What is the state of debt?

At the church where I serve, we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled treasure. During this series, we are looking at what the Bible has to say about the subject of money and finances. This week, as we continue in this series, I would like for us to spend 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.

My hope and prayer this morning 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 the state of debt in our culture today. In other words, that we would understand on a practical level what the financial state of our culture when it comes to the issue of debt.

Second, my hope and prayer is that we would be able to wrap our minds around the significance of debt in our culture today. In other words, is the state of debt in our culture a big deal? Does debt really matter? And third, my hope and prayer is that we would be able to wrap our minds around a strategy that would enable us to get out of debt. In other words, in a practical way, how can we as individuals and as a culture begin to get out of debt? 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.

So, what is the state of debt in our culture today? How are we doing individually? How are businesses and corporations doing? How is our country doing? How are we doing when it comes to this issue of debt? Let’s start with the national debt. The most recent projections estimate that our national debt is a little over 20 trillion dollars.

Now, I don’t know about you, but the number 20 trillion is so large a number that I cannot seem to wrap my mind around it. So here is a mental picture to help. If you were to take dollar bills and lay them from end to end to signify our national debt, the distance that those dollar bills would stretch out to would be to the sun and back. Actually, they would not just go to the sun and back; they would go to the sun and back nearly eight times. That is how large a number that 20 trillion is; so, is our national debt significant?

Let’s talk about corporate debt, which is the amount of debt that corporations carry. The most recent projections, that I am aware of, estimate that the current corporate debt in the United States is approximately 29 trillion dollars and has doubled in the last 10 years. To give you a bit of perspective, the average corporation in the United States spends approximately 51 percent of their profits to simply pay the interest on their debt. So, is our corporate debt significant?

Then there is individual or personal debt. Studies have shown that the average family spends $400 dollars more than it earns each year. In addition, the average family in the United States spends 23% of their annual take home pay is to make payments on debt. While that number sounds o.k. at first, that number does not include mortgage payments. In other words, in addition to their house payment or rent, the average American family spends almost ¼ of their after tax money on consumer debt such as credit cards, car loans or leases, and the like. As a matter of fact, the average family carries over $90,000 of debt. So, is our individual or personal debt significant?

Now this leads us to the second question, which is “is the state of debt in our culture a big deal? Does debt really matter? I mean, aren’t we simply going to grow our way out of debt, because that is what I hear on talk radio and T.V.” For those of you who may be here and believe that is that case, my answer is this:  remember what we talked about last week? The issue is not the amount of money, because making more money will not solve our financial problems. Instead more money only multiplies our financial problems.

And, as a matter of fact, the letters that make up the Bible have a great deal to say about debt. So this morning, let’s take a minute and look at what the letters that make up the Bible have to say about debt and whether or not debt really matters. And to do that, I would like for us to look at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the Book of Proverbs. In Proverbs 22:7, we see a man named Solomon, who was the wisest man who ever lived, write a single proverb that provides us stunning clarity when it comes to the issue of debt. Let’s discover this proverb together:

The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the

lender's slave.

So, why is debt a big deal? According to Solomon, the reason why debt is a big deal; the reason why debt matters, is because the rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender's slave. This little word rule here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to exercise dominion or to Lord over someone.

Solomon’s point is crystal clear: 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.

If you do not think that is the case, then let me ask you this question. If your boss was willing to allow you to take off work for a few weeks, without pay, would you have the freedom to do that? If, not, why not? “Well Dave, there is no way that I could do that. I have bills to pay: You know car payments, credit card payments, student loan payments”.

So here is my question: Do you have freedom, or are you a slave to the debtors as a result of the debt that you have? Do you have the freedom to use God’s treasure to reflect His generosity and advance His kingdom, or is God’s treasure wholly committed to the financial responsibilities that you are enslaved to as a result of debt?

You see, debt is slavery, pure and simple. 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.

Tomorrow, we will discover this underlying motivation…

The implications that the level of our faithfulness with money, possession, and treasure has on our relationship with God...

This week, we have been looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in our Bibles, called the gospel of Luke. So far this week, we looked on as Jesus told and explained a parable, where we discovered that when it comes to treasure, the measure for how we manage God’s treasure is faithfulness. When it comes how we will be judged as managers of God’s treasure, Jesus explains that the standard is faithfulness.

Yesterday, we talked about the reality that the reason that we are in the financial situation that we are currently in, whether good or bad, is due to how we have managed the money, possessions, and treasure that we have been given. Just adding more money to the problem does not solve the problem, because the problem is not a lack of money; the problem is a lack of faithfulness with the money that we have been given.

Jesus point here is that if we are unfaithful, we are unfaithful; whether it is with $10, $100, or $1,000,000. After exposing the problem, today we see Jesus continue His conversation with the disciples by explaining the implications that the level of our faithfulness with money, possession, and treasure can have on our relationship with God in Luke 16:11:

"Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?

