Money, Success, and the Kingdom - What Jesus Really Said About Wealth
Does God want you to be rich? Is money evil? Neither. Jesus said something far deeper about wealth than you think.
There’s a certain type of preacher making the rounds online. A suit worth tens of thousands. A private jet. A mansion with a pool. And the message: “God wants you to be rich. Just believe - and sow. Preferably into my account.”
On the other end is another type of preacher. Austere, ascetic. And his message: “Money is evil. Wealth is sin. A true Christian should be poor.”
Both types share one thing - neither says what the Bible says.
Because the Bible says neither “be rich” nor “be poor.” It says something far more difficult, far more demanding, and far more liberating. And that’s exactly what I want to show you today.
”Money Is the Root of All Evil” - A Quote That Doesn’t Exist in the Bible
Let’s start with the most misquoted verse in Christian history. Millions of people - believers and non-believers alike - are convinced the Bible says: “Money is the root of all evil.”
It doesn’t.
For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
- 1 Tim 6:10 (ESV)
See the difference? Not money - the love of money. Not having - eagerness. It’s a fundamental distinction. Like the difference between a kitchen knife and a murder. A knife is a tool. What you do with it is up to you.
Money is a tool. You can feed the hungry or hire a hitman. You can build a hospital or fund human trafficking. The problem was never the money. The problem was always the heart of the person holding it.
The Bible’s Wealthy People - A Surprising List
If money is inherently evil, then God has a serious consistency problem. Because look at who God blessed with wealth:
Abraham - father of the faith, the most powerful patriarch - was “very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold” (Genesis 13:2). God Himself made him rich.
Solomon - asked for wisdom, got wealth as a bonus. “I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor” (1 Kings 3:13).
Job - “the greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1:3). Even before his trial, he was immensely wealthy - seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen. And God Himself blessed him so. Then after Job lost everything and persevered in faith, God restored it double. If wealth were sin, why would God reward the man called “blameless and upright” - both before and after his trial?
Joseph of Arimathea - a wealthy man who gave his own tomb to Jesus. His wealth served God’s plan in the most literal way possible (Matthew 27:57-60).
Women supporting Jesus - Luke names wealthy women by name who “provided for them out of their resources” (Luke 8:3). Jesus’s ministry was literally funded by the wealth of believing women.
If wealth is evil, then God repeatedly “tempted” His favorite people. That’s absurd.
The Rich Young Ruler - A Story We Misunderstand
Now let’s turn to the passage that seems to contradict everything I just wrote.
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good - except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
- Mark 10:17-22 (ESV)
Most people read this story as: “Jesus told him to give up money because money is evil.” But that’s the wrong reading. Read more carefully.
Jesus “looked at him and loved him.” This wasn’t anger at wealth. It was love for someone who genuinely sought perfection.
Notice the context. This young man didn’t stroll over casually. He ran. He fell on his knees. He asked with passion. And when Jesus listed the commandments, he answered honestly: “All these I have kept since I was a boy.” And he wasn’t lying - Jesus didn’t contradict him.
This wasn’t a hypocrite. This was an overzealous, fervent young man who wanted to be truly perfect. And Jesus sensed it. Matthew records this passage with a crucial addition not found in Mark:
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
- Matt 19:21 (ESV)
“If you want to be perfect.” This is not a universal command for every believer. It’s a response to one specific man’s specific ambition. The young man wanted to go all in - Jesus said: “Fine, then go all in. But all in means there can be nothing you hold tighter than Me.”
Jesus didn’t criticize him. He didn’t say: “Your wealth is evil.” He looked at him with love and threw him a challenge worthy of his own ambitions. The young man wanted to be perfect - Jesus showed him what perfection actually costs.
And that’s where it all fell apart. The young man was willing to keep every commandment, pray, fast, tithe - but this one thing he couldn’t let go of. His wealth turned out to be the only thing he wasn’t willing to surrender to God. Not a tool, but an idol - the thing he held tighter than God Himself.
