Jesus Never Said...Money is the Root of All Evil

“Money is the root of all evil.”

It’s one of the most repeated phrases connected to Christianity but it’s not actually what Scripture says.

In this episode of “Jesus Never Said…”, we unpack what the Bible really teaches about money, greed, contentment, and the condition of the human heart.

Because the issue was never money itself.  The issue is what we love… trust… and worship.

And in a culture constantly pushing us toward “more,” this episode challenges us to honestly ask: What is really controlling my heart?

We'd love to hear from you -- email us at ListenToShoesOff@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Shoes Off, a weekly podcast where we pause, take off what weighs us down, and take a step onto holy ground.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Have you ever noticed how people often say money is the root of all evil? And it's quoted like it's a direct quote from Jesus. And that's not what the scripture says.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

That misunderstanding actually does matter because money itself is not evil, but what the money does to the human heart, that's really where things get dangerous.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Hey, welcome back to Shoes Off. We're continuing our series, Jesus Never Said. And today we're talking about one of the most, I think, misquoted ideas connected to Christianity. And it's where people say money is the root of all evil.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

And people tend to swing to extremes on this. And some people think money itself is sinful or being successful is a bad thing automatically, or even the Christian should avoid wealth completely.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

And other people go the opposite direction and make money the center of everything. And actually, neither one reflects really what the scripture actually teaches. So we have a lot of scripture for the listeners today around this. And let's start in 1 Timothy 6 and 10. And I think this is the actual verse where that is misquoted a lot. And the Bible says the love of money is a root of all evil. And that's a huge difference.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah, because money itself is a neutral thing. Money can do a lot of things, it can provide for families, it can help people, it can support ministries, create opportunities, and meet real needs for people. So it can be used for a lot of positives in people's life.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

The issue isn't the possession of money, it's when we start to worship money. And that I think that's really the issue. And so let's talk about why Jesus talked about money so much. And some of the scriptures that we're going to reference here is Matthew chapter 6, verse 24, and Luke chapter 12 and verse 15.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

And if we look in in Matthew, and just to read these, there's only one verse, but Matthew 6, 24 says, No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And that word, uh the that word translated mammon, and also like wealth or money. And that's kind of where I think some of this idea comes from. But we also see that in uh Luke as well. In Luke chapter 12, verse 15 says, And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetedness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. So we look at these two verses and we see, and these are the words of Jesus. If you're looking in your Bible, these words are read. And in Matthew 6, he talks about you can't serve two masters, and in Luke, he talks about it's not the abundance and for us to not be covenants about what we have. But Jesus did talk about money constantly, and these are just two examples. I mean, we could pull a lot other ones that he used, and we will talk about a few more throughout of it. But Jesus did talk constantly about money, and this is not because he was obsessed with finances, but he knew that money was something that competed for the hearts of man.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Yeah, Jesus said you cannot serve both God and money. He didn't say you can't have money, he says you can't serve money. And I think that's the point we're trying to bring out today in this podcast is that having money isn't a bad thing, but serving money and loving money, that's really where the tension comes in in our lives. And so the thought is that money reveals what we trust. And honestly, money has a way of exposing what we rely on. I mean, if you look at how people spend, you're gonna know where their priorities are in their life. Because once people have enough money, they think they can start believing, I don't really need God.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah, I don't need a provider anymore because I have enough provisions for myself. And it really creates this illusion of self-control that we are in control of things, of our own security, but our own power. Usually money has a thing to power, but it also has something to status as well. People can quietly start trusting those things and security, power, status, things that money provides more than they trust God.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

And that brings many examples in the Bible where money reveals the heart of people. And actually in Acts chapter five, and we're not gonna read all 11 verses there, but there's it's another example in the Bible where Ananias and Sapphira, they actually sold a piece of land. And I know a lot of people think that God punished them because they kept certain money back, but I don't think that was really the main issue there.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, and I also I agree with you that I don't think the issue was that they didn't give everything. The entire scenario of what happens here, they say they're gonna sell this land, they're gonna give everything to the church. I think the problem is not that they didn't give all the money, the problem is they told them we are going to give it all. Right. And if you actually go back, and this is I I think this talks a little bit about jealousy and stuff like this. But if you go to the end of Acts 4, actually, this is right before Ananias and Sephira, it talks about a man named Joseph who the apostles called Barnabas, which was and he was a leading member in the church at that time. But Barnabas owned attractive land and he sold it and he brought the money and he laid it at the apostles' feet. And then you see Ananias and Sephira, and they're wanting to do the same thing. And they Joseph got a new name, Barnabas, and that his name meant son of encouragement. So he was looked upon and seen highly. And part of me, and this is maybe me just thinking, but I think Ananias and Sapphira maybe were jealous of that. Maybe they wanted to have a cool new name, or they wanted to be seen in a new light. And so they said, Hey, we're gonna do the same thing. We have attractive land, we're gonna we're gonna sell that too, and we're gonna give everything.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

