Trust In The LORD, Not In Money

The Hebrews writer concludes his lengthy letter by exhorting us to show love and keep God's commandments. In my previous blog I commented about his urging us to love strangers. Next he urges us to remember those in prison, honor our marriage partners and avoid the love of money, all important exhortations. I'll not comment about prisoners and marriage partners. I've written extensively about marriage at other times.http:/.  

The Hebrews writer urges us to avoid the love of money with a word we find elsewhere only in Paul's letter to Timothy The word is phil-arguros (love of money) with a negative attached. In speaking about what spiritual leaders are not to be like Paul says,

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer (bishop), he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. - 1Tim 3:1-3 ESV

To discourage all from loving money, the writer quotes the LORD.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" - Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV 

The words are apparently from Moses' final words to Israel when, at age 120, he gazed out at the promised land, knowing that Joshua, not he, was to lead them across the Jordan.

And he said to them, "I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, 'You shall not go over this Jordan.' The LORD your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the LORD has spoken. And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." - Deut 31:2-6 ESV 

These are indeed words we may apply to ourselves when tempted to worship money or fall into the temptation to believe that money is able to provide us with all we need in this life. Note that we are not told that money in itself is evil. It is, after all, nothing more and nothing less than an agreement between two parties to provide goods and/or services. So the paper in my billfold is called "legal tender for all debts, public and private" and is backed by the Federal Reserve of the United States of America and signed by the Treasurer and the Secretary of the Treasury of the same country. I hand over this piece of paper and the other party gives me what we agreed upon. The temptation is to believe that all of our wants and needs in this life can or could be cared for by such exchanges.

Note that Israel was about to enter the land of promise and take it by force under the leadership of Joshua. Those occupying the land would naturally oppose them, but Moses repeatedly pointed out that this land was rightly their's, given to them by the LORD. Those occupying it had no rights to it. It did not belong to them. So Israel was to take back what the LORD had given them centuries before.

This is the thinking of God's children to this day.

The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, - Psa 24:1 ESV

Since the LORD has adopted us and made us members of His family in baptism (Rom. 8:16), we have every reason to believe that He will always care for and provide for us, according to what He determines we need. This is the word of encouragement we always need. And in His Word we place our hope, not in money.

Would God Lead Us Into Temptation?

Why on earth should I pray, "Our Father . . . lead us not into temptation?" Does the Father in heaven ever lead anyone into temptation? And if so, why? Surely He would not want to tempt us to disobey Himself or turn our backs upon Him. And if not, why does the LORD Jesus teach us such a prayer. Is He misleading us and not really suggesting that our Father would want to lead us into temptation?

I'm confused.

Let's take another look at this petition.

Once the disciples came to Jesus, asking his opinion about who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus called a child to join them and then said, "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Then he went on to warn about temptations to sin—or to be more precise, stumbling blocks along the path.

"For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! - Mat 18:7 ESV

Necessary? Perhaps inevitable is a better translation, because of the ways of the world and the people that live in it. What else could we expect? The ordered world of men is opposed to the will and plan of God. It is filled with skandala, the Greek word for the movable trigger of a trap, a trap stick. It refers to anything set up along one's path of life that might cause you to stumble or be caught. It may be either that trap stick or a stone set in the way. Metaphorically it refers to any person or event or anything by which you are drawn into sin, unbelief or rejection of the LORD. Once the trap door drops you're caught and cannot get away.

This is why Paul warns, for instance, about those who love to cause dissension and divisions among members of the Body of Christ. They love to set up traps that are contrary to the teachings we learned from our fathers and teachers. They're not at all interested in building up your faith in Jesus, Paul says. All they're really interested in is themselves and what's in it for them. So they use smooth, apparently profound and wise talk, mixed with flattery. It sounds so very learned, so intelligent, so very interesting—so modern. In this manner they deceive the hearts of those untrained to sort out their deceptions, those Paul calls the naive (Romans 16:17-18).

So back to our prayer. Why does our Father in heaven bring us into such situations? Whatever for? I suppose that's really another way of saying, Why doesn't He simply pluck us up and take us completely out of the world to some place where there is no temptation to sin? But of course that's quite impossible, is it not? Fly to a deserted island in the Pacific and you'll still have your own sinful heart, to say nothing of the demons assigned to lead you away from your LORD. As long as we live in this present world we will have such struggles and stresses. Listen to Jesus.

In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. - John 16:33 ESV

Temptations to sin are inevitable in this world. The fight will go on! There is no escaping it. We're in a war. So we pray for help to overcome the world. Teach us how to fight. Teach us the ways of the enemy. Arm us, train us, equip us for this war. And give us victory today!

More about the battle in my next post.