Jesus attacked the idol, not the money.
And then Jesus says the famous words:
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
- Mark 10:23-25 (ESV)
“Hard” - not “impossible.” Jesus doesn’t say the rich can’t be saved. He says it’s harder for them. Why? Because wealth creates an illusion of self-sufficiency. When you have everything, it’s easier to forget you need God. When you can buy every comfort, it’s harder to understand that there’s something money can’t buy.
And there’s something deeper still. The things of this world - the villa, the car, the vacations, the next investment - start to obscure God. Not because they’re evil in themselves. But because they occupy the space, time, and attention that should belong to your relationship with Him. When your calendar is packed with business meetings and prayer gets five minutes before sleep. When your mind is constantly calculating, budgeting, and planning the next purchase - it’s hard to hear God’s quiet voice. Wealth doesn’t have to be a wall between you and God - but it very easily becomes one.
And immediately after, He adds the crucial sentence that’s rarely quoted:
The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
- Mark 10:26-27 (ESV)
With God all things are possible. Including the salvation of the rich. As long as wealth isn’t their god.
Because here’s the truth: wealth in the hands of a righteous person can bring enormous good - to themselves and to the whole world. It can build hospitals, feed the hungry, support missions, provide jobs. Abraham was wealthy and became a blessing to nations. But that same wealth in the hands of someone who’s lost their compass can destroy them - addict them to luxury, cut them off from people, lock them in a golden cage of loneliness and pride. It’s like fire - it can warm a home or burn it to the ground. Everything depends on who controls it.
”You Cannot Serve Both God and Money”
Here is Jesus’s central statement about money. And it’s ruthless in its simplicity:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
- Matt 6:24 (ESV)
Jesus doesn’t say “you can’t have money and serve God.” He says “you can’t serve money and God at the same time.”
Having money and serving it are two entirely different things. You can have a million in your account and serve God. You can have a hundred dollars and serve Mammon. The amount is irrelevant. What matters is who is your master.
How do you check? Ask yourself a few questions:
- If you lost everything financially tomorrow - would your faith survive?
- Does your generosity grow with your income - or shrink?
- Do you make life decisions based on what God wants - or what pays better?
- Can you give something that costs you - or do you only give from surplus?
If these questions unsettle you - maybe Mammon has more power in your life than you think.
Prosperity Gospel - A Gospel That Isn’t One
Time to address the elephant in the room. The so-called prosperity gospel is one of the most destructive heresies in modern Christianity.
Its message is simple and enticing: God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and happy. If you’re not - you don’t have enough faith. Or you’re not “sowing” enough (meaning you’re not depositing enough into the pastor’s account).
This is not the gospel. It’s a lie in biblical packaging.
…constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
- 1 Tim 6:5 (ESV)
Paul describes these teachers directly: they “think that godliness is a means to financial gain.” Godliness as investment. Faith as financial strategy. Prayer as a money machine.
And Jesus? What did Jesus promise His followers?
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
- John 16:33 (ESV)
He didn’t promise prosperity. He promised trouble. And peace - but not the world’s kind. Inner peace, in the middle of the storm.
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
- Matt 8:20 (ESV)
Jesus Himself - the Son of God, Creator of the universe - had nowhere to sleep. No house, no bank account, no assets. He died naked, without any possessions. And He’s our model.
Does that mean we should be homeless? No. But it means that material success is not the measure of God’s blessing. If it were - Jesus would be the biggest loser in history.
Life with God is not a straight line upward. Sometimes God will bless you and you’ll have abundance - like Solomon, like Abraham. But sometimes hard times will come. That’s what happened to the apostles - Paul wrote his letters from prison, Peter was persecuted, the first Christians lost homes and families for their faith. Did God abandon them? No. Did they understand at the time why they were suffering? Often not.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
- Rom 8:28 (ESV)
“In all things” - not just in good times. Also in the hard, confusing, painful ones. Paul was writing these words in chains. And yet he knew that God works. We don’t always see it in the moment of trial. But often later - months, years down the road - it turns out that the difficult season was necessary. That God was building something through it, teaching something, leading somewhere. Prosperity is not proof of God’s love. And poverty is not proof of God’s anger. God is with you in both.
