Transcript & Slides: Making Good Money

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Making Good Money
By David Feddes

Is it possible to be involved in business and commerce and to please God at the same time? Around the year 400, a minister preached a sermon in which he said that a Christian should not be a merchant. If a church member becomes a merchant, said this preacher, he should be driven out of the church as Jesus once drove buyers and sellers out of the temple (Matthew 21:12-13).

Now maybe the preacher was aiming only at commerce that's crooked, but he sounded like all commerce is crooked and all money-making is bad. Was he right? Is it bad to do business, make money, and have property of your own? Is it wrong to have a society where some people have more money than other people?

Twentieth-century liberal theologian Paul Tillich thought so. His view was that capitalism isn’t just bad—it’s downright demonic. Tillich said, “The effect of the capitalist system upon society and upon every individual in it takes the typical form of possession, that is, of being possessed. Its character is demonic. Any serious Christian must be a socialist.”

Few today would go that far. They wouldn’t say socialism is the only option for people who take God seriously. Whatever might be wrong with capitalism, socialism has proven to be worse. It may sound good in theory, but in practice it’s disastrous. When individuals can’t own anything and government owns everything, the cruelty of socialist governments and the collapse of socialist economies has made it hard for anyone to go on preaching socialism as the solution to the world’s problems or as the only option for Christians.

Still, even though few pastors would preach all-out socialism anymore, we still might have nothing good to say about making money. We preach about the evils of greed and the importance of providing for the poor. But what do we say to encourage those who are in the business of creating wealth? We often leave the impression that making money is just a grubby enterprise that God opposes—or at best tolerates. Making money might be necessary, but don’t think God has anything to do with it.

If you never hear any biblical encouragement about making money, it won’t stop you from going to work and earning an income. It won’t hinder you from running a business or starting a new one. But it may hinder you from sensing God’s involvement in your labor and your commerce. It may leave you with a nagging feeling of guilt instead of blessing. You feel that you have to make a living, and you might even enjoy what you do, but it might seem that God is somewhere else entirely during your working hours—or if he’s paying attention at all, he’s frowning.

Is it possible to be involved in business and commerce and to please God at the same time? Yes! There really is such a thing as making good money. Sometimes the phrase “making good money” means making lots of money. But when I talk here about making good money, I mean it literally. Making money can be good.

Of course, there are also bad ways to make money, bad ways to spend money, and bad attitudes towards money. But that doesn’t change the fact that making money can be an excellent thing to do. It can be a way of working in step with God himself to provide for ourselves and for others.

Let’s focus on wealth as a blessing from God and see some ways that work and business help humanity. The Bible shows that wealth can be a blessing from God. It’s not always crooked or dirty. The book of Proverbs speaks of wisdom leading to wealth:

"Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine" (Proverbs 3:9–10).

"With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full" (Proverbs 8:18–21).

"The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it" (Proverbs 10:22).

"Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous" (Proverbs 13:21).

There are many more proverbs along the same line about the Lord giving wealth and blessing and prosperity. And the Bible not only has these proverbs about wealth coming from the Lord—it also offers us many examples.

Abraham was a man who became very wealthy. Scripture says, "Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold" (Genesis 13:2). "The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold..." (Genesis 24:35).

Much the same could be said of Abraham’s son, Isaac: "Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy" (Genesis 26:12–13).

Job was called the greatest man in all the East. "This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East" (Job 1:1–3). The Lord made him prosperous. Even after Job lost everything, he still loved God without all his wealth. And then when the test was over, "the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before" (Job 42:10).

So prosperity wasn’t a bad thing. It wasn’t the highest thing—Job served God whether he was rich or penniless. But God did prosper Job in wonderful ways.

King David said, "Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things… Everything comes from you… All this abundance… comes from your hand… it all belongs to you" (1 Chronicles 29:12,14,16).

The Bible summarizes David’s life by saying he died at a good old age, "having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor" (1 Chronicles 29:28). And David’s son Solomon—well, he was even richer. Solomon was offered the opportunity to ask for anything he wanted from God. What did he ask for? He asked for wisdom. God was very pleased with that request, and he said:

"I will give you a wise and discerning heart… Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings" (1 Kings 3:12–13). And Solomon made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones (1 Kings 10:27).

Those are Old Testament examples. What about the New Testament? Well, Jesus himself lived without accumulating money or property, and he warned that it’s hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:24). But did that mean Jesus rejected all rich people or taught that it’s wrong to make money? No. Jesus had friends who made good money, and they used some of their money to support his ministry, and Jesus warmly accepted their generosity (Luke 8:2–3).

