SCRIPTURE READING: I Timothy 6:6-10

As we look at this passage, the key text in our lesson, what I want to recognize is Paul’s ominous warning in v.10, stating that "love of money is the root of all sorts of evil." We have noticed in many previous studies that other forms of sin have led to "all sorts of evil"—wickedness is a catalyst for MORE wickedness, it often sets off a chain reaction that runs sometimes deeper and farther than we will ever in this life know or understand. Last week, we observed briefly what David’s sin of lust turned to. In Genesis 12, Abram told a lie, telling the Egyptians that Sarai was not his wife, but his sister. Here again, a small thing, in the world’s sight, a mere half-truth—she was his half-sister—led into complications and a sinful chain of events.

Obviously, SIN is progressive, and this applies equally to the love of money.

But you wouldn’t think it from the way the world looks at it today! Love of money is considered a "minor evil." Consider one form of this "minor evil" that threatens our area—gambling. A government study showed that in 1998, Americans spent more money on gambling (approx. $50 bil) than on recorded music, theme parks, video games, spectator sports, and movie tickets combined ($39.9 bil). As I understand, the state of Tennessee in the fall of next year will hold a referendum to change the state constitution and instate a gov’t-run lottery, a group-participation form of gambling with the highest pay-off and the longest odds—a chance of about 1 in 12-14 million. Support for the lottery, especially from this side of the state, is growing more than ever, where we have Mississippi drawing people into Tunica to gamble. Currently, 37 states have lotteries.

From this growing debate, chances are more than good that we as Christians will be expected to defend our condemnation of gambling. I hope today to look at Bible examples for us to remember that will make that discussion a biblical one. And, brethren, make no mistake, people are watching you closely on this topic, how you may react to any and everything that even resembles gambling. They may see nothing wrong with gambling for themselves, but they know what your principles are and they’re waiting for you to slip up. So today, let’s refresh our minds with a brief look at how gambling fits as a "love of money," and then look at Bible examples of the wicked fruits of a love for money.

In any discussion of gambling it will be important to define your term.

Gambling is:

"A wager or bet in which two or more people mutually agree in advance that each player will risk losing some material possession to other players, in exchange for the chance to win the material possessions placed at risk by the other players, the winners and losers to be determined by the outcome of some game of chance, with nothing of fair value being given the loser to compensate him for his loss."

In short, gambling is mutual covetousness, seeking to profit from another person’s loss. Gambling is motivated by greed and the thrill and excitement of personal risk. People say it’s NOT a sin because gamblers agree to lose their money if they lose the bet. That’s the same as saying dueling isn’t murder because duelers agree to lose their lives if they lose the duel!

And this form of greed, like any other, leads to all sorts of evil. Current estimates list approximately 2.5 million people as pathological gamblers, another 3 million as problem gamblers, and another 15 million people as at risk to become problem or pathological gamblers. And what comes from that? Here’s one example. An official at the Juvenile Court here in town said when the season starts at the dog track in West Memphis, child support payments drop significantly. Debts mount up, marriages are destroyed, children neglected. And once introduced to an area, gambling attracts other wicked enterprises like vultures to the kill—bars, strip clubs, prostitution, to name a few.

And gambling in the form of state lotteries isn’t only potentially addictive and damaging to the gambler, it is addictive to the proprietor. Lotteries are introduced and justified on the grounds of situation ethics: they’re going to do it anyway, it might as well go to the public good—to fund education, tourism, parks, buildings, roads, etc. So they start the lottery, anticipate making X amount of dollars. In all 37 examples of state lotteries we can see THIS pattern of development: Revenues are shown to be really high in the beginning, right after the lottery is introduced, but they eventually level off, and even begin to decline. So, in order to maintain their budget of X amount of dollars, they have to expand, introduce new forms of gambling: lucky numbers games, Powerball, Video Lottery Terminals, Oregon has even sponsored sports betting since 1989. Lottery is an industry that must be maintained by constant innovations, expansions, the promise to the public of a better chance at new wealth to get the active players to keep gambling and to get the moderate and non-gamblers to START. So they’re no longer just catering to people "who will do it anyway," are they? State governments have gambling problems.

Thus we see how love of money in the form of gambling, which is covetousness, leads to all sorts of evil.

Let’s consider now an example from Luke 12—Christ’s parable of the rich fool.
 

I. THE RICH FOOL

Luke 12:16-20

A. This rich man’s love of money was manifested in his selfishness. Notice how many personal pronouns he used: MY grain, MY goods. He sought nothing but earthly gain for his earthly body. And notice, no mention is made that he was accumulating his wealth by dishonorable means—this was not a sin of covetousness, but of a failure to put first things first.

B. This man failed to recognize that only heavenly treasures are lasting and enduring.

Matthew 6:20: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal....

This man loved perishable goods!

C. In I Timothy 6, Paul said as much concerning our material possessions:

I Timothy 6:7: For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.

