Preached in Markham Baptist Church, May 22, 2005

STEWARDSHIP - PART 3: "ACHIEVING FINANCIAL FREEDOM"

What is a Christian attitude toward money? How are we Christians to think about money?

It can be difficult to answer because we live in a culture that is incredibly wealthy. All of us here are very wealthy. Some of you may not feel wealthy and when you compare yourself to others who live on Toronto’s Post Road, you feel absolutely impoverished. But let me assure you that everyone here is wealthy and we live in a wealthy age. Travel to any third world country and then come back and tell me that we are not wealthy. Why, we spend more on dog food in a week than most people would ever earn in a lifetime! We live in an affluent age.

This affluence has brought a great deal of blessing. We have good quality education, health care, quality housing, transportation to wherever your heart wishes to go, a communication system that enables us to speak to anyone anywhere. Recreational options abound, and have you ever seen so much food? The blessings of wealth are real and need to be acknowledged.

But there is a down side to wealth, and it too needs to be acknowledged. The down side to living in such a wealthy culture is that the world gets turned upside down. People’s values, our values get all messed up. In our wealthy culture, that which is of high value like relationships, spirituality, a Christ-like character, integrity and honesty hold little value - while that which is of little value, like boats and cars and things and fame and beauty, are highly valued.

While there are some real benefits to wealth, wealth is also very dangerous and Scripture is giving us this warning again and again. In the book of Deuteronomy God says to His people, “When your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 8:13,14)

It can bring a hardness of heart and deadens us spiritually, so that we develop a kind of spiritual amnesia that makes us forget to whom we belong and what we are really living for.

And in our text, Jesus, speaking to two men - one who wanted more of the inheritance and another who was unwilling to share the inheritance - gives this warning, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (verse 15)

How does a Christian think about money? It is often difficult to think clearly about money because we live in a culture that is obsessed with getting and keeping money. We live in a culture that a man’s life DOES consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And God says I want you to be free from the power and pull of money and live with the ability to put money in its place - not that we worship it and crave it but so that we can use it for good.

So this morning I want us to check our spiritual pulse and get a proper perspective on the whole issue of money and what our Lord says about it.

What is a Christian perspective of money?

Let’s recognize that it will be difficult because of the culture in which we live. But it will also be difficult because there are exists two Christian myths about money.

One myth states that God wants us to be wealthy. That is a myth. The prosperity gospel that you often hear on TV is not gospel. True, there are all sorts of promises given to us by God about prosperity. 2 Corinthians 9:6, for instance, promises that if we sow generously we will reap generously. Or in Malachi (3:10) we read “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

But we need to be careful that we don’t read into those texts that God will necessarily bless us materially. That’s what we assume these promises are saying. And the truth is God MAY bless us materially as we give generously and He often does. But don’t assume that it is a “given”. God may bless us in so many other ways, indeed, better ways. He may bless us with an assurance of His love, we may hear those delightful words, “Well done good and faithful servant.” What could be a greater blessing than that? “A brand new Lexus?” No!

God will bless. Following God’s principles will bring blessing, but nowhere does it say in God’s Word that His goal for us is to be wealthy.

The second myth is that God wants us to be poor. That is also a myth. I grew up in a wealthy home. My dad has a gift for business and as a result we were a wealthy family. I remember in my teens giving my dad a hard time about the fact that we were wealthy. After all, I had read the Scripture and believed that it was a sin to be rich. I told him that I thought he was ripping people off and he was making way too much money. You can bet that went over big!

Thankfully my dad had some level of patience with me and I was to learn later that it is not necessarily “super spiritual” to be poor. The truth is that God wants us to be free from the power of money and to live life in such a way that He has first place in our lives.

So let’s ask the question, what is a Christian perspective on money?

Well first, a follower of Christ has settled the Lordship issue. Jesus says in our text, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed”. And in another place he says, “You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24). It is that plain. Settle the Lordship issue in your life. You know the saying, “Master your money or your money will master you.”

It was A.W. Tozer who said, “Within the human heart ‘things’ have taken over. God’s gifts now take the place of God and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.”¹

In our text Jesus tells the story of a man who did very well for himself in the grain futures and had to build bigger barns to hold all his goods and then he decides to retire, take life easy, eat drink and be merry.

Now this is not a parable against success. It is not a sin to be successful. My father was successful at what he did. It was a gift he had - he was a good business man. And it could be argued that if one follows the moral principles of Scripture, such as honesty, fairness, and integrity that one will probably have a high level of success in the business world.

No, this is not a parable against success, it is a parable against making the things of this world the Lord of your life. Look at what the man says in verse 17 and 18 the man says, “I have no place to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods.”

