Now, if you would turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3, the first thing we talked about was we're supposed to have our affections on things above, not on things on the earth, and that wherever our treasure is, that's where our heart will be also, and so when we look at the uber wealthy preacher, we can see right away where his heart is.
Well, you can't see his heart. Oh, yes, I can, because the Bible said where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If I can see the treasure, I can see the heart.
If I see the treasure, then I've seen the heart, because if you've seen the one, you've seen the other. That's where the heart is.
1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 2, these are qualifications for the pastor, it says in verse 2,
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous.
And I believe that not covetous is a little bit redundant with not greedy of filthy lucre, because I think these are two aspects of the same thing.
You say, why would God repeat that? Okay, well why did he repeat no striker and not a brawler? You see that? Not a brawler, not covetous, not a striker, not greedy of filthy lucre.
These are repetitions really driving in the point here. Hey, you don't want a guy who's into money leading the church. You don't want a guy who's following after and seeking after filthy lucre.
Now, don't let the word filthy lucre bother you as far as, you know, I don't know what that word lucre means. I think we all know what the word lucrative means.
Even if we don't really use the word lucre, I think pretty much everybody knows what lucrative means. Something that's lucrative is profitable.
So the word lucre simply means money or profits. Okay, that's what it means. And so not greedy of filthy lucre is basically talking about filthy money or filthy gain or filthy revenue.
So what does that mean? It's talking about a dishonest gain or greedy because here's the thing, money by itself is not bad.
There's nothing in the Bible condemning money and it's always weird when people are like, oh I hate money.
It's like, come on. We're not supposed to love money. The love of money is the root of all evil.
But let's put a guy behind the pulpit who's filthy rich, right? Even though the love of money is the root of all evil.
But anyway, some people go to this opposite extreme which makes no sense. They're trying to just like overcompensate or something like, oh I just hate money.
I don't think we're supposed to hate money. Obviously money has its place. It's something that we use. We need it to live.
I saw some bozo podcaster the other day. I was watching something on YouTube and this podcaster guy, he's just like, oh I hate money and blah blah blah.
And it's like the first several minutes of his podcast was all like a word from the sponsor. There's all these ads coming up.
It's all monetized. Oh I hate money. It's like, come on. Nobody's asking you to hate money but we just shouldn't love money.
We shouldn't have our affection on money and be obsessed with money. You know, money is a tool that we use in our lives but it's not something that should be the focus of our lives.
We shouldn't wake up in the morning and check the portfolio. Check the Wall Street Journal. We should wake up in the morning and check the word of God.
And you know, this is where our hearts should be and our minds should be on things of God. Especially as a minister.
You know, how much more should your heart be on the things of God rather than worldly things.
So not greedy of filthy lucre, not covetous, and even not given to wine. You know, we would normally look at not given to wine and think of that as saying hey, you know, sober, not being drunk.
But you know what, also wine is a symbol of wealth in scripture. Nowadays you could probably go to CVS and buy some el cheapo wine for a couple bucks or whatever.
But back in the Bible days, you know, wine is something that's very expensive because they don't have machines and technology so obviously it was a lot harder to produce wine.
And so it's not something that you need to live. You could live and die without ever drinking a drop of fruit juice, right, because you could just eat fruit and eat food.
And so the point is that wine, even today, are rich people into wine today? Is that like a wealth thing or a symbol of wealth?
But how much more in the ancient world do you think that wine was a status thing? Okay, it's expensive.
And it's used in the Bible, corn and wine and oil are often used as just symbols of wealth.
So I believe that part of what he's saying here when he says not given to wine, obviously, yeah, he doesn't want him to be drunk either.
But I think he's also just saying he's not given to all these rich delicacies because that's also what wine represents.
And think about every rich person is really into their wine cellar and drinking expensive wines and ordering expensive wines.
Wine is a wealth status thing, okay.
Go if you would to verse 8 in the same chapter, it says,
Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongued, again not given to much wine, and again not greedy of filthy lucre.
So the deacon should also not be one who is into money.
