8.15.2021 - Unexpected Wisdom About Money - final

August 15, 2021 - Unexpected Wisdom About Money Good morning everyone here in person and hello again to all of you joining us online. We are in the 3rd week of a sermon series titled: Unexpected Grace & Generosity. As we close out the summer, we are taking a few weeks to look at the wealth of grace that God has shown us in Jesus, as well as considering ways we can exhibit a similar graciousness through our lives. ● The connection between those two is very direct... the more that we experience God's generosity ourselves, the more we learn to express that outwardly - in how we relate to others, in the decisions we make, and in how we navigate life as a whole. The implications of this are far-reaching. For example, last week, John talked about how our experience of generosity influences the way we join God in his mission to love the world. Next week, Clint will talk about how our personal experience of grace impacts our ability to forgive others. This week is one of the times that we'll talk more specifically about the way God's grace and generosity shape our approach to money. For this series, we are looking at short sections in the gospel of Luke... in nearly every one of these passages, there is an unexpected twist, including today's text from Luke 12. Here is how it begins. 13 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14 He replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" It's interesting - what this guy wanted from Jesus and what Jesus had to offer him were two different things. Has that ever happened to you? ● Where you ask Jesus a pointed question... and in some way, he brings up a completely different question to ask you instead... ● Or where you are looking to God for a certain kind of answer, but the wisdom he offers comes from an angle you did not expect. Here is one way that dynamic plays itself out regarding money. Some of us might want a detailed outline of what we should and shouldn't do with our money. But God offers us a different kind of wisdom. ● Here's how Randy Alcorn (Treasure Principle) summarizes this wisdom: Regarding our attitude toward wealth, Jesus gave commands. Regarding our possessions and lifestyle, he gave us principles. Jesus did not hand us a checklist of what we can and cannot own, and how we can or cannot spend money. Jesus didn't say just one thing about money and possessions. He said many things. They aren't random clashing noises, but a carefully composed melody and harmony to which we must carefully listen as we develop our lifestyles. If he gave us a checklist, we would not have to depend prayerfully and thoughtfully on him to guide us into the kind of lifestyle that pleases him. That's where we're headed in today's message. We want to explore one thread of things Jesus had to say about money, so that we can prayerfully and thoughtfully discern an approach to life that pleases him. ● Let me pray for us along those lines, as you grab a Bible in front of you, or pull up Luke 12 on your phone. PRAY... Luke 12, page 711 Luke 12:13-21 13 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14 Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." 16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18 "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21 "This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God." Again, in this exchange with this guy from the crowd... Jesus has a bit of an unexpected response. Instead of getting involved in the dispute between these brothers, Jesus unloads some pointed pieces of wisdom. The 1st, found in v. 15. 1. Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist of an abundance of possessions. When we think about someone being greedy, we might imagine someone like Ebeneezer Scrooge, from the famous story The Christmas Carol: A penny pinching miser, taking advantage of others for his own gain. That's certainly one form of greed, but there's more. Jesus said in v.15. "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed." Greed is like Baskin Robbins, with 31 flavors (or more!) Not only that, Jesus warns that we are more susceptible to greed than we realize. Listen to how author Chad Hoving describes the sneaky nature of greed. Greed is like a termite. It's out of sight but it bores deep into our hearts. That is such a fitting picture. Greed can be this silent pest below the surface, eating away at our souls. And so, we need to be on our guard. What are warning signs we should watch out for, then? Here are 7 items for all of us to guard against, no matter how much money we have or don't have currently. Watch out for: ● Discontent ○ Discontent can be a breeding ground for greed. We think we need more money and more stuff to be happy. And that often can spin into entitlement and resentment, where we are convinced we deserve way more than we currently have. ● Envy ○ Envy goes one step further and includes a strong desire for the possessions of others. ● Compromise ○ Greed can lead us to abandon our moral values and