And God has to step in and say – whose crops? Whose grain? Whose barns?

The man hadn’t settled the Lordship issue. The man felt he had command over his life. He did not consider his things as lent to him by God to use and as a result, things became his Lord. And God says, “Enough of that, You are out of here.” God isn’t being cruel, He isn’t being mean, it is that God demands and deserves first place in your life.

You cannot serve both God and money. That’s why we are so intentional at Markham Baptist about encouraging you to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord. When you make that decision we are changing the direction of your life, we call it conversion. We have to declare ourselves to our families and friends that this is who we will follow – Jesus Christ. And we have no hesitation about inviting people to follow Christ because we know that in Him is life.

A follower of Christ has settled the Lordship issue. So just take your pulse right now, on a scale of one to ten, who is Lord, who and what are you living for? Money or Jesus Christ?

Secondly, a follower of Jesus Christ practices contentment. Jesus says in verse 15, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

That speaks of the need for contentment. J.I Packer defines contentment as a matter of accepting from God’s hand what He sends because we know that He is good and therefore it is good.”²

Contentment is not denying ones feelings of unhappiness, but it is the power to be free from being controlled by those feelings. Contentment is not pretending things are okay when they are not, but it is trusting God and his goodness in the midst of the difficulty.

Contentment is not complacency that defeats any attempt to make things better. It is rather clinging to God rather than the results. It is trusting God rather the situation, it is praising God in whatever situation knowing that He is good and therefore what you have received is good.

The problem for us is that we live in a culture of discontent. A culture that characterized by greed and a desire for more. It seems our lusts are never satiated, our thirsts are never satisfied, our hunger is rarely overcome and there is never a ceiling that is set and says “if we reach this ceiling we are content.” The poor envy the rich and the rich envy the richer.

We have this sinful desire for more which is played on by advertisers and manufacturers. We live in a world where needs are manufactured. It is what drives our economy. A number of years ago do you remember the need that was manufactured for Cabbage Patch dolls? Every girl needed to have a Cabbage Patch doll and people were going to ridiculous lengths to get their hands on one. Now I see them in garage sales.

It has been said that the media seduces us into buying things most of which we don’t yet know we even want.

Contentment is a battle, but there are some ways to fight it successfully. I am indebted to Richard Swenson and his book called Margin for some of these suggestions.

Run away from the “if only” syndrome. God says to us, “Be content.” We often say, “I would be content if only … if only I had this house, or that office, or that larger barn.” Stop saying, if only.

Try developing counterculture habits. Instead of getting, try giving. Instead of replacing, try preserving. Instead of feeling greedy, be grateful. Instead of feeling inferior to your neighbours and friends, know that you are accepted by God.

Start subtracting from your needs. Richard Swenson suggests that you make a list of all your needs and then start crossing things off. It might be painful at first but after a while it becomes fun. G.K Chesterton once said, “There are two ways to get enough - one is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.”

Begin practicing thanksgiving. Don’t wait till October to give thanks to God for all that He has given you.

Give yourself permission not to follow fashion. Society tells us that we have to have the latest look and the latest style. It is particularly brutal on our young people. Our culture says that if you wear plain clothes or don’t have the latest from the trendiest store you should be embarrassed, made fun of, bullied. But God never said that we had to follow fashion. As individuals and as a church we need to be giving permission to ourselves to live simply and not feel embarrassed when we are not dressed on a Sunday morning in the height of fashion.

Now here’s a good one – stop looking up the prosperity ladder. You’ve been told when you are a ladder, “don’t look down.” Well when it comes to the prosperity ladder we need to begin to look down. We are fabulously wealthy. We are fabulously wealthy and we only learn this when we look down the prosperity ladder, not up. It is a spiritual discipline - rather than envying those with more, we have compassion for those with less.

Harold Percy of Trinity Anglican Church in Streestville tells of a time when he was visiting Uganda with a team from World Vision. Uganda, like all of Africa is ravaged by AIDS. In a population of 24 million living in Uganda, there are more than 2 million orphans because of AIDS right now. And he tells of visiting a woman in her mud hut - her name was Zoe. She has a cancerous tumor in her mouth the size of a softball, which has distorted her face so that she cannot close her mouth. She is raising 18 grandchildren of school age because all of her sons and daughters have all died from AIDS. And so they met in this mud hut and Harold Percy said he never heard a word of complaint from this woman as she told them how she has the children pray twice a day, go to school. And Don Posterski asked, “When you pray, what do you pray?”

