Money Ethics

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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October 24, 2019

00:02: Well, welcome everyone and good evening.
00:04: This is our seventh of eight classes in the study of Christian ethics.
00:12: I want to begin tonight with just an overview of some of the things that you should know up until this point.
00:18: Number one, I mentioned this earlier, but just to say it again, someone has turned in homework.
00:23: Each week you're supposed to turn in a homework page showing me that you've listened to the briefing and that you've written something about what you heard.
00:33: The briefing is a daily radio program, online podcast about world events from a Christian worldview.
00:44: If you haven't been doing that, you're missing out because there's just so much information in that podcast that is available.
00:52: But if you did your homework and you didn't put your name on it, you don't get credit for it.
00:57: And this is part of your final grade.
00:59: If you do your final paper, but you didn't do the weekly briefing, I'm going to have to add up all of the different things to see if you qualify for the certificate.
01:09: You have to get a C or above to get the certificate and if it doesn't add up, then you won't.
01:14: So if you haven't done these, consider that because you might not get a good grade on your paper.
01:20: But if you don't get such a good grade on your paper, but you did do those, then it bumps your grade up.
01:25: You know, it kind of balances out.
01:27: That's why I give you that opportunity weekly to earn a little credit.
01:32: I have here also the roster.
01:36: I'm going to pass this around, Travis, if you would.
01:39: Make sure your name is on it.
01:40: You have to attend six out of the eight classes to receive credit.
01:45: If you don't, unless there's some extreme emergency, then you would just simply forfeit the credit for this course.
01:52: There are only eight times.
01:54: It's not, you can't miss a lot and still feel like you've gotten the information.
02:02: The next thing, as I just have a whole litany of things before we actually get to the lesson, is tonight you should be handing in your ethical question for the final class.
02:15: Next week we don't have class.
02:17: It's October 31st.
02:19: I used that night to evangelize, so I told you from the very beginning we wouldn't have class on October 31st.
02:25: It's also Reformation Day.
02:26: I know it's Halloween, but it's the anniversary of the Reformation.
02:30: So I take that day very seriously.
02:34: But I need these tonight.
02:36: And if you don't have one of these, I don't have any more writing on a piece of paper.
02:40: What this is is the question that you'd like for us to discuss in the last class.
02:45: How many we will discuss will be determined by time.
02:49: But if I only got one or two, that's not good.
02:53: I want to have as many of these as I can so that we can look at several ethical questions.
02:58: And these are things, I would hope they would be things that really matter to you.
03:01: Not just a trick question like how many angels can dance on the head of a pen, but I mean really something, you know, Pastor, I dealt with this and I don't know how to give the answer, where do we go? What Scriptures would you use? How would you relate this to a biblical paradigm and how would we come to a conclusion? That's what this is about.
03:22: So if you haven't handed this in, please do so.
03:27: Is this the hand in? This is the hand.
03:29: Okay, so we'll drop that in there.
03:32: Last but not least, as you all know, two weeks from now is our last class for 2019.
03:40: We start back again in January of 2020 with Greek.
03:44: We are doing an introduction to Greek vocabulary and that is going to begin in January.
03:52: I haven't got the date yet.
03:53: I will have it for you.
03:54: It will be on the Facebook page and I'll send you a message.
03:58: Everybody will know.
03:59: Probably be the second week in January.
04:01: But it's going to be an eight-week course on introduction to Greek vocabulary.
04:04: If you've never done Greek before, you need this class.
04:08: I mean, if you've never even looked at a Greek word, this is the class for you.
04:14: This is not grammar or syntax.
04:17: It's vocabulary, understanding the alphabet, understanding how to read the language on the page and how to decipher the words.
04:27: Syntax and grammar come later.
04:29: You have to know some rudimentary vocabulary before you can do that.
04:34: So that's the next class, starts in January.
04:37: But between now and then, I have an opportunity for some learning for you.
04:41: If you feel like, oh, two months is just too long, and it is a long time to go without this class, there is an opportunity.
04:51: Starting next Wednesday night, Wednesday, keep that in mind, it's not Thursday, starting next Wednesday night, I'm going to be hosting six weeks on Reformation history during our Wednesday night time, and it includes a video and a lecture.
05:12: So that's going to be, I'm taking a short break from our systematic theology because we're fixing to move into the doctrine of sin and salvation and systematic theology.
05:23: That was the heart of the Reformation anyway.
05:25: That was what really caused the problems of Reformation.
05:28: So starting next Wednesday night, we start with prayer.
05:31: Brother Andy is going to lead prayer at 630.
05:33: As soon as he's done, I'll come up and introduce the video.
05:37: There's six sessions, six different Protestant Reformers, their history, what they did for the church, why they matter, and then we're going to discuss it.
05:47: And this does not qualify for credit, unfortunately, because it's not long enough, not intensive enough, but it is a great addition to the history course.
05:57: If you did church history two terms back with us, this is a great addition to that course.
06:04: So keep in mind, if you're going to miss me for two months, here's an opportunity to come and see us.
06:12: It'll just be on Wednesday night.
06:14: Now I know some of you all go to other churches, you can't come on Wednesday night, I understand.
06:18: But...
06:18: What if you did do the class before? Oh, you don't have to.
06:21: In fact, I'm going to show one of the videos to the guys that set free Thursday.
06:24: Because Thursday is Reformation Day, I called Mark and I said, can I use the TV Thursday? Because it's only a 25 minute video.
06:31: Each video is 25 minutes long and I'm going to show them the Martin Luther video Thursday to introduce them to him and what he did.
06:38: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, it's going to be a great day.
06:40: Next Thursday is going to be a lot of fun.
06:42: All right, so I know I took up some of our time.
06:44: Sorry about that.
06:45: Let's move on now into our ethics class.
06:47: This is week number seven.
06:51: So far we have looked at several things.
06:53: We have looked at life ethics, which included abortion, reproduction, and genetics.
06:58: We've looked at death ethics, which included suicide, euthanasia, and capital punishment.
07:04: We have looked at war ethics, which included pacifism, just war theory, personal protection, and self-defense.
07:12: Last week we looked at sex ethics.
07:15: We looked at marriage and divorce, fornication, adultery, and polyamory.
07:20: And we even looked at alternative lifestyle questions.
07:23: What the Bible has to say about those.
07:26: So tonight we are moving on to the subject of money ethics.
07:30: I would have called this economic ethics, but everything else was so simple.
07:36: Life, death, sex, money.
07:38: I just felt like it was simpler just to call it money ethics because that's really the heart of what we are doing.
07:44: We are going to look at three parts.
07:45: So you see my board up here? This is the outline of tonight's lesson.
07:50: We are going to look first, poverty is a virtue.
07:53: And you notice there is a question mark beside that.
07:56: The reason why is it's not so much stating poverty is a virtue, the question is poverty a virtue, and are those who believe that it is correct in believing so.
08:08: So that's that question.
08:11: The next one is we are going to look at some economic systems.
08:14: We are going to break down basics of socialism, capitalism, and communism.
