In the movie “Indecent Proposal”, a young couple who is newly married is approached by a Billionaire with an offer, an Indecent proposal. The offer is this, in exchange for one night alone with the new bride, this billionaire would offer the couple a check for a million dollars. One night of romance for one million dollars. And all though the couple loved each other, the temptation of such a large sum of money turned out to be to much. Now what would you have done in that situation?
I hope I know what you do, but as I thought about that some more, it gets me thinking about all the crazy things that people are willing to do for some extra money. My wife is a big fan of the reality show, “Fear Factor”, and on this show just for a chance at fifty thousand dollars, (Just a chance, they’re not guaranteed to win!) I have seen people eat cockroaches, cheese filled with maggots, and raw half developed ostrich eggs. Now, that might turn your stomach, but it doesn’t turn my stomach nearly as bad as what other people are willing to do for money.
Young men break into the houses of the elderly to get some money. I remember growing up we had something happened in a town near us where a Pizza delivery man was killed, for $40 and a large pizza. 1 Tim 6:9-10 says, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Now that verse is perhaps one of the most misquoted text in the bible, and it has been used to degrade many wealthy people, but it’s not money that is the root of all evil, it’s the love of money. Money is no more than a symbol, currency made of paper and metal, nothing more. There’s nothing inside the paper or the metal that’s inherently unspiritual or evil. It’s the love of money, devotion to getting more and more money that is a root of all kinds of evil. Paul is saying that a drive to get rich is a source of all kinds of evil behavior and it indeed leads to many griefs.
More marriages are broke up today not because of infidelity, but because of financial stress. According to Nellie Mae, a credit service for students, the average credit card debt for a graduate student is $4,925. The average cardholder in America now carries an average of $7,000 of credit card debt. As a result, depression and hopelessness and a spirit of bondage emerges.
Now as we look at this sermon, some of you might see the title and think this is about giving and tithing. It’s not. I’m not against preaching it and you will hear one here soon. I remember hearing a preacher say that if you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one who yelps is the one who got hit, and more often than not, those who complain about sermons on tithing are the ones it seems to be hitting. But this is not a message on tithing, its about keeping money in its proper perspective.
US News and World Report had an article on money a few years back, and the reporter spoke the truth when she said this: “For most of us, money and our feelings toward it our dynamic and intense. We either love money or we hate it; we fear it or we worship it; but one things is sure, we certainly never ignore it.” Money is such an integral part of our lives that we can’t ignore it, and Jesus sure did not ignore it.
Howard Dayton, financial advisor and founder of Crown Ministries, a financial training ministry counted about five hundred verses in the Bible on prayer but 2,350 verses on how to handle money and possessions. Half of Jesus’ teachings deal with our attitude towards money and possessions. Jesus knew that God’s greatest rival for our hearts would not be Satan, but it would be money. That’s why Luke 16:13-14 says, “No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money." The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.” With this in mind, let’s look at how we can keep money in its right perspective, and it doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, we all need to hear this message this morning.
The first thing Paul teaches us here is that we need to learn to be Content with what we have in this world right now. Look at vs 6 of your text. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”
Now the Greek word "contentment" there refers to feeling satisfied with what you have in life. Contentment isn’t simply giving up and saying, "Well I guess this is my lot in life." Contentment goes much deeper, and its much more positive than mere surrender to fate. Contentment is not obsessing about having more, but being secure in what you have today, even if it’s not everything you want.
Now I think that’s important for us to learn because we have about us today this epidemic of discontentment. We are satisfied with our salary, until a friend tells us they got a raise, and all of a sudden what once was enough is now not enough. Everywhere you turn, people are discontent with something in their lives. And its an idea that is perpetrated by magazines, movies, and television. Women are satisfied with our looks, until they see that size 2 fitness model saying only 20 minutes a day and you will look like me. We are satisfied with our car, until we see that new Chevy Silverado commercial telling us all the pulling power, gadgets, and fun that comes with a Kentucky blue, king sized cab with white leather interior, with all the bells and whistles, (I’m glad those commercials don’t get to me!) and all of a sudden our truck looks pretty pitiful.
But the problem is, that we are always being told that if you can just get a little more, then you would be satisfied. Then you will be content. But that line of contentment is always moving. So we are never content, we are never satisfied, we are never happy. One desperate man in debt said, “there is no problem I have that money could not solve.” But money doesn’t solve your problems of contentment. Eccl 5:10 says, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” Ted Turner once remarked how depressed he was with his income, because as he put it, “I have a billion dollars, but Bill Gates has $10 billion.” And that’s the trap of that the love of money has. You can never have enough of it, and you can never be truly content.
Patrick Morely in his book, “The Man in the Mirror” wrote, “Money enslaves men—it will work you till you die. And, after it has conquered your poor soul, its haunting laughter can be heard howling through the chambers of hell. And then it seeks out another hapless, unsuspecting victim—an ambitious fellow who wants just a little bigger slice of the good life.”
So how can we learn to be content? Paul gives us some reasons why we should be content and how to bring it about. Remember, Paul was the same man who wrote that he knew what it meant to be content, whether he had riches or poverty. So what are the reasons?
The first reason is this, Paul says that Godliness with Contentment brings great gain. Now previous to this section, Paul was dealing with teachers who were teaching that faith was a means of prosperity. Many of you might remember Tammy Faye Baker. Tammy Faye once said on her PTL program, “When you pray for a BMW, make sure you tell God what color you want.” People who view Christianity in that way miss the whole point and they end up being discontent with not only their income, but their faith.