Later, after Jesus rose from the dead and the good news was going from city to city, many who trusted Christ were poor. But some rich people also believed and were a big help in getting churches off the ground. For example, in the city of Philippi, Lydia was a devout woman who became prosperous in the cloth business. Lydia trusted in Christ and offered her home as a base for missionaries to stay in and for new Christians to gather for worship and encouragement (Acts 16:14–15, 40).

I could mention other biblical examples of people who had both wealth and faith, but these are enough to show that it’s not always wrong to make money. Wealth can be a blessing from God.

Does this mean that we should believe a health and wealth gospel that teaches faith as a way to get rich? Some say that if we just work up enough faith, visualize God giving you a new car, a splendid house, and lots of money, God will surely give you those things. Name it and claim it, they say. Is this right? No. The Bible opposes those who think that godliness is a means to financial gain (1 Timothy 6:5). God does not exist to satisfy greed.

In the Bible, some believers were blessed with wealth—but wealth was not their deepest desire. Their hearts were set on God, not money. If your heart is set on money, don’t try to use God as a cash machine.

It’s wonderful to use money-making abilities in the service of God. But it’s horrible to try to use God in the service of making money.

"The faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished" (Proverbs 28:20).

God gives riches—but riches aren’t God. And so when you’re greedy, it causes trouble: "A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper" (Proverbs 28:25).

In the New Testament, it says bluntly: greed is idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Greed is worshiping money. That's why Jesus said, "You cannot serve both God and Money" (Matthew 6:24). Money can't be your god. It can't compete with the one true God. Greed is idolatry.

The Bible speaks of men of corrupt mind who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that (1 Timothy 6:5–8).

So if God gives you enough to live on—gives you something to wear and something to eat—don’t set your heart on being richer than rich. Be glad and content with what God gives you. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (1 Timothy 6:9–10).

Eagerness for money can get you to wander from the faith. Eagerness to get rich can plunge you into destruction. So if getting rich is your main goal in life, you are shooting for the wrong goal and you end up in destruction and wandering from the faith.

The book of Proverbs says, "The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall" (Proverbs 18:11). Their favorite hymn might be “A mighty fortress is our wealth, a bulwark never failing.” The real hymn, of course, is “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” not our wealth. But many rich people may think of their wealth as their great fortified city.

The Bible says that wealth can accomplish some things, but "wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death" (Proverbs 11:4). To be rich and unrighteous means that in the day of God's wrath and judgment, your money cannot bribe God or rescue you in any way. "Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf" (Proverbs 11:28). Again, you have that paradox: if you're just chasing riches, you're in for a fall. But if you're righteous—if you're seeking God—you're going to thrive.

The book of Deuteronomy speaks to people who are about to enter the Promised Land and become very prosperous. There is a danger when prosperity comes. "You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth" (Deuteronomy 8:17–18). That verse is so helpful because on the one hand, it says if you just take credit yourself for getting rich, gloating in your riches and setting your heart on riches, you're going to be tempted to forget God. But still, it’s a fact that God gives you the ability to produce wealth.

So producing wealth isn't an evil thing. It's an ability that God gives. But if you make it your god, then even God's good gift can become an idol that does you harm. When we have wrong attitudes toward money, the solution is not to say that money is always bad. The solution is to say that God is good. He gives the ability to produce wealth. So making money can't be bad in and of itself.

If you keep the Lord uppermost in your life, then making money in your everyday work and business is a golden opportunity to savor God's blessing and to let his goodness shine in your life. If you're walking with God and working hard, he may prosper your work and bless you with good money. If that happens, don't feel guilty. Be grateful. Be glad.

Take a special holiday now and then to enjoy the fruit of your labor. In Old Testament times, God commanded his people to schedule feasts to celebrate God’s blessing on their work and to rejoice in the good things God had given them: "You and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you" (Deuteronomy 12:7). "For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete" (Deuteronomy 16:15).

Proverbs says these things about wealth: "The righteous eat to their hearts’ content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry" (Proverbs 13:25). "The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly" (Proverbs 14:24). "Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life" (Proverbs 22:4).

So don’t make money your god, but realize that when you’re following God, very often he does bless you with a measure of prosperity and wealth.

