The God Of Money

The god of money wants us to think that the more money we have the happier we will be and the better our lives will be.

The person who has God and has everything, has no more than the person who has God and has nothing.”

When God is on His rightful throne in our lives and we are looking to God for all that we need and hope for satisfaction, significance, and security, then we don’t really need anything more than God, and then money and things are able to be used in helpful ways for us and for others.

Jesus made it clear that a person cannot serve both God and money.

When we try to serve both, we end up serving money more than God.

The human heart always seeks to justify itself, and when it comes to money and greed the god of money is a master at deception.

The biblical writers, and especially Jesus, had a lot to say about money.

II. Greed could easily be a problem for us, and because it hides itself so deeply and successfully that we may not even realize we have a problem with it.

 Luke 12: The Rich Fool

One day when Jesus was teaching a crowd of listeners, a man in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:13) Jesus replied, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” (Luke 12:14) Jesus said to the crowd, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15)“The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:13-21)

Life is not about money and possessions.

The primary key to keeping money in its rightful place is to remember that it all belongs to God.

Whatever we have is on loan from God.

Psalm 24:1 clearly states it: The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof

a). he man looked to money as his source of security.

b.) The man looked to money as the source of his satisfaction.

c.) The man looked to money for his source of significance

B. Zacchaeus Luke 19.

When Zacchaeus saw that Jesus had chosen him, the least virtuous person in the crowd, for a personal relationship, his whole spiritual understanding began to change.

Zacchaeus wanted to follow Jesus, and immediately he realized that, if he was to do that, then his relationship with money was an issue and it had to change.

“Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” (Luke 19:8)

What Jesus did in Zacchaeus’ life, He will do for each one of us.

III. Questions for introspection.

1. Question One: How often do you compare what you have and what you make to others?

2. Question Two: How much anxiety do finances add to your life?

3. Question Three: To what extent are your dreams and goals driven by money?

4. Question Four: What is your attitude toward giving?

When you look at your life and I look at mine, do we see too much Scrooge living in us?

1. Maybe, like Scrooge, we too are living too selfishly or greedily.

2. Maybe, like Scrooge, we too are not valuing people as we should.

3. Maybe, like Scrooge, we too need a Christmas-eve conversion.

4. If we turn to God and submit ourselves to Him, He will do a wonderful work in our lives.