The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Is Money Sinful? (EP 46)

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

In this video, Bryce talks about the love of money. Filmed By; Josh Rodriguez @whitehorse.studios MERCH👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.com subscribe for more! Sow Into My Ministry One-Time or Monthly! Visit 👉 https://www.equipnet.org/missionaries/bcrawford   (all donations are tax deductible) Download Our FREE Bible Plan https://growinfaith.readytoconnect.com/join-the-one-year-bible-challenge  follow me on other platforms! Podcast Instagram 👉https://instagram.com/brycecrawfordpodcast Personal Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/brycecrawford Merch Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/ilovejesus Tiktok (main) 👉https://www.tiktok.com/@brycecrawford  Tiktok (2nd) 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@adventuresofbryce  Snapchat https://snapchat.com/add/brycecraww  Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/ibrycecrawford #christianity #christian #Jesus #BryceCrawford #christiantiktok #christianvideos #holyspirit #Jesusheals #viral #christianvideo #venicebeach #evangelism

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce. And by the title of this video podcast, episode of your listener are watching, I'm actually really excited for this episode to talk about money. Is money sinful? How do we use money to honor God? What does that look like? Before we get into this episode, two important things to talk about. Number one, the can behind me, guys, renewal rain is my favorite water. company at the moment. I'm not just saying that sincerely. I don't like carbonated water. I never have, but I tried Renewal rain. It is literally some of the best carbonated water I've ever had. I drink it all the time. Renewal rain is a Christian mineral water company. So I used to drink liquid death and then liquid death came out with a commercial where they were doing witchcraft over all the bottles and stuff like that. So I stopped drinking it like many Christians did. And I wanted a company that supported Jesus or that had good morals, good values. And not only is this a Christian company, but they also have a heartbeat to see the gospel reach every nation in the world.

And so if you guys want to go get and support Renewal Rain, go to RenewalRain.com. And if you use BC25 at checkout, you guys get a discount off your product. And second, guys, as always, go get the merch, Jesus in the street.com. Let's talk about money. Is money sinful? What does the Bible say about money? Well, we've got to differentiate between money itself and the love for money. The love for money is idolatry, and we see that the sin associated with money isn't money itself.

It's the love of money. We see that in 1st Timothy 6 when it says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. We know that when something matters more than what matters most, which is Jesus. That is when it becomes an issue. That is when money becomes an issue because the love for. for money leads to this greed and this pride and this arrogance. Luke 1613 says,

no servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. So we have to be clear here. The Bible isn't saying that money itself is sinful. It's saying that greed, the love for money, is sinful. Because when you have a love for money,

it sits on the throne of your heart and it controls you. The love for money can make you do things that a normal human being wouldn't do. That's what the love for money can do. Now, I want to talk about something aside from, let's go back to money itself before we get into the issue with money here. I want to talk about tithing for a split second because tithing is a very important thing that I believe Christians should do today. What exactly is tithing? What does that look like in the Christians' role today? All right. Proverbs 3.9 says, honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce.

Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy also encourage believers to set aside a tenth of their produce as an offering to the Lord. And then in other instances, you would see that there would be a central place, a central location that tithes were brought to that would be distributed to the needy from the Levites. So not only were the Levites tithing a 10% of their produce, but their produce wouldn't always just be an offering to the Lord. I mean, they would bring their produce to a central location point, and then they would distribute it to the needy as their tithe and offering to the Lord. So when we look at tithing in the Old Testament, they would tie, they would give 10%, but it wouldn't be just 10.

They would give their best 10. Here's an example. If you had someone who had 100 sheep, they would give a tenth of their sheep. They would give ten of their sheep. But they wouldn't just give any ten sheep. They would give their best ten. So when we tithe to God, when we tie the portion of our income,

we are joyfully giving God our best ten. We are sending God our tithe and offering to the kingdom of heaven to destroy the gates of hell. Whenever we tie an offering to God, we are sowing a seed that will destroy hell. So when I tithe money, I view it as every dollar I sow is a soldier going into battle to crush hell. Because when we sow seeds into ministries and to churches, we are saying that we believe in the power of the kingdom of God so much that we are giving back what God has graciously given us so that we can see the gospel expanded. Because some people complain like, oh my gosh, I have to tithe my income.

