The Siren Call of Wealth

What if our most “responsible” money moves are quietly discipling us away from Jesus? 

Joined by guests John Rinehart, CEO of Gospel Patrons, and Leo Sabo, president of the Christian Stewardship Network, we peel back the layers of conventional wisdom to reveal how fear, control, and comparison often masquerade as stewardship—and why scripture calls us to a radically different way with wealth. 

We also examine donor advised funds, the temptations of control and social capital, and the subtle ways both givers and fundraisers can drift from mission. The thread through it all is an invitation: let money become a mirror of the heart, not a mask. 

If this conversation challenged you, share it with a friend, subscribe for bonus content of the Idle Treasure series, and leave a review with one step you’re taking to trust God over money. Your story might inspire someone else's journey.

Idle Treasure is sponsored by the Center for Financial Discipleship.

Transcript

Worldly Wisdom Versus Biblical Wealth

Speaker 1 0:00

What I commonly hear among godly believers, even those who've had some level of integration with their faith and their finances, is still a language of wisdom and responsibility that is a mask for these deeper idols. I hear it pretty consistently. People would would they've taken on worldly wisdom and labeled it biblical wisdom. The key to breaking through to true godly stewardship initially means we got to go back to the Bible. What does the Bible say about managing wealth, about stewarding wealth for the glory of God? I think what's happened over time is that we've relegated financial wisdom to professionals who often don't know what scripture says. They're just taking worldly wisdom from their training, they're taking worldly wisdom from the Wall Street Journal, and they're saying, well, this must be wise. But in fact, what worldly wisdom when it comes to finances is almost the opposite of everything that the Bible says.

Speaker 2 1:04

In our last episode, we talked about how our culture is shaping the way Christians behave with money. We discussed the widespread effects of consumerism, how it's producing growing amounts of fear and anxiety, and even how it's showing up in our churches and impacting our faith. We talked about what it means to be a Christian and how the gospel invites us into a new way of thinking. And this is where we'll lean further in today. Let me begin by saying, I don't think most Christians intentionally choose to disobey God's teachings about money. I don't think people are waking up saying to themselves, I'm tired of trusting in Jesus. I'd rather put my faith in my wealth. I don't think people intentionally hoard money and dafts to keep funding from deserving charities. These aren't usually deliberate decisions that we make, but these realities do exist. I think we've done a disservice over the years when we talk about money as an object or a tool. We don't find that language in scripture. Jesus called money or mammon a competing God. He calls it out as the number one rival for our hearts. So yeah, money can be a huge blessing, but it's just as biblical to say that money brings spiritual testing. This is where our story begins today with the siren call of wealth.

Money As Rival God, Not A Tool

Speaker 2 3:01

But it led me on a journey to discover what really lies beneath this number. Some Christians say there isn't a problem. Others are frustrated by the amount of charitable assets not getting deployed. But this story isn't just about donor advised funds. It is about you and me. This is a story about how our culture has shaped the way Christians behave with money. It's a story about the goodness of wealth and the weight of responsibility we feel to steward at wealth. It's a story about the vulnerable reasons why we often keep money to ourselves. And it's about the opportunity of a moment. Journey with me as we seek the answer. How should Christians respond to this idle treasure? I once heard an advisor say, I don't understand why my client isn't giving more money away. I've shown him how the math works. He could give away millions and still be just fine. He says he

Donor-Advised Funds And Hidden Motives

Speaker 2 4:10

wants to be more generous, but he's stuck in fear. And after hearing this, I immediately thought of one of my clients. We'll call him Jim. When Jim and I first met, he was approaching retirement and he was gripped with anxiety and depression. He and his wife maintained a very simple lifestyle. They kept expenses low, they had very little debt and a large amount of savings. They also had more than enough in their retirement investments to sustain them. But despite these facts, Jim was growing more and more afraid. He was checking his investments daily. He was beginning to show signs of paranoia. And even though he and his wife were faithful Christians, they were struggling to be generous the way they felt called. Now Jim wasn't struggling due to a lack of knowledge. He understood how the math worked, but the spreadsheets and calculations weren't helping him. His problem had much deeper roots. Through counseling, Jim revealed that he grew up with an alcoholic father. He shared some very painful childhood memories and recalled a very specific moment when he was hiding in the back of his dad's pickup truck while he sped down the highway after drinking for several hours. Jim learned at a young age that there were very few things in life that he could control. And as he got older and started gaining more independence, money became a source of comfort. To him, money meant freedom. He could count money and he could watch it grow. He could tell money where to go and what to do. In short, money felt like the one thing in his world that he could control. Several decades later, as Jim neared retirement and

