Study 8: Chasing After Wealth

"Money is one of the most common counterfeit gods there is. When it takes hold of your heart it blinds you to what is happening, it controls you through your anxieties and lusts, and it brings you to put it ahead of all other things." (Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods)

How Do We Chase After Money/Wealth?

1. Take a moment to assess your money situation. Would you consider yourself rich? Poor? Getting by? Are you content with your present financial situation, or do you find it an occasion for anxiety or even panic?
2. Are you hopeful about the future in terms of your financial security, or are you depressed? Why?
3. Is your chief motivation in your work to earn money to survive? To thrive? To gain prestige in the eyes of others? To help others?
4. In what ways do you relate Christ to your financial situation? In what was do you tend to keep your finances separate from your spiritual life?
5. How can finding your ultimate meaning in Christ help you have a more balanced perspective about money?
6. What Scripture passages can help you maintain that balance?

Ecclesiastes 5:8-17

1. The passage describes how money can lead to frustration. We can all agree that money is necessary to live in the world and that we must work for it. Is it possible to recognize that reality and still find contentment? How?
2. How does the Teacher describe the nature of wealth?
3. What negative effects does the desire for wealth have in public life (5:8-9)? In personal life (5:10-17)?
4. Describe a struggle with attachment to the things you own.
5. How do your possessions relate to your sense of security? Comfort? Power? Control? Approval?

The Vanity of Wealth and Honor (Ecclesiastes 5: 8-17)

8 If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. 9 But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields

10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.


Other verses to consider:
1 Timothy 6:6-10
Luke 16:10-13
Matthew 6:24
Matthew 19:21-24
Hebrews 13:5-6
Revelation 3:15-17

What does God think about money?

• Contentment without a bunch of wealth is possible, and there is great gain in contentment
• Desire to be rich leads to temptation
• Love of money is the problem
• Money itself is not evil
• God doesn't outright condemn material things
• We have wealth in knowing God will never forsake us
• You cannot serve both God and money
• Treasure in heaven is not the same as wealth on earth
• We may boast in riches but Jesus points to our spirit --- he calls a rich man "poor"
• We worship/serve something, always
• Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven
• God ties contentment to his eternal character

Discussion on wealth as idolatry:

• Riches are delusional
• Idol: loving the thing so much that you don't want to give it away for God
• Thins associated with riches = TEMPTATION (fall away from God, tempted to want more, etc.)
• Rev. 3:17 = the state of the world
• 1 Tim. 6:7 - we bring nothing into this world and take nothing out of it
• Working solely for money makes life worse
• You cannot serve both God and money ---> one gets HATE and one gets LOVE
• Wealth as an idol -- serve it, manipulate it to get what you want, can serve a budget/savings, dependent on it
• Error on the end of poverty because money tempts us to MORE
• Tithing -- a good scale for this; sometimes it requires doing it out of obedience even when you don't feel like it
• Wealth defined by Jesus is contentment in him
• Need grace to RECEIVE as well with thanksgiving
• Hard to receive from others if we feel like we are taking something integral
• Accept God's wealth with thanksgiving
• Wealth is not just moeny
• Money becomes comparative quite easily
• Money = the compulsion for a *new* thing
• Be grateful for the wealth you do have
• Prioritize joy (e.g. stuff you buy vs. evening with friends)
• Contentment = being in the moment (not looking ahead too far)

Study 7: Chasing After Success

"More than other idols, personal success and achievement lead to a sense that we ourselves are god, that our security and value rest in our own wisdom, strength, and performance. To be the very best at what you do, to be at the top of the heap, means no one is like you. You are supreme." (Tim Keller, "Counterfeit Gods", The Seduction of Success)

Ecclesiastes 2:4-26 – What Is the Value of Work?

• What does the Teacher say about work in verses 21-23?
• What would he say about workaholic tendencies in our society?
• How could his perspective on work help with this mentality?
• What shift do you see in the way the Teacher views work in verses 24-26?
• If you were to view your work as a gift from God to be enjoyed, how could that change your attitude about it?
• The passage describes how hard work leading to monetary success can be frustrating. What kind of satisfaction can work lead to?

How Do We Chase After Work?

• Take a moment and assess your work situation, whether that work is outside the home or in it. Are you content with your work? Do you enjoy it or hate it? Why or why not?
• Would you consider yourself a workaholic? How would your spouse or close friends characterize you?
• In what ways do you relate Christ to your work situation? In what ways do you tend to keep work separate from your spiritual life?
• How can finding your ultimate meaning in Christ help you have a more balanced perspective about work?
• What Scripture passages can help you maintain that balance?

Update, discussion from YH:

What about work/success is satisfying?

• Feel proud for working hard
• Feels good when we have something to show for our work
• Approval or getting praised for it
• Finding worth in it
• Seeing the fruit from it

What about it is unsatisfying?

• It doesn't last
• Feels good for awhile, but then you want more
• Reward for doing a good job is more work
• Endless
• Competitive
• Wanting to take

What makes success an idol?

• You can "attain" it and think you have control over it
• It is expected of us -- HAVE to achieve success
• Becomes a part of who you are -- work defines us
• Pride
• "Owning it" in an unhealthy way
• When we are defensive about our roles/work

What is a healthy version of work?

• Success can be many different versions
• You are not your job
• Think about success in terms of where you can change your world --- not just a "job"
• Treating what you have honorably
• Remember it's a process (not just the "end point")
• Contentment

How to find contentment?

• Steward of God's investment
• Romans 15:17 - "In Christ Jesus then I have reason to be proud of my work for God"
• Right level of "ownership" of what God has given us
• To *not* use what He's given us to glorify Him is a dishonor
• Jeremiah 12:5 - “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?"
• Process makes us strong
• Success leads to reward -- but we don't "own" the reward!
• Trust to God's timing
• Just because we pray and act, doesn't mean we get
• Many times we are like, "Okay God is it A, B, or C?" and He's like, "42"
• God's version of success is often not like ours or the world's
• Ask: what can I do to be successful *in this very moment*?
• Allow for improvisation
• No procrastination :)