Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
Deuteronomy 8:1-20
America has for the most part failed God’s prosperity test. We have forgotten where our wealth came from and to Whom is its source, and every once in a while; in every generation or so, God has to remind us that it is He to whom we must put our trust. God, as it were, has to shorten his leash on us lest we destroy ourselves with our callous sins and our greed. He does not worry if our nation as a whole disregards him; for as long as he wants us to be a client nation unto him he will purge us of our sins on a national level. When this happens the nucleus of positive believers will come out of the performance oriented churches and the weak doctrinal churches. And the local churches that are faithful to the proclamation of His word will find new faces and new growth in those times. He will strengthen his church through suffering and when real repentance is made he will build up his remnant to shine his glory again. He will show us he is sufficient to care for us. The ebb and tide of Christian apostasy comes and goes with each passing generation. Some churches panic and offer everything they can throw at the general public to get them in the church and this is all a waste of God’s money. Until God’s people see the need for getting his word they will chase the elusive butterfly of human happiness.
Our sufficiency is dependent upon God and he fulfills that deficiency in our lives with his presence and his peace and understanding. Look at what you have and ask yourself, “Why isn’t it enough?” Having God in our lives is our greatest need. He is our provider and sustainer. As I said last week, we do not need to chase the dreams of this world to find our happiness. Look at Ecc.1:3-8. The eyes and ears are two of mankind’s greatest taskmasters. We want what we see and we want what we hear is available, and it seems that what we do not have is always better than what we do have. Sometimes we have to have upgrades in our technological age, but some folks go broke keeping up. Just remember as you try to keep up with the Jones’s that the Bible calls this covetousness, Ex.20:17. as it is the 10th commandment; and it is a form of idolatry.
Let’s turn to I Tim.6:9-10 for our text today.
v.9 But they that will be rich. The word used here for will is boulomai, which is a well thought out determination. The other basic Greek word for will, is thelo, in which a person has a wish or a passing fancy for something. Paul is referring to the person who mentally salivates at the prospects of his future based on the acquisition of money. He or she intends on doing whatever is necessary to acquire this wealth and this is where, as I reminded you last week that their character starts to change for the worse.
Danger #1 They fall into temptation. The temptation that comes with wealth is not the sin; it is mindset of wanting wealth that creates the environment of constant temptation. This mindset provides much more opportunity for sin testing. The verb fall is [present active indicative], so this falling becomes a pattern of life where the one who is determined to be rich yields the control of his actions and decisions around serving whatever it takes to be rich. The blinders go on first before he enters this mad race to wealth thus he cannot see the dangers of his intent. His motives are misdirected in getting his wealth. Questionable acts are involved and eventually immorality will slip in as well. Skipping Bible study and worship is not such a big deal anymore to this person and sadly the family also takes a back seat.
Now I am not talking about having to work extra hours to get the job done or working overtime to make a little extra. I am talking about the motives for doing the extra and bending the rules extra to get that money.
Danger #2 They fall into a snare. The word for snare here is pagida, a trap. It was a trap made by digging a hole in the ground wherein sharp sticks would be pointed upward. The hole was lightly covered with twigs and grass. Seeds to lure the bird onto the trap would be sprinkled on top. When the bird stepped on the twigs to get to the seed they would fall to their death. A believer can get into a blind habit, and like an addiction that has a habit it must be fed. They expect wealth to bring them happiness, but instead they suffer as a slave to the details of life. Your work becomes a substitute for happiness, and God and, the family and the church are down the list of your priorities. A callous is forming on your soul and you will be in denial. You will become insensitive to those who love you most and you will become hypersensitive toward yourself and anyone who tries to show you your wayward path. In essence you will become a slave to the trap of wealth.
Danger #3 They fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts. The Greek here reads like this, many unwise and hurtful desires. These desires hurt your testimony before the Lord. God sees these unscrupulous acts, dishonesty, lying and cover ups used to get money, but you do not.
Danger #4 They cause men to drown into destruction and perdition. The desire to be rich creates a vacuum that sinks men into sure perdition. Luke 5:7 uses this word sink to depict a boat which is too loaded down. The emptiness inside where God is absent creates a vacuum that you will try to fill with the things money can buy, and these things will sink you. The perdition Paul refers to here is not eternal perdition in hell. It is the perdition of misery which depicts hell. Remember that Paul is talking to believers in this text as noted in 6:17. The good that you could have done for God is wiped out by the lust for money. If you can stay faithful to God with having a lot, then that is good. It is not the amount that a person has that is the issue here; it is ones constant desire to have more that is the issue. This passage is not a sermon against those who have gained wealth, for many financially poor folks have the same destructive desire. God can bless you with much and if you remain faithful while being blessed this is a sign that you do not covet wealth and these dangers have not entangled you.
v.10 We see here is it not money that is the problem, it is the covetousness, philarguros; it is the fondness of money that leads to all kinds of evil. The word, the, preceding the words, root of all evil, is not in the Greek text as it is supplied for a smoother translation. Typically a word which is supplied by the translators is in italics, but not always as is the case here. The love of money is a root, out of many roots of evil. Those who have neglected their love for God have substituted their love for money in God’s place.
Danger # 5 They have erred from the faith. Erred is a verb [aorist, passive, indicative from apoplano]. This word means to stray or wander. The passive voice denotes they were being drawn away from the faith by another power, the power of wealth. Fondness of money pulled them away from God. If you want this downward spiral to stop you will have to pull some irons out of the fire before you too are consumed. For your capacity to enjoy life comes from God, not things in this earth.
The many details of life can whip you into submission and you can easily become a slave to them. Your spiritual momentum will stop and the storing of heavenly treasures will be put on hold.
You cannot get back the time you lost chasing after money when you die and go to heaven.
Danger # 6 They have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Pierced is the compound Greek word, peripeiran. Peri is a preposition meaning around, and peiro means to pierce. Thus the one who covets to be rich eventually is surrounded by many sorrows. For the child of God divine discipline is one of the sorrows. You see God never feels sorry for us when we sin, even though he will forgive us if we confess it. You see, sinning and disobedience is always a choice. Another sorrow is our family is alienated from us when we seek to be rich. Such folks who will to be rich alienate themselves from the fellowship of God’s people. They no longer have in common the spiritual things of the body of Christ because they have gone back out into the world to gather up things they think are essential for happiness, Prov.16:8.
Some folks never seem to learn that happiness and contentment are by-products of godliness, and that godliness only comes by way of our conformity to Jesus Christ as learned in his word.
My prayer is that our national financial crisis will get God’s people to remember him and get them back into a sound Bible teaching church; where real quality of life is found, not in things or programs and entertainment, but in learning that the true treasures in life lie in God’s word.