Wisdom and Money

Money promises what only God can give — and wisdom teaches us to hold it loosely enough to be generous.

Ayn Rand was a far better cultural interpreter and philosopher than most give her credit for. She was the author of a philosophy called Objectivism, exemplified in her novels Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead.

Her thinking either infiltrated much of post-war Western thought and priorities or simply articulated them.

Objectivism comes with a few core commitments:

Metaphysics: Objective Reality; reality exists independently of consciousness; facts are facts regardless of what anyone wishes, feels, or believes.

Epistemology: Reason; reason is a person’s only means of gaining knowledge and the only valid method of judging truth claims. She was sharply critical of faith, intuition, or “feeling” as sources of knowledge.

Politics: Laissez-faire Capitalism; Rand considered unregulated capitalism the only social system consistent with individual rights. Only system where people deal with each other through voluntary trade rather than coercion.

But what goes deep –

Ethics: Rational self-interest; “rational egoism.” Each person’s own life and happiness is their proper moral purpose, and that altruism – the idea that self-sacrifice for others is the moral ideal – is actually harmful to both the individual and society. This doesn’t mean “do whatever you want;” she believed rational self-interest requires honesty, integrity, justice, and productive work.

This posture towards life and existence is not unique. We may not be acquainted with Rand’s perspective per se, but we are relentlessly encouraged to live this way by the world we live in – maybe with better talking points to make it sound more suitable across audiences.

Most of our modern American and even “Christian” perspectives on economics, certainly personal finances, are Randian in nature.

I was struck by this as my brothers and I were discussing work life and the potential for retirement. The common view is to do what makes you happy and build your own security as the highest priority.

It’s this thinking and posture we come up against today as we encounter wisdom and money.

And it’s Jesus – wisdom himself – that clues us in on the better way.

Money promises what only God can give – and wisdom teaches us to hold it loosely enough to be generous.

To tell you the truth, as I was working on this sermon, I kept seeing an image of a little kid trying to hold back a tsunami or a raging fire, and me holding a Dixie cup of water against it.

Our opinions and perspectives on money are deeply and closely held, private.

The challenge is to call us to biblical wisdom regarding money, without a bunch of caveats to appease anyone.

Yes, economics is different than the first century, but these principles still apply.

What we have before us is not an indictment against responsibility or preparation for seasons of life, but it is a call to watch out for how we rely on or pursue money, in light of who Christ is.

The Bible says a lot about money. Proverbs is remarkably honest about the fact that money is not neutral; it shapes desire, distorts vision, and produces a false sense of security that competes directly with trust in God.

Ecclesiastes strips money of its promises with blunt clarity.

Jesus addressed money and possessions extensively throughout his teaching. The overriding thrust of his teaching was to highlight material resources as a major competitor with God for human allegiance and the dangers of riches being a deceitful distraction from our spiritual condition.

This parable – the rich fool – in Luke shows what money untethered from wisdom produces. But the positive vision — the generous person who scatters and yet gains — is equally vivid.

It is to this we now turn, thinking through wisdom and money in terms of priority, provision, and purpose.

Priority

We arrive at what is quite a scene. We just dropped into Luke 12, but Jesus had been doing some ministerial heavy lifting. When we arrive at verse 13, some 4000 people are listening to his teaching – the hypocrisy (leaven) of the Pharisees, the religious elite, must be avoided. The necessity of acknowledging Christ before men, living fearlessly.

Then some bloke, out of nowhere, shouts out: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

We don’t know his exact motivation. There was a different sense of equity than in our day. He is likely a younger brother; the older inherits all the land, cattle, crops, etc. And this man wants a share.

We’ve all encountered or heard stories of sibling separation/bitterness over an inheritance. That’s what’s playing out here.

Jesus, not inclined to answer the specific request given his response, seems to recognize the heart behind the question and tells a story.

“Watch out, be on your guard against all greed!”

This was his parable: “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, I have nowhere to store my crops?’ He comes up with a strategy to tear down his barns to build larger ones, where he says “There I will store all my grain and goods.”

The telling part of the exchange is self-talk. “I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”

God jumps into the middle of this self-talk, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you…”

Luke 12:21 “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (ESV)

I don’t think this is a warning against eating, drinking, and being merry; or even against having a strategy for the future, should it come. But it highlights selfish greed and the futility of amassing wealth without regard for God or others.

The rich man’s plans, centered on personal security and indulgence.

Building new barns was logical and prudent. It was a good idea. But the danger lay in what was missing. There was no thought of sharing, and no thought of stewardship. There was no thought for the poor, the ill, and the naked who were all around him. The language in verses 17–19 reveals an ingrained selfishness. In the Greek the personal pronoun “my” occurs four times and “I” eight times.3 He was completely self-absorbed.