Jim’s Story: Control, Fear, And Retirement

Speaker 2 5:49

began making the pivot from his earning years to his spending years, he felt once again like the little boy in the back of his dad's pickup, utterly and completely out of control. Our behaviors with money don't exist in a vacuum. They affect every area of our life, including our relationship with Jesus. There is a deep connection between our spiritual health and our use of money. Think about Zacchaeus, who immediately gave half his possessions to the poor upon receiving the love of Christ. Think about the parable of the man building bigger barns, whose life was taken because he was generous towards himself and not towards God. Think about Cain, all the way back in Genesis, whose sin was revealed while giving an offering to God. There are examples all throughout Scripture detailing how our heart posture is often exposed through our interactions with money. I like to say that money is a litmus test of the soul. If you are afraid, if you are hurting, if you are finding it difficult to trust God, it will reveal itself through your use of money. And conversely, if you're full of love and gratitude and connectedness with Christ, it will show in your finances. When we talk about financial decisions, most people approach the conversation from a practical or strategic standpoint. There's an assumption that every choice we make is purely out of logic or reason, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Psychologists have shown we make up to 90% of our financial decisions based on emotions. Think about it. People don't buy sports cars, take extravagant trips, or eat out four times a week because the math told them to. There are strong emotions driving our behavior with money. When Jesus spoke about money, he was petitioning the heart because he knew that money draws out our deepest desires, our biggest fears, and our greatest loves. Jesus famously told his followers not to worry or be anxious about money. He also tells them to watch out, to be on your guard against all kinds of greed. This is significant because you don't tell people to watch out for things that are obvious. The real danger of money worship is that you often don't realize you're doing it. Throughout this project, I've heard countless people say money is a tool. But one person offered an analogy I like far better. They said money is like fire. When it's used wisely and put in the right environment, it can do a world of good. But if you let it get too close to you, it will burn you. Perhaps the first step in protecting our hearts against the love of money is recognizing the potential dangers of it.

Speaker 1 8:38

The first one to tip me off to this idea was Tim Keller, and he's got an incredible book called Counterfeit Gods. And in counterfeit gods, he talks about nobody actually loves money for its own sake. We don't love coins, we don't love bills, we don't love numbers in a bank account, but he says that we have deeper idols. And what's underneath

Money As Litmus Test Of The Soul

Speaker 1 9:00

money in the bank for us, or cash in the safe, or gold bars, or whatever, is security, comfort, control, sense of fitting in, a sense of luxury, abundance. We love some of the things that money can do for us and the things that money represents to us. And on the surface, many of those things don't sound bad. Security doesn't sound bad, or being responsible doesn't sound bad, or being wise doesn't sound bad, but we end up closing our hands around what God's entrusted to us, thinking it's ours, and looking to money to be something to us it's never meant to be. We actually have a spiritual relationship with money when we look to it to be our security.

Speaker 2 9:45

This is John Rinehart, who we heard from briefly in the last episode. John is the founder and CEO of Gospel Patrons, a nonprofit organization inspiring business and professional people to play their unique role in God's kingdom. For more than a decade, John and his wife Renee have been traveling the world, speaking at conferences, creating books and films, and telling stories about people whose generosity changed the world. John is also one of my favorite people to learn from about the potential dangers of wealth.

Speaker 1 10:15

Money can't provide security. It does not do that. It's not it it's not meant to do that. Proverbs says that money sprouts wings and flies away. It's not something we're supposed to hope in, and yet we do all the time. If our stock portfolio is up, we feel more chipper and hopeful. And if our bank account balance goes down, we can feel more depressed and alone. And money's not meant to have that kind of control over us. And I think when those things surface for us, when you feel depressed about your financial position, it's meant to point us to the fact that we're putting our trust in the wrong place. That God is our

Fire Metaphor And Hidden Idols

Speaker 1 10:55

security, God is our shield, God is our long-term provision, He's our hope, He is our comfort. And so I think these masks of generosity tend to be these deeper idols that we love and trust in more than God.

