Wealth

ME/INTRO

Good morning!!!  My name is Ryan Hanson and I serve here at Encounter on the preaching team.  How much have you loved this series?  Rarely do we allow ourselves to step outside of our comfort zone to this degree, but as Dirk has said over the last few weeks it is only when we step outside of our comfort zone that we grow.  I’m glad to be growing in this community with all of you.

Today, as we wrap up this series, we’re going to tackle the topic that I personally find most uncomfortable, WEALTH.

Now before you turn the steam off, I want to recognize that last year has been very tough for a lot of people financially and wealth probably isn’t the topic you’d like to hear preached on.

I don’t know where each of you are at with the topic of wealth, especially in this climate, so I want to start by defining what I mean when talking about wealth.  In our main text today, James 5, the Hebrew word used for wealth is defined as any abundance beyond the norm. I like this as a definition of wealth as it includes more than just money.  Abundance can be the TIME we have, the TALENTS God gives us, and the TREASURES God blesses us with.

By this definition I have to consider myself wealthy.  I have had more time as nearly everything that I do was cancelled last year, and continues to get cancelled as we start this year.  Many of my cost of living have decreased as well now that I’m working from home, not going out to eat, etc which has helped financially.

Whereas mentally I can agree that by this definition I am wealthy, it is easy not to feel wealthy and act in ways counter to how God calls the wealthy to live.  Today I want to explore how God calls us to steward the wealth that He entrusts to us, no matter how much, or little, that is.

The truth is, Jesus is very direct when talking about wealth.  In Matthew 6:21, Jesus states that,

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I think the first question we’re called to answer is,

Where is your heart?

This is a topic that hits home for me.  If you would have asked me 5-10 years ago about the state of my heart, the best analogy I could come up with is Grinchy.  My heart was three sizes too small.  I was selfish in all three categories; TIME, TALENTS, and TREASURES.

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You see, when I graduated college I had a mission.  I was devoted to becoming debt free.  This played out in a few ways.  I got a job and lived very cheap.  We’re talking I set my thermostat in February to 55F cheap.  We’re talking no cable or internet cheap.  We’re talking, I would buy 1 large pizza every week and ration it as my only food cheap.  I think it got out of control when I decided to save costs, I’d start taking cold showers.  Everything I did was focused on eliminating debt.  I would even judge purchases based on how they compared to school / car / house payments in an effort to talk myself out of buying stuff.  If I was honest, I did this because I didn’t have faith in God’s provision, and liked the comfort and security that money provides.

And whereas being debt free is a good thing, I went about it all wrong.  I made it the center of my life.  I eliminated everything, even the good things.  I spent years eliminating debt, all the while focusing on nothing but myself, and in the process, becoming more and more selfish.

Lucky for me, we serve a God that meets us where we’re at.  We serve a God that lovingly nudges us from where we are back to the path that He has set for our lives.  God started working on me.  And he started one small step at time.

The first step God gave me was, to provided me the opportunity to give of my TIME by serving in a middle school youth group at church.  By showing up every week, being available to them when they needed someone to listen, God got me out of my “me only” thinking and helped open my eyes to needs of others. God grew my heart 1 size because of those kids by giving me the opportunity to share my TIME.

The second step God gave me was to provide me the opportunity to give of my TALENTS by mentoring a few of those youth group kids who didn’t have the best relationship (or any relationship) with their father.  I saw firsthand the pain that can be caused by an absent father.  God grew my heart another size by giving me the opportunity to share my TALENTS with these boys.

It took a while, but I reached my goal and became debt free.  I had even saved up an emergency fund Dave Ramsey would be proud of.  I was doing pretty well, but accomplishing my goal wasn’t enough.  The SECURITY that the money provided and the CONTROL that I felt by continuing to save was addictive.  Even without debt, I was just as selfish as I was when I started down the journey.  The problem was, just like the Man in Matthew 19 that wouldn’t sell his possessions to follow Jesus, my mission to be debt free turned MONEY into an IDOL in my life.

But as Paul writes in Romans 6:13, God calls us to

Romans 6:13 NIV

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

God was going to take me on a very UNCOMFORTABLE journey toward becoming less selfish, more generous, and learning to use the WEALTH He provides to honor Him and build His kingdom.

WE

So back to our original question…

Where is your heart?

How do you spend your TIME, TALENTS, and TREASURE?

Do you consider yourself to be a generous or selfish person?

How do you define generous?  When are we generous enough?  Is there an enough?  Do you think your definition of generosity matches God’s definition?

Today I want to step into these questions.  I want to help us understand how God views wealth and how God wants us to steward the wealth that He has given us.  Whereas the journey God took me on was specific to my issues with money, I want to make sure we keep the definition of wealth broad to include our TIME, our TALENTS, and our TREASURE.

Please join me as we turn to James 5 and read James’ words of warning to the rich.

