Treasure Principle - Money

July 16, 2023

Pastor Patrick presented "The Treasure Principle," aka "Money is the Root of all Evil". A video of the message is here.

Remember, the current sermon series is debunking commonly held understandings that just aren't true and certainly aren't Biblical, like "money is the root of all evil."

Here's a quote from Ecclesiastes 5:10 about the love of money (KJV): "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity." It's a very similar text to that of 1 Timothy 6:10. Note that "money" is often translated from words such as "silver" in the Hebrew. Accepted forms of payment also included other things such as cattle and hides. Wealth could be described in terms of shekels, or land, or animals, etc.

The currency of the Torah is the shekel (שקל) from the root word "weighing," and, in fact, was originally a measure of weight (roughly 1/3 of an ounce at the time of Abraham). The word can also be translated as "consideration." For more about shekels, click here (Wikipedia). Another Torah denomination was the "talent" equal to about 3,000 shekels (Exodus 38:25–26). Interestingly, all weights in the Old Testament are explained in terms of the shekel; it was fundamental. 1 talent = 60 maneh = 3,000 shekels, and 1 maneh = 50 shekels = 100 beka = 1,000 gerahs.

A key message of the Torah is that wealth comes from God. Deuteronomy 8:12-18 (Moses speaking), "When you have eaten your fill, and have built fine houses to live in, and your herds and flocks have multiplied... beware lest your heart grow haughty and... you say to yourselves, 'My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.'... Remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the power to get wealth." From that readily follows that whatever wealth one has should be put to the work of God.

Here's an example of how wealth is to be put to use for God's work: "The heavens to their uttermost reaches belong to the Lord your God, the earth and all that is on it!" to the God who "upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing. You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 10:14-19). In today's message this was put as "what you have is a blessing from God, therefor, be a blessing to others" (paraphrased).

To look at this from a more humanistic point of view, one of my favorite phrases is "I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me." Joseph Worth, who invented Lindbergh's airplane's engine, said, "There are no real inventions. I don't even like the word. There are only developments." Einstein put it this way, "in science... the work of the individual is so bound up with that of his scientific predecessors and contemporaries that it appears almost as an impersonal product of his generation." Our wealth is not only of/from God, to some extent it is passed on down to us via those who came before us. It's quite a chain that should leave us quite humble, and quite willing to pass our treasure forward.

I've always appreciated this little tidbit of Torah money handling... Exodus 30:13, "This is what each one who is registered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary, half a shekel as an offering to the Lord." Noone gives more, noone gives less. One great benefit of such a system is that the wealthiest cannot claim more "ownership" of the Temple than the poorest. EVERYONE contributed the same amount, and everyone knew it. This half-shekel tradition is maintained today by some in a custom to give a half-shekel to charity on the Fast of Esther (related to the holiday known as Purim which is held in the March timeframe). Instead of half a shekel, however, most observers today donate half of the local currency, which would be one half dollar in the U.S. If all Americans did that on a given day, the U.S. could raise over $150 million for charity each year. For a possible purpose, see the Bonus below.

Hey, I have an idea... How about one day a year we have an "everyone (kids, too) bring a half dollar to church day" and the money raised going to some charity or charitable project of our own? I can see a moment in the service when everyone parades by and drops the money in a bucket. It wouldn't raise a ton of money, but it would give us a chance to physically (ritually) remember the importance of "being a blessing to others." It would symbolize what to treasure.

Bonus

Sound of Freedom

Last Saturday evening, Lynn and I saw the movie "Sound of Freedom" produced by Angel Studios. Excellent movie about what could be the world's single biggest problem: the human trafficking of children. Combining the message of this story/movie with Patrick's message of today creates a very powerful way to be a blessing to others: help save the kids. As the movie makes quite clear, "God's children are not for sale."

In a little clip during the credits, the star of the show talked about the importance of storytelling. He hopes that this story/movie affects the nation today like the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" story helped move the nation to abolishing slavery in the 19th Century.

Thou shalt not steal (Exodus 20:15). That includes stealing people: adults and children. If there's a "close second" to murder, it's probably the kidnapping and enslaving of children.

There's another organization that is working to free children from slavery (as well as other good things): the Tim Tebow Foundation.