Speaker 2 11:14

John uses the word mask, and it's an illustrative way to describe how we often behave with money. What I've observed over the years is that Christians tend to use money in a worldly way, but will reframe our actions to sound spiritual. A perfect example of this would be someone who stores up large amounts of money for themselves and calls it good stewardship. This idea has become so pervasive that I often hear people say, I want to be more generous, but I also want to be a good steward. It appears we've redefined stewardship to become synonymous with saving money. So much so that it seems stewardship and generosity now oppose one another. But this isn't at all how God defines stewardship. And John will speak more on this in a moment. But I want to spend just another minute sitting with this idea of masks. Often it seems that our behavior says one thing, but we call it something entirely different to shield our true heart posture. Richard Foster, in his book The Celebration of Disciplines, describes the phenomenon well. He writes, The modern hero is the poor boy who purposefully becomes rich, rather than the rich boy who voluntarily becomes poor. Covetness we call ambition. Hoarding, we call prudence.

John Reinhart On True Stewardship

Speaker 2 12:36

Greed, we call industry. It appears that if you want to make a Christian sin around money, you simply need to reclassify the sin as something more advantageous. Now you may be wondering, what about the money sitting in DAFs? Technically, again, this money has been designated for charity. It can't be used for personal financial gain. So what might the masks be? Well, I want to be cautious here, not to make any broad statements. I'm not attempting to describe everyone who uses a DAF, but there were certainly instances in my research that I found where giving to a DAF wasn't as purely intended as one might hope. Throughout my interviews, I heard consistent themes of using DAFs to gain social capital, power, and maintaining control over money. One person I interviewed, a very prominent Christian financial advisor, stated that he intended to pass a largely funded DAF down to his adult children so that one day they would be asked to join boards of influential nonprofits and get to rub shoulders with other successful people in hopes to advance their careers. So let's be clear: money in a DAF can still be used as an idol when it's benefiting you personally and not being deployed for the betterment of others. Now that's a pretty blunt example. And again, it doesn't represent everyone. I also found that there's many more subtle reasons why people may be keeping money in a DAF. But I also want to note that the people who are giving away money aren't the only ones who carry masks. The ministry leaders who are asking for money also have masks they need to be cautious of. Greed, entitlement, and manipulation can just as easily show up in those who are doing the fundraising. So I want to be clear that the dangers of money affect all of us. You don't have to have a lot of money to be consumed by it. During my interview with John, I asked him how people can discern whether or not their actions are true responses to stewardship or masks for something else. And here's how he replied.

Speaker 1 14:46

What I commonly hear among godly believers, even those who've had some level of integration with their faith and their finances, is still a language of wisdom and responsibility that is a mask for these deeper idols. I hear it pretty consistently. People would would they've taken on worldly wisdom and labeled it biblical wisdom. The key to breaking through to true godly stewardship initially means we got to go back to the Bible. What does the Bible say about managing wealth, about stewarding wealth for the glory of God? I think what's happened over time is that we've relegated financial wisdom to professionals who often don't know what scripture says. They're just taking worldly wisdom from their training, they're taking worldly wisdom from the Wall Street Journal, and they're saying, well, this must be wise. But in fact, what worldly wisdom when it comes to finances is almost the opposite of everything that the Bible says. It's not 100% of the time, but it's almost opposite. For example, the rich fool who builds bigger barns would be praised as a good steward in our culture. Jesus calls him a fool and says, Tonight your life will be required of you. You have stockpiled wealth for yourself when I blessed you with an abundance that was meant for others. That's foolish in the eyes of Jesus. It's wise in the eyes of our world. This is so consistent that what we call wise and responsible in our world is often foolish when it comes to eternity. Another one is we often get excited about investment opportunities and startups and, you know, uh stocks that are doing well and things that we could put our money into that would grow it over the next 20, 30, 40 years. Most of the time, that's such a short-term perspective. 20, 30, 40-year investment in light of the kingdom of God and eternity is actually a very short-term investment. The Bible would call us to think about using our wealth for