08:21: And then we will take our break at 730, take our few minute break, and then we will come back and we are going to look at the subject of work and vocation.
08:32: So that's the outline for tonight.
08:34: Let's begin.
08:36: Poverty as a virtue, question mark.
08:40: In the latter part of the 20th century, with the rise in television and radio ministries, the church has been confronted with the false teachings of the health and wealth gospel.
08:54: The teachers of this movement propose that if you have enough faith, you will always experience a healthy physical life and an abundant financial life.
09:08: This is sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel.
09:13: More simply, the name it and claim it gospel.
09:19: If I can say it, I can have it.
09:21: If I can claim it, I can have it.
09:24: And it is a mindset that is appealing to many, but I believe is rightly seen as heretical.
09:32: However, there is another position on the other end of the scale that could also be seen as both incorrect and potentially dangerous, and that is the demand that all Christians live in voluntary poverty.
09:51: Throughout church history, there have been those who claim that Christianity requires an abandonment of any personal wealth.
10:01: Some call this the poverty gospel.
10:06: So we have two extremes.
10:08: Health and wealth says that faithfulness is always accompanied by abundance.
10:16: Poverty gospel says faithfulness is always accompanied by lack.
10:22: That is the two ends of the spectrum.
10:25: You have those who say if you are faithful to Christ, you will always have more than enough.
10:29: And there are those who say if you are faithful to Christ, you will always be lacking and barely have enough.
10:37: Well, let us open our Bibles and see what the Bible has to say.
10:41: Open up to Matthew with me.
10:45: We are going to go to Matthew chapter 19.
10:47: This is the passage most commonly associated with what most people would refer to as the poverty gospel.
10:59: Matthew chapter 19, verse 16, I am going to ask you to excuse me tonight.
11:06: I will be coughing a little bit.
11:08: I seem to be under the weather a little bit.
11:12: Maybe a little bit of a bug.
11:15: Matthew chapter 19, verse 16 says, And behold, a man came up to Him, that is, Jesus, saying, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? By the way, if Jesus was a good Baptist, he would say, Stop right here and pray the sinner's prayer.
11:39: But notice Jesus does not say that.
11:42: As I am saying, ask me into your heart, whatever that means, right? But that would be a good Baptist could have got this guy saved, I always say.
11:50: A good Baptist preacher could have got this guy saved.
11:53: But Jesus wants to see his heart.
11:57: Verse 17, And he said to him, Why do you ask me what is good? There is only one who is good.
12:01: If you would have eternal life, keep the commandments.
12:04: Now, Jesus is not denying his own goodness here.
12:06: I have to say this every time I make this point.
12:08: Jesus is not denying his own goodness.
12:09: He is denying this man's understanding of goodness.
12:12: This man did not understand what it meant to be good.
12:14: Because in a moment, he is going to clarify that he thinks he is good too.
12:20: He said to him, Which ones? And Jesus said, You shall not murder.
12:23: You shall not commit adultery.
12:24: You shall not steal.
12:25: You shall not bear false witness.
12:27: Honor your father and mother.
12:28: You shall love your neighbors yourself.
12:30: The young man said to himself, All these I have kept.
12:33: See, I am a good man.
12:36: That is it.
12:37: All these I have kept.
12:40: What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor.
12:47: And you will have treasure in heaven.
12:48: And come and follow me.
12:50: When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful.
12:54: For he had great possessions.
12:55: Right there is, again, the passage that is almost always associated with the demand for poverty as a Christian.
13:06: Jesus has a man who comes to him.
13:08: He says, Hey, Jesus, what must I do to be saved? Jesus said, Keep the commandments.
13:12: Essentially, if you look at it, he gave him the part of the Ten Commandments.
13:16: Murder, stealing, lying, bearing false witness.
13:19: And the guy said, I have done all that.
13:21: Which he had not.
13:23: But he still, you know what the Proverbs say.
13:26: Every man will, or most men will proclaim their own goodness.
13:30: You know, so he proclaims his own goodness.
13:32: And Jesus said, Okay, here is your real problem.
13:36: You have a lot of possessions that possess you.
13:40: So go sell them and come and follow me.
13:41: And the man went away sorrowful.
13:44: So people look at that and they say, Well, that must mean that we cannot have possessions.
13:50: Can't have anything.
13:52: Jesus told this guy to sell everything.
13:55: Everything Jesus said to every person he ever spoke to applies to everyone always.
14:00: That's the logic, by the way.
14:03: Therefore, this must apply to everyone always in every situation.
14:06: Then they follow up with verse 23.
14:10: And Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.
14:15: Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
14:21: See, Jesus adds even a heavier burden.
14:25: He's told this guy to go sell what you have.
14:28: And the disciples, he says to them, It's really hard for a rich person to be saved.
14:34: Now, this whole camel through the eye of a needle thing, there's a few people that believe that that's got something to do with a gate outside of Jerusalem where camels would have to get down and crawl through.
14:45: It's not true.
14:47: Historically, it's not accurate.
14:49: But be that as it may, it's just the point.
14:52: Jesus is saying it's hard for a rich person to go to heaven.
14:55: Why? Because their possessions possess them.
14:58: That's the point.
15:00: But I want to give you a few thoughts in this passage to consider when we come to the issue of poverty as a virtue.
15:05: Five thoughts on this passage.
15:07: Number one, Jesus does indeed tell this man to sell all that he has.
15:13: That is not up for debate.
15:15: He told this guy, sell everything you have and come and follow me.
15:22: Number two, this is a person who is owned by his wealth.
15:29: That is obvious from the narrative.
15:32: How do we know that? Because when Jesus Christ says, go sell everything you have and follow me, the man went away sorrowful.
15:41: He would rather have his earthly possessions than have Jesus.
15:46: That's a man who's owned by his wealth.
15:50: Number three, Jesus knows how to get to the root of our idolatry.
15:57: And that's really the issue here.
15:59: He might say something really different to you.
16:03: If Jesus came to you and said, Johnny, I want you to follow me, but you need to do this.
16:10: It might not be sell everything you have.
16:13: It might be something that's in Johnny's heart.
16:17: I'm not picking on you, Johnny.
16:18: I'm just saying your idolatry is different than this man's.
16:23: Jesus knew how to get to the heart of a man's idolatry.
16:29: Number four, this is a situation which deals with an individual's issues.
16:38: This is not a universal command.
16:43: There's nothing in the text that would indicate that this is a universal command.
16:48: And might I add, there's no other place in Scripture where Jesus gives such a command to anyone, even with who is the wee little man? What was his name? Zacchaeus, the wee little man.
17:05: He gave away all he had, but not at the behest of Christ.
17:08: You remember, Jesus didn't tell him to do that.
17:10: He said, I have taken, I have robbed, I'm going to give everything back.
17:13: But it wasn't that Jesus commanded that that be done.
17:16: That was the fruit of his repentance, because he knew he had stolen.
17:20: And so we don't see this.
