Money and the Wisdom of Saving

Good morning! Welcome to the Vineyard. If this is your first time, my name is Kevin and I’m the pastor here. Our vision at the Vineyard is simple - we want to embody Jesus to our neighbors. This happens by growing in three ways, through what we call our pillars.

First, is Presence. We want everyone to experience the presence of God. This is what transforms us to love him and others. God’s presence is where we become fully alive. We want you to know the Father.

Then, Formation. God doesn’t just love us; he is forming us to be his people who can carry his life and love to those around us. Formation is where we learn to embody the Jesus way of life. We want you to imitate the Son.

Finally, Mission. Being on mission is how we join God in the work he is doing to bring his reconciliation, justice, and mercy to earth. This is how he is bringing healing and renewal to the world. We want you to partner with the Spirit.

Presence. Formation. Mission. Be thinking about your next step. Where is God calling you to go deeper with him?

Suggest a way to grow in all three - become an intercessor! Sacrifice one hour to pray for our church, our leaders, our ministries and mission, our protection, and for the power of the HS.

Pray...

Intro

Intro series… The Good Life is a life lived according to God’s wisdom.

We’re doing a kind of 3-week series-within-a-series with a focus on money. There’s two reasons for this:

Money is a big deal. Think about how much time you spend relating to money in some form - either making it, paying bills, buying necessities, eating out, deciding if you can afford something, and so on. It is probably a rare day that we don’t have to related to money in some way.

Money is spiritual. Some may think that talking about money in church is like doing a talk on how to clean a shotgun - maybe of interest but not particularly spiritual. We need to talk about Jesus! But Scripture spends much time talking about money precisely because we have to relate to it so often. This makes money and our use of money a discipleship issue.

Last week Julie did an amazing job pinch-hitting for me and talking about wisdom in how we make money. If you missed it, the main point is that God calls us to be diligent workers - whether our work is for a paycheck or not.

Today I want to talk about the wisdom of how we save it. Solomon wrote, Prov 3:9-10 “Honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” The immediate context of this saying is about honoring God by our giving. But I think we can read this more broadly also: we honor God with our wealth when we use wisdom to set some aside for a rainy day, because there is always a rainy day coming. What I hope we see today is that The Good Life includes saving money for our family, our friends, and our future.

Living hand to mouth

Money is stressful - at least feeling like you don’t have enough is. According to recent polls, most Americans are concerned they will run out of money during retirement. Almost half believe they will enter retirement with debt. Of course, there is the perennial fear that Social Security will not be around by the time we reach retirement. I wasn’t too concerned about it in my 20s. In my 50s it is a little bigger deal.

Additionally, three in five Americans live paycheck to paycheck - 64% to be exact. We find ourselves juggling expenses, and often having to rob Peter to pay Paul. It’s madness, and it causes incredible stress. The American Psychological Association recently found that 65% of Americans report money as a significant source of stress in their life, and the percentage goes up the darker and younger you are.

We’ve all heard of living hand to mouth, meaning we have nothing to spare beyond basic necessities. Most of us probably live hand to mouth. Let me suggest that, from Scripture and God’s wisdom, living hand to mouth was never intended to be a lifestyle. If we want to experience the good life - life according to God’s wisdom - we need to learn to save money for our family, our friends, and our future. Let me offer five principles:

Principle #1: Wise people set aside a portion of what they make.

Prov 21:20 “Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it.”

What Solomon is saying is that the wise hold back some of what they have. They store it for the future. They plan for lean times. They plan for refrigerators going out and for car tires going bald, because it’s not a matter of IF that will happen but WHEN. Foolish people use up all they have. Hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck living is not wise. Make it a goal to learn to live on 80%.

Principle #2: Wise people save incrementally.

Prov 13:11 “Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it.”

I can hear some objections: “Kevin, I don’t make enough money to set anything back.” I get it. We’re not a church of financially rich people. But one of the big lies the enemy tells us is that if we can’t save X% - whatever we think is worthwhile - then there’s not point in saving anything at all. “If I can only save $25 a month, why bother”. But wisdom would say, “that’s $25 you didn’t have before”. And next month it’s $50. And what I also know is that once we develop a habit of saving, we tend to get better at it and find other ways to add to it. Don’t despise small beginnings; God rewards our diligent saving.

Principle #3: Wise people save money in wise ways.

Eccl 11:2 “Divide your means seven ways, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth.”

