MONEY MANAGEMENT – 1
1. In the world there are money managers; people who are somehow in charge of lots of money.
2. We may not view ourselves as money managers, but the Bible says we are money managers.
BEGINNING TONIGHT WE WANT TO LOOK AT SOME BIBLE PASSAGES THAT RELATE TO MANAGING MONEY. AS WE BEGIN TO EXPLORE THIS TOPIC WE WILL SEE THAT THE BIBLE HAS A LOT TO SAY ABOUT CONTROLLING MONEY NO MATTER HOW MUCH OR HOW LITTLE OF IT WE HAVE.
a) People are “stewards” of various things, and God says stewards must be “faithful,” 1 Cor. 4:2.
b) We may be stewards of children, money, God’s word, our physical body, or something else.
c) Whatever we have charge (control of), God expects us to mange it and manage it well.
2) Being a manager of something implies responsibility and planning.
3) Jesus certainly made this clear in Lk. 14:31.
a) The Lord spoke of a “king.”
b) A king has a lot to manage (i.e. there is his kingdom).
c) Jesus spoke about a king thinking about going to war against another king (another kingdom).
d) Before a war is launched, a ruler will “sit down and count the cost.”
e) A king must manage his resources by being responsible and planning.
4) Most people would say that this is right; rulers should plan, be responsible, and be good stewards.
5) When this idea is presented on a smaller scale (the average person), this point is often neglected.
6) Many have the idea that management, responsibility, and planning are for “important people.”
7) These items are for the Bill Gates of the world (millionaires and billionaires).
8) This is simply not true, 1 Cor. 4:2. God didn’t say “rich stewards”; the text just says stewards.
a) Being a good steward means that we will both make plans and act responsibility with our assets.
b) We will try to make wise choices with everything we have.
9) I have never been back to one of my high school reunions.
10) I have seen some people who were in my high school classes.
11) More than a few of them were poor planners; they have managed items from their life very poorly.
12) I have former classmates who choose to become involved with illegal drugs.
13) They used illegal drugs in school and I believe that this usage has continued for some of them.
14) Others turned to alcohol, and have been drinking for a long period of time.
15) At least one of my classmates became so involved with the ways of the world he killed himself.
16) If you were to see some of the people I went to school with, you would see premature aging.
17) There are indications of medium to serious health problems as well as family problems.
18) Some of my classmates were bad managers; poor stewards; they didn’t plan and act responsibly.
19) When young people are 15-18, many of them are not looking too far ahead.
20) Maybe they were not taught to do this; Christian parents should sure being doing some teaching.
21) Adults in Christian families should be encouraging their offspring to think about the future.
22) The body is something to be managed. If we do things to destroy it, we are poor managers.
23) Poor management comes in other ways that need to be recognized and avoided.
a) We have an expression (“hand to mouth”).
b) Stated another way, there are people live paycheck to paycheck.
c) We have heard the old expression, “money burns a hole in the pocket.”
d) In life there are sometimes cases where people must live paycheck to paycheck.
24) Income may be very limited and after necessary obligations are met, there is nothing left.
25) A high percentage of people do not need to live in this manner but choose to do so.
26) Let’s say a person makes $1,000 a week; his or her expenses are $800 a week.
27) When I talk about “paycheck to paycheck,” I am talking about this kind of person.
28) $200 (or another sum) a week is extra, and this extra could and should be used for planning.
29) It might be tucked away for an emergency. It may be held back for unemployment or sickness.
30) This is not as much fun as spending the money on weekend trips, so people think, “I choose fun.”
31) “Instead of responsible planning with that $200.00, I’ll use it to bring me pleasure” and they spend it.
32) Most of us probably know of at least one person who lives in this way.
a) We can identify this type of person because they often go to those they know and say,
b) “I need a loan. Will you lend me some money?”
c) If a person were following the principles given thus far, they would not need a loan.
d) They would have $800 ($200 extra times 4 weeks) and could loan money to someone else.
33) Poor stewardship of money and other items is not just bad management.
34) It is a violation of the Scriptures.
35) Poor stewardship is usually intentional, and it is a sin.
IF WE ARE GOING TO MANAGE MONEY AND OUR OTHER RESOURCES CORRECTLY, PLANNING AND RESPONSIBILITY ARE TWO KEYS.
a) Another key is the acquiring of our assets.
b) How do we get obtain the items that require management and responsibility?
c) In some cases (such as our body), the asset comes automatically.
d) When it comes to money, most must acquire it on their own.
2) Part of good money management is a willingness and desire to work.
3) If people are not willing to work, God says should not be helped (2 Thess. 3:10).
4) Earlier I said that being a bad steward is a sin; it violates the Scriptures.
