Join Pastor Skip Heitzig as he explores the complex relationship between money and happiness. In this episode, Pastor Skip shares personal stories and biblical wisdom to uncover how wealth can complicate our lives and stray our faith. Unravel the concept that money is not inherently evil, but the love for it can lead to destruction and sorrow. Dive deep into understanding how prioritizing simplicity and contentment can enrich your spiritual journey.
Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We’re so glad you’ve tuned in today. At Connect with Skip, our passion is to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus through solid, verse-by-verse Bible teaching that’s both clear and practical. Every message you hear is designed to strengthen your faith and help you live out God’s truth wherever He’s placed you. But did you know that you can stay connected beyond the broadcast? When you sign up for Pastor Skip’s free weekly devotional, you’ll receive biblical encouragement, exclusive content, and free resources to help you go deeper in God’s Word, all delivered straight to your inbox. As our thanks for your signing up today, we’ll send you a free digital download of a chapter of Skip’s book, Biography of God. It’s quick, easy, and completely free. And it’s a great way to stay rooted in truth every week. Sign up today at connectwithskip.com. That’s connectwithskip.com. Now, here’s today’s message from Pastor Skip Heitzig.
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Money won’t make you happy. Money is only temporary. Third, money ruins simplicity. Money ruins simplicity. Look at the eighth verse. And having, notice this, food and clothing, with these we shall be content. Shall we? Really? With food and clothing, with these we shall be content. I remember, and I was just thinking about it yesterday, when I first gave my life to Christ, it was in San Jose, California. You know the story. I was watching Billy Graham on television. Well, I knew I wanted to go back down to Southern California to the church I had heard about and been there a few times called Calvary Chapel. All I had to my name was a couple pieces of clothing and my motorcycle, a little Honda 450 motorcycle. which I got on and I rode from San Jose all the way down in one day to Southern California, several hundred miles. I had just given my life to Christ. I was the happiest person I knew on the earth. And I am singing songs of praise. I didn’t even know songs of praise. I was making them up, but I was so happy. But then have you noticed the more things you have, the more complicated life becomes? Remember Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes and he talked about having to manage his money and his possessions and he worried about them. And he even worried about who he would pass them on to. So there are two ways to be rich. One is to have a lot of possessions. The other is to have few needs. Money ruins simplicity. Fourth and final lesson we learn from this little paragraph is that money can be risky. Money can be risky, and that takes us to verse 9. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. First thing you notice is money is not the problem. The problem is the love of it. You can have no money and still love money, And be guilty. It’s the love of money, not money itself. Money isn’t the problem. It’s the love of money. It kind of is a parallel to verse 9, those who desire to be rich. That’s the idea. They desire it. They don’t have it, but they desire it. The second thing to notice here in that little verse, verse 10, is that money is not the root of evil, but a root. Not a definite article, an indefinite article. And the third little thing to notice in verse 10, it’s not the root of all evil, but all kinds of evil. And there are many different kinds of evil. Now go back to verse 10 and look at that phrase, love of money. Three words, love of money. It’s one word in Greek. The word is philarguria. Philarguria literally means fondness for silver or silver lover. Fondness of silver. And then look at the word greediness also in verse 10. Aragamanoi means to crave, or better translated, to extend yourself, to stretch yourself out in order to have. You’ve heard people say he’s overextending himself. She’s overextending himself. What it means is this. They’re stretching themselves out. They’re so in love, fond of the silver, the shiny, the gold, the money, that they will overextend themselves in order to obtain it. And notice the result of that risk. I say money can be risky. It says, they have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. I named a few sorrows that I could think of. Selfishness, quarreling, cheating, fraud, robbery, hatred, perjury, violence, murder, human trafficking, drug pushing, pornography sales, blackmail, exploitation of the weak. All of those are many sorrows. It seems that Paul is most concerned with the chief of the many sorrows, and that is in verse 10, some have strayed from the faith. Remember the parable that our Lord spoke of, that the seed fell on soil, but it was choked up by the cares of this world, the desire for riches, the desire for other things that choked the seed and it became unfruitful. So then… Problem is not with money. The problem is with us. I started this sermon talking about people that were ill-affected by money like Achan in the Old Testament or Ananias and Sapphira in the New or Demas in the New Testament. But it’s equally true that there are people in Scripture that God blessed greatly and were very wealthy and it did not ruin them. did not ruin them. Abraham is one. Abraham had a paid staff of 318 people. 