Get rich quick schemes are just that - schemes. And while I see nothing wrong with buying a powerball ticket - and remember you are required to tithe 40% on gambling winnings , I’m pretty sure that’s in the Bible somewhere - using this as an investment vehicle is unwise. Rather, wisdom says to spread your saving to multiple places.

This is the principle of “diversification”. Wise people diversify; foolish people put all their eggs in one basket. Since this is not a how-to talk of investing, I’ll just recommend that you go through a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course. If you are interested in that talk to David or Susie Bergstrom and maybe we can get a class organized.

Principle #4: Wise people plan for the unplanned. While I don’t think this is probably an issue with anyone here, I feel the need to at least say that living hand to mouth is not evidence of great faith. A lackadaisical attitude toward saving for future needs is more a sign of presumption than of any kind of biblical faith. Scripture over and over encourages us to save for the unplanned and the unknown.

Prov 27:23-27 “Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds; for riches do not last forever, nor a crown for all generations. When the grass is gone, and new growth appears, and the herbage of the mountains is gathered, the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field; there will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household and nourishment for your servant-girls.”

Solomon is essentially saying we can’t know what the future holds. We may be in a time of prosperity now, but those times don’t last. Wise people take care of their business, and this includes making sure you have something set back that will help provide for you in the lean times.

Principle #5: Wise people delay gratification.

Prov 24:27 “Prepare your work outside, get everything ready for you in the field; and after that build your house.”

What’s he saying? Simply this: do what you need to do BEFORE you do what you want to do. If there is any secret to “winning” at saving money it is don’t buy it until you can afford it!

The point I want to make is that beginning to set something back in savings - even if its a measly $25 a month - will help propel you toward the good life and relating to money wisely.

Attitude toward saving

Of course, we need to save money with the right attitude. Why are we saving? Who are we saving for? These are important questions to answer because they reveal your heart and the spiritual nature of money. That we have to interact with money is a given; how we interact with it reveals our heart.

I’m saving for old age

I’m saving to pass something to my children

I’m saving so I can have something put back for those in serious need

I’m saving so I can retire to beach, the mountains, the lake and live in decadence

Some of those reasons are better - and more Christian - than the others. We need to cultivate a Christian ethic and biblical attitude about saving. I’ll offer two attitudes we need to cultivate:

Attitude #1: Christians don’t hoard money. Saving money can and should become a good spiritual habit. It is a SPIRITUAL discipline. But saving money can be turned toward the dark side to where it becomes an unhealthy addiction. There is a point when enough is enough, and anything beyond is hoarding.

Eccl 5:10 “The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity.”

When have we become hoarders? I can’t answer that for you, but it is a danger that we need to be aware of.

Attitude #2: Christians don’t trust in money. We save money for rainy days, because rainy days happen. We save for old age because, by the grace of God, we will get old. We save money because sometimes God will invite up to go above and beyond to help our neighbor. But we don’t put our trust in money but in the God who provides.

Prov 11:28 “Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.”

Prov 18:11 “The wealth of the rich is their strong city; in their imagination it is like a high wall.”

Wealth tends to make us think we are bullet proof. But most of us, no matter how diligently we save, would not be able to save enough that it couldn’t be wiped out by a major illness. On the flip side, even if we are wiped out financially, we are not destitute, for God is with us and he is our ultimate provider. He has ways of providing for us that exceed the boundaries of our bank account.

Life and possessions

At the risk of sounding clique, God is a saver. Listen to the “saving” language the apostle Peter uses in his letter:

1 Peter 1:3–5 (NRSV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

When we think about salvation, we usually think in the past tense - “have you been saved?” The Bible certainly speaks of it in this way. But scripture also speaks of it in a future tense - it is something God is saving for you. For those who have placed their trust in Christ, God is saving, preserving, keeping, protecting an inheritance for you. The apostle Paul writes that it has not even entered into our imagination what God has prepared and preserved for those who love him.

Saving for a rainy day, for your future, for your family, for the needs of others - these are wonderful things. Do this. Make it a priority. But no matter what or how much we save, it eventually is used up. It fades away. God calls us to place our ultimate savings with him - one that is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading”. Whether we can save a lot or a little in this life, Jesus has, is, and will be saving you. Not only is our inheritance kept for us; we are kept for our inheritance. This is the ultimate hope of God’s people. Amen.