How Financial Success Can Lead to Spiritual Failure with John Rinehart

At Faithfi, our vision is to redeem God's design for money so that people would come to see God as their ultimate treasure. When you prioritize God above all else, your financial decisions reflect your identity in Christ. We're here to provide biblical wisdom and practical tools to help you on this journey. By becoming a monthly Faithfi partner, you're supporting us and actively participating in our vision to help people integrate their faith and financial decisions for the glory of God. You can make a difference right now at faithfi.com slash give. That's faithfi.com slash give.

Now let's dive into the podcast. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16 26.

I am Rob West. In that verse, Jesus is speaking to his disciples, teaching them about the cost of discipleship and the value of the soul in contrast to worldly gains. The question remains, is there a spiritual cost to achieving financial success? John Reinhard joins us today to talk about it.

Then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, our guest today is my friend John Reinhard. He's founder and CEO of Gospel Patrons, the organization that helps business leaders, entrepreneurs, and others marshal their finances and influence to support Christian ministries spreading the gospel around the world. John, great to have you here. Thanks so much, Rob.

This is exciting. John, you have a great article in our magazine, Faithful Steward. It was the first issue, and I was so thrilled to be able to get this article in there because I think this idea is one that so many people haven't thought about and need to, and it's titled, Breaking the Cycle, How Financial Success Can Lead to Spiritual Failure. Now, financial success can obviously be a very good thing, but let's talk about why it's also something we should be wary of. Yeah, actually, there's so many warnings in the Bible about wealth, and wealth can be a blessing, and God makes rich, and God makes poor, so he's sovereign over that. We see many wealthy people throughout the scriptures, both Old Testament and New, and yet when we come to Jesus, we see that he warned his disciples very specifically and often constantly about the dangers of wealth. And it just seems like something we don't talk about very often, that we have a temptation to love, try to love God and money, and Jesus says, actually, that's impossible.

You can only have one master, but we live in a culture and we live in a world that idolizes wealth and success and money and possessions, and it's just something we need to be very careful about and have a watchful eye on. Oh, that's well said, John, and I couldn't agree more. So, let's move into this toxic cycle of success. We will, of course, share the productive side of this, the direction we should go, but let's talk about where this can go wrong. It starts with our view of work. Really, many of us are working, and our view of work is to trade time for money so that we can rest.

We think of work as a means of exchange to get what I really want, which oftentimes is money, comfort, security, and rest. That's not where the Bible starts, but what happens is if we hustle and strive and go after work in that fashion, we end up prospering because we work hard, and then we find ourselves failing because we succeed and we forget God, and we end up in a place that we never intended to be. Yeah, John, and it can happen perhaps without us even realizing it, and so much of this really comes back to the me and the my that we see in the parable of the rich fool. You know, when we think it's all as a result of our hand and our work, we're not calibrated to the Father, and that tends to take us down the wrong track, doesn't it? Yeah, that's so good, and the rich fool building bigger barns hits home for an American audience because that seems to be the goal. That's the American dream is that we would make enough to be able to relax, eat, drink, be merry, and we don't see it coming that Jesus is going to turn the corner and say, you fool, tonight your life is required of you. That's our goal in our culture, and we need to be aware of that. John, you talk about we work hard, and that's a good thing, and we prosper, and we know that production leads to prosperity. That's part of God's design.

That's a good thing. Rest can be a good thing, but then you talk about how that slips into forgetting. What is it that we forget? Yeah, there's a very well-known passage in Deuteronomy 8 that says that when your wealth prospers, God is warning Israel before they enter the promised land. This is the land that had been given to them with milk and honey. They'd been looking forward to it for decades, and yet Jesus says, I want to bless you, but when you get into that land and I bless you, be careful that when all things are prospering, you don't forget the Lord. And then he adds this, because it's the Lord who gives you the power to get wealth.

And I think right there is the key. We often think it's our power to get wealth, and then when the wealth and prosperity come, it's our wealth. And we know from scripture that everything belongs to God, and even here he's saying it's the power to get wealth that comes from God as well.

That's exactly right. After 40 years of wandering the desert, standing across the Jordan River from the promised land, Moses addresses the nation of Israel, and it was prosperity that would be more challenging than anything. And of course, as John points out, that can lead to sin if we forget the God who created us. Well, when we come back, we'll talk about the virtuous cycle, where we need to go. John Reinhart with us today.

We'll be right back. Have you ever wondered where your money goes when you deposit it in a bank? Christian Community Credit Union believes in helping advance God's Kingdom through everyday financial transactions. For over 67 years, they have provided values-aligned banking solutions to thousands of Christians and ministries. Consider Christian Community Credit Union as your banking institution by visiting joinchristiancommunity.com. Membership eligibility required. Each account is insured up to $250,000.