So what's involved in making good money? Well, the phrase "making good money" sometimes means that you're getting paid a good salary or your business is bringing in lots of dollars. And that’s part of it. Making good money means you have a sizable income. But there's more to it than that. It means making money in good ways.

You make money in good ways when you're fulfilling your abilities, your calling, and your purpose. You're doing things, and in doing those things, people want you to do them—and they'll pay you to do them. You're providing desirable goods and services. And that's a good thing.

Many people are paid money because what they're doing is something that blesses and helps others, and those others want that work done. Maybe it's laying tile on a floor or framing the wood of a house. Maybe it's fixing some people's computer problems or distributing goods in a grocery store. Maybe it's driving a truck and transporting things. Whatever those occupations that people make money from, most of those occupations are providing something that's desired by others—and that's why you get paid to do it.

Making good money in good ways is part of making good money. And another aspect of making good money is making a good amount of money—making enough money to be able to pay your bills, to pay the bills for yourself and for your family.

And another element of making good money is making money to do good for others. You're helping others to flourish and prosper when you employ them or when you're working in a company and your work helps others to succeed as well. And when you're making money—you make more than enough—and you can share wealth with the truly needy who, because of physical limitations or other challenges and problems in their life or old age or whatever the case may be, can’t make enough to pay their own way anymore. But you, being healthy and prosperous, are able to bless and help the truly needy.

Let’s look at these in a little bit more detail. Running an honest, successful business or working as an excellent employee can be very rewarding—not just financially but in other ways. From the very beginning, God gave our first parents, Adam and Eve, the responsibility to work, to manage earth’s resources (Genesis 2:15). Still today, work is part of God’s design for us. And one reward of successful work is a glad sense of accomplishment.

God creates each of us with special talents, and it can be fun and fulfilling to use those talents to make new things and to produce new wealth. Michael Novak, some years ago, wrote a book titled Business as a Calling. In that book, Novak says business is about creating goods and services, jobs and benefits, and new wealth that didn’t exist before.

We didn’t give ourselves the personalities, talents, or longings that we were born with. When we fulfill these—these gifts from beyond ourselves—it’s like fulfilling something we were meant to do. Novak’s writing as a Christian, and he understands that we have these gifts and these callings from God that we’re meant to do.

Novak says it’s a sense of having uncovered our personal destiny, a sense of having been able to contribute something worthwhile to the common public life, something that would not have been there without us, and something that we were good at and something that we enjoyed.

Work is rewarding in terms of bringing in income but also satisfaction and fulfillment. And you’re making good money when you’re doing things that you were meant and called to do.

Starting a business or leading a corporation can be a way to fulfill part of God’s design for you and to help others to aim high and fulfill part of God’s design for them. It’s nice to succeed at something yourself. And it’s even more satisfying if you know you’re helping others to succeed as well.

Now even if you don't pay much attention to God, you might enjoy achieving something and living up to the potential you have and benefiting other people. That's part of the way God made you, even if you ignore him. But work and business can be even more rewarding if you have a living, active faith in the Lord Jesus. The Bible tells Christians, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men... It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Colossians 3:23–24).

Whether you're the chairman of a corporation or mopping floors for minimum wage, if you're a Christian, then Jesus is your boss, and he will make your work rewarding. Finding satisfaction in your work, says the Bible, is the gift of God (Ecclesiastes 3:13; 5:19). It's rewarding to carry out things God designed you to do, and it's rewarding to do it God's way—through hard work, wise planning, and honest effort, not through crookedness or cruelty.

In the Bible, God has a lot to say about honest business dealings, especially in the book of Proverbs. Read the Bible and Proverbs carefully and take God's guidelines to heart. Work and do business God's way. Make good money, not dirty money, and you'll find it most rewarding.

One reward of work and business is the satisfaction of carrying out a calling—doing something you're meant to do. Another reward is being able to pay your bills. Now that may not sound very noble or spiritual, but it's part of living the way God wants. The Bible has nothing good to say about laziness and sponging from others. Instead, Scripture says, "If a man will not work, he shall not eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). "We hear that some among you are idle... Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:11–12).

When you read the book of Proverbs, it has nothing good to say about lazybones. Proverbs compares lazy people to having less brains than an insect. "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!" (Proverbs 6:6). Proverbs jokes and pokes fun at the disastrous activities of the lazy—how hard they work to get out of work, the excuses they come up with, and how smart they think they are when they avoid effort. Here's one proverb: "The leech has two daughters. 'Give! Give!' they cry" (Proverbs 30:15).