Comparison, Social Media, And Coveting

Speaker 1 16:55

things that will last forever and ever and ever and ever. We often don't think that way. We we store it up on earth when Jesus says, don't store it up on earth, store it up in heaven where it will last and where it will be truly yours forever, and nothing can destroy it. And we do the exact opposite of that. And we think it's wise to store it up on earth. We think it's responsible to store it up on earth. We got to go back to the Bible and listen to the words of Jesus. Jesus, in fact, has so much to say about money, again, not because he wanted our money, but because he knows how quickly our hearts can get wrapped around it in the wrong ways. And Jesus wants to set our hearts free. And so going back to the words of Jesus and saying, Jesus, what does wise stewardship look like? And I will say the bulk of the Bible, when it talks about stewardship, means generosity. It doesn't talk about saving money. It doesn't talk about stockpiling it. It doesn't talk about amassing wealth for the sake of amassing wealth or even amassing wealth so you can be a good steward later. And Jesus himself praises radical generosity. He praises a kind of open-handedness, freely sharing, joyful, not under compulsion. God's not glorified by guilted givers. He's glorified by joyful, free, open-handed, willing generosity. This is what we would be called to as Christians. This is not what the world's gonna call us to. The world's gonna invite us to stockpile it.

Speaker 2 18:26

What I heard John saying in his response was if our financial behaviors look basically like the rest of the world, it's probably a sign that we've strayed from the narrow path. God invites us into a new way of living and being that largely contradicts the way the rest of the world operates. Now here's John sharing about one of the specific masks that many of us wear.

Speaker 1 18:51

I was talking with a wealthy professional recently, and he was actually talking to me about a season in his life when it felt like God didn't provide. And when we uncovered why it didn't feel like God was providing, it actually God did provide for him. The problem

Leo Sabo On Love, Works, And Money

Speaker 1 19:09

was he was comparing what he had with what others had, and he just didn't have the same amount. They had bigger contracts, they had bigger, you know, larger amounts of income. And so it just felt like God didn't provide for me because he didn't provide what he provided for someone else. And that's a huge part of what our culture feeds off covetousness, our culture feeds off greed, our culture feeds off the love of money. And it it tries to get us stuck in that hamster wheel of more and more. And a huge part of that's comparison. I think with the onset of social media, comparison is the name of the game. Just looking at others' lifestyles, looking at what they're doing, where they're going, what they have. And then all of a sudden, we begin to feel a deficiency in ourselves if we don't have the same quality or the same experiences or the same kinds of possessions that they might have. We begin to feel like we're less than rather than comparing ourselves to the rest of the world. Rather than comparing ourselves to people who have so much less than us, we're generally comparing up, not down. And when we compare up, we will always find that there is someone who has more than we do. The only two people who probably don't find that are um Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. But other than them, always comparing up, not down. When we compare down, we feel grateful and we should it should lead us to a place of incredible generosity. But when we compare up, we feel deficient, and therefore we tend to try to keep up with with uh with culture and keep up with neighbors and keep up with friends. And so that consumeristic lifestyle creeps in, and we don't call it covetousness and we don't even call it greed. We just call it the American dream. It's uh it's poisoning our ability to give as God would invite us to give.

Speaker 2 20:54

The dangers of money act like a slow poison. They are sneaky and often keep themselves concealed. Another person who knows this reality really well is Leo Sabo. Leo has served in the stewardship ministry space for over two decades. He spent 11 years working as the stewardship pastor at one of the largest churches in the country, and he's now the president of the Christian Stewardship Network, an organization equipping pastors to lead their churches in financial discipleship. When I first met Leo, I was intrigued by his openness to share about his own personal struggles with God and money. Leo didn't begin his career in stewardship ministry. He began his career as an aircraft technician. The first time we met, he told me about his story growing up in church. And like so many young Christians, he struggled with his faith in early adulthood. He was caught up in the motions of going to church, giving, and serving, and yet he felt spiritually empty. And it was in this season that God took hold of his heart. Now, you're Going to hear a rather raw, vulnerable dialogue about Leo's personal journey, his observations as a pastor, and his honest concerns about the American church.

