The Pervasive Problem of Loving Money

00:00:04.000 | The love of money.

00:00:06.000 | When we think of the love of money, we tend to imagine the lavish life of a billionaire sultan in the Middle East.

00:00:15.000 | Or we think of super yachts.

00:00:17.000 | Or we think of a big tech CEO who catapults himself into outer space just for the fun of it.

00:00:24.000 | Mostly the love of money we ascribe to the irreligious, to the opulent, to the secularist, living out a lavish lifestyle with no care at all for God.

00:00:35.000 | But the Bible speaks of the love of money in very different terms altogether, focusing on a love of money inside the heart of the preacher and of the religious zealot.

00:00:47.000 | An idol that infects even the staunchest religious person, even those who claim to follow the law in detail and with great zeal.

00:00:55.000 | The Pharisee.

00:00:57.000 | And even by those who claim great religious power, like the faith healer.

00:01:01.000 | Pastor John made this important and sobering point about the love of money in the soul of the religious in a 2019 devotional message.

00:01:10.000 | Here he is now to explain.

00:01:13.000 | First Timothy 610, the love of money is the root of all evils.

00:01:17.000 | ESV says all kinds of evils.

00:01:19.000 | That's OK.

00:01:20.000 | Just say all evils.

00:01:22.000 | And some by desiring this have wandered away from the faith.

00:01:31.000 | So Paul says that underneath all evils are all kinds of evils, like Pharisee ism is the love of money.

00:01:42.000 | Reason.

00:01:43.000 | Love of money is synonymous with no faith.

00:01:48.000 | Without faith, you cannot please God.

00:01:51.000 | Everything that is not from faith is sin.

00:01:53.000 | All evils come from this.

00:01:55.000 | Hearts that are more content, more happy, more hopeful, more satisfied, more secure in stuff than in God is the root of all evils.

00:02:06.000 | All evils, including Pharisee ism.

00:02:11.000 | So let's see it.

00:02:14.000 | Is that true?

00:02:15.000 | Let's look at Pharisees.

00:02:16.000 | Let's look at the rich young ruler.

00:02:18.000 | Let's look at Judas and let's look at Philippians three.

00:02:20.000 | And we can do this quickly because you're going to see it right away.

00:02:23.000 | You won't need any fancy dancy exegesis from me to help you see what's plain as day in the text.

00:02:30.000 | You need to be drawn to it.

00:02:32.000 | So Pharisees, number one, let's go to Luke.

00:02:35.000 | You don't need to look these up.

00:02:36.000 | I'll pass over them, but you can jot down the text if you want to or get the tape, tape, tape.

00:02:42.000 | That's not the word anymore.

00:02:43.000 | Whatever you call it.

00:02:45.000 | Luke 16, 13 to 14.

00:02:47.000 | No servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one despised the other.

00:02:55.000 | You cannot serve God and money.

00:02:58.000 | Verse 14, the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard these things and ridiculed him.

00:03:08.000 | Matthew 23, 25 to 28.

00:03:14.000 | Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside are full of greed.

00:03:27.000 | And self indulgence sound like.

00:03:29.000 | Your God is your belly.

00:03:32.000 | Self indulgence, accuracy us.

00:03:36.000 | Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

00:03:50.000 | Almost everywhere in the New Testament where Akathar C.S. is used is sexual perversion of all kinds, sexual uncleanness, which most often.

00:04:01.000 | I'm sorry.

00:04:03.000 | Verse 28.

00:04:04.000 | So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and.

00:04:10.000 | Lawlessness.

00:04:13.000 | Are you kidding me?

00:04:17.000 | The Pharisees, the most preeminent law keepers.

00:04:21.000 | Jesus says, no, really, they're full of greed, self indulgence, sexual perversion and lawlessness, meaning God and his word are not their authority, their belly, their appetites, their groin is their authority.

00:04:39.000 | That's what Jesus said about Pharisees.

00:04:43.000 | Not exactly the way I typically think about squeaky clean sinners called Pharisees.

00:04:50.000 | So I got to rid myself of this segregation of legalistic Pharisees over here and libertine lovers of money over here.

00:05:01.000 | That's not the way Jesus sees the world.

00:05:04.000 | Number two, the rich young man.

00:05:06.000 | Mark 10, 17 to 22.

00:05:10.000 | As Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt down before him and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

00:05:18.000 | Jesus said to him, why do you call me good?

00:05:21.000 | No one is good, but God alone.

