Apostles Church

Proverbs 30:7-9 is the only prayer in Proverbs – one you might have never prayed – I don’t want too much because I will forget you. Heb 13:5 Money is neutral, and we can do good with it or it can work bad in us. Jesus warns us against loving money and loving possessions. Jesus talked about money and possessions more than he talked about heaven and hell. It was one of his favorite topics of choice. The reason he spoke so much about it is that nothing has the potential to make you forget God more; nothing will compete with God for first place in your heart more than money will. In Matthew 6 Jesus spoke about money as a Master who will try to woo you away from God and conquer you and bring you into its service so that your whole life is ordered by it. And Jesus makes it clear, that you can’t serve money and have your life be ordered by it and still serve God and have your life be ordered by him. Your loyalties cannot be divided for the two – you will hate one and love the other. Money is in constant competition with God for your affection and allegiance and many people, even in the church love the master of money and in Jesus’ words have functionally become haters of God. You don’t have to have money to love money. A suffocating man loves oxygen though he is deprived of it. You can have very little money and love it more than the wealthy. You can think about it, be obsessed with it, wishing you had more of it and thinking about how much better life would be with more of it, all the while possessing little of it. So, don’t love it. How do we act out this proper attitude and approach to money? Live Simply; Save Wisely; Give Generously.

Live Simply. Jesus consistently confronts our consumerism; our desire to acquire that is constantly being fed by a culture that equates what you own with who you are. He says things, “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions;” “don’t be anxious about what you are to eat or wear because life is more than food and clothes…” You are bombarded with between 5k-12k images every day telling you how you need to look and what you need to own to be significant and to be happy. And it works. We are a culture is that is buying everything. In America there are 16 ½ square feet of mall space for every man, woman, and child. Americans are constantly shopping; even while we are in the air. Who needs the stuff in SkyMall? Result - our lives are racked with consumer debt. Total consumer debt in the US - nearly $2.5 trillion dollars - nearly $8,100 in debt for every man, woman and child in the US, excluding mortgages. Scriptures call that bondage: Pr 22:7 the borrower is a slave to the lender. It is also foolish (presuming upon God) and selfish. Do you realize what kind of change could be ushered into this world if every dollar that went toward the interest on credit card debt was spent on alleviating the spiritual and physical sufferings of people in our world? 

            Our consumerism is born out of a lack of satisfaction in God and lack of trust in God. The Gospel says to us that God is for us; that he loves us; that he is a good Father who promises to meet our needs. The Gospel tells us that we are made for God and apart from him our souls do not find rest. The Gospel gives us Christ as our great treasure and satisfies us in him. Consumer Debt is rejecting all of that. It is saying, “God is withholding good from me so I must go and secure it on my own.” “God and what he provides is not enough for me.” When you have become convinced of God’s great love and care for you, you believe that God knows your needs and you trust in his provision without presuming upon him. So you need a good vision of the love of God in Christ. And you need a plan. John Maxwell: A budget tells your money where to go, instead of you wondering where your money went. So, live simply.

Save Wisely. Proverbs 27:23-27. If you are not on a budget, you won’t save money. Do you have goals in your life? Aim for nothing and you will hit it every time. My story: A failure to “reverse engineer” my life. Now, I am living with the end in mind. What will it take to send my kids to college? How much do I need to live on in my retirement years? What kind of resources do I want to leave my children (Pr 13:22 a good man leaves an inheritance for his children…)? Do you want to adopt? Reverse engineer your life and plan and live your today with tomorrow in mind. In Saving and investing time is the critical factor. Illus: “If Britney makes $5,000 annual contributions to her Roth IRA when she is 20, and she earns an 8% return, she’ll have $1.9m saved at retirement. But if she waits even five years, her annual contributions would have to increase to nearly $7,500 to save that same amount by age 65. And if she were to wait until she was 40, she’d have to contribute over $25,000 a year.” You have to start saving now. Get out of debt, get on a budget, and start saving money for your future.

Give Generously. God is a radically generous God and he calls his people to reflect his heart to the world. The Gospel requires that we show to others the immense generosity that God has shown us. All we have comes from God (Psalm 24:1). As our creator, he has claim to all we have; As our savior he deserves all we have. God requires us to give first to him and the things that he cares about. Prov 3.9–10.  “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; 10) then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” A good place to start is 10% of your income; but don’t stop there. God has a special place in his heart for the poor and needy and suffering and calls his people to share that concern. Prov 19.17 “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.” God rewards those who help change the present and shape the future of another with our generosity. Future Shaping Generosity. Some people cannot shape the future with generosity because they are too preoccupied with paying off their past.  We don’t live simply and save wisely so that we can get wealthy and live comfortably in old age. We do that so that have control of our resources and we can leverage our resources to change the world. At Apostles: alleviating the spiritual and physical needs of others. Planting Churches; Easter Renewal Offering; Urban Initiatives; Adoption Fund; DFN; exploring ways to serve orphans in Africa.

Do these 3 in reverse order. What if? Your patterns in how you thought of and treated money radically shifted. The Gospel must give you identity and it must give you your pattern. What if you refused to love money and wrap your identity up in it; if you got out of the bondage of debt; if you chose to live simply; save wisely; give with the radical generosity of God seen in the Gospel?