The goal of life is not the acquisition of wealth but a life of worship. We spend more hours obtaining our income than on anything else, especially in London because of traffic and distance. It is therefore natural to be strongly affected by the procurement of money and its use. There are two things we have dominance over, our time and our cash, we ought not to waste either, for they are too precious.
With regard to money we ought to work as hard as we can, get as much as we can, never be in debt, give generously to charity, save ten percent, and pay our way wisely. It was Timothy writing early in the church’s life who said: “. . . and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain.” A warning all those years ago because the prosperity gospel started back then. It is not a new doctrine, but has plagued the church from its inception.
It was Spurgeon who said: “Are we not to strive all we can to get all the money we can?” You may do so. I cannot doubt but what, in so doing, you may do service to the cause of God. But what I said was that to live with the object of accumulating wealth is anti-Christian.” Reflecting this we can say that the purpose of life is the building of Christian character through truth. It is the one thing we’ll take to heaven with us. We cannot take wealth past the grave; therefore it is a grave indictment that we spend more time on obtaining wealth than anything else.
The current mentality in today’s society is money-focused. In every newspaper of whatever sort there are themes on how to procure, invest and use our money and the workers’ rights and demands fill the pages. Unions threaten strike action because they see the governing classes obtaining wealth [sometime illegally] and this greed factor is transferred. It also creeps in to church life, with the rise of the health and wealth doctrine. The scripture comes to our aid: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan” [Prov 29:2, NKJV]. The country is groaning because of misrule and misappropriation of money. There is no joy in the city!
If character is the touchstone of life, and a proof of righteous pursuit, then anything other than that is unrighteousness. Unrighteousness wrecks a city and burdens the people and the present unrighteousness is based on money and the acquisition of wealth. Unfortunately what is in progress in the world will soon be contemporaneous in the church, for it often moulds itself on modern values. It is all about money, the country is in the grip of greed, it is demonic, it is devilish; it’s sponsored by materialism in the world and heresy in the church.
It is not wrong to desire money it is wrong to desire only money. Our accumulation should be souls not dollars. In the prosperity gospel, also known as the “Word of Faith,” the believer is told to use God; whereas the truth of biblical Christianity is just the opposite – God uses the believer. They also see the Holy Spirit as a power to be put to use for whatever the believer wills. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a Person who enables the believer to do whatever God wills. Prosperity teaching prohibits God from working on His own, meaning that God is not Lord of all because He cannot work until we release Him to do so.
The Bible is clear that the early church was poor; many were slaves in Caesars’ household, who had the clothes on their back, a daily allowance of food, a bed and nothing more. John writing from Patmos greets one of the seven churches: “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich),” [Rev 2:9]. Rome had ordered the destruction of their vineyards and their livelihood was gone. I don’t hear the apostles exhorting them to ‘’name it and claim it,” for they were rich in grace, forgiveness and mercy. Spiritual values overtook them.
Paul said covetousness is idolatry [Ephesians 5:5] and instructed the Ephesians to avoid anyone who brought a message of immorality or covetousness [Ephesians 5:6, 7]. He aligns avariciousness with immorality, and as sexual misdemeanours are of little account by current standards, so also is lusting after money. God’s promise to us is certain: “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green, to declare that the LORD is upright.” [Psalm 92: 12-15]