This institution is not federally insured. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. With me today, my friend John Reinhart. He's founder of Gospel Patrons. If you think about it, every movement of God that involves a gospel proclaimer has a gospel patron, someone funding the work behind that person, all the way back to Jesus and the three women that were a part of funding his ministry. Well, John and his wife, Renee, have been chronicling those stories.

It comes to life in the book Gospel Patrons, but there's a whole ministry surrounding it, telling just amazing stories of gospel patrons. And we'll hear from John a little later in this segment about gospel patrons and how you can engage more. But John, we're talking now about succeeding financially without failing spiritually. And before the break, you set up the cycle that can lead to spiritual failure when we work and we prosper and then we rest and withdraw.

But we can forget. Wealth can blind us from our need for God, and then that can lead to sin. I know you've written extensively on the parable of the sower, which really highlights this idea of, you know, money is a good gift from God. But when we worship the creation over the creator, it can lead to problems. And what that parable points out is that, as Jesus explains, you know, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things and the cares of this world can choke out the word from bearing fruit, right? Yeah, it's startling that Jesus would say that. I wouldn't think there's anything that can choke out the word of God because it's the most powerful force in the universe. And yet he does say, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word so that it proves unfruitful. Man, I don't want that for my life or for anyone's life, because I believe the word of God is meant to produce 30, 60, and 100-fold fruit through our lives. That's what we want. But we got to be careful about this cycle of success that leads to some of those things.

Yeah, that's right. So let's talk about where we should go. What is that better way, God's rhythm for life? Well, instead of working for rest and working for wealth, I think the place to start is we actually start with rest, that God has instituted rest into our weekly rhythm. He calls it the Sabbath. It's in the top 10 commands from the Old Testament. Isn't that mind-blowing that the God of the Bible would command rest? He doesn't want to treat us like slaves or servants.

He treats us like children who get a day off. And man, I know many, many business leaders, and I just think that's a really hard command for many of us to obey. We have always more work that could be done, but I believe this is actually where the cycle of health begins for us as business leaders and business owners and professional people.

Man, we need to start with this place. If we're not working for rest, we're working from rest, and that's where it begins. From there, we know that when we rest, the Sabbath is a great chance to worship. It's a chance to go to church with your family.

It's a chance to sing God's praises. It's a chance to be in God's Word, to hear God's Word, to reset for the week forward. And so, what that does is it takes work out of the center place of our lives and our hearts. We're not constantly stirring on it and thinking about it and trying to solve Monday's problems on Saturday and on Sunday, but we actually lift our eyes beyond that to God who's sovereign, who loves us, who cares, who's with us in every trial, who can help us in every problem, and begins to reverse this inward spiral outward where we stop thinking so much about work and we're conscious of God. Then when we show up to work on Monday, we've got a totally different starting place than we did before.

We're refreshed, we're filled up, we're ready to go, and we can bring the same sense of hard work that we would otherwise, but we're starting from a different place. And when we do that work out of the overflow of our time with God, our work actually becomes a sense of worship. Instead of just trading time for money, it's an opportunity to use our skills and our gifts and our talents that God's given us to bless others, to serve others, to fulfill the good works He created us for.

And so, rest is really the starting place. Then when our work succeeds and we are blessed and God provides and we prosper, we understand that that prosperity came from God's hand. It wasn't just the result of our intelligence, hard work, effort, but God's hand was in it. Deuteronomy 8 18 says, it's the Lord who gives you the power to get wealth. And we understand that that wealth came from Him and that wealth ultimately belongs to Him.

And so, therefore, we're not owners, we're stewards. And we understand that some of what God wants us to do with our wealth is to be wildly, radically stunning in our generosity and pass that along to bless His kingdom, to take care of the poor, to advance the gospel, to serve His kingdom purposes everywhere we find them. And that leads to an incredible amount of joy that we're not just working for ourselves, but the work that we do can actually contribute to things God is doing all over our city, our church, our community, and even to the ends of the earth. And that puts new purpose back in our work and we get really, really excited then to show up again to go, Lord, can I do more of that? Can I contribute more to what you're doing?

My nine to five job or my 40 hours a week? Does that actually have a place in advancing your kingdom? And that puts new motivation back in our work.

Oh, it's so good. We can break free from the toxic cycle of success that seems to be the default unless we protest to the contrary. Now, John, you've walked alongside so many business leaders that actually got this right, that they were able to live out what you just described in that virtuous cycle of success that leads to rejoicing. What has been a key that you've observed in the life of those men and women that have pursued it this way?

Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, believe it or not, some of the wealthiest, most successful business leaders that I have had the privilege to interact with have a real deep commitment to their local church. That church, for them, is not an optional extra if they can fit it in against all of their other, you know, programs and work and schedule and travel and all of that, but they're committed to try to be home to worship with their local community. I think it's a place where they can be known.

