00:15:51.539 --> 00:15:54.139 a lot of famous people in the Bible, faithful 00:15:54.139 --> 00:15:58.259 people in the Bible like Abraham or Job or Joseph 00:15:58.259 --> 00:16:00.840 of Arimathea, the guy who gave the tomb where 00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:04.330 Jesus ended up being laid to rest. They were 00:16:04.330 --> 00:16:07.330 all wealthy people. The question was not, do 00:16:07.330 --> 00:16:10.149 you have money? It was whether you loved that 00:16:10.149 --> 00:16:13.090 money or you didn't love it. And you might not 00:16:13.090 --> 00:16:15.470 have money, but it's still the same question. 00:16:15.529 --> 00:16:19.070 Do you love money or do you not love money? So 00:16:19.070 --> 00:16:22.009 again, the issue was not so much how much you 00:16:22.009 --> 00:16:25.090 have, it was how much you love whatever you have. 00:16:25.230 --> 00:16:29.169 So the danger really wasn't in your wallet. The 00:16:29.169 --> 00:16:32.250 danger was in your heart. I heard one person 00:16:32.250 --> 00:16:35.269 say, It comes down to this. It's like, which 00:16:35.269 --> 00:16:38.470 is your favorite app on your phone? Is it the 00:16:38.470 --> 00:16:43.049 banking app or is it the Bible app, right? The 00:16:43.049 --> 00:16:47.750 love of money is the problem. It's not money 00:16:47.750 --> 00:16:53.129 itself. And it's a root of evil, but not the 00:16:53.129 --> 00:16:55.509 root of evil. This is an indefinite article, 00:16:55.590 --> 00:16:58.509 not the definite article. And think about it. 00:16:58.529 --> 00:17:03.559 If money were the root, Then somehow every sin 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:07.240 would trace itself back to some kind of bank 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:09.180 transaction or something like that. Like, why 00:17:09.180 --> 00:17:11.380 did Cain kill Abel? It must have had something 00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:14.259 to do with money. Maybe they wouldn't split the 00:17:14.259 --> 00:17:17.289 bill or something like that. But no. As we learned 00:17:17.289 --> 00:17:20.250 in Lent, there's actually many, many roots to 00:17:20.250 --> 00:17:22.809 evil. There's things like pride and envy and 00:17:22.809 --> 00:17:26.730 lust and anger, right? Money is not behind every 00:17:26.730 --> 00:17:29.789 sin. It is behind many sins, but it is not behind 00:17:29.789 --> 00:17:34.769 every sin. And then thirdly, it leads to all 00:17:34.769 --> 00:17:39.390 kinds of evil, but it does not lead to all evil, 00:17:39.549 --> 00:17:43.200 right? The love of money. It creates this whole 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:46.619 smorgasbord of evil in the world, no doubt. Lying 00:17:46.619 --> 00:17:51.000 and cheating, betrayal, bribery, Judas, you know, 00:17:51.019 --> 00:17:53.740 betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Yes, 00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:59.079 it's a root of evil, a root of evil. But not 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:02.500 every evil, not every evil comes from money. 00:18:02.579 --> 00:18:06.970 Not every evil springs from money. So in short, 00:18:07.150 --> 00:18:12.930 the misquote makes it sound like money is evil 00:18:12.930 --> 00:18:15.150 in and of itself. But the context, as we've just 00:18:15.150 --> 00:18:17.430 seen, the context really, really matters. This 00:18:17.430 --> 00:18:19.509 is a Bible scholar by the name of D .A. Carson. 00:18:19.730 --> 00:18:22.569 And he said that, he has this great quote, and 00:18:22.569 --> 00:18:28.250 he says that a text without a context becomes 00:18:28.250 --> 00:18:32.950 a pretext for a proof text. So in other words, 00:18:33.349 --> 00:18:36.829 If you don't read all the verse, then you're 00:18:36.829 --> 00:18:40.150 going to read it wrong. Now in the same way, 00:18:40.250 --> 00:18:46.069 if you don't read all the verses around the verse, 00:18:46.349 --> 00:18:51.650 you also could read it wrong. So as we end today, 00:18:51.769 --> 00:18:55.690 I just want to look at four of the verses around 00:18:55.690 --> 00:19:00.890 this verse to see what the Bible really says 00:19:00.890 --> 00:19:07.809 about money. here in 1 Timothy 6. First, if we 00:19:07.809 --> 00:19:10.809 read 1 Timothy 6, 7, one of the verses around 00:19:10.809 --> 00:19:13.160 the verse. We're reminded