Go if you would to Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1, just a couple pages to the right in your Bible.
And look folks, this stuff's in the Bible for a reason.
I'm not just up here giving my opinion, I'm showing you these verses.
There's a reason why God brings this up many times in regard to pastors and many times just in regard to Christians in general.
This is a temptation that's out there. This is a major sin that's out there in this world.
And the love of money is the root of all evil according to 1 Timothy 6.
Look at Titus chapter 1 verse 7, this is again qualification for the pastor.
For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre.
What does it mean to be given to something?
You know, given to means that you have that propensity, you have that proclivity.
It means that you're the type of guy who leans that way.
You know, like the Bible says, hey, if you're a man that's given to appetite, you know, put a knife to thy throat.
What's he saying? He's talking about you're the kind of guy who, you know, that's something that you struggle with.
Or that's something that you would kind of be drawn to like a magnet.
Some sins are more of a temptation to us than others.
You know, there might be a sin that I really struggle with and for you it's nothing and you don't struggle with that and you would never do those things.
And then vice versa, you know, you might have a sin that you struggle with and I'm just looking at it like I would never do that.
That's not even a temptation for me.
But here's the thing, we all have sins that we struggle with.
It's just different people's sins are different.
Well, there are certain things though that are not compatible with being a pastor.
You know, and somebody whose propensity is toward being prideful and the love of money and being given to wine, given to filthy lucre, given to wine.
You know, this is not compatible with being a pastor.
Okay, not everyone's cut out to be a pastor and you could be a great Christian without being a pastor.
And we just want to be really careful that the pastor is not the kind of guy that is given the money.
Why not?
Well, let's see why.
Jump down to verse 10 and we'll find out why we don't want the pastor to be greedy of filthy lucre.
Why don't we want him to be covetous?
Why don't we want him to be given to wine?
Because the Bible says in verse 10,
And here is what we find the result of having a guy behind the pulpit who loves money, having a guy behind the pulpit who is covetous of gain, is that he will teach things that he ought not for filthy lucre's sake.
Because he's interested in getting paid more than preaching the truth.
And let me tell you something, when you preach the truth, a lot of people aren't going to like it.
Not everybody is just lined up to hear the truth.
That's why the preachers that are on TV and on the radio for the most part and the ones that are going to be featured in Barnes and Noble and the ones that are going to be featured in the Christian bookstores, you know, these guys are not preaching the truth.
They're preaching to be popular.
And the Bible says broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads them to life and few there be that find it.
So if the broad way leads to destruction, the broad way is what's glorified by this world.
The Bible says friendship with the world is enmity with God.
So you can't serve two masters.
You're either going to love the one and hate the other or else you're going to hold to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
And what is mammon?
Money.
You can't serve God and mammon.
But I'm supposed to believe that some multimillionaire preacher who's on Barnes and Noble's bookshelf and on the Christian bookstores bookshelf and he's on TV and the radio and everybody loves him and praises him.
I'm supposed to think that that's a righteous man of God?
It doesn't make any sense.
How could he be serving both God and mammon?
I know he's serving mammon because I can see that.
I don't even have to have x-ray spiritual vision to see that.
I just look at that.
Okay, well then that means he's not serving whom?
You know, the apostle Paul said, do I now persuade God or men?
Or do I seek to please men?
For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
You can't please God and men.
You can't serve God and mammon.
And so if you see somebody who's a man-pleasing mammon server take it to the bank, they're not serving or pleasing God.
This is not complicated, folks, but I'm telling you a lot of people don't get this.
But this is important that we understand that they will teach things which they ought not for filthy, ludicrous sake.
So we can't trust their teaching.
We shouldn't listen to them.
Because we know that there's this evil motivation in the background that could be tainting and corrupting their preaching.
Go to 1 Peter 5.
Not only do they teach things which they ought not for filthy, ludicrous sake, but you know what's even worse is the things that they don't teach.
You know, the problem with most pastors is not what they say, it's what they don't say.
Because they're afraid to say it because it's all about popularity, it's all about money.