17:22: We don't see Jesus seeing Nicodemus in John 3 saying, Oh yeah, and by the way, you need to go sell everything.
17:31: Nicodemus would have been a pretty wealthy guy, based on what we know of pharisaical culture.
17:36: He probably would have been one of the more wealthy Jews.
17:40: In the town.
17:42: And yet, we don't have the command there.
17:45: So again, is this a universal command? I would say based on the fact that we don't see it anywhere else, in this way, I would say the answer would be no.
17:55: But number five, there are others in this man's condition who do need to do as Jesus commanded this man.
18:04: Even though it's not a universal command, there are people who do need to do this.
18:10: There are people who are owned by their wealth, who would be better off to sell everything they have and come and follow Christ.
18:17: See, that's the hard part.
18:19: I can tell you it's not universal, but I ain't going to tell you it ain't exemplary.
18:23: There are some people who need to get rid of their money and follow Christ.
18:33: So, having said that, I want to look at another passage.
18:35: Turn in your Bibles with me to Acts 16.
18:50: Now, Acts 16 will not include Jesus, of course, because He has already ascended, but we have the Apostle Paul in this situation.
19:02: And we have another, what we might call, well-to-do individual by the name of Lydia.
19:11: So, Acts 16, verse 13.
19:16: On the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
19:28: One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of God.
19:37: The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul, and after she was baptized...
19:44: Stop right there.
19:45: I always have to do these little asides.
19:47: Isn't it amazing? She believed that much.
19:50: She'd never seen this guy before in her life.
19:54: She didn't go to a six-week baptism class.
19:56: I mean, she met this guy and got baptized right then.
20:00: I mean, just imagine the power of God falling on somebody, and they're ready to sign up right now.
20:06: Like the Ethiopian eunuch.
20:08: Here's water.
20:09: What prevents me from being baptized? I mean, it's right then.
20:12: This is the power of God.
20:13: It's just amazing.
20:14: I just like to point that out.
20:15: After she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.
20:24: And she prevailed upon us.
20:27: Meaning she was a little pushy.
20:29: Not bad.
20:30: But she said, Come and stay with me.
20:33: And she had them stay with her.
20:36: So what do we see in this passage? Well, I have a few things to...
20:39: Just like with the other passage, I have a few observations I'd like to point out.
20:43: Number one.
20:45: Based on the text only, we can surmise that Lydia was a woman of wealth.
20:55: I would say substantial wealth.
20:58: And here's why we can surmise that from observing the text.
21:02: Number one.
21:03: Purple goods were expensive goods.
21:06: Purple was not an easy color to come across.
21:09: It was made by a sea mollusk that they would basically milk and use the ink of it to create purple clothing.
21:16: And it was not easy to come by.
21:18: Therefore, she's not...
21:20: She ain't selling cheap stuff.
21:23: She's selling expensive stuff.
21:25: And people who market inexpensive wares tend to be more wealthy.
21:30: So again, that's an inference, not a necessity, but it is an inference.
21:36: The second thing, and I think this is more to speak to her wealth.
21:40: Not only is she a woman who is in the business of high-end goods, she has a household large enough to have people working for her.
21:53: And she has a house large enough to take in guests.
21:57: And we will see later in the book of Acts, she has a house large enough to host a church.
22:04: So not only does she have essentially workers in her home, she has a home big enough to keep the workers and guests and host a church.
22:15: Now, she could have had a granddaddy who was rich who left her that house.
22:20: We don't know.
22:21: But she didn't sell the house and become a peasant.
22:26: She kept the house.
22:27: However she came about that home, she kept the home.
22:31: And she used it in service of the Lord.
22:33: So the idea that she was forced to sell everything is not in the text.
22:39: Number two, Lydia's wealth is used for supporting traveling believers and hosting a church.
22:44: Meaning she used her wealth for good.
22:47: She used her wealth for the good of the church.
22:51: Number three, probably the most important observation, she is nowhere commanded to abandon her wealth for a life of poverty.
22:59: Nowhere is she commanded to abandon her wealth for a life of poverty.
23:07: And as I said, there are other people, this is number four, there are many others like her who are not commanded such as Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and the women who traveled with Jesus.
23:21: If you ever go back to the Gospels, you'll notice something.
23:25: The men who were with Jesus were not the ones who were supporting the ministry.
23:32: It was the women who supported the ministry whether it was from independently being wealthy or however.
23:39: The finances for the ministry primarily came from women, most likely women who had some kind of a support system that allowed them to draw from.
23:48: Yes, sir.
23:51: There are others like Lydia who used their wealth for good such as Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and the women who followed Christ during his earthly ministry.
24:02: Jesus didn't say, hey, you women go give away all your money.
24:06: He said, no, keep following me and support what we're doing.
24:09: I don't mean that in a bad way.
24:10: I mean, I'm just saying, what was Judas's job? He carried the money bag, which means they had something.
24:18: They had enough to have a bag.
24:20: I rarely have enough to have a bag.
24:27: I want to give you a thought.
24:33: The danger, you all know my feelings about the prosperity gospel.
24:37: I don't have to outline that.
24:39: But I think the poverty gospel can be just as dangerous because the prosperity gospel promises something that really is not biblical, but the poverty gospel demands something that's not biblical.
24:53: It demands that you understand your salvation comes somehow by your lack, somehow by works.
25:02: That's really what it is.
25:03: It's a works righteousness.
25:07: And prosperity too.
25:08: Yeah, they both have a works, sort of a works paper.
25:10: Yes, exactly.
25:12: The gospel movie.
25:14: Yeah, American gospel.
25:17: It can also lead to believing that there's a virtue in discomfort and sickness, and therefore a Christian can never enjoy anything in God's creation.
25:27: I mean, I know people like that.
25:29: That they just don't believe they're not allowed to enjoy anything.
25:34: And I think that can lead to a very dysfunctional, almost monastic view of a Christian life.
25:40: You remember that's what the monasteries were.
25:42: When the, what's that? I want to say, just ecclesiastical.
25:50: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
25:51: And you know, I do think we're allowed to enjoy God's creation in keeping with His words.
25:58: Certainly, there are times when we become frivolous and silly and ungodly.
26:04: But I mean, there are people who just don't believe you can have any enjoyment at all.
26:09: I remember a man one time, maybe I'll tell it.
26:12: I already started.
26:14: Sometimes I start talking and I'm like, should I really? Yeah, I'm going to say it.
26:16: I know a man one time that didn't believe that him and his wife were supposed to have sex unless they were trying to have a baby.
26:26: So they were not enjoying the physical intimacy of marriage because they didn't want to have a baby.
26:34: So he said, well, that's all it's for.
26:38: And there was no enjoyment in the intimacy of his marriage.
26:43: I said, I disagree quite vehemently, but that's another topic.
26:49: Probably the most problematic issue in the poverty gospel is that it removes the possibility of Christians building businesses, becoming employers, and establishing companies which can benefit others.
27:02: Think of that.
27:03: If you demand a poverty gospel, you are saying a Christian cannot build a business, cannot become an employer, cannot employ others, and cannot benefit others.
