Money Matters - Part 2

We've said that money mother. I miss my mother. So far, we've said that money is neither good nor bad and that what God looks for in the area of a Christian and money is the following. We've said that God is examining the way that we acquire money, the way that we use money, and the way that we feel about money. Those are the things that determine, our attitude concerning money.

For example, we said that Christians acquire wealth through work in an honest employment, not by unjustified welfare, not by stealing or cheating in business, certainly not by gambling and risk taking, honest employment. And we said that honest employment produces independence and respect. I mean, aside from money, honest employment produces independence and respect from our families, from our church, from our society. Some of the moral imperative that parents have. You know, sometimes they use it perhaps as a club, you know, Hey, I earn the living here or we earn the living here, but that's true.

You know, children need to give respect to those who put in time, long days and sometimes nights, to, finance their clothing and their education and their food and their housing. I mean, certainly, parents do this out of love, but parents are worthy of respect because of this type of activity. We also said that a Christian sees money as a means and not necessarily as an end to be used in various ways. And we talked about the 3 portion, you know, we said the 3 portion idea in life. The first portion of our money goes to God, simply as a way of saying, I love you.

I appreciate You know, what the church does with it, probably our way of giving money to God is through the offering here in the church. How the church uses it, whether it buys food for the homeless or pays the rent for the building is for us, that's not the point. For us, the giving of money is to say to God, I love you, I acknowledge you, I thank you. Now, we're hoping that our elders will show wisdom in the way that they appropriate this money for the youth of the building and all those, you know, all the needs that we have as a congregation. But for ourselves, we're not thinking, well, let's see, you know, the $5 I gave, I wanna make sure a dollar goes over here, and, no, not more than $2 for this program.

That's not the point. The point is when that check or that envelope goes into the plate, it is our way of saying to God, I love you, Lord, I acknowledge you, I thank you, period. We've done our duty when we've done that with the first portion of our money. Then we said the second portion is to care for our own personal needs and the needs of our family, children, extended family, parents, whatever, whatever responsibilities that we have. And usually that's the largest portion, isn't it?

And it should be because we have many needs and God understands this. And then we talked about that final portion. A final portion should be left to invest in the needs of other people who need our help. And I think sometimes we've overlooked this idea. We think, Well, I've given the first portion to the Lord and that should take care of everything.

Let the church take care of everybody who has a need. And that's not necessarily so. We do take care of needs. People who need food, they come here, we give them food, and often we assist people in the church who have need for money or clothing, things like that. We do that quietly and discreetly to honor our brothers and sisters who sometimes fall into hard times and to cover them discreetly and at the same time assist them.

But sometimes we think, well, I've given my portion, I've done everything I need to do for the poor and those who need help, but not so. The Bible teaches us in the Old Testament and again in the New that God will provide for us not only to take care of our needs, but also will provide a portion so that we can invest it in taking care of the needs of other people. So the way that we acquire and use our wealth will determine how much wealth the Lord will allow us to manage, as well as the condition of our conscience before God. We said, It wasn't important how rich you were, it was what was important was, can you be rich with a good conscience? That's what's important.

Can you have, and have a good conscience? Some people don't have any money, they have lots of debts, they're poor, and on top of all that, they have a bad conscience because they've not managed well. Others have lots of money, lots of, you know, lots of disposable income, but they still have a bad conscience because they've not followed the 3 portion idea. 1st person to the Lord for Thanksgiving, 2nd portion for self and needs and so on and so forth, and 3rd portion to reinvest into the needs of other people. As I said to you this morning, no one ever became poor or destitute by using their money in the way that God directed it to be used.

He will not allow us to be poor in that way. Well, the 3rd area to explore, which I left for tonight, concerns how we feel about money, our attitude towards it. When we see money, the question is this, when we see money, what is it that we see Never mind, we don't just see greenbacks there, not just paper. When we see money, what is it you know, what does it represent for us? For some people, money represents protection.

When they see money, what they see is safety. You know, they see wealth as a form of protection against poverty and hardship, even death. And they give all of their life's effort to building a financial fort. I love these commercials for insurance companies and that, you know, they always show a fort or something, you know, boy, build your fort with Aetna or the Prudential, the Rock, you know. And they're not stupid.