5) A related sin involves a person who refuses to work; such a person wants to freeload off others.
6) This is another form of poor management and it is also a sin.
7) Quite often we are asked to give money to someone to bad money managers.
8) In many cases a person is sin is asking us to compound the sin.
a) Since I am generally the one at the building, I get most of the phone calls.
b) I have never tried this, but I am pretty certain of the following.
c) I could give away the entire amount of each Sunday’s collection to benevolent callers.
d) People are poor stewards and they call us up for money.
e) A few—very few cases are legitimate.
f) Generally speaking, people want to be poor manages and then have us bail them out.
g) No planning or responsibility is taken, and people call us for instant help.
h) People need to learn that God has a will regarding money: it needs to be managed.
9) Another principle regarding the Bible and money is “getting rich.”
a) We have a nation full of people who want instant wealth.
b) Many of you have probably seen a common e-mail scam.
c) Someone in a country like Africa sends out a letter; they say a relative died.
d) Whoever passed away was worth about 20 million dollars.
e) The only condition to collecting the money is having a US bank account, and you must be religious.
f) Once you get the money you can give some of it to charity and keep a few million for being helpful.
g) People fall for this scam; thousands sign up for this rip-off every year.
10) Others pursue other rich schemes.
11) At the heart of every scheme are some problems.
12) Two of these problems are greed and a desire to avoid working.
13) Even good people can be affected by greed and get rich schemes.
14) Jeremiah (6:13; 8:10) said prophets and priests alike wanted greedy gain.
15) Pharisees were affected by the “love of money” (Lk. 16:14).
16) All Christians are exhorted to “be free from the love of money” (Heb. 13:5).
17) Even under the Old Testament people wanted to get rich quick (Prov. 28:20).
18) The writer referred to those who were “eager to get rich.”
19) Money is to be earned and used responsibility, and part of this means avoiding get rich schemes.
20) Anyone who thinks they can take $100 and have several thousand in 30 days is rarely a good manager.
21) A final principle for tonight’s lesson involves debt.
a) Our day and time is different from the culture of the first century.
b) For us, a car costs a lot more than the type of transportation used in the first century.
c) Housing certainly costs more. We have several types of insurance.
d) Prescription drugs are used for about everything, and they are costly.
e) Because life is so expensive, most carry some level of debt.
22) I have met some people over the years who were ready to take almost anything if credit were offered.
23) The interest rate didn’t matter, the price didn’t matter; facts were irrelevant.
24) Jesus one spoke about “paying every penny” (Mt. 5:26).
25) Jesus didn’t have in mind a 30 year house loan, but His words offer a thoughtful principle.
26) Good money management (planning/responsibility/working/saving) also means thinking about credit.
a) If I buy something on credit, do I have the means to repay it?
b) What if I lose my job before the item is paid for?
c) Do I fully understand the terms of the credit contract?
d) Is there a better deal somewhere else, or at another time of the year?
27) Debt can be a crippling thing.
28) Many of us remember Mt. 18:25.
29) A man who was severely in debt had his wife, children, and all his possessions sold.
30) Prov. 3:28 says do not pay things off tomorrow; take care of it today.
31) This is another Bible principle concerning the proper management of our resources.
32) Solomon was a very wise man, and he said some things about debt.
33) He spoke of a person who cosigned a note for someone and then realized this was not wise, Prov. 6:1-3.
34) He recognized that being in debt can be a means of suffering (Prov. 11:15).
35) He warned that our very bed might be snatched from us (Prov. 22:27).
36) Bad money management can be very serious.
a) Several years ago a member of the church got married.
b) He needed someone to cosign a loan on some bedroom furniture for him and his new wife.
c) My level of trust in this man was a shaky at best.
d) He kept pleading for me to cosign, so I finally said to him, “Let’s sit down and talk.”
37) He eagerly agreed, apparently thinking he had broken my will.
38) I said to him something like this, “Bob, I will go down and co-sign sign the note.”
39) “Let me be very clear. If you miss a single payment—by just one day—I will have the set repossessed.”
40) “You and your wife will be sleeping on the floor; you get only one chance with this.”
41) “Pay the loan every month on time or the two of you will be on the carpet.”
42) About once a month I gave him a pep talk; he always made the payments and they were on time.
43) Proper money management is a huge problem in the world, and sometimes in the church.
44) A general principle is being a good steward.
45) Being a good steward then includes everything listed tonight.
46) We are stewards for all that we have, and this includes the eternal part of our being.
47) God has given us charge of our eternal destiny.
48) It is so sad that many are good money managers but such poor managers of their eternal spirit.
49) Tonight we close with this question: who are we managing the eternal part of our life?