Money Motivates Me to Work Hard — Is That Okay?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Hello everyone and happy Friday
00:00:06.400 | as we close out this work week.
00:00:08.440 | Pastor John joins us remotely over Skype
00:00:12.240 | and our question today is from a listener named Wesley
00:00:14.520 | who has a really important work question.
00:00:18.180 | Though it's unclear, I don't know where Wesley works,
00:00:20.440 | what field he's in, but Wesley writes this.
00:00:22.920 | Hello Pastor John, recently my boss offered me
00:00:26.080 | and all my colleagues a cash bonus
00:00:28.640 | for anyone generating new referrals.
00:00:32.040 | I felt immediately lured into the proposition,
00:00:35.000 | but my question is this, should the straight up offer
00:00:37.720 | of cash be a good motivator for our work?
00:00:41.760 | Can the desire for more money, in this case a bonus,
00:00:44.640 | be desirous in a virtuous way?
00:00:47.720 | Or is this simply the love of money inside of me?
00:00:51.220 | How can I tell the difference?
00:00:53.960 | - One of the most basic things to say
00:00:57.160 | is that money only has value in a culture
00:01:01.160 | where it can be exchanged for something else.
00:01:04.520 | The paper we call bills or money,
00:01:09.280 | or the pieces of metal that we call coins,
00:01:12.520 | or the checks that stand for money,
00:01:15.960 | or the electronic impulses on your phone
00:01:18.280 | that turn into money somehow,
00:01:21.760 | all of that is relatively worthless.
00:01:25.960 | It only has value because we live in a culture
00:01:30.080 | in which there is an agreed upon use
00:01:34.040 | that can be made of these different coins
00:01:36.440 | and different bills.
00:01:38.120 | You can exchange them for things
00:01:41.080 | and for services that you value,
00:01:43.640 | or you can give them away because you believe
00:01:48.480 | that what others will exchange them for
00:01:51.000 | is something you really value and want to promote.
00:01:55.800 | That might be a missionary who exchanges them
00:01:57.960 | for Bibles to give away,
00:02:00.120 | or it might be a research institute
00:02:02.920 | that attempts to find a cure for disease, and so on.
00:02:07.920 | So money is the capacity to obtain
00:02:12.480 | and promote what you value.
00:02:15.760 | Now the Bible is clear that the ultimate goal of life
00:02:20.760 | is to magnify, that is to make much of,
00:02:24.800 | to glorify, to show to be supremely beautiful,
00:02:29.680 | worthy, great Jesus,
00:02:33.440 | and all that God is for us in Him.
00:02:35.480 | Everything in the world exists ultimately
00:02:39.040 | for this purpose, including money.
00:02:42.560 | So the fundamental question for the Christian
00:02:44.920 | in regard to money is,
00:02:47.120 | does my possession of it, or my lack of possession of it,
00:02:51.400 | or my desire for it, or my lack of desire for it,
00:02:56.400 | does all of that serve this purpose
00:03:00.560 | of magnifying, making much of,
00:03:04.320 | the worth of Jesus above all things?
00:03:08.400 | The way I like to say it is,
00:03:10.600 | the reason God gives His people money
00:03:13.280 | is so that we can use money in a way
00:03:17.240 | to show that money is not our God,
00:03:20.160 | but that God is our God.
00:03:21.680 | That's why we have money, that's why we have everything.
00:03:24.520 | And I think it's important to emphasize
00:03:28.280 | that God does intend for Christians to use money.
00:03:33.200 | Money itself is just money.
00:03:34.960 | It's not good or bad, it's just stuff.
00:03:37.840 | It's paper or coins or potential for value.
00:03:42.240 | Jesus said that the,
00:03:44.080 | and this is a really important sentence,
00:03:46.280 | and every word in it probably,
00:03:48.000 | especially the word worthy.
00:03:49.360 | Jesus said in Luke 10, seven,
00:03:52.040 | that the laborer is worthy of his wages,
00:03:57.040 | implying that it's right.
00:03:59.640 | I mean, the word worthy implies it's right,
00:04:02.040 | it's good, it's just,
00:04:05.680 | to earn a living and to receive wages
00:04:08.320 | that correspond to your work.
00:04:10.240 | And evidently the harder you work,
00:04:12.040 | the more wages, and the less you work, the less wages.
