Everything

Today we’re going to start a short series on...well...everything. But specifically, we’re going to look at the ideas of money and stuff.

The next two weeks we’ll be looking at two things that follow, if what we talk about today is true. Two things...God’s generosity, and ours.

And I probably know where your mind is heading...”We’re going to talk about money aren’t we?”

Yes.

We are....But not like you think. Again, if what we talk about today is true...yes, money fits into this, but what money is and does...the idea of what an economy is...I hope...should change for you. Let’s just start this way. There’s the world’s ideas of this topic, and then there’s God’s.

And for sure, some of you are way ahead of me on this stuff...on these ideas...on these truths. I’m absolutely positive because you’re life shows it. How you live show’s your heart.

If you’re struggling with money and stuff, hopefully this will help. Sometimes, I think what don’t need is a 3 or 5 steps to a better you...I think what we need is a better worldview. A better big picture perspective.

Now...I’ll begin here. When people talk about finances, it is often difficult because of this truth...

Money and stuff sometimes has a hold on us...right? It can be personal. Both failures, our own ideas about it. Rights and Wrongs....And sometimes it is so personal....we worry and have anxiety and we accumulate debt and we feel...sometimes...maybe trapped. Or we feel regret. We keep things secret because...we’ll...we’ve been taught to...or our anxiety or fear over money and stuff just gets the best of us. Sometimes our worldview, our big picture is this:

...in order to live a good life, our numbers need to look like this, our house needs to be like this, our car ...education...job...activities...clothes...vacations… things like that...they all need to be like this or that in order for us to be living well.

I think we all know...that the truth is...those things aren’t true. We’ve been lied to.

We know the phrase “You can’t take it with you.”

Job is famous for writing “Naked I came into this world and naked I’ll be leaving.”

So if we were to have a starting place...for a perspective...maybe a new perspective on money and stuff and “things of life...” Where might it be?

How about with Truth? Let’s start there. God’s truth. Not what the world, culture, the experts on your news channel....let’s just start with God.

Little illustration here:

How many of you are familiar with the movie: The Wizard of Oz?

Most of you. Yes, Dorothy … after a big storm, tornado, she landed, if you remember the scene from the movie, the house is falling from the sky and then she, the house and her puppy land in Munchkinland.

Now she’s on a quest to get back home to Kansas. That’s her goal. “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

I read an author here who asked this really good question: What is her most important asset on this quest?

You could say, her goal oriented attitude. Her friends scarecrow, tin man, lion...they certainly helped. Maybe even those red slippers? All these things are important, but there’s one thing that is really important.

The Yellow Brick Road. To find the person who can help her with everything, she must follow the yellow brick road.

There’s an old Chinese proverb that says a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

How many thousand mile journeys have ended up being 1500 or 2000 miles because of a first wrong step?

Dorothy, could have maybe taken other ways...but her journey might have been longer and more difficult.

Now, to be sure, her journey on the yellow brick road wasn’t a piece of cake...there were struggles...there were dangers, but it was the way to get home.

Do we have a yellow brick road when it comes to life’s adventures in stuff and money?

We do. It’s called the Bible. There’s around 2000 passages or verses that deal with money and stuff. It’s one of the most talked about things in the Bible. And for good reason...much of the world believes that life flows around cash and things.

Ok...so I think we would probably mostly agree that God’s word is above and beyond anything else. It has authority...not meaning that it has the right to tell us what to do...but it is truth, therefore, its authority lies here...it can explain what worldview is correct. This is why we hear Jesus say, “I’m the way the truth and the life.” Follow Me. He also says things like...and the truth will set you free. Free from what? The lies than trip us up on this journey called life.

Is there a verse that just says what we’re looking for? There’s actually quite a few.

The last couple of weeks we’ve looked at the two questions:

Where are we going? What are we doing?

Simply put...we are all in God’s plan whether we’re walking well with Him, walking haphazardly with Him, or ignoring Him. His will will be accomplished in the end. It just will. No matter what age you are or what kind of career you have or how much money you have or how good you think you are...God is in the business of recreating everything...back to His original intent.

