The Midas Trap
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The document explores the futility of seeking satisfaction and security through wealth, citing various historical and biblical figures to illustrate how the love of money can lead to dissatisfaction and moral decay. It emphasizes the importance of valuing spiritual treasures over material possessions, and warns against serving both God and money. Key scriptures are referenced to reinforce the message that true contentment comes from a focus on eternal values rather than earthly gains.
The Midas Trap
- 2. The fable of King Midas
- 3. “The Devil and Tom Walker” George Elliot 1819-1880 Washington Irving 1783-1859 “Silas Marner” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749-1832 “Faust”
- 4. Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-24) 18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” 24 Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”
- 5. 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- 6. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
- 7. 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
- 8. A. Belief Money will satisfy us That's about $10,000 a minute, assuming he plays 30 minutes per game. As "king of product endorsements" he was making about $40 million a year. He made $178,100 a day, working or not. Assuming 7 hours of sleep a night, he made $52,000 every night! Even at his peak, Michael Jordan would have to save 100% of his income for 270 years just to have $1 Michael Jordan made >$300,000 a game.
- 9. A. Belief Money will satisfy us Bill Gates net worth: $87.2 billion as of July, 2017
- 10. A. Belief Money will satisfy us Howard Hughes: Lived a joyless, half-lunatic life. Fled from one resort hotel to another-- from Las Vegas to Nicaragua to Acapulco. Acted progressively odder as he grew older. Had a straggly beard that hung down to his waist and hair that reached down to the middle of his back. His fingernails were two inches long. He had toenails that hadn't been trimmed in so long they resembled corkscrews.
- 11. A. Belief Money will satisfy us “Those who live for money spend the first half of their lives getting all they can from everybody else and the last half trying to keep everybody else from getting what they have away from them, and they find no pleasure in either half.” William Jennings Bryan
- 12. A. Belief Money will satisfy us Ecclesiastes 5:10 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. Matthew 13:22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
- 13. A. Belief Money will satisfy us “Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of it filling a vacuum, it makes one. If it satisfies one want, it doubles and triples that want another way.” Ben Franklin
- 14. 1 Timothy 6:6–10 6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 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.
- 15. B. Belief Money will secure us 1. Exhortation regarding money (19-24) Two treasuries (19-21) Two perspectives (22-23) Two masters (24) 2. Exhortation regarding anxiety (25-34) Therefore, be not anxious (25) And why are you anxious? (28) Therefore, be not anxious (31) Therefore, be not anxious (34) PrayerorProzac? Exhortationonmoneyandanxiety followsJesus’exhortationonprayer Luxuries Necessities
- 16. Achan – brought death to himself, his family and dozens of men in battle due to his lust for money and possessions (Josh. 7). Balaam – tried to curse God's people for a fee from Balak (Num. 22:4-35). Delilah – betrayed Samson to the Philistines for a money (Judg. 16). Solomon – disobeyed God’s prohibition concerning the accumulation of large amounts of horses, gold, silver, and wives lust for more and more wealth (Deut. 17:16-17).
- 17. Gehazi lied to Naaman and then to Elisha in order to gain wealth for which he was afflicted with leprosy (11 Kgs. 5:20-27). Ananias and Sapphira withheld money they said was given to the Lord and were struck dead for it (Acts 5:1-11). Judas, in the ultimate act of materialistic treachery, asked the chief priests, "What are you willing to give me it I hand Him over to you?" then betrayed the Son of God for 30 pieces of silver (Mt. 26:14-16, 47-50; 27:3-10).
- 18. As lust is to adultery (Matthew 5:28) As hate is to murder (1 John 3:15) So greed is to idolatry (Colossians 3:5) First and last of ten commandments warn against idolatry and covetousness.
- 19. A. Two Treasures 1. On earth Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; Moths destroy fabric. Rust destroys “precious metals.” Thieves steal anything of earthly value.
- 20. When she died in 1962, Marilyn had an estate valued at $1.6 million. She gave most of it to her acting coach, Lee Strasberg, and another large portion to Dr. Marianne Kris, her psychoanalyst. She also left a trust fund to her mother that offered about $5,000 per year.
- 21. A. Two Treasures 2. On heaven Matthew 6:20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. “Stop investing your treasures in the wrong place and begin laying them up in the right place.”
