Dollars with Sense

INTRODUCTION

People often have conflicting ideas about money...

Some say that it is sinful to be rich; others, that it is a virtue to be poor

Many think that money provides the ultimate security— I want us to begin with this thought today as we begin our study:

Proverbs 30:8–9 NIV

8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

The Bible says a great deal about money… There are three main assumptions I want you to consider along with this starting point:

One of those comes from Jesus himself--- He said quite a bit about Money— in fact I’m paraphrasing here, but basically Jesus said

Truth to Live by:

You will either worship money, or you will worship God with your money.

Matthew 6:24 NIV

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Truth to Live by:

Wealth or poverty do not matter to God as much as righteousness and unrighteousness.

What you might also consider is that all of these topics we’ve been discussing— Fearing the Lord, Work, Words, Wealth, Relationships, they all lead us to do the “right” things— righteousness. But it’s not righteousness for the sake of being right— it’s righteousness for the sake of and for the glory of Jesus.

That thought is also confirmed here in this proverb:

Proverbs 16:8 NIV

8 Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.

Unfortunately, money is sometimes how we judge someone— on the outside. If you are wealthy, you must be good, and if you are poor, than you must be bad. Or think about some who would say just the opposite that if you’re wealthy, you must be evil and hurt cheated or lied to get it— and if you’re poor, than you’ve attained some higher level of holiness--- That simply isn’t true.

God is far more concerned with how we obtain money— and then what we do with it--- in light of what’s right and wrong, what’s righteous than how much or how little we have.

A final assumption or truth to live by:

Truth to live by:

You don’t need more wealth, you need more wisdom.

Proverbs 3:13–14 NIV

13 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.

I’ve heard another great saying also that pretty much sums up these three truths:

“God has no problem with you having things— God’s problem is when your things have you.”

I want us to understand how we can be wise with our money— to have both Dollars and Sense...

6 things wise people do with money:

Wise people steward money seriously. (Ps 24:1, 30:8-9)

They say “everything is God’s, so I will take care of it carefully”.

Everything we have is not our own— my gifts, my talents, my very breath is from God.

And I will be held accountable for what I’ve been given.

Psalm 24:1 NIV

1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

God has given us wonderful gifts and provisions, do we realize it and live accordingly?

We can choose to focus on what we have, or what we don’t have.

We often live our lives with a worldly mindset— that everything is a “zero-sum” game.

In the world's terms, a "zero-sum game" refers to a situation in which one participant's gain or loss is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of other participants. In other words, the total amount of wealth, resources, or benefits involved remains constant, and any profit or advantage obtained by one party comes at the direct expense of another. It's called a "zero-sum" game because the overall value or total "pie" doesn't increase or decrease; it's simply redistributed among the participants.

This is not the way the kingdom of God works. Our God is a God of abundance, Psalm 50:10

Psalm 50:10 NIV

10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

Wise people budget money prudently. (21:20, 21:5, 23:4)

Proverbs 21:20 NIV

20 The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.

The OT story of Jacob’s son Joseph. He is a wise steward of the whole empires resources— for seven years there is abundance, and then for seven years famine.

Proverbs 21:5 NIV

5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.

Proverbs 23:4 NIV

4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.

It’s a plan. Do you have a plan for the money you do have? Many will sometimes say: “I don’t make enough money to have a budget— there’s nothing here!”—that’s foolish. Or someone may even say— “I’ve got plenty of money, and I don’t need a budget”. That’s foolish as well.

Proverbs 21:17 NIV

17 Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.

This basically says if you don’t have self-control, your never going to have wealth. The popular teacher and radio talk-show host, known for his straight shooting advice, Dave Ramsey once said “Live like no one does now, so that you can live like no one can later”. That applies directly to making good budget decisions with money now—you telling your money where to go and what to do NOW--- and then reaping the rewards of those decisions later in life— but I see that applying in almost every area of our lives— not just money. Do we have a plan for giving and being generous? Do we have a plan for serving the Lord with our gifts and talents? What are you aiming at in life? If it’s nothing, that’s exactly what you are going to hit!