00:04:15.200 | There's a correspondence.
00:04:16.360 | That's what he means by the word worthiness.
00:04:19.120 | The laborer is worthy of his wages.
00:04:23.200 | This would be called justice.
00:04:25.480 | It's just to be paid more
00:04:29.480 | for doing a very good job for your employer.
00:04:33.160 | And it's just to be paid less
00:04:36.600 | for doing a poor job for your employer.
00:04:40.200 | And of course there are other criteria,
00:04:42.800 | but that's the basic principle.
00:04:46.080 | That would be justice, or what Jesus calls worthiness.
00:04:50.560 | So I don't deny the goodness and the justice
00:04:55.560 | of an employee desiring to be paid appropriately
00:05:01.520 | for a job well done,
00:05:05.120 | whether it's an ordinary wage or whether it's a bonus.
00:05:08.640 | The principle is the same, it seems to me.
00:05:10.480 | Not whether you get a bonus,
00:05:12.160 | and that creates all kinds of problems,
00:05:13.600 | but rather your wage.
00:05:15.040 | Why do you go to work in the morning anyway,
00:05:17.400 | not just for when there's a bonus promised?
00:05:20.600 | Either way, it seems to me that the remuneration
00:05:25.240 | for work done is right,
00:05:28.480 | and so to desire it is right,
00:05:32.280 | or at least can be right.
00:05:35.000 | And the question then becomes,
00:05:36.600 | and this is the question that was raised,
00:05:38.960 | what might make the desire for a bonus or a wage defective?
00:05:44.960 | A defective, sinful desire for a wage or a bonus?
00:05:49.880 | And Wesley asks specifically,
00:05:52.840 | can a desire for money, in this case a bonus,
00:05:56.960 | be desirous in a virtuous way?
00:06:00.360 | Or is this simply the love of money?
00:06:02.840 | How can I tell the difference?
00:06:04.120 | So let me give a handful of pointers
00:06:07.800 | that I think the Bible gives to help us discern
00:06:12.960 | whether our hearts are right in the desire
00:06:17.960 | for a bonus or a wage,
00:06:20.720 | or any other material benefit for that matter,
00:06:23.480 | some tax return, say.
00:06:26.000 | Number one, first, is the project
00:06:29.240 | for which the bonus is offered itself virtuous?
00:06:33.720 | Are you being asked to do something good?
00:06:37.760 | If not, then the pursuit of the money for the bonus
00:06:41.160 | is gonna be tainted.
00:06:42.880 | Second, do you feel a fitting danger
00:06:47.840 | that the desire to be rich is a perilous desire?
00:06:50.840 | 1 Timothy 6, 9.
00:06:52.240 | Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation,
00:06:54.680 | into a snare.
00:06:56.120 | The love of money is the root of all evils.
00:06:58.360 | It is hard for those who are rich
00:07:00.040 | to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
00:07:02.000 | In other words, it's just a cluster of New Testament texts
00:07:05.520 | that wave a big yellow flag in front of the desire for money
00:07:09.160 | to say, watch out, this can kill you.
00:07:11.480 | And I'm just saying, do you feel that?
00:07:14.040 | It's appropriate to be awakened to that danger
00:07:18.160 | lest you fall for it.
00:07:19.320 | That's number two.
00:07:20.400 | Number three, is the desire for the money
00:07:25.000 | an evidence that God is becoming less satisfying to you?
00:07:30.000 | Or to put it another way around,
00:07:33.680 | is the desire for the money becoming idolatrous?
00:07:36.840 | I use that word because of Colossians 3, 5
00:07:39.360 | that says greed or covetousness is idolatry.
00:07:42.960 | Or to put it in another way,
00:07:44.900 | would you still be content in God, happy in God
00:07:49.580 | if the bonus did not come through?
00:07:51.920 | Number four, is your heart continuing to experience
00:07:56.920 | the truth of Acts 20, 35, that it is more blessed,
00:08:02.000 | more joyful, more satisfying to give than to receive?
00:08:07.320 | Or is the desire for this bonus rising to the level
00:08:12.320 | that it would be more pleasant to get it
00:08:17.140 | rather than to give?
00:08:18.480 | Has your heart begin to shift away from Acts 20, 35?