00:05:23.000 | You know, the commandments do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.

00:05:33.000 | And he said, teacher, all of these I have kept from my youth.

00:05:40.000 | And Jesus, looking at him, loved him.

00:05:45.000 | And said to him, you lack one thing.

00:05:50.000 | Go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven.

00:05:57.000 | Come follow me. Disheartened by the saying, he went away.

00:06:06.000 | Sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

00:06:13.000 | Who's he? What's going on here?

00:06:17.000 | I kept them all. I have devoted my life to law keeping and commandment keeping.

00:06:25.000 | And Jesus said, well, let me just let me just probe a little bit about where your heart is.

00:06:33.000 | And as soon as he puts his finger on money, he's gone.

00:06:37.000 | He was whatever else was going on in this man's life.

00:06:42.000 | Commandment keeping from his youth was a cloak of the love of money.

00:06:49.000 | That's what Jesus is saying.

00:06:53.000 | Number three, Judas.

00:06:55.000 | Now, I'm going to Judas, not because he is heralded as a law keeper, a commandment keeper,

00:07:03.000 | but because he's a preacher of the kingdom and a worker of miracles.

00:07:07.000 | Here's Mark six, seven and twelve to thirteen.

00:07:14.000 | Jesus called the twelve. That's Judas.

00:07:18.000 | Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two.

00:07:22.000 | I'd love to know who was paired up with Judas.

00:07:25.000 | Send them out two by two.

00:07:28.000 | And gave them authority over unclean spirits, including Judas.

00:07:35.000 | So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.

00:07:41.000 | So Judas was a preacher of repentance.

00:07:45.000 | And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil, many who were sick and healed them.

00:07:53.000 | So Judas cast out demons.

00:07:57.000 | Judas preached repentance.

00:07:59.000 | Judas healed the sick.

00:08:02.000 | We know he did for a couple of reasons.

00:08:04.000 | Number one, if they all had this power, except Judas, he would have been exposed as a charlatan.

00:08:12.000 | But in fact, they trusted him to the end. All of them.

00:08:15.000 | To the very end they trusted him and gave him the best benefit of the doubt as he walked out from the Last Supper.

00:08:22.000 | No suspicions.

00:08:24.000 | That would not have been true if everybody could do miracles except Judas.

00:08:28.000 | And second, we know it because Jesus himself made clear that unbelievers like Judas can do miracles.

00:08:38.000 | Because he said in Matthew 7, 21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

00:08:49.000 | On that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name, just like Judas?'

00:09:05.000 | And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you, Judas, you workers of lawlessness.'"

00:09:16.000 | Remarkable how that word turns up for the Pharisees, turns up for the rich young man, turns up for these folks.

00:09:27.000 | Judas was a worker of miracles, a preacher of repentance, a minister of the kingdom, and he was a lover of money.

00:09:33.000 | He was a lover of money.

00:09:35.000 | He didn't care about the poor.

00:09:37.000 | It says in John 12, 6, "Judas did not care about the poor, but he was a thief.

00:09:46.000 | And having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it."

00:09:55.000 | John 12, 6, he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver after three years of watching this most magnificent of human beings love and doing the works himself.

00:10:11.000 | So not only must we beware of segregating religious Pharisees from the lovers of money, that's a big mistake if that's in your head like it was in mine.

00:10:24.000 | But also from segregating lawless miracle workers from lovers of money.

00:10:32.000 | There's a lot of those around today.

00:10:35.000 | The love of money is the root of all evils, including Phariseeism and lawless miracle working.

00:10:46.000 | So Pharisees and rich young ruler and Judas and now the last glimpse is Philippians 3.

00:10:55.000 | Scholars debate who these enemies of the cross are in verse 18 of chapter 3.

00:11:07.000 | "Behold, I have told you before, I tell you now with tears, there are people who walk as enemies of the cross, their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things."

00:11:23.000 | They have hearts that are just like a magnet to the world and not to God.

00:11:28.000 | That's the description in verses 18 and 19 of chapter 3.

00:11:33.000 | So who they are, big debate about are they worldly libertines or are they rigorous Pharisees?

00:11:41.000 | Like Paul says they're dogs and they mutilate the flesh.

00:11:47.000 | They've turned circumcision into a mere mutilation because they don't worship by the Spirit of God, they don't boast in Christ Jesus.

00:11:54.000 | They live according to the flesh.

