What does the Bible say about poverty and wealth?

— John Sloan

Defining Mammon

In terms of context, we should recognise that stopping to look in detail about a particular topic is often really helpful. We live fast moving lives, and we tend to be superficial on things.

Jesus mostly taught on topics, really challenging people's thinking. And it's relevant to note that he spoke about money a lot. In fact, he taught on money in 11 of his 39 parables that's over 25% of the time. Money is Jesus' most talked about topic.

Perhaps his most telling comment is that we cannot serve God and money (Mammon).

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

-- Matthew 6:24

Mammon was a biblical term for riches, often used to describe the debasing influence of material wealth. In English, Mammon persisted as a word in other literature, although is probably dying out now. And in fact, most modern Bibles variously use the word wealth , riches , or gain. But they don't convey the negative context that Mammon is meant to convey. Mammon is when wealth riches or gain become your God.

When you look at poverty and wealth, whose lens are you looking through?

There's a lot of evidence that we form our judgments emotionally, because of our background, or because of things that have happened to us. Psychologists talk about moral intuition , in other words, having made an emotional judgement on the topic, our moral reasoning simply serves as a rationalisation of already formed prejudices.

It appears that our beliefs are rarely based, initially, at leastm, on a deep understanding of a particular issue. When it comes to belief, it seems we remember facts that support our innate natural worldview, but ignore or reject information that runs counter to our opinions.

We see a lot in politics. And the more passionately we feel about an issue, the more this is so. And justice and fairness rank pretty high in many people's minds. So they may well impinge on a subject such as this.

But don't forget, Father God says,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways”,
declares the LORD.
”As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

-- Isaiah 55:8,9

I will enrich your life so that you can enrich other's lives

The first reference I want to look at is the key one in all of Scripture. That's a statement, isn't it?

It is perhaps the true biblical lens on this topic. The conversation is between God, the Master of the Universe, and Abraham, the father of our faith. So quite a helpful conversation to consider!

In fact, these two have impressed me so much for maybe 30 years that if I ever I were vain enough to buy a personalised number plate for a car, it will be G E N 123. Rest assured I'm not planning to do that.

“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you. ”

-- Genesis 12:2,3

Now, some people have rationalised that and said, yes, people on earth will be blessed through Abraham because he's in the lineage of Jesus. Well, that's true, of course. But I think that ignores the richness of what God's actually saying, which is this, I will enrich your life so that you can enrich other's lives.

We see this in Jewish history. The fact that Jews are disproportionately successful in many fields of endeavour is undeniable. The statistic statistics simply speak for themselves. Jews make up about naught point 4% of the world's population. And yet 30% of Nobel Prize winners in science have been Jewish. In virtually every industry, successful Jews are disproportionately represented. We see it in art, music, informatics, physics, the list goes on.

And they've consistently made it more than 20% of the Forbes 400 list of the world's richest people. Now, of course, the world has courted many conspiracy theories on this: that Jews have oppressed others, and they've stolen and that was some of the origins of the Nazism of the Second World War.

“For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”

-- Romans 11:29

When God makes a calling, it's irrevocable. And the calling is right there in Genesis 12:2,3.

Three types of poverty covered in the Bible

About 30 years ago, I made an extensive, exhaustive study of biblical poverty. And I was amazed to find that there are three distinct types of poverty in Scripture, not be confused with each other.

1. Chance disadvantage.

Things have been going fine, and then suddenly you lose your crops fail. Things have been going fine, and suddenly there's war.

“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”

-- Psalms 82:3

And we must look after the fatherless and the widows and those that are seriously disadvantaged by what has happened to them chances advantage, big big group.

2. Oppression.

For instance, slavery.

“Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless. ”

-- Isaiah 10:1,2

Now we see oppression in many forms in society. Perhaps one of the biggest, or certainly a very big one is is the drugs trade. People are enslaved by their addiction to drugs. Some pushers will actually give drugs away to get people enslaved, and then start charging them ridiculous sums of money. Another form of oppression we see is loan sharks who find people in real need then lend them the money that they need, and then they charge them 20-30% interest with violence if that interest isn't paid.

3. Foolishness

Now the third group, which is a very big group, is foolishness.

“Lazy hands make for poverty,
but diligent hands bring wealth. ”

-- Proverbs 10:4

Foolishness results in a good deal of biblical poverty.

The shame of Poverty

Now, all three forms of poverty share this one, emotional feeling: shame. No matter how you become poor, you feel ashamed. Apart from foolishness, the others haven't sinned, they've been they have been sinned against, or circumstances have contrived to make their circumstances very, very difficult.