Some of you are afraid to be this accountable with your finances. That’s not going to end well for you! Don’t be afraid of it. It’s like if you were bleeding from a wound— and you just said, “Oh, it will be fine”— Just ignore it— just trust God and have faith… Yikes! That’s not quite right is it? You would at least get some bandages, and take care of yourself somehow— or better yet, go to the hospital and have someone who is trained and educated to help bleeding wounds stop evaluate you and help you out. If you are struggling right now with budgeting and getting serious about your stewardship— we have people right here in our congregation who are trained and gifted to help encourage you and set you up with a plan.

If it’s all God’s money anyway— what do you have to lose? All you’re doing right now is possibly holding yourself back from freedom and peace in your life! That’s not very wise is it?

Plan the work— and then work your plan.

The control and the power that you will feel by getting yourself on a really solid plan— is priceless. You can’t imagine the joy and confidence you can have knowing that you know that you are being disciplined and wise with God’s money.

God expects you to carefully plan how to use money so that it aligns with His values and vision for the world.

Wise people give money and other resources generously. (3:9-10, 22:9, 11:24)

Proverbs 3:9–10 NIV

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

This is a popular verse is supporting the church— we here at Walnut Creek Mennonite are an organization that many give a portion of their weekly or monthly income— in order to honor God and support His plans for the church, community and the world. We as pastors are working for God— through the means that He provides through folks like you. We are charged with being the best stewards possible with this money— and it’s not just me or Matt— its actually a large group of individuals, as elders and board of directors members who discuss and guide the process to use the money that the church receives.

We appreciate that you give a portion of your income— a blessing God has given you to manage— by helping to support our work and God’s vision for Walnut Creek. But there are lots of different ways and organizations you can give to— that are outside the church, but still working toward God’s plans and vision for the world. I would encourage you to look into the things that are available for you to do that.

God calls us to give our money and resources to others. He actually loves to give back to those who are generous to others!

Do we trust God enough to put Him to the test? Many among us will testify that you cannot out give God. He is generous, and we should be also.

Proverbs 22:9 NIV

9 The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

Proverbs 11:24–25 NIV

24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

This can apply to our physical or financial refreshment, I love how the verse uses that word— but it can apply in several other ways. Giving generously is like Owen’s example of pouring water into each other’s cups. We receive from God— whatever it is, courage, hope, faith, money— and as we are the conduit for God’s blessing, we ourselves are blessed.

The path of the fool says, I’ll give when I have enough to spare— but the path of the wise says I’ll give of what I do have, and trust God with the whole thing—

If you’re a visitor here, we would not expect you to give to our local church here today— but I would want you to give to your local church where ever you are from— Unless it’s above and beyond what you are already giving there… We are part of local communities of believers that take care of one another— and the church is a powerful way that is attained.

Here’s a saying of the wise person:

“I will joyfully give my best and my first to the Lord’s work.”

Do you believe that? Are you doing it? Praise the Lord!

Wise people view money with eternity in mind. (23:5, 13:11,22)

Proverbs 23:5 NIV

5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

Proverbs 13:11 NIV

11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

We are encouraged to consider investing money with the long term in mind.

This has to do with how we are looking at money! This describes a person who might look at money in the short term.

If we have a short term view of it— we will often see it fly away fast.

Proverbs 13:22 NIV

22 A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

Here’s the idea. Do you have resources today that could impact your grand children, or even your great-grand children?— and it would be a wise, discerning person who figures out how to plan and invest to make that a reality. Now that doesn’t mean that we are just trying to save up a bunch of money and give it all away to the kids and grand-kids so they don’t have to work or find their own way— No it’s much more than that.

What I’m talking about is the fact that I would love my grandsons, and their children (my great grand kids) to plant churches or become missionaries or pastors, working to help those who need it most around the world, and I want to be a part of their support team! Or they could do wonderful things in business or education or whatever God calls them to do— and that's my dream to help them in some little ways— or big ways even.

If you want to be wise, you’ll think about money this way— like what is God’s plan not just 3 years or even 30 years from now— but whats God’s plan for 300 or 3000 years from now? You want to be a part of that?

Charles Ryrie:

“How we use our money demonstrates the reality of our love for God. In some ways it proves our love more conclusively than depth or knowledge, length of prayers or prominence of service. These things can be feigned, but the use of our possessions shows us up for what we actually are.”