Conversing with his “Soul.” The deep sense of eternal self longing for satisfaction, hoping it will be found in wealth.

This is a cautionary tale about misplaced priorities, in which we are prone to focus on temporary, earthly values.

Unpacking the layers, there is something about the way he works/lives and trusts.

His priority is accruing more, and in that pursuit, it would seem there is no fun in the game. He has to wait to relax, eat, drink, and be merry.

This is the wisdom of the world. Gain – eventually it will be enough, clinging so tightly (building a bigger vault for the riches).

Keep my head down and mark the future point when I can go to Margaritaville!

Now, this is not anti-retirement (even though there is not much of a concept of it in the Bible), but it is about what we are living for or from.

Even believers categorize control in our lives. Jesus, he has my future, after death, I am responsible for the living age, which needs more, more, more!

In the confrontation, God hints that there’s been no consideration of others, family or otherwise. “Whose will they be?”

The rich fool has a vice grip on his wealth for its own sake. “Rational-egoism,”.

“Here’s what Jesus is saying. If you worry a lot about money and/or if you resent people who have it and/or if you’re run off your feet trying to get it and/or if you can’t give it away so radically you’re willing to dip into savings and investments and give at that level, you have money sickness. Either you’re looking to money to be your security, or you’re looking to money to be your beauty. You’re looking to money to give you things only God can give you.” Timothy J. Keller

Wisdom: Luke 12:15 “And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (ESV)

Money promises what only God can give: satisfaction.

There’s a famous (if unverifiable) story about John D. Rockefeller, a wealthy American when few controlled most of the wealth… Replying to a reporter asking “How much money is enough?” he said, “Just a little bit more.”

Never enough.

Or we think money will “fix” everything.

Andrew Carnegie, same era. He was intensely moral, so not a total loser. But he believed that money could buy world peace. World War I started at the peak of his wealth, influence, and charitable investments, and it destroyed him. He was a shadow of himself until he died as he watched the world destroy itself (despite his best efforts and deep belief that enough money and power could make it all better).

Ecclesiastes 5:10 “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” (ESV)

We know plenty of modern examples of this. But what’s more, we live it ourselves.

UBS Investor Watch survey found that 52% of US millionaires feel like they’re on a treadmill, unable to slow down; broadly, people don’t know when they have enough.

Leaves us worried. Worry is the emotional reward of material preoccupation.

There is a difference between laying up treasure for myself and being rich toward God.

Provision

Ecclesiastes 5:13–20 “There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, [14] and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. [15] As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. [16] This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? [17] Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

[18] Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. [19] Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. [20] For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.” (ESV)

Being rich toward God allows us to see all we have as the gift of God; it is enjoying life in his care, all the more so in Christ.

Jesus says “do not be anxious about this life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

“Do Not Worry. Jesus extends the previous discussion on the vanity of wealth and possessions. Our worries reveal the object of our worship, and those seeking the kingdom of God should not be controlled by the worries of this life.” Carson

Wisdom: Luke 12:23 “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. (ESV)

I appreciate this from Jesus; it makes me feel seen. He knows how money and the world’s way of it can make you anxious!

Not to stress over material needs, but to find freedom from anxiety by trusting in God’s care and seeing it in the beauty of nature.

The birds and flowers illustrate God’s provision.

Considered life.

Ravens neither sow nor reap, and God feeds them. You are of much more value than ravens.

The lilies; they grow with neither toil nor spin, still they are arrayed with such glory that it surpasses even Solomon at the height of his reign.

More than even critters that soar, or flowers that implore, is the provision of Christ himself for us. The ultimate need, redemption, forgiveness, and life, met by God himself for us.

Anyway, you can’t add a single hour to your life by worrying, so why be anxious about it all?

What Jesus presents as wisdom is faith and trust in God to provide.

Luke 12:30 “For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. (ESV)

Seeing his provision, gifts, through our hands, each other, but the provision is not elevated to the absolute. As the thing pursued.

Luke 12:31 “Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. (ESV)

“Now here is the principle; it’s very simple. Jesus says if you store up, it’s because you’re not rich toward God. If you worry about money and/or if you’re resentful toward others who have it and/or if you are running after it and/or if you just simply are not able to give it away in radical proportions, it’s because you lack that inner wealth of knowing you have been treasured by Jesus, that he was willing to give up everything for you, that he was willing to pay anything for you, that he treasures you like that.