GOD

Please join me as we read James 5:1-6.

James 5:1–6 NIV

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Just like in last week’s passage, James doesn’t offer any advice.  He pretty much points out our issues, and in no uncertain terms just says “STOP IT”.  But God used James’ words in this passage to start softening my heart with regards to money.  Two warnings stood out to me in particular.  In verse 3, James warns against HOARDING WEALTH, which is what I had pretty much been dedicating my life to, ouch, thanks James.  In verse 5, James warns against living in LUXURY and SELF-INDULGENCE.  Whereas I was living cheap, I was a single guy in my 20s living by myself, in my own house, driving a 4-wheel drive truck, doing whenever I wanted.  Any luxury I truly wanted I indulged in.

But God had a better plan.  God wants us to be generous.  God started working in my life to break down these two barriers of hoarding wealth and living a self-indulgent life.

God started really pushing me in this area after I got married.  My wife and I were sitting in church when the pastor gave a sermon on “The Least of These” and brought up the topic of Foster Care.  I asked my wife if we should sign up.  After some discussion we did.  We ended up getting licensed and over the course of two years we fostered 2 boys.  It was a crazy lesson in self-less living trying to parent an 8 and 14-year-old without any parenting experience.

But whereas the experience of Foster Care was growing. God’s big challenge came after they both moved on from our house.  After the second boy went back to live with his brother, I felt a strong conviction from the Holy Spirit.  Not an audible voice, but clearly a thought that was not from me.  I felt deeply the Holy Spirit ask me “why did you foster these kids?”.  I mentally answered, “because I wanted to give a safe environment and hope to a child that doesn’t have any.”   I then felt the Holy Spirit say, “Prove it, figure out how much you were paid to take care of them and give it away.”  I did the math, it was about $12,500, all of which we had already spent on taking care of them.  We had the money, but it was in the emergency fund that I found such comfort in.  God placed me at a fork in the road of my faith.  I had to go all in and trust him as my one true provider or confront the distorted view of money that I had developed.  On top of that, the next day the World Vision catalog came in the mail, and it turned out you can buy a 1 room school house in a 3rd world country for $15k, and I felt the Holy Spirit say with the same conviction, “round up.”  I spoke to my wife and we made the donation.  We wiped out the emergency fund.  God grew my heart that day.  It was the hardest act of generosity I had ever made.

Turns out the project we donated to was a 6 room schoolhouse where each room was $15k, but this is what $90k gets you in Africa.

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Over the next year God provided.  We had a daughter.  We re-built our emergency fund.  And life was moving along, until God decided I needed a second lesson.  You see when you donate to an organization, they don’t lose your e-mail.  A year later I got a call and they asked me to donate again.  That strong conviction came from the Holy Spirit saying, “do you trust me?”.  This one hurt.  I was riding my spiritual high based on my act of obedience and God asks me to double down.  I had just built back up my emergency fund and I didn’t want to give it away.  I still found comfort in the security it represented.  My wife, being naturally gifted in generosity had no qualms.  I struggled, but we again emptied out the emergency fund and donated to a second school.

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It was at this point that God brough the one verse that had bothered me more than any other into focus.  2 Corinthians 9:6-15 was always used in the churches I grew up in during the offering to “encourage” people to give.  It felt deceptive, but after God’s crash course in generosity, it crystalizes HOW we are called to use our wealth to live generous lives.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

2 Corinthians 9:6–9 NIV

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”

In V7, God is calling us to give of our TIME, TALENTS, and TREASURE that which we have a God given burden or passion for.  I had a passion for middle schoolers.  I had a passion for education.  God uses passions to focus where He calls us to use our wealth.

Paul continues in V10

2 Corinthians 9:10–11 NIV

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

In V11, God never calls us to give anything that He has not already supplied.  Everything comes from God, He calls us to hold it with open hands, always willing to pass it on to others who need it more than we do.

God will provide everything we need to act on His call to generosity

Paul concludes in V12

2 Corinthians 9:12–15 NIV

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

God not only wants us to give from our passions, provides us what we need to give, but

God uses our generosity to bring people far from God to a new life in Christ

In a world characterized by independence, selfishness, and comparison, God uses our selfless generosity to point the lost to Himself.

God grew my heart the last size by placing me at two forks in the road, forcing me to choose Him and His plan for my life over the money that I had come to idolize.

YOU

So back to my original question

Where is your heart?

Do you struggle with how you use your TIME, TALENTS, or TREASURE?  Is there an area where the Holy Spirit is convicting you, like He convicted me?  Maybe money is not your struggle, but remember James defined wealth and any excess.

What excesses has God given you that He wants you to use for His glory?

