7.29.2007 Christian Reflections on The Secret” #5 The Secret To Money
WESTMINSTER PULPIT
The Rev. Dr. David Thompson
July 29, 2007 “Christian Reflections on The Secret” #5 The Secret To Money
What do we believe about money? Are any of these statements our beliefs?
Money doesn’t grow on trees | I don’t deserve |
Money is evil | I never lend money |
Rich people are crooks | A penny saved is a penny earned |
I will never get a good job | My job is my only source of income |
I will never make any money | I could never charge that much |
Money goes out faster than it comes in | Poverty is next to Godliness |
Poor people can never get out from under | There is not enough to go round |
I am a starving artist | I can’t afford that |
Only people who cheat have money | I don’t deserve to have nice things |
None of these beliefs serve us or God! What does the Bible say about money? Is it wrong to be wealthy? Is money somehow evil? If you are rich, are you a second class citizen because “God has a preferential option for the poor?”
The book of Timothy says: “People who long to be rich are prey to temptation. They get trapped into all sorts of foolish and dangerous ambitions which eventually plunge them into ruin and destruction. The love of money is the root of all evils and there are some who pursuing it have wandered away from the faith and so given their soul any number of fatal wounds.” So is money bad? Please note this. Timothy is saying that the love of money is the root of all evil, not that money itself is evil. He also uses the word some as a qualifier. “There are some who in pursuing it have wandered away from the faith.” So there must be others for whom the love of money is not a problem and they may also be rich. It’s the longing to be rich that is the problem for St Paul not being rich itself.
Jesus says, “We can’t be the slave of two masters.” We will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the other with scorn. We cannot be the slave of God and money. This is very close to what is said in Timothy because Christ is also talking about the love of money. He is not saying that money itself is evil at all, but putting it in the place of God is a no no. Do we want a healthy attitude to money? Love God. Put nothing in God’s place. In another place he says get your priorities straight and seek the kingdom of God and all the things you seek after like money and material things will be added to you. Money cannot be the priority. It can be a means to an end. It can and must serve and not be master. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, (the rich man who went to hell), wanted Abraham to get him out of there. Abraham reminded him of the poor beggar who had sat daily at his gates when he walked by and did not help. In other words the rich man ignored his neighbor Lazarus whose life he could have transformed.
Genesis says that Abraham was a very rich man. Lot was also wealthy. But Abraham seemed to be able to be a wonderful person as well as very rich. We see him in the Genesis account being very gracious with Lot. He said to Lot: “Part company with me. If you take the left I will go right; if you take the right, I will go left.” Abraham had a good set of eyes. He could see what Lot saw. He knew which was better land.
Lot sized the situation up and saw that the better land was irrigated like the Garden of Eden and selfishly chose that. This is the first kindness of Abraham to Lot. He later rescued him from the destruction of Sodom. Lot appears in the Scripture to make poor choices and generally speaking Abraham makes better choices. I believe that Abraham was far richer than Lot, but he also had balance and wisdom. Abraham loved God. According to the book of Hebrews he lived by faith in God.
Moses started out as a child hidden in bulrushes by his sister at the edge of the Nile to save him from death by the Egyptians. Discovered there by Pharaoh’s daughter and adopted by her, he eventually rose up to be Israel’s leader. He was treated as a king’s son by the Egyptians. After committing a murder and suffering self imposed banishment Moses eventually became the leader of Israel. There is little doubt that he was very well off and highly respected in his later life. He wrote the ethical basis for Israeli’s society based on his personal relationship with God. Moses loved God.
Joseph was a “rags to riches” story. He is in fact an illustration of The Secret at work. What goes around comes around. His brothers have Joseph at their mercy and because of favoritism by their father Jacob; they throw Joseph in a pit and finally sell him as a slave, telling the father that he is dead. When famine comes they go to Egypt where Joseph has risen to be the most influential man in the land and this time Joseph has them at his mercy. Joseph unspoiled by his great wealth is gracious to them after he teaches them a lesson. In fact Joseph’s wealth and foresight actually save his family from starving to death. Forgiveness reigns and Joseph is reunited with his father. Joseph also loved God deeply.
King David began as a shepherd boy and rose to be Israel’s greatest King. He too was rich. David also loved God. Scripture says of him that he was “beloved of God”.
King Solomon was incredibly rich. But when he started out as King he asked God for the gift of wisdom. He didn’t ask for money. But his wisdom made him very wealthy indeed and during his reign there was peace in Israel. Solomon also loved God. Solomon like all the great Biblical characters, had failings, and his incredible wealth may have caused him problems in his later life.
Any time that the love of God gets substituted with the love of anything else we get into trouble. Such is the Biblical record.
That is probably why the great St Augustine once said; “Love God and do what you like”… The Biblical message is that it is alright to be wealthy, but we do need to be careful about money. We can get off track if we are not. Being truly wealthy is not just about money. James Ray of The Secret says: “I find so many people who make a tremendous amount of money, but their relationships stink. And that’s not wealth. You can go after the money and you might get rich, but it doesn’t guarantee that you will be wealthy. I’m not suggesting that money isn’t a part of wealth. It absolutely is. But it is only a part. And then I meet a lot of people who are “spiritual” but they are sick and broke all the time. That’s not wealth either. Life is meant to be abundant in all areas.”
Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and that more abundantly.”