27:14: I think about Brother Mike Collier.
27:16: He's one of our elders here.
27:18: He owns a painting company.
27:20: The men who work for him, their companies depend on him maintaining a good business with good Christian at-work ethic, paying them on time, paying them a fair wage, and all that's based on the fact that they know they can trust him as a good Christian bossman.
27:39: Imagine if we were all supposed to be impoverished, there wouldn't be any good Christian bossmen.
27:44: It's just like we talked about during War Ethics a few weeks ago.
27:47: If no Christian could ever serve as a military person or as a policeman, we would be giving that over to the ungodly.
27:55: But they are allowed to do that because we want godly policemen.
28:00: We want godly soldiers and airmen and everything else.
28:03: We want godly businessmen and women.
28:06: We want godly people to be doing the work that has to be done anyway.
28:15: There's a great benefit in having Christian businessmen and community leaders.
28:19: There's a sanctifying presence in an ungodly world, a blessing to the employees, and probably the best examples I can give.
28:27: And I know you may, I don't know if you have a great opinion about these men or not.
28:31: I'm only speaking from a surface level because I don't know either one of them personally.
28:35: But the two men that come to mind for me are Truett Cathy and J.C.
28:39: Penney.
28:40: Now you know who J.C.
28:42: Penney is because the store was called J.C.
28:45: Penney.
28:45: But do you know what it was originally called? The Golden Rule Store.
28:50: That's what J.C.
28:51: Penney's first store was called, The Golden Rule.
28:55: And his employees knew they were working for a man of integrity.
29:01: And that went all the way to when he finally passed away.
29:05: And he was a man who was a giving man and a godly man.
29:09: Now where his company may have gone since then or anything else is irrelevant.
29:13: I'm talking about him as a man.
29:14: Same thing, Truett Cathy's the Chick-fil-A proprietor.
29:18: I don't know much about him.
29:19: I know he's dead now, but I know he claimed to believe in Christ.
29:22: And his employees always have Sunday off.
29:27: And the benefit of that is they can always go to church.
29:33: Now whether they do or not, it's between them and the Lord, but they can.
29:36: He understood his role as giving that to the Lord.
29:42: And his company has 52 days a year less than McDonald's and Hardee's and all the rest of these other companies, and yet he is not hurting at all.
29:53: The company isn't.
29:56: Yeah, isn't that amazing? And like I said, they're 52 days a year, they're off.
30:01: And they're not even working 24 hours either.
30:02: Yeah.
30:02: And McDonald's is all around the corner, and they've got them in every corner.
30:06: Yep, exactly.
30:09: So I want you to consider one other passage before we move to economic systems.
30:14: And that is, you don't have to go there, but 1 Corinthians 1.26.
30:21: Yes, sir.
30:22: Can you finish it? Because this is important.
30:30: That goes on to verse 27.
30:31: That's fine.
30:33: It says, not many of you were wise, not many of you were powerful, not many of you were noble birth.
30:37: It says not many, it doesn't say not any.
30:41: And that's one of the things we can consider.
30:44: Jesus said it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
30:48: They didn't say it was impossible.
30:51: How does a rich man enter the kingdom of God? When his wealth doesn't own him.
30:55: That's hard to do.
30:57: But that is the reality.
30:58: Can it be done? I think it has been done.
31:01: So is poverty a virtue? Not necessarily.
31:04: There needs to be Christian businessmen.
31:07: And we're going to see this later.
31:09: You as a parent, if you're a parent, your kids don't need to wonder where the next time their meal's going to come from.
31:16: And they don't need you giving their food away where they don't have.
31:21: You understand what I'm saying? You have responsibilities.
31:23: And one of the things, and I don't know the Proverbs, so don't ask me what's the exact passage, but I'll find it for you later.
31:29: I know it's there.
31:31: It talks about how a good father leaves an inheritance for his children.
31:35: And that means he was not only willing to take care of them, but he thinks about them even in his departure.
31:42: Now that doesn't mean we build our barn so full that we never share what we have.
31:46: That's the danger, right? But I think about my children.
31:50: I have health insurance and life insurance.
31:53: Health insurance hopefully keep me okay while I'm here.
31:55: But when I die, I want my kids to be taken care of.
31:57: I don't want my wife to have to go out and go to work just because I might croak tomorrow.
32:02: So I have to think about that.
32:04: So I pay for life insurance to make sure that my wife can continue to live and take care of my kids and continue to homeschool and do those things that we believe in even after I'm gone.
32:16: That's part of it, right? Somebody says, oh no, you shouldn't spend that money.
32:19: You should give that money to the poor.
32:21: Well, I am.
32:22: My kids are poor.
32:23: They ain't got nothing.
32:27: And they can't do for themselves.
32:29: So there is some virtue in saving.
32:33: There's not virtue in stinginess.
32:36: There's virtue in hard work.
32:37: There is not virtue in overwork to the detriment of your family.
32:41: There's all these things that we have to find a balance.
32:44: But certainly poverty is just like the prosperity gospel.
32:47: It's two extremes and they're ugly extremes.
32:51: All right.
32:52: Let's move now to economic systems.
32:53: We'll spend the next 20 or so minutes with this.
32:56: I've been looking forward to this.
32:59: If there's one thing that sometimes, well, if there's one thing that gets my fire going sometimes, it's how it ruffles my feathers a little.
33:12: It's the issue of the economy and how people want to solve the problems with the economy in some of the most ungodly ways.
33:25: So that's what we're gonna talk about now.
33:27: Economics.
33:29: Moving from the individual to the community, larger community.
33:35: As Americans, we live in one of the most prosperous nations around the world.
33:39: When considering the poverty gospel in our previous section, one might consider that even the poorest Americans are often better off than a large part of the world.
33:49: Many Americans live in air-conditioned homes, drive cars, carry cell phones, own personal computers, and yet they would still be considered impoverished.
33:58: If you look at the poverty line, it has been rightly said that the average American dishwasher consumes more calories in a day than the average person who lives in the third world.
34:09: Meaning there's more food going into your dishwasher and out the sink as far as calories than the average person gets in the third world.
34:20: But what is the reason for the higher standard of living that we have in the United States? You would agree we have a higher standard of living.
34:25: Even our poor folks usually have.
34:29: What's the reason? Well, many would attribute the success to the American economic system, which is an example of, not perfect, but it is an example of what is called free market capitalism.
34:44: If you want to write that down, that's an important part.
34:50: American system is an example of free market capitalism, least it once was.
34:57: And this is the simple idea of free market capitalism.
35:02: People have the right to produce and sell goods according to the principle of supply and demand.
35:11: If a person produces a product which is in great demand, they can charge more.
35:17: If there is a larger supply than there is a demand, they must charge less.
35:23: One of the virtues often proposed by the proponents of capitalism is that it promotes three things, liberty, equality, and individualism.
35:37: Free market capitalism, I'm saying from the perspective of the capitalists, they would say this is what it promotes.