Maybe you have an excess of TIME that He wants you to give away in SERVICE to others

Maybe you have an excess of TALENTS that He wants you to give away by MENTORING someone

Maybe you have an excess of TREASURE that He wants you to use to BLESS others

I encourage you to pray about it this week and obediently act in faith wherever the Holy Spirit convicts you.

WE / JESUS

I want to end with an interaction Jesus had with a man in Matthew 19:16-30 where the man wanted to know what he needed to do to get eternal life.  In verse 21 Jesus tells him that

Matthew 19:21 NIV

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Like me, this man’s heart issue was money.  He left Jesus unwilling to change.

But whether your heart issue is with the use of your TIME, the use of your TALENTS, or the way you view / spend your TREASURE, Jesus calls us all to hold our wealth with open hands, available to Him to give away to those in need to build His Kingdom.

This idea was crystalized for me when I was in Israel.  Israel is a country that thrives because of one thing, the Jordan River.  Israel is an agricultural powerhouse because of the way that they have learned to use the water of the Jordan to irrigate their crops.  The bible calls rivers, and any moving body of water “living water” because it brings life to that which it comes in contact with.

The humbling contrast is that the Jordan ends in the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth.  The water goes in, but nothing comes out.  Here’s a map for reference.

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In the Dead Sea, just like in any reservoir, as the water evaporates, the nutrients in the water are concentrated.  Over the years the water in the dead sea has become so concentrated with salt and other minerals that if you drink ½ a cup of it you will die.  I floated in the dead sea.  It was amazing, but when I toweled off a drop of water hit my lip and I almost threw up.  It was indescribably nasty.  Something that brings life to a whole country in the Jordan River, becomes a deadly poison when it stops flowing.  The is true of wealth in our lives.  When we start to hoard it, it becomes a poison to our soul.

God calls us to be Jordan River like LIVING WATER to the people we interact with, living generous lives, giving freely the TIME, TALENT, and TREASURE He has given to us to help them with their needs, but also drawing them toward a relationship with His son Jesus.

God calls us to give up the Dead Sea, reservoir like self-indulgent lives that lead to death for us and those around us.

God calls us to be a river, not a reservoir

My encouragement to you is this.  When God places opportunities or convictions in your life, instead of thinking about the old acronym

WIIFM - “what is in it for me”

Think instead an acronym I made up

WIGIMI – “what is God inviting me into”

Let’s join God in His mission as stated in Luke 19:10 to use our wealth to seek and save the lost.

PRAYER

Please join me in prayer.

God, the topic of money is unbelievably uncomfortable to talk about.  But we know that you use our discomfort as a catalyst for growth.  You bless us WAY more than we give You credit for.  It is easy to think that we deserve to use the TIME, TALENTS, and TREASURE we have however we want.  But the truth is that everything comes from You and you call us to use our WEALTH to bless others, further Your Kingdom, and bring others into a relationship with your Son Jesus.

I pray that you soften our hearts.  As you said in Ezekiel 36:26 remove our selfish hearts of stone and replace them with generous hearts of flesh.  Help us to hold our WEALTH with open hands, always available to You to use any way You call us to.

We are available.  Convict us through Your Holy Spirit this week to live the generous, open handed, lives You created us to live.

Amen

SONG

(52) Available | Live | Elevation Worship - YouTube

I hear you call, I am available / Here I am with open hands / You can have it all

BENEDICTION

As you go out this week, remember the words of Paul in Romans 6:13. God calls us to

Romans 6:13 NIV

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

Listen this week for the Holy Spirit’s conviction in your life.  Maybe you’ll be called to give of your time through service, to give of your talents by mentoring someone, or give of your treasure by blessing someone.  Whatever God calls you to this week, my prayer for you, and me, is that we can be the rivers of living water to this community, using the WEALTH that God gives to bring people far from God to a new life in Christ.

Go in peace.

SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS

Practice Truth How did your family growing up view wealth?  (monetarily, Time/Talent/Treasure, other) As you reflect on the way you currently live your life, what is the state of your heart?  (generous? Selfish?) If wealth is defined by having an abundance beyond the norm, do you consider your self wealthy?  If not, what would it take for you to consider yourself wealthy? In James 5, James warns us against hoarding wealth and living self-indulgent lifestyles.  How do you currently balance giving, saving, and spending the time/talent/treasure God has given you to steward? In 2 Corinthians 9:6-15, Paul says that we should give of our passions (V7), give from what God has already provided (V11), and give to bring others into a relationship with His son Jesus (V13).  What passions do you have?  What has God positioned you to do?  What people has God placed in your life that need to hear the Good News of Jesus? Do Life Together How can you / your group take a step toward becoming rivers of living water to the people you interact with this week?  Is there a cause you can donate your TIME to?  Is there an opportunity in needs of your TALENTS?  Is there a person you can bless through your TREASURE? When God presents the next opportunity in your life, ask yourself “What is God inviting me into” (WIGIMI) and prayerfully consider saying YES.