It's a place where they can be fed. It's a healthy discipline in their lives. Even if their church isn't the best and they could listen to better preachers elsewhere, there's a commitment to show up and be a part of a local church. And I think that shows humility. It shows teachability. I think there's another piece that's just, there's a commitment to reading the Bible for themselves, that the Word of God isn't something you just touch for five minutes on a Sunday and then move on with the rest of your week, but there's a daily rhythm of learning to ingest God's Word, soak in God's Word, let God's Word be the thing that shapes and forms our lives.

So, man, there's so many things, but those would be probably the top two. I love that. Now, one of the things we can do is we can read stories of those that have really purposed their lives this way, and that's really Gospel patrons. Here in the final 90 seconds that we have, just give us a thumbnail sketch of Gospel patrons in the book that you wrote. Yeah, Gospel patrons is behind every great movement of God. There's some who are going to go first in preaching, and there's many who are going to go first in giving. And Gospel patrons are those leaders who are maybe not gifted to be on the stage or translating the Bible or crossing a culture to be a missionary, but God's gifted them to make money, to succeed in their career, and to give generously to advance God's kingdom. And we tell those stories both from history, from Scripture, even modern-day stories through GospelPatrons.org. Excellent. Those stories are there.

They're beautifully captured. But the book is really the foundation of all of this. It chronicles how this all started and how God set John and Renee out on this course.

You can buy it wherever you buy books. John, what would you leave our audience with today? Yeah, I would say that you have a part to play, that you're not second class in God's kingdom. That what you do every day can matter for eternity when we connect what we're doing to God's kingdom, when we live generously.

We are actually the most joyful people on the planet. Wow. Well, John, I don't say this lightly. I think you are one of the most important voices today in this space of biblical stewardship. And I'm so thankful for your friendship, and I really appreciate you being here today. Thank you so much, Rob.

That's huge. That's John Reinhard. He's founder and CEO of Gospel Patrons. Folks, pick up a copy of this book, Gospel Patrons, wherever you buy books, or head to GospelPatrons.org. To learn more, that's GospelPatrons.org.

Back with your questions after this. 800-525-7000. 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West, and you're listening to Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Every day, we hear life-changing stories from listeners just like you who see money and possessions as tools to invite more people into God's kingdom.

Instead of chasing wealth, you've chosen to embrace God as your source of love and provision. At Faithfi, we're passionate about meeting people where they live and work through our national radio program, app, resources, and website to influence widespread positive change in our culture. Please consider becoming a monthly partner at Faithfi.com. As the leading advocate for the Christian financial industry, Kingdom Advisors serves the public by promoting the integration of a biblical worldview across every aspect of the financial services industry. And we serve a growing network of thousands of Christian financial professionals, equipping and empowering them to carry biblical financial wisdom to their clients, peers, and community. For more information, visit kingdomadvisors.com.

That's kingdomadvisors.com. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today on anything financial, helping you live as a wise and faithful steward.

Now let's go to Fort Lauderdale. Hi, Kimberly. Go ahead. Hi, how are you? I'm great.

Thanks for calling. So I am a school teacher. I'm going to be 60 this summer. My husband works for himself. His father passed away and left us some money, but we've been really good about paying off everything. We have no credit card debt. We own our home. We own our cars.

We're good. But the thing is when we retire, which I want to retire and then work somewhere part-time eventually, because teaching 39 years, I'm kind of done. But I, the question is this, he wants to rent out our house when we get ready to go to someplace smaller, up closer to our family. And I don't want to rent because we'll be four hours away. And I don't think it's wise, even though we own our home and we've owned it since 2000.

And we don't have any debt here. I just would rather take the money and run the next, go to the next chapter. You know what I mean? Sure, sure.

Yeah. So I, you know, I think at its face value, I mean, either could be a great option. I mean, this is an asset. So we just need to think about, you know, ultimately, how's the best way to maximize this asset? Because if it's no longer your home, your primary residence, which, you know, is also an appreciating asset in most cases, but it's also where we live now, it's really just an investment. And so the question really is, is that investment best served in a piece of Florida real estate four hours from you, assuming it's also in Florida, but not in your backyard, that you're renting out to a, you know, a renter, and now you're a landlord, and you've got rental income, ideally coming in that would cover the cost if there's mortgage and the utilities and the property tax and all of that, and, and everything that goes into maintaining it, either you or a hired property manager, or is that better served elsewhere, giving a portion of it away, putting it into a passive investment, like stocks and bonds, you know, any number of things.

And so that's really the decision, I think is how do we want to invest this money? And are we comfortable with everything that goes along with that investment, if it's an active investment, like real estate? So what is your concern? Is your concern more about just the safety of that investment? Is it the time and energy you're gonna have to put into being a landlord that, you know, is not in the same city?