They're not stupid at all. Their marketing people understand that people see money and investment as protection. A Christian, on the other hand, sees money as a tool given to him by God in order to be used in a variety of ways, which I explained to you this morning. A Christian trusts in the Lord as the one who provides money, not in the money itself. We need to be very careful that we invest our emotional trust, not in the money.

We need to invest our emotional trust in God. He's the one that provides the money. I trust the elders. I trust those who are over me in the Lord to do right by me as being an employee, a servant of the church. Yes.

But my faith is in God. God provides for me and my family through the church, just like God provides for you through the state, if you work for the state, or through the company, or the government, whatever, whoever you work for. You know, if God desires it to be so, tomorrow morning, General Motors is finished. If God doesn't support General Motors, General Motors is finished tomorrow. And we've lived long enough to see companies that we thought would be indestructible go into bankruptcy.

So we don't put our trust into the company, into the government. We put our trust into God, and God will provide for us through the company, the government. The Lord is the rock. The Lord is the fortress. The Lord is the protector.

As David says in Psalm 91, in verse 1, he says, he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. For it is he who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark.

Then in Proverbs, chapter 11, verse 28, Solomon writes, He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaves. You see, on the contrary, the Christian distrusts riches. He distrusts money. I don't trust money. Because the Christian knows how unsure money all by itself can be.

Another word from the Proverbs about this issue in Proverbs 27, verse 24, the writer says, For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations. Christians don't trust in money. Money is so unsure. If you lived in Italy during World War II, you'd find out how trusting in money would be futile when they had a 1000% inflation they had to carry around, you know. Or in Germany, during World War 2, they had to carry money around in a wheelbarrow in order to buy bread.

It would cost like $1,000,000 or something to buy a loaf of bread. Inflation went up a 1000, 2000%. The caves in Brazil can tell you how, you know, how unsure the economy is in many foreign countries where inflation will rise. All of a sudden, 20%, 30% in 1 year. A dollar is only worth half of what it was in 2 years.

So the Christian doesn't trust in money. The Christian trusts in God. Other people, when they look at money, what they see is power. Money for them represents power, the power that they can obtain by possessing a lot of money. Power over people, power over things, power over situations.

You see, money gives some people the opportunity to be great. Because when you have money, you have friends and influence. Little kids learned this in grade school, right? You got an extra dollar, you're the one that comes in with the jelly beans. You got a pocket full of jelly beans, you got a whole bunch of friends.

They learn that early on. The Christian, however, knows that the power that comes from possessing money, although very real and very tangible, is also very temporary. They learned that when the money is gone, so is the power. Power that is purchased with money disappears when the money is gone. And they also realized that the power purchased with money has no influence in the spiritual realm.

Money has no power over spiritual things. You cannot buy forgiveness. You cannot buy peace of mind. You cannot buy righteousness. You can't buy God's favor.

I heard once that Frank Sinatra, the singer you all know, offered the pope a couple of $1,000,000 if the pope would hear his confession and absolve him of all of his sins. And to his credit, the pope said, you can't buy forgiveness for your sins. To his credit, he told mister Sinatra, Money has no power in the spiritual realm. It's a question of what you value. What would you rather have?

Would you rather have money or truth? You see, money cannot buy truth, but truth can get you wisdom. What would you rather have? Money or love? You know, you had the, the Beatles this weekend and the Beatles sang, Money can't buy you love.

Right? Money can't buy you love, but love can get you joy. What would you rather have, money or God's blessing? Money cannot influence God, but if God blesses you, you can have peace of mind. And so for the Christian, the power gained by money is the power to do greater things for one's family and the kingdom of God.

If I have you know, you ever play that game? You have nothing to do at home? You ever get so nothing on TV, nothing to do, got no money to go out. So what do you do? You sit around and say, Well, what would we do if we had $2,000,000 You know?

You ever play that game? Everybody plays that game. Well, let's see, I'd pay off the usual thing. I'd pay off the house and pay off the cars and put money in the bank for the kids and do all the things, you know, take care of my mom and all that stuff. And then with the other couple of 1,000,000, what would you do with it?

