Luke 16:14-15 “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people highly value is detestable in God’s sight.’”
The Pharisees had just heard some strong illustrations from Jesus regarding money and they weren’t impressed. The dictionary definition says, “sneering is to laugh with facial contortions that express scorn or contempt.”
Principle: The love of money is detestable to God.
This strong statement is not something be ignored. There are at least twelve other things the Bible calls detestable to God: homosexual acts, silver and gold from idols, human sacrifices, worshiping other gods, false gods, adultery and prostitution, and marriage of believers with pagans. How is that for bad company?
Lovers of money are found in our neighborhoods, at our places of work and worldwide, not just in the U.S. They are even in our churches. The examples are endless. It is easy to pick out the visible highly rich, but lovers of money also show up in the average person and even the among the poor. The following example is how love of money impacted an honorable, spiritual Christian friend.
Willie Naulls tells of an outreach he directed to young athletes in a poor community. He and his family volunteered their time and subsidized the program. Willie is personally opposed to caffeine addiction. However, when they opened a café in the building with ideas of providing snacks for kids and families and creating some cash flow, one of the items they decided to sell was coffee. It turned out to be their most profitable item. Willie later said, “I rationalized that the ministry work needed the financial boost! I was taught to work together with God, according to His Word, not according to the profit margin I could get from a product I sold.” He cancelled coffee sales.
Some might say they can buy it anywhere – it is legal – caffeine isn’t always addicting – sell decaf instead — donuts aren’t good for you either – the ministry is more important than a caffeine jolt – or, aren’t you being legalistic?
Do not sneer at what God calls detestable. Willie knew about his motivation. Likewise, after self-examination, we know and God knows.
Discussion:
1. Have you tried to justify “detestable” means for Godly ends?
2. How did that work out?
3. Where has your desire for profit outweighed your desire to glorify God?