“I pray that my grandchildren will grow up to be good people and I pray for the people who are in need because I hear they are having a hard time in the North where there is a war.” ⁴

It never occurred to her that she was one of the poor people in the world. Why? Because she is looking down the prosperity ladder.

Contentment is a decision. So take a moment, on a scale of one to ten where are you on the contentment scale?

So a follower of Christ has settled the Lordship issue, practices contentment and then this. A follower of Christ trusts God to provide.

In verse 19 of our text, it say the rich farmer laid up for himself plenty of good things that would last him for many years. There was no trust in God to provide, no living in dependence upon Him, no need for the adventure of faith, only eat and drink and be satisfied.

God calls us to trust Him to supply us with everything we need. He takes great delight in an individual in a church that looks to Him to provide. Jesus says, “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.”

This is why I am against lottery tickets. I do not believe that a Christian should be buying lottery tickets. It is an act which directly stands against your trust in God. Trust him to provide, trust in him to provide for your needs.

That’s why I’m also against a church that seeks to build up trust funds, contingency funds, rainy day funds and legacies. Where is the faith? There is great need now. So let’s use those contingency funds to meet the needs that are all around us now and let’s trust God to provide the finances that will help us face the needs that arise in the future.

Where is the thrill of seeing God work in a mighty way?

Let us trust God to provide - He knows the future and He will not call us to ministry without giving the ability and the strength.

How are you on the trust scale? Are you trusting God to provide for your needs? Do you practice faith looking to Him to provide?

But as soon as I say that, I have to say that a follower of Christ is not careless with his/her money. God has given us minds and calls us to use them when it comes to money, he wants us to use good sense. This means that as an individual I don’t spend more than I earn.

It means I keep track of my money. Perhaps you are a person who always says, “I don’t know where the money goes.” If you say that, then you need to create a budget and live within it. There are lot of financially astute people here in this congregation and I know that they would be more than willing to help you – some even free of charge if you are burdened with debt and cannot get out from under it, approach one of the many accountants here or financial planners and they will be more than happy to help you set some financial goals that will bring relief to you and your family.

Don’t be careless. How are you on the careless scale/ Mark yourself - are you careful with your money or careless?

A follower of Christ practices generosity. Money is incredibly powerful and one of the best ways to break its hold on us is to give it away. How much better this farmer would have been if he had given it away. “This is who it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

When we give money away we not only neutralize its power over us, but we also bring it under the domain of the Kingdom of God.

Satan wants us to be selfish. God wants us to be generous.

You know the goal of all these things I am suggesting today is not so that in the end we will have more money to hold on to and put in our big barns. It is rather that we are able to practice generosity toward others and have the joy of responding to God’s call to give.

Do you know that God blesses you so that you can bless others? I learned this from my dad. He knows how to make money like no one else I know. But he also knows how to give it away.

It was the great E.V. Hill who said when God blesses you materially, He rarely has you in mind. Instead He blesses you so that you can be a vessel through which he can bless others.

I once told you that E.V. Hill’s congregation discovered the need for a bath house for the poor in their neighborhood to have a bath in Los Angeles? What I didn’t tell you was that the bath house they built would cost $10,000 and everyone in the church was saying where are we going to get $10,000?

And E.V. Hill said, “Do you remember just a few weeks ago you took up an offering for me in honor of my birthday?” And they all said, “Yes.”

“Do you know how much was in that offering?” “Yes, pastor it was $10,000.” And E.V. Hill took out his cheque book and wrote a cheque for $10,000. Happy birthday! When God blesses you materially, He rarely has you in mind.

Be generous. How are you on the scale of one to ten? How are you at being generous?

Then this, a follower of Christ enjoys what money can do. I don’t read of any joy in this parable. The farmer hoarded and saved and stored. But there was no joy in what his money could do.

Donald Trump once said, “Whoever said money can’t buy happiness doesn’t know where to shop.” And do you know he was right. Not in the sense that he thinks, but the truth is that money can bring well being and happiness if it is used wisely and generously. There is a joy, a happiness, that is gained when one is able to give it away, when one isn’t so locked up with debt and overextending oneself that you can actually respond positively when God calls on you to help meet a need that has arisen, to proclaim His love here at home and around the world. There is a joy in using our money for God, for His glory and His kingdom.

So what is a Christian perspective on money?

· We serve God, not money.

· We are content either with plenty or with little.

· We trust God to provide

· We aren’t careless with our money.

· We are generous to all

· We enjoy what money can do.

ENDNOTES:

1. Quoted by Richard Swenson, Margin, (U.S.A.: NavPress, 1992) page 197

2. Quoted by Richard Swenson, Margin, (U.S.A.: NavPress, 1992) page 187

3. Richard Swenson ibid, pages 199-200