I have to give God 10% of my income. No, you're not giving God 10% of your income. you're giving back God 10% of what he's already given you. Do you see what I'm saying? Like we get to joyfully return 10% back to God of what he's graciously given us. Because God is a giver. He gives us what, so all of our income has been given to us by God. So we can't, we don't need to complain or moan or groan when it's like, oh, I have to give God 10%.

No, that's a bunch of baloney. You are graciously and joyfully giving God back 10% of what he's already given you. That's the perspective that we should. have and we don't just give God a random 10 right when you made an offering to the Lord in the old testament you didn't give God your worst 10 produce you didn't give God 10% of your rotten produce you didn't give God 10% of the sheep with spots on them you gave God your best 10 so when we return to God we not only return the first fruits of what we've been given but we give God our best 10 our best 10 when it comes to tithing I think tithing is a very important principle that we need

understand because tithing kind of shuts down greed a little bit and love for money okay because some people think oh well i need that 10% well i need it no you don't god is a provider and i think the first step of trusting god is with money money is a tool that god uses to calibrate the heart of a man and if you can't even give back 10% of what god is graciously given you then how can god trust you with much when You can't even be faithful with the little that God is just graciously asking back. Like an offering of 10% back to God to see the kingdom of God and the gospel expanded. Right. So my tithe, just to get a personal inside of my life,

my tithe used to look like giving to my church because I cared about my local church. I supported my local church. Then I started taking my tithe out and I was taking it out in cash and I was sewing little seeds amongst the homeless in L.A. just like the Levites, they would gather their offerings sometimes. Instead of directly giving it to the Lord, they would gather it together. And in the name of the Lord, they would give their tithe to people that are in need. The Levites would hand it out. So our tithe is important on giving it back to God.

Now, let's go back into the love for money. So let's say that there's a wealthy Christian in the world. Does someone who wants to be Christian or a wealthy Christian have to downgrade their lifestyle for God? I'm going to read a passage to you. 1 Timothy 6, 17 through 19 says, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are too good to be rich in works, to be generous and rich. ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good fountain for the future,

so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. So it's saying, hey, when it comes to money, don't be haughty and prideful about it. Don't set your hope in the uncertainty of riches because riches are uncertain, but set your hope in God who richly provides everything. So true riches are found in God and not only that, but he richly provides for us. And sometimes, we think that true success is getting everything we want. No, God is someone who will provide what we need, but God gives an abundance. He is a, he is someone who has true riches within him. True riches can be found in satisfaction in Jesus Christ. So we don't take hold in the treasures of the world. So what about the Christians then, the wealthy Christians who aren't prideful and

haughty, who set their hope in God, who have done good, who are generous, who are rich and good works who are ready to share what about those okay i bryce crawford will never specify a degree of wealth that is truly sinful or destructive you will never see me that says okay if you reach this bar and wealth and riches that is sinful you'll never see me say that okay i'm going to be completely honest i know people who don't have a lot of money but who greed and the love for money is crippling them People that don't have a lot of money, but the love for money cripples them. And I also know people who are extremely wealthy, who greed and the love for money isn't even on their radar. Okay.

But I'm going to give you four reasons why wealth can be dangerous. Okay. Here's four reasons why wealth can be dangerous. First one, wealth tends to choke people out. In Luke 8, we see the parable of soils. and it says that some people will be choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. So wealth can tend to choke people's faith. Number two, wealth can hinder people from radical obedience.

Luke 1433 says anyone who does not renounce everything they own cannot be my disciple. Jesus isn't condemning owning anything because we see other scriptures, but this is an encouragement to be radically free for, from the control of possessions and be ready to do the most life-threatening acts of obedience. Because wealth can hinder us from being radically obedient to God. When we become wealthy, oftentimes it hinders us or it can become more difficult when you become accustomed to a life of luxury to give it up. So I believe that the New Testament really pushes this idea of simplicity, right?

I believe that the gospel does put it. an idea of simplicity. Now, money isn't inherently sinful. The love for money is sinful. All right. And so when it says wealth hinders people from radical obedience, it is not Jesus condemning owning things, but it's him acknowledging that when you adapt your life to a life of luxury, it becomes more difficult as your life of luxury increases to give it up. All right. I want to give you guys a personal example I've noticed. When I first moved to L.A., I met people that did social media. And I would have conversations with them. And it would be crazy because only fans would get brought up.