ethics in order to achieve our goals. Maybe that comes through fluffing up your resume, or withholding some information that should be discussed in a business deal, or in jockeying your way towards a promotion. We need to watch out for compromise in ourselves. ● A lack of empathy ○ There is research to show that as someone's income increases, the more difficult it becomes to stay empathetic towards others with less. But again, this lack of empathy can show up in any of us, no matter what our income is. ● Fear ○ In particular, I'm thinking of fear that leads to tight-fisted control. ○ It's one thing to be the "saver" in your family... but when that becomes overly stingy, you may be slipping into greed. ○ So, there are challenges for the savers. There are also challenges for the spenders among us, like... ● A fixation on short-term fulfillment ○ You are living for the moment and you are living it up. And often, you can be tempted to buy now and pay later - leading to the eventual sting of accumulating debt. ● A focus on self ○ This is present in nearly every expression of greed. It will look different from person to person, but each of us has an amazing propensity for self-centeredness. Do any of those look / sound familiar to you? Confession time: as I look through that list... at different points in my life, I have been guilty of all 7 of those ● That's not where I want to be, and I am assuming that you don't want to be a greedy person either. So what do we do? Let me share 2 brief stories of working through some greed in my life - one from years ago & one recent. The first story comes from around 2001. At that time, I was still working a full-time job in business, in addition to getting started in pastoring. My day job was in sales with an internet software company in Cedar Rapids, IA. Our company was doing quite well (even after the dot.com bubble burst) and within a short time period, a number of my co-workers bought fancy cars. Each week, as I saw another new car in the company parking lot, my sense of envy grew. ● The practical reality for Andrea and I, it wasn't a good idea for us to buy a new car... we were in the middle of having babies, and living off just my income, so Andrea could focus on being at home with our girls. Even though I knew that in my head, I was still battling discontent in my heart. ● Here's something that made that even worse. On my 10 minute drive to and from work, I had to drive by not 1, not 2, but 3 car dealerships! ● Eventually, I knew I had to take some action to guard against the greed festering in me. God led me to two primary responses. First - to remind myself that a new car wasn't going to make me any happier. In the words of today's passage: I told myself "life doesn't consist of fancy new cars." Secondly, I intentionally practiced gratitude. I took time to recount the good things God had done in my life, and the vast number of blessings I did have, even my rusty Ford Taurus station wagon that I drove to work. ● It didn't happen immediately, but greed's hold on my heart began to let go Here's a 2nd story that just happened recently. Like many people feeling stir-crazy, we decided to take on some home remodeling projects as COVID lingered on. One day, a few months ago, I found myself fussing over some details with the project, and I started to wonder - why am I doing this? ● Am I doing all this work just so I can admire walls that are smooth and trim that looks nice? Am I just trying to prop up our Zestimate - even as we have no intention of selling our house? I thought... ● If those are what's motivating me, then this is all a waste of time. In that moment, I felt like God gave me a sense of the deep emptiness of self-centeredness that I was on the edge of succumbing to. And then,I sensed an invitation to return to what first got me started on these projects. After months of isolation, the point was to share this space with people... to enjoy these rooms with family and friends; to welcome new folks into our lives through small group, to sit with engaged couples in our living room, and more. ● As I reconnected with those purposes, the pest of greed got crowded out Those are a couple stories for me. What about you? As you think about your life: ● Where do you sense greed burrowing its way into your soul? ● And how might God want to free you from its power? Okay, let's continue, by looking more closely at Jesus' parable here in Luke 12... a verse or two at a time. 16 Jesus told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. It's interesting - nowhere in this parable does Jesus condemn the man for being successful. That's not the issue at hand here. Listen closely - if you work hard at your business, if you've excelled in your profession, and it is giving you an abundant harvest - there is no sin in that. There's nothing wrong with being productive. That's something I want, too - I want to be a fruitful person. I want to be someone that invests my life and talents well, and who gets a huge harvest. ● Your ability to produce well, especially if you have great ability, is not under attack here in this text. Praise God that you are extremely productive. ● The main issue raised by the text is this: what do we do when we are productive? Take a look again at the way the farmer responded. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18 "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ● As the farmer takes stock of the abundant crop, all he could think of was himself. Notice the repetition of "I" and "my" in these two verses. What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns. I will store all my grain. The farmer was focused only on himself. He was also extremely short-sighted. Look at verses 19-20. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' ● At first glance, this sounds like the American dream... make tons of money, kick back and enjoy the good life. But, that approach doesn't ultimately bring the kind of fulfillment we long for. ● This week, I was listening to a friend process this season of his life and some items he is coming to grips with. Background - In response to some difficult dynamics growing up, including experiencing abuse, this friend set out to prove his worth. He was going to be stronger and more successful than others. This friend's dad would often say, "Someday, I'll have a truck. Someday, I'll have a boat, someday I'll go on this elaborate trip." ● Unfortunately, for his dad, those someday's never came... he died a year after he retired. And so, my friend took it upon himself... to accomplish and accumulate all the things his dad never did. By his mid 40's, he had done all his dad's "someday plans"... but rather than feeling fulfilled, he found himself empty. He bought into what our culture sells us, and he realized it doesn't deliver on its promises. ● Thankfully, in this season, my friend is doing the courageous work to discover what a life centered on Jesus can be like. Finding -> different! That's one angle of things that comes up in these couple verses. Here's another: We might read this parable, and wonder... is Jesus saying it's wrong to plan or is it wrong to save? ● When we take in all the things Jesus has to say about money... I don't think he is anti-planning or anti-saving. I do think Jesus challenges us, however, regarding where we place our hope. Listen - you attach your security, your sense of peace and rest to something every day. ● The question is not whether you hope, but what holds your hope. ● If your pursuits for saving for the future become where your hope rests, and you become inoculated from expressing dependence on God, then you're veering off the path Jesus has for you. ● I think that's what Jesus is getting at in the final verse of the parable. 21 "This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God." This is the punchline of the whole story. We could summarize the 2nd chunk of wisdom Jesus gives us.... this way. 2. It is foolish to store up treasures for yourself but not be rich towards God. (Repeat) In all the things Jesus has to say about money, you might expect his challenging statements to take on a moralistic tone: As in, "If you don't do this, then you are a bad person. Or you are a jerk." ● But instead, most often, Jesus' teaching sounds like, "If you don't do this, then you are a fool." Here in Luke 12, Jesus puts before us a choice between foolishness and wisdom, in what we do with our treasures. Later in the chapter, we read this: 32 "So don't be afraid, little flock. It brings your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom. (generosity!) 33 "Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. 34 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Jesus gives us the choice between two main storage options... We can try to store up treasure on earth. Or we can prioritize storing up treasure in heaven. Let me illustrate this further. ● A few months ago, I had to secure a storage unit to hold a few items that will go in our daughter Kate's college apartment this fall. ● Imagine... if I went to look at a storage unit with the owner, and see that there is just a door. No locking mechanism / nowhere to attach a padlock. And then when we open up the door, a slew of rodents scurry away. ● It'd be pretty foolish to store anything of value in that unit... wouldn't it? In the parable, the farmer had the opportunity to be generous with his surplus, and he didn't. He had the opportunity to be rich towards God and he missed it. He chose the wrong storage option! And for that, Jesus called him a fool. ● I don't want to be a fool, and I don't think you want to be foolish, either. ● But what does it look like to pursue wisdom instead? Think back to the quote I shared at the beginning of today's message - much of wisdom about Jesus comes in principles, rather than detailed do's and don'ts. From these principles, we thoughtfully and prayerfully try to discern the kind of life that honors God. In this last section of today's message, I want to share with you one of the best frameworks for working with money