MONEY – INTRODUCTION
1. Several years ago someone in the city of San Francisco had an interesting but very bad idea.
2. He suggested that a person be covered in gold to show that California really was the “golden state.”
3. A young woman was selected to make this point at a certain celebration.
4. According to the account, this young woman was literally coated with gold.
5. Shortly after she was covered she died because the gold closed her body pores.
THERE ARE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF STORIES ABOUT MONEY (WEALTH)—MONEY THAT WAS GAINED, LOST, FOUND, WELL SPENT, POORLY SPENT, TOO MUCH, TOO LITTLE, ETC.
a) In one way or another, money affects each one of us.
b) Perhaps because it is such a big part of our world the Bible has a lot to say about it.
2) It is possible to offer a kind of summary teaching regarding the Bible and money.
3) First, we find that all money comes from God, Hag. 2:8 (I will read this verse in just a bit).
4) We have whatever we have because of God’s goodness, Jas. 1:17.
5) Our ability to earn money comes from God, Deut. 8:18.
6) What we possess can be removed at any moment, Job 1:21; Lk. 12:19-20.
7) We might think that everyone views money in the same way.
8) When we look at the Bible, we find that this is not true.
9) The Christian view of money is far removed from the worldly view of money.
10) Consider the passages that were just cited.
a) All money comes from God. Hear Hag. 2:8 – READ.
b) While God says all money comes from Him, what do people from the world say?
c) “This is mine. I earned it. It is in the bank because of my sweat, my labor, my skills.”
d) People who reason in this manner do not have a Christian mindset.
e) What was stated by Haggai is also found in the New Testament.
f) After Hag. 2:8 I cited Jas. 1:17, a verse I will read now – READ.
11) We do not dispute that people work, and many work very hard for what they are paid.
12) Yet, we also recognize that God says all good things ultimately come from Him.
13) Without life and breath, we would not exist.
14) Were it not for what God has created and sustained, we would not have a job or anything else.
15) In both covenants we find this principle.
16) When I cited verses a few minutes ago, Deut. 8:18 was given.
17) Then Job 1 and Lk. 12 were mentioned.
18) Now is a proper time to bring in Deut. 8:18 – READ.
19) Not only does money come from God, our ability to earn it comes from heaven as well.
20) God gives in regard to our wealth, and God can take away.
21) This happened to both Job and a rich farmer.
22) The Christian view of wealth is that it is all inseparably linked with God.
23) Anyone who reads the Bible must concede this point.
24) If we look up the subject of prayer, we find about 500 passages.
25) The same number of verses talk about faith.
26) When we study the subject of wealth, there are about a thousand references to it.
27) Almost half of Jesus’ parables have some type of “stewardship” theme.
28) If you get a chance, take out a Bible concordance and look up the words “silver and gold.”
a) I found 300 places where silver is used in the ASV.
b) 383 places refer to “gold.”
29) Even some of the hymns we sing talk about money.
30) God has put faith and finances together, and we need to see how they are connected.
31) In fact, our culture desperately needs this type of teaching.
a) Consider what our nation is compared to other countries.
b) The United States is less than 10% of the world’s population.
c) One estimate is that America composes about 6% of all the people on the planet.
d) In spite of being relatively small, we have a sizeable portion of the world’s wealth.
e) One estimate I have seen is that America has 15% of the world’s wealth.
32) We might think of ourselves as an island of plenty in a sea of poverty.
33) All in this room have seen pictures of people starving.
34) We have seen pictures of others who literally have nothing or almost nothing.
35) In contrast to that kind of life, what is commonplace for us?
36) One of our big problems in life is finding a parking place for our car while most don’t have a car.
37) People wrestle with finding a diet plan that works—a lot of people don’t have that problem.
38) Months are spent figuring out which house to build or buy—many don’t have a house.
39) By nearly any standard we want to use, we are rich, rich, rich.
40) God’s word therefore has some very important points for our lives regarding wealth.
41) Tonight we want to lay a foundation for a Bible understanding of money and Christianity.
WE HAVE ALREADY GIVEN SOME KEY VERSES SO LET’S RETURN TO THE SCRIPTURES AND
SEE SOME OTHER BASIC FACTS ABOUT PROSPERITY.
