Your Money or Your Life

Intro

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Remember playing cops and robbers as a kid?

Someone was always the victim. The robber would poke a finger in your ribs from behind and try to sound as threatening as possible when they said, “give me your money or your life.”

Then the cops would swoop in to rescue the poor victim and a merry chase would ensue with lots of shooting.

Great fun right!

Thank God it was just a game.

The real thing is no fun at all.

Thankfully the vast majority of us will never have to experience the trauma of actually being held up at gun-point. But it doesn’t take getting an actual gun stuck in your ribs to feel like you’re getting robbed.

Let me introduce you to two very different men with one thing in common, other than the fact that they were both fabulously rich.

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The Rich Young Ruler and Zacchaeus

The Rich Young Ruler and Zacchaeus were drawn together by something that played in the back of their minds, took the edge off their pleasure, and ruined their sleep.

It was a fiendishly difficult questions that consumed them: how to preserve their lives…

How can I know that this life isn’t the end?

How can I be sure that I go on?

What is the secret to eternal life?

They weren’t the first nor the last to ask that question.

Ancient Egyptians are famous for preserving the rich and powerful as mummies along with their riches.

Ancient Indian religions focused on the afterlife and taught that there was a cycle to life with rebirth after death. Their teachings are known today as the ideas of Karma and Reincarnation.

This question is one that all of us face at one point or another. Either its facing our own aging journey or looking in on someone else’s mortality.

Some of us are a little like Ponce de Leon in his search for the Fountain of Youth. I’m sure you’ve heard the story. Ponce de Leon served Spain in the Caribbean and helped to colonize Puerto Rico. In 1513 he led an expedition to what is now Florida. His goals in life were land, wealth and status. The legend goes that native people in Florida spoke of rejuvenating waters on the islands of Bimini. When de Leon heard about the fountain he searched tirelessly to find it. Yet, the fountain, if it existed, remained just beyond his grasp. In the end he returned, older, worn out, and wounded from his search. He eventually died from his wounds.

Maybe we don’t search for the fountain of youth, but watch about two-thirds of the ads on youtube or TV and you’ll see some cream or lotion or mouth wash or hair treatment or pill that will solve your aging problems. They’ll firm you up, smooth you out, brighten and whiten and in all other ways possible, make you look like you’re not as old as you are.

More and more today people are nipping and tucking and liposucking the age away through plastic surgery and botox injections. The wealthier people are, the more outlandish and expensive their solutions get.

Maybe that’s just because they can afford it.

or Maybe its because they have more to lose.

But the more time you have to think about it, the more it feels like time has a gun to your ribs demanding everything you possess, just to save your skin.

And the wealthier you get, the more obvious it becomes that you’d trade any amount of your hard-earned money if it would just buy you a little more time.

At least that’s what I’ve heard… not having a boatload of money myself. I know a few of us wouldn’t mind testing out all this first hand instead of just watching the rich and famous…

But time is no respecter of persons.

And whether you’ve got ten million bucks burning a hole in your pocket or are struggle to find two cents to rub together we’re all under time’s gun.

How can I cheat death and live forever?

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It turns out that the answer to this question that wealthy people like the Rich Young Ruler an Zacchaeous are asking is also the first step in putting the brakes on being broke.

Jesus answers the question

Let’s take a look first at the younger of the two men, the rich young ruler

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We don’t know his name. The Bible just refers to him as “a ruler.” He had some power among the people, and a lot of wealth. However, since he found Jesus teaching in the temple, let’s give the man some credit for looking for answers in the right place.

If you want answers to spiritual questions, find a wise teacher.

Jesus already had a reputation as being a great teacher by this time. Even if this young ruler didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah, almost everyone had to admit he was a great teacher.

Who better to answer this all-consuming question than Jesus?

The crowd parted and the young man stood face to face with Jesus.

Then the question (Luke 18:18

Luke 18:18 ESV

…“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Notice was Jesus’ first answer to this big question:

“Keep the commandments”

Jesus seems to have started with the good-deeds approach.

The young man doesn’t even flinch, but he didn’t accept the answer either:

I’ve done all that stuff, there must be something more.

Don’t miss this point:

This young man is a religious man

He’s tried to do the right things.

He’s done his best to ensure his salvation by good deeds.

He knows the challenge of living your life by an exacting standard.

He is not a spoiled rich kid who’s never grasped the meaning of the word “no.”

He knows the exhilaration of conquering yourself and the silent agony of knowing it still isn’t enough.

Being good doesn’t give the assurance he’s looking for and he knows it.

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It is as empty as the path of wealth and pleasure that our other seeker, Zacchaeus had chosen.

