28 THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty (Matt. 13:18-23).
The theocentric principle undergirding this passage is not immediately apparent. The fruitfulness of the soil determines the result of the sowing. The seed-sower -- God -- distributes the same seeds, but the results are different. This passage seems to minimize the work of the sower. But verse 22 provides a clue: "the deceitfulness of riches." The same Greek root word for deceitfulness is found in another passage that deals with Satan's work of deception. "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (II Thess. 2:7-12; emphasis added). God sends a strong delusion on those whom He hates in order that they might believe a lie. It is the same with the soils. God is sovereign in salvation, both as seed-sower and soil-maker.
Wealth and Autonomy Riches are here compared with thorns. The care of this world and riches overwhelm the man's faith in the word of God. This points back to the curse on Adam: "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field" (Gen. 3:18). The thorns are hindrances that thwart man's work. The work in question in the parable is the work of extending the kingdom of God in history. The measure of earthly success is wealth, yet wealth is what threatens the hearer's work. The cares of the world undermine his kingdom efforts. One such care is the amassing and care of riches. Great wealth requires great care to maintain it.
Riches are said to deceive men. What is it about riches that deceives men? Moses made this clear: the sin of autonomy. "And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth" (Deut. 8:17). The author of Proverbs wrote: "The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit" (Prov. 18:11). "Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain" (Prov. 30:8-9).
What is it about wealth that persuades men that they are autonomous? One aspect is the great range of alternatives open to men with wealth. In fact, wealth is best described in terms of this range of alternatives. We say that a person's wealth has increased in direct proportion to the increase over his previous range of choices. The man of great wealth is tempted to trust in his wealth because it seems to endow him with him a Godlike power of decision-making. This is a delusion. The range of choices open to any man is minuscule compared to what God can do. God is infinite; He can do whatever He chooses. The rich man is blinded by his wealth because it is his preferred means of comparison with other men, not with God.
Another aspect is the seeming impersonalism of wealth. Wealth is a tool of dominion. Tools appear to be impersonal. They are not, but they appear to be. Wealth extends a man's power and influence over others in a seemingly impersonal way. A tool is usually regarded as impersonal device that extends the personal decisions of its owner. Wealth is seen as existing independently, or only as an extension of the owner. This is a delusion. Wealth does not exist independent of the decisions of other men. Other men impute value to the rich man's capital or to the services that he sells that provide him with his wealth. If their opinions change, he can be reduced to poverty. The familiar example of the buggy whip industry is correct. When the automobile came, the buggy whip business was doomed, except among the Amish.
Men seek those forms of wealth that insulate them from the changing opinions of other men. They accumulate money because money is more constant in value than the opinions of their customers. It is the most marketable commodity. We are now back to the issue of the wide range of choice. But when an invading army comes, or plague comes, or famine comes, or some other disaster comes, money is of little or no value. The environment that made wealth what it was has changed.
To attribute to any aspect of the creation a power associated with God is to move from theonomy to autonomy. Men are tempted to attribute to wealth or power this kind of autonomy. But most men recognize the inherent danger of power. It calls forth others who wish to claim such power by whatever means. Power is too personal to be shared easily; it must either be monopolized or surrendered.(1) But wealth can be gained in many ways. Others can become wealthy without threatening the status of the wealthy man.(2) So, wealth is the more common means adopted in the quest for autonomy.
Riches vs. Fruitfulness The deceitfulness of riches leads to unfruitfulness. This is because men are tempted to focus on the temporal. Riches are a convenient means of assessing productivity. Because of the dominion covenant, men are inescapably confronted with the results of their own productivity in the task of subduing the earth. They seek to discover agreed-upon success indicators that will reveal their degree of success. In almost every society, money has been the most familiar success indicator, the one open to the widest audience. Unlike beauty or power or artistic creativity, wealth is open to a wide range of talents. In this sense, it is a more impersonal success indicator.
Because so many people acknowledge wealth as a measure of success, men are lured into pursuing it. Other men impute value to wealth as the measure of a man's life. It is easy to listen to the crowd and to evaluate one's own performance in relation to the economic success of others.
This is a snare and a delusion, Jesus taught. The crowd is wrong. What constitutes riches is right standing with God. "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:23-26).
Then what is fruitfulness? "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:22-23). Money does not buy these or empower these. The deceitfulness of wealth wars against these. Wealth is not inherently opposed to them, but the deceitfulness associated with it does undermine such fruitfulness.
The success indicators of spiritual maturity are not quantifiable. Wealth is. The lack of a quantifiable success indicator bothers most men. They want to "keep score" in life. They seek a numerical indicator. "He who dies with the most toys, wins" proclaims a popular American tee-shirt.
Did Jesus warn men not to use wealth as their success indicator, except perhaps as a negative indicator? If He did, then He broke with the Mosaic law's covenantal principle of inheritance. There is no doubt that wealth was a legitimate success indicator under the Mosaic law. "The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee" (Deut. 28:8). Wealth was a success indicator even before the Mosaic law. "And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold" (Gen. 13:2). The loss of wealth was seen as a curse. "Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways" (Hag. 1:6-7). Consider your ways, God told them. The disparity between their input (sown much) and their output (bring in little) was a lack-of-success indicator. It was to motivate them to spiritual introspection. There was a relationship between covenantal faithfulness and economic success. Did Jesus deny this relationship? If He did, then the New Covenant represents a sharp discontinuity with the Old Covenant, for the visible sanctions have changed.
