Preferring God’s Standard Over the Gold Standard

Do you know what a covenant is? God made covenants with people in the Bible. Throughout the ages couples have made covenants to love each other for life. We call that marriage. When a person wants to join the body of Christ, he or she may be asked to sign a covenant of relationship with the congregation.

For example, to be responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and to grow in grace through worship, prayer, service, and the reading of the Bible. And to be a faithful steward of time, talent, and treasure! To be more focused on growing in God’s grace than in accumulating the world’s gold.

The stories of Achan, Balaam, Judas Iscariot, and Ananias and Sapphira [1]in the Bible expose the folly of choosing gold over God.

Achan took gold from Jericho and hid it in his tent. God told Joshua that this sin was the cause of their defeat before the Amorites. One worldly man’s lust for money brought about a significant loss in battle for the whole people of God.

Balaam betrayed his own people for money. When God prohibited Balaam from putting an evil curse on Israel for payment, Balaam advised Balak, the king of the Moabites, to send seductive women into the Israelite camp to seduce Israel’s men sexually. The Israelite men (many of them) who took Balaam’s bait, died in a plague afterwards. Balaam got rich by betraying God’s people, but later, was put to death by them.

Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Afterwards, the weight of his error struck him. He was overwhelmed by remorse and hung himself.

Ananias and Sapphira acted as though that they had sacrificed their fortune for God but had kept back the greatest portion for themselves. They lied. They tried to deceive God’s leaders. The Holy Spirit exposed them. When Peter called them out for their misbehavior, they died instantly.

Jesus warned against the love of money and against sumptuous eating. He said, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.” [2]

Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” [3]

Jesus told the parable of the rich man who did not share of his abundance with the poor. Instead, he built more barns to keep his wealth to himself. He died that night. His wealth was left to others. Jesus said, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” [4]

Jesus told the parable of beggar Lazarus and the rich man. In this story, Lazarus died and went to heaven. The rich man died and went to hell. [5]

Jesus said it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. [6]

The Apostle John warned us in his letter to the churches: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” [7]

The Apostle Paul warned his protégé Timothy: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.” [8]

God’s standard is love. [9] Human hearts are most happy and content when they are filled with love for God and others. God created us to love. God says, “Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.” [10] God says, “Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” [11] Once a person experiences God’s love, it is easier to reject the love of gold.

Have you embraced God’s standard? Or are you like the losers in the Bible who held onto the gold standard? In heaven, gold is nothing but street pavement. [12] Why would anyone prefer street pavement to paradise?

[1] Joshua 7; Numbers 22-25; 31; Matthew 26:14-16, 27:3-5
[2] Luke 6:24-25
[3] Luke 16:13; Luke 12:15
[4] Luke 12:16-21
[5] Luke 16:19-31
[6] Matthew 19:16-24
[7] 1 John 2:15-17
[8] 1 Timothy 6:9-11
[9] 1 John 4:8
[10] Proverbs 15:17
[11] Song of Songs 8:7
[12] Revelation 21:21