He’d heard that Jesus was coming to town.

Jesus had such a reputation by now that the word spread fast ahead of him.

By the time Zachaeus made it to the city gates the crowd was thick.

There was no way he could see above the shoulders ahead of him, and he didn’t have his usual Roman bodyguard with him to clear a path and no one would give any ground to the likes of him.

But what he lacked in stature he made up for in ingenuity.

So up a tree he went and the panorama opened before him.

All he’d wanted was a good look, a chance to size up this teacher and see if the rumors were true.

But he got more than he bargained for when Jesus stopped, looked up, and invited himself over for lunch.

Oh, you should have heard the nasty comments that started flying about like arrows.

This man is a sinner

How could a good teacher like Jesus hang out with the likes of him.

That rotten cheat doesn’t deserve to wash the Rabbi’s feet.

They all knew Zacchaeus because he collected their taxes.

Zacchaeus had grown rich off gouging others and used his earnings to try and satisfy every need and want he experienced.

He’d paid a high social price for his vocation and he’d tried to pretend to himself that the money made up the difference.

Now, Jesus was in his home. An important teacher sitting in his house, eating at his table. That’s when Zacchaeus sensed that the answer to his question was there in his presence.

He’d finally found what no amount of money had been able to buy him and it was right there sitting in his own house.

Suddenly he was overwhelmed with a desire to do something—to respond to this incredible realization.

What could he do that would have meaning? How could he show Jesus how much He meant to him.

Then, he realized that it boiled down to his money.

Luke 19:8 NIV

…“Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Money and Salvation

Right here we should stop and just take a moment and examine what Jesus should have said.

We know what Jesus should have said.

He certainly should have taken that golden opportunity to explain to Zachaeus that you can’t buy salvation.

In so many other places Jesus, and his disciples after him explain that getting your past forgiven and your future secured is a gift

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Zachaeus was clearly headed down a dangerous path here wasn’t he?

Jesus should have said, “Zachaeus, you can’t buy salvation.”

Oh but friends, he didn’t say it. He didn’t stop it.

Notice what Jesus said instead—something He said for all to hear:

Luke 19:9 NIV

…“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.

To the rich young ruler his reply is even more direct in connecting the man’s salvation to his pocketbook.

Luke 18:22 ESV

…“One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

I don’t know about you but I don’t like talking about money in church.

Connecting money and religion brings up so many distasteful images of televangelists and manipulative ploys for my hard earned dollars.

It brings up those embarrassing conversations about how all churches are after is your money.

Why in the world does the preacher have to talk about money from the pulpit after all.

Can’t we just focus on the gospel and leave the money talk to the accountants.

That would be all fine and dandy except when we run across stories like these where Jesus saw a connection somehow between what’s going on with my wallet an what’s going on with my heart.

Not only are they connected, but Jesus seems to be saying that money could actually cost me my life

And this is hardly the only time the Bible tackles the topic of money

If we were to start looking at how much the Bible has to say about money we would come to the startling (and some might think horrifying) realization that the Bible has more than twice the amount to say about money (about 2,350 verses) than it does about faith and prayer combined!

Something big is going on here and for the most part we avoid talking about it. Which is no small feat when you think about how much of the Bible we have to work around to avoid it.

Let’s all ask ourselves a question: What does God know about money that I don’t?

Jesus must have known some things about our heart and our money that we don’t get.

Randy Alcorn in his book Money, Possessions and Power asks a powerful question,

“If we could get it right when it comes to money, how many other areas of our life would fall into place?”

What if how I think about my money affects not just my spiritual life but my personal and family life as well?

Today over half of all marriages end in divorce.

Nearly 80% of couples who divorce cite financial troubles as a significant contributing factor in the divorce.

Today the average American’s disposable income is higher than its ever been, yet much of that disposable income is spent before it is earned, leading to a never ending round of working harder and longer just to pay the interest on the things we’ve already purchased.

Today the average home being built in the US is over twice the size of most houses being built in the 1950’s, cost more than twice as much in comparable dollars and are occupied by families with fewer family members.

If we got it right when it comes to money, how many other areas in our lives would fall into place?

So what is it that God knows about money that we don’t seem to get?

What’s the big secret?

Here it is:

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When it comes to your heart, either God or money will be the boss

Matthew 6:24 NIV

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

This is actually true for anything besides God

In short, anything that Jesus is not Lord of will become the lord of me.

What or who is calling the shots in your life?

According to Jesus, if its not him it will be something else.

I think the reason Jesus used money to describe this principle actually points to a very sophisticated understanding of what this stuff we call money is.

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Money is nothing more than a symbol

It’s a representation of value.