Speaker 22:10

The most important thing that I've learned through this journey is God's love for me. You see, when when we are exposed to the word of God and we read it as a rule book, here's what you should do, here's what you shouldn't do. Then because we want to be good people, because we want to go to heaven, because we want to be, you know, known as that, and we want all the good things that God promises in his word, then we begin to check the boxes off. So we work our way up maybe to tithing or serving, leading a group. We do all these functions in the church. And then that will lead us to, if we're just doing it to check off the box, because we think these works are going to somehow make us feel, uh, not only make us feel like we're doing the right thing, but God will approve and God will let us into heaven. So all the promises will come true for us. And my journey has been that I began checking off the box. I saw what God wanted and I said, great, I'm gonna do that. I want to follow Jesus. If he says do this, I'm gonna do it. But what I didn't understand, that I do understand now, is that I was doing it because I wanted to be good. And Jesus said, no one is good, not even one. And a lot of people will say, Well, I do a lot of good things. Yeah, I'm not perfect, but I'll do a lot of good things. I mean, no, that's kind of the central message of the gospel. No, you're a wretched, sinful person. Without Jesus, you don't you deserve death. You deserve hell. And so that sounds harsh to people today, but that's just the reality. God is a perfect God, He's righteous in every way. There's no evil in him. And when he is exposed, when we are exposed to evil through the world, it taints us, it makes us unacceptable to God. And that's why Jesus came. So when I understood stewardship, really understood it as really God saying, I want to give you a gift, I'm gonna use everything I've put into your hands, the stuff in the world to help you understand my love for you, that I truly love you. And if you did nothing for me, except said, I believe in you, I accept you, and I want a relationship with you. If God did nothing else for me, it's still enough. It's still enough. And until we get to the place where we understand that God doesn't need anything from us, but yet he's extended himself to us in the most incredible way because he wants a relationship with us. First he created us, then he redeemed us, and now he's trying to draw us completely into that relationship,

Comfort, Mammon, And A Drowsy Church

Speaker 24:34

deep relationship of love. And so everything that I do, and the reason I've made these decisions and switch from one place to another is because I realize none of those things are really that important. What's important is that I get to know Jesus better, that I trust him more every day, and that I resist the things in the world that are trying to keep me from that relationship. And money can do that very easily because I can depend on money. It's real, it's tangible, I can touch it, I can buy stuff with it. Whereas Jesus isn't always that close, it feels like to me, right? I have to push the world out to have that intimate connection with him. So that's the thing that I would say is the most important part that I think God wants for all of us. And money can get in the way of that. So my mission in life has been since I've had this revelation, is I want to show people that there's a deception going on, that the world is perfectly positioned and the spirit of Amen perfectly operating to help us take a substitute instead of the real thing. We truly cannot serve two masters. We're either going to love one, hate the other, cling to one, despise the other. Those are such crazy terms. Like, I don't despise God, right? But when you cling to one that is a deception, is somebody that's trying to lead you away from God's love, God's purpose for you, then that's how Jesus saw it. It's an affront to God Himself that something is getting in the way. And that's what was happening to me. I was trying to be a good person, going to church, giving, doing all those things. But at the same time, I wanted to be successful. I wanted money to define me. And I wanted to marry it to him. Like, why can't I do this, God? Why is that? Why can't I be a wealthy person that can brag about how good he is and the world could just honor me every day, and my family could say Leo's the greatest, and at the same time be a good guy on Sunday or Saturday or whatever time I go to church, maybe even serve on the weekends or whatever. And God's like, it's not a matter of the money. I have no problem with you being wealthy. It's that that money has your heart, that that vision will lead you away from me to the point where you will hate me one day. And I thought, whoa, I can't imagine hating God. I grew up in a Christian home. The idea of hating God just never appealed to me. But that's what the scripture says. And I was like, I was trying to serve two gods. And as a result, I was getting very frustrated because it just wasn't working. I couldn't grow deeper to and closer to God because God's like, I can't, you know, you either repent of this and see it and turn from it, or we got a problem.

Speaker 2 27:06

Leo hits the nail on the head for many of us when he describes how money feels tangible and the effects of wealth can be seen immediately. Whereas God sometimes feels distant and takes more time to connect with. It's tempting to turn to money and it's instant gratification rather than going to God.

