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Video - Confessions of a Shopaholic Opening Scene
Can anyone relate?
You know you go to the store and you are blown away by shiny things.
Here’s a word for you...
Squander
This is not a word that you will hear in any marketing campaign.
Can’t you just hear the commercials now.
“Come waste your money here.”
“This is a great money-pit opportunity.”
“Give us your money and we will give you something that will break, become obsolete, or require even more money to maintain.”
That is not the kind of language that will sell a product, but as you know, that is usually what happens with most things that we buy.
God has a different invitation for us when it comes to how we use money.
He tells us to spend it wisely.
Money is not evil.
It is okay to spend money, but the key here is to not overindulge or squander.
It is so important that when we spend money we use discretion.
This is a habit that goes against our consumer-driven culture.
A couple of weeks ago I gave you a quote from John Wesley that says, “Earn all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can.”
That was his motto.
John Wesley grew up watching his parents struggle to make it and he was determined to not live the life they did.
He called early Methodists to spend only on the “basics.”
When we think about the basics, that could mean different things for different people.
It could be health, education, and investments for the future.
Wesley’s hope was if early Methodists could spend money on their essential needs, they would have money left over to give.
(Sounds like a preacher, huh.)
Wesley did not become a spiritual giant and benevolent man of God overnight.
His outlook on finances was shaped by “memorizing the pain.”
What do I mean by “memorizing the pain?”
When a young child touches a hot stove, of course they will get burned, but something else takes place.
A painful memory is created in that short instance.
Memorizing the pain means humans will do anything possible to avoid the painful situation again.
For Wesley, it was the pain of seeing what his family endured when he was growing up that he wanted to avoid.
Samuel and Suzanna Wesley, John’s parents, had 19 children, and experienced the pain of losing 9 of them at childbirth.
Samuel Wesley did not earn a high income as a clergyman and had trouble keeping the household afloat for his 10 living children.
As a result, the family was in a constant state of financial turmoil, leading to Samuel’s arrest twice because of his outstanding debts.
The family situation was the picture Wesley ha of finances.
It was enough to motivate him to pursue educational endeavors, which ultimately landed him teaching opportunities with Oxford University and Lincoln College.
Wesley quickly accumulated money in his pocket but did not want to model the poverty of his family.
But without basic budgeting skills, he soon began to squander his money on card games, tobacco, and brandy.
it was these spending habits that set the stage for a chance encounter that would change Wesley forever.
There is a story that one day Wesley had just finished paying for some pictures for his room when one of the chambermaids came to his door.
It was a cold winter day, and he noticed that she had nothing to protect her except a thin linen gown.
He reached into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat but found he had too little left.
Immediately the thought struck him that the Lord was not pleased with the way he had spent his money.
He asked himself, Will they Master say, “Well done, good and faithful steward”?
He was ashamed of himself for using all the money he had to buy pictures for his walls which meant he did not have any money to take care of the poor chambermaid.
Wesley never again wanted to experience the feeling of letting God or his brothers and sisters in Christ down.
After this painful moment, Wesley began to develop a theology and practice around money that would change his life and early Methodism.
To begin, Wesley decided he would determine the bare minimum wages he needed to live on for one year.
With an income of 30 pounds a year, Wesley determined he could live on 28 pounds and give away 2 pounds.
Wesley’s steady pace showed him that he could take another leap of faith as his second year of living frugally began.
Wesley’s income rose that second year, doubling from the previous year to 60 pounds.
Though his income rose, Wesley kept his expenses the same at about 28 pounds, giving away 32 pounds that year.
Year after year of Wesley’s income growth, he continued to live on the minimum he set for himself while continuing to give away the rest, until he was living on 2% of his income and giving away the other 98%.
Just like many of us have to do, Wesley had to fight the urge of squandering vs. spending.
So, today we are going to look at what the Bible says about spending money.
Remember, everything that we have belongs to God.
None of it is ours, it is all his.
He just lets us live off 90%.
So, if all we have belongs to God, then how we spend money should glorify God, also.
It is not just about tithing 10% back to God.
If we are stewarding that money wisely, the way the other 90% is spent matters just as much as our tithe.
If the Lord is guiding you in your spending, some aspects of your spending will look similar to others who are also being guided by the Lord, but many things will be unique to the relationship you have with God.
If you have your bibles with you this morning, go with me to the book of Matthew.
I want to read a passage to you from Jesus’ sermon on the mount, found in chapter 6. Financial worries is somethings Christians have been dealing with for centuries.
The same was true for people during Jesus’ time.
Today, there are many people, maybe even some of you that have these very things to worry about.
Some of you may be wondering where am I going to get my next meal.
By the way, none of you should ever worry about food.
We have a food pantry.
Even if it is just to help you through the month.
You just see Pastor David and he will hook you up with food.
But with the economy the way it is, people are struggling.
They are worried about where food or clothes or even shelter will come from.
Others are struggling with the pressures our culture adds to having the right clothes, eating the fancy foods, or keeping up with those around us.
People make choices every day to try and keep up with how our culture says we should live, and financially, we can’t do it anymore.
The debt adds up, and the stuff does not make us feel any happier, any more important, or any more secure.
But yet we still want more.
I like what Dave Ramsey says, “Stop keeping up with the Joneses because the Joneses are broke.”
So, the question for you this morning is...
“How can I, a Christ-follower, follow Christ in the midst of this consumer-driven culture?”
Think about it.
You go out and you buy that new car.
You are now the talk of the town.
All eyes are on you and just when you think that you are the man.
You look over your shoulder and somebody else has just got the newer model.
It never ends.
There is always someone there to take you down a peg.
We like to compare ourselves to others.
We like to brag about what we do have.
And we may even play the, “I don’t have what so and so has.” card.
But I believe that we can learn to be satisfied with what God has given us and learn to live with the position that God has placed us in.
So, here are three things that you can do to follow Christ in the midst of this consumer-driven culture.
1. Rejoice In What You Do Have
Contentment is not natural.
We are born wanting more.
Contentment is something that is learned.
Paul says in Philippians 4:11-12
The British Author G.K. Chesterton says, “There are two ways to get enough.
One is to continue to accumulate more and more.
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