Finances:
Building a Stable Future
(Part 2, Building a Stronger Family)
Text: Proverbs 3:7-18 (page 450 in pew Bible)
TOP 10 SIGNS YOU ARE BROKE
10. American Express calls and says: "Leave home without it!"
9. You’re formulating a plan to rob the food bank.
8. Long distance companies don’t call you to switch.
7. You rob Peter...and then rob Paul.
6. You finally clean your house, hoping to find change.
5. You think of a lottery ticket as an investment.
4. Your bologna has no first name.
3. You start washing the Styrofoam plates.
2. McDonalds supplies you with all your kitchen condiments.
1. At communion you go back for seconds.
Building a foundation by monetary means is useless and futile without Godly wisdom. Honoring the Lord with our finances is the key to a stable future. Most American families have a tendency to build their families financial futures on misplaced happiness. They go looking for that one thing that will be the purchase of a lifetime. We will look at some more cornerstones that we need to lay in building a stronger family, but there is one that I want to share with you that speaks to the heart of the problem. It is a faulty cornerstone of ruin.
Money is so much more that coins and currency. It all too often is the means by which people rate their personal success. And it frequently is a source of tremendous conflict between husbands and wives.
The Bible teaches that the way people use money indicates a lot about the condition of the heart. As we look at some of this faulty cornerstone of ruin, I want you to examine the condition of your heart in each of these matters.
Faulty Cornerstone 1: Foolish Spending and Debt
“Do not be wise in your own eyes…”(v7)
Someone once said that the only reason a great many American families don’t own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a few dollars down and easy weekly payments.
In the American religion of materialism, there are two words more sacred than any other: "Charge it!"
- Yet, consider the following two scenarios in evaluating the intelligence of using “the plastic”:
1. Ellin is 30 years old. She has a $3,500 balance on her Citibank credit card at 18% interest. She makes the minimum payment each month. How old will she be when she has her credit card paid off?
2. Tom and Susan needed a new washing machine, so they went to Sears and found one for $299. They got a Sears charge card and made the minimum payment each month. By the time the washing machine was paid off, how much did Tom and Susan actually pay for that washing machine?
(Answers: 1. 70 years old; 2. $1,199)
- Obviously, credit card purchases are not the wisest of decisions.
- In the midst of everyone shouting "Charge it! Charge it!" without giving it a second thought, the Bible gives us another c-word to replace "credit" on our path to financial happiness: that word is "contentment."
- The difference between seeking financial happiness through credit versus seeking it through contentment can be neatly summed up in this way:
The world tells us financial happiness comes by having what you want; the Bible tells us the key is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.
We have to learn to be content with our circumstances. The moment we step outside of that rule we forfeit the kind of life God expects us to be living. One of the worst ways this kind of behavior infiltrates our families and destroys them is through foolish spending and overwhelming debt. I’ve been in that trap before. I have made some really stupid purchases.
I can remember when Tanya and I were dating, we took an afternoon and went to Daytona Beach. I thought it was the greatest time because Tanya had asked if I wanted to go and that she would cover all the expenses.
I kid you not, $600 later (on her credit card), we came home. It was so bad that I stopped telling time by the clock, I figured it by how many times that card was swiped. I was so happy though, that my girlfriend was willing to spend her money on me, but I didn’t realize at what cost. I had to marry her because I felt so bad about the money she spent. I guess she had it all figured out, because after all was said and done I still got stuck with the bill.
Some of you are thinking, "You know, Marc, you’re right. My credit cards are maxed, but I can’t really say that I’m any happier. (In fact, I’m stressed out from not knowing how I’m going to pay all these bills)."
Let’s look at Philippians 4:11-13 (page 832 in pew Bible)
A lot of you probably like to quote that last apart frequently when things look bleak, but when it comes to the money issues it is always someone else’s fault for the lack of money in the account. How do we escape this faulty cornerstone of ruin?
What is the next step?
Here are a few specific things to consider to move from "credit" toward "contentment":
1. Act your wage.
- There are a lot of people making $30,000 trying to act like they make $35,000; there are a lot of people making $50,000 trying to act like they make $60,000.
- A recent Census Bureau study found that almost 3 million American families with incomes above $68,700 (the wealthiest 5th of the nation) had trouble paying for basic necessities such as their mortgage, food, and utilities at least once in 1995. Even the ones we consider rich aren’t living within their incomes!
- People will often say, "I just can’t live on what I make." A more accurate statement would be, "I can’t support my lifestyle on what I make."
2. Don’t take it to the limit.
- Most people stretch right to the limit on their purchases: "How much can I afford?"
- Instead of asking, "What do I really want?", try substituting "What do I really need?" as you consider a purchase.
3. Realize that if you are not happy with what you have now, you won’t be happy with more.
- You cannot go looking for contentment. That is the mistake most often made by those who are wanting that one last thing and then they will be happy. Contentment cannot be found, it has to be realized.
I want you to say something with me, “I will be content.”
Say it again.
One more time.
Now, God wants you to keep saying it until your bills prove it.
It’s a simple choice. You can have the debt and the maxed-out credit cards. You can have contentment and financial happiness. But you can’t have them both. Now let’s get to the things that will build a firm foundation for a strong family. The cornerstones of tithing and offerings.