that all of us need 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:15.539 to loosen our grip on money. Because Paul says, 00:19:15.740 --> 00:19:18.539 we brought nothing into the world and we can 00:19:18.539 --> 00:19:22.880 take nothing out of the world. You can't hold 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.839 on to your money forever. It is temporary. It 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:27.720 comes, it goes, and you cannot take it with you. 00:19:27.960 --> 00:19:31.319 Now, the pharaohs of Egypt, they didn't understand 00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:33.119 this. When they were buried, they were buried 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:36.359 with treasure chests and money and chariots and 00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:38.559 statues. And they were even buried with like 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:41.690 food and snacks and stuff like that. as if they 00:19:41.690 --> 00:19:44.650 thought that somehow these tombs were divine 00:19:44.650 --> 00:19:47.109 storage lockers and they were going to be able 00:19:47.109 --> 00:19:49.170 to take all this stuff into the next life with 00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:51.269 them. But all those pharaohs are dead and gone 00:19:51.269 --> 00:19:52.869 and all those things they were buried with, they're 00:19:52.869 --> 00:19:56.369 still around somewhere in a museum or somebody's 00:19:56.369 --> 00:19:59.390 basement or something like that. Our risk today 00:19:59.390 --> 00:20:02.269 is not that we go and build pyramids, but that 00:20:02.269 --> 00:20:06.279 we... build portfolios for ourselves, that we 00:20:06.279 --> 00:20:08.519 have this sense that we have to hold on to this 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:10.359 and that we can take this with us right to the 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:12.740 very end and maybe somehow even into eternity. 00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:15.039 That's how we act. I don't think we think that 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:19.400 way, but I think it is how we act. And it just 00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:21.099 doesn't work that way. You can't take it with 00:20:21.099 --> 00:20:25.299 you. I've done a lot of funerals, and I have 00:20:25.299 --> 00:20:30.380 yet to see a hearse pulling a U -Haul, right? 00:20:31.019 --> 00:20:34.460 You can't take it with you. So we have to loosen 00:20:34.460 --> 00:20:37.140 our grip on money. That's one of the things Paul 00:20:37.140 --> 00:20:40.279 wants us to learn here. But if we read around 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:43.480 to another verse, we come to 1 Timothy 6, 6, 00:20:43.500 --> 00:20:47.019 which tells us how important it is for us to 00:20:47.019 --> 00:20:51.700 learn contentment when it comes to money. Godliness 00:20:51.700 --> 00:20:55.680 with contentment is great gain. Let's go back 00:20:55.680 --> 00:21:00.000 to some math equations. In worldly math, wealth 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.700 plus stuff, possessions, equals success. But 00:21:04.700 --> 00:21:06.180 according to Paul and according to the Bible, 00:21:06.279 --> 00:21:09.279 it's godliness, and when I say godliness, I mean 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:15.079 your spiritual life, your character, plus contentment, 00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:17.779 which means I'm happy with what I have, I feel 00:21:17.779 --> 00:21:20.779 like I have enough. That is the biblical definition 00:21:20.779 --> 00:21:23.200 of success. That is the biblical definition of 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:27.869 great success. And then, in addition to this, 00:21:27.990 --> 00:21:30.470 Paul goes on to say what I think is probably 00:21:30.470 --> 00:21:33.529 one of the hardest verses in the whole Bible 00:21:33.529 --> 00:21:36.569 to say. And I don't know, maybe we can say it 00:21:36.569 --> 00:21:38.309 together. I don't know. It's a difficult one 00:21:38.309 --> 00:21:42.430 to say. But why don't we say 1 Timothy 6, 6 together? 