I have a friend who is a Pentecostal pastor. Once when we were having coffee I was giving him a hard time about the title of Brian Houston’s book, You Need More Money. What an outrage, I said, how could this guy be serious!
So he asked me about the big issues in our church. I replied that I would really like to add a youth worker to our team.
“Well, why don’t you?” he asked. I said we couldn’t afford it.
“Oh, so you need more money!”
Perhaps it’s an obvious joke, and maybe all it proves is that I was too dopey to see it coming. But maybe it also shows that getting the balance right on the issue of money is not all that easy.
Brian Rosner’s book Beyond Greed seeks to challenge Christian belief and behaviour on money. He argues that we have been blinded to the issue of greed.
As modern western Christians we have bought into materialism so totally that we have lost touch with the Bible’s teaching on greed and contentment. In fact we have lost sight of greed as idolatry, and therefore minimised the impact of the Bible’s teaching on greed.
A welcome challenge to our thinking, it’s worth reading because it’s helpful and challenging to our own attitudes to money.
It would be great to read as a home group and discuss the issues raised. It also includes ‘bonus chapters’ taken from articles previously published in The Briefing, which would be great discussion starters.
Of course, Rosner is writing in a context that is controversial. Hillsong’s Brian Houston and others are accused of having a ‘prosperity theology’, which promises, in crass and simplistic ways, that it is the will of God that we should be financially rich.
The problem with these kinds of theological debates is that they tend to polarise people. Heresy is doubly damaging because it not only teaches the wrong thing, but also forces those who defend the truth to overstate their case.
A lot of heresy is not just saying things that are not true, but also over-emphasising things which are true.
After reading this book, it’s worth addressing these questions. Does God bless people? Does he do so in material ways? Does God only bless in ‘spiritual’ ways?
Should I feel guilty if I happen to be good at business? If I work hard and smart, and generate substantial amounts of capital, have I committed the sin of greed? Is it possible to be rich and generous? Does God materially bless those who materially bless others? Or is he just the ruler of the spiritual world alone, and not the ruler of the material world?
Getting the balance right is hard. Beyond Greed is a good place to start.
The Rev Edward Vaughan is senior minister at Darling Street Anglican Church.
