Righteous Use of Money
Text: Matthew 6:19-21
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- Explain why Jesus' apparent indifference to money did not mean he was uninterested in its use — and what he actually taught about it.
- Define "mammon" and articulate the specific problem with letting money become a rival of God rather than a servant of God.
- Distinguish between a rule-based and a principle-based approach to money and explain why the New Testament governs by principles rather than detailed financial rules.
- Identify the specific perils of possession that Jesus named: false security, covetousness, and the difficulty of the rich entering the kingdom.
- State the three categories of righteous use: personal support, care for dependents and the poor, and honoring God.
Thesis
Money is not evil; it is a rival. The person who lets money be a rival of God has lost the capacity to use money righteously. The person who keeps money in its proper place — a tool for supporting life, caring for others, and honoring God — has found the only use that satisfies.
Burden
Jesus said more about money than about almost any other topic in the Gospels. He is not indifferent to it. But his approach is consistently from the side of principle rather than rule — he addresses the heart's relationship to money, not the correct percentage to give or the approved uses of profit. The outline follows this structure: it addresses attitude (Jesus' own), relationship (money vs. God), method (principle not rule), motive (covetousness), danger (possession), and application (the three righteous uses). The sermon is pastoral rather than legislative — designed not to give financial instructions but to reshape the internal relationship between the hearer and what they hold.
Introduction
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:19-21). The governing principle is the relationship between the heart and the treasure. Jesus is not concerned primarily with the money — he is concerned with where the heart goes when the money moves. The heart follows the treasure. If the treasure is earthly, the heart stays earthly.
I. Jesus' Attitude Toward Money
Jesus appeared to be indifferent to money — and in one sense he was. He had no bank account, no property, no savings. "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Matt. 8:20). He lived from the support of others (Luke 8:3) and carried no purse for himself. He did not handle the disciples' common fund (John 13:29). By the standards of his culture and ours, he had no financial standing.
Yet he taught the right use of money. The Sermon on the Mount addresses it (Matt. 6:19-34). The parable of the rich fool addresses it (Luke 12:13-21). The parable of the talents addresses it (Matt. 25:14-30). The story of Zacchaeus is structured around his response to wealth (Luke 19:1-10). The encounter with the rich young ruler (Matt. 19:16-22) is one of the most searching financial conversations in Scripture. Jesus was not indifferent to money; he was indifferent to having it for himself — and deeply concerned about what it does to people who have it.
II. Money a Rival of God
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth" (Matt. 6:24). "Mammon" — the Aramaic word Jesus uses — means riches, material wealth. The claim is structural: wealth functions as a rival of God because it makes the same demands. It demands loyalty, attention, security-seeking, and priority of concern. You can give those things to God or to wealth; you cannot give them to both.
Cannot trust in riches and in God simultaneously. Riches offer a counterfeit security: "a strong city is the wealth of a rich man, and like a high wall in his own imagination" (Prov. 18:11). The wall is imaginary — but it feels real, and the person who feels secure behind it does not feel the need for the security only God can provide. The rival does not announce itself; it simply occupies the position that belonged to God.
Some let the love of money control their lives. Paul names this specifically: "the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" (1 Tim. 6:10). The danger is not money but the love of it — the posture of the heart that makes money the organizing principle of life. When money becomes the rival, it becomes the master.
III. Principle Versus Rule
Jesus spoke in terms of principles, not rules. He did not say "give 10% to the poor and spend 20% on housing." He said "store up treasures in heaven." He did not say "how to calculate your tithe under these specific circumstances." He said "you cannot serve God and money." The New Testament governs financial life through principles, not through a detailed code.
This is the distinguishing feature of New Testament ethics generally. The Law of Moses contained detailed financial regulations — cancellation of debts in the sabbatical year, gleaning rights for the poor, prohibitions on interest from fellow Israelites. The New Testament does not replicate this regulatory structure. Instead, it addresses the heart: the orientation that governs how all specific decisions are made. Work to earn money to eat (2 Thess. 3:12). Maintain good works (Titus 3:14). Honor God with your wealth (Prov. 3:9). These are not detailed rules; they are principles that shape a life.
The advantage of principles over rules is that principles cover cases the rules do not anticipate. No financial code can address every specific situation a person will face. The principle "store up treasures in heaven" applies to every financial decision a person will ever make, because it addresses the question underneath all of them: where is your heart?
IV. Covetous Motives
Jesus refused to arbitrate the inheritance dispute that prompted his teaching (Luke 12:13-15): "Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?" He gave no orders for redistribution of property. He gave no "old age pension" — no structured plan for social provision. He struck at the root rather than the branch. The root is covetousness — the disordered desire for what belongs to another or for more than one has.
The Tenth Commandment addresses this root: "You shall not covet" (Ex. 20:17). It is the only commandment that addresses not an action but a desire. All the other commandments forbid specific acts; the tenth forbids the disposition from which those acts spring. Jesus' approach to financial ethics is in the tradition of the tenth commandment: he strikes at covetousness rather than at specific financial behaviors.
He endorsed the holding of property for righteous use (Luke 14:18-19: the parable of the banquet, where property is used as an excuse for not responding to the invitation — the point being that the property itself is not the problem; the disordered relationship to it is). Property can be held; property must be held righteously. The motive determines whether the holding is righteous.