Speaker 27:32

We live in a time when the technology, the resources, um, everything that we have at our disposal has been a real blessing. I hope, I hope people realize how unique we are in history. That we have everything we need pretty much instantly. All right, I don't have to cook anything, I can just drive through, and I can have it in about three to five minutes. All these benefits actually have a almost tranquilizing effect, especially spiritually. Again, we're not

Christ’s Humility Versus Our Comfort

Speaker 28:04

we're not just human beings that are flesh and bone. We have a soul, we have a spirit, and you can detach from that, right? You have a spirit. God made you that way. You are an eternal being. You'll leave it, you'll live for eternity, whether with him or without him. And when you think about all the things that we get to benefit today, you have to also think, all right, but I still live in a world that hasn't been, you know, fixed because it's fallen and God intends to fix it. So, what are the downsides to this world right now? By and large, most of us have to deal with just the abundance we have, and that makes us soft, it makes us comfortable. And this is where I think the spirit of mammon is really winning is that the spirit of mammon is is is a deity. We have to really look at this from a spiritual standpoint is to say, well, all right, how is me living at the level that I'm living today, how is that making me fulfill God's purpose for my life? As a Christian, that could should concern every one of us. My concern is for all of us is that one day we may be standing before Jesus and we'll say what the scripture tells us that, hey, Jesus, didn't we do all these things for you? Didn't we prophesy in your name? And Jesus will say, I never knew you. I mean, that is if that doesn't shake you, because he's not talking to unbelievers, he's talking to people that literally prophesied in his name. And yet he says, I never knew you. What does that mean? You never really committed your life to him. You didn't do it his way, you did it your way. So it's likely that there are people who just do a religious duty. And I think this is where materialism uh has made us dull to the reality, is that maybe we're just playing a part. Instead, we found a comfortable, you know, we're at this church, we have one-hour service, we do worship, then there's this uncomfortable, you know, 10, 30 second thing about giving, but I can ignore that. And then I hear the message, and I go home and I feel good about myself, and I can go another week. That's not Christianity. Christianity is you die yourself daily. I don't see a lot of dying in my life. I don't, it's, you know, I have to, I have to force myself to see the things that I am comfortable with and be willing to say, I need to die these things, the desires, the wants, all of that, to not call wants needs and to not frame it in such a way that I think, uh, yeah, God would want me to have this. Really? Maybe he doesn't. Have you really talked to him, or have you just decided based on your own ability and knowledge that this is what God wants for me? So that's that's really my concern that our consumer-driven culture has made us Christians. We are supposed to be, you know, the city on a hill, right? We're supposed to be the light of the world. And if we just look like everybody else and we manage money like everybody else, uh, and generosity is not the overwhelming characteristics of who we are, because we are generous, not just with our money, because sometimes we do give, right? But that may mask the fact that, all right, I'll give, but I'm not gonna do anything. And really, what does that say? It says, I'm not really sold out to Jesus. I just I just want to give enough to make sure I get into heaven because he'll see that I've done some good works. And so that's my concern, that we are being lulled to sleep. And as a church, I guess this is how I know the church isn't being affected today. We're not leading, whether it's political or or debates or all the things, we're not leading with righteousness, we're not helping the world see the light. We've kind of created a club and we just go to church and feel good about ourselves, but the world's dying and we're not doing much. I know that sounds very critical, and I don't mean to be. I just want to challenge

From Hearing To Doing: Costly Obedience

Speaker 31:44

all of us that call ourselves Christians to not just take Christianity as a you know garment we wear to feel comfortable. It was never meant to be that. Jesus, Jesus didn't die, you know, of old age, comfortable in his bed, and neither did the disciples. So why should we think that, you know, again, I am grateful for what I have, I'm grateful that I live today, but somehow this wealth, this position, our ability to have all this comfort should lead us to actually do more because we don't have persecution like they did. You know, we're not being jailed every day. We have freedom to go do this stuff, and what's keeping us back? Comfort and consumerism. That's sad. That's really sad. And I think um, I think Jesus does not approve of that. And I think he's sad because we have become ineffective in the the very message he's given us to carry.

Speaker 2 32:40

Here's a rare instance where I wanted to play for you my response during an interview. I think those are very, very real, very real things that you're sharing, Leo. I was um we're just pondering this past week just on the spirit of mammon and how strong and deceptive it is. Just thinking about the fact we serve we serve a God who came to earth, and he could have chosen any family, he could have chosen any place to be born, but he chooses a manger. He could have chosen any, he put himself in any career path, anything, and what is he? Um, but he's a craftsman, right? And then he gives it all up at 30 and he starts traveling and ministering, and as he's making this triumphant entry, right? His final trip into Jerusalem, he's not on this like white stallion that we would choose. He's on this donkey. It's like in every situation where he could choose to be the best, he intentionally chooses to humble himself, which is really interesting. He doesn't live this long, comfortable, happy life. He could have taken control of Jerusalem like everyone thought he was going to, right? He could have reigned as a king, like everyone thought, but he chooses to die at a very young age. And then what I just find so interesting is that we read scripture and we say, I want to follow Jesus. And the spirit of mammon is so strong we can convince ourselves that we're following Jesus when our lives look nothing like his, isn't it? I think it just speaks to the power and the deceptiveness of wealth and comfort and all the things that you're sharing.