What Jesus Actually Said About Work and Success
The prosperity gospel is one extreme distortion. But there’s another - a false spirituality that considers ambition sinful and work inferior to prayer.
Meanwhile, the Bible has a surprisingly positive view of work and productivity.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
- Col 3:23-24 (ESV)
“Whatever you do” - not just prayer. Not just church ministry. Whatever. Your job, your business, your projects. “Work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” Your work - if it’s honest - is a form of serving God.
The Parable of the Talents
It will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
- Matt 25:14-18 (ESV)
What happened when the master returned? The first two servants heard: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21). And the third?
His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.”
- Matt 25:26-28 (ESV)
“Wicked, lazy.” Not for doing something wrong. For doing nothing. For burying his potential in the ground. For choosing passivity out of fear of risk.
God doesn’t want you to bury your talents - literally or figuratively. He wants you to multiply them. To work, create, build. Not for yourself - but “as working for the Lord.”
Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.
- Prov 10:4 (ESV)
If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
- 2 Thess 3:10 (ESV)
The Bible doesn’t glorify laziness camouflaged as spirituality. It doesn’t say “pray and wait for God to drop money from heaven.” It says: work honestly, work diligently, work as for God.
Generosity - The True Test of the Heart
Since money isn’t evil and work is good - what separates the Christian approach to wealth from plain capitalism?
One word: generosity.
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
- Acts 20:35 (ESV)
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” This sentence flips the entire logic of the world upside down. The world says: acquire, accumulate, secure. Jesus says: give.
And this isn’t an idealistic postulate detached from reality. It’s a description of spiritual reality. Anyone who has ever given something that cost them knows this is true. That giving produces a joy that buying never can.
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
- Luke 6:38 (ESV)
Note - this is not prosperity gospel. Jesus isn’t saying “give $100 and get $1,000 back.” He’s talking about a spiritual principle: generosity opens the heart to blessing. Not as a transaction, but as an attitude. A generous person lives in a different reality than a greedy one - even if their bank accounts are identical.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
- 2 Cor 9:6-7 (ESV)
“God loves a cheerful giver.” Not a giver who gives under pressure. Not a giver who gives to show off. A cheerful giver - one who gives because they want to, because they understand that everything they have belongs to God anyway.
Zacchaeus - A Model of Wallet Conversion
There’s a story in the Gospels that perfectly illustrates what a healthy relationship with money looks like after encountering Jesus.
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
- Luke 19:1-8 (ESV)
Notice: Jesus didn’t tell Zacchaeus to “sell everything.” Zacchaeus himself, spontaneously, out of the joy of meeting Jesus - gave half his wealth to the poor and repaid his frauds fourfold.
Jesus didn’t take everything from him. Zacchaeus remained wealthy - but his wealth changed its purpose. It stopped serving him. It started serving others.
And what did Jesus say?
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.”
- Luke 19:9 (ESV)
Salvation - not poverty. Salvation didn’t require getting rid of everything. It required a change of heart. And a change of heart naturally changed his relationship with money.
Worry About Tomorrow - The Trap of Success
Jesus knew that money has the power not only to tempt with greed, but also to generate anxiety. Fear of loss. Fear of scarcity. Obsessive planning and securing.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
- Matt 6:25-27 (ESV)
“Do not worry.” He doesn’t say: don’t plan. He doesn’t say: don’t work. He says: don’t let anxiety about material security devour your life.
Because that’s precisely the trap of success. You start working to survive. Then you work to have more. Then you work so you don’t lose what you have. And you wake up at three in the morning terrified of losing something - even though you have more than 99% of humans in history.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
- Matt 6:33 (ESV)
“First” - that’s the key word. Not “only.” Not “exclusively.” First. God isn’t saying to ignore your material needs. He’s saying to set your priorities. Kingdom first - then the rest. And if you set the priorities right, “the rest” will work itself out.