The Exchange Rate: Temporal Wealth vs. Eternal Wealth The text does not say that riches lead men astray; their deception does. Man is easily deceived by riches, as we have seen. Riches are temporal; so, they focus man's attention on the temporal. The time-bound nature of riches is a snare and a delusion. Jesus kept teaching about the rate of exchange between earthly wealth and eternal wealth. He kept saying that the rate of exchange is low, but men -- especially rich men -- think it is high. Why lay up treasure on earth, Jesus asked, where thieves break in? Is this not foolish? But the rich man cannot see the foolishness. Why? Because he refuses to see that he is as temporal as his wealth. They both dissipate -- he more certainly than his wealth. But he turns a blind eye to his mortality. Even an old man thinks he has at least five years left to live.
Declining Marginal Utility
Economics teaches that as a person accumulates units of one asset, each additional unit is worth less to him than the previous unit. This is the law of decreasing marginal utility. It leads to the statement, "enough is enough." So, a rich man should be progressively willing to surrender ownership of a unit of this asset to gain a unit of an asset that he does not own: eternal wealth. But there is an assumption behind the law of diminishing marginal utility: the person's tastes do not change. If there is an addictive aspect of the item, then the law of diminishing marginal utility applies differently. The enjoyment produced by each unit declines, as economic theory says it must, but demand nevertheless increases. To get the same thrill as before, the user must consume more of the drug per dose. To avoid painful withdrawal symptoms, the addict must consume more doses per unit of time. More and more units of the drug are demanded by the addict. Jesus' description of the deceitfulness of riches and the inability of the rich man to enter heaven implies that earthly wealth is addictive.
If temporal wealth were not addictive, then, in the eyes of a rich man, the exchange rate between earthly wealth and eternal wealth would shift in favor of eternal wealth. As a man accumulates more temporal wealth, he should find the value of each additional unit worth less to him. Eternal wealth would look more appealing to him. He would be willing to exchange some of his earthly wealth for a greater supply of eternal wealth. But this is rarely the case, Jesus taught. This points to earthly wealth as addictive.
Yet the same can be true of the accumulation of eternal wealth. It, too, can become addictive, but not for many people. Still, the idea has had a fascination for Americans. In 1933, in the worst economic phase of the Great Depression, a 1929 novel by Rev. Lloyd C. Douglas became a best-seller, Magnificent Obsession. The title reveals the theme: giving away wealth for God's kingdom becomes an obsession. As a few men learn this lifelong discipline, they prosper. It was made into a popular movie in 1935 and again in 1954.(3) But most people find the suggestion hard to implement, especially rich men.
Radical Change
There is another explanation for the rich man's resistance: the non-marginal nature of the exchange. Eternal life is not sold for temporal wealth, unit by unit. It is given away as a package deal through special grace: definitive sanctification. This package is supposed to be filled over time by progressive santification. Marginal exchange is the meaning of this verse: "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal" (Matt. 6:20). Laying up treasures is not a one-time event. It is a lifetime process of exchange, unit by unit, good work by good work. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10). These exchanges begin only after legal access to the eternal treasury is transferred to the recipient.
Prior to receiving grace, the poor man is more likely than the rich man to think, "If this life is all there is, then I will consider eternal life." The rich man thinks, "This life is good for me. I cannot be sure about eternal life. If I must sacrifice this life for that life, I shall stick with what I know and have come to depend on." Riches focus a rich man's attention and hope on the temporal, where he is successful. He will not readily believe that portions of his temporal wealth can be exchanged for eternal wealth. If he does believe this prior to special grace, he is deceived once again: works religion. He cannot open an account at heaven's treasury on his own signature. Regeneration is the radical change that must precede the exchange process.
The price of radical change is lower for the poor man. He is not giving up much. The price of radical change is higher for the rich man. He surrenders much: his would-be autonomy. Radical decisions are rare. Most decisions are made at the margin: surrendering a little of this to get a little of that.
Jesus indicates here that the required change is radical: surrendering faith in this world's ability to offer eternal bliss. You cannot buy your way into eternal life. So, it is not that the rich man is asked to give up his wealth that alienates him. He is asked only to tithe, just as the poor man is asked. But he is asked to surrender faith in his riches as a gateway to eternity. This is the great stumbling block of the gospel for the rich man: he cannot buy his way in. It is not much a stumbling block to the poor man, unless he is poor because of some addictive sin. The rich man is asked to see his riches as God's gift, which God may remove at any time, just as He removed Job's wealth. Job proclaimed, in the midst of his new-found poverty, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). The rich man is asked to proclaim this testimony in the midst of his treasure. Few do.
