How does the Parable of the Sower in the Bible (Mark 4) apply to money?
What is the difference between seeking prosperity and materialism?
Where do you draw the line between loving God and loving money? Is it possible to do both?
Tune in to find out how to financially prosper without rejecting God!
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The Parable Of The Sower Applied
I’m excited to have you here because we’ve got a great show in store about the Parable of the Sower. Be sure that if you’ve got questions you want to be able to figure out how to apply these things in your life or you want to have ideas for future episodes, email me at Chris@MoneyRipples.com. I want to talk about something that comes from the Bible in the New Testament, particularly in Mark Chapter 4.
Why am I bringing this up? I want to talk about something that does come up often in Christian culture, especially when it comes to money. This is inspired by a speech given by Dallin H. Oaks where he talked about the parable of the Sower. As a brief recap, they were talking about the word of God being like seeds. With the first group of people, the seeds were thrown on the ground. It hits the ground and falls by the wayside. The birds come and eat it.
The second group of people is those where the seeds fall on stony ground. They can’t get roots. The sun scorches it. It dies. The third one, which we will talk about a lot, is that the seeds fall among the thorns. It gets some roots and some growth but then the thorns choke it out. The fourth one is that it falls in good ground or soil and grows the way it should.
I want to talk about the thorns specifically because he brought up this very scripture. This is in Mark Chapter 4, verses 18 and 19. That says, “These are they, which are sown among thorns. Such is, hear the word. The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering choke the word. It becomes unfruitful.” It talks about the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in chokes the world. It becomes unfruitful.
When your focus in your life is all about acquiring money and building assets, and that's all you do, your life becomes empty. It becomes materialistic. Click To TweetThese things become thorns. It’s always interesting because riches within the Christian society have been viewed as a very evil thing. I want to talk about the difference between what is said here and what’s more an acceptable way from a Christian type of perspective of how we view money because this is something that I see a lot of times, especially being here in Utah.
I’ve lived here now for years. It’s a very heavy Christian state. A lot says that money becomes a big hinder for people, not so much because it has to be. It’s probably because there’s a culture where the love of money is the root of all evil. Some people might say the money is but most people would agree it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil. Some people are so afraid. They’re like, “At what point do you draw the line? When do you love money versus love God? Where’s that fine line.”
I want to talk about the distinction because there is a much better way to view money as healthy. There’s a better way where you can still put God first but money can still become a big part of your life as well without getting in the way. This is something that I love to talk about. Let me go into Dallin H. Oaks’ speech here where he talks about this. This is a speech he gave back in April of 2015.
He says, “I will speak first of the deceitfulness of riches. Wherever we are in our spiritual journey and whatever our state of conversion, we are all tempted by this. Here’s the key. When attitudes or priorities are fixed on the acquisition, use, or possession of a property, we call that materialism. Much has been said and written about materialism that little needs to be added here. Those who believe in what has been called the theology of prosperity are suffering from the deceitfulness of riches.”
He goes on further to say, “The possession of wealth or significant income is not a mark of heavenly favor. Their absence is not evidence of heavenly disfavor.” I want to talk about that. Down below, he says that he was not identifying an evil in the possession of riches but an evil in that follower’s attitude toward them. I love he made that distinction because that’s the big thing.
We talk about prosperity and abundance a lot on a show. Are we teaching theology prosperity? Absolutely not. Are we teaching that there are principles of prosperity? Yes. These are principles that can align with what he’s talking about. Here’s the thing that I see that becomes the biggest thing. He said this here, “Our focus is on the acquisition, use, and possession of a property.”
Let’s talk about the acquisition, use, and possession of a property. In materialism and even in your life when your focus is all about money, acquiring money, and building assets and that’s all you do, your life becomes empty and materialistic. There’s no real depth to it. Even if it plants in that soil, thorns will choke it. Eventually, it will die. That is the same thing in our lives if you’re focused purely on money.
I’ve seen this happen to various people in my life. When all of a sudden money becomes the focus, this is when they tend to lose their families and almost everything good in their lives. All they’re left with is money. In many cases, they lose that too. The focus should be first and foremost building the kingdom of God in a way that’s able to serve your fellow men.
If you're willing to serve people now, even when money is in a shorter supply, you'll be much more willing to serve when money is in greater supply. Click To TweetMany people will see this money. Some people will take this and say, “I’m going to make a lot of money and then give it all away.” That’s not what I’m talking about. That’s not a wise use of stewardship in many cases because you don’t want to have the blind lead the blind. You don’t want to throw money at people that aren’t good stewards. The whole point of us on this planet is stewardship.
What’s the stewardship of our gifts and talents? The stewardship of our money and the other resources we’re given are our time and everything we have. We have a stewardship of that while we’re here alive. How are we using that to serve other people? What are we doing to make lives better while we’re here on this planet for a fixed period or for a limited amount of time? That’s the real question.
