The Church Meeting in Jesus’ Name
602 Oak Knoll Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78228
Epistle
July 2020
2020 Event Calendar
JULY 22 – 26
- Mission Conference
OCTOBER 17
- Men’s Meeting
2021 Event Calendar
FEBRUARY 5-14
- Revival with David Spurgeon
The Bottom Line
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:9-10
This Bible passage is controversial, but not because it is hard to understand, which it isn’t, nor hard to believe, which it is. It is controversial because it is so obviously true and so relevant it smarts. Of course modern translations in English mutilate the “root of all evil” reference, because they think they can imagine some scenario in which an evil was not caused by the love of money. So if ever some case of rape was not caused by love of money then moderns surmise the KJV is just wrong, so they change it. Of course the old Bibles translated it the way the KJV does, at least as far back as Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, so there’s nothing wrong with the translation, and there isn’t any legitimate discrepancy among variant manuscripts for the usual quick solution modern versions have to passages they don’t like. So they just re-translate the phrase to make it say next to nothing, like “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Which phrase, if it had been translated like that since the beginning, would never have caught on (or as they now say, “gone viral”) in the first place. But in its original form, the phrase is found quoted in every generation since the beginning, by people all over the world, believers and unbelievers.
“The lack of money is the root of all evil.” Mark Twain
“How can money be the root of all evil when shopping is the cure for all sadness?” Elizabeth Taylor
“Anybody tells you that money is the root of all evil doesn’t have any.” Ben Affleck
The phrase is intentionally shocking, forcing sincere readers to consider how much damage love of money has done in the world since the beginning, and how deeply it has affected them. If some case of hatred or jealous rage, or drunkenness, cannot be immediately traced to love of money, that doesn’t undermine the claim. The love of money is so deeply embedded in the human fallen condition no evil found in society is free from its influence. And such is the point Paul is making. Christians are highly susceptible to this wickedness that undergirds every existing societal evil. If every scourge of humanity is built upon the love of money, rather than quibbling over an overtly literal translation that may have mathematical issues, Christians should just avoid it like the plague.
But Christians don’t. Modern versions might be partly to blame, because they soften the warning, but I think the problem is much deeper than careless Bible shuffling. Modern Christianity has become soaked in a “bottom line” mentality, where success itself is defined as ministry income. The practice of storehouse tithing, causing preachers to emphasize the importance of money, has twisted the minds of believers into thinking that the work of God follows a business model. And this leads to unbelievers understandably mocking money-mongering preachers. This doesn’t excuse such scorners, who are as money-hungry as any preacher they criticize. But the whole business is a crying shame.
Unsurprisingly, and inevitably, big business and corporations are staggeringly affected by what is appropriately called the “bottom line.” The way modern economies are structured the only thing that matters is the monetary return. It shouldn’t be necessary to point out the huge evil that becomes. Profit isn’t the problem, of course. All business interests must turn a profit. Jesus expresses the importance of profit in several of his accountability parables, even the profit of usury, so often abused and highly criticized in the Bible. Profit is good, and necessary. But in no stretch of the imagination should profit be the only thing that matters, not even in business. It should not even be the most important thing. It certainly should rank near the bottom in lists of life’s priorities. The bottom line is often a spiritual bait and switch used by the devil against believers’ own consciences. Slave-holders refused to correct their own heinous crimes against humanity because they were only considering the bottom line. Career women kill their own children because they consider only the bottom line. Modern international corporations consign millions to oppression, prison and death, in our generation, as we speak, without a word of sympathy, because of the bottom line. Try to find a large business interest that is unwilling to turn a blind eye to communist China’s crimes against real people. Find one major CEO that speaks out against it. There are none. Why? The same reason Anthony Johnson (look him up), Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington wouldn’t free their slaves and offer them a job. The bottom line.
Don’t get me wrong. These weren’t the only sinners. And their accusers were also sinners, and the folks today incensed by the sins of the past, toppling monuments in hypocritical, irrational and arrogant rage, are also grievous sinners. But call it like it is. There was no excuse. Many others did the right thing even in their day, even when it was hard. Ulysses Grant was raised an abolitionist, but when he obtained a slave through marriage, even in the throes of poverty himself, forced to manual labor to make ends meet, he freed the man, even though selling him would have liquidated his debts and enriched him substantially. So while slave-holders stammered out excuses, God’s word thundered from heaven and countless earthly pulpits, “they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare.” Boy, ain’t it so.
Beyond the rampant corruption of modern church organizations, and the historical hypocrisy of easy believers, it should be realized that the love of money is even affecting simple Christians in their everyday lives to this day, in the words of the apostle, piercing them through with many sorrows, and drowning them in destructive life-choices. Christians are very much like unbelievers in political issues, voting less about morality, and more about their pocketbooks, so to speak. Affluent believers live in unimaginable luxury and struggle to tithe. Christian fathers often work themselves to premature death and neglect of their own precious children for it. Christians routinely abandon a Spirit-led church in a Bible-belt town, to follow the money in their career, even though they were well fed and clothed, both physically and spiritually where they were. Christians habitually assume their financial well being indicates their spiritual standing with God, even though the Bible demolishes that premise time and again.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: Revelation 3:17
Christians often fall into the snare of buying lottery tickets, even though the only motivation for such a practice is the will to be rich. Believers in good church standing frequent gambling houses, in so called “sin-cities,” or on cruise lines, or vacationing in the Caribbean. Pastors leave the practice alone, to their shame, choosing not to interrupt modern Christian recreational activities with annoying sermons about greed. What’s wrong with it, they say? It gets poor people to pay taxes, they rationalize. Why would preachers neglect their duty to warn believers of something repeatedly emphasized in the Bible? You guessed it. Their own bottom line.
Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. Titus 1:11
The apostles couldn’t seem to despise the love of money enough, constantly referring to it as greed for filthy lucre. The filthiness of profit (lucre) wasn’t due to dishonesty in obtaining it. Peter warns pastors about their focus, exhorting service to God’s flock with a ready mind, not for filthy lucre (1 Peter 5:2). This wasn’t dishonest gain, it was about offerings they received for spiritual work, and they had to be reminded that the financial aspect was the filthy aspect. The love of money tarnished the idea of profit so pervasively that it was associated almost universally among early preachers with greed and filth.
God expects Christians to “flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness” (v.11). The indication is that following after righteousness is fleeing the love of money. What does a Christian have to do with the filthy desire to be rich? God says, having food and raiment let us therewith be content (v. 8). Let your conversation be without covetousness, he says, and be content with such things as ye have (Heb. 13:5). If you are having trouble with these sentiments, if you find yourself saying “but what about…,” it is because you struggle to believe the Bible on this score. Jesus said,
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Matthew 6:24-25
Mammon is defined by Christ in Luke 16 as riches. I’m sure, as most preachers have reiterated over the years, Jesus did not say this to rebuke preparations for the future. The Bible endorses preparation, and diligence to prepare is not the same as worrying about tomorrow, or hungering for riches, which are the points of Christ’s warning here. But Jesus minced no words. You cannot serve both God and mammon. So take no thought for mammon. If you are tempted to desire riches under the impression it is important to avoid poverty in the future, you are being deceived by the love of money. You fall into temptation. And many have drowned in that great deep. Learn contentment, he says, which is truly great gain (v.6). And don’t be fooled by the lure of our modern prosperity.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 1 Timothy 6:7
If you know that’s true, then you know what to do. Try making a decision against money. Entertain ambitions that require no money, something that money might actually get in the way of. Try prioritizing spiritual wealth. Even if, or maybe especially because, it isn’t easy, it’s worth doing. And only so can the “man of God” really be a man of God.