318 paid servants. It meant his household was way over a thousand people. Job was It says he was the wealthiest guy on earth, but he was also the godliest guy on earth at the time, according to God himself in Job chapter 1. Then there is Joseph, who was second in command over Egypt, arguably the second richest person in the world, also very godly. So it can ill affect a person, but it doesn’t have to. There are plenty of examples of people who handled great wealth with integrity. Something else you should know. The Bible also commends earning money, saving money, and investing money. Here’s one little verse, Proverbs 24. Through wisdom a house is built. By understanding it is established. By knowledge its rooms are filled with precious and pleasant riches. So the notion that socialism is the way to go and capitalism is evil and wrong and people shouldn’t earn wealth and have it as private property, that’s bogus, that’s wrong. By the way, the Bible acknowledges the right to own private property. And I’ll just give you the 8th commandment and the 10th commandment. The 8th commandment says, thou shalt not, what? Anybody know the eighth commandment? Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not steal. Sorry, I just took you off guard. I know that. Not fair. Eighth commandment is thou shalt not steal. Tenth commandment is thou shalt not covet. You shall not covet. Stealing and coveting are wrong because the stuff you are stealing and coveting doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to someone else. That’s private ownership or capitalism. Now, some of you might argue and say, yeah, but didn’t Jesus tell the rich young ruler that he should sell everything he has and give it to the poor? Yes, he did say that to the rich young ruler. He did not say that to Mary, Martha, Lazarus, John, Peter, Nicodemus, on and on and on. He said it to that guy because that guy loved money so much it was the impediment that kept him from following Christ. Money had become a god to him. And so Jesus nailed it in his life. So the problem is not with money. The problem is with us. Money doesn’t have a mind of its own. Money doesn’t have a will of its own. It is at your discretion. So we’ve asked and answered two questions. Where does it come from? What does it mean? The third and final little question I’d like to ask about this is based on what we have just talked about, how should we live? As believers, how should we live so that the love of money doesn’t enter in and become an evil thing in our lives? Well, that’s actually a question Peter asked. At the end of his little letter, Peter said, What he writes about is everything you see around you is going to melt with fervent heat one day. It’s all going to burn. Everything you love and enjoy in the physical world, in the material world, will be burned up. And he says, how should we then live? Well, let me give you a few suggestions. First of all, be free. Be free. Have a light touch with it. Have a light touch. There’s two ways to hold something. With a tight fist or with an open hand. Job… I love what he said. He lost everything and he said, the Lord gives, the Lord takes. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
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My dad had an interesting childhood. I won’t get into details, but I remember him telling me the story that he had a pet raccoon. And I said, what? You had a what? Who has a pet raccoon? Because raccoons are pretty vicious and they have some long claws and they can attack and do damage. But I don’t know if they decluttered or whatever, but he had a pet raccoon. And here’s the old way to catch a raccoon. If you want to catch a raccoon in the old days, you take a little box with bars in it And you stake it to the ground. You put a piece of tinfoil, like a little tinfoil ball inside. That’s all you got to do. A little tinfoil ball inside the cage. The raccoon sees the shiny silver, reaches his hand in, sort of like a monkey with a coconut, puts his hand in, grabs the ball. The paw changes shape now, becomes enlarged. He can’t pull it out of the cage. If it’s on the ground, he won’t move. Listen, he won’t move. He would rather give up his freedom. and his life for a piece of silver. So be free. Have a light touch with the things of this world. It’s okay to have things. It’s okay to have things. The danger is when the things have you. So have a light touch on those things. And as you loosen your grip, remember to raise your hands up. which brings us to the second way to live, and that is be thankful. Be thankful for what God has given you. Be thankful for what he has placed as a steward that you are to manage, whatever it might be, however much it might be. Pause and thank him for it. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, the Bible says. Now, you might not have everything you want, but can you trust him that he’s giving you everything you need? That’s where you should be thankful. An old Chinese proverb says, when you drink from the stream, remember the spring. Remember the source from which that water flows. So often we want the hand out without the hands up. Jesus healed 10 lepers. Remember the story? 10 lepers were healed miraculously. They walked away. How many returned to give thanks? One. One out of 10 gave thanks. And Jesus received his thanks, but he asked the question, where are the other nine? How come they’re not thankful? So be free and be thankful. Third, be content. Be content. Godliness with contentment is great gain. And then verse 8, having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. Did you know that 100 years ago, the average American could list 70, 7-0, 70 things he or she needed in life to survive? 