00:21:43.230 --> 00:21:48.289 But if we have food and clothing. We will be 00:21:48.289 --> 00:21:53.009 content with that. That's hard. I think what 00:21:53.009 --> 00:21:57.529 we want to say, if we have food and clothing 00:21:57.529 --> 00:22:01.609 and an iPhone, I'll be content with that. Or 00:22:01.609 --> 00:22:04.849 food and clothing and Netflix, I'll be content 00:22:04.849 --> 00:22:08.369 with that. Or food and clothing and whatever, 00:22:08.609 --> 00:22:10.970 I'll be content with that. It is really hard 00:22:10.970 --> 00:22:13.410 to just put ourselves in a place where we say, 00:22:13.490 --> 00:22:16.980 I have what I need. food and clothing, and I 00:22:16.980 --> 00:22:22.200 can be content with that. By saying this, Paul 00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:27.240 is trying to teach us that the richest people 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:32.759 are not those who have the most. The richest 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:38.569 people are those who need the least. And I think 00:22:38.569 --> 00:22:40.829 we all know this because you can go and visit 00:22:40.829 --> 00:22:43.710 friends' houses and they have a lot less than 00:22:43.710 --> 00:22:46.390 you and yet they're very content. Or let's go 00:22:46.390 --> 00:22:48.470 even further. You can go visit other countries 00:22:48.470 --> 00:22:51.210 besides Canada where they have a lot, lot less 00:22:51.210 --> 00:22:53.630 than us in Canada. They have dirt floors and 00:22:53.630 --> 00:22:56.069 no indoor plumbing and maybe even no electricity 00:22:56.069 --> 00:22:58.029 or hot water. And again, we're not trying to 00:22:58.029 --> 00:23:00.210 glorify poverty. There's nothing great about 00:23:00.210 --> 00:23:04.829 being poor. But they too can be... content. Because 00:23:04.829 --> 00:23:08.990 godliness plus contentment equals great gain. 00:23:09.130 --> 00:23:11.730 If we have food and if we have clothing, we can 00:23:11.730 --> 00:23:17.069 be content with that. And discontentment can 00:23:17.069 --> 00:23:20.170 actually make somebody who is rich feel poor. 00:23:21.150 --> 00:23:24.549 Whereas the flip side of that coin is contentment 00:23:24.549 --> 00:23:29.529 can make somebody who is poor feel rich. It's 00:23:29.529 --> 00:23:32.609 not about how much you have. It's about how much 00:23:32.609 --> 00:23:37.230 you think you need but don't have. And that's 00:23:37.230 --> 00:23:38.910 why Paul says you've got to loosen your grip, 00:23:39.029 --> 00:23:42.170 and secondly, you've got to learn contentment. 00:23:42.769 --> 00:23:45.549 Now, let's look at two more of these verses around 00:23:45.549 --> 00:23:48.170 the verse. We already looked at those two. Now, 00:23:48.289 --> 00:23:51.069 the third thing we're reminded is how important 00:23:51.069 --> 00:23:55.950 it is for us to love God over money. Now, we 00:23:55.950 --> 00:23:57.549 didn't read this this morning, but a little later, 00:23:57.650 --> 00:24:01.319 Paul says this. Command those who are rich in 00:24:01.319 --> 00:24:04.319 the present world not to be arrogant or to put 00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:05.940 their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, 00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:13.000 but to put their hope in God. Paul is saying, 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:15.859 what do you love the most? What do you put your 00:24:15.859 --> 00:24:19.559 hope in the most? Is it God or money? When you 00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:22.559 don't have a lot of God in your life, when you 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:24.299 don't have a lot of Jesus in your life, money 00:24:24.299 --> 00:24:28.220 looks pretty good. But when you have God and 00:24:28.220 --> 00:24:30.779 when you have Jesus filling your heart, then 00:24:30.779 --> 00:24:33.000 money actually gets pushed to the side and it 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:36.180 loses its power over you. Money says to you, 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:38.500 it says, you gotta have me, right? You gotta 00:24:38.500 --> 00:24:41.680 love me. But when our hearts are full, we say, 00:24:41.740 --> 00:24:45.059 money, I have you, yes, but I don't love you. 00:24:45.539 --> 00:24:48.839 Or we say, money, I have you, but I don't have 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:54.420 to have you. Or we can say, money, yes, I have 