Now, do you want to be a bloodsucking leech? Perhaps it's not the noblest or most spiritual thing in the world to be able to pay your bills, but it's a lot better than being someone who is idle and drains others. If you're not healthy enough to work, or if you can't find work and it's not your fault, then it's good for others with more health and wealth to help you. But if you have the ability and the opportunity to make money and feel no desire to pull your own weight or to pay your own bills, stop being a leech. Get to work. Don't depend on others and drain resources that could instead go to help the truly needy.

God wants all healthy grown-ups to cover our own expenses and the expenses of relatives who aren't able to pay their own bills. We should earn money to pay for our own children. And if we have disabled relatives or elderly relatives in poor health, God wants us to do all we can to support them.

The Bible says, "If a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God... If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, she should help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need" (1 Timothy 5:4,16).

So pull your own weight and take care of your own relatives who are closest to you, so that the church doesn’t have to do it—because there are going to be some people who don’t have relatives who can help them or are willing to do so. And those are the people that the church can help.

The more money you earn and the better care you take of your relatives, the fewer people need to depend on support from church or government. If your income is big enough and your heart is big enough, you can help not just relatives but also other needy people who can't provide for themselves. There's a lot of joy and blessing in being generous to people besides family and friends. Still, generosity begins at home. It begins with at least making sure you pay the bills of those closest to you.

This isn’t just a minor option—it’s a spiritual basic. "He who robs his father or mother and says, 'It's not wrong'—he is partner to him who destroys" (Proverbs 28:24). One way of robbing your father and mother is not providing for them in their senior years.

Jesus said that there were people who were talking about giving their money to charity and saying, “I can't help Mom and Dad because the money is Corban—I'm giving it to God.” But Jesus said, "Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition" (Matthew 15:6). God said, "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12). You're breaking the command of God.

In fact, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Timothy 5:8). Now remember what I said a moment ago—that paying your bills doesn't sound like the most spiritual thing in the world. Well, it's not. But do you want to be worse than an unbeliever and deny the faith? If you don't pay your own bills when you could, that’s what the Bible says you're like. So put your faith into practice by paying your own bills. That's one of the blessings of making good money.

Making money and storing up savings is good. It enables you to take personal responsibility for yourself and for those close to you, rather than dumping the responsibility on others and draining away resources that could go to help truly needy people who have no one to look out for them. Paying bills—it's not spectacular, but it's a basic spiritual responsibility. And it takes creation of wealth to do it. That’s one more reason to encourage, rather than attack, those who run successful businesses or earn excellent wages.

Still another reason to encourage wealth creation is that this helps to expand opportunity to more and more people. Some people who truly care about the poor tend to focus on redistributing wealth through taxes or through donations to charity. Now it might be fair for those who benefit more from an economy to carry more of the tax burden. And the Bible plainly requires wealthy people to be generous and willing to share (1 Timothy 6:17–18).

But if we focus only on redistributing wealth through taxes or donations, we may forget the necessity of producing wealth in the first place. And we may forget that the most effective way to fight poverty is economic growth, which makes more jobs and more business opportunities available to more people and communities and countries.

Giving away money isn't the only way to help people in poverty. Giving is good, but investing and spending can also be good. If you invest in business ventures, you help to create new jobs. If you pay a fair price for goods and services, you enable the people who provide those goods and services to earn a living.

If we love God and follow Jesus, we must have a heart for the poor. But we must also use our heads. Those who said that every Christian must be a socialist may have meant well, but they didn’t understand economics or the human spirit. Freedom, fairness, dignity, opportunity, and economic expansion do more to help the poor than taxes or charities can do—as valuable as those things might be in some cases.

As Michael Novak writes, business has a special role to play in bringing hope—and not only hope, but actual economic progress—to the billion or so truly indigent, truly poor people on this planet. Business is, bar none, the best real hope of the poor. And that is one of the noblest callings inherent in business activity: to raise up the poor.

If the huge numbers of poor in the world are ever to lift themselves out of poverty, they need those with ideas and capital to invest in creating the industries, jobs, and wealth that will give the poor a base to build on. Opportunities and jobs are more valuable to them than handouts from a government that treats them like serfs.

Instead of criticizing all successful people for not being poorer, why not aim to help more poor people become successful? There will always be shortcomings in any economic system that involves sinful people. It’s necessary to have laws against the worst abuses. It’s necessary to address the worst inequalities. But it’s not necessary to make all successful people feel guilty for succeeding. And it’s wrong to envy them or to undermine the freedoms and opportunities that help prosperity to spread (Proverbs 14:30; Exodus 20:17).