So...what we do everyday matters. It really does...God’s original intent was that each day we would be with Him and give Him glory...because that would be the best life ever. Now for certain we are in the broken world...that God is saving through His son Jesus...but yes we can bring Glory to God each and everyday we are alive. How ? By living in truth.

So what about money and stuff? Yeah...we’re going to talk about those things that no one wants to talk about.

Married for many years, Paul had been ignored by his wife, Liz, for some days, so eventually he confronted her with what he perceived was the problem.

'Come on Liz, admit it,' he ranted, 'You only married me because my granddad left me $6 million, didn't you?'

'You really are silly, Paul,' retorted Liz loudly, 'I couldn't care less WHO left it to you.'

What’s an over arching word from God that gives us a first step on the road to freedom from the worry and anxiety and the wrong expectations of stuff and money?

Psalm 24:1 NIV

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

Pretty simple right? If that’s true, what does that mean about money and stuff? Now, where we’re going to go from here is this. We’re going to look at truth from a few different perspectives. Truth about money and things. So that we can live well.

You might be asking, well how does this fit into the discipleship ideas we’ve been talking about? We’ll, I think when Jesus was discipling the first group there back in the 1st century, His purpose to disciple them was to show them truth … what real life is...how broken this world is....that there’s so much more...and then how to help others know truth as well. And live like God intended us to...as well as we can on this side of eternity...but then perfected in eternity.

Ok so we have that truth from God’s word. He owns everything and everyone. He’s the creator. Makes sense.

What does this world teach about this?

Just watch some commercials...and you’ll see.

How about those commercials that encourage you to buy gold? Now, gold’s not bad. It’s really cool. God created it. But the message in the commercial is that it is essential to have ...just in case. Cars are now sold on the notion that you need this vehicle for your daily stuff. Or you need this vehicle so you can feel worthy or important or even just good about yourself. And the commercials now that sell insurance...so you can protect all of your stuff well...just in case. They will protect all of your stuff.

And the world drills it in to us, culture tells us over and over...it is your stuff. You own it...or at minimum you should.

But if that verse that’s on the screen is right...those commercials are at minimum, misleading us.

Again, not that things or money are bad...but...in the wrong worldview...they will cause us to think about God and His truth, ultimately about life, in dangerous ways.

So if that passage is true, and we’re ultimately not the owners of money and stuff...what would be the truth? It looks like this will be true...

Instead of thinking “ownership” think “stewardship.”

A few years ago, Darren Key, who’s the Chief Executive Officer of CFR, Christian Financial Resources, the group we’ve worked with for years now, wrote that he was close to becoming a billionaire. But he said that you wouldn’t see his name on anything like the Forbes 400 list because it’s not his to own. He’s a manager. The money comes from people who trust him to manage it wisely.

He’s a steward.

We’re all stewards in a sense. From Elon Musk to the teens working at your local convenient store...really, if that passage is true...we own nothing...but we manage what we receive. We’re stewards of what God has given, blessed, shared with us.

And someday, if what the New Testament says is true, we’ll give an account for how we managed things and money.

If you’ve ever been on the mission field local or international, especially working with the poor you’ve probably noticed something. I remember being in Haiti some years ago. I met some of the happiest and most peaceful people...who had nearly nothing. It challenged the worldview that stuff brings happiness.

Now, can you have fun with money and stuff?

Will it buy you peace?

True peace comes from one source. God. Jesus said...my peace I give to you...and he said it as though saying...this is what you’ve been looking for all of your life. This is true peace. Not quick and temporary happiness.

Here’s what I think. If we get this idea about management/stewardship, rather than ownership right, ...and we rest in the worldview that the earth is the lord’s and everything and everyone in it......and we really embrace this...I think life will become more peaceful...like Jesus said.

Why? Let me say it this way...and I’ll quote Darren Key here, and I think you’ll agree with this quote:

“Because a life focused on acquisition and ownership is always going to be stressful. It’s cut throat, it’s about living in a dog-eat-dog world. We say things like, “it is a jungle out there...because (with the wrong worldview and the wrong truth) it is....when you’re focused on acquiring and ownership.”