But if you have godliness with contentment, you have achieved that thing which the world is searching for. You are at peace. You are not longer running that rat race and enslaved to the ways of this world. Whenever I read this text, I can’t help but think of my cousin Coy Gale. Now Coy is a boanafied genius. In his house he has a picture of Einstein hanging upside down, he has two or three rooms in his house where his books are literally covering the wall from the floor to the ceiling. He goes to book stores and picks out books at random to read, and he is a big philosopher and one of the best apologist for the Christian faith I have ever met. Coy Gale could have any job he wants. He’s that smart. But Coy Gale works as a janitor at the local high school. Everybody says “Coy, you’re wasting your life, you could be rich, and all that.” But Coy just says, “I like where I’m at. I do my work, go home and study.” You see, he’s at peace. Isn’t that what we all want. And here a janitor, not the wealthy Hollywood actor, not the fortune 500 CEO, but a janitor has what the world is searching for. So first, its of great gain.
The second reason Paul gives is that we brought nothing into this world. We didn’t come into this world as the owner of anything, we came into this world poor and naked, and what ever we have received, we have received it from someone else. And that someone else came into the world the same way we did, so eventually you realize, that everything in this world belongs to its original owner, and that is God. Everything we have, we have because of God’s generosity. Now that by no means diminishes your effort and hard work, but it means that God is the owner of all things, and we are simply managers of His estate. 1 Tim 6:17 says, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” It’s a gift from God.
Now that means that we should be content, because all that we have is a gift. Let’s imagine that I was feeling generous, and I said that I was going to give everybody here today $5. Now that would be a gift, but what if someone here in the front row said, “I had to sit closer and actually hear him, so I should get more.” Now, how should I respond to that discontentment? I gave him $5, but instead of being grateful, he complained. I tell you what I would do, I would take the $5 from him and give it to someone else. You came into this world owning nothing, it’s all belongs to God who gives us all these things for our enjoyment.
The next reason is that not only to we come into this world owning nothing, but we also will leave this world empty handed. I once say a bumper sticker that said, “He who dies with the most toys, still dies!” When I was younger, we went to my Mammaw Cleary’s house, and she had an old Atari 2600 video game system, and I was playing Ms. Pac-man. Now I got so engrossed in that game that I didn’t spend time with my family, nor help out with anything taking place, I was so engrossed in this game trying to get the high score. But at the end of the day, my Dad came into the room and pulled the plug, and all that work, all that effort was taken away, and what was I left with? Nothing. And I had lost so much in the process, of the time with family who I hadn’t seen in years.
In the same way, some of you today are so engrossed with obtaining treasures, money in this world so that you are neglecting the things that really matter. You sacrifice your family, you sacrifice time for your faith all to get more money to buy more things, and for what? So that one day, they will be taken away from you.
Bob Russell once told the story about how he realized how fleeting this life and its accomplishments were. He said, “Our family used to play board games together on vaca¬tion trips. On one particular night when we were playing Monopoly, I was really on a roll. The first time around the board I landed on Boardwalk. The next time around I landed on Park Place! Before long I owned all four rail¬roads and Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky Avenues. I knew I was unstoppable. Within an hour I had hotels on every property and I was raking it in. Someone would land on my property and I would smirk, "That’s five hundred dollars! Oh, wait, I have a hotel on that one! That’s one thousand dollars!" One by one, the other fam¬ily members went bankrupt until the last person went bankrupt and I was the champ.
The rest of the family trudged off to bed and I said, “Hey "Wait a minute! Someone has to clean this mess” That’s the prize for winning, Dad!" they retorted. -You get to clean up the game." Suddenly there I sat. I was surrounded by wealth, and no friends! The game was over. I picked up the pieces, placed them back in the box, put the money back, and closed the lid.
That night as I lay in bed, I remembered hearing Dr. James Dobson compare the Christian life to a Monopoly game. How empty we will feel if we stand before God someday and our emphasis throughout our lifetime has been on material things. Suddenly all the wealth we’ve ac¬cumulated won’t matter. We have to leave it behind. What will matter will be whether or not we were honest, compassionate, and generous with what God has given us. And then he quotes Matthew 6:19-21, “[Jesus said], "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
So how can we ensure that our hearts are in the right place? First off, examine your life to see what is important to you. Where is most of your time spent trying to accomplish? Do you place other things before your time with God and His people? J.C. Penny, a very successful businessman once said, “If any man is so busy that he can’t attend church on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening, then perhaps that person has more work that God intended them to have.” What’s important to you?
Second, learn to control your money instead of having it control you. This means that you will have to live within your means. Thomas Stanley, author of The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind used the Texan phrase "big hat, no cattle" to describe people who "show a lot, spend a lot, and don’t have a lot.” Live within what you have, and learn to discriminate between your wants and your needs. I hate to say this because I am not a financial advisor, in fact I’m far from it, but you need to have a plan for your money. After the holiday season, we are going to have a study in our church about looking at finances from a biblical perspective, and I hope that everyone will take advantage of that.
Finally, Invest in your faith first and foremost. There is a story of a country preacher who went to call upon a wealthy farmer who didn’t know the Lord. The farmer drove I’m out to the middle of his property. As they stood there the man proudly proclaimed, “As far as you can see in that direction to the west, I won it, and as far as you can see to the east is mine.” He pointed the other direction and arrogantly said, “And guess what preacher, as far as you can see to the north and south, it all belongs to me.” The preacher pointed up toward heaven and asked, “How much do you own in that direction?” Do you want peace today? Do you want contentment in your life. Then the answer lies in this quote that Dave Ramsey, the Christian financial wizard who comes on 100.9 every weekday. He ends his show by saying, “There is ultimately only one way to true financial peace, and that is to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.” And I invite you to take that walk today.