You know, we all play that game. I know one of the things I would do, if I had all that money, I think I would really produce all of those films and videos, that I would build a studio and I would be free to produce all of those mission tapes and videos for the use for evangelizing other countries that, I can't do now because I don't have the money nor the time. And you have all those dreams that you would that you would do with the things that with the money that you would have if you had a $1,000,000 or more. But like I said, for the Christians, the power gained by money is the power to do greater things in the kingdom. That's real power.

Doctor. Howard Norton of Oklahoma Christian, he's a Bible professor there, you know him, he once said that, we should determine what a reasonable standard of living is for us. We should determine. In other words, take a line and draw a line at what's reasonable, how big a house is reasonable. And you know, the cars that are reasonable, and the standard of living that is reasonable, and what a financial security is, what a reasonable amount of financial security is.

And he says, Don't be afraid to determine what that is and put a line there. And then once you have reached that, all the extra financial power that you have after that should be invested in the kingdom, not in the building of a fancier lifestyle. See, what we do is, we get enough to take care of what we need to live. You can only eat so much, you you can only drive so far, you can only have just as much pension as you can have. But the mistake that so many Christians do is they think that once they get beyond a reasonable standard of living, that what they need to do then is raise their standard of living.

Bigger house, 3 cars, 2 boats, fancier gun, bigger boat, more season tickets to football, you know, box seats, whatever. You know what I'm saying? And he is saying, Why not establish what is reasonable, what is honorable? And then if God blesses you beyond that, why not be smart? Why not invest the extra into the kingdom of God?

Oh, he said, you will be blessed. And I agree. Here is the use of influence in a godly way. This type of use of money gains for the Christian a measure of spiritual power that isn't dependent on money, but rather on God's blessing. Oh, if we were wise enough to say to God, God, here's what I need, and if you bless me beyond this, I will begin to be your broker.

I'll be your earthly stock broker. I will invest for you in good works, in good deeds, in building up of the kingdom of heaven. But unfortunately, we succumb to the world and its pressure. We simply build bigger barns for ourselves, more security, bigger houses and stuff like that. Well, for some people, money represents happiness, a ticket to happiness.

Most people, it represents a ticket to happiness. Now, the reason that they believe this is because they think that buying and having things is what makes you happy. You know, that's why shopping is the number one antidote to depression in America. You know, shopping is better than Prozac. Thank you, all you Prozac users, thank you.

The idea here is that if things make you happy, then getting money to buy things is the way to be happy. That's how the equation works. You know, buying stuff is what makes you happy! And so, getting money to buy stuff will make you happy! Working over- triple overtime, 2 jobs!

You got 2 people in the house, that's 2 jobs! Hey, what if we both get 2 jobs? Then we have 4 jobs. Then we get more money so we can buy more things, we'll be more happy. Now this kind of thinking supports a lot of our actions.

It's the underlying factor behind the materialistic society we live in. It's not so much that people want all of the things that they have, it's that they want to be happy. And getting things seems to be the way to obtain that happiness. It's one of the major reasons why people are so unhappy. If they don't have the things that are out there, they'll not be happy.

And so they justify any conduct in order to get the things that they want because they feel that in those things, in having those things, they will have happiness. And if for one moment they stop rushing around making the money, or rushing around buying the things, or rushing around planning to buy the things, if they just stopped for one moment they'd realize that they're kind of basically unhappy. A lot of older people they ask them, So what are you doing? Well, I'm staying busy. Why?

I would have thought that perhaps after the rush of middle age, of raising children, you might want to slow down and think and meditate and commune with God, smell the roses. Oh, no, no, we've got to stay busy. Why? Because if I'm not busy, I may realize how unhappy I am. It's one reason why so many people give so little to God.

You see, to give generously to the church, to share generously with others means that they may be giving away the possibility for being happy. You know, if I give to the Lord, or if I give a lot to the Lord, well, wait a minute, I'm giving away the thing that will make me happy. You can't do that. God wouldn't want me to be unhappy, would he? Christians have a basic understanding that helps them avoid this trap.

You know what that is? A little secret that we know that I think a lot of people out in the world don't realize. We know the difference between happiness and pleasure. There's a difference between happiness and pleasure. Pleasure is produced by physical means.

