When it comes to treasure, debt reveals an arrogance that enslaves us...

This week, we have addressing the issue of debt? Yesterday we looked at the state of debt in our culture. We then looked at a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Proverbs, where a man named Solomon revealed for us the reality that debt is slavery. Just as a slave has lost his freedom and is responsible to his master, a person who is in debt is no longer free. Instead, they are responsible to his or her master card. Or visa. Or car lease. Or adjustable rate mortgage that they entered into to be able to purchase that dream home. The person who is in debt has their life dictated to them by their debtors.

Debt removes the freedom that we should have as followers of Jesus and instead makes us a slave to the responsibilities that are placed upon us by financial institutions. But not only does debt matter because of the fact that debt is slavery. In a section of a letter that is recorded in the New Testament of our Bibles today, we see James, the half brother of Jesus, address why debt is such a big deal. And it is in this section of this letter that we see revealed for us the underlying motivation that often drives us into debt. So let’s look at this section of this letter together, beginning in James 4:13:

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."

In these verses, we see James provide an illustration that will serve to uncover why debt is such a big deal. In this illustration, a person that we would call a venture capitalist in our culture today is making plans to travel to a city and start a new business. This person assumes that they will be able to have the ability to recoup their initial start up expenses and make a profit as a result of hard work over time.

However, look at James response to that assumption in verse 14: “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away”. Have you ever driven early in the morning and seen a veil of low lying clouds covering the area where you live? Yet, in a matter of hours, that veil of clouds disappears. If you had not seen it with your own eyes, you would never have known that the veil of clouds had ever been there. That is the word picture that James is painting here.

And it is in this word picture that we see James reveal for us the reality that debt presumes upon tomorrow. When we go into debt, we are presuming several things. First, we are presuming that we will be around long enough to pay off that debt. We are presuming that we will not lose our lives during the period that we are under that debt.

 Second, we are presuming that we will be healthy enough to work in order to pay that debt. We are presuming that we will not become injured or suffer an illness that would hinder us from working. Third, we are presuming that we will have the resources to pay off the debt. We are assuming that we will have a job. And in some cases, we enter into a debt assuming that our income will increase during the period of that debt.

Now here is something to consider: Are any of those presumptions iron-clad guarantees? Are you guaranteed that you will be alive for the term of that debt? Are you guaranteed that you will be healthy enough to work for the term of that debt? Are you guaranteed to have a job the entire term of that debt?

When we enter into debt, we presume upon tomorrow. Now a natural question that arises here is “Why would we make that kind of presumption?” James answers that question for us in James 4:16:

But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Here we see James explain that those who presume upon tomorrow by entering into debt are not placing their confident trust in God and the word of God for direction.  Instead, James explains that those who presume upon tomorrow when it comes to debt boast in your arrogance. In other words those who presume on tomorrow by entering into debt today take pride in their prideful self reliance.

They take pride in their position, they take pride in their personality, and they take pride in their ability. And in that arrogance they presume that they will always be able to pull it off financially; that life will always be bigger and better. And it is this arrogance that drives a person to enter into debt. James response to such arrogant self reliance is that all such boasting is evil. This word evil, in the language that this letter is originally written in, refers to something that is morally and socially worthless. James’ point here is that it is morally and socially worthless to live a life that arrogantly presumes upon tomorrow by accumulating debt today.

But not only is it morally and socially worthless to arrogantly presume upon tomorrow by accumulating debt today; James explains that a life that arrogantly presumes upon tomorrow in such a way is sin. Notice what James says in verse 17: Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

As we have seen throughout this series, the letters that make up the Bible provides principles and practices when it comes to how we are handle the money, possessions, and treasure that we have while here on earth. Yet, when we know the right thing to do when it comes to how we are to handle the treasure we have been given, but refuse to do the right thing, we are selfishly rebelling against God and the word of God.

And it is in these two passages that we see God provide us a timeless principle when it comes to the issue of debt. And that timeless principle is this: When it comes to treasure, debt reveals an arrogance that enslaves us. The timeless reality is that the temptation to get into debt is driven by an arrogance that blinds us to the reality that debt will enslave us. Let me give you a practical example of how this can play out.

When Julie and I moved to Bullhead City in 2006, we purchased a home in Vista Del Sol Resort. And we love our home. Then one evening, we ended up driving through Laughlin Ranch. As we drove through Laughlin Ranch, we became aware that there were larger and nicer homes than the one we purchased. And as we became aware that there was something out there bigger and better than what we had, we became discontented.

Something within us said “Wow these are nicer houses. My house is not nearly as nice as these houses. I wish we had a nicer house like these. And you know what, I deserve a house like this”. And at that point, as a result of this arrogance and pride that begins to well up within us, there is a temptation, isn’t there. And that temptation is to go down to the bank and try to get a loan that I may not be able to afford so that I can live in a house that I think I deserve.

You see, awareness, leads to discontentment, which leads to debt. I was perfectly content with the house that I had until I became aware that there was something better. And it was that awareness that fueled an arrogant discontentment that can lead to debt.

Now, you might be thinking “well Dave that is great; thanks for telling me this now, but where were you five years ago? I am in debt now, how am I supposed to get out of debt?” If that question is running through your mind, I have good news for you. And that good news is that the letters that make up the Bible also provides a strategy on how to get out of debt; a strategy that we find back in the book of Proverbs.

Friday, we will look at that strategy together…