The actual worth of the paper or the coin or the crypto isn’t very much. The value is in what it took to earn it and what it pays for when we spend it.

Essentially money is a way of exchanging your value in labor and talent for someone else’s value in labor and talent. You contribute meaningful work to nurse someone to health, or fix their car, or manage an office, and then you take the value from your labor and give it to someone else to buy food, travel, a car, or an online subscription to AI. How you spend your money demonstrates what you value.

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Jesus talked about money so much because he understood just how symbolic it is for all the our hopes and desires in life.

Either God will call the shots in your life, or money will.

Does it bother you to hear that?

Do you want to stand up and shout that nobody can tell you what to do?

You’re independent, a free spirit.

You can think for yourself.

Nobody and nothing controls you

Do you remember when you were a kid and you thought: “I wish I were big so I could do whatever I want.”

Yeah, right

Sooner or later we all figure out that nobody is free from being told what to do by someone or something.

When I was little it was parents and teachers

Now that I’m grown up its my boss… or the church board

But also my hopes, my fears, the opinions of my peers, my wife, the needs of my kids…

Some people are controlled by drugs or alcohol…

Something is always there guiding, pleading, demanding, or controlling my decisions.

You might wonder if we have any freedom at all. Is there such a thing as freedom of choice, or is that all some head game we play with ourselves to feel better?

Friends, there is such a thing as freedom of choice and God wants you to have that freedom. In fact He created the idea. However, the freedom I have is to choose who I will allow to call the shots in my life. I don’t get to sit in the director’s chair myself.

We wrestle with this decision because we’re all looking for an answer to some version of the question our two wealthy men came to Jesus with: Which path will give me eternal life?

Which direction will give me security, peace, joy?

Which director will give me the desires of my heart?

Both of these men tried the money path and found that it never delivered what they hoped for. So now they came to Jesus wondering if He had a solution.

Jesus didn’t hold back. He said that its either Me or your money that will take the lead in your life.

But listen to what He promises if we choose God over money:

Choosing God over money will lead to prosperity

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Choosing God over money will lead to personal fulfillment

Galatians 5:22 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Choosing God over money will lead to my heart’s desires

Listen to the power of David’s words in this psalm as he talks about what happens when you make the choice to put God in the director’s chair instead of money

Ps 37:7

Psalm 37:3–4 ESV

Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:8–9 ESV

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

Conclusion

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What does God know about money that I don’t?

He knows that I have to make a choice: I can’t have both money ruling me and God. And He knows that only He can truly deliver on what my heart is looking for.

That’s why Jesus was so straight with those guys about their money.

Their money was sitting in the directors chair of their lives, calling the shots, making the decisions. But it couldn’t buy them salvation or improve their character.

So Jesus said, its either your money or me. You have to decide which of us will get you what you need because only one person can be calling the shots.

In the end, money can’t give you eternal life. It can’t even give you happiness, or fulfill the real and lasting desires of your heart.

Jesus can give you eternal life, AND He can deliver all the good stuff money can’t buy you. And as a bonus Jesus can give more than enough money to meet your needs and help those around you.

Now who will you choose?

When Zachaeus put Jesus on the throne of His heart, he found everything he had thought his money could offer. And all the disappointment and anxiety and discontent that money had brought into his life vanished when he started to trust Jesus.

But not everyone is ready to make the switch.

That rich young ruler wasn’t. He walked away.

Matthew 19:22 ESV

When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And here’s a great example of the power of one word. He went away, sorrowful. I’d like to think that he came back to that choice at a later date and tried a different path, but the Bible never tells us.

Two men facing Jesus with the same question.

Two very different decisions based on the answer Jesus gave them.

Do you want financial freedom in your life?

Do you want peace?

Do you want hope for your future, and the promise of eternal youth?

Do you want a life filled with blessings and a heart that is content and satisfied?

Do you want meaningful, lasting relationships that fill your life with joy and purpose?

Your choice will determine if those things are possible.

Will Jesus sit on the throne of your heart, or will you put money on that throne along with all the supposed freedoms it provides?

What will you choose today?

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Next week we’ll consider the discontent behind the idea that just a little bit more will finally do it for you.

As we begin putting the brakes on being broke, I invite you to start with putting money back in its proper place in your value system.

I’d like to suggest that you do an experiment for the next four weeks:

Make the conscious choice today that for the next four weeks, money is not going to control your life and you’ll let Christ call the shots with your money decisions. As you earn and before you spend money, ask Jesus to help you make the right choices.

Let him give you a whole new perspective on how to deal with money and see if that doesn’t put the brakes on being broke in ways you never dreamed were possible.

I know you’ll be surprised at what you discover.

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Please stand with me as we sing our closing song: