Proverbs, like so much of the Bible, has a lot to say about money. The potentials and pitfalls are spelled out for us in very direct terms, from the Old Testament to the teachings of Jesus Himself. Proverbs is absolutely loaded with advice, warnings and encouragements on this topic which will forever be on our minds. As I did a few weeks ago, regarding marriage and adultery, I'll simply unload the verses and then make a few personal comments at the end.

A) First, the warnings and hazards. If we want to be wise regarding wealth and related things, this is what we are not supposed to be about.

1. Ill-gotten gain – 21:6 says that a fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare. 28:8 says that he who increases wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another who will be kind to the poor. In other words, God will redistribute that wealth to someone who is generous with integrity. 11:6 says that a kind-hearted woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth. All-in-all, Proverbs warns against ill-gotten gain in dozens of verses and suggests that while the wicked may prosper for a season, God has His ways of straightening things out.
2. Greed – 15:27 A greedy man brings trouble to his family. 28:20 A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to be rich will not go unpunished. 28:25A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper. 23:5-6 Cast a glance at riches and they are gone. They will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
3. Stinginess – 28:22 A stingy man is eager to get rich and unaware that poverty awaits him. 23:6-7 says don’t even eat the food of a stingy man who’s always thinking about the cost. He may say “eat and drink” but his heart isn’t with you. “You will vomit up what little you’ve eaten and will have wasted your compliments. ”
4. Envy – 14:20 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
5. Esteem tied to wealth – It’s a sad picture in 13:7-8 of the one who loves to look rich but is really very poor, as apposed to the one who is happy to live simply and yet has great wealth. 28:11 says that the poor person with discernment sees right through the rich person who thinks he’s cool (it actually says “wise”, not cool) but the point is this. Some people have their esteem tied to wealth, and it’s really just sad since wealth doesn’t earn the respect of a discerning person, whose opinions matter more.
6. Trust in riches – 11:28 Whoever trusts in riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. 11:4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, by righteousness delivers from death (in other words, you can’t take it with you, and even if you could, it wouldn’t help!). 18:11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city. They imagine it to be an unscalable wall. Implication? It isn’t.

1. Generosity – 3:27-28 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back later, I’ll give it tomorrow” – when you now have it with you. That’s stinginess. Instead, give, share, offer, say yes. 14:21 He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy. 14:31 He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
   
   Let me define greed and generosity. If greed is wanting something for myself more than I want it for others, then generosity is wanting something for others more than I want it for me. Or, if I want to be a bit more lax, generosity is wanting something for others as much as I want it for me. That falls in line with “Love your neighbor as yourself. ”Jesus, of course, when beyond that and invites us to something more sacrificial than mere generosity. Still, mere generosity is good.
   
   One more thing on generosity. Generosity is not reciprocity. Sometimes we love to think ourselves generous when we give to those who give back. Jesus has a few words on that topic, like “What more are you doing than sinners or tax collectors. ”If generosity costs us nothing it isn’t generosity.
2. Generation are blessed – 13:22 says that a good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous. It seems to be saying that it’s good to invest in our grandchildren. It also suggests that, again, the wicked person’s wealth will eventually be redistributed by God for better people and better purposes.
   This idea of leaving an inheritance is offset by 20:21, which says that an inheritance quickly gained at the beginning will not be blessed in the end. And this is serious business – sometimes when we make things too easy our children, we do it at the expense of certain lessons and character development issues that leave them handicapped for a lifetime.
3. Better yet, we can teach our children and their children a way of life that is truly rich. Proverbs refers to the wages of the righteous. They bring life, They bring blessing and no trouble with it. This wage means a house full of treasure, and those treasures are unencumbered by dangers and snares. In essence, most wealth becomes the master and we become the slave. The wages of the righteous are easy and good and have no hold on us.
   Listen to this picture:11:10 When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices. Why? Because it’s good new for everyone. But when wicked perish, there are shouts of joy. (Ebenezer Scrooge). I want to be that kind of person. If wealth landed in my hands (which, by the way, it has), the city, the poor, the church, the PTA, my neighbors would be glad. Why? Because they’d know that I wouldn’t blow it on myself.

