Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Money Doesn't Buy | The Writings | Psalm 49

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

Money can get you a lot and get you out of a lot. But what can't money get you? Is wealth all it's chalked up to be? Why shouldn't you envy the wealthy? In today's episode, Keith uses Psalm 49 to have an important conversation about wealth. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 49

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Deep within our soul is a relentless inclination to compare ourselves with others. There's really nothing we won't compare. We compare jobs or marriages, our appearance, athletic talent, skills, vacation, wealth, houses, achievements, kids. We even compare past version of ourselves with our ideal self. It's as if this comparison, thing is compulsive. We don't think about it or plan on it, and we really can't even keep it from happening. When we compare our lives with other people, one of the things you can't help but

notice is that some people have a better life than you do, or at a very minimum, they sure appear to have a better life. We can respond to that in so many different ways. Psalm 49 addresses the common belief that wealthy people have a better life, even when they don't follow Jesus. The Psalm warns us to not put our hope in wealth. It won't last. and it can't make us right with God. Psalm 49 opens up with a question of why the wicked prosper more than the righteous. This is the subject of other Psalms as well. For example, if you want to think more about this topic, look at Psalm 73.

But I'm sure many of us have wondered why so many people who don't follow Jesus seem to have such great lives. They're wealthy, they're famous, they're beautiful, they're successful, all while living for themselves and disregarding God. Psalm 49 answers that question by saying, that money can't buy the most important things in life. It can't pay for their sin, and it can't buy a relationship with God. Let's pick up in verse 6. They trust in their wealth, and they boast of great riches, yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God. Redemption

does not come so easily, for no one can ever pay enough to live forever and never see the grave. Wealthy people are tempted to depend on their money to get them out of trouble. Money can buy you lawyers. It can buy you influence with lawmakers in Congress. Money can buy nice dinners and vacations, but it can't buy God's forgiveness. God doesn't need your money. He's not impressed with your gifts. God cannot be bribed. In his book, What Money Can't Buy. Michael Sandell says this. There are some things that money can't buy, but these days not much. See, almost everything is up for sale. And if you have enough funds, then you can buy what you want. In that book, Michael Sandell lists the following examples of things that money allows you to buy. For example, for $149, you can buy the right to go to the

front of the line at Universal Studios. For $90 a night, some cities will allow you to upgrade your jail cell. For $8,000, you can buy the services of an Indian surrogate mother. That price is less than one-third of the going rate in the United States. For $8, some cities will sell you access to the carpool lane, even when you're driving by yourself. These are just some things that money can buy, but of course it can't buy salvation. Jesus paid for our sin with his life, but it's offered to us only as a free gift. We can only accept that free gift if our hands are empty, if we're not trying to pay for it, or earn it. That's how it's always been, and that's how it will always be. We pick up again in Psalm 49, verse 10. Those who are wise must finally die, just like the foolish and senseless,

leaving all behind their wealth. The grave is their eternal home, where they will stay forever. They may name their estates after themselves, but their fame will not last. They will die just like the animals. Everyone dies. It's a fact that's hard for us to grasp. We agree that everyone dies, but for some reason we act like we won't die. But Psalm 49 tells us that the wise and foolish, both die. No matter how much education you have, no matter how much money you have, you can't avoid death. And verse 11 says that the wealthy named their estates after themselves, but their fame will not last. The wealthy can give their money to hospitals or to art galleries or to universities, but that won't save them from death and being forgotten. Psalm 103 says,

The life of mortals is like grass. They flourish like a flower of the field. The wind blows over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. I'm sure you can name your grandparents, but what about the names of your great-grandparents, or your great-great-grandparents? What was their life like? Where do they live and work? How many kids did they have? These people are your ancestors who have had a profound effect on your life, and yet you don't know even their name, much less what their life was like. Not long after your death, you too will be forgotten, even by your own descendants. Verse 16. So don't be dismayed when the wicked grow rich and their homes become ever more splendid. For when they die, they take nothing with them. Their wealth will not follow them to the grave.

In this life, they consider themselves fortunate and are applauded for their success, but they will die like all before them and never again see the light of day. People who boast in their wealth don't understand. They will die just like the animals. So if the first reason to not envy the wealthy is because their money can't buy the most important things in life. The second reason to not envy them is that their wealth will not last. The old saying, you can't take it with you, is true. Your life on earth is short, so focus on the important things. You'll never regret following Jesus. You'll never regret obeying Jesus. You'll never regret making sacrifices for Jesus. And if you're a person who has money, and most of us do, there is still time to use your money to build up an eternal legacy.

In other words, you don't have to use your money on yourself. You can wisely give away your money in a way that builds God's kingdom and leaves you an eternal legacy. Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist who made his fortune inventing and producing dynamite. In 1888, his brother Ludwig Nobel had died in France. Alfred Nobel picked up the newspaper to read about his brother's death. But when he did so, his grief was compounded by the story. He just read an obituary in a French newspaper. But it wasn't his brother's obituary.

It was his. An editor had confused the brothers. So the headline read, The Merchant of Death is Dead. Alfred Nobel's obituary described a man who had gotten rich by helping people kill one another. Shaken by this appraisal of his life, Nobel resolved to use his wealth to change his legacy.

He didn't want to be known as the merchant of death. When he died eight years later, he left more than $9 million to fund awards for people whose work benefited humanity. The awards became known as the Nobel Prizes. Alfred Nobel had the rare opportunity to assess his life story at its supposed end and still have a chance to change it. Before his life was over, Nobel made sure that he had invested his wealth in something of lasting value. The knowledge of his death changed the way he thought about his wealth. Psalm 49 tells us that

every single one of us will die. Money is a valuable tool that God has entrusted to us. We cannot use it to buy salvation. That is a free gift. But we can use our money to further God's kingdom, to love our neighbor as our self. We can't hold on to our money, but Jesus says that we can send it ahead of us, we can use our money to lay up treasures in heaven where rust and moth cannot do damage and where thieves cannot break into steel.