TWO MASTERS, WHERE IS YOUR HEART?

Talking about money among the Body of Messiah has become a taboo. This difficulty does not exist for nothing, after all, many abuses have been and continue to be committed when relating faith to goods. Although many scandals are in evidence today, this is not a new problem in the history of the Body of Messiah. As early as the first century there was great care to preserve the brethren from the clutches of those who were interested only in profiting from the gospel.

1 Tim 3:6-10 

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.

However, contrary to popular thought, the subject of money is holier than it seems. Even though wolves, hirelings, and abusers have marked the lives of many people, the theme of the relationship between money, goods, and the Kingdom of God is beautiful and essential to the life of the Body of Messiah when treated in the light of the Scriptures. And, believe me, the Bible has a lot to say in this regard.

If we were to list the subjects that we believe to be the most present in the word of God, what would they be? Salvation, faith, grace, forgiveness, heaven and hell would certainly be in our top 10.

But what about money?

What would be your place on the list? Probably among the last. However, there is an amazing fact: there are more than 2.300 Bible verses that talk about money. Let’s see some of the most famous examples:

 Psalm 62:10

‘Do not trust in oppression, Nor vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them.’

Luke 12:34

‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

Eccl 5:10

‘He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.’

Prov.23.4

‘Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!’

Mal 3.9-10

‘You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.’

Prov 11.25

‘The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.’

Proverbs 3:9

‘Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the first fruits of all your increase;’

Luke 16:10

‘He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. ‘

Deuteronomy 15:10

‘You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. ‘

Lord Yeshua Himself spoke a lot on the subject. Of approximately 40 parables recorded in the gospels, approximately 11 deal with the theme. About 25% of everything the Messiah said was about our relationship with the goods and resources of this world. It is undeniable that money was an important issue for Yeshua. But why? Why does the Bible devote so much space to talking about money? Because money, whether we like it or not, is something very important to us. We spend most of our time and effort on money-related matters. We fail to take care of our health, family, friends, neighbor and, most regrettable of all, we leave aside the things of God himself because of money. If money is so essential to us, it is certainly important to the Lord.

Money has dominion over minds and hearts. The origin of money was not barter, that preceded the invention of exchange currencies, but the opposite. Evidence shows that more than 5.000 years ago, in the Near Eastern region, money was already used in the central power structures of ancient cities: pagan temples. It was precisely in pagan temples that basic consumer goods such as grain and wheat were stored and exchanged for currency. Long before the first biblical text was written, money was already used in the pagan religious environment as something sacred. There is no neutrality in money. It was born from a spirituality and, no wonder, requires devotion. That is why the Lord is so categorical when he says:

‘“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Mt 6:24

Martin Luther even stated that all people need to go through three stages of conversion: mind, heart, and wallet. There is a direct connection between our spirituality and the way we deal with money. This is so important that Yeshua presented the posture towards material possessions as evidence of true faith (or lack thereof). Let’s read about “The conversion of Zacchaeus, the chief of the publicans”:

Luke 19:1-10

“Then Yeshua entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Yeshua was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Yeshua came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

We are introduced to the story of the salvation of a rich man named Zacchaeus. He was the chief of the publicans, who were the tax collectors of the Roman Empire. A Jew could become a publican by paying a considerable sum. Becoming a traitor to the homeland was a small price to be paid in the face of the great profit that the profession could provide him. They were not only detestable in the eyes of the people for working for the rulers, but also for enriching themselves through ill-gotten gains over their countrymen. The hated and controversial Zacchaeus heard about Yeshua the Nazarene. Knowing that he would pass through his region, an intense desire to see the Messiah was stirred in him.

Not caring about the embarrassment that would be a man of his position climbing a tree, he climbed to see the Lord. What he did not expect is that Yeshua Himself wished to have an encounter with Him. So, the Master went to the house of the chief publican. At the table with Lord Yeshua, Zacchaeus believed, and as a consequence of his faith, something tremendous happened. He decided to give half of his possessions to the poor and to make back four times as much to anyone he had extorted. In view of this, Yeshua declared “in this house there was salvation”. Yes, we are saved by faith, as Zacchaeus was, but this faith directs us to a different relationship from the one the world usually has with money. Messiah relates Zacchaeus’ posture to money as evidence of salvation. A link can be made here: the way we use our possessions in relation to others demonstrates genuine faith in Messiah.