70 things. Today, the average American… lists over 500 things that they say they need. Now, 100 years ago, that’s 1924. That’s like basic necessity-ville. They wanted food, bread, potatoes, beans. They list clothing, work shirts, overalls, sturdy boots, household goods, coal for heating, kerosene lamps, cooking pots, and soap. They list farm tools, a plow, a rake, a shovel, basic medical supplies because they’re living out in the country. A lot of them are very rural lifestyle, so they needed stuff to fix wounds, etc. 70 things they need. Today, over 500. Godliness with contentment is great gain. A person who is satisfied that their life is pleasing to God is a rich person. Very content, satisfied individual. One of my favorite verses that I think strikes balance to the acquisition and ownership of wealth is Proverbs 30, verse 8 and 9. I don’t know if you’ve ever read this, but let me read it to you. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me, this is a prayer to God, feed me with the food allotted to me, lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. Lord, you know what I need. Far better than I do. I don’t want an extreme in either way that I’m so poor that I’d be tempted to steal and give you a black eye, a bad name. I don’t want to have so much that I neglect you or deny you. Sounds a whole lot like give us this day our daily bread that Jesus taught us to pray. So be free, be thankful, be content. Number four, be responsible. Be responsible. With whatever you have, be responsible. Pay your bills. Pay your gulp taxes. Give back to God your first fruits. Invest whatever you can for your family. That’s being responsible. And then, finally, and I’ll close with this, be generous. Be generous. Did you know that it was Jesus who said, it is more blessed to give than receive? You’ve heard that, but you never find that in any of the four Gospels. But it is mentioned in the book of Acts chapter 20. It’s a quote of Jesus left out of the Gospels included in the book of Acts. But what a gem. It is more blessed to give than receive. Now, we’ve been reading 1 Timothy 6. Go ahead in that chapter. Go to verse 17 and look how he sort of brings us toward a close. Command, verse 17, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches. Stock market goes up and down. But in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy, let them do good. that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. Here’s the deal. See money as a tool. Yes, money can be evil. Yes, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, but it is also a tool for all kinds of good. And if you handle it correctly, it becomes a tool for good. I’m gonna remind you of a story that if you’ve ever read it, it’s taken you off guard because it’s such an odd story. Jesus told a story about a manager who was unjust. He wanted to curry favor with his clients, With his master’s clients, he gets fired from his job. But before he leaves his job, he works out this deal that’s really an underhanded deal. And the manager or the owner finds out about the manager and actually commends him for using his noodle and being shrewd with what he had. And then Jesus applies that strange story. And he says this, use worldly wealth. to gain friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. That’s the application. In other words, money can be used to open doors to eternity for certain people. And when it’s used that way, it cannot be called evil. Imagine you showing up in heaven whenever that’ll be. Might be by the end of the day. Might be in 20 years. But you end up in heaven. You’re in heaven. It’s your first day. You’re looking around going, wow, wow, cool, awesome, awesome. And then I haven’t seen you for a long time. You recognize people. And then somebody walks up to you. And then another person walks up to you and they say, thank you. And you go, I don’t even know who you are. And they say, well, thank you because it was your generosity that that gave to that missionary that was sent out overseas, and that missionary shared the gospel with me, and I gave my life to Jesus, and my sins were forgiven, and I’m here in part because of you. You have just fulfilled this verse. Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. or the Thanksgiving pickup party where there’s gonna be 10,000 people around the city that never get on this campus that will be on this campus and see and hear the love of Jesus Christ who may make decisions. We’ve seen that happen in the past for Christ. And they will say, thank you, thank you, thank you. You are using money as a tool. In 1966, J. Paul Getty was called the wealthiest American And he said this, this is my favorite saying that he has ever said. He said this, money is like manure. Stack it up and it stinks. But you spread it around and it makes things grow. That’s seeing money as a tool. That’s when money doesn’t become a root of all kinds of evil, but a source of all kinds of good. So a lot of it is how we see our world and see ourselves in this world. Final story I close with. A rich man visited a rabbi. A rich man was very rich and very miserable, as a lot are wont to be. And so the rabbi met with him, and the rabbi said, Look, come over here. Look out the window. Look out the window. What do you see? He said, I see a few women. I see some children playing. I see grass. He named what he saw. The rabbi said, Now step back. And he pointed to a mirror. He said, what do you see? I said, well, I see myself. He said, that’s interesting because the window is made out of glass. The mirror is also made out of glass with a little bit of silver applied. No sooner is the silver applied when you cease seeing others and see only yourself. He was trying to show him the relationship that man had with finances. He’s looking at life. He’s only thinking about himself. He has lost the ability to see through the window and see the needs of others.
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Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing.
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Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God’s never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
