Riches and Righteousness

So for the month of March I am reading 30 passages on the topic of money from the Bible. As I read through them I will probably write some on this blog about what the Bible teaches about money and what God's real desire is for His people when it comes to the truths about money. Many Christians have  serious misunderstanding when it comes to money so, Lord willing, I want to write some as I work through the Bible to clear up some of these misunderstandings. But I wanted to begin today thinking about the connection of a person's riches and their righteousness.

There are some false doctrines out there that teach, that to be rich is to be sinful and to be poor is to be righteousness. The idea of the poverty gospel, which says that Christians can't have wealth and riches, is a false doctrine. But the prosperity gospel, which is also a false doctrine, teaches that once you become a child of God, He will bless you to the point that you will be wealthy. This false doctrine teaches then that if a Christian is poor, they must be sinful or not blessed by God. This false doctrine teaches that riches is a priority for a Christian and that to be righteous is to be rich. Both the prosperity and poverty gospels are wrong. If we would just read through the Bible we would see that our righteousness before God and His blessing has no real connection to our riches at the core.

Think for a second about all the rich men in the Bible who also loved God and He blessed them in their riches; Abraham, Jacob, Job, and Solomon. Then think about all the rich men in the Bible who were not righteousness before God and yet He still gave them wealth; Lot, Solomon, the rich young ruler. Then think about all the poor people in the Bible who were still righteousness before God and He still blessed them, just not with riches; Elijah, Jeremiah, Lazarus (from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus), and Jesus himself. Then think through all the poor people in the Bible who were not righteousness before God and their status as poor was a result of brokenness; Cain, "sluggards" from Proverbs, and the "busybodies" in 2 Thessalonians.

So the Bible gives 4 camps of riches and righteousness. This means that we, as God's children, must not say that riches is either good or bad. We must not draw a line and say that having wealth or being poor makes and shows a person to be righteousness. Our understanding of money must be much more complex and Biblical than just labeling a rich person bad and a poor person good or vice a versa. God has more to teach His children about money that a simple, and even stupid, statement about money and riches in the life of a believer. God has much more to teach his children about good debt and sinful debt. He has much to teach in the Bible about true generosity and sinful giving. And He has a lot to teach His children in how to use their financial state for His glory.