Ron Sider is a Christian champion of the poor. His writings and his actions are devoted to bringing people to Christ and to bringing them out of poverty. Ron Sider spends his time mostly with low-income people, not with high rollers. He challenges rich people and rich nations not to leave the poor behind. But Ron Sider is no fool. He recognizes that the poor are not helped by stifling opportunity or shrinking an economy. And he realizes that God is not honored by saying that all wealth creation is bad.

Dr. Sider says the ability to create wealth is a gift from God (Deuteronomy 8:18). God has blessed humans with awesome power not only to reshape the earth but to produce new things that have never been. Jesus’ parable of the talents sharply rebukes those who fail to use their skills to multiply their resources (Matthew 25:14–30). Just, responsible creation of wealth is one important way that persons obey and honor the Creator.

There are plenty of temptations and sins in the world of work and business, and we often need forgiveness and renewed determination to improve. But let’s not just dwell on the negative. Let’s pursue a positive biblical vision of God’s purpose for our enterprises.

Author George Wills encourages business leaders by saying, “Your entrepreneurial energies have made jobs available to others. Your success has meant success in investments and employment, in personal satisfaction for thousands of your employees and shareholders. Through the tax system and through your philanthropic activities—that is, through your charitable giving—you’re making a significant contribution to the common good.”

So we can encourage those who help to produce wealth and to generate wealth and success for others. Sometimes financial companies and investment firms are seen as self-centered and caring only about making rich people even richer. No doubt that’s true of some, but it’s not true of all.

Many of us have seen films and TV shows where the villain is the head of some big corporation or some rich fat cat. And certainly, there are some rich villains. But some people who are very wealthy have done a great deal of good for others—and they enjoy what their work does to help others.

Here’s an example. Some of the most successful investment companies are those that pioneered the use of mutual funds. The founder of one of those mutual funds had a lot to say about the pleasure it gave him. At one time, only very wealthy people could afford to get diversified investments and professional money management. You had to be a multi-millionaire to hire an excellent money manager. But mutual funds gave ordinary people investment opportunities that previously had been available only to the extremely wealthy.

A pioneer in this field—a founder of one of the world’s top investment companies—said, “It’s a real thrill to give the small investor, of which our companies are mainly comprised, as good a job of investing as the big man gets.” Those huge mutual fund companies were started by people with a vision for helping the small investor to get excellent money management.

In all of this, of course, the creation of wealth as a good thing does not eliminate what the Bible says about using your wealth to be just and generous in giving. Scripture says, "He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy" (Proverbs 14:21). "He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done" (Proverbs 19:17). "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses" (Proverbs 28:27).

So neglecting the poor is a terrible thing. And that's why making good money is a wonderful thing—because you can help more poor people when you're earning a good income and have extra to share.

So making good money involves making money in good ways: by fulfilling your calling and purpose, by providing desirable goods and services. It involves making a good amount of money so that you can pay your own bills, the bills of family members, and then go beyond that. And making good money involves doing good for others as part of your work. You may be helping others to flourish and prosper—giving them jobs or purchasing things from them so they can make a living. And it also enables you to share wealth with those who are truly in need.

So as you make money, thank God and rejoice that he’s the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). Money isn’t God—but it’s not Satan either. If you trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior and put God first in your life, then making good money can be enjoyed as a blessing and pursued as a calling.

Thank the Lord for the work and the wealth he gives you. Use it to pay bills for yourself and your family. Give generously to help out people who can’t help themselves. And be glad that in God’s arrangement, your success doesn’t have to cause poverty for someone else. Your investment and spending can benefit you and enrich others.

If you’re following Christ and making good money, God doesn’t tell you to feel guilty about it—but to enjoy it. God tells his people, “You and your family shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you’ve put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you” (Deuteronomy 12:7).

Making Good Money
By David Feddes
Slide Contents

Is capitalism demonic?

The effect of the capitalist system upon society and upon every individual in it takes the typical form of ‘possession,’ that is, of being possessed; its character is demonic. Any serious Christian must be a socialist. (Theologian Paul Tillich)

Overflowing

Honor the LORD with your wealth, 
with the firstfruits of all your crops; 
then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. (3:9-10)

Wealth and prosperity

With me [wisdom] are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. My fruit is better than fine gold; 
what I yield surpasses choice silver.

