THE POWER OF THE TITHE 4

Matt. 6: 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Can lure one away from the faith.

1 Tim 6:10 “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Can lead to bondage.

Prov. 22: 7 “The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don't borrow and put yourself under their power.”

Can do great good.

Acts 20:35 “In everything I did, I showed you that by…hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

If you doubt the power of money, let’s look at a few more facts:

George Gallup reports that 64% of all COUPLES worry about money.

It's also now the number one cause of divorce—51% of all couples that call it quits say their decision had something to do with their finances.

The marriage vow of many has now become, “Until debt to us part."

A recent Newsweek cover showed a couple buried under credit cards with a headline that read, "Americans are drowning in debt."

The article said, "Americans have been borrowing in record amounts as the economy has tanked this year. Home equity debt has soured past 330 billion dollars. Bankruptcies are up 20%. And most people are spending more than they make."

Christian financier Larry Burkett points to the underlying reason behind all this and says:

“…an increasing number of families don't know how to handle money, debt, and resources. Americans clearly lack financial literacy skills.”

In the next couple of Sundays we’re going to try to fix some of this with some simple money advice from the richest man in the O.T.—King Solomon.

The Book of Proverbs lays out 5 simple principles for SMART MONEY:

Keep good records

Plan your spending

Save for the future

Be content with what you already have

And give back at least 10% to God

We will deal with the first two today, and the last three next time.

First of all, to keep from losing control of our finances we must:

KEEP GOOD RECORDS

Solomon refers to this smart money principle in:

Proverbs 27:23-24 "Know the condition of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds, for riches don’t last forever…”

Now, in Solomon's day, instead of STOCKS they had FLOCKS.

A man's herds were his assets and it was the shepherd's job to keep track of the size and condition of the flock.

So Solomon is saying, To get control of our finances, the first thing we must do is keep track of what we've got.

It has been said, "Money used to talk. Now it just quietly slips away."

In another passage, Solomon notes the transitory nature of money: “In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.”—Pr. 23:4

Because of this reality, we must always be aware of the condition of our accounts.

Solomon’s advice is, Keep good records.

Now, our record keeping should be set up so that we know four things:

What we OWE—Never be the last one to know your debt load.

What we OWN—in other words, what is paid for. What your assets are.

What we EARN—meaning, how much you have to deal with. And most importantly...

WHERE it goes

Have you ever said, "I don't know where all my money goes!"

Well, if you don't know, then, unless someone is stealing from you behind your back, you're not keeping good records.

One man writes, “There are tons of software programs out there that will help you do this but I'm kind of "technology- challenged" so I just keep a simple paper calendar as a record of my spending.

We're paid every two weeks, so on those two days of the month I write in the amount of my paycheck.

Then I write under each pay day the bills that I must pay from that paycheck: tithe, house payment, car payment, groceries, utilities, spending money, the kids' allowances, etc.

Then, when I pay each bill, I put a check mark by the amount.

Now, I'm constantly having to add unexpected things to this calendar—like birthday presents, etc. but even this simple method enables me to keep a fairly accurate record of the funds God entrusts me with.

And I have found that Solomon is right. Knowing where my money is and where it goes helps me not worry about it.”

A second thing Solomon advises is:

Plan your SPENDING

This is the principle of BUDGETING and he talks about it in:

Proverbs 21:5 "Plan carefully and you will have plenty. If you act too quickly, you will never have enough."

PRINCIPLE: Financial freedom is never determined by how MUCH money we make, but rather by how we SPEND what we make.

For most of us the problem is that we SPEND too much, and one reason we spend too much is because we SHOP too much—

Did you know the average American spends six hours a week in shopping related activities?

And I would wager that many here today are above that average!

Now, shopping isn't necessarily bad if you shop wisely to find the best values.

The problem is many of us don't do that.

In fact, recent surveys show that nine out of ten people shop IMPULSIVELY.

They don't PLAN their spending.

And if they do, they don't stick to their plan.

And because they don't stick to their plan they end up buying more than they can afford.

Now, WHY do we do this?

Well, for some of us it's envy and pride—keeping up with the Joneses!

Here the Bible advises, “Don't be obsessed with getting more material things. Be content with what you have. For He has promised, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you." So we can boldly quote, ‘God is there, ready to help; I'm fearless no matter what.’”—Heb 13:5

And then, there is the incredibly powerful influence of the media!

The message behind every billboard or magazine says, "Don't plan your spending! Just buy what you want!"

In the bike store I go to all the time, one sign attached to a very beautiful, expensive bike says, “Ride now, pay later.”

Hour after hour television pummels us with the message to buy-buy-buy!

Someone should do a study on the connection between hours of television watched and dollars of indebtedness incurred.

And believe me, those advertisers DON'T waste their money. They are VERY good at getting us to the store!

Behind every commercial are top scriptwriters, actors and actresses, musicians, and production people who join forces to get you and I to SPEND MONEY.

And then there are the constant SALES, pressuring us to buy IMPULSIVELY.

I remember a day when sales were yearly things. Now they are every weekend!

Stores are opening earlier or staying open later promising “unbelievable deals.”

And many of us can’t resist the pull, so we go “just to browse” and end up buying things we don't need just because they’re on sale.

The Bible is not kind about this practice. It says:

"Stupid people spend their money as fast as they get it."—Prov. 21:20

This great American pastime of impulsive shopping has created a new addiction.

Prevention magazine did an article called "ARE YOU A SHOPAHOLIC?"

The article talks about support groups for shoppers like:

SHOPPER STOPPERS or,

DEBTORS ANONYMOUS

And they mention some interesting personal testimonials to help people break the habit of impulsive buying.

One SHOPPER STOPPER keeps his credit cards frozen in a chunk of ice in the freezer so that, if he gets the urge to spend, he has to wait for the ice to melt.

Some of us might want to use concrete instead!

Jesus said, “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”—Matt. 5

Dave Ramsey has a better idea. He encourages the indebted to do some plastic surgery by just cutting your card in half instead!

Solomon would say that the best way to break the habit of impulsive buying is by planning your spending and sticking to the plan no matter what!

This is called a BUDGET!

BUDGETING is telling your money where you want it to go rather than wondering where it went.

No one would consider driving a car without a gas gauge because they don’t want to run out of gas.

But most people operate their personal finances without a SPENDING gauge.

They casually, impulsively spend from day to day, and when they run out of money by the middle of the month they say,

"How can I possible be out of money!"

The PRINCIPLE behind every budget is: Don’t spend what you don’t have.

Don’t live beyond your means.

And don’t assume God will cover your impulsive buying. He won’t. The bill will come whether you’re saved or lost.

So to manage our money we must:

Keep good records. And we must,

Plan our spending by making a budget and sticking to it.

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