God in Genesis 1:28 commands Adam and Eve to “Be Fruitful.” Thousands of years later, in the movie ‘Wall Street,’ Gordon Gekko says, “Greed is good.” There is a tendency for people who think they are lacking, to look at someone else whom they perceive have more than they do, and they assert that the person is greedy, for how else could he have obtained his wealth? And there are clergymen who have taken a vow of poverty, fearing that if they are perceived as being wealthy, people would not believe he is a man of God. But is it really evil to obtain wealth?
We have God’s commandment to be fruitful. Being fruitful under God means that you have more from your good efforts than what you started out with. How does that compare to being greedy? Doesn’t it amount to the same thing, some may ask?
Under God, being greedy is to end up with more than what you started out with, from unrighteous efforts. And let’s not kid ourselves; all of us who are God-fearing strive for righteousness, even though it isn’t until we stand for judgement by God that we find out whether we’ve lived righteous lives. So, I tell you it is OK to think whether what we are doing is the righteous, or unrighteous thing to do.
And I tell you that not all people who became rich have done so through sinister means. Perhaps for some who have the tendency to rationalize, and who feel they are lacking, people who became rich have had an unfair advantage, so they must have acted out of evilness.
And we are told by some to not pursue material things, for this is evil. To bolster their argument, some of them may point to Ecclesiastes 5:10 which says, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” But this implies that people who acquire money do so because they love only money, or any other measure of wealth you can think of. I am told that the Book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon in his twilight years. Solomon himself was a very rich man.
But in the Bible, there is another rich man, whose name is Job. According to Job 1:1-3, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. HE POSSESSED 7,000 SHEEP, 3,000 CAMELS, 500 YOKE OF OXEN, AND 500 FEMALE DONKEYS, AND VERY MANY SERVANTS...”
What does God say about Job? He says to Satan in Job 1: 8, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, A BLAMELESS AND UPRIGHT MAN, WHO FEARS GOD AND TURNS AWAY FROM EVIL?” Well that’s a switch, huh? A rich man who isn’t evil? For surely Job didn’t need all those animals to sustain himself and his family. What can we make of this? Apparently, not all rich people are evil.
What does Jesus say about being rich? Two passages come to mind. In one, Luke 12:15, he says “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Well, he doesn’t say that it is bad to be rich, does he? He merely says not to pursue being rich for its own sake. Why? Because in the other passage, Matthew 6:24, he says “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Where would someone like Job fit in among these passages? Well, Job was God-fearing first and foremost, but it is out of his love of God that his efforts made him rich, not merely because of pursuing wealth for wealth’s sake. Did not God say to “Be fruitful?”
So, a person can become rich through works that God would consider as being good, along with the person’s faith in God. So, greed, which involves obtaining things to the disadvantage of others, is never good, but obtaining wealth out of goodness toward others is always good.
We have God’s commandment to be fruitful. Being fruitful under God means that you have more from your good efforts than what you started out with. How does that compare to being greedy? Doesn’t it amount to the same thing, some may ask?
Under God, being greedy is to end up with more than what you started out with, from unrighteous efforts. And let’s not kid ourselves; all of us who are God-fearing strive for righteousness, even though it isn’t until we stand for judgement by God that we find out whether we’ve lived righteous lives. So, I tell you it is OK to think whether what we are doing is the righteous, or unrighteous thing to do.
And I tell you that not all people who became rich have done so through sinister means. Perhaps for some who have the tendency to rationalize, and who feel they are lacking, people who became rich have had an unfair advantage, so they must have acted out of evilness.
And we are told by some to not pursue material things, for this is evil. To bolster their argument, some of them may point to Ecclesiastes 5:10 which says, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” But this implies that people who acquire money do so because they love only money, or any other measure of wealth you can think of. I am told that the Book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon in his twilight years. Solomon himself was a very rich man.
But in the Bible, there is another rich man, whose name is Job. According to Job 1:1-3, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. HE POSSESSED 7,000 SHEEP, 3,000 CAMELS, 500 YOKE OF OXEN, AND 500 FEMALE DONKEYS, AND VERY MANY SERVANTS...”
What does God say about Job? He says to Satan in Job 1: 8, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, A BLAMELESS AND UPRIGHT MAN, WHO FEARS GOD AND TURNS AWAY FROM EVIL?” Well that’s a switch, huh? A rich man who isn’t evil? For surely Job didn’t need all those animals to sustain himself and his family. What can we make of this? Apparently, not all rich people are evil.
What does Jesus say about being rich? Two passages come to mind. In one, Luke 12:15, he says “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Well, he doesn’t say that it is bad to be rich, does he? He merely says not to pursue being rich for its own sake. Why? Because in the other passage, Matthew 6:24, he says “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Where would someone like Job fit in among these passages? Well, Job was God-fearing first and foremost, but it is out of his love of God that his efforts made him rich, not merely because of pursuing wealth for wealth’s sake. Did not God say to “Be fruitful?”
So, a person can become rich through works that God would consider as being good, along with the person’s faith in God. So, greed, which involves obtaining things to the disadvantage of others, is never good, but obtaining wealth out of goodness toward others is always good.
