What Does the Bible Say About Wealth?
7 Important Lessons about Wealth From the Bible
Have you seen The Chosen yet?
There is one very powerful and extremely convicting scene in season 1 episode 7 where Jesus and his disciples are all preparing to move on to the next town. In a previous scene, Jesus invites Nicodemus, a powerful and wealthy pharisee to come and follow him. Instead of accepting the call, Nicodemus leaves a bag of money for Jesus and the disciples. Jesus is disappointed that Nicodemus couldn’t give up his comfortable position in the synagogue to follow him, and it has clearly affected Nicodemus a lot too because in this scene he begins weeping.
Nicodemus seems to have been overtaken by his comfortable life of wealth, as well as fear of what others may think of him. One thing I do find particularly interesting about this scene is that it is a really good representation of how many of us “participate” in the mission of Christ here on earth. Instead of boldly saying “Yes” to Jesus’ call, we simply give some money to the mission and call it good.
Don’t get me wrong.. Churches, ministries, and nonprofits NEED our financial support, but more than that Jesus is calling us to get up from our comfortable spots on the sidelines and to actually participate!
Here’s the big list of money topics in the Bible, and here is a list of over 100 Bible verses about money.
What Does This Mean for Our Money?
We are called to first and foremost, pursue the Kingdom of God before everything else. This can be found in verses like Matthew 6:33 or passages like Luke 9:57-62 when Jesus shares the cost of following him.
The message we receive from passages like this is that nothing, literally nothing, matters more than following Jesus. It’s not to say that nothing matters, rather that the most important thing is to be able to leave everything behind and follow Him. No matter how many Bible verses there are about money, it is always clear that God is greater!
This is why building wealth is so tricky… Because nothing is inherently wrong with building wealth. But when we focus so much on accumulating money, assets, investments, and stuff, we get used to a certain lifestyle that comes along with all of that. If Jesus were to come knocking on your door and say “Hey, follow me!” could you leave it all behind? Or would your response be more like Nicodemus from that scene in The Chosen – giving some money, and going back to your comfortable life?
I think you and I would both love to say that we would readily take our spot next to Jesus. But then we start to think about how He says, to “take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt” (Luke 9:3), and we get a bit fearful. No matter where we stand financially, we can always be working on becoming even better at biblical financial stewardship. That is why it is so important to ask questions about how to manage our wealth.
Let’s take a look at some important lessons to understand what the Bible says about wealth.
7 Important Lessons About Wealth in the Bible
1. Wealth is not a sin
It is important for us to understand that wealth is not offensive to God.He often blessed His servants with wealth whenever they pleased Him. Many of the families we see in the Old Testament were very wealthy, because God blessed them with wealth and prosperity.
Abraham had tons of cattle, land, gold, and silver. Once he even had to split some of his land with his nephew Lot because, as Genesis 13 puts it, “their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together”
Abraham passed along his wealth to his family. Isaac and Jacob were both very wealthy men and wealth just seemed to magically accumulate for them (obviously thanks to God!). Joseph had a “rags to riches” story after being sold into slavery and then coming into a position where he literally oversaw all the food in the land of Egypt during the famine.
Not to mention, Solomon was the wealthiest man to ever exist. And Job had tons of wealth before it was all taken away from him, and then after he went through all of his trials, God gave it all back to him doubled!
There’s even some evidence that Jesus himself may have been wealthy himself, but either way, wealth in itself is not a bad thing, nor is it sinful.
2. Wealth has never been an accurate measure of a person’s standing with God
In many instances in the Old Testament, we see God bless his followers with wealth. Go through and read some of the accounts of Abraham’s early family line to find many examples of this.
One very particular example that comes to mind is Job. Satan took away all of Job’s family and his wealth to show God that Job wasn’t really a faithful follower. Job proved Satan wrong by continuing to worship God even though he had literally nothing… For this, God blessed him with double the wealth he had before!
Even though God can use wealth to show his favor and blessing, it is by no means the only way, nor is it an accurate depiction of your worth in His eyes. In fact, Jesus told many rich people to give up their wealth to be able to fully follow him without distractions.
In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazurus, it was Lazurus, a poor beggar, who ended up going to heaven and the Rich Man who ended up going to Hell.
It was the poor widow in Luke 21 who gave two coins that Jesus said gave more than all the rich men who gave large gifts to the temple.
Click here to learn how to determine your value.