Men generally see their success as well-deserved.(4) They see any set-backs as deviations from justice. The poor man who comes to grips emotionally with his poverty can look forward to a better world after death. He is told by God that his poverty is part of God's plan for him in this world. His poverty is no longer a curse or an injustice; it is merely an environment -- even a predestined environment. He can mentally surrender faith in this world. But the rich man will not readily see his wealth as merely as a God-imposed environment. He sees his wealth as his legitimate reward for his own meritorious behavior, or at least his shrewd behavior. He is asked by God to turn loose of his positive, autonomous self-image, which is the product of the deceitfulness of riches. He refuses. His wealth reinforces -- validates -- his positive self-image. The gospel unquestionably removes this validation. He sees his wealth as a kingdom-building tool for his little kingdom. God says that his wealth is a kingdom-building tool for God's kingdom. The rich man sees his wealth as his tool. God says that both he and his wealth are God's tools. For a believer in autonomy, this is a bitter pill.
Inheritance The issue of wealth is the issue of inheritance.(5) Jesus told a parable of a rich man who dreamed of building new barns. "And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12:16-21). His dream of new barns was legitimate. What was illegitimate was his thought that the barns would be his. He did not recognize his own mortality. He did not think about inheritance. He did not ask himself the question: "Whose shall those assets be?"
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). Those who are meek before God will inherit.(6) The rich man is deceived into believing that the might of his hand has gotten him his wealth. This was as true under the Mosaic Covenant as under the New Covenant. Jesus warned them that the success indicator of expanding wealth is not a legitimate substitute for being rich toward God.
But how can a person be rich toward God? Through worship. This was Haggai's warning to Israel. They had not built God's house of worship. "Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands" (Hag. 1:8-11).
The open purse will be filled. The closed purse will be emptied. The open purse is open at the top, where its owner can reach in and pull out money to give at his discretion. The closed purse has a hole in the bottom. Its owner has no discretion as to what happens to the contents. The authority of a man over a full purse is based on his submission to God. This was as true in Haggai's day as in Christ's.
The inheritance that Christ spoke of is the whole earth. What greater accumulation of wealth could there be? It is accumulated by His people. How? By their wisdom, faithfulness, and generosity. By their efficiency, too. Honest wealth is the result of serving others, namely, consumers. He who does not waste resources can serve consumers better. Over time, this wealth builds up as His people extend the kingdom of God in history. This is the fulfillment of the dominion covenant.
Christ was warning His followers not to make the same mistake that those of Haggai's generation made: the mistake of the tight purse. We are to be rich toward God. This is the basis of wealth accumulation under the New Covenant, just as it was under the Old. There is no discontinuity. The sanctions are the same. The law is the same. The sin is the same: autonomy.
Conclusion The deceitfulness of riches chokes the word. What word? The word of God. The passage in Mark adds lusts. "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful" (Mark 4:19). The lusts that riches can temporarily fulfill blind men to the word of God.
The top priority here is to deal with riches in such a way as to avoid the great deception: autonomy. This was what Moses warned Israel; this is what Jesus also warned Israel. This warning is universal. Riches are either a covenantal blessing or a prelude to a covenantal curse. The man who dreamed of building barns was under a curse. He was a fool. He was building them for himself. He forgot about his own mortality. Mortals cannot enjoy the experience of wealth accumulation indefinitely. Either their time runs out or their wealth does. Jesus warned every rich man of the deception of riches: the presumption of immortality and autonomy. The rich man's wealth makes him feel autonomous and therefore divine. But men die, unlike God. The man with the barn-building plans forgot this.
To be rich with God is not to dissipate one's wealth. It is to sew up the hole in the bottom of one's purse. Accounts receivable continue to exceed accounts paid. It is also to accumulate wealth in the world beyond the grave. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal" (Matt. 6:19-20). This investment program restores the lost continuity that mortality imposes. We inherit beyond the grave. By giving up the lust for autonomy in history, we can become our own heirs in eternity. We leave an inheritance behind, yet we immediately collect it in heaven. We can have our cake and eat it, too. He who succumbs to the deceitfulness of riches either consumes his cake before he dies or leaves it behind for others to enjoy. In either case, he is left without cake.
Footnotes:
1. In bureaucracy, power is divided up more finely and made less dependent on anyone's personal attributes. Bureaucratic power can be allocated widely. But it is circumscribed by rules. Bureaucracy is the common man's way to power.
2. If many people become wealthy, this can threaten his status. Some goods are positional goods. They are valuable only because they are in short supply. If mass production makes them widely available, they lose their status-giving power. This is one reason why free market capitalism is hated by members of groups that have attained their social status in a pre-capitalistic economy, where wealth is not widely shared.
3. Douglas was a theological liberal. He was the minister of the large and influential First Congregational Church of Los Angeles in the late 1920's. He wrote the book in an emotional depression, when the church's leaders were discussing his dismissal. He resigned, finished the book, then wrote a dozen more, several of which became best-sellers and movies. The most famous was The Robe (1942), which became the first movie in Cinemascope (1953), the wide-screen technology.
4. Where they do not, they may be eaten up with guilt.
5. Gary North, Inheritance and Dominion: An Economic Commentary on Deuteronomy (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1999).
6. Chapter 4, above.
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