YOU ASKED FOR IT
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR MONEY
Sunday July 16, 2006
Scripture Reference: 1 Timothy 6:3-19
Intro.
A. Today we are going to begin our look at the last subject that you requested to hear a message about. Now as we look at this final subject I want to remind you one more time that “You Asked For It”. It was not my idea to preach on the subject of money this is what you requested. Seriously though I do believe that this was all in God’s providential timing that I talk to you about his subject today since it was not long ago that we all received a letter from our Church Board sharing with us about the current financial struggle we are having as a congregation. Yes money may not be our favorite topic but I do not believe it coincidental that I would be sharing with you about this subject at this time. You gave me six different topics to preach on and it was all the way back in April that I put this schedule together so you see I believe that God was directing things all the way along bringing us to this point today.
1. Let’s all be honest shall we? We all like money right? If you say you don’t then maybe we need to preach on one more topic before we leave this series, the topic of honesty. We all like money, money allows us a lot of opportunities and privileges. Money allows us to go out to eat and all the ladies said… (Amen). Money allows us to buy a car and then spend $3+ dollars a gallon for gas to make it go. Money allows me to have a roof over my head and to have heat in the winter and cool in the summer. Aren’t you glad for an air conditioned sanctuary? Money allows us to have this. Money allows me to buy worms so I can go fishing. Sure we all like money because money is necessary and money is useful.
2. When I was asked to preach on the topic of money I was asked to answer the question, “Is money Good or is money bad?” Well the short and simple answer to that question is that money is neither. Money is not good and money is not bad, money is neutral. What determines the good or bad of money is our attitude towards it. So now I guess since I answered the question you were asking that means we can all go home Right? Wait a minute, not so fast. How do we develop a proper attitude towards money so that it will be good and not bad? That is what I want to begin to talk to you about today and I am sure you will be very surprised to learn that I will not finish this subject today but we will finish up this subject and this series next Sunday.
B. Now since the subject of money always tends to get people a little up tight I thought maybe I would start out today with a couple of stories to try and lighten the mood. Now once again I know that we preachers are often accused of having a one track mind and that mind runs on the track of money but that really isn’t true. It was very frustrating to me back in 1999 when we were going through our program to raise funds for new buildings that I was accused of only preaching about money, but for some reason no one could offer me another way of building new buildings except by using money. We had planned to use Jim & Mickey Burdett to do most of the building but for some reason they wanted money for the work they were going to do. Can you imagine that?! Of all the nerve.
1. Well here is my first little story. This is about little Jimmy. Little Jimmy’s mother was hysterical because little Jimmy had swallowed a quarter. She screamed to her husband to call the doctor. Her husband picked up the phone and called the pastor. She said, “Why in the world did you call the pastor? We don’t need a pastor we need a doctor.” Her husband replied, “Hey our pastor can get money out of anybody.” You can go ahead and say Amen I know you want to.
2. This second story is about Stumpy and his wife Martha. Every year they went to the state fair and there was this antique bi-plane that Stumpy always wanted to take a ride on but it cost $10 and Martha always said, “Stumpy that airplane ride costs $10 and $10 is $10. One year they went to the fair and Stumpy said, “Martha I am 81 years old. If I don’t ride the plane this year I may never get another chance.” Martha reply, “Stumpy that plane ride cost $10 and $10 is $10. Well the pilot overheard them talking and he said, “Folks I will make you a deal. I will take both of you up for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say a word I will not charge you the ten dollars.” Well Stumpy and Martha agreed so they got in the plane and went up. The pilot did all sorts of tricks and turns, rolls and dives, but he never heard a word. He did it all over again but still not a word. When the pilot landed the plane he turned around and said to Stumpy, “By golly, I did everything I could think of to get you to yell out, but you didn’t.” Stumpy replied, Well I was gonna say something when Martha fell out, But ten dollars is ten dollars.” (Taken from Great Stories vol.6/issue24; pg.8)
C. You have heard me say many times before that the Bible speaks more to the issue of money than it does any other subject. Obviously there is a reason for that. The bible tells us that the way we manage our money will determine how God can bless our lives. The bible tells us that God wants to pour out His blessing but his hands are tied if we do not trust Him with our money. The bible teaches us that how we manage our money is a sign of spiritual maturity. The bible teaches us that how we manage our finances will be the true test of our character. Look at V.10 in our text again, MSG Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.
1. What I want to do today is to begin to share with you some principles for managing your money. I am going to share with you five principles in all and today I will give you the first one. Before I share this principle with you there is something very important that you need to know. If we are going to learn how to manage our money and have the proper attitude towards money so that it can still be a good thing in our lives and not bad then we must practice ALL FIVE PRINCIPLES. Even though we don’t have these think of this as a five cylinder engine. It may be possible for that engine to run on four instead of five cylinders but it will not run efficiently, it will not run effectively and eventually the engine will stop because it simply was not designed to run on four instead of five cylinders. If you really want to see money take its proper place in your life then you will have to put all five of these principles I am going to be sharing with you into practice or you too will not run efficiently or effectively and you to will stop running prematurely.
