At the church where I serve, we
are in the middle of a sermon series entitled treasure. During this series, we
are spending our time together looking at what the Bible has to say about the
subject of money and finances. We began this series by discovering
that the Bible teaches that how we handle our money and finances is a big deal.
And, as a part of perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus preached while on
earth, we discovered the timeless principle that Jesus talked so much about
treasure because how we handle our treasure reveals what we treasure. We
discovered that Jesus had no problem talking about treasure because Jesus knew
that we spend our treasure on what we treasure.
We then addressed a tension and frustration that we
can experience when it comes to our roles and responsibilities with money,
possessions and treasure. We looked at
a Psalm 50:7-15, and discovered the timeless truth that when it comes to
treasure, God is the owner and we are the manager.
Two weeks ago, we spent our time together addressing the
question that if God is the owner and we are the
managers, then what is the standard we will be held to when it come to how we
manage what God gives us? In Luke 16:1-13, we discovered that when it comes to
treasure, the measure for how we manage God’s treasure is faithfulness. We discovered that the issue isn’t the amount of treasure
you have; the issue is how faithful are you with the amount of treasure you
have been given. We also discovered
that our relationship with money is directly related to our relationship with
Jesus, because followers of Jesus demonstrate the proof and depth of their
faith and their relationship with Jesus by how they handle the money,
possessions, and treasure of this world.
Last week, we spent our time together addressing an
issue that has been prevalent and prominent in the conversations that we have
been having as a culture when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure. And
that issue is the issue of debt. We talked about the reality that debt is a
significant and growing problem in our culture nationally, corporately, and
individually. We then looked at a statement that the richest man who ever
lived, named Solomon made that was recorded for us in the book or Proverbs. And
it was in this statement, along with another statement made by James, who was
the half brother of Jesus that we discovered that when it comes to treasure, debt reveals an arrogance that
enslaves us.
We discovered that the
temptation to get into debt is driven by an arrogance that blinds us to the
reality that debt will enslave us. We discovered that the temptation to get
into debt becomes awakened by an awareness that there is something better. And
it is that awareness that can fuel an arrogant discontentment that can leads us
to make decisions that result in debt. We ended our time together recognizing
that the problem isn’t in understanding how to get out if debt. Instead, the
problem is in our behavior when it comes to getting out of debt.
This week, I would like for us
to spend our time together talking about a very practical and yet misunderstood
aspect of how we manage the money, possessions, and treasure we have been
given. And that aspect involves the issue of investing. My
hope and prayer is that we would be able to wrap our heads and hearts around
three specific answers to three specific questions. First, my hope and prayer
is that we would be able to wrap our minds around what investing is. In other
words, that we would understand on a practical level what we are talking about
when we talk about investing.
Second, my hope and prayer is that we would be able
to wrap our minds around why we should invest. In other words, I want to answer
the question “why do I need to worry about investing? Does investing really
matter?” And third, my hope and prayer is that we would be able to wrap our
minds around how we should invest. In other words, in a practical way, how can
we as individuals wisely invest the money and treasure we have been given?
So let’s take each of these questions head on, one
at a time, so that we would be able to come to discover the answers. Simply
put, investing is making financial plans and provision for the future.
Investing is the opposite of debt, which we talked about last week. Investing makes provision
for tomorrow, while debt is presuming upon tomorrow.
There
are two types of investing. The first type of investing is called short term
savings, which involves putting money aside that is easily and readily
accessible to provide for emergencies or future purchases. Dave Ramsey, who is
a financial expert that I highly recommend, recommends that the first financial
goal that one should have is to have $1,000 put away in an emergency fund, or
short term savings.
After
achieving the second goal, which is to be debt free except for a house payment,
Ramsey suggests that a person or family have between 3-6 months income set
aside in what he calls a fully funded emergency fund, or short term savings
account. The second type of investing is long term savings, or investments,
which are designed to provide for long term needs or goals.
A
question that often arises at this point is “well, Dave, why is that so
important? And why should I really become so focused on savings or investing?”
And this question or objection, whether or not it is verbalized, is apparent in
the statistics of our culture when it comes to investing, especially short term
savings. Studies have revealed that the average American is three weeks away
from bankruptcy.
The
average American is three weeks away from bankruptcy because they have either
no emergency fund or short terms saving, significant consumer or mortgage debt,
or a combination of the two. Here is a question to consider? If you were
somehow unable to work and earn a paycheck, how long would it be until you
would be unable to pay your bills? For the average American, it is only three
weeks. After missing one paycheck, the average American is in a position, where
they do not have the financial resources to pay their bills apart from going
deeper into debt.
And
this problem is not a new problem. This is a problem that has been around for
thousands of years. As a matter of fact, around 2,950 years ago, the wisest man
who ever lived, King Solomon, wrote a proverb to his son that is recorded for
us in our Bibles in the book of proverbs. Now, a proverb is a little slice of
truth about the way things generally happen in life. And it is in a section of this proverb that we
see revealed for us the reason why we should invest and why investing matters.
So let’s look at this proverb together, beginning in Proverbs 6:6:
Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise,
Here we see Solomon engaging a
person who he refers to as a sluggard. Now a sluggard is someone who is lazy
and sluggish. A sluggard is one who lives a life that is reactive in nature and
whose lifestyle is marked by lethargy, laziness, and a lack of motivation.
Solomon commands such a person to go to the ant and observe her ways.
If Solomon was to communicate
this command in the language we use in our culture today, this command would
sound something like this: “I want you to go watch how an ant lives their life
so that can learn something from the life of the ant that you have not learned
in your own life.” Solomon then explains that what the sluggard, or lazy
person, would learn from the lifestyle of the ant would make them wise.
In the book of Proverbs, the
phrase to be wise or the word wisdom refers to a developed skill for living
life that brings positive results. In other words, Solomon is saying, “your
lifestyle of laziness and lethargy is not going to bring you positive results,
so go learn from the ant so that you can develop some skills for living life
that will bring you positive results”. Solomon then describes to the sluggard
the wisdom of the ant that produces such positive results in verse 7.
Tomorrow we will discover that
wisdom together…
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