Marcy Shimoff of The Secret team says, “Many people in Western culture are striving for success. They want the great home, they want their businesses to work, and they want all these outer things. But what we found in our research is that having these outer things doesn’t guarantee what we really want, which is happiness. So we go for these outer things thinking they are going to bring us happiness, but it’s backwards. You need to go for the inner joy, the inner peace, the inner vision first, and then all the outer things appear.”
As Jesus said: “The Kingdom of God is within you. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.” The Secret here and the Bible are on the same page.
So what is The Secret methodology to money? The Secret says that if we believe any of the things with which I began the sermon we will block the flow of good to us. Negative thoughts block good from coming to us. Do we want to be truly wealthy in the best sense? Stop thinking limits and negative thoughts. Have unwavering faith instead.
Negative thoughts block good from coming to us. How could they not? What goes around comes around. Whatever we sow we reap. If we believe in scarcity, that will become our reality. If we say “I can’t afford that”, that will come true for us. How could it not? What we believe is very important. What we say is very important, if our parents taught us that money doesn’t grow on trees and we do not examine that later in life, we will find that that becomes true for us. Scarcity becomes our subconscious intention. Instead of money doesn’t grow on trees The Secret tells us to use the phrase, “Money comes often and easily”.
So what do we do if we don’t have enough money? We change our beliefs about it. We change our intention and make it whole. We bless our bills because they represent the trust placed in us by others who give us the service ahead of our paying for it. That is wonderful! We don’t trust people at gas stations any more, we must pay first. But a bill is trust. Let’s bless our bills!
It is alright to be wealthy. We need to give ourselves permission to become wealthy if we have been taught that wealthy people are somehow materialistic and Godless. But we need to steward that wealth and we need to broaden the definition of wealth to inner peace, joy, happiness, kindness and wisdom as well as financial prosperity. And when we become wealthy, even before that, we need to give away our money and become generous. If we are not well off we need to prime the pump by becoming a giver not a taker only. It is my experience that some wealthy people are stingy. But it is also my experience that some wealthy people are the most generous people I know. They can’t seem to give all their money away because when they do more flows in.
Bill and Melinda Gates are very wealthy; they are changing some incredible things with their wealth from their foundation. Warren Buffet in his later years admires what Bill and Melinda are doing with their wealth and has given heavily to them so that they can administer his wealth as well for charity. Wealth properly used can help make the world a better place.
John Calvin the Protestant theologian taught that there was a positive role for money to play in the Christian life and in society. He said it was like blood in the body. He was the one in the protestant tradition who gave permission to charge interest on money, allowing those who lent money a modest return. Christ in the parable of the talents had no time for the person who was to steward money who hid it in the ground. The one who took the biggest responsible risk for his master was commended.
If we love God, if we want to be wealthy in every way and money is a part of that, if we seek as Solomon did to be wise, if we want to be wealthy to fulfill a dream that makes the world a better more peaceful, more just society, if we love and care for the poor; then we need to change our beliefs as Christians about money. Money can be a blessing to us and others.
It is okay to attract money. The favorite folk story in this great country of America is the rags to riches theme. We claim rightly to be a land of opportunity. We have been incredibly blessed.
There is just one thing we all need to remember that will liberate us. Love God first!
Martha Hawkins was a single mom with a dream, she wanted to open a restaurant but she got so discouraged with her life that she attempted suicide. Her son discovered her and a hospital pumped her stomach. She returned to her housing project and welfare. But in the hospital she had reached out and read her Gideon Bible. Since her life was not working she decided that she had to read her Bible, that somehow the Bible was her solution.
Her dream came back to her more strongly. She spoke of it to her sons but they just shook their heads. With three of her boys on college scholarships she decided to return to school to get her GED and take some university courses. She realized that it would take a lot of money to start her own business. She applied for loans, no luck. But she kept talking about her dream to everyone. She was a cleaning lady to make ends meet and one day she talked to a lawyer who she cleaned for. One day he led her to a house, down on its heels but solid and familiar. It was the house she had seen in her dreams. He said that she could have it rent free until she got the business on its feet.
She saved her money and bought one can of paint at a time. She would bake a couple of pies and sell them for a gallon of paint. She got her relatives to help her so much that they began to hide from her on weekends! She combed yard sales for chairs, tables, dishes and silverware. She sewed napkins and drapes.
She got discouraged again and one day got so low that she sat down on the floor and cried and cried. Then she remembered her Bible and put it down on the floor and stood on it. God’s universe loves symbolic gestures. With this as her foundation she cried out loud; “You love me. I am not alone!” She believed the scripture that with God she could do all things.
On October 1988 she opened Martha’s place for business--Southern Home Cooking. It became a success.
She said: “You see I am no longer the problem. I am blessed, blessed, blessed.” In other words Gratitude! Martha Hawkins created her dream. On the way she changed her thinking. She began to put God first.
She attracted her dream until the specific man walked into her life that believed in her and made it possible along with her deep commitment. He took her to the very house she had seen in her dream. Was it a coincidence, or the law of attraction?
We need healing all of us when it comes to thinking about money and the way for us to get the healing is to begin with gratitude and put God first in our lives; have unwavering faith; make sure that we love our neighbor, believe that we have our dream already which casts out doubt and trust God for the abundance that is to come.
This is part of the Christian Secret to money. More next week. May God richly bless us with the full definition of wealth of mind, heart, spirit, gratitude, grace, forgiveness and healing at our deepest levels and the material things will be added unto us and we will not be their slaves.
May God bless us all with abundance, and may we use it well!
For the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof and all they who dwell therein. Amen
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