Spend Less

Sermon Bumper

Intro

We are continuing our series, the Advent Conspiracy. If you missed last week, we changed the way we are doing the advent conspiracy. The water bottles are gone, we invited you to take the initiative and do the conspiracy your own way. Find a cause that you are passionate about, and get behind it in whatever way you can.

To kick things off, and in the Spirit of Christmas, I want to ask you this question

Have you ever bought someone the wrong gift at Christmas?

I feel like everyone has made this mistake at one time or another, and I’m sure everyone has a story, which I hope is fun at small group this week.

There are more questions that could be asked along this line. Is there anyone that you’ve given up trying to buy gifts for? You have just resorted to giving money or gift cards because then you know they will get the right thing.

Is there anyone you buy gifts for that you know you better attach a gift receipt because no matter what you get, it is 50/50 chance they are taking it back for something different anyways?

I want you keep these ideas of the ‘right gift’, the ‘perfect gift’ in mind, because this morning we are going to be challenged to look at gift giving differently. To get us started, we are going to Matthew 6, starting in verse 19

Matthew 6 is part way through a famous passage of Scripture called the Sermon on the Mount. Over the course of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenged the status quo and taught a way of life that was contrary to the norm in many ways. So even though Matthew 6 isn’t really a Christmas passage, it certainly fits with challenging our traditional way of understanding Christmas

Matthew 6:19–24 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.

Money as a Master

Jesus tells us that we can’t serve two masters, because we will love one and hate the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.

Last week talked about how worship needs to be a full life commitment. Of course last week we were talking about the worship of God. But what were to happen if we were to take this passage and consider the ramifications of the worship of money. What if we make money our master?

One thing that money always demands is to attain more. More money means more time at work, more promotions. More money also leads to cutting corners, fraud, tax evasion, embezzeling. Have you ever noticed that the people who get caught doing these things are usually the ones who don’t actually need more money?

But sometimes its not enough to have more money, sometimes we have to make sure everyone knows we have money. So then we start buying things that shows we have money. Nice cars, big houses, fancier wardrobe, extravagant gifts. These are all status symbols that signify we have money

But what happens if we want others to think we have money? Well don’t you worry, we have credit cards, lines of credit, loan sharks, all more then willing to keep upping your limit to ensure you keep buying those things you can’t really afford.

Money is a nasty master

The need for more stuff leads to more avenues to get the stuff. Consumerism is only perpetuated by convenience. Convenience has led to Amazon, things coming right to your door. It has led to Netflix and Disney+, always on demand media consumption, no more of this pesky waiting for the week to pass to see the next episode.

Where is it tempting to be a consumer and over-indulge?

Which brings us to the impact it has on worship. When we we inundated with constant consumption of media, eventually our faith gets reduced to how much media we can consume. How many Sunday sermons can we hear? How many Christian books can we read? How many bible reading plans can we get through, and how fast can we get through. Consume, consume, consume. Binge is the new word.

The problem is that when we are consuming too much information, especially when it comes to faith, it can lead to inactivity. Look at the Pharisees, where they were supposed to most educated when came to God’s word, and Jesus’ greatest criticism is how little they were actually doing.

Matthew 25 tells us that we will all stand before Jesus and give an account of our lives. What are the things Jesus is concerned about? When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was in jail, you visited me. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was sick, you took care of me.

Worship isn’t about how much we can consume, its about how much we can put into action.

So what if worship influenced our spending this year? What if we spent less time, spent less money, and used less energy on the right gift, and more of those on making a difference in someone’s life?

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. What spent less on things that end up in a pile, and more on things that made memories?

As I was preparing, I was thinking about how this weekend my girls and my mom were making cookies. For the third time in a row, one of the girls sneezed in the cookie batter. Now if we were just concerned about cookies, that would be something that would be quite upsetting. But making cookies with the grandkids isn’t really about making cookies with the grandkids. It is more about making memories that will stay with those little girls. It is about the laughter. It is about letting the girls help, even though they aren’t really a big help. It take more time, more energy, and if the sneeze bothers you enough, it means more money as you restart. But the real treasure is all worth it.

Where do you need to spend less: less money, less energy, less time…?

Lesson in being Content

Part of spending less is about learning to be content. It is really hard to be consumeristic and content at the same time.

Philippians 4:11 ESV

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

the Apostle learned to be content in all situations. What if we abandoned the glitz and glam, and got back to making Christmas about Christ? What if spent less on stuff and more on the things that last? Let us be content this Christmas season.

Let’s Pray