But what we see is that they don't. And the real sin was not that they sold land and had money, the real sin was deception. I mean, they schemed to lie about what they were gonna give. And the issue was they were pretending it was deception. I don't know if they wanted spiritual recognition. Hey, look at us or what we did. We sold this land and we're gonna give everything. And and then all of that while secretly holding something back. And it and again, it wasn't because they had the money from the sale, it was because they were deceiving God and what they were trying to give.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

And Peter's pretty blunt with them in it saying, like, you're not lying to man right now, you're lying to God. Right. And he was being very clear with that. And it really, every time I think of the story, I just think uh I have the opinion that they wanted an appearance of surrendering, they wanted to make it look like they were doing something, or the yeah, the appearance of surrendering, but without actually surrendering itself.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

And so money really exposes what was there, and honestly, the deeper issue was in their hearts. I mean, they had pride, maybe they wanted an image of look at us and what we were gonna give, and it was all it was just dishonesty. And if you look about what the love of money does to people today, it's honestly it does the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

This is why this conversation is much bigger than finances within itself. Money has a way of revealing like kind of like what we said, but it reveals what we trust, it reveals what we fear, it reveals what we worship, and it does it, it reveals what we refuse to release, what we're not willing to let go of at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Another example in the Bible, and this that is a really good example of the danger of loving money, is in Matthew chapter 19 with the story of the the rich young ruler. And again, the Bible even calls this a rich young ruler. It's just not so you know it's a clear example. And Jesus exposed the thing that this young man valued most, and what it was, the problem wasn't about his possessions, the problem was he was attached to them. And again, it just goes back to it wasn't the money or the possessions, it was the love of that.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Yeah, and if you're unfamiliar with that story, I go to Matthew 19. This is actually written in three different gospels, it's in Mark and Luke's account as well of the gospel of Jesus, but in it, every single time the story is pretty much the same. And if you're unfamiliar with the story, this is the young man comes and he finds Jesus and he asks him what the greatest commandment is, is where it starts with, or what do I need to do in order to go to be in heaven? And Jesus says, keep the commandments and honor your mother and father, and things like that. And he says, Well, I've already done that, I've already done that. And Jesus knew in his heart what the real problem was. So he says, Okay, go sell all of your possessions and come follow me. And the young man couldn't do it. And it's like what you said, it wasn't Jesus was not questioning him, like, oh, you have possessions, so you need to sell everything. But what he saw was there was a problem. He wasn't even willing to let it go. Yeah, like there was not even a thought process to it. It even says in in some of the scriptures that he was so deeply saddened by Jesus saying that he went away. It really hurt him, and it showed really that his own wealth, it really owned him more than he was in ownership of the money.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yeah, I think that's such a strong phrase is that it was wealth owned him more than he owned it. This just shows us that success isn't sinful. And this is an important fact for us to realize too. And we said this in the beginning: success itself isn't evil. I mean, these are faithful people in the scripture that had a lot of influence, their resources and wealth. And it the issue wasn't that they were successful, the issue is that they loved the possessions and they didn't want to get rid of it.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Right. And and this is really what the issue is it's what is sitting on the throne of your life. What are you putting first? What are you making the number one priority in your daily walk?

SPEAKER_02 9:41

And that really ties to our next thought is that our culture today is there's an obsession with more. I mean, if you look at Billboards, if you just drive, it's all about having things. And honestly, that's where our culture constantly pushes that idea that the more you have, the more you'll be satisfied, the more money, the more stuff, more success. It's it's just there's an obsession there.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Right. And people can spend their whole lives climbing, but they still feel empty at the top. And if you want examples of this, go and look at some very famous athletes. Yeah. There is a ton of people that have stories very similar to this that I think about uh the testimony of Baker Mayfield. Have you seen that clip where he talks about but he's like Heisman winner, amazing college athlete, goes to the Browns, get the Browns, get to the playoff for the first time, and then he gets traded, and he goes to the Carolina Panthers, and it's not a good time in Carolina, and he gets traded from there, and he goes to the Rams, and he has a couple good games with the Rams, and then he goes to Tampa Bay and where he is now, and he signs a big contract, and he's kind of the franchise guy there. And he talks about that he's like in Tampa. I had to rededicate my life to something that was the most important, and it was to God. He goes, I realized that I was not going to the right thing, and he had to find there was still emptiness. I mean, this man was making millions of dollars. Yeah, I mean, one of the most famous quarterbacks in the NFL and all this stuff, and he'd worked his whole life. I mean, he's in his probably late 20s, but he's probably been playing football for 20 plus years, dedicating every moment of his life to it, and he's at the very top of it all. Right. And there's nothing. Yeah, and he realized that he needed something else, and praise be to God for that. But that's just one example.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