V. Perils of Possession
Property, like the sabbath, was made for man, not man for property (Mark 2:27: "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" — the same principle applies). Money is a tool; people are not tools. The relationship inverts when money becomes the organizing principle and the person organizes himself around serving it.
The sins of greed and covetousness vitiate motives. A person who acts generously from covetous motives — giving to be seen, giving to accumulate social capital, giving to get a tax advantage — has not given righteously. The motive contaminates the act. Paul's standard is "each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7). The cheerfulness is the sign of the pure motive.
Possession begets a false sense of security. The more a person has, the more he feels he does not need what only God can provide. "It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:23) — not because wealth is evil but because wealth produces a feeling of adequacy that is the enemy of the receptivity the kingdom requires. "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Matt. 5:3) — not those who are financially poor but those who know themselves to be in need of what they cannot provide.
VI. Honoring God with Money
The righteous use of money operates in three directions:
Personal support. Work to eat; use money to sustain the life God has given. "If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either" (2 Thess. 3:10). The obligation to support oneself is not selfish — it is the first form of righteous stewardship. A person who does not support himself shifts the burden to others and deprives himself of the discipline work provides.
Supporting dependents and helping the poor. "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Tim. 5:8). Care for family is a financial obligation, not a preference. And beyond family: "Whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:17). The neighbor who is in need has a claim on the neighbor who has resources.
Honoring God. "Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce" (Prov. 3:9). The portion given to God is not the leftover — it is the first. The firstfruits principle means that God's portion is calculated before the rest is distributed, not from what remains. This is not a specific percentage but a posture: God first, then everything else from what remains.
Application
Two tests from the sermon's structure:
What does your money do when you meet a person in need? The sermon is not abstract. James's question makes it specific: "Whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need…" — what do you do? The answer reveals whether money is serving God or serving as his rival.
Where does your security come from? The feeling of security that money provides is real but false — "like a high wall in his own imagination." Test it: if the money were gone tomorrow, what would be left? If the answer is "nothing," the money has been serving as God.
Conclusion
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21). This is the sermon's conclusion and its test. Money does not tell the heart where to go — the heart tells the money where to go, and the heart can be told where to go. The person who puts treasure in heaven — who uses money for righteousness, neighbor, and God — will find that his heart follows.
The right use of money does not require great wealth. It requires the right relationship between the heart and whatever one has. "I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content" (Phil. 4:11). Contentment is the freedom from the tyranny of money whether one has much or little — and it is learned, not given.
Invitation
The person who has let money become a rival of God has an option the rich young ruler refused: "Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me" (Matt. 19:21). The invitation is not to poverty but to right relationship — the reordering of what has been ordered around the wrong thing.
Believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who had nowhere to lay his head yet was rich toward God (2 Cor. 8:9: "though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich"). Repent of the covetous orientation that has let money be a rival. Confess his name. Be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38). And begin the life in which money serves God rather than competing with him.
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mammon | wealth, property, financial resources | wealth, property, financial resources | the personification of wealth as a master competing with God; the word appears in Matthew and Luke in Jesus' teaching; it does not appear elsewhere in the NT, suggesting it was a distinctive term in Jesus' teaching vocabulary. | Matt. 6:24, Aramaic māmōn | |
| Treasure | thēsauros | stored wealth, a repository | stored wealth, a repository | the verb thēsaurizō means to lay up, to store; the same verb is used for "store up treasures for yourselves on earth" and "store up treasures in heaven"; the question is not whether to store but where. | Matt. 6:19-21 |
| Covetousness | pleonexia | the desire to have more, greediness | the desire to have more, greediness | literally "the desire to have more than one's share"; Paul identifies it with idolatry (Col. 3:5: "covetousness, which is idolatry") — not because money is an idol but because covetousness treats money as the thing that satisfies what only God can satisfy. | Luke 12:15 |
| Vitiate | to impair or spoil the quality of | to impair or spoil the quality of | covetous motives vitiate (corrupt) the act of giving; a gift given from covetous motive is no longer the thing it appears to be. | the term |
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| "Store up treasures in heaven" — the governing principle | Intro | Matt. 6:19-21 |
| "Had not where to lay his head" — Jesus' own relationship to money | I | Matt. 8:20 |
| "You cannot serve God and mammon" | II | Matt. 6:24 |
| "Love of money is a root of all sorts of evil" | II | 1 Tim. 6:10 |
| "Covetousness is idolatry" | IV | Col. 3:5 |
| "Each one as he has purposed in his heart — God loves a cheerful giver" | V | 2 Cor. 9:7 |
| "Difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom" | V | Matt. 19:23 |
| "Honor the LORD from your wealth, from the first of all your produce" | VI | Prov. 3:9 |
| "If anyone does not provide for his own…worse than an unbeliever" | VI | 1 Tim. 5:8 |
| "Whoever has the world's goods and sees brother in need" | VI | 1 John 3:17 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 103. Primary text: Matthew 6:19-21 (stated by Boles). OCR corrections: "lays clown principles" → "lays down principles"; "property £or righteous use" → "property for righteous use." Doctrinal audit: the three righteous uses (personal support, care for dependents/poor, honoring God) retained as Boles's positive framework; the perils of possession stated without softening (love of money, false security, difficulty of the rich entering the kingdom); no prosperity gospel framing; invitation retains full obedient response (Acts 2:38).