In these verses, Jesus reveals for us the reality that how we handle money, possessions, and treasure here on earth impacts the depth of our relationship with God and our spiritual maturity. Jesus uses two rhetorical questions to hammer His point home. First, in verse 11, Jesus asks “if you have been unfaithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, then who will entrust true riches to you?”  Jesus was not looking for the disciples to answer the question, because the answer to the question is obvious.

Jesus point here is that if we are unable to demonstrate faithfulness with the temporary treasure that we are given while on earth, then we will be unable to demonstrate faithfulness with the vastly greater spiritual treasure that flows out of a growing and maturing relationship with Him. And so we can find ourselves in a place where we are not growing spiritually in our relationship with Jesus because Jesus is not going to give to us the true treasure that flows out of a growing and maturing relationship with Him if we fail to demonstrate faithfulness with the temporary things of this earth, including money, possessions, and treasure.

And to hammer His point home, Jesus asks a second rhetorical question in verse 12: “If you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?” Again, Jesus is not looking for an answer, because the answer is painfully apparent. Jesus point is that is we are unfaithful with someone else’s treasure, we prove to be unworthy of being given anything of our own.

For example, let’s say that you have a teenage son or daughter that continually uses your car. And they want you to go out and buy them a car of their own. Yet every time they borrow your car they leave it a mess; they use all the gas; they don’t take care of it; and they get in several accidents. So are you going to give them thousands of dollars so that they can buy a new car for themselves? No you are not going to do that because they have not demonstrated faithfulness with your car. What you may do is go out and buy them a $500 clunker so that they stop wrecking your car; but you are not going to reward their unfaithfulness by giving them a new car.

Now how many of us feel like we are driving around in a $500 clunker when it comes to our spiritual life? How many of us would describe our spiritual life and our relationship with Jesus in such terms? Jesus point here is that our spiritual lives and our relationship with God stagnates and suffers when we fail to be faithful with what He gives us materially and financially. Jesus makes that point unmistakably clear as He concludes His explanation of this parable in verse 13:

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

Jesus makes it clear that we cannot faithfully serve two masters. As we discovered two weeks ago when Jesus made an almost identical statement as part of perhaps the most famous sermon that He ever preached, when Jesus uses the word serve, He is referring to someone who acts in total allegiance and total commitment to someone or something. Jesus point is that you cannot be totally and faithfully committed to two differing options.

Jesus is reminding His followers that we cannot serve God and money because we will only be faithful to what we are devoted to. The timeless reality is that God and money, possessions, and treasure compete for our total devotion. You will either be totally devoted to God, or you will be totally devoted to money, possessions, and treasure.

Jesus point is that how we manage the treasure that we have been given reveals who or what we place our faith and trust in. And the level of faithfulness that we demonstrate when it comes to managing the temporary treasure that we have while on earth serves to provide the proof and reveal the depth of our faith. Because the measure for how we manage God’s treasure is faithfulness.

So do you have the mindset that “if I only had more money then everything would be okay. If I only had more money than all my financial problems would be solved.” Or do you have the mindset that your relationship with money and your relationship with God are unrelated. You live your day to day life as though your handling of money has no impact on your relationship with God.

If I have just described you, here’s the thing: More money will not solve your financial problems. Instead more money will only multiply your financial problems. Because 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. And when it comes to God’s treasure, the measure for how we manage God’s treasure is faithfulness.

You see, our relationship with money and our relationship with Jesus are not unrelated. 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.

So how are you doing?

When it comes to treasure, the measure for how we manage God’s treasure is faithfulness...

This week, we have been addressing the question “If God is the owner and we are the managers, then how are we supposed to manage all that God owns? How does God define success when it comes to how we are to manage the money, possessions, and treasure we have on earth?”

To answer these questions, we have been looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in our Bibles, called the gospel of Luke. In this section of this letter, we see Jesus telling a series of parables.

After receiving a report that the money, possessions, and treasure that he owned was being wasted by his manager, a rich man called the manager in for a meeting. The owner confronted the manager in a very direct manner: “What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.”

Jesus explained that the wasteful manager contacted each person who owed money to his master and renegotiated the terms of their debt. The manager negotiated what we would call in our culture today a series of short sales. In these short sales, the manager would collect what he could on the outstanding debt instead of risking never receiving any money from the debt that was owed.

Now, as you might imagine, these short sales were a great deal for those who owed money to the rich man. And the great deals that would come about as a result of these short sales would earn the wasteful manager favor in the eyes of those whose debt was being eliminated from the short sale. However, these short sales were not a great deal for the rich man. The rich man would end up losing money. Which is why what Jesus says next is so surprising. So let’s look together at what Jesus had to say about the manager’s plan in Luke 16:8:

"And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.

Jesus explained that the rich man was not mad at the wasteful manager for losing him more money. Instead, the rich man expressed admiration and approval for the wasteful manager because he acted shrewdly. Now this word shrewdly, in the language that this letter was written in, refers to having an understanding that was associated with insight and wisdom.

Jesus then reveals what gained the wasteful manager admiration and approval in the eyes of the rich man: “for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.” But, what does that even mean? I mean, what is Jesus talking about here?  Jesus point here is that people who are far from God tend to be more prudent in dealing with those who are far from God than those who are close to God are in dealing with those who are far from God.