35:42: I'm not saying this is what they would say.
35:45: They would say it produces liberty, equality, and individualism.
35:50: Why those three things? They would say, well, liberty because every man is free to have a good idea and pursue it.
35:57: That's liberty.
35:58: They would say equality, not equality of outcome, but equality of opportunity because anybody with a good idea can go after it, and individualism because it's up to you to make it happen.
36:12: The motto of free market capitalism is this.
36:15: Any man with a good idea and the discipline to work hard can become a success.
36:22: That's the motto.
36:22: Any man with a good idea and the discipline to work hard can become a success.
36:30: A man is free to work hard, produce a product, and live off the wages that he has produced.
36:37: That is the basic promise of free market capitalism.
36:43: Now, you may be foaming at the bit to want to tell me how bad capitalism is, and that's fine.
36:49: I was just telling you what the proponents say.
36:52: I know there are issues, and we could discuss those issues, but for time's sake, I'm just introducing you to the perspective.
37:04: Probably the best example, though, if you have trouble understanding how capitalism works, the television show Shark Tank is a good example.
37:15: People go on to Shark Tank.
37:16: They have an idea.
37:17: They propose the idea to investors, and then they sell a portion of their business to the investors so that they are able to then invest back into the business and grow the business.
37:30: I never knew how that really worked before watching the show.
37:34: I mean, I still don't know perfectly, but the people come on.
37:36: They say, I want to sell you 10% of my business for $500,000.
37:40: And the guy says, well, what you're saying is your business is worth $5 million.
37:43: And I was like, I'm real bad at math, but that sounds about me having figured out.
37:47: But that's what they're doing.
37:48: They're valuing their company.
37:49: They're saying, if you invest $500,000 in my company, in the next few years, you'll get that back and more because my company is going to grow, and it's going to have this much value.
37:58: And sometimes they have some really great things.
38:00: I mean, I've seen Shark Tank.
38:02: Some of them people come in there with just some of the neatest ideas, and sometimes I wonder what in the world, and then they get a deal.
38:09: Somebody comes in with the worst looking junk, and they get the deal.
38:13: I don't understand, but those people know how to make money.
38:16: I do not.
38:18: But I do know this.
38:19: That's a picture of it.
38:20: If you kind of want an idea of what the idea is supposed to be.
38:24: A man with a good idea who gets the opportunity to make his idea a reality through discipline and hard work can become a success.
38:35: All right.
38:36: What are some other economic systems? Well, other economic systems around the world, and there are different ones, but we're only going to look at two other ones for the lack of time.
38:47: The first one is socialism.
38:51: Don't groan already.
38:59: Socialism is an economic and political system where the ways of making a living, factories, offices, etc.
39:08: are owned by the workers who run them and the people who depend on them.
39:15: The idea of socialism is this.
39:17: The man at the top does not own the company or whatever, it is owned by the workers.
39:24: It is owned by the society.
39:26: It is owned by, not the individual, but by the collective group, by society.
39:36: Over in Russia a few years ago, I watched a video of Vladimir Putin, who is the president of Russia.
39:45: There was a company that was not doing whatever it was, was not being as successful as it was supposed to be.
39:54: The video was a few black SUVs pull up in front of the company.
40:01: Vladimir Putin steps out with his entourage.
40:04: They walk in, walk right into the boardroom and say, you're all out, we're putting in new...
40:09: I mean, everything changed just like that because he had the power and authority to change everything without any question.
40:16: That was because the government had the power to do that.
40:21: It makes sense because it's owned by society, it's not owned by the individual.
40:26: And again, I'm not trying to paint socialism as a demon, but that's the difference, right? It's the difference in individualism versus social ownership.
40:37: And then, of course, communism is very similar.
40:40: Communism is a system where all the property is public and people work and are given things by the government according to their needs.
40:51: You say, well, what's the difference? Well, there's not much difference.
40:56: In fact, I want to quote, and I'm a little nervous to quote this person, so you'll have to forgive me if this offends you.
41:05: Communism is a system where all property is public and people work and are given things by the government according to their needs.
41:16: So where socialism says everything's owned by society, in communism they say it's owned by society, but it's controlled by the government.
41:23: Socialism and communism are very similar, at least practically.
41:28: But I want to quote Ayn Rand.
41:31: Now, some of you may take offense to that.
41:34: Ayn Rand is not a Christian.
41:37: Neither does much of what she say comport with the Christian worldview.
41:43: But she knew a little something about economics, so allow me to quote this.
41:51: There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same end.
41:59: Communism proposes to enslave men by force.
42:03: Socialism proposes to enslave men by vote.
42:07: It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.
42:15: Again, don't take offense to where the quote came from.
42:18: Just consider what it's saying.
42:21: Both of them have the idea that the individual has not the right to have control over his ideas or the production of his ideas, but that those ideas belong to society as a whole.
42:41: A few years ago, President Barack Obama, making a speech regarding economics, made the point that those of you who own companies think that you have done something, but you didn't build that by yourself.
42:57: And I remember that quote.
42:59: You didn't build that.
43:00: That became a marker because those who are capitalists would say, no, yeah, we did.
43:06: But he would say, but you didn't build the roads that you drive on.
43:08: You didn't build the labor that it took to put the building up.
43:14: And you didn't do it by yourself.
43:15: You are not alone.
43:17: You required all these other things that society has given you.
43:21: Therefore, you owe society a debt.
43:24: That's the difference.
43:25: That's socialism in a nutshell.
43:28: You didn't do it by yourself.
43:30: Therefore, you shouldn't enjoy the benefits of it by yourself.
43:38: Now, I'm not here to argue the benefits or the detriments of any of these systems.
43:42: My question is, what's the Bible say? But before we get to the Bible, I want to give you an illustration that I think is very helpful.
43:50: And I use this illustration when I'm teaching children.
43:54: Because I say, what's the difference between socialism, capitalism, and communism? Here it is in a nutshell.
44:01: Socialism, you have two cows.
44:04: The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
44:09: Communism, you have two cows.
44:11: The government takes both cows and gives you some milk.
44:17: Capitalism, you have two cows.
44:20: You sell one.
44:21: You buy a bull.
44:23: Make more cows.
44:26: That's the difference.
44:27: I mean, really it is.
44:29: And again, you can say that analogy is too simple.
44:32: You can argue it to the day as long.
44:34: But that really is the difference.
44:36: And then there's fascism.
44:39: They take both cows and sell you the milk.
44:43: Then there's really bad totalitarianism.
44:45: They shoot both the cows and you.
44:47: I mean, I'm just saying, it can keep going on.
44:49: But since we're only doing capitalism, socialism, and communism.
44:55: You guys have a question, though.
44:58: What does the Bible say? Oh, and by the way, I want to take a step back real quick.
45:04: I jumped ahead of my notes.
45:05: I am aware that this is oversimplification.
45:08: So if you are out there in recorded land and you send me an email later, or if one of you send me an email and say, Pastor, you are not fair.
45:15: I'm sorry.
45:16: I have limited time.