Speaker 34:35

One thing that I'd like to add, Courtney, and I'd love what you just shared because it's so true. And it should be something that should trouble us. You know, we should we should not walk away from hearing that and saying, hmm, interesting. No, we should we should ruminate on that a little bit, meditate on it, and say, is that true of me? Because the scripture says that, you know, don't be hearers, James said, don't be hearers of the word, be doers, don't deceive yourself thinking I heard it, it must be good enough. It's not good enough. Your faith has to lead you to actions. And Jesus didn't just talk about the father, he obeyed the father's will, which was to sacrifice him. He did what Abraham was willing to do, and God stopped him. He was willing to sacrifice his son. He raised a knife and God said, Stop, I I know you love me. But he didn't do that with Jesus. He said, No, no, somebody's got to pay for this. You're gonna do it. And Jesus said, and it wasn't easy for him. We know he didn't want to die, he didn't want to be ridiculed and mocked. He was a human just like us and star struggle with the same things. But I think of it this way so many of the early church apostles and disciples, they're asked to give the ultimate sacrifice, which is their life. And they did. Most of us will never be asked to do that. We're asked to give up our comfort, we're asked to give up something very trivial, money for God's kingdom. Now, that's the sobering thing for me.

Speaker 2 36:06

Liu brings us back to the realities of what's at stake. We need to take a serious look at what our use of money is revealing about our heart posture towards Christ. This conversation isn't simply about trying to convince people to give more money away, it's about allowing Christ to bring healing and reconciliation to his church. Let's think back to my client Jim. In a world where people are hurting and experiencing brokenness, money gives the illusion of power and comfort, control, and acceptance. In Jim's case, his money anxiety was an invitation from Christ to surrender his need to control. It was God showing up very tangibly in his life, asking, Do you trust me? Will you live as if my word is true? Many

Invitation To Surrender And Heal

Speaker 2 36:57

of us pick up these masks not as a way to deliberately disobey God or to walk away from his teachings, but as a way to protect ourselves. Our work now includes going to God and taking an honest look at our behaviors and asking him if there's anything in our life that needs healing. The need to control is often stems from a deep desire to feel safe, a desire for acceptance. It stems from our longings to feel loved, the desire of a parent's heart to see their kids grow up and be successful and happy. I believe ultimately stems from God's heart for us. But things start to get a bit distorted when we turn to money to accomplish these things instead of turning to God. And this is where the invitation lies. The challenge for us today is to begin taking seriously the word of our Lord. Eventually, we need to confront those deeper idols and ask ourselves: are we committed to living as if God's word is true? Or are we simply playing a part?

Speaker 5 38:11

These are the days of the devil in the wilderness. These are the tastes that have turned into bitterness. It's not that we doubt that a stone can turn into bread. It's just we doubt that we're hungry at all. The serial temptations of the age are getting harder, countries getting meaner, computers getting smarter, the pains we try to numb are only getting sharper. Going on like nothing's the matter at all.

Speaker 2 39:11

Special thanks to John Rinehart and Leo Sabo. Our closing song this week is Reckoner by John Guerra. If you wish to support the podcast, please leave us a rating and review. And if you'd like to receive bonus clips with exclusive content about Idle Treasure, subscribe through our website. I'll leave a link in the show notes. And join me next week for a special interview with Dr. Craig Blomberg as we expand on many of the ideas captured so far in the Idle Treasure series. We'll discuss the purpose of wealth, the roles our society plays in our understanding of stewardship, and we'll explore many questions like how much do I have to give for it to be considered generous? How does scripture balance the goodness of wealth with the potential dangers of it? And why are more pastors preaching about money? We'll see you next week.

Poetry, Credits, And Next Week’s Tease

Speaker 5 40:16

Some trust in shares of power of politicians, some trust in the market, collective superstitions, but we trust in the name of the Lord of Crucifixion, hope of resurrection in Jesus Christ.