The Love of Money - El Amor Al Dinero
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Introduction
Introduction
The Bible teaches us a way of living that goes against commonly held beliefs:
We live by dying to ourselves.
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
We should love our enemies.
We should pray for those who persecute us.
Similarly, the Bible’s perspective on money is the complete opposite of how the world looks at money. The Bible warns us about:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Porque el amor al dinero es la raíz de toda clase de males. Por codiciarlo, algunos se han desviado de la fe y se han causado muchísimos sinsabores.
In today’s passage, God’s word teaches us:
Contentment is the opposite of the love of money
The love of money is destructive
The love of money is destructive
I. Contentment is the opposite of the love of money
I. Contentment is the opposite of the love of money
I. El contentamiento es lo opuesto al amor al dinero
I. El contentamiento es lo opuesto al amor al dinero
Many people measure happiness/joy/success through:
The amount of money in their bank account.
The amount of money in their investments, 401Ks, or retirement accounts.
The number of homes, cards, or other wordly possessions.
There are many believers who do not experience a joyful life.
They are plagued with worry, anxiety, marital problems.
They are plagued with uncertainty about tomorrow.
The do not experience a thriving spiritual life.
Paul’s exhortation to Timothy speaks to a reason behind this kind of lethargic spiritual life:
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
Es cierto que con la verdadera religión se obtienen grandes ganancias, pero sólo si uno está satisfecho con lo que tiene.
In this verse Paul explains to Timothy that true piety, true religion, a true and thriving Christian life must always be accompanied by contentment.
Without a contentment, a Christian’s spiritual life will be continuously deficient.
Contentment should be a quality that is present in all Christians.
In this case, contentment is clearly linked with a Christian’s feelings towards material possessions. Contentment is:
Feeling satisfied with what one has.
Not allowing the abundance or lack of material possessions to influence our spiritual life and our devotion or love for God
Contentment is demonstrated when a believer is not affected by any external circumstances, especially those that have to do with material possessions.
Contentment is important because it puts things into perspective. Material possessions are temporary, they are passing, they are not eternal, they cannot give eternal satisfaction.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
Porque nada trajimos a este mundo, y nada podemos llevarnos.
1 Timothy
Quieren ser maestros de la Ley, aunque no saben lo que dicen ni entienden las cosas acerca de las cuales hacen declaraciones categóricas.
We came into this world without material possessions.
We will leave this world without material possessions.
The Egyptians believed very differently. They would create massive pyramids with all sorts of wordly possessions (gold, silver, precious stones, tools, etc.) so those who died would have what they needed in the afterlife.
Many of these pyramids/tombs were robbed.
Many of these worldly possessions are now sitting in a museum as a testament that wordly possessions are only for this life.
This is not a new concept. The kings of ancient Israel were warned regarding the love for possessions and continuous accumulation of wealth:
The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
»El rey no deberá adquirir gran cantidad de caballos, ni hacer que el pueblo vuelva a Egipto con el pretexto de aumentar su caballería, pues el Señor te ha dicho: “No vuelvas más por ese camino.” El rey no tomará para sí muchas mujeres, no sea que se extravíe su corazón, ni tampoco acumulará enormes cantidades de oro y plata.
Deuteronomy 17:
The kings of Israel were to focus on governing the people of God and not acting like the pagan kings whose focus was on expanding their kingdoms at any cost - even if it meant hurting their own people.
They were to find their contentment first and foremost in the Lord God of Israel.
We must find our contentment in the Lord for everything in this world will surely perish. Only God is eternal.
What is contentment? How can I judge whether I am truly content in the Lord?
Paul gives us a simple test that we can apply to our own lives to determine whether we truly experience Christian contentment:
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Así que, si tenemos ropa y comida, contentémonos con eso.
Notice how Paul speaks about the bare necessities in life - food and clothing. Clothing in this passage could also be extended to shelter.
If we have food and clothing/shelter - we truly have all we need.
However, a consumeristic society would go even further. You are not successful unless:
You have a three bedroom home.
You have a brand new car.
You have a brand new watch.
You have $10,000 more in your savings account balance at the end of the year.
Paul says, if you are not content with the bare necessities - you will always want more and more and never be truly content. You will never find contentment in the Lord because your affections are set on the things of this world.
You are like the hamster constantly running on its wheel.
You will never have enough to truly satisfy your soul.