If you struggle with anxiety about the future - financial or otherwise - read how to overcome fear and anxiety according to the Bible. You’ll find practical tools for fighting worry.
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus - A Warning
Jesus told one of the sharpest parables in the Gospels. And it’s precisely about the relationship between wealth and eternity.
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.” But Abraham replied, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.”
- Luke 16:19-25 (ESV)
The rich man’s sin wasn’t being rich. Abraham, who now “hosts” him in this parable, was himself very wealthy. The rich man’s sin was that he lived alongside suffering and did nothing about it. Lazarus lay literally at his gate - and he “lived in luxury every day.”
This is the most dangerous sin of wealth. Not greed in the sense of accumulating. But indifference. Becoming numb to others’ needs because your own needs are already met. Closing yourself in a bubble of comfort where others’ suffering doesn’t reach you.
The Biblical Principle of Stewardship - You’re Not the Owner
Here’s the fundamental shift in perspective that resolves the entire problem of money and success.
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
- Psalm 24:1 (ESV)
Everything belongs to God. Everything. Your house, your car, your savings, your investments. You’re not the owner - you’re the steward. You manage God’s property. And one day you’ll give an account of it.
This perspective changes everything. An owner asks: “How can I multiply my wealth?” A steward asks: “How does the Lord want me to use what He entrusted to me?”
An owner holds on tightly. A steward holds with an open hand. An owner panics when losing. A steward says: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away” - like Job, whom I wrote about in the article on his heroism.
But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
- 1 Chr 29:14 (ESV)
David - one of the wealthiest people in Israel’s history - says: “We have given you only what comes from your hand.” Even our giving is giving back what never belonged to us in the first place.
What Does This Mean Practically?
Theory is beautiful. But what about practice? What specifically does the Bible say about how a Christian should approach money?
1. Work honestly and diligently.
Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
- Eph 4:28 (ESV)
The purpose of work? Not just self-support - but “sharing with those in need.” You don’t work just for yourself. You work so you have something to give.
2. Don’t hoard obsessively.
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
- Luke 12:15 (ESV)
3. Be generous - especially to those who can’t repay you.
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
- Luke 14:13-14 (ESV)
4. Pay your taxes and give what’s due.
Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
- Rom 13:7 (ESV)
5. Don’t rely on wealth - rely on God.
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
- 1 Tim 6:17-19 (ESV)
Notice: Paul doesn’t tell the rich to “stop being rich.” He says: don’t be arrogant. Don’t put your hope in wealth. Be generous. Be rich in good deeds. Use wealth well - rather than abandoning it.
True Success
The world measures success by money, status, power, fame. Jesus measures it entirely differently.
You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
- Mark 10:42-45 (ESV)
“Whoever wants to be great must be a servant.” That’s Jesus’s definition of success. Not how much you earned, but how much you gave. Not how many people serve you, but how many people you serve. Not how high you climbed the ladder, but how many people you helped climb.
What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
- Matt 16:26 (ESV)
“Gain the whole world.” Imagine you have everything - every dollar, every property, every company on the planet. Everything. And then you die. And you stand before God. And you hear: “I never knew you.”
What good is the whole world then?
Conclusion
Money is neither good nor evil. It’s a tool. A hammer can build a house or crack a skull - it depends on the hand that holds it.
Success is not a sin. But success measured solely by your bank balance is an idol. And God smashes idols.
The Bible doesn’t say “be poor.” It says: be free. Free from greed. Free from anxiety about tomorrow. Free from the illusion that money can give you what only God can - meaning, peace, and eternal life.
Work diligently. Earn honestly. Give generously. Hold with an open hand. And remember who the true owner is of everything you have.
Because in the end, you won’t be asked how much you earned. You’ll be asked what you did with what was entrusted to you.