Do the Biblical Warnings Against Riches Apply to Most Americans?

00:00:00.000 | The scripture delivers many warnings to the wealthy, but are those warnings also directed

00:00:09.200 | at middle-class Americans? It's a really good question from an anonymous woman. "Pastor

00:00:14.080 | John, whenever I read James 5 about the wailing and misery awaiting the rich of this world,

00:00:19.640 | I am filled with fear for the judgment day. I am a middle-class American with the usual

00:00:24.680 | comforts of the life of the middle class, three square meals a day, unnecessary treats,

00:00:30.160 | desserts, coffee, entertainment through our big screen television, occasional vacations,

00:00:35.320 | far more clothing than I need, a comfortable bed with fine sheets, a decorated home, and

00:00:40.000 | the list goes on. People might look at me and think I'm not decadent. I live in a small

00:00:45.080 | house in a modest neighborhood, but I know that I am the rich of this world compared

00:00:49.400 | to the majority. I do use many of my belongings and worldly comforts to serve others with

00:00:54.520 | the gift of hospitality, and I love the Lord and consider myself a strong believer and

00:00:58.840 | follower of Christ. But I also know that I could live on way less, sacrificing to give

00:01:03.800 | away more than I already do. I tithe regularly and give to charitable organizations, but

00:01:10.040 | it is always with me that I could give so much more by giving up many more comforts.

00:01:13.720 | I struggle with feeling peace with God when I feel that He will judge me harshly for living

00:01:18.720 | as comfortably as I do. I'm wondering if God wants me to give up the pleasures and

00:01:23.680 | comforts that this country offers.

00:01:27.320 | This question feels unusually timely to me because just yesterday when I was doing table

00:01:35.360 | talk with the seminary students over at Bethlehem College and Seminary, one of the students

00:01:43.240 | basically asked this exact same question. And the question seems to boil down to this.

00:01:49.920 | How can we know whether the level of wartime simplicity for the sake of Christ-exalting

00:01:57.840 | ministry is the level it should be? How can we know we've found the right level of wartime

00:02:05.040 | simplicity?

00:02:06.040 | Now, just a reminder to those who haven't heard these categories before, the reason

00:02:12.400 | I refer to wartime simplicity as opposed to simplicity by itself is because simplicity

00:02:20.120 | alone might lead you to renounce all modern appliances and devices and machines for the

00:02:26.800 | smallest possible carbon footprint and move out, might lead you to move out of a mechanized

00:02:34.040 | urban setting into a rural agrarian setting where you can raise your own food and possibly

00:02:41.520 | become totally self-absorbed and do no good for anybody while being supremely simple in

00:02:49.760 | your lifestyle. That's not our goal.

00:02:53.560 | Whereas what I mean by wartime simplicity is that we picture ourselves in a spiritual

00:03:00.840 | war in this globe where the battle is not only against the sins of materialism and consumerism

00:03:09.720 | and self-indulgence, which it is, but also the battle is for reaching the neighborhoods

00:03:18.200 | and the nations of the world with the gospel. There's a very big, big task before us to

00:03:27.040 | achieve, and that conception of the Christian life as a massive challenge to reach the world

00:03:34.880 | with the gospel might incline you to own a computer, just like the Second World War inclined

00:03:43.680 | America to save every bobby pin so that they could build B-52s, which cost millions of

00:03:51.680 | dollars. It was wartime simplicity to stop a basketball game to find a bobby pin, which

00:03:59.400 | happened, or not change your tires for X number of years because they needed all the rubber

00:04:04.920 | in the war effort. That was simplicity, but it wasn't peacetime simplicity like everybody

00:04:09.800 | be as non-mechanistic as possible.

00:04:14.320 | So back to the question, how can we know whether the level of wartime simplicity for the sake

00:04:20.160 | of Christ-exalting, nation-reaching ministry is the level it should be? And before I say

00:04:26.320 | anything else more specifically, let me refer everybody to Randy Alcorn's little book, The

00:04:32.800 | Treasure Principle. I think Randy Alcorn has been raised up in our day as one of the most

00:04:40.840 | helpful, humble, wise, authentic spokesmen on the issue of money and how to think about

00:04:49.640 | it. And if people want to ponder what I've thought more fully, they can go to the chapter

00:04:55.560 | on money, which is called The Currency of Christian Hedonism in the book Desiring God.

00:05:01.320 | But I would especially have people really get to know Randy Alcorn if they're struggling

00:05:06.920 | with issues of stewardship and money and lifestyle and so on. This is one of those questions,

00:05:14.000 | I think, that in the Bible has no precise answer. I mean, the Bible doesn't resolve

00:05:22.920 | the question of how much we should own and how much we should give and use by giving

00:05:32.800 | quantitative answers, like percentages. I don't think the tithe is an answer to anything.

00:05:40.640 | That's just a starting point for Christians, I think. And lots more than that should be

00:05:47.560 | on the table, like everything. The rich young ruler was told he needed to sell everything.

