Jim Benfer
Sermo944 for 9-24-17
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 16:1-4
Financial Obedience is Blessing
There is one certain fact about human nature: We would rather spend money than save it, and its corollary is true as well: spending is more fun than giving.
Jackie Gleason played Ralph Cramden on The Honeymooners, and on one episode his TV wife Alice wanted to get a job.
Ralph said, "Before I let you go to work, I'd rather see you starve. We'll just have to live on our savings."
The always practical Alice said, "That'll carry us through the night, Ralph, but what will we do in the morning?"
That kind of thinking in marriages brings problems and it works the same way in ministries like churches. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist revival movement also preached obedience in monetary matters. His principles about money were:
- Make all you can
- Save all you can
- Give all you can
United Methodists today are all about the first two, but not so keen on the giving. Why? It is the natural desire to accumulate that besets us. Therefore, let's find some sound financial advice from God to reprioritize our money matters. You might call them the ten financial commandments.[1]
1. Thou shalt remember who the owner is. Psalm 24:1 says,"The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." Our first mistake is in thinking that we and all that comes to us are our own. Reader's Digestran a humorous story that helps illustrate this point. A traveler between flights at an airport went to a lounge and bought a small package of cookies. She sat down and began reading a newspaper. Gradually, she became aware of a rustling noise from behind her paper. She was flabbergasted to see a neatly-dressed man helping himself to her cookies. Not wanting to make a scene, she leaned over and took a cookie herself.
A minute or two passed, and then came more rustling. He was helping himself to another one of her cookies, so she grabbed another one. This went on until they were down to the last cookie, which the man broke in two. He pushed half across to her, ate the other half, and left. She was still fuming about this sometime later. When her flight was announced, she opened her handbag to get her ticket. To her shock and embarrassment, there she found her pack of unopened cookies. Not only had he not been eating her cookies, she had been eating his cookies!
The biblical writers spoke about this a long time ago. In Deuteronomy, God says to the people of Israel, "You may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ “But you shall remember the LORDyour God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth'"[2]
2. Thou shalt embrace thy work. The writer of Ecclesiastes said, "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?"[3] Caught up in the very nature of work is part of our being. We are to provide not only for ourselves, but to work for our Lord to bless others. In the New Testament we are told to "work as to the Lord." Remember, we work for God who sees the good that comes from our hands and blesses us and others through our efforts. I believe that is exactly why John Wesley urged his pastors not to be idle, but in all things work for the good of others. It follows that the disciples of Jesus out to be hard working and at the same time keeping an attitude of joy in being able to help one another.
3. Thou shalt not fall into debt. The Bible warns God's people to not fall into debt. Proverbs 22 says, "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Debt makes us the slave of another master, but if we are to serve God, how can we do that if we must first work to free ourselves from debt? Credit cards and easy credit have made it fashionable to enjoy now and pay off later. With credit card rates running in the double digits, even a few thousand dollars of credit card debt can put people into financial slavery for ten years!
Debt has the ability to take away the joy and freedom from your life. Listen closely: You do not need to go into debt now. Stop and save money for what you need. Then your savings will even be paying you interest instead of being charged interest on a loan. Too often we think we just have to have something right now, when the truth is that paying on time is the same as financial slavery.
If you are already in debt trouble I would ask you to pray for wisdom to help reverse your current situation. We have sponsored Financial Peace University here for couples, and perhaps you would benefit if we did it again. Please consider talking to me about it. We want to live our whole life so that our financial lives honor God
4. Thou shalt teach thy children about money. Our school curriculums do not include training on balancing a check book, about investing money, or about credit and debt. They can drive a car, get a job, even be considered adults about the time they graduate from high school, but if you don't teach them about money--who will?
So many times today we buy them cars, set them up to what we think is succeed, but they have no idea how to handle money, it's proper use, or to pay tithes! Remember this: If you model poor use of what God has given you, how in the world can they be expected to handle money any differently?
5. Thou shalt have a plan. I can remember hearing some other kids in my neighborhood talking about how their parents gave them an allowance. Well, it didn't take long for me to hit my mom and dad up about getting an allowance. Short story--it didn't happen. They explained to me that I first needed to work to earn money. You see, even earning starts with a plan, how much more then that spending needs a plan to enable us to live, serve God and others.
I worked in college as a drive-in bank teller. Houston was a blue-collar working city and Friday evening was the big paycheck cashing time. Workers would line up in droves to cash their paychecks. On Monday, there was usually a sad line of women who stopped back by to deposit what hadn't been spent on the weekend, or to see how much was left in their account. With no real plan except spend cash until it is gone, there was usually a lot more week left over than money.
God's plan is to tithe, as an act of faith, and to provide for kingdom work, and then budget the other 90% of what we make so that we end up as good stewards. John Wesley was right: Make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can. God didn't give you left-overs, so let's not plan to give God our left-overs.
6. Thou shalt declare, "Enough!" We live in a society dedicated to accumulating more. If you don't believe that then just walk through your neighborhood Walmart. They know that with the right enticement you will spend a dollar a minute in their store. Society drives our lifestyles with new fashions, new devices, new cars, and new homes.
Most people never ask what would be enough for them. In fact, we look forward to the next new thing we can obtain. What if you were to say, "I have enough right now, I don't need more. I don't care what other have, I will be content with what I have. If God brings more to me, then I will seek to do more good with what God has given."
Folks, if we did that and said, "Enough!" it would be huge. You can make that deal with God, he's not asking you to write it down and sign it. But if we want to honor God and prove our faith is real, then we as followers of Jesus will say, "Enough!"
7. Thou shalt find an alternative way to keep score. We love to keep score and rate our worth on our incomes. That is why people want to know how much you make.
If you make more than me--good for you! I am not going to let my personal income become a way to measure my worth. I am worth an infinite amount and so are you, if you have come to understand the great love of God in Jesus for each of us. And if you don't make as much as me--so what? Your worth is still infinite to me and to God.
8. Thou shalt help those in need. If the Bible says, "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD" then we ought to look for those in true need and help them.[4] It may be true that Jesus said that the poor will always be with us, but that doesn't mean ignore them.
9. Thou shalt seek wise counsel. If you want to honor God with your finances then of course seek wise counsel. A good place to start is to study what God has said in the Bible. I can tell you from personal experience that investment advice helps. Not from just anyone, but from trained professionals.
The biggest mistake to avoid is to think that you can somehow get rich quick. Truly, the love of money is the root of great evil. Those who run after get-rich-quick schemes usually just help someone else get rich quick. Budget, work, save--give!
10. Thou shalt look forward to thy final audit. We hate the thought of an IRS audit into our personal finances, but an even more in-depth one is coming soon to all of us. We will answer to God for how we have used the resources and money made available to us. Folks, we can't get an accountant to help us with this one--whether we have been generous or miserly will be known.
I have been with many when their time to meet God has come. And I can honestly say that of regrets witnessed to me, I've never heard someone say that they wish they would have made more money. In those moments of reflection and clarity, they dwell on whether their life has had an impact on others. They focus on the meeting they are about to have with God and all that really matters is about God's forgiveness, God's grace and knowing Jesus. Folks, you don't have to wait until you're on your deathbed to figure that out. You can do it now. The way you live and the way you honor God is still your decision. In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen!
[1]Thanks toJohn Ortberg's sermon , The Ten Financial Commandments, for the inspiration for this message.
[2] Deuteronomy 8:17-18 (NIV)
[3] Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 (NIV)
[4] Proverbs 19:1