I mean, you can find countless examples of there's there's so many examples where you know it it just gets into people's heads and it gets into their hearts that they just start focusing on the what they have, and it's just it's very interesting. And we have four, yeah, I guess, things to point out in practical life for us today for you to consider and even for us is that number one, money makes a terrible God. If you're putting money first and worshiping that, it that's obviously that's a bad idea. I mean, money can't buy comfort, it can't give you peace, it can't remove guilt, it can't give you a purpose, and at the end, it can't save your soul. So whatever you have here, you're not gonna be able to take it with you, anyways. And so exactly our comfort in a God is not in the love of money.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

And secondly, we want you to pay attention to what is controlling you, and this is really the practical question here is what affects your emotions more, your relationship with God or your bank account. And that's gonna reveal a lot. And we understand us on this side, if you knew us personally, you know that we both take finances very seriously in our families, and it is something that we do think about. And there are times that it probably is gonna mess with your emotions. You know, there's a lot of people that want to get houses or they want to be able to do this or whatever it is, and it money is that earthly thing that you need to do that, but you need to see what is actually with that. If you're worried about that, it's where do you take that to? Because two people have two reactions to that. One reaction is, oh well, we have nothing, and I gotta go do this, or I gotta do this, or I gotta do whatever it is. But that's just a bunch of I yeah, right? And it goes to, well, I have a relationship with God, I'm gonna take it to him, and he'll be in control of it. Yeah, so where are you putting that at actually? Um, and that reveals a lot.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Yeah, and the third one is and listen, we're not gonna talk about tithing today, but we could spend a whole podcast on tithing and how it's not ours anyway. The moment we think our paycheck is ours and not God's, that's where we start moving from what God's blessed us with to starting to love the money. But here's a thought generosity breaks greed, and one of the strongest ways to keep money from controlling you is generosity. Because generosity reminds us in our heart that this isn't my God, this isn't what I'm putting my faith in, this isn't the possessions. We always feel that we give until it hurts, and we think that one of the things that can break us from greed is to give it away and be generous with what God has given you.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

And then fourth, we're gonna kind of go through a scripture there, but I want to talk about contentment and the idea that contentment is a very rare thing today. In Philippians 4, starting in verse 11, I'm gonna read three verses, one of which I think a lot of Christians know, but I think the context we're about to put in today is a context that people do not put it in, uh in all truth. So starting in Philippians 4, verse 11 through 13 says, Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to be abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. And that last verse gets used a lot. And I think you know that a lot. Like we use that a lot. And I feel like that's the number one athletic verse of you see that. But in this, you put this in context, and what's actually being talked about here is contentment, being okay with what you have, and in that last verse, I can do all things. He's saying there's gonna be moments in your life that you are about, and there's gonna be times that you're suffering, and there's gonna be times that you're just in the middle of contentment. But what we have and ultimately in all those things, Christ is going to strengthen me throughout all of those things, he's gonna see me through. But contentment is one thing that's extremely rare in our culture, and it's because everything around us, like we talked about, is it makes us want to have more. We want to we want more things, or we want more money, or we want more and more, but we're really being told here to be content what we have, and that Jesus is when we put our faith in him, he's fully in control of us. He's gonna be able to provide everything that we need throughout. So that's our last thing is try to be content.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

I always bring this out when we talk about contentment, is and I think we may have said this on the podcast before when we talked about having things, is that content and content is spelled the same. Two totally different meetings. And we can't be sometimes we can't be content uh if we're focused more on content. So it's just uh yeah, it's really interesting. And so let's get into the weekly challenges. Uh, now that we've talked about practical life applications this week.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

And and this is what we want to challenge you to is pay attention to what creates the biggest emotional reaction in your life. What for you is creating anxiety? Uh, what is making you question security or question obsessions or or or what creates fear in various places?

SPEAKER_02 16:43

There's an honest question that we need to ask ourselves is am I using money or am I serving it? And again, it goes back to Jesus never said money is a root of all evil, it's the love of money.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Right. And he warned us whatever is going to control your heart, and this goes back to serving two masters. Whatever controls your heart is going to control your life. So if you're letting money control your heart and that is your only obsession, that is what is going to control your life. And on the opposite, if you let Jesus control your heart, then he's going to be in control of your life.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Well, let's go ahead and close the episode today. And hopefully, just talking through this has given you encouragement and maybe a refocus on areas in your life where you need to just examine and maybe give back to God where you had been hanging on to it. So let's pray. God, uh help us keep our hearts in the right place. Teach us to see money as a tool, not just a source of identity, security, or worth. And we get that from you, Lord. Protect us from greed. Uh, protect us from trying to compare ourselves in the constant pursuit of more. And help us become people who are generous, content, honest, and fully dependent on you and reveal any area in our hearts where we're holding on to things more tightly than we're holding on to you. In Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Amen. Thanks for joining us on Shoes Off. Until next time, keep walking in faith. And remember, growth begins on holy ground.