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While wealth can be legitimately
earned, we musl not forgel lhat the
Bible clearly commands us nol to
seek riches as a goal. Christ said,
"Seck ye first the kingdom of God"
(Matt. 6:33). The apost le Paul did
say that " they that will be rich fall
inlo lemptation and a sna re, and
into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in dcstruction
and perdition . For the !ove of
money is the root of a ll evil"
(J
Tim.
6:9-10).
And we must not forget thal the
Bible absolutely condemns the ac–
qui sition of wealth or prosperity by
ungodly means. i.e., by force or
fraud. The apostle J ames shows
what God thinks of those who un–
fairly take advantage and defraud
the poor: " G o to now, ye rich men,
weep and howl for your miseries
that shall come upon you. Your
riches are corrupted. and your gar–
ments a re molheaten. Your gold
a nd silver is cankered; and the rust
of them shall be a wi tness against
you , and shall eat your flesh as it
were fire. Ye have heaped treasure
together for the last days. Behold.
the hire of the labourers who have
reaped down your fields.
which is of
you kept back by Jraud,
crieth: and
thc críes of them which have reaped
are cntered into thc cars of the Lord
o f sabaoth" (James 5: 1-4).
David confronled the problem of
those who becamc rich by unjus t
means. But he realized that God.
who wields final justice, would eh as–
ten them in the end: " 1 was envious
at the foolish , when
1
saw the pros–
perity of the wickcd .... Behold.
these are the ungodly, who prosper
in the world; they increase in
riches.... all the day long have 1
been plagued.... Until 1 went into
the sanctuary of God; then under–
s tood l their end. Surely thou ...
castedst them down inlo dest ruc–
tion. How are they brought into de–
solalion, as in a moment! They are
utterly consumed with terrors" (Ps.
73:3. 12. 14. 17-19).
The Right Use of Wealth
Clearly the Bible teaches that pros–
perity is not an end in ilself. To
demonstrate this, Jesus spoke a very
poignant parable about a rich man
who accumulated goods. then lore
down his barns to have room to
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1978
s tore slill more goods. He was a fool,
J esus said, because he died before
he ever got a chance lo enjoy the
goods himself. The lesson was that
we should "take heed, and beware
of covetousness: for a man's life
consis teth not in the abundance of
the things which he possesseth"
( Luke 12: 15).
This basic truth was driven home
by Christ in the parable of Lazarus
and the rich man (Lukc 16: 19-3 1)
and was also expressed by Solomon
when he said: "There is a sore evil
which I have seen under the sun,
namely. riches kept for the owners
But the Bible a lso tells
us not to put
our heart in ma teria l
goods. The basis of
happiness is spiritual ,
no t ma te ria l.
thereof to thei r hurt" (Eccl. 5: 13).
The right use of wealth is indeed
compassionate.
lt
should be used to
preach the gospel
(1
Cor. 9:6-7, 14) ;
to support the work of the true min–
istry of J esus Christ (Heb. 7:5, 11-
17): to celebrate the feasts of God
(Deut. 14:22-26) and to belp others
todo so (Deut. 14 :27); to relieve the
distress of those who are poor
thro ugh no fault of their own
( 1 John 3:17. James 2:14-17). The
right attitude toward wealth was ex–
pressed eloquently by Paul when he
told the Ephesians: " Let him that
s tole steal no more: but rather let
him labour, working with his hands
the thing which is good, that he may
have to give to him that needeth"
(Eph. 4:28).
But after all of this , God lays no
burden on the Christian to give up
al/
his weallh for the sake of equal–
ity. There is a right place for mate–
rial possessions in God's way of life:
" Behold that which 1 have seen: it is
good and comely for one to eat and
to drink, and to enjoy lhe good of
all his labour that he taketh under
the sun a ll the days of his life, which
God giveth him: for it is his portion.
Every man also to whom God hath
given riches and wealth , and hath
given him power to eat thereof, a nd
to take his portion, and to rejoice in
his labour;
thís is the gift of God''
(Eccl. 5: 18- 19).
The principie is one of right bal–
ance on material wealth. O n the one
extreme, wealth is
not
to be sought
for its own sake: "He that loveth
si lver shall no t be sat isfied with si l–
ver" (Eccl. 5:
1
0). On the other hand,
we do not have lo be joyless ascetics
either; for "it is good and comely for
one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy
the good ofall his labour."
The World Tomorrow
In God's world. individuals will be
able to enjoy the fruit of their own
labor: "And in this moun tain shall
the Lord of hosts make unto all
people a feast of fat things. a feast
of wines on the lees. of fat things
full of marrow, of wines on the lees
well refined' ' (lsa. 25:6).
God's economic plan as revealed
in Exodus and Leviticus shows that
prívate property is a sacred right , as
revealed by the commandment
against theft (Ex. 20: 15 ). The
"means of production" will be in
prívate hands. However, the harsh
aspects of unrestricted capitalism
wi ll not be allowed. In fact, God's
"welfare system" is remarkable for
being both humane
and
al the same
time preserving priva te incentive.
Arable land will be divided up
among families and will not be
allowed to be sold for more than
fifty years (Lev. 25 :23). Every sev–
enth year all consumer debts will be
abolished. A "third-tithe" system
will be eslablished to relieve the dis–
tress of the needy: bul this system
will cost
only a Jraction
of what
(Continued on page 44)
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