45:20: And I know that America is no longer a purely free market system because of the introduction of things like social security, universal health care.
45:33: And now there are calls for universal living wage, where everyone in the United States would be guaranteed a wage of $1,500 a month, whether they work or not.
45:45: That's called a universal living wage.
45:47: And it is a socialistic dream.
45:51: The socialist, by the way, the motto of socialism is from each according to his ability, to each according to their need.
45:59: You say, well, what's the problem with that? The government determines what your needs are.
46:04: My wife teaches English as a second language to children in China.
46:09: She does it through the internet.
46:11: And she gets up every morning about 5 o'clock.
46:14: And for a couple hours in the morning when we're still asleep, she's teaching children in China how to speak English.
46:22: And when she's doing that, she says sometimes she can see those little Chinese kids, some of them four years old, breathing, and she can see their breath.
46:31: Because the government controls the heat in the homes.
46:35: I'm not exaggerating.
46:37: And this is not something I read in a book.
46:39: She says the government controls how much heat you can have, how much cold you can have, when you can have it.
46:50: It's the reality.
46:52: If you want to look at what communism really looks like, you don't have to look any further than mainland China.
47:00: All right.
47:00: So what does the Bible say? Well, oh, by the way, I keep missing, I got so many notes.
47:08: If you have interest in reading, which I hope you are if you're a student, read Animal Farm, Animal Farm by George Orwell.
47:19: It is not a Christian book, but I made my kids listen to it because it gives probably the best example of how a group can go from saying we're socialistic and we're all about equality and we're all about helping our fellow citizen to becoming a totalitarian ruling power in a very short amount of time.
47:45: And it's done in an analogy of animals on a farm.
47:49: One pig rises up and takes the farm away from the farmer, and he becomes the new leader.
47:54: And immediately you start seeing things happen.
47:59: Pigs get to get all the apples.
48:01: Why? Because our superior brains need the apples.
48:04: You don't need the...
48:05: You'll be fine with the hay.
48:09: And like I said, go read it.
48:10: It's interesting.
48:11: It's an analogy, but it's a good analogy.
48:14: All right.
48:15: So what does the Bible promote? Well, the Bible contains historical data for several thousand years of history of people who live in an agrarian economy.
48:28: An agrarian economy means that wealth in society is generally centered upon agriculture.
48:36: Those who had land had the ability to produce food and therefore were generally the ones who had the more wealth.
48:45: Remember the example Jesus gives in the Gospels? The guy who had all the harvest and he built another barn because of his harvest? That's agrarian culture.
48:53: That's agriculture.
48:54: His wealth was measured in barns, not in dollar bills.
48:59: All right.
49:02: Human and animal labor are the primary tools employed for agricultural production, and this has been the most common form of socioeconomic organization for most of recorded human history.
49:16: There are some who claim that the early church promoted a form of socialism.
49:23: They base this on two passages, if you want to write these down.
49:26: Acts 2, 44 and 45, and Acts 4, 34 and 35.
49:32: So Acts 2, 44 and 45 says this, And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.
49:44: So right there they said, anybody who had anything sold it and gave it to the poor.
49:49: Acts 4, 34.
49:51: There was not a needy person among them, this is the early church, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and bought the proceeds of what they sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
50:04: Oh, that sounds like socialism.
50:05: From each according to his ability to each according to his need.
50:09: All right.
50:10: And that sounds like a socialistic utopia.
50:15: However, I want to challenge that notion.
50:20: Not because I might believe in communism, not because I believe in capitalism, but because I think it's a misreading of the text.
50:32: If you do have your Bibles, I'll have you look at this one.
50:34: Turn to Acts chapter 5.
50:43: In Acts chapter 5, we have the story of a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira.
50:52: And it says that they sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
51:01: But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You've not lied to man, but to God.
51:21: When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.
51:25: And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
51:27: The young man rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
51:30: And later he finds out his wife, same thing.
51:34: Why are you pointed to this? Well, if you read this passage closely, you will notice that Ananias and Sapphira were under no obligation to sell anything or give anything.
51:53: Verse 4, While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? That's Peter's point.
52:08: Nobody asked you to sell anything.
52:11: And nobody told us you had to give the whole amount.
52:14: He's not in trouble for not giving everything.
52:17: He's in trouble for lying.
52:19: He goes on to say that.
52:22: Here's the point most people miss.
52:25: Do you know why Ananias and Sapphira did this to begin with? Because a chapter earlier, Barnabas sold a piece of property and it says the church approved of what he did.
52:37: Meaning the church probably thanked him publicly for selling a piece of property and giving the money to the church.
52:44: And Ananias and Sapphira see that and they say, Oh boy, I want that pat on the back.
52:50: I want to get that attaboy, but I'm not willing to pay for it.
52:55: I'll tell you what we'll do.
52:56: We'll sell our property and we'll give a part of it.
52:59: But they won't know it's only a part.
53:02: We'll tell them it's the whole thing.
53:05: And Peter's response was, Why'd you sell it at all? And why did you lie and say this is what you sold it for? This is proof to me that it wasn't a socialistic perspective because no one was demanded.
53:18: That's the difference between socialism and communism.
53:21: And what this is teaching is socialism and communism are demands.
53:27: It is not a choice.
53:29: It is always at the point of a gun.
53:37: That's right.
53:38: You own it.
53:39: By the way, the eighth commandment, Thou shall not steal, demonstrates that God respects property rights.
53:51: Socialism does not.
53:54: Socialism says everything you own belongs to everyone else.
53:57: God says if somebody takes what's yours, it's stealing.
54:04: It's very simple.
54:06: You know, it was your own.
54:09: You didn't have to do this.
54:11: That's the whole thing about tithing, right? We talk about tithing today.
54:15: That's the difference between the New Testament and the Old Testament.
54:17: In the Old Testament, the tithe was compulsory.
54:20: You had to give it because it was a form of tax.
54:22: It was a way that the government maintained itself as a theocracy under God.
54:26: But in the New Covenant, what are we told in 2 Corinthians 9? You give as God has laid in your heart, not under compulsion.
54:36: There is no compulsory giving in the New Testament.
54:41: It's all by virtue of the desire.
54:46: If you don't want to give it, don't give it, because even if you give it, if you didn't want to give it, it's not worth what you gave.
54:53: Not from the perspective of why you're giving it, because you gave it with a begrudging heart.
54:58: God might not strike you dead like he did Ananias, but I wouldn't want to take that chance.
55:07: All right.
55:08: As I said, all New Testament giving is voluntary.
55:11: There is no such thing as compulsory giving in the New Covenant.
55:17: So the idea that the New Covenant supports socialism, no.
55:21: But I will tell you what the New Covenant does support, and we're going to end with this.
55:24: The New Covenant does not support compulsory giving, but the New Covenant does support radical generosity.
55:33: Radical generosity.
55:37: And responsibility for your neighbor.
55:43: When Cain asked, am I my brother's keeper? The answer, when it comes to the people of God, yes.
