In Chapter 4 of Mark we find one of the best-known parables in the Bible - the parable of the sower. I actually think a more accurate title would be "The Parable of the Soils," because in it Jesus describes four possible conditions of the human heart in terms of its receptivity to the seed of God's Word.
Right in the middle of Jesus' interpretation of this parable, we discover a doorway to deception: "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mark 4:19).
All too many times the phrase the deceitfulness of riches is interpreted to mean "riches are deceitful," and so it has been widely taught that we should avoid riches. Now, there is a clear warning for us in this verse, to be sure. Jesus warns us that the very prosperity God desires for us can open us to the potential for deception. As it says in Proverbs, "The prosperity of fools shall destroy them" (Prov. 1:32). But this is a gross misunderstanding of the truth Jesus is presenting here.
Throughout the Word, we see that God wants us to experience abundance. In fact, you can't be effective at what God has called you to do unless you prosper and increase in the kingdom of God. So the key to not being destroyed by prosperity is to not be a fool!
It is vital that you understand how the deception of "riches" might manifest. If you are forewarned, then Satan can't draw you down that path. So I want to show you three different ways Satan tries to deceive people with money, depending on their economic condition.
The Desire To Be Rich
The first deception I will deal with tends to work on those who don't have enough or who perhaps are barely making ends meet. First Timothy 6:9-10 describes this deception:
"Those who desire [crave] to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
The word love is the operative term in this passage. It is translated from the Greek word agape, which I would paraphrase to mean "a love that prompts you to give of yourself." So, in other words, this passage means that to give yourself to the pursuit of money or the things money can buy opens you to every form of evil.
Once that happens, you have strayed from the faith, or become deceived, and you will ultimately "pierce yourself through with many sorrows." The passage goes on to talk about "those who desire to be rich." The potential deception is in developing a hunger for money in the belief that if you just had enough of it, you would be happy, fulfilled and content.
What drives a hunger for money and deceives people into pursuing what money can buy is the belief that more money will bring relief from their present circumstances.
This is a lie from Satan. He wants you to think that everything would be all right if you just had a little more money. Money is morally neutral. It is neither good nor evil. The Bible merely says that the love of money is a root of all evil, not money itself.
If you will live a godly life, base your life on obedience to the Word and be content, God can lift you out of the place of financial insufficiency. Let me summarize this by saying that faith is rest. If you are truly in faith, God will bring increase to your life because it is His promise to you. And then you can rest where you are and be undisturbed, satisfied and content, knowing that where you're at now is just temporary.
Contentment is an indicator that you are in faith. Conversely, if you are not content, then you may not be in faith.
The Power of My Hand
The second kind of deception associated with riches comes into play as you begin to prosper. As increase begins in your life, you must be on guard against being satisfied by riches instead of by God. We find a relevant warning about the deception that can come with having riches in Deuteronomy. It begins with a description of increasing prosperity:
Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear [reverence] him. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou may dig brass.Don't ever let anyone tell you that God doesn't want you wealthy. If He didn't want you to have wealth, then He wouldn't have given you the power to acquire it: "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day" (Deut. 8:18).
When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee (Deut. 8:6-10).
Every ability, talent, skill and spiritual gift you possess was given to you by God to enable you to "establish His covenant." This verse makes it clear that getting wealth is instrumental in doing that.
Saying "Thank You, Lord" every now and then isn't enough. There is a scriptural way we are to remember, and it is the preventative medicine for this kind of deception.
You see it in Deuteronomy 26:1-2: "And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possesses it, and dwellest therein; that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth... and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name there."
God is telling you to take your first fruits - or in other words, your tithe - to the local church to which He has assigned you. The tithe is to be your supernatural point of remembrance of all that God has done in your life so you don't begin to take credit for the increase that comes.
Don't just drop your tithe in the bucket. Make it a touch-point of remembrance and say, "God, I thank You for all the good things You did for me last week, last month and last year. I praise You for the faithfulness You have demonstrated in my life."
Make your tithe a consistent, personal reminder that God, not your own cleverness or strength, is the source of your blessings. Do this and you will close the door to this form of deception.
Trusting in Uncertain Riches
To discover the third way Satan deceives people with money, we need to go back to 1 Timothy 6:17: "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
Just as riches present one type of deceitfulness to the person who is struggling financially and a different type to the person who is experiencing increase, there is another type of trap for those who are already rich."
The first thing you need to be watchful for if you fall into this category is, when you become successful, arrogance and pride creeping in your life. Before you conclude that this doesn't apply to you because you don't consider yourself rich, let me define the word rich in this verse. In the Greek, it simply means "having an excess beyond need," with no particular amount of excess specified.
Whether it is a million dollars or one dollar, if you have discretionary income - which is anything beyond your need - the Bible defines you as rich. The deception you need to resist when you are rich in this world is trusting in money rather than in God. But people don't like to admit they have begun trusting in money more than their heavenly Father.
That is why this deception is so easy to slip into. Beware of the tendency to stop trusting God to meet your needs when you have excess.
The remedy for being high-minded and placing your trust in uncertain riches is to be generous to the point of giving all if necessary. Just realize that God doesn't measure generosity by the amount you give but rather by the percentage you give.
Jesus said the poor widow with the two mites gave more than the rest because she gave all that she had (Matt. 12:41-44). You may not have much to give right now, but that is all right. Just be generous with what you do have.
According to this perspective, you are not working for a living; you are working for a giving. You are not to labor merely so you can retire early, buy a big house on the lake and lie around in a hammock. And in fact, God isn't necessarily against those things. In fact, He wants you to have them. But your motive for working is not to be the acquisition of things.
Your greatest happiness, your greatest blessings, and your greatest fulfillment will come when you do what you do with the intent to be a blessing to others. You are to labor in this life so that, after you pay your tithe and meet your family's needs, you will have something left over that God can use to meet someone else's need.
Since mankind's most basic need is to be reconciled to God, the main focus of your life's effort needs to be to get Jesus preached to the unsaved and the Word of God to other believers so they can mature in it. When you have this mind-set - that all of your resources belong to God and you will do with them as He directs you - then Satan will no longer be able to deceive you with riches.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Mac Hammond is the senior pastor of Living Word, a large and growing church in Brooklyn Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), Minnesota. He is the host of the Winner’s Minute, which is seen locally in the Minneapolis area on KMSP Channel 9 at 6:44 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. He is also the host of the Winner's Way broadcast and author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