If we start with the truth that God owns everything, shares with us, and entrusts us to steward or manage it well.....and we know that we have the yellow brick road, God’s word, the Bible to show us how to manage it...life can get simpler.

Now … remember the quote I love to bring up from the movie Soul Surfer...”I don’t need easy, i just need possible.” That applies here. Managing money and stuff in this broken world, living truth with God as owner and us as stewards… I mean we know there’s a battle of messages. And we’re in the middle. And at times we’ll be challenged. At times we’ll stumble, fall. But we know if what God says is true...and we follow His word...that he’ll show us more and more what real life was meant to be. And He will help us manage things well.

So there’s this guy from the OT. His name is Agur...son of Jakeh...and he’s only mentioned once in scripture, but what he writes is in the book of Proverbs...so a couple of things could be true...

He might have been a friend or a contemporary of King Solomon.

But Agur writes these words...I’ll start and then we’ll see a few of this passage on the screen.

Proverbs 30:1–6 CSB

The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The pronouncement. The man’s oration to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: I am more stupid than any other person, and I lack a human’s ability to understand. I have not gained wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his hands? Who has bound up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son— if you know? Every word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Don’t add to his words, or he will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar.

Proverbs 30:7–9 LEB

Two things I ask from you; do not deny me before I die: Keep falsehood and a lying word far from me; do not give me poverty or wealth; provide me with food only for my need. Or else I will be satisfied and will deny him and say “Who is Yahweh?” Or I will be poor and will steal and profane the name of my God.

This a prayer that models the right attitude about wealth: “Two things I ask of you, 

Philippians 4:19 NIV

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Paul says this truth to a church family in Philippi who had recently shared what they had, they sent gifts to him while he was in prison. Just before this passage is where Paul writes about being content in all situations...whether having a lot or in need. He’s content.

Content...if you think about that word...content, the more I thought about this in the context we’re exploring today, content means knowing that God’s truth is best. The stuff of this world is cool at times, but it’s not the best. God knows what’s best. He shares, He witholds, He gives, He takes....but all for our good.

The world’s lie is that we need and need and need this or that or all of it… God reminds us, I own all of it. My goal is to bless. My riches will always outdo the world’s riches.

It seems to me, what scripture is calling us to do, is to look at money, wealth, stuff, this way:

Instead of saying, this is mine...say, “God blessed me with this...or that.” God gave this to me. Recognize Him first as the owner of everything.

I think when we say, this is mine, we begin to not see things as though they are from Him.

There is no place in scripture where it says that one of our tasks is to acquire more and more. But sometimes the world makes us feel like that is a good thing doesn’t it?

The earth is the Lords and everyone and everything in it.

A few questions as we leave this:

Does owning more things make me, in any sense, more valuable than others?

Does owning more things, having more wealth (in the world’s eyes), does that make me more valuable to God?

Do I need to own anything to be valuable to God?

Now, is wealth evil? No, in fact there are some very financially wealthy people in scripture who did incredible things. There were also some incredibly poor people who did incredible things. Wealth is not evil in itself. It comes down to our worldview...our perspective...and what we do.

Love God with everything you have and all that you are, and love each other as you love yourself.

This is the thought that we’re going to start with...The next two weeks we’ll discuss God’s generosity and ours...with the context being...Everything is His.

Some things you could do this week to broaden this out for yourself. Make a list of your assets. Like big items...don’t inventory all of your paper clips and rolls of paper towels...but make a list of everything you own. House, vehicles, maybe your degrees, toys, furniture, big parts of your house, job(s), investments, appliances....and more. I think what you’ll begin to see is this...God has blessed me. Can I turn all of these things over to him...as a manager rather than an owner.

I really believe this is a part in the dying to yourself process. Dying to oneself so that you can live like you’ve never lived before.

The world doesn’t understand such talk does it. But we’ve been lied to. The earth is the lord’s, and everything in it.