4. Honor the Lord with your wealth (3:9-10), with the first fruits of all your crops. Then your barns will be filled to over flowing and your vats will brim over with new wine. Elsewhere, it says to honor God with your barns and your crops. In other words, honor God with gifts out of our wealth and out of our income. This idea of first fruits giving is powerful. Give the first and the best, not the last and the worst. Write that first check of the month to God, not the last one, scratched out of the leftovers. God doesn’t honor that because that doesn’t honor God. First fruits giving is both practical and symbolic. It means that God actually gets his portion and it means that He is, symbolically, our first priority. We declare God’s primacy when we make God our priority.
5. God’s math – 11:24 One man gives freely yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly but comes to poverty. To put it simply, God helps us do more with 90% or less than we can do with 91% or more. People wiser and more experienced than me have told me this dozens and dozens of times. It’s God’s math. Doubt it to your detriment. Disagree if you like, but why do we fight Him on this. Will we forever look for self-justifying loopholes?
6. Trust in the Lord and not in riches. It’s all over the book.
7. A healthy alignment of values – Better a little with righteousness than much with injustice. Better dry crumbs with peace than feasting with strife. Better vegetables where there is love than prime rib where there is hatred (it actually says “fattened calf”). Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse. Listen to this prayer from 30:7-8 Two thing I ask of you, O 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. 23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich. Have the wisdom to show restraint.

A few personal observations and applications:

First about greed. We’d be in the worst kind of denial to think we’re unaffected by it or above it. We’ve been steeped in it all our lives. Do we think it hasn’t tainted us? God help us, it might be the most predominant speed bump on the road to spiritual maturity.

Second – envy – it does rot the bones…

Third, about first fruit giving. There is an old, tired argument about the tithe (10%) as a first fruits gift. Some struggle with the tithe because it isn’t raised up as a standard in the New Testament. Some might argue with tithing because it can feel legalistic. Others might argue with tithing because it feels limiting. Others are simply looking for loopholes – for a biblical justification for stinginess. The New Testament never instructs us to stop tithing, Jesus, being a Jew of Jews, most likely tithed himself. The early church, mostly made up of Jews with respect for the Old Testament, most likely tithed and continued their involvement in the synagogue. And then, their New Testament model of giving blew so far beyond that tithe that any 10% standard sounds cheap. They lived in community, shared assets when necessary, sold assets when necessary, and sacrificed greatly on behalf of the poor.

In my opinion, the only weakness of the tithe is that we can make the mistake thinking that once we’ve done it, the other 90% is ours to keep independent from God’s influence. It is my opinion that the best approach for giving using the whole of the Bible as our guide is to make a first fruits give of at least 10% freehanded and non-directed, to the cause of God’s church. Then, we pray without ceasing, walk in the Spirit and wait for God to touch our hearts with the crying needs that He would like each of us to respond to. Realize, though, that 10% may just be a starting point. Some of you are already praying for the day when 100% of your income and much of your accumulated wealth can be given to others.

On the topic of wealth – some people have been gifted with the ability to generate wealth. God gives this gift and is eager to do when so when the motives are pure and generous. It is an honorable thing to fight the battle and do business well so the God’s work can be supported and furthered by generous helps. The challenge, of course, is that the more we have, the harder it is to give.

Jesus says it’s hard for a rich man to enter God’s kingdom. Why? For one thing, the more we own, the more most of us are actually owned by the assets. At some point, the money becomes the master. Second, it is reprehensible to God that hose who have the assets to change this world should instead horde them.

Jesus also said that where our treasure is, there shall our hearts be also. That means that a most obvious real measure of our true values is the manner in which we handle money.

Esteem…don’t buy the lie…

So what do I do if I want this kind of life but I’m steeped in materialism and greed and self-preservation?

1. Start somewhere.
2. Go back to core values and start over with a family mission statement. Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
3. Let go – open your grip – let God remodel and renew. So much is about core values:
1. Blue Hills – unashamed and completely focused.
2. Mt. Hermon – unashamed and completely focused.

The church – I’m as embarrassed by our reticence to talk money as I am by the scandals that have too often rocked the church. We need to talk and listen and learn and risk and discover how to trust God in this crucial area. This church is always trying to expand our vision even as we hope for gifts commensurate with that growing vision. So far, it doesn’t happen. Our vision is too small because we’ve learned to rely on a giving base that is really too small for a people who are so richly blessed.

There is so much more that could be said. I also believe that growth in this area means huge growth for each of us in our walks with God. I am unashamed…I believe in what we do, and even more in what we can do as God re-orders our lives and honors the vision.