that I have seen in a long time... one that I think is super faithful to Jesus' teachings. ● It comes from a fascinating book I've been reading recently titled, God & Money: how we discovered true riches at Harvard Business School. ● Written a few years ago by John Cortines and Greg Baumer. In many ways, the lives of these two young men are a modern day example of the parable we're looking at today. Straight out of their undergraduate degrees, both John and Greg secured high-powered jobs - the kind that come with 6-figure base pay and huge year-end bonuses. A few years later at Harvard, John and Greg met and developed a friendship largely based on their common faith in Jesus. Then, in one of their business school courses, they got to study under a wonderful Christian professor, who advised them in a unique research project. They looked at the 2000+ verses in the Bible about money, & also conducted interviews with people of faith about how they managed their finances. What started out as a 30 page paper in grad school ended up becoming a whole book, reflecting a turning point in both of these young men's lives. Here's how they describe a bit of their journey. ● Throughout our research, we had been pursuing the question of how to manage our wealth in a godly way, with a specific focus on how much we should give. It finally dawned on us that we were thinking about the question backward. A faithful reading of Scripture leads not to the question, "How much should I give?" Rather, it leads to the question, "How much do I need to keep?" (Pause) They go on to share how they've come to view this insight... this flip of perspectives.... as the natural conclusion of biblical teaching on money. And it is foundational to the core principles of biblical wealth and giving that they outline in their book. (Pause again) ● Okay, before I share the 7 core principles in a moment, let's say out loud what a number of people are thinking: If only I had these guys' problems... having too much money and not knowing what to do with it! ● That's fair... but what if their pretty unique example could speak something to all of us, no matter how much income we make? Isn't this what Jesus did? He told a story about a guy that accumulated tons of wealth (something that not all of us can relate to)... to make a point that all of us can apply. ● Along those lines... I encourage you to keep an open mind/heart, as I share thes... 7 Core Principles For Biblical Wealth and Giving 1. Everything we "own" actually belongs to God. Everything. 2. "Our" wealth and possessions should be used for God's purposes. 3. Wealth is like dynamite, with great potential for both good and harm. 4. Worldly wealth is fleeting; heavenly treasure is eternal. 5. Giving generously to the poor is a moral duty in a fallen world. 6. Giving should be voluntary, generous (even sacrificial), cheerful and needs-based. 7. Giving generously breaks the power of money over us. No matter what your current financial situation is... I believe these principles reflect the Biblical teaching about money. If we want to avoid greed and not be foolish... I think these 7 items are a great starting point in managing the finances entrusted to you. Let's briefly touch on a few of these in a bit more detail. #1 - Everything we "own" actually belongs to God. Everything. Embracing this perspective is super challenging, but also amazingly freeing. It's challenging because we like control - and turning over ownership of everything to God means that we must live with open hands. But it's freeing because the weight of life is not ultimately on our shoulders. Seeing yourself as a steward(rather than an owner) of God's resources can bring immense peace. That flows really well into numbers 2 and 4. "Our" wealth and possessions should be used for God's purposes. And Worldly wealth is fleeting; heavenly treasure is eternal. ● This is what we've spent so much time on today. No matter if you have a little or a lot, you have real choices about what you do with what God has entrusted to you. Will you fall into greed, or will you choose generosity? Will you be foolish / wise with the treasures God has placed in your hands? ● One other tidbit about the authors of this book... I was impressed by how specific they have been at putting into practice the principles they write about. They go into quite a bit of detail about how both of them have put themselves on an income cap (how much do I need to keep?). And they have committed to give away the rest in advancement of God's purposes Then, look again at #3. Wealth is like dynamite, with great potential for both good and harm. Maybe you've got a huge pile of dynamite, or just a few sticks... Either way, there is tremendous power in your hands... power to do good or to inflict harm. May God guide us to handle this power with great care. We'll stop there for now... touch on this list of core principles again later in this series. Sum up the message... ● Comes out experiences of God's grace and generosity. ● Communion ● Ministry Time