3. Wealth has a purpose – to be invested in the Kingdom of God
What we do with our money either enhances the mission of Christ here on earth, or it is used for self-glorifying purposes. This is why Jesus warns us so many times about what having lots of money does to someone.
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
1 John 3:17
Money, when in the hands of the righteous, can be used for good things! In fact, that is what we are commanded to do with it in 1 Timothy 6:18: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”
Some excellent examples of how you can use your own wealth to invest in the Kingdom include:
- Matthew (Levi) throwing a banquet for Jesus and inviting others who don’t know Jesus yet so they can learn about the Kingdom of God (Luke 5:27-29)
- Joannah and Susannah supporting Jesus’ ministry from their own means, (Luke 8:3)
- Joseph of Arimathea giving what he had to bury Jesus in a brand new tomb (Matthew 27:57-60)
- Zacchaeus giving half of his wealth to the poor and righting the wrongs he made by cheating people of their taxes and paying back more than he took (Luke 19:1-10)
- Even the example of the Wife of Noble Character in Proverbs 31 had a profitable business and had wealth and she used it to take care of her family as well as the poor
These are just a few of the ways in which you can use your wealth for purposes other than your own comforts and glorification.
Related: 57 Bible Verses About Gratitude That Will Inspire Your Giving
4. Wealth can easily lead us to be spiritually lazy
Wealth gives the artificial facade that we have power and control! When in reality, money can never give us these things, only the fake appearance of it. So if we get used to being “in control” by always buying what we need and all that we want, our faith is rocked when all of a sudden things don’t go the way in which we suspected they would. We try to throw money at that problem, because in the past that is what we did to make other problems go away, but when things only seem to get worse, we are quick to blame God.
Wealth can keep us from relying on God 100%. We may say we trust him, but when our money doesn’t solve sickness, fear, the feeling of being alone, or our desire to feel secure, the roots of our faith are tested.
In an article on BestofChristianity.com they say, “Wealth makes the hearts of many people grow resistant to self-sacrifice and also shifts their focus from eternal riches to earthly bank balances.”
Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord? Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
Proverbs 30:7-9
Consider the Rich Young Man that Jesus spoke to. The young man asked Jesus how he could inherit the Kingdom of God, and Jesus asked him to give up the one thing that was holding his heart captive – his wealth. It was just one thing that Jesus was asking him to do. It seems as though the ruler determined it was too difficult and he walked away sad.
The point is, that wealth can be dangerous. Those who enjoy the “good life” may be more easily tempted to neglect the godly life. They may also never learn to depend on God.
5. Wealth is absolutely not a true source of security
So many of us get this skewed idea that having money in the bank gives us security. Yes, the Bible does say we should save money, and plan for our future, and be prepared for unforeseen circumstances. But having money does not equal safety.
To be honest, this is a lesson that I struggle to grasp for myself. I definitely feel better when I have a cushion of money in my bank account, or an emergency fund, or when I earn extra money. But since this money is not ours, God can easily tell us to go and give it all away to give to the poor (Matthew 19:21).
Our only source of security is Jesus Christ. No amount of money in your retirement or bank accounts will ever surmount to the peace that the Holy Spirit can give us.
1 Timothy 6:17-18
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
God is good and he promises to take care of us during times of financial struggles, so we do not need to worry or attempt to stockpile out of fear. Think about how he takes care of the birds and they don’t store things up (Matthew 6:26)
6. Wealth comes from God alone, not our own works
But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 8:18
It is so easy to justify that our money comes from the work that we do. Because I’m the one putting in the hours, I’m the one working my butt off, I’m the one typing out emails.. Therefore, I’m the one who produced the wealth.
We lose sight of the one who gave us the ability to do all the work in the first place! The Bible is very clear that God is the one who provides.
Rich and poor have this in common:
The Lord is the Maker of them all.
Proverbs 22:2
7. Wealth is not something we are entitled to
There are times where many of us recognize that everything comes from the Lord, but our view of His provision is out of alignment. We see promises of abundance in the Bible and we easily become entitled, and start making demands of God.
We live in a very consumerist society that tells us we deserve to treat ourselves! So when we hear messages like the prosperity gospel, they sound really great! But we need to carefully read those promises of abundance and dig a little deeper. When it comes down to it, we recognize that 1) God’s abundance does not always take the form of money and 2) God’s abundance might not be experienced while still on earth
We limit our God if we think that money is the only way in which he can provide blessings.
Our real treasures await us in heaven (Matthew 6:19–20).
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