55:53: We are to practice radical generosity, and we are to be responsible for our brothers in Christ.
56:01: I tell people in our church, and it bothers me, I find out sometimes that people in our church have gone for weeks and didn't have what they needed, and I go to them, and it's almost a rebuke.
56:13: Why didn't you tell us? That's what we are supposed to do.
56:18: Don't you dare let your child go without eating.
56:21: Don't you dare have your car with no gas in it.
56:24: Don't you dare have a cold house when you can have heat, if you just had that bill paid.
56:29: Don't you dare do that.
56:31: Because it is our job as a church to take care of one another first.
56:35: And by the way, it is one another first.
56:39: Helping the poor and helping those outside of the church is important, and it is part of the job of the church.
56:44: But the first and primary responsibility is that the church would support those within its walls first to make sure that they can go out and help others.
56:52: Because if we're all starving and dying, we can't be no good to anybody else.
56:57: I say that to you all too.
56:58: If you can't feed your kids, if you can't pay your electric bill, you come and see me.
57:02: Because that ain't going to happen.
57:04: Not here.
57:07: It's not socialism, but it is radical generosity, and we are called to practice it.
57:13: All right, we're going to take a break.
57:15: Let's take seven minutes and come back.
57:17: I have 20 minutes left.
57:19: Into our final portion here.
57:24: And this is on the subject of work and vocation.
57:31: Work and vocation.
57:32: How many people do you know that hate their jobs? Okay.
57:42: Well, but before we even get to that, it's almost like an American, it's almost like an Americanism.
57:57: That we're supposed to hate our jobs.
58:00: You know, everybody's supposed to complain about their jobs.
58:07: And I think what we have is, we do have a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of work.
58:17: Because a lot of people think that work is the product of the fall.
58:24: But that is not the case.
58:27: Yeah, Adam had work to do prior to the fall.
58:33: Which kind of helps, and by the way, if you want the verse for that, Genesis 2.15, the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
58:42: God worked.
58:44: Yeah, absolutely.
58:47: But we could say, when someone says, well, work is a product of the fall.
58:51: No.
58:52: After the fall, work became laborious and painful.
58:58: That is the difference.
59:00: Prior to the fall, I believe work was joyful and painless.
59:06: But after the fall, work became laborious and painful.
59:11: That's Genesis 3.18 and 19.
59:13: But work itself is part of God's good creation.
59:17: And I believe it's going to be part of His new creation.
59:21: Now, that is a theological argument that we could have another day if you disagree.
59:27: But ultimately, what I'm saying is, I don't think in heaven, we're going to be sitting on celestial clouds, strumming golden harps with nothing to do for all of eternity.
59:39: Yeah, I believe we're going to be serving God.
59:41: I believe we're going to have a life, and it is going to be an abundant life, much different than the life that we have here, not bound by sin and strife, but certainly not one of lethargy and sloth.
59:55: I couldn't debate with you on that.
59:57: I couldn't debate with you on that.
59:59: Why? Because that's beautiful.
01:00:00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:00:02: Yeah, but that's what I'm saying.
01:00:03: Some people would say, oh, yeah, they don't know.
01:00:05: But I tend to believe that the new heaven and the new earth is a place where we're going to get to enjoy labor and not fear or hate or loathe labor.
01:00:18: Now, having said that, back to the issue of work and vocation in the real world now, not in the world that is to come.
01:00:25: Not to say that heaven's not real.
01:00:26: I'm saying it's not yet.
01:00:28: In the world of now, in the world that we live in right now, the Bible teaches that Christians should be working people.
01:00:39: We are not to be known for laziness or shirking responsibility.
01:00:49: And the passage that you could write down for that is 2 Thessalonians 3.10.
01:00:56: You knew that one, right? What does it say? No, 2 Thessalonians 3.10.
01:01:02: If you don't work, you don't work, you don't eat.
01:01:11: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
01:01:17: Yeah, Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3.10, for even when we were with you, we would give you this command.
01:01:25: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
01:01:29: And basically, that is a simple principle that if a man is a person who is lazy and expects others to care for him, and I'll give you an illustration, a story.
01:01:40: A few years ago, we had a lady here in the church.
01:01:44: Now, didn't I say earlier we want to take care of people? Yes, I did.
01:01:48: So everything I'm about to say, with that as the background, we had a lady here in the church who had a husband and a grown son at home.
01:02:02: They would not work.
01:02:04: They were satisfied to sit and be lazy, and she was constantly coming to the church for financial help for food and lights and other necessities.
01:02:19: Now, we did help for a while until it became painfully obvious that the man was not working because he couldn't, but he was not working because he wouldn't.
01:02:30: And so we did have to eventually tell them that we would no longer be providing support for them because of that situation.
01:02:41: He was unwilling to work, even though he could.
01:02:45: I'm not talking about a guy who was in a wheelchair or something like that.
01:02:48: This was a situation where he could have worked and he chose not to.
01:02:52: The Bible gives a clear command.
01:02:54: If you don't work, you don't eat.
01:02:55: Now, I wouldn't have let that lady go hungry.
01:02:57: Neither would I let their kids go hungry, but we had to make a stand and say, look, there is a paradigm here that you're violating.
01:03:04: There's a biblical command of work and the results of work feeding your family that you're not doing.
01:03:12: I want to introduce you to a concept that was, you might not have ever heard of before, but I want you to write this down.
01:03:20: Something called the Protestant work ethic.
01:03:25: The Protestant work ethic.
01:03:32: One of the principles which arose as a result of the rise of Protestantism was a particular view of vocation as a calling from God.
01:03:46: Up until the Protestant Reformation, a person's work for God was often tied to the church.
01:03:53: Therefore, if you wanted to glorify God, you had to be in some form of ministry work, whether you were a pastor, or at that point be a priest or something, or a nun, or a deacon of some sort.
01:04:04: Ministry work was how you glorified God.
01:04:08: But the Protestants saw it differently.
01:04:12: They said you can glorify God in your vocation because your vocation is a calling from God in a similar way, not exactly the same, but in a similar way as a minister is called of God to preach.
01:04:31: So, for instance, if you are called, if you're a bricklayer, and that is what you are good at, that is what God has gifted you to, that is the talent that God has given you to support your family, then you ought not feel like you're serving Him any less as a bricklayer than the pastor is serving as a preacher.
01:04:54: If you are a plumber, plumb to the glory of God.
01:04:57: If you're an electrician, then spark to the glory of God.
01:05:00: If you drive a truck, then eastbound and down to the glory of God.
01:05:06: That's a basis of the idea of Protestant work ethic.
01:05:10: However, I want to add a few thoughts about that because this phrase, Protestant work ethic, didn't come out, this isn't something that was used by Calvin or those, this actually was coined by a German sociologist named Max Weber.
01:05:29: And he wrote in the Protestant work ethic and the spirit of capitalism in 1904-1905, and he held that the Protestant ethic was an important factor in the economic success of Protestant groups in the early stages of European capitalism.