2. There is one more thing I need to share with you before I give you principle number one. These five principles are habits that have to be developed and worked on until they become a lifestyle for us. It will not work for you if you do these five things I am going to share with you once or twice and then forget about them. Habits take time to develop before they become a part of the way we live. Some of you this year are learning how to have a daily devotional time. It is a habit that you did not gain from reading the bible two days in a row. If you have been faithful to the commitment you made back on May 7, then today chances are you are well on your way to developing a habit of personal daily devotions.
Trans. Ok so let’s begin our exploration of the five principles for money management. Here is principle number one.
I. EARN AN HONEST LIVING – THE PRINCIPLE OF WORK.
A. You Were Created To Work.
1. Now I wonder how many of you would say today that it really excites you to know that you were created for work? Probably not many of you. I doubt that tomorrow morning when you wake up you are going to jump out of bed and say, “WOW I am so glad God created me to go to work.” “I can’t wait.” That’s usually not what happens when the alarm clock goes off on Monday morning but let me ask another question. How many of you are glad today that you have a job? Now I will grant you that you may not feel you have the best job or that your pays you all you want or even deserve but how many of you are glad you have work? Here is the verse we first learned during forty day so purpose. It is Ephesians 2:10 NCV and it says God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing. The word God uses here “works” means in the original language, “Toil or occupation”. So God created us to work. Here is something I never saw before in Genesis. One of the very first commands God gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden was to work. Look with me at Genesis 2:15 NIV The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Now I don’t know about you but I always looked at the Garden of Eden as a perfect place and my idea of perfect would be this, “Maintenance Free”. Can I get an “Amen”? Here are some other verses that speak to the issue of idleness. 2 Thess. 3:6 NIV, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. Proverbs 12:11 NLT, Hard work means prosperity; only fools idle away their time. 2 Thess. 3:10 ESV, For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
Trans. Now the work that we do ought to be both honest and with integrity.
B. Our Work Should Be Honest And With Integrity.
1. Look at 2 Thess. 3:6 NLT, And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from any Christian who lives in idleness and doesn’t follow the tradition of hard work we gave you. There are many ways of making a living but as I heard one preacher say one time, “There are some ways of making a living that cost too much.” Some people have chosen to make a living by selling drugs. That is making a living that costs too much. Some have chosen to make a living by stealing from others. That is making a living that costs too much. Some have chosen to make a living by preying on the most venerable of our society like those who take advantage of the elderly. This is another way of making a living that costs too much.
2. Listen, if you are a true disciple of Jesus Christ and you are striving everyday to become more like him then there may well come a time where you work that you have to make a very difficult decision. [] Testimony by Mike Bayer. You may be working for a company that up until a certain point in time everything was great and everything was honest and above board but then they decided that in order to make more profits they would need to act in a way that was dishonest and that would require you as well to be dishonest. What are you going to do? Will it be enough to simply make a living no matter what the living will cost you?
3. I am still conservative enough that I feel that working on Sundays ought to be avoided as much as possible. Now I have said before that I am grateful for those who work in positions that are necessary for us. I am glad that hospitals are open on Sunday and that nurses and doctors are at work today. I am grateful that policemen and firemen are working today. I would hate to call them if my house was burning down and get a “Sorry we are out of the station today, call back tomorrow”. But let me add this. I believe that if at all possible you ought to avoid a job that requires you to work on Sunday. You may well find a job that will pay you so much money for working on Sundays that you could even afford to buy a home in Chino, but I will also say this, “Some ways of making a living can cost too much.”
4. [] Most of you are familiar I’m sure with the fast food chain Chick-fil-a. In 1982 the company founder and president Truett Cathy found himself and his company in a financial crisis. Due the escalation in fast food chains they were losing revenues. Truett Cathy took a group of the company executives away on a retreat to discuss the situation. On that retreat he asked them to consider this one question, “Why are we in business?” Here was the answer he and his executives decided upon, “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us, and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-a.” In the six months following this retreat the company’s profits rose 40%. Now in case you did not know Truett Cathy made a decision when he first began Chick-fil-a that they would not be open on Sundays. His philosophy was “If you can’t make enough money in six days you ought to not be in business.”
Trans. If you want to enjoy God’s blessing on your life and find contentment in your financial situation then the first principle you must put into practice is the principle of work and the work you do must be honest and it must be done with integrity.
5. Let me say a few words about having integrity in your work before we close today. I think that the Apostle Paul spoke to the issue of integrity in our work in Ephesians 6:5-7 NLT, Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, Working with integrity means that we are working hard no matter who is watching and no matter what anyone else tells us we should be doing. Some of you have probably worked in a place where because you were working as the bible calls you to work the other employees were upset because you were making them look bad. That is another one of those places where you will probably have the make the difficult decision of flowing Christ or following the crowd. This is one of those times when you will have to ask, “What would Jesus do?”
LIFE APPLICATION
A. You know a lot of times we ask this question, “What is your work ethic?” In that question we want to know what our attitude toward work is. What do we feel makes for a good employee? Could I revise that question just e little bit? I am concerned about your work ethic and I am spoken to that today but what I think I would also want you to ask and answer is this “Is my work ethical?” Is the work that I am doing something honors God? Is it something that glorifies Him? Now you don’t have to work in the church to do work that honors or glorifies God. You can be a garbage collector and still honor God. What I want you to consider is “Are you working at a place and in such a way that God can be seen in what you do?” If not then maybe you need to reconsider where you are working or what you are doing at work that is making you less of a disciple than more of a disciple.
