I’m going to talk about money today and specifically how we can be victorious over money—how we can refuse to be enslaved to it. And if you don’t know this already, let me tell you if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, he’s going to mess with your money. You remember at one point Jesus positioned himself in the temple where the offerings were deposited and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury (Mark 12:41).
Imagine! He intentionally watched people bringing their money into the temple. It was not a private matter with him; he knows where your treasure is, there your heart is also (Matthew 6:21), and he took notice of who was giving money, how much they gave, and how sacrificially they gave.
He’s watching us, too, and our money and what we do with it is not a private matter with Jesus. We are accountable to him for what we take in and how we spend it.
The Seductive Power of Money
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
Money is a rival god that seeks to control us by claiming to have the power of deity. It tries to convince us it can do for us what only God can do. It claims to give us security, to give us freedom, to give us power, and to meet all our needs. It clamors for the place in our heart only God can fill.
Jesus made this clear in his dealing with the rich young ruler, who wanted to know what he must do to get eternal life.
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21).
Notice when this young man went away sad, Jesus didn’t run after him and say, “Wait, you don’t really have to sell everything, just change your attitude toward money.” No, Jesus meant what he said to that young man; he had to be converted from loving and serving money to loving and serving Jesus, and he wasn’t willing to do that.
It’s very easy to be in bondage to money—for it to become an idol in our lives. It has far more power over us than simply its purchasing power. We think: It’s mine; I earned it; I depend on it; I need it; I like it! Don’t mess with my money!
How can you tell if money has become your master? Here are some checkpoints:
These are some telltale signs money has become our master, and believe me, it can happen to any of us. The spiritual power of money is very strong; that’s why Jesus said you cannot serve God and money.
We need to be set free from the demonic control money would have over us. It’s not unusual to hear someone give a testimony of how God has set that person free from sexual sin or some addiction. Perhaps we need to make it comfortable and acceptable for Christians to confess that they have been seduced by money, and they want to be set free.
So, here’s the question for you today: Do you serve God or money?
That’s a heavy question, and a disciple of Jesus Christ needs to face it head on—because Jesus is going to mess with your money, one way or the other.
Our challenge is to use the money and possessions God gives to us for good but never let them have power over us. Richard Foster writes: “Rather than run from money, we are to take it—evil bent and all—and use it for kingdom purposes…Money is to be captured, subdued, and used for greater goals. We are called to use money to advance the kingdom of God” (Foster, 1989).[1]
We must intentionally learn a new attitude toward money. And the first part of that new attitude is to understand that we are possession-less.
The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (Psalm 24:1).
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me (Job 41:11).
As a disciple of Jesus Christ, everything you have is simply on loan to you. You are given the stewardship of those assets, but you own nothing, because you yourself are owned by God.
You know how your company has labels on everything: Property of such and such company. You’re using the property—the desk, the computer, the chair, etc.—but you’re using it for the benefit of the company you work for. We need to put that kind of label on “our stuff” to constantly remind us we don’t own anything. We are simply entrusted with some possessions and money to use while we’re here on earth.
In fact, I encourage you to make some labels which say something like: “Property of God, on loan from God, to be used for God’s glory,” and then put some of those labels on some of your “stuff” to remind you that you are a steward, not an owner. I’m serious; we must constantly fight money and its design on our hearts, and we need to be reminded that we are possession-less. This is one way to learn to do that, to put some labels on some of your treasured possessions.
Then pray this into your life regularly: I am possession-less. I own nothing. Everything is loaned to me by God. I will give an account to God for all that he has entrusted to me.
Are you worried about money now? I know many are facing some hard times financially, and I know how easy it is to get depressed about money. But I believe we can use these tough times to learn some very important lessons, and we can come through these days refined like gold. Our challenge is to make money our servant not our master. Here is the most powerful way to do that, as given by Richard Foster in his book, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life:
Give it away. Dethrone money by giving it away. Show money you are not its servant; you do not value it more than people, more than God. Foster writes, “It would do us good to find ways to defame it, defile it, and trample it under our feet.
“So step on it. Yell at it. Laugh at it. List it way down on the scale of values—certainly far below friendship and cheerful surroundings. And engage in the most profane act of all—give it away. The powers that energize money cannot abide that most unnatural of acts, giving. Money is made for taking, for bargaining, for manipulating, but not for giving. This is exactly why giving has such ability to defeat the powers of money.” (Foster, 1989)
How much are you giving away? Some people use the tithe—ten percent—as a measure of how much to give God. If you think that is legalistic, then by all means, don’t use it. Give fifteen percent instead! But if you are regularly not giving God at least a tenth of all your money, you need to search your heart, seek God’s face, and find out what you should be giving.
You will discover the joy of giving. You will discover the thrill of helping others. You will find yourself wishing you could give more.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).
The principle of sowing and reaping is that you reap what you sow, you reap more than you sow, you reap in a different season than you sow. If you need money, the first and most important thing you need to do, before you do anything else, is to start giving away at least one-tenth of your money to God.
God LOVES a cheerful giver. Do you want to please God? Be a cheerful giver! He LOVES it!
Another effective way to make money your servant, not your master, is to:
Refuse to let money be the sole determinant of what you will or won’t do!
When money makes our decisions, we are then servants of money. For example:
As Foster writes: “If money determines what we do or do not do, then money is our boss. If God determines what we do or do not do, then God is our boss. My money might say to me, ‘You have enough to buy that,’ but my God might say to me, ‘I don’t want you to have it.’ Now, who am I to obey?” (Foster, 1989).
Learning to see money as a tool God gives you to steward and use and not be controlled by is a lifelong pursuit for most of us. But we can learn to be set free from the control of money by trusting Jesus and giving him the final word on how we spend our money. Again, I encourage you to make some labels that say: “Property of God, on loan from God, to be used for God’s glory,” and put them on some of your possessions. The point is we have to learn we are simply stewards of God’s goodness. Everything we think we own is truly just on loan from God, and we will give an account of how we used it.
[1] Foster, R. J. (1989). The challenge of the disciplined life : Christian reflections on money, sex & power. Harper & Row.