And these guys would condemn only fans saying, oh, you'll never see me sell my body, sell my body, sell my body. But as these guys made money through social media and their luxury, their money was going up, so their luxurious lifestyle was going up. But then at some point, like 1st Timothy 6 says, don't put your hope in the uncertainty of riches. The money stopped going up. but they felt as if that their luxurious lifestyle had to keep going up.

Because when their money was up, they were upgrading apartment sizes, they were buying more things, they were buying the expensive cars. But when the riches were going down, they had to try to get their riches up because the love for money was too great in their life. So what happened? The same people that said they would never sell themselves on Onlyfans started to to keep up with their luxurious lifestyle. So wealth can hinder people from radical obedience.

Because Jesus was knocking on these people's hearts asking them to give it up and they couldn't give it up. And so they fell victim to the accustomed lifestyle of luxury to a point where they couldn't give it up. They had to do anything they could to get the most money they could to keep up with their luxurious lifestyle. So when Jesus says anyone who does not renounce everything they own cannot be my disciple, he's encouraging believers to be radically free from the control of possessions. Number three, wealth can confuse our true treasure. When you read Philippians one, Paul says that his greatest goal in life was to magnify Christ through his body. whether it be through life or through death.

So we should want our lives to reflect Christ where Christ is more magnificent than our possessions and treasures. The same goal Paul had in mind. Wealth can confuse our true treasure. Lastly, wealth can distort pure motives. Let's go back to the very first thing we were talking about a moment ago

with 1 Timothy 6. What about the wealthy Christian who doesn't put their hope in treasures and who has their hope in God and who does rich and good works? and isn't prideful. Why is it hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven? Just because someone's original motives were pure to pursue wealth?

That can be true. Someone's motives can be pure to pursue wealth, but it can be extremely difficult to keep those motives pure. And we see that all throughout Scripture. Why would us as Christians want our riches to look like treasure over Jesus? Why would Christians want to flaunt their lifestyle by buying more things and upgrading the house and getting the boat and flexing their money? Why would we as Christians want to show our riches to look like our treasure more than Jesus? It doesn't make sense.

Because then I would argue for a heart check, what's sitting on the throne of your heart? So all in all, money isn't inherently evil. The love for money can. Now, you know your heart. So just the same way the New Testament challenges us, I will challenge you boldly here. Don't chase money. When you approach God,

most of the times when I talk to people in the street, if God could do a miracle in your life right now, what would it be? So I'd be a million dollars. I need more money. I need more this. That's a bunch of baloney. The devil wants you to have what you want.

Because when you get what you want all the time, then your focus and hope and trust goes into those things. But when you call upon the name of the Lord, and he doesn't always give you what you want, but he gives you what you need, you have a sustainable, healthy life. So I want to challenge you the same way the gospel challenges us, to live a life of simplicity.

And if you are someone who has no money, there's nothing wrong with working hard and gaining money in being honest and pure and living for the Lord. But if you're someone who has a lot of money, there's a call for people with money to be radical and joyful givers to keep our hearts pure to constantly pray search my heart god know me root things out of my heart that are evil like you might be someone who's wealthy but god is calling you to give it up why because god knows it it's going to tear your heart down there are other people to where wealth isn't necessarily an issue

But the Bible is very clear. The love for money can shred people's faith. But God calls us to be obedient to him, to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Because although earth may pass away, his word remains the same. God's word, the Bible relationship with him is going to sustain us. And so many people get caught up in this love for money and their view of success becomes finite.

But when we die, that stack of bread that you are working so hard to get is going to sit on top of your gravestone. It's going to go nowhere. And on judgment day, when you stand before God, it's not about how much money you made. You can't pay your way to get into the heavenly gates. It's about faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus, I pray for anyone watching and listen to this, God,

that you would just calibrate our hearts, God, to serve you and be obedient to you. Jesus, we love you. We thank you. God bless these guys. God steer our hearts away for the love of money. And God, if any amount of money that each of us have, God, may we joyfully give 10% back to you.

God, may our hearts be pure and any amount of money that any of us have, God. May we use it for your glory and be responsible with it in Jesus name. Amen. Guys, thank you so much for watching and listen to this episode. If you liked it, follow us on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, Bryce Crawford podcast. Love you guys. See you guys in the next video.