If you knew that, Jesus says, if you had that inner subjective spiritual wealth, if you knew how much you had been treasured, if you knew how much you are treasured, your money would just be money. It wouldn’t be security, it wouldn’t be beauty; it would just be money. See, the only way you’re going to get over this sickness is not just to look at the rule “Give your money away.” It’s to see what he has done. Only when you see him treasuring you at infinite cost to himself will you start treasuring the needs of your neighbors just at the cost of your money, and it’s just money.”Timothy J. Keller

A life of faith and reliance on God’s sovereignty is something more than accumulation. We see it in Christ’s example: the utmost trust in the Father’s will to work his purpose. The Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head, and gave all of himself away so that you would have an eternal inheritance in him, enjoyed now and forevermore.

Seeking his kingdom, our priorities change; values drive our pursuit, making us like him, his selfless love and generosity- even amid life’s uncertainties.

In seeking the kingdom, we are given purpose.

Purpose

The kingdom of accumulation, of more, more, more, is driven by anxiety and life’s uncertainties.

Not Christ’s kingdom. This kingdom is driven by selfless love.

Trusting accumulation is a rejection of God’s sovereignty (idolatry), Jesus modeled perfect trust in the Father’s provision by remaining detached from possessions. Therefore, trusting God’s sovereignty frees us to be generous.

Luke 12:32–34 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. [33] Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. [34] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (ESV)

Jesus insists that striving for God’s kingdom should take precedence over material concerns.

This is not a call to recklessness or laziness.

In a few chapters, he will tell a parable about a dishonest manager, where the master commends the manager’s shrewdness, noting “the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” (Luke 16:1-13.

Not an endorsement of dishonesty, but rather a challenge to believers to match worldly cunning with spiritual wisdom and kingdom-seeking.

Jesus instructs his followers to “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” (Luke 16:1-13)

Money is not evil, but it should be deployed strategically toward relational and eternal purposes.

Or think of the parable of the talents. Shrewdness in actively investing resources for returns. Using money intentionally, but always as a steward answerable to God, not as an owner pursuing self-interest.

He is consistent here, if not a little scandalous! “Sell your possessions and give to the needy.”

In caring about the kingdom, generosity becomes a priority and a gift of joy.

What does that look like for us? Holding wealth loosely and Jesus tighter.

By seeking heavenly treasures, followers of Christ align our hearts with eternal values.

This only happens with a deep trust in God’s goodness, revealed in the sacrificial life of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (ESV)

Forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

He is our treasure; may our hearts be with him.

No one can steal this from you; nothing can ruin it. He is enough, and he cares for you.

Money promises what only God can give – and wisdom teaches us to hold it loosely enough to be generous.

Jesus’ warning here is to beware of the double danger of money. On the one hand, money easily generates greed and covetousness (vv. 13–21). On the other hand, the reality of money easily creates heart-deep anxiety in us (vv. 22–34). The gospel teaches us how to defeat both of these destructive sins. We must seek God’s kingdom first (v. 31), which will often mean letting go of our goods and money (v. 33). Jesus motivates us to this counterintuitive solution by showing us that when we do so, God our Father will provide for all of our needs (v. 31). He does so because as our perfect Father he knows our needs (v. 30). He cares for us deeply and considers us very valuable (v. 24), and it is his good pleasure to give us what we most need for eternal as well as earthly purposes (v. 32). Only this vision of our heavenly Father, combined with the promise of eternal riches (v. 33), can motivate us at the heart level to live free from the love of money (Heb. 13:5) and find eternal joy in following Christ.

Watch out – The sin to slay is greed. We can get so mad when others don’t submit to biblical wisdom on sexuality or leadership, but we are totally fine when we ignore wisdom on money.

“He says, “Watch out.” Do you know what it means to watch out? It means to ask questions. To watch out means to be very suspicious. To watch out means to ask questions. “Who goes there? What’s out there? What was that noise?” Always asking questions, always suspicious of everything. That’s what it means to be on guard.

What Jesus is saying is, “Don’t trust yourself with money. Ply yourself with questions, hundreds of questions. Do you really need that? Do you really, really still need more? Couldn’t you live more simply? Couldn’t you give more of your money away?”

Jesus is saying if you can’t radically give your money away, it may be because you have made the money your security like this guy. The whole point of the parable of the rich fool is to show it’s a lie. It can’t happen. It doesn’t happen. You can’t get secure through money. Only God makes you secure like he does the ravens. Money can’t do it.” Timothy J. Keller

Ask for the Spirit’s help to root out greed.

Consider Jesus – Like the ravens and the lilies, God is providing for you, and in Jesus we have what we truly need. Let his generosity shape yours. Find freedom in him from the stress/anxiety of the rat race.

Jesus came for the greedy.

We are so blessed. May we see it as a gift from God.

May we seek his kingdom. May he be our treasure, and may the whole world see.