- 22. "I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity." John Wesley David Livingston Jim Elliot "I place no value on anything I possess, except in relation to the kingdom of God." "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
- 23. Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Heaven (eternal) Earth (temporal) Where’s your ?
- 24. B. Two Perspectives 2. Bad Eye = Darkness 1. Good Eye = Light Matthew 6:22–23 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
- 25. What’s the difference between a mirror and a pane of glass? A little silver!
- 26. C. Two Masters 2. Mammon 1. God Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. The CHOICE is yours!
- 27. Mammon - name of a Syrian & Chaldean god, similar to the Greek god of wealth, Plutus. (μαμωνᾶς, mamōnas) – “that in which one trusts” Mammon Masters(κύριος, kyrios) – lords, one who demands, perhaps deserves, absolute allegiance
- 28. Martin Luther: "I have many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess." John Calvin: ”Where riches hold the dominion of the heart, God has lost His authority." C.S. Lewis: "He who has God and all things has no more than he who has God alone."
Editor's Notes
- #3: King Midas was a very rich and greedy king of Phrygia (late 8th century BC dominated most of western and central Anatolia and rivaled Assyrua and Urartu for control of eastern Anatolia). He lived in a castle with his daughter Philomena, who was incredibly beautiful girl everyone adored. Philomena meant everything to King Midas. Now, even though he was very rich King Midas always craved for more and more. One day Philomena came up to her father and said "father there's a strange man at our gates," so King Midas held Philomena's hand and went out side to see who this strange man was. To his amazement it was Silenus, a magician and friend of the god Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and debauchery. Instead of sending Silenus away, King Midas invited him to stay at his palace. One day he commanded the magician Silenus, “Find me a spell that can get me more treasures than I already have.” The magician said, “Your majesty, I can give you a power that no one else in this world has. Anything that you touch will turn into gold.” The king was delighted with his good fortune. Everything he touched turned into gold. He turned trees, grass, tables, chairs, flowers, and vases into gold. He thought that he must be the richest man in the world. But in the evening, when he sat down for supper, King Midas was dismayed. His food turned into gold the moment he touched it and he had to go to bed without any food! However, King Midas was too greedy to be sad about it. The next morning, the king’s daughter ran to hug her father. But alas! The minute she kissed him, she turned into a gold statue! King Midas, who loved his daughter very much. was very sad and he ran to the magician for help. He cried, “Please help me, 0 Magician! I don’t want to be rich anymore. I only want my beloved daughter back.” The magician changed everything back to normal. King Midas had learnt his lesson and was never greedy again.
- #4: George Elliot (Mary Ann Evans)
- #5: In Acts 8, an evangelist by the name of Philip was preaching in the city of Samaria. While there, many people trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. People were healed of infirmities and diseases, and other good things happened while he was ministering in this city. Among those who made professions of faith was a sorcerer named Simon. He was not only saved but also baptized. However, "when Simon saw that through laying on the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, 'Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.' But Peter said to him, 'Your money will perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!’.” A greedy man like Simon will always walk away disappointed because God's gifts can't be bought.
- #11: Hughes once said, "Every man has his price, or a guy like me couldn't exist." And yet when he died, most of his employees who have broken their silence reported their disgust for him. Money couldn't satisfy his greedy soul.
- #14: You're probably familiar with the expression "Money isn't everything, but it's way ahead of whatever is in second place." We all feel like that sometimes, but do you know that there are lots of things money cannot do?
- #21: Jesus always has two kingdoms in mind. He spoke here of the two treasuries, two perspectives, and two masters of those two kingdoms. * Each couplet presents two options and demands one choice. There is a default choice if "no choice" is made. In a world gone wrong, unless the right choice is deliberately made and tenaciously clung to, the wrong choice will be automatically implemented. In that case people will inevitably spend their lives investing in the wrong treasury, adopting the wrong perspective, and serving the wrong master.
- #23: Jesus didn't tell us we are wrong in wanting to lay up treasures. On the contrary, He commanded us to lay up treasures. His disciples are to be aggressive, but wise, investors. He was simply saying, "Stop investing your treasures in the wrong place and begin laying them up in the right place."
- #24: Jim Elliot: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.“ We focus on his willingness to sacrifice and serve, and so we should, but we overlook his passion for personal gain. Without question, Jim Elliot was looking for profit. What separated him from the common Christian was not that he didn't want treasure, but that he wanted real treasure. He was not satisfied with the treasure that would be lost. He was content only with treasure that would last.