00:05:55.440 | That's what it meant for him to follow Jesus, Mark 10:21. Zacchaeus gave away half of his

00:06:01.880 | goods to the poor, and Jesus said, "Salvation came to this house today," when he watched

00:06:08.280 | that happen, Luke 19.9. Jesus said in Luke 14.33 that in order to be his disciple, we

00:06:16.080 | must renounce everything that we have, renounce everything. And he said we must love him,

00:06:24.280 | himself, more than we love our dearest relation, Matthew 10.37. And he said the kingdom of

00:06:29.960 | heaven is like finding a treasure and selling everything you have to have that treasure,

00:06:36.280 | Matthew 13.44. And Paul said, "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not

00:06:44.280 | to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly

00:06:48.680 | provides everything to enjoy. They are to do good, be rich in good works, to be generous

00:06:55.680 | and ready to share and store up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future

00:07:02.800 | so that they may take hold of life, which is life indeed." So it seems to me the New

00:07:08.760 | Testament doesn't give one prescription, it doesn't give one line, it doesn't make

00:07:13.360 | the answer easy, it doesn't answer it in quantitative numbers, it gives a relentless

00:07:19.440 | push. This is really something to take into consideration. The New Testament gives a relentless

00:07:26.960 | push toward a wartime simplicity and economy for the sake of the kingdom, away from luxury

00:07:36.480 | and affluence and finery. Let me just bullet a bunch of text so you feel, you'll see

00:07:41.720 | what I mean by the force of wartime summons. Luke 18.14, "They are choked by the riches

00:07:50.220 | and pleasures of life." Luke 9.48, "The Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

00:07:55.240 | Luke 12.15, "A person's life does not consist in the possessions he has." Matthew

00:08:00.560 | 6.19, "Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth." Matthew 6.33, "Seek the kingdom

00:08:06.080 | first and the other things will be added." Luke 12.20, "The man who built bigger and

00:08:11.240 | bigger barns," Jesus says, "Fool, this night your soul will be required of you."

00:08:17.800 | Luke 12.33, "Sell your possessions, give alms, provide for yourselves purses in heaven."

00:08:23.120 | Luke 18.24, "How hard it is for those who have riches to get into the kingdom of heaven."

00:08:28.520 | Acts 2.45, "They sold their possessions and distributed them to the poor." 2 Corinthians

00:08:34.600 | 6.9, "We are poor, though making many rich. We have nothing, and yet we possess everything."

00:08:41.240 | 2 Corinthians 8.2, "In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their

00:08:47.480 | extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of liberality." Ephesians 4.28, "Let him

00:08:54.440 | labor, working with his hands, that he may have to him who is in need." So you can

00:09:00.960 | yield, that's one option. You can work to have, that's another option. Or Paul's

00:09:04.560 | option is you can work to have in order to give. 1 Timothy 6.7, "We brought nothing

00:09:10.320 | into the world. We can't take anything out of the world, so we're going to be content

00:09:13.840 | with what we have, food and clothing." Hebrews 13.5, "Keep your life free from the love

00:09:19.960 | of money." James 2.5, "Has not God chosen those who are poor in this world to be rich

00:09:25.800 | in faith?" 1 John 3.17, "If anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother

00:09:31.360 | in need and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God abide in him?" That's

00:09:35.600 | just a sampling. I don't think it's possible to take all that biblical teaching about money

00:09:41.080 | and find a clear line between wartime simplicity and peacetime luxury. I don't think the

00:09:47.200 | line is clear at all. Therefore, my approach, both in preaching and in my own life, is to

00:09:54.320 | return again and again and again, just like we've done now, to the relentless thrust

00:10:01.240 | of the New Testament toward loving and fruitful, other-oriented, sacrificial simplicity for

00:10:08.600 | the sake of kingdom advance. Riches are dangerous. That message is everywhere. And simplicity

00:10:16.760 | for its own sake is worthless, because love is what counts. Doing good, not going without.

00:10:23.640 | Doing good, not going without. That's what counts. I know there are people who've

00:10:28.280 | given themselves to way more simplicity than I've seen others do, and they're loveless.

00:10:33.000 | And the people that have more are very more loving, and good is coming from their lives.

00:10:38.520 | So immerse yourself in the New Testament summons to love people, not money, to love simple

00:10:45.480 | beauties, not luxurious status symbols. That's just so crucial. The world is begging us constantly

00:10:52.040 | to love status symbols instead of simple beauties. And learn with Paul the secret of such profound

00:11:00.640 | contentment in Jesus that you know how to be abased and how to abound and can be like

00:11:07.680 | the Christians in Hebrews 10:34, "You had compassion on the prisoners, and you joyfully

00:11:15.440 | accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew, you knew you had a better

00:11:22.520 | possession and an abiding one."

00:11:27.080 | Loving simple beauties and not status symbols of luxury. It's such a great challenge and

00:11:32.840 | a glorious calling in this life. Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for making the

00:11:37.060 | Ask Pastor John podcast a part of your day and your week as we tackle questions like

00:11:42.800 | this one and get really honest with our daily lives in light of what we read in Scripture.

00:11:47.880 | Well, you can stay current with our episodes on your phone or device by subscribing through

00:11:51.440 | your preferred podcast app. And you can now even listen through Desiring God's official

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00:12:04.000 | home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

00:12:09.200 | Speaking of very good Bible questions, can we just skip over those few bits of the New

00:12:13.760 | Testament that seem to have been added to the original manuscripts? I'm thinking of

00:12:19.000 | sections like John 7, verse 53, through John 8, verse 11. It's a great question. Up next

00:12:26.440 | on Wednesday when we return, I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and we'll see you then.

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Do the Biblical Warnings Against Riches Apply to Most Americans?

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