00:11:58.000 | If they want to compete, I'll compete, you know, and then you list his pedigree which ends with, I was a Pharisee.

00:12:06.000 | So is it those folks or these folks?

00:12:09.000 | And now I'm just saying we don't need to choose.

00:12:13.000 | Big, big, big mistake to choose between those two groups.

00:12:20.000 | I think it's naive, it's naive in terms of human reality as Jesus sees it to say, "I think we need to separate those two out."

00:12:30.000 | I don't think Paul would say that, I don't think Jesus would say that.

00:12:36.000 | The Pharisees love money and they don't love God.

00:12:45.000 | And that's the relationship between Phariseeism and the love of money that I wanted to point out.

00:12:53.000 | And the last thing is the greatness of God.

00:12:56.000 | So Paul said in Philippians 3, 5, and 6, "I was a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law a Pharisee,

00:13:06.000 | as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless."

00:13:15.000 | So I was the paragon Pharisee, which means according to Jesus, Paul loved money.

00:13:26.000 | He had a heart that was finding more contentment, more peace, more security in stuff of this world than in the fellowship and faithfulness of God.

00:13:42.000 | And in chapter 4, Paul admits this and tells us how he was freed.

00:13:49.000 | And I would like us to enjoy the same freedom that he found.

00:13:54.000 | Here's what he says, chapter 4, verse 11, "Not that I speak of being in need,"

00:14:00.000 | because he had just thanked them for their gifts and he so much did not want to be seen as craving their money.

00:14:08.000 | "Not that I am speaking of being in need, but I have learned,"

00:14:15.000 | now that's an important word because it is a confession.

00:14:20.000 | "I wasn't always like this. I had to learn this. I was a Pharisee and seethed with discontent and craved."

00:14:32.000 | "Not that I'm speaking of being in need, I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.

00:14:39.000 | I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound.

00:14:46.000 | In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret.

00:14:53.000 | I didn't know it once. I didn't know the secret once of being free from the love of money and having deep, sweet, restful contentment of soul.

00:15:05.000 | I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

00:15:12.000 | I can do it all. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

00:15:16.000 | So we should ask in closing, "What was that secret? What has he learned?"

00:15:22.000 | And he gives us the answer very clearly, that the secret that cut the nerve of love of money

00:15:31.000 | and cut the duplicity of Phariseeism with one stroke, same stroke,

00:15:38.000 | is found in chapter 3, verses 7 and 8. "Whatever gain I had, which was totally not working,

00:15:46.000 | I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss

00:15:56.000 | because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

00:16:05.000 | For His sake, for the sake of that supreme worth, I have suffered the loss of all things

00:16:11.000 | and count them as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ."

00:16:18.000 | That's his secret.

00:16:21.000 | The greatness of all that God was for him in Christ.

00:16:26.000 | The greatness of all that God was for him in Christ.

00:16:33.000 | The surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus.

00:16:36.000 | And compared to him, he said, all the money and all the moral achievements,

00:16:41.000 | all the money, all the world, and all the moral accomplishments

00:16:47.000 | with one blow have become garbage compared to Christ.

00:16:53.000 | Great point on the preciousness of Christ.

00:16:56.000 | This clip was taken from a devotional titled "Phariseeism, Money, and the Greatness of God,"

00:17:02.000 | delivered in Chicago on June 10, 2019.

00:17:05.000 | Sobering clip.

00:17:07.000 | If you have a sermon clip to share, email me.

00:17:09.000 | Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title, and the time stamp of where the clip happens in the audio,

00:17:13.000 | and make a note of what stands out to you.

00:17:15.000 | Put the word "clip" in the subject line of an email and send it to me at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

00:17:22.000 | That's an email address, askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

00:17:27.000 | John Piper is back with us on Friday.

00:17:31.000 | Our listener wants to know if the world brings God more glory, or if the world brings God more dishonor.

00:17:36.000 | How do we know? How do we compare them to find out?

00:17:39.000 | It's actually a fascinating discussion to have in the macro big picture,

00:17:43.000 | and we're going to have that discussion on Friday.

00:17:46.000 | I'm your host Tony Reinke. We'll see you then.

00:17:48.000 | [End]

00:17:49.000 | [End of Audio]

00:17:50.000 | [End of Audio]

00:17:51.000 | [End of Audio]

00:17:52.000 | [End of Audio]

00:17:53.000 | [End of Audio]

00:17:54.000 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

The Pervasive Problem of Loving Money

Chapters