“The unsurpassable obstacle for the rich young man” – Another story of an encounter between a rich man and Yeshua is narrated in:

Luke 18:18-25

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Yeshua said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”So when Yeshua heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Yeshua saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

 A man who is considered upright, righteous, hardworking, and obedient to God’s law addresses Yeshua with a question: What do I lack to inherit eternal life? Since adolescence, this young man kept the commandments. His righteousness and wealth were considered a sign of God’s blessing on his contemporaries. However, something was certainly missing and Yeshua answers him by saying: sell everything you have, give the money to the poor and then follow me. What the rich young man had was not scarcity, but excess. Everything he thought he possessed, in fact, they possessed him. Faced with the Master’s answer, the man was deeply saddened. What kept him from fully belonging to the Lord was his unsurpassed love for his many possessions. Eternal life was not worth the cost. His god was his money, of whom he was a slave. That is why the Messiah said: how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Nowadays we would certainly have handled the situation differently. First, we would have commended the rich young man for his interest in spiritual things. Then we would have said, “Just believe, that’s enough; ask God to come into your life – in fact, you don’t have to do anything.” And if the young man had said, “All right, I believe” (which surely, he would have said, because it would cost him nothing), we would consider him a follower of the Messiah. Imagine how blessed we would have felt knowing that the Kingdom of God was advancing by leaps and bounds for the conversion of this rich and well-known man! It would not be long, and books and articles would be published about him. He would appear on radio and TV programs. He would take on a mission and sit on the church council; He would speak at crusades and receive invitations to share his testimony in churches and conferences throughout the country, most likely becoming an even richer man.

Getting rid of all possessions is not a norm to follow Yeshua. Nowhere else in the gospels does the Lord ask for another person what he asked for the rich young man. But it is clear that the Messiah wants to remove the obstacles that prevent us from following him. Zacchaeus and that young man are two rich men who have also met Yeshua, however, with a contrast between them. While the willingness to give up his possessions demonstrated the publican’s faith, the rich young man’s inalienable attachment to his material possessions evidenced his lack of faith for salvation.  As Lord of our lives, Yeshua not only can, but wants to interfere with how we relate to money and possessions. If he cannot be Lord over our goods, in fact he is not our Lord. Yeshua asks us to surrender everything to His lordship. No one can serve two masters.

The total surrender of the poor widow:

Luke 21:1-4.

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So, He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”

The Messiah takes place next to the temple offering box there, in an intentional manner, he observes each offeror. The rich deposited large amounts in the box. However, it was a poor widow who surprised the Lord. She, in her poverty, deposited only two coins as her offering, but to Yeshua, she gave more than all the others. What was Yeshua measuring? After all, it is very obvious that the rich had given more money to the temple than ever that widow could have dreamed of owning. How could she have given more than the others? Yeshua answers: the rich gave of what they had left, but she, in her poverty, gave everything she had. The way we deal with the resources we think are ours reveals where our hearts are. God is not only interested in whether we offer, but in how we offer. See that Messiah, once again, dealt with the situation in a completely different way from us. We would certainly be very happy for the exorbitant amounts of the leftovers of the rich. However, the amount does not impress the Lord, but trust and dependence do. Regardless of the value, a rich man’s leftovers cost him very little. He will not stop taking a trip, eating at an expensive restaurant or riding in his luxury car because he has offered his leftovers.

However, when a poor person gives everything, he has, no matter how small, it costs him a meal, transportation, a place to sleep. It makes all the difference. King David, considered a man after God’s own heart, even though he was rich, thought this way. Faced with the possibility of offering the Lord something that would not be costly to him, he vehemently denied. He refused to give anything to God that did not demonstrate the condition of his heart turned to the Lord. For him, his offer had everything to do with the place where his love was. But before you point to the rich and make accusations, answer a few questions. Do you have a cell phone? Do you have a recurring income? Running water and electricity? Do you access the internet and subscribe to streaming services? So, without a doubt, you are part of a global minority. Much of the world doesn’t have access to any of these things. The cost of a simple dinner made in a restaurant could feed an African child for a month. A meal at a fast food may have the same value as it needs to support a family in the northeast of Brazil, for a week.

What about branded sneakers, jewelry, perfumes and expensive clothes? Where our treasure is, there will also be our heart. Yeshua is watching. Yeshua cares. The way we deal with money is evidence of whether or not we have genuine faith in Him.

In the sublime love of Yeshua haMashiach.