In Clint Eastwood's 1985 movie, Pale Rider, he plays a character known as Preacher. About halfway through the movie Preacher has a conversation with a man named LaHood who is trying get him to persuade some property owners to vacate their land. During their conversation they bring up the subject of Preacher becoming wealthy if he helps LaHood out. The conversation went something like this:
LaHood: Preacher, my name is Coy LaHood.
Preacher: I know.
LaHood: Do you imbibe, Reverend?
Preacher: Only after 9:00 in the morning.
LaHood: When I heard a (preacher) had come to town I had an image of a pale, scrawny,Bible-thumping Easterner with a linen handkerchief and bad lungs.
Preacher: That's me.
LaHood: Hardly. Your health. It occurred to me it must be difficultfor a man of faith to carry the message on an empty stomach, so to speak. I thought why not invite this devout and humble man to preach in town? Why not let the town be his parish? In fact why not build him a brand-new church?
Preacher: I can see where a preacher'd be mighty tempted by an offer like that. Oh, indeed. Then he'd be thinking about getting himself a batch of new clothes. We'd have them tailor-made. Then he'd start thinking about those Sunday collections.
LaHood: Hell, in a town as rich as LaHood, that preacher'd be a wealthy man.
Preacher: That's why it wouldn't work. Can't serve God and mammon both. Mammon being money.
The moment I heard Eastwood's character say you can't serve God and money, I thought, why does a fictitious character in a 24-year old movie have so much to say to the modern-day Church? I wish some of the preachers of today like Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar and, sadly, pretty much any popular televangelist, would watch this scene over and over. I have never understood why so many so-called Christians think that chasing after wealth is some God-ordained mandate. This terrible premise that has been reinforced to millions of Christians all over the world not only butchers the Word of God, but has chewed up and spit out nearly as many who have received it.
"Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?" Ecclesiastes 5:10-11
No one will deny that we have to have money in order to purchase the things we need in this world to survive. However, when we are taught to believe that God wants us to have money and wealth, the result is to start focusing on money and beginning to love it. If we end up mistakenly believing that God wants us to have money then our ability to obtain it becomes the judge of how God views us. If we have money than He must love us. If we don't have it than He doesn't love us. The result is either our pride becomes a problem or we start condemning ourselves. The goal of the Christian becomes the never ending pursuit of wealth and riches. We must ask ourselves two questions:
1. Why would Jesus warn us about forfeiting our souls in pursuit of gaining the world (Matthew 16:26) if we are supposed to gain the world?
2. How do you explain the wealth of people like Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, top Hollywood actors and numerous businessmen and world leaders who achieved their riches apart from any relationship with Christ?
If being a Christian is simply about becoming wealthy than we have relegated the message of Christ to nothing more than just another self-improvement program and lowered Jesus from the level of God to financial guru. Jesus did not come to save that which was broke, He came to save that which was lost. The other day, I had a conversation with a woman who said that Jesus was a millionaire. Give me a break! When I questioned her about it, she back pedaled a bit by saying that He wasn't wealthy in the terms of money, but in terms of all He had to offer. I didn't buy it. If the Kingdom of God were all about being wealthy then somebody forgot to tell Jesus and the
authors of Scripture:
"Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." Luke 9:58
"The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me." Mark 14:7
"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 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." 1 Timothy 6:9-10
Only about one percent of Americans are classified as millionaires. That means of the estimated 300 million citizens of this country only about 3 million of them have achieved that status. I don't think the percentages change much when you throw all 6 billion people of the planet into the mix. Is God only working in the lives of such a small fraction of the people? Of course not. I bet of those wealthy people, only about one percent of them truly know Christ. Regardless of how much money you have in the bank, God wants you focused on Him not your account balance. Jesus had no place to put His head and said that the poor would always be with us. God, through the author of Hebrews, said to keep our lives free from the love of money. And Paul wrote to Timothy of how those who love money have pierced themselves with many griefs. This message is contradictory to the one so many Christians have put faith in. God wants us to be content with what we have. We can't be content when we falsely believe God wants us rich.
The flesh is never satisfied and that is where the pursuit of money only fuels that desire. God understands what His children need to make it in this world. After all, He made the heavens and everything in it. We only need Him. He has given us Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ. When we pursue money aren't we trying to gain the world? How is it then that we have deceived ourselves into believing that by doing so we are pleasing to God? We cannot serve both God and money. If we are serving money than we cannot be serving God. If you have money then use it to advance the Gospel message. If you don't have money then use what you have to advance the Gospel message. God doesn't need your riches because our "God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)." We already have God's riches in Christ. The poor of this world are those who are dead in their sins. They do not need an infusion of money, but rather an infusion of the life of God through the indwelling of Holy Spirit. This is something available to all who accept Christ by faith not just those have apparently gained the world at the expense of their soul.
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