Now, I suggest, just like in medicine, that the diagnosis determines the treatment, and that applying a standard approach to poverty without that diagnosis is unhelpful. So maybe the kingdom response is different for each of these three causes:

1. With disadvantage we care, share, and give sacrificially to those who have no choices.

2. In oppression we campaign, fight the oppressors, and strive to release the captives.

3. And in foolishness, we may not give of our money, but we might give of our time and energy to educate, demonstrate responsibility, and set clear standards.

What does the Bible say about wealth?

In the Old Testament, wealth is (usually) seen as a good thing

If you take a concordance and skim the references to wealth, you will see one thing: the majority of Old Testament references are describing wealth as a good thing.

“A faithful person will be richly blessed,
but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.”

-- Proverbs 28:20

“But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”

-- Deuteronomy 8:18

What does the New Testament say about wealth?

The next thing you'll notice, as the majority of New Testament references are warning of the deceitfulness of wealth: the temptation to hoard and the temptation to put our hope in wealth. Why? Well, I think because Jesus and the early church leaders had seen how the Jews had disobeyed what I call the giving imperative. In other words, they were happy to be rich, but did not see that the purpose of being rich was to bless others as Genesis 12:2-3 had said.

The prosperity gospel perhaps makes the same mistake. The prosperity gospel is common these days. Less so in the UK, but we see it massively in Africa.

And it perhaps overemphasise the fact that yes, God does bless His people. But perhaps it under emphasises the fact that we are blessed to be a blessing, to be givers.

When I studied the teachings on Jesus, this giving imperative is dealt with so well. Take covetousness for instance, how often do we use that word or even think about the concep? And yet, this is strange, as we live in a world where material goods not only are bound, but a temples dedicated to them often called shopping outlets, or shopping malls built to celebrate their existence, and we risk being inoculated by overexposure, such that we may fail to recognise covetousness in our own lives, and that's why Jesus speaks on this very topic.

“And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.””

-- Luke 12:15-21

Are you getting the picture? Wealth may be a good thing, if we can pass it on, and bless other people. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus in Matthew 19:16, it was not his riches that were the problem. But his selfish love of his riches. That was the problem. Jesus saw through him immediately.

Let's stop and subject ourselves to the same test about all we have. How do we fare? Is it that we have to have this for ourselves? Or is it that we can share this with those who might appreciate it?

When the crowds follow Jesus after the feeding of the 5000, he saw the greedy reason why they came?

“Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”

-- John 6:26

Would we be the same? How earnestly do we want Him? Or do we just want what he gives us?

Contentment

But let's be positive, the opposite of covetousness is contentment. It protects us against the insidious spiritual dullness, that love of riches, brings.

Look at the Pharisees. They're always regarded by Jesus as hypocrites and described as lovers of money. I'm sure this played a big part in the fact that, that they followed Jesus around.

“The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.”

-- Luke 16:14

In this era, we need to take heed what Jesus had to say is radical. We must be content with what we have, or the price we will pay maybe a weakened faith. In fact, ultimately, it might lead to a failure to have any real faith at all.

Cures and antidotes

As a doctor, I was trained to look at the diagnosis then apply a cure. We were never trained to apply cure before we knew what the diagnosis was. And as I've said poverty appears to have three diagnosis: chance disadvantage, oppression, and foolishness. Wealth, on the other hand, may make us covet and be greedy. But here are some cures.

1. Contentment, cures covetousness the two cannot coexist.

2. Generosity, cures greed and aggressors, two of the three causes of poverty.

3. Wisdom, recognises the foolishness and can address the third cause of poverty.

And in all these things, if our true currency is love, we will apply the correct cure. In fact, for us as Kingdom citizens, love has to be the currency we particularly want to accrue.

Acts 2 challenges in in contentment and generosity, and it's a Holy Order. It results in living as family. That's what happened in Acts two. They demonstrated contentment and generosity and they lived as family.

We are generous to all, but more so to believers.

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

-- Galatians 6:10

Tithing

You may wonder, as I come to the close of this talk, why I've not mentioned the T word, the tithing , well, tithing is a starting point. But it lets the wealthy off lightly. And it's quite harsh on people who don't have a lot of money. 10% of a poor income is a great deal of money to give away. 10% were very big income, hardly impacts the giver.

So it's great scripture actually deals with this further, and encourages us to be cheerful givers.

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work ”

-- 2 Corinthians 9:6-8

Maybe that is 15%, 20%, 30% or more. We should give until we just have to laugh.

It was John Wesley who is alleged to have said, e arn all you can, give all you can, save all you can.

If God blesses you with wealth, it is for you to thank him and share your blessing. In fact, God will give you prosperity. You are in the promised Genesis 12:2-3. You can have that number plate as well.

But beware that money can master you. contentment, and giving generously and outrageously, will cure that. So why not start to give outrageously? Let me close with the Scripture.

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

-- 1 Timothy 6:17

Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.