Pleasure is exciting. Pleasure is pleasant as an experience. But it is temporary and the thing about pleasure is it needs to be continually reinforced in order to be maintained. Like a battery, you know, you gotta keep charging it or else when the battery dies, pleasure dies. Pleasure is an experience that begins on the outside of the body and it works its way in.

It's a consumer product. You buy it, you taste it, you sniff it, you eat it, whatever. Happiness, on the other hand, is a state of mind. Happiness begins inside. It begins in a person's heart and it works its way outward through the body.

Happiness is produced not by a human being. Happiness is produced by the Spirit of God. Through love and patience and kindness and self control and faith and goodness, not by the obtaining of things with money. So, people are fooled because they think that pleasure and happiness are the same thing, but they're not. You can buy pleasure with money, but you cannot buy happiness with money.

Happiness is a gift from God and it's given to those who are at peace with him through faith and obedience. Don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. Money does matter to Christians, like everybody else. The difference is how Christians acquire and use and feel about the money that they have.

Now for believers, money matters are directed by God and his word. And God's word tells us, first of all, that Christians acquire their money through honest work. I think we can agree on that. Secondly, the Bible tells us that Christians use their money to honor God, to care for themselves and their needs, and also to help those who are in need. And finally, the Bible tells us that children of God do not see money as protection or power or even a way to buy happiness.

God's children see money as one more thing that God provides among other things. They see money as an opportunity to do things in the name of God. And they see money as one of the blessings that does bring pleasure into life, but not the thing that makes them happy. Don't feel guilty if the money you have in some way buys you some pleasure. That's one of its uses.

The mistake is if you ever start thinking that money is going to buy you happiness. Happiness comes from faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we become happy. Unless you are perfect in your money matters, you're probably needing some changes or adjustments in the way that you acquire, use, or feel about money that I've touched in these lessons. Unless you're perfect, probably some adjustments need to be made.

Maybe you have to work differently, maybe you have to work more effectively to justify the way you earn money, I don't know. You know, when they came to John the Baptist and they said, What should we do? You know, and he said to the soldiers, Well, don't extort money. And when the tax collectors said, Well, what should we do? And he says, Well, don't collect more money than you're due.

Well, in 1995, what should we do? Well, if you're cheating, stop. If you're not giving full value for the money you earn, you better start. If you're in business, and you're overpricing and under serving, you better start finding a happy medium because God hates an unjust balance. Perhaps others may have to change the way that they have used money in the past.

Perhaps some of us really do start to have to honor God with our first portion. Maybe we've spent everything and whatever's left over, we give to God, maybe we need to change that. Maybe we need to lay in front of us all that we have and say, Okay God, you get the first portion now for a change. Maybe we have to waste less. Maybe some of us have to start thinking about our parents, and how we can help them.

Perhaps some of us may have to begin investing a portion in the lessening of the misery of others. God never said that it was the government's job to lessen the misery in the world, he said it was our job. And one of the reasons that our star, our witness, shall we say, doesn't burn brightly like it used to, is that the original idea of social benevolence that was begun by the church has been taken over by the government, and all we have left is to talk about it, but we don't do a whole lot. Maybe we need to start thinking of individual ways that we can make a difference as individuals. And then still, many of us, especially at this time of year, perhaps, will have to begin seeing money for what it really is.

It's a blessing from God to be used for him and not a ticket to happiness. Enjoy the gifts that you'll give and receive at Christmas. But remember that Christmas is going to come and go, and the rush, the pleasure of it is momentary. Realize that the true happiness that we will have will only come if we obey God in all that he says for us to do. That's how happiness will come into our lives and stay in our lives.

Well, I hope that you'll be successful in your money matters, I really do, and that God will richly bless you as you serve him in this area of your lives. Of course, what really matters in life is not money. What really matters is to be at peace with Christ, at peace with God. And so if you have a need to be at peace with him, either by repenting of your sins and being baptized, becoming a Christian, or by getting the prayers of the church in order to be restored, or you'd like to place membership, perhaps there's a change that needs to be happening in your life and you need the prayers and the encouragement of the church, this is the time during our service that we call on you to come forward and make that known as Harold leads us in the final song of encouragement. Shall we stand for that now, please?