Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller
Week 4: Chapter 3 — Money Changes Everything
Read Chapter 3 of Counterfeit Gods. Key passage: Genesis 38–47 (Jacob, Joseph, and the story of wealth and provision); also Luke 12:13–21 (the Parable of the Rich Fool); 1 Timothy 6:6–10, 17–19.
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Money is perhaps the most culturally normalized idol in Western life — which is exactly why it is one of the hardest to see clearly. Keller uses both biblical narrative and contemporary illustration to hold it up to the light.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Keller distinguishes between using money and trusting money. In practical terms, what does it look like to use money without trusting it? What are the signs that money has moved from a tool to a trust?
2.Keller describes the 2008 financial crisis as a moment that exposed how deeply money had become a cultural idol — entire identities and national narratives had been built on the assumption of perpetual financial growth. Did that crisis (or more recent economic upheaval) affect your own sense of security or identity? How?
a.What did your emotional response in that season reveal about where your trust actually lived?
3.Keller discusses Zacchaeus as a case study in money's power and the freedom that comes from releasing it. What was it about Jesus' presence — specifically, that Jesus sought him out — that enabled Zacchaeus to do what religious pressure and social shame never could?
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