The Bible says much about physical and spiritual poverty and riches.
What is wrong with this statement? Money is the root of all evil.
We’ve all heard that often. But that is not what Paul said in 1 Tim 6:10. He said, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
Did you know that the Bible says we are not to help two types of poor people?
First, we are not to help those who are poor because they are lazy.
This is often repeated in Proverbs as well as in the teachings of the Lord and His apostles.
Sometimes poverty is a choice. See Proverbs 6:10–11 regarding the lazy:
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
and your need like an armed man.
See also Prov 10:4; 22:13; 26:13–16; Matt 19:21; 1 Tim 5:4, 9, 11, 14.
There were people in the church at Thessalonica who were so focused on the soon return of Christ that they thought they could mooch off others in the church. Paul’s response was, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thess 3:10).
Second, we should not help the poor who waste the money they earn. Regarding the person who wastes money on wine and gluttony, Prov 23:20–21 says:
Do not mix with winebibbers,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
The Scriptures don’t forbid drinking wine or enjoying nice food. But they do forbid drunkenness and gluttony.
If you give money to an alcoholic, you are probably enabling his alcoholism.
But the Bible is clear that we are to help those who are poor due to the death or disability of the breadwinner.
In many cases, people are poor due to disability or the death of the father in the family. In OT culture, and continuing through the time of Christ and the apostles, the husband was the sole wage earner. So, if a husband died, the wife and kids needed help. Back then, the government did not provide that help. The local church—or, in the OT, fellow Jews—were to step in to help.
James said that pure and undefiled religion is to help the widows and orphans (Jas 1:27).
In Gal 2:10 Paul—in recounting the decision of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)—mentions that at that time, the apostles asked Paul to “remember the poor.” Acts 11:27–30 and Romans 15:25–26 tell us that Paul acted as a courier to deliver funds collected by churches in Antioch, Macedonia, and Achaia for the poor in Jerusalem and Judea.
Acts 6:1 explains that in the early church in Jerusalem, there was a “daily distribution” for believing widows. The Hellenistic widows, the ones who did not speak Hebrew, were being left out until the apostles rectified the problem.
See also Proverbs 14:21, 31; 21:13; 29:7; 31:20; Acts 3:6; 1 Tim 5:3.
I personally do not give to those who beg, for many reasons. I don’t know if they truly need help. Will they use the money for drugs? Will giving them money help or hurt them? Is this a waste of the Lord’s resources?
I prefer to help those who are vetted.
One way we can help the vetted poor is by giving to our local rescue mission, our local food bank, and other organizations that help the vetted poor locally or even globally.
James urges us not to give preferential treatment to the rich who visit our churches (Jas 2:2–6). Don’t kowtow to the rich and dishonor the poor.
In the Parable of the Four Soils, the Lord Jesus taught that riches could hinder our spiritual productivity. The weed that chokes out the effectiveness of the third soil is riches: “cares, riches, and the pleasures of life” (Luke 8:14). In Matt 13:22 and Mark 4:19, the Lord calls this “the deceitfulness of riches.”
Paul told Timothy, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Tim 6:9). This leads to the warning about the love of money in v 10.
In fact, 1 Tim 6:9-19 is one of the Bible’s key passages on a proper attitude toward riches.
Being rich is not a problem. Desiring to be rich is a problem.
The love of money is the problem. Not money itself.
Notice 1 Tim 6:19. A rich person can and should “store up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”
Spiritual riches are to be highly valued. The most important riches in life are not physical, but spiritual. We want to be rich in God’s sight, not rich in man’s sight.
True riches are a godly character, a loving family, a good name, a godly legacy, and a life that is pleasing to the Lord.
The Lord said that we are to lay up treasure not on earth, but in heaven (Matt 6:19-21). Our most important IRA is our heavenly IRA.
The Lord’s words in Luke 16:11 are powerful: “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” See Matt 5:3; 1 Cor 1:5; 2 Cor 8:9; Rev 2:9; 3:17–18.
Remember that “to whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48). That is true of our time, our talent, and our treasure that we earn using our time and talent. It includes the solid Bible teaching we have received as well.
May we please God with all we have and all we are and thereby be truly rich.
