Should wealthy Christians lower their standard of living? It’s a question from Kevin, a follower of the podcast in South Dakota. “Pastor John, thank you for this podcast and for your ministry. Thank you for preaching against the prosperity gospel and for your personal model of contentment and generosity. All of this is prophetically necessary in our age. But I also have a question about wealth, specifically about 1 Timothy 6:17-19. I am a middle-class American, not fabulously wealthy by the cultural standards of my day. But in the global perspective, and historically, I am rich. Whenever I hear him teach on Paul’s text, I hear him imply that wealthy Christians are called upon to intentionally lower their lifestyles. They should live in smaller houses than they could afford and enjoy the simpler pleasures in life. There is a wonderful warning here about trust in wealth that we should all keep in mind.
However, Paul does not seem to say in this text that the rich should lower their personal lifestyle. I read Paul and assume that a wealthy Christian today could live in a two million dollar, six thousand square foot mansion, drive a brand new BMW, and still hope in God, the giver of all these gifts, while magnifying Christ. in their honest business. But in that situation of abundance, Paul would tell them: Do not be proud. Die to self sufficiency. Enjoy everything as a gift, and never put your hope in riches. Rather, “be rich in good works” and “be generous and ready to share” (v. 18). It seems to me that it discourages the rich from seeking further accumulation of wealth or “building a barn” as Jesus called it. But Paul doesn’t seem to be overly concerned with calling on the rich to deliberately lower their own living standards. Am I missing something here?”
cultural conditioning
Well, let’s start by stating something controversial: not only does Paul not seem very interested in calling on the rich to purposefully lower their own living conditions, but he also doesn’t seem very interested in holding slave owners to account for having them. So there you have it. That should make everyone defensive.
No, I am not equating the possession of wealth with slavery. The point of that comparison is this: if Paul chose to exploit slavery not with direct accusation, but with theological dynamite like the one he wrote to the Corinthians (“You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men,” 1 Co 7:23), could it be that he would take the same explosive theological approach to wean people away from luxuries?
Now, before I illustrate what I mean, let me clarify something that I am well aware of: I am aware that any warning or admonition that I can give to someone who lives a life ten times more opulent than mine could be given to me by someone whose life is ten times less opulent than mine. I am aware, as an American, that globally this last group that lives a life ten times less opulent than I do, is 99% of the world.
Now here’s the implication of that reality: I’m either a first-class hypocrite, which is possible, or I’m a culturally conditioned voice trying to get God’s Word to call the Western influx, including my own, to account. the light of the Scriptures, without specifying precisely what degree of influx is destructive to spiritual life and testimony.
What do we have left?
So how does the New Testament deal with luxury and opulence, lavishness and riches? Kevin, of course, is right that Paul is not addressing the rich in his churches with condemnation, nor is he addressing the slaveholders, by the way. The text Kevin is referring to is this:
Teach those who are rich in this world not to be haughty or to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in God, who abundantly gives us all things to enjoy. Teach them to do good, to be rich in good works, generous and ready to share, laying up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they can lay hold on what is truly life (1 Tim 6:17– 19).
So this is the question: When these wealthy Christians have recognized the uncertainty of riches, have put their hope in God, have done good, have been rich in good works, have been generous, have been willing to share, have clinging to life that does not consist of possessions, what do you think they have left to live?
Well, it’s true: it doesn’t say so, and that’s why I have never specified precisely what degree of luxury is destructive for spiritual life and witness. On the other hand, reading the New Testament, I find it my job, as a biblical voice trying to be true to what’s there, to unsettle the rich—including John Piper, especially him—by calling attention to the ways in which that the New Testament pushes us relentlessly toward simplicity and economy for the advancement of the gospel and away from luxury, opulence, and refinement.
The New Testament pushes us relentlessly toward simplicity and economy for the sake of the advancement of the gospel.
So, let me push in the opposite direction from Kevin when he says this: “I…assume that a wealthy Christian today could live in a two million dollar, six thousand square foot mansion, drive a brand new BMW, and yet have their hope set on God, the giver of all these gifts, as they magnify Christ in their honest dealings.” Now, my response to this is to push in the opposite direction, knowing that there are much more powerful ways to magnify Christ than through honest business, good as that is, and knowing that there are many other passages of the Scriptures that should get under the skin of those of us who want to surround themselves with much more than we need.
4 reasons why wealth is dangerous
Here’s a way to show what I mean. Jesus said, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Luke 18:24). He did not say: “How difficult it will be to enter the kingdom of heaven for those who love the riches.” In other words, it is a warning about the danger of be rich, not only want be.
Now why is it so? Why would Jesus say that? Why does wealth make it difficult to enter heaven? Why is it dangerous to be rich? Let me mention four Biblical indications as to why this would be so.
1. Riches tend to stifle faith.
Jesus warns in the parable of the sower that many “are choked by cares, riches and pleasures of life” (Lk 8:14). Riches are not neutral; they have a tendency to stifle the vitality of the radical Christian life. Therefore, the word to the rich like me should never simply be: “Oh, if you’re honest you’re fine.” Actually, you’re not necessarily okay. You are in danger.
2. Riches prevent us from radical obedience.
Jesus said, “Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be My disciple” (Lk 14:33). Now, from all the other texts, we know that this does not mean that Christians have nothing. It means that they are radically free from the control of possessions and that they are always ready to perform acts of obedience in which they risk their lives. But the more accustomed we are to luxury, the more difficult this becomes and the less it seems to outsiders that we are free of things, and that should matter to us. We should care what people might infer.
3. Riches confuse our true treasure.
Paul said that his goal in life was for Christ to be magnified in his body, “whether by life or by death” (Phil 1:20). In other words, he wanted to live and die so the world would see that Christ was magnificent to him, more satisfying than possessions or life.
And to that end, he said, “I count all things as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8). In other words, we don’t magnify Christ just by being honest in our business. We magnify Christ by living in such a way that we communicate to the world that Christ is more valuable to us than houses, cars, land, and life itself.
4. Riches distort pure motivations.
Which finally brings us to the fourth indication of why it’s hard for the rich to get into heaven, namely, whether the motivations for seeking symbols of wealth (whether we consider them that way or not) are pure. It is difficult to keep them pure, very difficult.
So, going back to the two million dollar mansion, or for example there’s a house here on Lake Minnetonka that came up for sale yesterday in my area for fifteen million dollars. Why would a Christian who has his treasure in heaven, whose life is dedicated to doing all the good he can, and whose desire is to show the world that Christ is more precious than things, want to give the impression that riches are his treasure? ? What would be the reason to buy such a mansion and surround yourself with more and more and more of what you don’t need?
Perhaps I should end with one more question for the owner of the mansion: who are you going to leave it to when you die? If you have experienced the miracle of treasuring Christ above all things and living for the good of others, do you think giving all that wealth to others will help them experience that miracle? Do you think it will do your children good to make them rich or put a palace in the hands of some ministry?
My position is this: without specifying what measure of wealth is destructive to the soul or to our testimony, the New Testament pushes us relentlessly toward simplicity and economy for the sake of the gospel and away from luxury and opulence.
Originally posted on . Translated by Team Coalition.