00:08:24.140 | Number five, does the desire for the bonus indicate
00:08:29.140 | that your heart might be losing some of its confidence
00:08:35.040 | in the promises of God that are designed
00:08:39.680 | to keep you free from the love of money?
00:08:42.040 | And here I have in mind Hebrews 13, 5.
00:08:45.280 | Keep your life free from the love of money
00:08:48.460 | and be content with what you have for,
00:08:52.480 | and then he grounds it in promises.
00:08:54.960 | I will never leave you or forsake you.
00:08:57.620 | So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper.
00:09:01.420 | I will not fear what can man do to me.
00:09:05.020 | Is the desire for the bonus a loss of confidence
00:09:10.020 | in those promises?
00:09:11.660 | Number six, since Jesus said in Luke 8, 14,
00:09:16.440 | that the riches of the world choke the word of God,
00:09:20.940 | do you detect in the desire for this bonus
00:09:25.620 | any lessening of your joy and desire to be much
00:09:30.220 | in the word of God?
00:09:31.820 | Boy, this is such a good barometer.
00:09:34.180 | People just start to find the word of God boring
00:09:37.540 | when they become more worldly.
00:09:39.660 | Or would this bonus enhance your motives
00:09:43.440 | for reading and meditating on God's word?
00:09:46.500 | As you desire the bonus, as you contemplate receiving
00:09:49.400 | the bonus, as you contemplate giving or spending
00:09:52.260 | or saving or investing the bonus,
00:09:54.780 | are you drawn to the word of God rather than
00:09:57.880 | drawn away from it?
00:09:59.700 | And number seven, finally, since Jesus said
00:10:03.980 | that your life does not consist in the abundance
00:10:07.760 | of your possessions, Luke 12, 15,
00:10:10.940 | do you detect that this bonus is encroaching
00:10:15.940 | on your very sense of being alive in Christ
00:10:21.760 | so that it plays a role, a life-giving role,
00:10:26.500 | an energizing role that seems out of proportion
00:10:30.460 | with the statement that your life doesn't consist
00:10:33.420 | in the abundance of your possessions?
00:10:36.140 | Is there a sense that to lose the bonus
00:10:40.140 | would actually diminish your sense of life in Him?
00:10:45.140 | So those are some of the ways that you can test your heart
00:10:50.620 | when you are desiring a wage or a bonus
00:10:55.140 | or some other material benefit.
00:10:58.020 | In the end, the Bible says, whether you eat or drink
00:11:01.420 | or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
00:11:05.380 | That's 1 Corinthians 10, 31.
00:11:07.580 | That's the bottom line.
00:11:09.220 | Will God be more glorious to you, to you?
00:11:14.220 | And will He look more glorious through you
00:11:18.420 | because of this bonus and what you do with it?
00:11:22.340 | - Amen, thank you, Pastor John.
00:11:23.460 | And thank you, Wesley, for the question.
00:11:24.740 | I hope you find this episode helpful
00:11:27.020 | as you seek to honor Christ at work.
00:11:29.780 | And even asking this question, I think,
00:11:32.340 | says a lot about your character.
00:11:34.740 | Well, if you want new episodes of this podcast
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00:11:40.060 | in your favorite podcast app in Spotify
00:11:42.660 | or by subscribing to DG's YouTube channel.
00:11:45.180 | And to find other episodes in our archive,
00:11:46.900 | over 1,500 and some episodes now,
00:11:50.120 | you can find all of those.
00:11:51.580 | And you can submit questions to us all online
00:11:54.020 | at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:11:58.260 | Well, on the other side of the weekend,
00:12:00.460 | we're gonna go creedal for a moment.
00:12:02.360 | The Nicene Creed from the fourth century
00:12:04.620 | tells us that Jesus was, quote, "begotten, not made."
00:12:09.340 | So why is that important, that He was begotten and not made?
00:12:13.500 | And what's on the line if we mess this up?
00:12:15.740 | Important conversation to have,
00:12:16.980 | and we will have it on Monday.
00:12:18.540 | I'm Tony Reinke.
00:12:19.380 | We'll see you then.
00:12:20.200 | Have a great weekend.
00:12:21.500 | (upbeat music)
00:12:24.080 | (upbeat music)
00:12:26.660 | [BLANK_AUDIO]