Money and the Bible - You Can Boil It Down to This

There are only five ways to obtain our daily bread:

1. Steal
2. Gamble and get lucky
3. Work and earn
4. Borrow
5. Have it given to us:
   1. Inheritance
   2. God - by grace

The first 4 are clearly not of and by grace - they work under the principle and thought that “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”, the fourth (by inheritance) likely is not by grace, leaving only the last as meeting the Bible conditions as the Christian approach, fulfilling and making meaning of Jesus' (with one of Paul's and another from Proverbs) key teachings about money:

1. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth . . . But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
2. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.
3. The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.
4. No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
5. The borrower is servant to the lender.
6. We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
7. Give us today our daily bread.
8. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
9. God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
   

While there are other supporting Bible verses about money, they are all in harmony with these foundational verses. These verses sum up the Bible's view of how we are to view and deal with money – making and keeping money as a servant rather than a master.  Any other teaching about money is a false "gospel."  Placing tithing at the center is legalism while teaching giving as the focus and key promotes self-righteousness. 

All that are saved are saved solely by grace with the evidence and requirement that they live by increasing grace as they grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ - we are saved to serve a new master.  We serve a master before salvation full-time and we likewise must serve a new master, in the process of salvation and sanctification (however poorly - especially at first), full-time. God, as Savior, assumes the responsibility of providing all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work - we must also live in this expectation and reality.  This is the Gospel - this is Grace as it applies to money - today's (and history’s) chief idol. 

We are told and taught these truths early in the New Testament as a basis, not only to give us freedom from the tyranny of money, but freedom to serve and follow Christ without the excuse of having to serve money to provide for ours and our families’ physical needs - they are clear tests of our faith in really believing what Jesus said as a basis for believing what He says in relation to His great promises about tomorrow and forever.  Jesus warns everyone: “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?”

These truths are both the narrow gate and narrow way as it relates to money, "things," our daily bread . . . We can take (by grace) or leave, but we will have no excuse we could not understand, these clear teachings!

The only thing worse than not praying is to pray a hypocrite's prayer - Jesus taught us to pray (there is no other acceptable and alternate Christian prayer):

GIVE us this day our daily bread.