I walk in the way of righteousness, 
along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full. (8:18-21)

Trouble-free reward

The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it. (10:22)

Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous. (13:21)

Abraham’s wealth

Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. (Genesis 13:2)

The LORD has blessed [Abraham] abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold. (Gen 24:35)

Isaac’s wealth

Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. (Genesis 26:12-13)

Job’s wealth

This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil… he owned seven thousand sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys... He was the greatest man among all the people of the East… The LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. (Job 1:1-3; 42:10)

David’s wealth

Wealth and honor come from you… Everything comes from you… all this abundance …comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you… He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor. (1 Chron 29:12-14, 28)

Solomon’s wealth

I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have… The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones. (2 Chronicles 1:12, 15)

God gives riches. Riches aren’t God.

A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished. (Proverbs 28:20).

A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper. (28:25) Greed is idolatry. (Col 3:5)

Love of money

… men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (1 Timothy 6:5-8)

Eager to get rich

People who want to get rich fall into tempt-ation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:9-10)

A mighty fortress?

The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall. (18:11)

Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, 
but righteousness delivers from death.

Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.

(11:4, 28)

God-given ability

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. (Deuteronomy 8:3,17-18)

Rejoice in blessings!

You and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you… For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete. (Deuteronomy 12:7, 16:15).

Crowned with wealth

The righteous eat to their hearts’ content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry. (13:25)

The wealth of the wise is their crown, 
but the folly of fools yields folly. (14:24)

Humility and the fear of the LORD 
bring wealth and honor and life. (22:4)

Making good money

• Making money in good ways
  • Fulfilling your calling and purpose
  • Providing desirable goods and services
• Making a good amount of money
  • Able to pay bills for self and family
• Making money do good for others
  • Helping others flourish and prosper
  • Sharing wealth with the truly needy

Business as a calling

Business is about creating goods and services, jobs and benefits, and new wealth that didn’t exist before… We didn't give ourselves the personalities, talents, or longings we were born with. When we fulfill these—these gifts from beyond ourselves—it is like fulfilling something we were meant to do. (Michael Novak)

Rewarding work

It is a sense of having uncovered our personal destiny, a sense of having been able to contribute something worthwhile to the common public life, something that would not have been there without us—and something that we were good at and something we enjoyed. (Michael Novak)

Paying your bills

If a man will not work, he shall not eat… We hear that some among you are idle… Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10,12).

The leech has two daughters. “Give! Give!” they cry. (Proverbs 30:15)

Paying widows’ bills

If a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God... If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, she should help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need. (1 Tim 5:4, 16).

Worse than unbeliever

He who robs his father or mother and says, “It’s not wrong”—he is partner to him who destroys. (28:24)

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8)

Expanding opportunities

Business has a special role to play in bringing hope—and not only hope, but actual economic progress—to the billion or so truly indigent people on this planet. Business is, bar none, the best real hope of the poor. And that is one of the noblest callings inherent in business activity: to raise up the poor. (Michael Novak)

Raising up the poor

If the huge numbers of the poor in the world are ever to lift themselves out of poverty, they need those with ideas and capital to invest in creating the industries, jobs, and wealth that will give the poor a base to build on. Opportunities and jobs are more valuable to them than handouts from a government that treats them like serfs. (Michael Novak)

Creation of wealth

The ability to create wealth is a gift from God. God has blessed humans with awesome power not only to reshape the earth but to produce new things that have never been... Jesus' parable of the talents sharply rebukes those who fail to use their skills to multiply their resources. Just, responsible creation of wealth is one important way persons obey and honor the Creator. (Ron Sider)

Multiplying success

Your entrepreneurial energies have made jobs available to others. Your success has meant success—in investments, in employment, in personal satisfaction—for thousands of your employees and shareholders. Through the tax system, and through your philanthropic activities, you are making a significant contribution to the common good. (George Weigel)

Business lifting others

It is a real thrill to try to give the small investor—of which our companies are mainly comprised—as good a job of investing as the big man gets. (Edward Johnson, founder of Fidelity Investments)

Kind to the poor

He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy. (14:21)

He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him. (19:17)

He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, 
but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses. (28:27)

Making good money

• Making money in good ways
  • Fulfilling your calling and purpose
  • Providing desirable goods and services
• Making a good amount of money
  • Able to pay bills for self and family
• Making money do good for others
  • Helping others flourish and prosper
  • Sharing wealth with the truly needy