Is there some other issue? What is it that's concerning you? Well, basically, I feel like it's having to hire somebody to manage it, because we'll be four hours north of here.

We don't want to stay in Fort Lauderdale, we have no family here. So every time something goes wrong, which, you know, that's the biggest thing for me. And the second thing is, I feel like since we've lived so long with not having to pay on a house, or a car or have payments like that, I feel like I'd like to take the money from here and go to buy another place and not have to worry about, you know, having any type of mortgage in a second place, both because I'm going to be obviously cutting my income down. Yes. Yeah. And that makes total sense. And a lot of that, I think comes down to temperament. You know, some of us, you know, we like a plan and a safety net. And, you know, some of us, you know, want to enjoy what God has given us others, you know, might say, you know, we're willing to take some risks. And, you know, I mean, so it really comes down to what we value, and ultimately where God is leading the two of you as a married couple. And so I think it just involves some more conversation, because ultimately, you know, it can both of these options can be great. You know, I think the key is, I mean, you do want to evaluate the merits of it financially.

And so you can run the numbers. I mean, what would you all actually get? I mean, you can, you know, do some research and determine, you know, what would we actually get in rent for this property? And what would be that estimate of rental income based on a comparative market analysis minus the costs? And, you know, are we going to have positive cash flow?

And then that would be a, you know, a score for that, for the run the numbers category. And then you might want to check the market. Is there strong rental demand?

Or is it flat? Is it a hot seller's market and it's weak for rentals? And you could evaluate that. You could look at the tax timing, because, you know, within, if you are able to say that we've lived in it for two out of the last five years, when you sell it, you get free capital gains. And so you may want to say, well, if even if we keep it, we're going to want to get out of it within a certain period of time, because we want to be able to benefit from not having to pay capital gains on it.

And that would only be true if you lived in it as your primary residence for two of the five years prior to the sale. And then I think there's just this peace of mind factor, which is your desire to be debt free. And you're into a season of life, you all have worked hard, you've had debt, you've paid it off.

And now just the idea of you being unencumbered, owing no man anything is really good. And I think you need to express that to your husband, so he understands the significance of that. And then I think, as you all can kind of see this from each other's perspective, ultimately, you're going to have to make that decision. And again, I don't think one is bad or good.

I think both options are good, it really just comes down to your values, your priorities, and then the merits of the investment. And that's just something you guys are going to need to talk more about, pray about, ask the Lord to give you wisdom, and ultimately unity in that decision. I mean, my rule is, when it comes to borrowing, if we're not in complete agreement and husband and wife, that's a deal killer.

Now, your husband may say, wait a minute, who's that guy on the radio telling me what to do? And I get that. But that's just one of several rules I use when when borrowing and in this case, it would require you to borrow when you wouldn't need to otherwise. So I would want you both to be on the same page here.

And if you're not, that would be an indication to me that you guys need to sell it. But ultimately, you guys are going to need to work it through together. Does that make sense?

It absolutely makes sense. And thank you, because this we're still here. And my husband's like, I'm not married to that thought. And we're praying about it, because we've got time, obviously. But the big thing for me was I was just like, I just want somebody else who's not in this right now in here, who could advise us and we are, we do have all those things lined up, but we're not in a rush. So thank you for your wisdom. Well, you're absolutely glad to do it. I'm so glad you called today. And I'm confident you guys will come to the right decision on this one.

All the best to you, Kimberly. Well, folks, we're nearing the end of the program today. You know, as we think about applying God's wisdom to our financial decisions and choices, we want to look back to God's Word. And here's what we will find. You know, apart from the big idea that we're stewards and God is owner, and he gives us the power to create wealth. I think we need to remind ourselves that there are plenty of admonitions in scripture around how we should handle money. The fact that we should avoid debt, the importance of goal setting, the importance of paying our taxes, not anymore, but rendering unto Caesar, at least what is Caesar's. The fact that we should be training the next generation, our kids in these principles and a biblical worldview of money management, and certainly living within our means.

And we want to remind you of those principles and ideas that are very practical, but rooted in God's Word each time we gather together. And by the way, and speaking of living within our means, if you're struggling with that, like I am, and so many of us are in the midst of high inflation, check out the Faithfi app. It's what Julie and I use to manage our budget every day.

And it's really helpful to know what's left in each envelope. When you take a look at that app in real time, you can download it today at faithfi.com. Just click app. Well, folks, that's going to do it for us. A big thanks to my team today, Devin Patrick, Robert Youngblood, Jim Henry, and everybody here at Faithfi that makes this possible. You have a great day and hope you'll come back and join us tomorrow. We'll see you then. Bye-bye. Announcer Faith in Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.