We’re talking about the attitudes towards money. He’s talking about the attitude that’s bad. It’s not about possessing the money. Having money is not a bad thing as many people believe. Some people believe that if they have more money, they will become corrupt. I’m here to tell you that money is only a magnifier of the soul. If you become corrupt, it’s because the corruption was already there. It allowed it space and room to grow. Money allows you to express more of who you are.
That’s why your focus should not be on money and acquiring money. When you start to put that very limited and short-term focus, you lose the rest of what’s rich in life. When you focus on that, you lose everything else because you can’t expect to focus on money and have riches. More money has been proven not to make people any happier. There’s a certain level of comfort and ease that can come with it but money only magnifies more of who you are.
If you’re depressed or if you’re a miserable human being without money, you will be a very miserable human being with more money. I will promise you that. I’ve watched it happen to people. I’ve watched people not transform into something different but express more of who they have already been. You need to work on your attitude toward money. How do you view it in a way that’s more of a steward perspective, not from a place of accumulation?
This is also why I hammer on not just trying to go and save up money to someday maybe retire if you live long enough. Maybe if you’re even alive to enjoy the money, you might serve people at that point. Many people think they would acquire money first. Once they have acquired enough money, then they can serve people. This is false because it only magnifies more of who you already are.
If you acquire more money and if you’re not serving people along the way, you won’t serve people when you have more anyways. You have to be in a place where you’re serving people. A lot of things you can do for people and some of the best ways you can serve are free. I’m talking about free with money. It might require more time, labor, intention, and a lot of effort but if you’re willing to serve people now even when money is in shorter supply, you will be much more willing to serve when money is in greater supply.
Our focus should be not acquiring money, cashing it away in a bank, and letting it sit there and accumulate and do nothing for the human race while it’s sitting there. You’re just letting it sit there in a bank and hoping and praying, or you’re letting it invest in crummy mutual funds and hoping and praying the market smiles on you. When it doesn’t, it puts you in a long haul. You sit there waiting longer and not letting that money serve people.
When you serve other people, you serve God. Click To TweetThat’s where the problem comes in. This is why I’m so against what’s being taught in financial advising because everything they teach you violates that principle. They violate the principle of usury because banks teach you not to use money. They want to use our money while you let it sit around and create “compound interest,” which is not the eighth wonder of the world. It never was.
That quote is false. Einstein never said that about money. He had nothing to do with that at all. I’ve never found that quote ever to be existing other than from financial planners and people in network marketing that have quoted that. Everywhere else, compound interest is not the eighth wonder of the world. Compound interest and the deception of it as people see it can hurt you more than help you because when that money is sitting there compounding. It’s not serving anybody.
There are people’s lives that are not being served. There are people that are not being helped. Your life is not being bettered by that money. How can you use that money? How can you use that to create real wealth? How can you turn that money and say, “How can we use this now to serve people, create value in people’s lives, and solve problems?” How can you use that in your businesses? How can you use it to help people and allow yourself to express yourself more to serve more people?
The direct by-product is more money because the more you serve people, give things of value, and ask for value in return, the more money you can make as a part of that value that comes back in return. If you want your money to make more money, figure out how you can add more value to people’s lives, solve problems for them, and do something useful.
Put that money to use as stewards and watch how that money will not only grow but you will find out that money is now being used for a purpose to build up the kingdom of God because you are using your gifts, your talents, and the things that you’ve been blessed with in the service of others. That’s the power behind this story here. That’s why I love that he gave this talk because it wasn’t about making more money. It’s not the fact that you have riches.
It’s the fact that people are putting their whole focus on riches at the expense of others. I’m here to tell you that it’s through serving others and allowing your money to be used now, not saving up for 30 or 40 years from now if it’s even there 30 or 40 years from now, or if you’re even around 30 or 40 years from now. It’s not about that. It’s about what you can do with that money now. That is the power they’re talking about.
You’re what you’re doing is accumulating money or stashing it away for retirement someday so you don’t have to work because you heard that Adam was told to only work by the sweat of his brow until he’s age 65, which was not true. It was, “Work by the sweat of your brows all the days of your life.” Who are you working for? You’re working for other people. When you work for other people, you’re only working for God. When you serve other people, you are serving God.
How are you using that money to serve others to then ultimately serve God, bless lives, and answer prayers? That’s the real question you should be asking. As you’re reading this story in Mark Chapter 4, I challenge you to look at it from this standpoint. Focusing on money can be destructive but focusing on using money in the ability to serve others is where you can become a better and wiser steward.
You can amplify and edify others and strengthen others. You can be able to offer more of your gifts to serve more people and bless more lives. Focus on that. Don’t focus on the money. When you listen to the show, don’t only focus on money. Focus on how you’re able to use the money to serve people. Ultimately, it is about serving people as the central focus. Money allows you to magnify and express it better.
Thank you for joining us. Be sure to join us every week. If you’ve got questions and ideas, let me know. Shoot me an email at Chris@MoneyRipples.com. Take what these words are and apply them to your life. Don’t just listen to them. Don’t be a hero only but be a doer of the word. Take these words, apply them, and make it a prosperous week. We will see you later, everyone.