01:05:45: So, again, the Protestant work ethic, if you're called to be a shoemaker, be a good one because you're doing it to the glory of God, right? And so it wasn't just that you did what you did to make money, but you did what you did to glorify God.
01:05:59: And it's like Martin Luther said, and this is a great quote, and I'm not certain.
01:06:04: I don't know where he said it, but I believe he did say it.
01:06:07: It's been attributed to him thousands of times.
01:06:11: He said, a Christian shoemaker does not do his duty by putting crosses on his shoes.
01:06:17: A Christian shoemaker does his duty by making good shoes.
01:06:27: I used to go into Lifeway all the time, and I'd see all that junk with crosses on it.
01:06:34: They even sold candy in the shape of a cross.
01:06:37: It was called a testament.
01:06:39: M-I-N-T.
01:06:44: And I thought, I thought, how silly are we? I'm not lying, brother.
01:06:50: I could take you.
01:06:51: I remember.
01:06:53: And so the point is, you know, do we have to? I owned a t-shirt business for three years, and I always made, that was actually our motto for our company.
01:07:04: Christian shoemaker does not do his job by putting crosses on all of his shoes, but by making good shoes.
01:07:11: And we did our best, and we made good t-shirts.
01:07:14: Now, we closed the business recently because we couldn't continue doing it, but the point was, we wanted to put out a product that was a good product.
01:07:21: And we did.
01:07:23: And we sold, last year, and I don't want to go into the numbers, but we sold a lot of shirts.
01:07:28: It killed me.
01:07:30: But it's because we did a good job.
01:07:32: And that's part of the Protestant work ethic, is you do what you do because you're doing it under God.
01:07:36: You're doing it to glorify God.
01:07:39: Now, the danger though, the negative side, and there is always a negative side, the negative side is that there were those who out of that believed that wealth was a sign of God's favor and the proof of God's election.
01:07:56: Because if you were doing what God called you to do, you're obviously going to be successful.
01:08:00: And if you're successful, that must mean because God's blessing you.
01:08:02: And it's sort of like a proto-version of the modern prosperity gospel.
01:08:06: But this precedes that.
01:08:08: So the prosperity gospel does have some roots in the Protestant work ethic, at least not necessarily a causal root, but the idea that, yes, if you are being successful, it's because God's blessing you.
01:08:20: And if God's blessing you, it's because you're one of the elect.
01:08:23: Right? And that is not the truth because neither poverty nor prosperity is proof of your election.
01:08:33: There are poor folks going to hell and there are rich folks going to hell.
01:08:39: Neither one proves that you are one of God's people.
01:08:43: What proves that you're one of God's people is if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, and trust in Him for salvation.
01:08:48: That's the foundation, not your bank account, whether it be empty or full.
01:08:58: Inherent in this system is the idea that it is not the pursuit of wealth that is sinful, but the wasting of wealth, which is sinful.
01:09:09: That's another idea from the Protestant work ethic.
01:09:12: The Protestant work ethic would say this.
01:09:14: Pursue wealth for the purpose of using it in a godly way.
01:09:19: Pursue wealth for the purpose of using it in a way that glorifies God.
01:09:23: I've got to tell you, honestly, church buildings would not exist if there were not people who were giving the money to make them exist.
01:09:29: And therefore, I mean, right now, I just use Set Free as an example.
01:09:34: You know, you guys at Set Free, y'all are wanting to open a women's center.
01:09:38: And we pray for that.
01:09:39: We pray for that weekly because we want to see that happen.
01:09:42: That's going to take somebody making a donation.
01:09:44: That's going to take somebody who has wealth saying, I want to see this happen.
01:09:48: And that's what you want.
01:09:50: That's what we pray for.
01:09:51: I wish I had the money.
01:09:51: If I had the money, I'd write you a check right now.
01:09:53: If I wrote you a check right now, that would bounce because I don't have the money.
01:09:56: But the point is that the idea of having the wealth for the good cause, for the good purpose, yes.
01:10:07: But money can quickly become an idol.
01:10:10: And I know you probably knew we were going to get to this verse at some point, but if you didn't think of this verse, 1 Timothy 6.10, which says what? For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
01:10:24: And it goes on to say this, it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
01:10:32: It is through this craving.
01:10:33: What craving? The love of money.
01:10:36: That many have wandered away from the faith.
01:10:37: Yes, sir.
01:10:38: I just think it's interesting and I'm sure everybody's heard it.
01:10:40: It doesn't say money.
01:10:43: That's right.
01:10:44: It says the love of money and it doesn't say it's the root of all evil, it says all kinds of evil.
01:10:50: And because this is a linguistic issue, but I do talk to some people who say love of money is the root of all evil.
01:10:58: I say no, it's the root of all kinds of evil.
01:11:00: Meaning the love of money can lead to all kinds of different types of evil, but not every evil comes from the love of money.
01:11:06: So that's why I'm just saying the word all there should be qualified with all kinds.
01:11:10: And that's it.
01:11:11: Again, I don't want to get off on a rabbit trail, but we talked about the word all and how it can be nuanced.
01:11:16: That's an important use for the nuance of the word all.
01:11:20: From a biblical worldview, it is clear that Christians should be a working people and not a lazy people.
01:11:28: And because of fidelity to Christ, they should be faithful and trustworthy employers and employees.
01:11:35: They should see their jobs as a means of provision from God and be thankful for it.
01:11:42: And again, if you're a Christian employer, your employees should trust you.
01:11:49: And if you're a Christian employee, you should be a good one.
01:11:54: You should be trustworthy.
01:11:56: You should be one that the boss understands your integrity goes beyond just what you say, but it leeches over into all areas of your life.
01:12:10: How a person handles money is often seen in scripture as a metric of their spiritual condition.
01:12:19: Think about that for just a moment.
01:12:22: How a person handles money is often seen in scripture as a metric of their spiritual condition.
01:12:31: If a person is greedy, gluttonous, filled with selfish ambition, those things are indicators of a person who has yet to come under the lordship of Christ.
01:12:46: Yeah, I mean, isn't it true? Christians are to see the money we have as a stewardship from God.
01:12:58: What is a steward? A manager.
01:13:02: Not an owner, but a manager.
01:13:06: We do not own our wealth.
01:13:09: God owns our wealth.
01:13:11: He gives it to us to hold and how we handle it shows whether we think it's ours or His.
01:13:21: And He expects us to be faithful.
01:13:24: Remembering that it's His.
01:13:26: He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
01:13:28: He owns every dollar in your bank account.
01:13:31: Therefore, when we handle money, let us do so with that as the basis for our ethic.
01:13:39: Any questions? Let's pray.
01:13:44: Father, thank you for this time of study.
01:13:46: I pray that this class has been helpful and that it might educate us, Lord, even better on the importance of not seeking poverty, but seeking a right handling of what you put in our hands.
01:13:59: Lord, help us to remember we are managers of the king's wares.
01:14:04: We are not owners.
01:14:07: Lord, let us be faithful with what you put in our hands.
01:14:10: In Christ's name, Amen.