The Buck Starts Here – A Godly Perspective on Money

The Buck Starts Here – A Godly Perspective on Money*
Sycamore Creek Church
November 10/11, 2013
Tom Arthur

Peace friends!

A little more money would make life a little better?  Right?  Dave Ramsey says, “Money is fun. If you’ve got some.”   The problem is that most of us are strapped for cash.  And the hard reality is that we’re strapped largely because we’ve done something stupid with money.

I’ve had my share of stupid purchases.  There was the time I spent $18 on a Rainbow Brite Doll for my fourth-grade girlfriend, who then broke up with me.  Afterwards I realized that a Rainbow Brite Doll was for a four-year-old, not a fourth grader.  Then there was my job during college at The Gap.  I spent all my paycheck on clothes while accumulating student loan debt.  Shortly after I was married I spent $200 on Gore-tex waterproof boots that ended up being a little too small.  I didn’t realize they were too small until after half a day on the trail through the dirt, water, and mud and aching feet!

I asked my friends on Facebook what stupid or unwise purchases they’ve made.  Here’s the stories they shared:

• Going to the casino and losing it all and not being able to get anything from the ATM on weekend.
• Bought a house right before the housing market crashed.
• Went to Costa Rica when I *really* didn’t have money to be doing that sort of thing.
• Grad school?
• Went to Divinity School.
• Bought a new house before old house was sold. Two house payments. Not good.
• There was the time the sales woman was hot at the Buckle in the mall.  She was flirting really bad.  I spent $300 of my graduation money. I went back the next day and asked her out. I thought she was interested, but she was with someone else!!  Lol

We’ve all made stupid and unwise purchases.  Check out this poem by George Bilgere called Unwise Purchases.

So we’ve all done it, but this is not a guilt series.  We’re not here to shame you.  Shake off the guilt. Shake it off.  This is a practical series about how to manage and handle your money in a god-honoring way.  It’s a series about:

1. The heart and money
2. Disciplines to help us to climb out of debt
3. Saving and what to do with it

The wisdom of the Proverbs says:

The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant [servant/slave/in bondage] to the lender.
Proverbs 22:7 NIV

“We’d love to [you fill in the blank]…but we don’t because we don’t have money.”  That’s bondage.  That’s being strapped.
We’d love to stay at home with the kids, but we don’t because we don’t have money.
We’d love to adopt an orphan, but we don’t because we don’t have money.
We’d love to buy a little bigger house for our family, but we don’t because we don’t have money.
We’d love to go on a mission trip, but we don’t because we don’t have money.
We’d love to give a little more away, but we don’t because we don’t have money.

The average household debt is $136% of household income.  The only institution that does this and gets away with it is the US government!  The average credit card debt is $14,517.  That’s a lot of ear rings, belts, shoes (to match the ear rings and belt), golf clubs, DVDs, and more.  The average 21 year old is $12,000 in debt!  $12,000!  It gets worse.  The average 28 year old is $78,000!  $78,000!  $78,000!  The number of US households living paycheck to paycheck is over half at 55%.

If money is one of the best outward measurements of your inward spiritual condition (and I believe it is), then we’re in really bad shape spiritually.  I was meeting with someone the other day who is reading through the Bible for the first time.  He said to me, “There’s a lot in here about money!”  He’s right!  2/3 of the parables deal with money and possessions.  1 in 10 verses in the gospels deal with money and things.  2300 verses in the Bible are about money.  That’s five times the amount on prayer or faith!  Money is an indicator of our spiritual condition, and there are two temptations we face when it comes to money.

Two Temptations of Money

1. We’re tempted to serve money.  Jesus says:

No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24 NLT

Money and things are the #1 competitors for our heart.  If you bought something you didn’t need with money you didn’t have to impress people you didn’t like, you’ve served money.  If you’ve ever hoarded money, you’ve served money.  If I want to give my kids the life I never had, when all they ever wanted was your presence, you’ve served money.

2. We’re tempted to love money.  Paul, the first missionary of the church, was a mentor to Timothy when he said:

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6:10 NLT

Money isn’t good or bad.  It’s neutral.  It’s the love of money that is wrong.  There are a lot of poor people who love money.  If you’re rich, it doesn’t mean you love money. You may just be good at what you do.  If you have debt with low money, you will have more debt with more money.  More money makes you more of what you already are.  King Solomon who was known for his wisdom said:

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 NIV

We’re under the power and influence of money and we don’t even know it.  Most of us don’t have an income problem.  Most of us have spending problems.  Which indicates a spiritual problem.  We don’t need more money.  We need more Jesus.

Things have got to change.  Are you sick of it?  Get sick of it so that you do something about it!

The Point
Here’s the whole point of the message today: If you’re a Christian, we don’t serve money, we serve God.  Money serves us as we serve God.  So how does money serve us?  Four ways:

1. Money buys basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing.  These are basic NEEDS (not wants) that we must have in order to live life.
2. Money buys time.  If you’re spending all your time focusing on food, shelter, and clothing, then you don’t have time to focus on “higher” needs like loving your family with your presence.  Micah has recently begun saying to me, “Daddy, do you have time to play with me?”  Time to play with Micah isn’t as basic a need as making sure he’s got food, clothing, and shelter, but it is a very important need.
3. Money buys options.  Do you own a clunker car that you’re always afraid is going to give out on you, or do you own a dependable car that gets you to work and back each day?  Dependable doesn’t mean BMW.  It means just what it says, a dependable basic car.  But if you don’t have the money to buy a dependable car, then you’re ending up with all kinds of other problems like not being a dependable worker and not having dependable income from that job to meet the basic needs of life.
4. Money buys blessings to others.  When you’ve got your basic needs met and you’ve got more income, it is fun, yes FUN!, to bless others with what you’ve got extra.  For example, check out this video about tipping:

Christmas

We picked this series to happen in November to help you prepare for Christmas.  Christmas is one of those times when we throw out all financial wisdom and go big into debt and spend several months if not years trying to dig ourselves out of the hole we dug ourselves in.  This Christmas I want to challenge you to do Christmas differently.  We’ll be doing a series called Christmas is Not Your Birthday.  You know that Christmas is not about you.  It’s not even about your family.  It’s about Jesus.  Christmas is Jesus’ birthday.  And Jesus’ birthday wish list has on it blessing others with your resources rather than buying into the greed, consumerism, and materialism of our culture.  This Christmas we’re encouraging you to spend less so that you can give more away.  If you usually spend $1000 on Christmas, give $1000 away.  Or if you usually spend $1000 on Christmas, then cut it in half and give $500 away.  We’ll be receiving a special offering on Christmas Eve that will go entirely to our medical missions in Nicaragua.  Twice a year we bring life-saving and life-giving medicine and medical expertise to Nicaragua, the second poorest nation in the Americas after Haiti.  Use your money to bless others this Christmas rather than give more gifts to people who already have too much.

Paul, the first missionary of the church, said to the church in Rome:

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.
Romans 13:8

Do you want to better honor God with what God has given you?  Then take today’s message as a foundation to your life, and come back in coming weeks to learn basic practical steps for how to handle your money wisely.  Today, set your will, set your mind, set your heart on getting your financial house in order so that you owe no one any debt except the debt to keep loving as many people as you can.  And remember, this is first and foremost a spiritual problem.  It’s a spiritual problem because our hearts are in the debt of sin, and Jesus must first free us from that debt so that we can get our financial debts in order.  Have you asked Jesus to free you from the debt of sin?  If not, do so today, and trust that with time and perseverance, and wise financial decisions, you can get to a place where you are blessing others financially because God has blessed you.

* This message is adapted and based on a sermon by Craig Groeschel.