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PREACHING ABOUT POVERTY 'What Would Jesus Say About Wealth?' Dr. David P. Gushee Graves Associate Professor of Moral Philosophy and Senior Fellow of the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership at Union University, Jackson, Tennessee.  Dr. Gushee formerly served on the staff of Evangelicals for Social Action and then on the faculty of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

[This is a question and answer sermon. In its original context, this was presented in a Q/A format in Northbrook Church, Humboldt, Tennessee, as an innovative approach to Sunday morning worship/teaching.] 

1. Did Jesus deal with the issue of wealth directly? If so, how much?

Yes, quite a bit. More than any other issue in the Gospels! Generally our churches pay far less attention to money and possessions issues than Jesus himself did.  

2. For Jesus is the issue wealth itself?

Sometimes he does seem to make wealth a problem in and of itself, even one that threatens the possibility of eternal salvation. We must hear his words even if they trouble us.

Mt. 6:24--you cannot serve both God and money
Mt 19:16-26--story of the rich young man who walks away from discipleship because of money
Mk 4:18-19--seed of discipleship choked out by worries and "deceitfulness" of wealth
Lk 16:19-31--the rich man and Lazarus; rich man in eternal torment due to his lack of concern for the poor at his gate.  

It's such devastating material that Clement of Alexandria could write a famous sermon asking, "Can the Rich Man Be Saved?" This is really the most natural question that emerges from Jesus' teaching in this area. Clement himself wanted to argue that the generous rich person with the right attitude toward money could definitely be saved. Other church fathers were not so sure.  

3. So are you arguing that Jesus taught that rich people can't be saved?

No, but that he said some things that ought to shake us up, make us ask why he said what he said about wealth, and challenge our way of life.

4. So, why did he say those things about wealth? What's the real problem with money?

Mk 4:19--key phrase--the deceitfulness of wealth. I want to hang my answer on that phrase. Deceit is the "concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading." I think Jesus is saying that wealth-- "a great quantity of money or material possessions" --is inherently deceitful. It has a tendency to distort certain truths and to mislead us about them. So much so that we can really get off track and lose our way. So I want to talk about truth and deceit in the area of wealth as it works itself out in our relationship with God, ourselves, and others.  

5. What threat does wealth pose to our relationship with God?

Truth: God is the author of life and of every good gift, including our own lives. We are frail, weak, utterly dependent, physical, vulnerable creatures. We live by God's sustaining grace.

Deceit: Wealth can convince us of our self-sufficiency. We are the author of our own good gifts. We are not weak dependent vulnerable creatures. We do not need God's sustaining grace.

Text: 1 Tim 6:7, 17--put your hope in God not wealth
Rev. 3:17--"I am rich and do not need a thing" 

6. What can wealth do to our attitude to other people?

Truth: The wealthy are no better than anyone else in the sight of God.

Deceit: My wealth entitles me to a sense of superiority over all who fall below me in the social hierarchy. Biblical word: haughtiness; pride. God hates it. Kids routinely deride other kids at school because they don't have designer clothes; advertising teaches us to evaluate our worth on the basis of the "quality" of our "things."

Text: 2 Tim 3:2--people will love money and themselves
James 2:1-5--show no partiality to the rich 

7. What can wealth do to our attitude toward our material needs and to our lifestyle?

Truth: God has a plan for providing us with our basic physical needs. When understood in need terms, we need very little. A couple thousand calories a day, clothes on our back, a place to stay. Of course, as our responsibilities grow the picture gets a lot more complex.

Deceit: We need whatever our heart wants and desires. Those "needs" grow and grow and grow. They distort our perspective, our spending priorities, and ultimately threaten our trust in and intimacy with God. Ultimately luxury becomes necessity. The Bible attacks luxury itself, by the way. The advertising industry understands our psychology in this area of life better than we ourselves do. Resisting these pressures is one of the greatest spiritual/moral challenges faced by Christians in a consumer society.

Text: Mt. 6:25-33--do not worry about these things-seek the kingdom of God.
1 John 2:16--cravings and boastings about material things come from the world's values 

8. What can wealth do to our treatment of other people?

Truth: We must love our neighbor as ourselves. Everybody deserves equal and respectful treatment. We must never use people merely as a means to our goals.

Deceit: My desire for wealth makes it acceptable for me to do whatever is necessary to acquire more: to mistreat my workers, to lie and deceive my clients, to cheat on my taxes, to file false expense statements, etc.

Text: James 2:6-7--rich exploiting the poor
James 5:1-6--exploitation and even murdering of poor innocents by the wealthy

Wealth can also make us indifferent to the real needs of others. Because we are comfortable, and begin to travel only in the circles of the comfortable, we don't even see the needs of the less fortunate. And when we do, we immediately go into defense mechanism mode and blame them for their own problems.

Text: Lk 19:16-31--rich man and Lazarus

9. What does wealth tend to do to our voting and political behavior?

Truth: We should vote and participate in politics on the basis of God's Kingdom principles for the governing of this world.

Deceit: Wealth and our desire for it can distort our moral/political vision. We vote our wallet rather than our Scripture. Then maybe we justify that biblically. This is something that the politicians count on! The Bible talks a lot about bribery as a special problem--which exists in its own right as a problem today, and can stand in as a symbol for the abuse of financial power.

10. So, on the positive side, are there biblical principles we should remember to counter all these problems?

Basically, live the truths rather than the deceptions in relation to wealth:

Attitude towards God--gratitude and humility and sense of creaturely dependence whether rich or poor. Asking God to use us to help meet the needs of the poorest among us. Welcoming the words of great reversal in Luke 6:20-26.

Attitude to other people--no arrogance or boasting of any kind if God has seen fit to bless us materially; compassion and lived kindness to the poor.

Attitude toward our needs and wants and lifestyle--contentment; simplicity; holding possessions loosely; trust in God; no greed; no love of money

Heb. 13:5--keep free from the love of money
Lk 12:16-21--store up treasures with God rather than yourself

In the above senses, our attitudes do matter. But I do not believe Jesus taught that it is only our attitudes that matter.

Treatment of other people--as equals; no abuse of people to accumulate things; no lawbreaking or law skirting to hold onto money; positively-a lifestyle of generosity and sharing

1 Tim 6:18-19--be generous with the good things God has given you.

Politics

Vote biblical convictions rather than your wallet; seek justice for the least of these. Hope for what Mary hoped for when she learned she would give birth to the Messiah:
Lk 1:51-53--God sides with the poor, bringing them relief and justice.

Conclusion

In a capitalist and consumerist society, where acquisitiveness is encouraged at every point, moving towards Jesus' stance on possessions and money requires a sturdy and resilient countercultural stance. When we get there, not only are we set free from attitudes and actions that ultimately poison our own souls, we are also liberated to offer our lives, time, and possessions on behalf of those who truly need them.