A. In life we know that money can buy many things.
B. It can even buy what some claim cannot be bought.
C. God says there are some things money cannot buy.
2. Ps. 49:8 is a passage which explicitly makes this point.
3. In the ASV, KJV and other very good translations the thought is not easy to see.
4. I am not overly excited about the NIV, but here is a place where it makes the thought easy.
5. It says “no payment is ever enough that he should live on forever.”
6. That is, no matter how much money we can accumulate, we are going to die.
7. One day all our wealth will be left behind for others.
8. Heb. 9:27 says that it is appointed for all people to die.
9. In considering wealth we see something else that it cannot do (SOS 8:7).
A. We do not quote from this book too often, but it is part of the Bible.
B. In SOS 8:7, there is a description of love.
C. This picture says love “cannot be quenched by many waters.”
D. Love cannot be drowned by floods.
E. At the end of the verse another description is offered: it cannot be bought.
F. We might want a person to love us.
G. Perhaps those of us who were married can think back to a time when we were single.
10. At a previous time there was a person we were especially fond of and wanted to be loved by them.
11. It didn’t happen. No matter what we did, there was no love.
12. Money can bring and buy many things, but it cannot bring and buy all things.
13. For a third example of what money cannot do, we turn to salvation.
14. A man may have cash but not have Christ.
15. A man may have the maximum amount of treasure in local banks, but no treasure in heaven.
16. I want to read from 2 Pet. 1:5-7 in just a moment.
A. Before I do that I want to share with you something that was done long ago.
B. William Christian. Sanford paraphrased this passage these verses several years ago.
C. Most paraphrases actually use the Biblical text.
D. This man offered what has been called a “materialistic paraphrase.”
17. What that means will be clear after I share it with you.
18. First, let’s look at 2 Pet. 1:5-7 – READ.
A. Here is a materialistic paraphrase of these three verses.
B. “”Make every effort to supplement your stove with a refrigerator, your refrigerator with
C. a washing machine, your washing machine with a dryer, your dryer with a vacuum
D. cleaner, your vacuum cleaner with a deep freeze, your deep freeze with a dish washer,
E. your dish washer with a garbage disposal.
19. This is how many live their lives. People think they need to get, get, and get more.
20. Whatever we need or want can be bought.
21. Peter listed things (qualities) that cannot be bought.
22. Again and again we find that a Christian’s attitude towards wealth is not like that of the world.
I DO NOT WANT TO LEAVE THE IMPRESSION THAT MONEY IS EVIL.
A. Jesus certainly never left this impression or made this point.
B. Was it not Jesus that spoke of vineyards being rented (Mt. 21:41)?
C. Did He told tell about collecting rent (Mk. 12:1-2)?
D. Jesus spoke about paying coins to an innkeeper for a night’s lodging (Lk. 10:35).
E. He spoke of hiring people (Lk. 15:15) and settling accounts (Lk. 16:2).
F. In Mt. 20:2 we have the statement, “agreed to pay.”
G. Even Jesus disciples spoke of “8 months wages” (Jn. 6:7).
2. God knew that we are going to somehow be involved with money.
3. Because this is a fact, this area of our life is carefully governed (regulated).
4. One of the most visible boundaries is honesty (integrity).
A. We live in a time when money and integrity have been divorced from each other.
B. We have been told about one corporate scandal after another.
C. That shouldn’t surprise us.
D. If we get rid of the Scriptures, there goes the rule book for integrity and wealth.
E. Next Sunday night I want to show the amount of emphasis the Bible has on money and honesty.
5. There are many pitfalls when it comes to money and day to day living, but honesty is a big one.
6. There are other pitfalls we hope to identify and deal with in the proper way.
7. At various times Jesus offered a connection between money and our relationship with God.
8. He spoke about the widow.
9. We read about Ananias and Sapphira.
10. God has rules we must abide by, and some of those rules relate to money.
11. We believe you are here because you are interested in following God’s rules.
12. Being interested in God’s word is the first step.
13. After becoming interested, we need to know and do what is right.
14. Have we obeyed the information found in the New Testament?