00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:59.940 you, but you don't have me. Because with God, 00:25:00.059 --> 00:25:03.859 I already have what I have to have. And what 00:25:03.859 --> 00:25:06.779 I have to have is the assurance of knowing that 00:25:06.779 --> 00:25:09.299 I'm a child of God and that I'm loved by God. 00:25:10.579 --> 00:25:13.500 If you love money over God, you're never going 00:25:13.500 --> 00:25:15.420 to have enough. But if you love God over money, 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:20.359 you'll always have more than enough. Love God 00:25:20.359 --> 00:25:25.240 over money. Do you guys see how much you learn 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:28.680 about these verses when you read the verses around 00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:31.279 the verse? Loosen your grip. Learn contentment. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:35.420 Love God over money. And finally, one last verse 00:25:35.420 --> 00:25:42.839 from 1 Timothy 6 .18. Okay? We learn to leverage 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:47.019 our riches for others. Let's read this. Command 00:25:47.019 --> 00:25:49.980 those who are rich in the present world. to be 00:25:49.980 --> 00:25:54.200 rich in good deeds, and to be generous. Now, 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:56.079 I want to tell you, for years, when I read pieces 00:25:56.079 --> 00:25:58.220 of scripture like this, I didn't pay any attention 00:25:58.220 --> 00:26:01.019 to it, because it was obviously written to people 00:26:01.019 --> 00:26:03.779 who were rich. And I never thought I was rich, 00:26:03.859 --> 00:26:05.259 so what does this have to do with me? In fact, 00:26:05.319 --> 00:26:08.960 I can remember as a boy asking my father, I was 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:12.940 like, Dad, are we rich? And he said, no, no, 00:26:12.980 --> 00:26:15.019 no, no, no, we're not rich, we're not rich. Those 00:26:15.019 --> 00:26:18.220 people over there are rich. You know, Mr. Mellenbacher 00:26:18.220 --> 00:26:20.359 across the street, you know, he's rich, but we're 00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:24.240 not rich. And if I'm honest, I can probably also 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:26.339 remember a time when our own girls have sat down 00:26:26.339 --> 00:26:28.059 on my lap at some point when they were little, 00:26:28.099 --> 00:26:32.650 and they've said, Dad, are we rich? think my 00:26:32.650 --> 00:26:35.009 response was probably the same. Most dads would 00:26:35.009 --> 00:26:36.490 probably give the same answer. They would be 00:26:36.490 --> 00:26:38.890 like, no, no, no, no, no, we're not rich, right? 00:26:38.930 --> 00:26:42.549 Somebody else is not rich. And so I never paid 00:26:42.549 --> 00:26:45.210 any attention to verses that were written to 00:26:45.210 --> 00:26:47.069 people who were rich, because of course, I'm 00:26:47.069 --> 00:26:51.410 not rich. Rich is always somebody else. But I've 00:26:51.410 --> 00:26:55.109 learned since then, and now I realize that I 00:26:55.109 --> 00:27:01.740 am rich. In fact, I dare say most of us In a 00:27:01.740 --> 00:27:06.299 global context, we're super rich. The average 00:27:06.299 --> 00:27:08.740 person even here today is carrying around hundreds 00:27:08.740 --> 00:27:12.099 if not thousands of dollars of technology in 00:27:12.099 --> 00:27:17.200 their pocket, which would be years worth of wages 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:21.680 for other people in different parts of our planet. 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:24.980 I read that if you own your own vehicle, that 00:27:24.980 --> 00:27:29.950 puts you in the top 9 % wealthiest people. We're 00:27:29.950 --> 00:27:35.849 blessed. We are rich. But I don't say that so 00:27:35.849 --> 00:27:39.349 that we have to apologize for our blessings. 00:27:39.509 --> 00:27:43.730 We say that so that we maximize our blessings 00:27:43.730 --> 00:27:47.309 from God. Paul says, those of you who are rich, 00:27:47.390 --> 00:27:51.529 and that's me, and that's you, be rich. Be rich 00:27:51.529 --> 00:27:54.789 in good deeds and be generous. Be willing to 00:27:54.789 --> 00:27:59.400 share with others. The most important moments 00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:01.720 of your life will be moments not where you acquired 00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:04.180 something, not when you consumed something, not 00:28:04.180 --> 00:28:05.880 when you earned something. Those aren't the moments 00:28:05.880 --> 00:28:08.240 you remember. Those aren't the emotional moments. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:10.700 The emotional moments you remember are the moments 00:28:10.700 --> 00:28:13.720 when you gave things away, when you were generous 00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:18.660 to others. I have never hung a flat screen TV 00:28:18.660 --> 00:28:22.539 on the wall of my house and then stood back with 00:28:22.539 --> 00:28:24.559 a tear in my eye and looked at it and said, oh, 00:28:24.579 --> 00:28:27.160 it's so beautiful. I'm so touched. I'm so moved. 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:31.440 by this TV. No, the real emotional stuff happens 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:34.940 when we've been able to give ourselves away to 00:28:34.940 --> 00:28:37.200 others and to be generous to them. Those are 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:39.279 the moments that matter. Those are the ones where 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:41.380 the emotions kick in. And it got me thinking, 00:28:41.460 --> 00:28:44.480 this June, actually, six or eight of us from 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:47.259 Trinity are going to go back to... Honduras, 00:28:47.299 --> 00:28:49.839 back to Nueva Frontera. We're going to go back 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:51.579 to visit some of the sponsored children we have 00:28:51.579 --> 00:28:53.380 down there, back to see some of the impact we're 00:28:53.380 --> 00:28:54.640 making down there. And we're going to go back 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:57.319 to see what further impact we can make. You're 00:28:57.319 --> 00:28:59.200 going to hear more about this in the coming weeks. 00:28:59.559 --> 00:29:01.980 But I want to say that in the last two years, 00:29:02.140 --> 00:29:06.299 Trinity Streetsville has given upwards of $150 00:29:06.299 --> 00:29:10.519 ,000, whether it's in child sponsorship or other 00:29:10.519 --> 00:29:13.180 appeals, to this community. And all the while, 00:29:13.299 --> 00:29:16.579 you've been incredibly generous, supporting Trinity 00:29:16.579 --> 00:29:19.920 itself. But those are the memorable moments. 00:29:20.019 --> 00:29:22.079 The moments where you say, I got to do that. 00:29:22.140 --> 00:29:24.380 I got to make a difference there. I got to be 00:29:24.380 --> 00:29:28.160 part of that. And that's what happens when rich 00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:32.359 people like you and me, we act rich. And we be 00:29:32.359 --> 00:29:35.579 rich in good deeds and generosity. We loosen 00:29:35.579 --> 00:29:38.799 our grip. We learn contentment. We love God over 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:42.720 money. And we leverage our riches for others. 00:29:43.079 --> 00:29:47.160 So yeah, the love of money is a root of all kinds 00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:51.980 of evil. But the practice of generosity is a 00:29:51.980 --> 00:29:55.339 root of all kinds of good, whether it's healing 00:29:55.339 --> 00:29:59.000 or justice or joy or love. It's not about the 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:01.160 poverty gospel. It's not about the prosperity 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:04.500 gospel. It's about the gospel, the good news 00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:08.920 that Jesus is enough. And when he's enough, then 00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:11.220 we are free. We're free to give and we're free 00:30:11.220 --> 00:30:15.619 to serve and we're free to live with open hands 00:30:15.619 --> 00:30:20.880 and generous hearts. That's what the Bible really 00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:27.980 says. So thanks be to God. Amen. Thank you for 00:30:27.980 --> 00:30:30.579 listening to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. 00:30:30.579 --> 00:30:33.779 This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville 00:30:33.779 --> 00:30:38.019 in Mississauga, Ontario on May 4th, 2025.