II. The love of money is the opposite of contentment
II. The love of money is the opposite of contentment
II. El amor al dinero es lo opuesto al contentamiento
II. El amor al dinero es lo opuesto al contentamiento
II. The love of money is destructive
II. The love of money is destructive
II. El amor al dinero es destructivo
II. El amor al dinero es destructivo
The love of money is destructive. One reason it is so destructive is does not discriminate between rich and poor.
Many people think that only those who have many worldly possessions are at risk of this terrible evil.
We forget that within the people of God there were many who were rich and many others who were poor.
Abraham - a rich man
Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
Abram se había hecho muy rico en ganado, plata y oro.
Naomi - the widow
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.
En el tiempo en que los caudillos gobernaban el país, hubo allí una época de hambre. Entonces un hombre de Belén de Judá emigró a la tierra de Moab, junto con su esposa y sus dos hijos.
The love of money can manifest itself in both rich and poor:
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
Proverbs
Porque teniendo mucho, podría desconocerte
y decir: “¿Y quién es el Señor?”
Y teniendo poco, podría llegar a robar
y deshonrar así el nombre de mi Dios.
In both instances we see a person that loves money more than they love God.
The rich - forgets about God. They are utterly consumed in their wordly possessions. They think they have found their satisfaction in their wordly belongings and do not seek God. Their god is their wordly belongings.
The poor - has such a hunger for money/material possessions that they would rather rob and sin by dishonoring the name of God.
Both rich and poor - can be utterly consumed by their desire for worldly possessions that they loose sight of God and his glory.
The love of money is not the same as working hard to get ahead in this world.
It is not wrong to have personal goals - purchase a home, save for your children’s college education, purchase a designer bag, invest in stocks/bonds.
It is not wrong to desire to have enough income to give your family a confortable life.
The love of money manifests itself when our goal in life is not to serve God but to enrich ourselves.
Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
Los que quieren enriquecerse caen en la tentación y se vuelven esclavos de sus muchos deseos. Estos afanes insensatos y dañinos hunden a la gente en la ruina y en la destrucción.
Those whose only goal in life is to work, work, work, save, save, save, overtime, overtime, overtime, more, more, more - have become slaves to their desires.
They are not serving the God of the Bible. They are serving an evil master - their own desires. It is an evil master because their desires can never be satisfied. At the end of life, they will realize how foolish they were.
Paul warns Timothy of this type of destructive trap. It ruins people. It completely destroys them.
In the Bible we see the example of Acan (). The children of Israel had entered a town where they were to destroy they entire city. Acan saw a Babilonian robe along with a bar of gold. Because of his greed, because of his love of money he and his family were stoned to death. He caused his own family’s destruction.
It is astonishing how many people:
Divorce because of a husband or wife’s obsession with material possessions.
How many people destroy their careers because they started to embezzle money from their employers or businesses.
Sell drugs or commit other criminal acts engaging in illegal easy money making practices.
Walk away from the church because they no longer have time - there always more money to make, more overtime to put in, more time to increase their wealth.
Verse 10 goes on to say how many people walk away from the faith because of their love of money:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Porque el amor al dinero es la raíz de toda clase de males. Por codiciarlo, algunos se han desviado de la fe y se han causado muchísimos sinsabores.
If money or material possessions become your sole focus in this life - you are not a believer. Your god is money and all this world has to offer.
Those gods will be of no help to you upon your deathbed.
Those gods will forsake you when you confront cancer.
Those gods will forsake you when your child faces a life-threatening illness.
Those gods will forsake you when all hope in life seems lost.
We must consider our Christian duty - our duty to be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s Day as a sacred responsibility. If we see it as anything less - we are in danger of falling into the trap and will bring utter destruction upon our lives.
The Lord Jesus could not have said more clearer:
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
Entonces les contó esta parábola:
—El terreno de un hombre rico le produjo una buena cosecha. Así que se puso a pensar: “¿Qué voy a hacer? No tengo dónde almacenar mi cosecha.” Por fin dijo: “Ya sé lo que voy a hacer: derribaré mis graneros y construiré otros más grandes, donde pueda almacenar todo mi grano y mis bienes. Y diré: Alma mía, ya tienes bastantes cosas buenas guardadas para muchos años. Descansa, come, bebe y goza de la vida.” Pero Dios le dijo: “¡Necio! Esta misma noche te van a reclamar la vida. ¿Y quién se quedará con lo que has acumulado?”