I heard a joke once about a miserly old man who was on his death bed, and determined to take his wealth with him. He instructed his servants to move his entire fortune to the attic, so that he might catch it and take it up with him as his soul ascended to heaven. The servants did as he instructed, and shortly thereafter, the old man passed away.

"Quick!" said the head servant. "Check the attic to see if he took his money!"

After a long while, one of the servants finally returned with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Well?" asked the head servant. "Was the money there?"

"Yeah," said the puzzled servant, "but all his power tools are missing out of the basement!"

Alas, you can’t even take your material possessions to Hell, either!

D. Christ called that man of His parable a fool, as well as everyone else is not rich toward God. Anything you do for yourself in this life will fade away, but your soul will remain.

II. ACHAN

Let’s consider next an example from Joshua 7 of the same sin a person commits when he places a bet or participates in a lottery. Here’s an occasion where a man’s covetousness led to the deaths of many Israelites at the hands of the Amorites. In the battle against Jericho, God declared that there be NO spoils of war collected.

A. Achan, a soldier in the battle, went against God’s will in his desire for wealth that was not his.

Joshua 7:20-21

B. Christ prefaced His parable of the rich fool with a warning that Achan would have done well to hear:

Luke 12:15: And He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."

Notice Christ’s encompassing "every form of greed" into His warning. This applies not only to selfishness by honest means, but certainly covetousness as well.

C. In Paul’s letters, he stresses that covetousness must be eliminated, because it will keep one out of Heaven.

Colossians 3:5: Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

Ephesians 5:5: For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

III. JUDAS

A. Let’s next look at a man who loved money so much that he betrayed Christ in order to get it.

Matthew 26:14-16

B. Turn to Luke 16. This passage we often use to refer to many things of this world being weighed against service to God, but in the parable’s context, it is the fleshly vice of greed which stands in opposition to the Lord.

Luke 16:13: "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

One who falls in love with money cannot be a faithful servant of God, but rather acts to betray Him, as Judas did.

C. On Judas’ part, this was no sudden occurrence: his love for money had caused him to steal previous to his betrayal of Christ.

John 12:6: Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.

D. To trust in uncertain riches, rather than God, is to turn your back on the welfare of your soul.

I Timothy 6:17-19

IV. THIEVES

A. In another of Christ’s parables, love of money was the motive for thieves to beat and rob a fellow human being.

Luke 9:30: Jesus replied and said, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went off leaving him half dead."

We hear about stories now of people losing their lives for something as insignificant as a pair of shoes or a stylish jacket, and we wonder how anyone could be so wicked, as to harm another person to take what he has.

B. The Jews in Malachi 3 were guilty of the same sin. But they were robbing God.

Malachi 3:8: "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed Thee?’ In tithes and offerings."

Every physical blessing that we enjoy is a gift of God. These things are His.

C. In I Corinthians 16, God made provisions for His children to give back to Him as they have been blessed.

I Corinthians 16:2: On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.

But, you know, in the same way that the world considers gambling a "minor sin," I think some Christians are guilty of viewing the contribution as a "minor point of worship."

D. Many today rob God because they fail to give as they have prospered under His care.

II Corinthians 9:7: Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.

A cheerful giver is not one who rationalizes or seeks to find excuses for not giving on one week or another. When we find ourselves withholding God’s due for the sake of something—anything---else, we show a greater love for money than for God.

V. SOLOMON

A. In this life, wealth can make us comfortable, but it can’t fulfill us. Look at Solomon. In
Ecclesiastes 5, we read that this wealthiest of the wealthy kings was discontent with everything
that he had.

Ecclesiastes 5:10: He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.

B. In Solomon’s God-granted wisdom, he understood that without God, wealth added nothing to life but cares and worries.

v.12: The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

If you ever desire an example of what Solomon is saying, turn on A&E Biography on some week they’re highlighting celebrities, or the rich and powerful. Almost always, the REAL trouble in their lives BEGINS when the wealth and fame arrive. They get divorced, they get addicted to drugs, the suffer depression, they do stupid things and get thrown in jail . . . or any combination of these.

C. When we overcome a lust for wealth, our faith is enhanced and our spiritual blessings increase.

I Timothy 6:6: But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.

D. Let’s not ever forget how Solomon concluded his thoughts:

Ecclesiastes 12:13: The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

VI. OTHER SINNERS

A. As I Timothy 6:10 warns, the love of money INDEED will lead a man into all kinds of evil works and sin.

B. People today see gambling as a small thing. That doesn’t make it better, it makes it all the more horrible that you should forfeit your eternal treasures for something so fleeting. I Timothy 6:9 warns of ruin and destruction in the path of the mindset you indulge in from such a small, "innocent" act.

C. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for their sin against God, a sin motivated by a love of money. They were gamblers. All of these people listed were.

D. Would you wager your soul against another day of the life you are living right now? Is it worth that? Are you willing to lay that down?

I can’t give you any odds—we know not the day nor the hour when the Lord shall come again. Would you wager your soul on those odds? I certainly hope not.