Cornerstone 2: Tithing and Offering
“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.”(v9)
A one dollar bill met a twenty dollar bill and said, "Hey, where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around here much." The twenty answered (as the dollar bill listened enviously), "I’ve been hanging out at the casinos, went out on a cruise and did the rounds of the ship, back to the United States for a while, went to a couple of baseball games, to the mall, that kind of stuff. How about you?" The one dollar bill said, "You know, same old stuff, church, church, church."
I also saw a bumper sticker the other day that read, "Tithe if you love Jesus; any fool can honk”.
The point is this: We can laugh about giving to the Lord properly all we want, but when we are in front of the Lord and He asks you what you did with all the money He gave you and you have nothing to say…
I want to challenge you to look at where you are building these foundations. On God’s promises, or on your own makeshift plan to get through the next day. This is not just our money I’m talking about either. You were given life by the Creator of the Universe. How foolish of us to squander it away instead of honoring the Lord each moment by our obedience to Him.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew people were given a command to bring a tenth of everything they had each year to offer to God. In the New Testament, the people were told to give what was acceptable according to what they had. This wasn’t only in monetary matters, but it spoke to everything they had.
It is a sad statistic today when in recent survey of charitable giving is this statistic from the Barna Organization, which conducts significant research on the church in America:
8% of born again Christians tithed their income in 1999
17% of adults claimed in 1997 to have tithed but only 3% actually did so.
29% of adults surveyed in 1997 actually believe that Bible commands us to tithe.
The cornerstone of tithing, giving, and offering is a foundation that not only builds the physical church but builds the kingdom of God as well. I want to challenge you to have the very best here every Sunday for the Lord. The Lord demands excellence from His people. Are you one of His people? Could somebody tell if they were sitting next to you this morning?
I challenge you to try being excellent for God just for a week, in everything you do. Tell me if you don’t come away refreshed, renewed, and revived, with a feeling of absolute richness at the end of that week. I mean it. Try excellence in everything for one week and tell me if it makes a difference.
This brings us to the next cornerstone. The cornerstone of Stewardship and Financial planning.
Cornerstone 3: Stewardship and Financial Planning
“Blessed is the man who finds wisdom…”(v13)
The billionaire, H. Bunker Hunt, said, "A billion dollars ain’t what it used to be. You can lose it no matter how much you make. No matter what kind job you’ve got, you could break a leg, get sick, the economy can turn around, the place can burn down. In order to have security you’ve got to put your security in something that cannot be taken away from you."
What are you finding your wisdom in? God tells us that finding wisdom is better that silver, gold, or precious gems. Nothing on earth can compare with Godly wisdom. He is speaking of stewardship. What are you placing your stock in? Is it things that come and go and you can only count on some of the time, or are you placing trust in the will of God for your safe-keeping?
In Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus explains stewardship best in the parable of the talents.
There was a man who was going on a trip and he left his property in the care of his servants. To one he gave about five talents (a little more than five thousand dollars), to another he gave two, and to another he gave one. He did this according to what there abilities were in handling money.
The servant who had the five and the servant who had two both put the money they were given to work and gained back double what they were given. The servant with one talent went and hid it in the ground so it would be “safe.” (This guy is headed right for Merrill Lynch isn’t he?)
When the man came back, the servants who had been using the money they were entrusted with to gain a double return, were given many thanks and put in charge of many more things. The servant that hid the money, however, was told he should have at least given it to the money-hungry bankers to gain interest while it was sitting. He was sent away with no money and thrown out into the darkness.
This parable describes a winning plan for Godly stewardship. Make what you have work for you. There is nothing you need other than what you have been given. If you are faithful with what you have, God will give you more!
Say something with me, “I will be faithful with what I have.”
Say it again.
Believe this principle and God will honor your faithfulness. Become a steward of what God has given you right now, not what you are going to get someday. That is wisdom that God can work with, and that is the cornerstone of stewardship and financial planning that will build a stronger family.
“She is a tree of life to those who embrace her.”(v18)
There once was a not so bright fellow who saw an advertisement for a cruise. The sign in the travel agency window read “Cruise -- $100 Cash.” I’ve got a hundred dollars, he thought. And I’d like to go on a cruise. So he entered the door and announced his desires. The fellow at the desk asked for the money, and the not-too-bright guy started counting it out. When he got to one hundred, he was whacked over the head and knocked out cold. He woke up in a barrel floating down a river. Another sucker in another barrel floated past and asked him, “Say, do they serve lunch on this cruise?”
The not-too-bright fellow answered, “They didn’t last year.”
It’s one thing not to know. It’s another to know and not learn.
Whatever we do with our money relates to how we are honoring the Lord and God desires to bless those who honor Him. Therefore, whatever resources you might have to use, use them in a way that glorifies God and brings honor to Him. God requires a portion of life in that we bring it to Him for wise investment. If you want a good return on your investment, invest wisely and invest in the Lord. He has invested in you.
There is much to be said for Godly wisdom when it comes to money matters. But what about the matters of your salvation? I hope you realize that what you do this day, counts in the bank of God. You have to give up spending foolishly the life God has given you. Start by bringing your whole life to God today and offer Him your service as a brand new creation. Begin to build your future with a solid foundation through His forgiveness through baptism, and let Him increase your spiritual future as you grow in Him with the rest of His family here. I challenge you to become excellent for Christ.