The unrighteous and wasteful manager displayed more insight and wisdom in dealing with others around him that were far from God than someone who was close to God would have demonstrated. What the master praised the manager for was not the fact that he handled his money well. That is not Jesus point here.

What the master praised the manger for was his cleverness and prudent self-interest that would result in him developing relationships that would provide and support him after he lost his job as manager. Now if you find yourself a little confused by this parable, just wait until you see what Jesus says next in verse 9:

"And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Now, I imagine that this was one of the times where Jesus followers looked at one another and said “why does He always have to talk like that? Why does He say things like this?” So what is Jesus saying here? Is Jesus saying that you can earn your way into Heaven? Is Jesus saying that we are to use money to somehow influence and buy our way into Heaven?

Because, that is what it seems that Jesus is saying, doesn’t it? At first glance, Jesus seems to be saying that we are to make friends with God with the treasure we have on earth, so that when those temporary treasures cease to exist upon our death that we can get into Heaven. So, is that what Jesus is saying here?

To understand what Jesus is saying here, we first need to understand what He is not saying. Jesus is not saying to those who are far from God that they should use their money to buy their way into Heaven. This is not a command to use ill-gotten gain for one’s own selfish desires.

Instead, Jesus is using this parable, this earthly story, to reveal the reality that those who are His followers will demonstrate the proof of their faith and their relationship with Him by how trustworthy they are in handling the money, possessions, and treasure of this world. We know this to be the case because of what Jesus says next in verses 10-13.

When we read the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, Jesus often will first tell a parable and then explain the parable to His confused followers. In Luke 16:1-9, Jesus tells the parable. And in Luke 16:10-13, we see Jesus explain the parable. And it is in His explanation that we see Jesus reveal for us a timeless principle about how God will measure and judge how we manage the money, possessions, and treasure we have been given. So let’s look at the explanation together beginning in verse 10:

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.

After telling the parable, Jesus then explains that when it comes to how we handle the money possessions, and treasure we have been given, the issue is not about the amount of money, possessions, and treasure. In other words, Jesus is explaining to His disciples that the amount of treasure is not the issue.

Jesus point is that the amount of treasure that one possesses does not make one more or less spiritual, because money, possessions, and treasure are amoral; they are not inherently good or evil. As we discovered a few weeks ago, however, the thing about treasure that makes it so powerful is that treasure exposes the motives of our hearts. That’s why we can find ourselves feeling so convicted, I mean uncomfortable, when the subject of money, possessions, and treasure is brought up in church.

And it is here that we see Jesus reveal for us another timeless principle when it comes to how God will measure and judge how we manage the money, possessions, and treasure we have been given. And that timeless principle is this: When it comes to treasure, the measure for how we manage God’s treasure is faithfulness. When it comes how we will be judged as managers of God’s treasure, Jesus explains that the standard is faithfulness.

Maybe you are thinking “if I only had more money then everything would be ok. If I only had more money, I would be able to get out of debt and pay off my credit cards and make my house payments.” What Jesus is saying here is “no everything wouldn’t be okay”.

Jesus point in verse 10 is that the reason that we are in the financial situation that we are currently in, whether good or bad, is due to how we have managed the money, possessions, and treasure that we have been given. Just adding more money to the problem does not solve the problem, because the problem is not a lack of money; the problem is a lack of faithfulness with the money that we have been given.

Jesus point here is that if we are unfaithful, we are unfaithful; whether it is with $10, $100, or $1,000,000. After exposing the problem, Jesus continues by explaining the implications that the level of our faithfulness with money, possession, and treasure can have on our relationship with God in Luke 16:11.

 

Tomorrow, we will discover that connection together…

If God is the owner and we are the managers, then how are we supposed to manage all that God owns?

At the church where I serve we are spending our time together looking at what the letters that make up the Bible have to say about the subject of money and finances. Our hope and our prayer is that God would move in our heads and our hearts in a way that results in us embracing some timeless truths and principles that will enable us to live our day to day lives in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus head and heart when it came to the issue of money and finances.

Last week, we spent our time together addressing a tension and frustration that we can experience when it comes to our roles and responsibilities with money, possessions and treasure. We discovered that where we get off track, frustrated, and in trouble when it comes to finances is when we try to fulfill roles and responsibilities that belong to God, or ignore or fail to fulfill responsibilities that belong to us.

We then looked at a Psalm that provided clarity about our role and responsibilities when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure. In Psalm 50:7-15, we discovered the timeless truth that when it comes to treasure, God is the owner and we are the manager. The timeless reality is that we never really own anything. We only manage God’s money, possessions, and treasure for a period of time. We are only on earth for a finite period of time and, when our time on earth is over, all of the money, possessions and treasure that we accumulate while on earth stays here.

But what can tend to happen when it comes to our role and God’s role in money, possessions, and treasure, is that we can find ourselves falling into some faulty theology. We recognized that humanity throughout history have tended to fall into one of two extreme and faulty views of how God and money relate and interact with humanity.

Instead of falling into the faulty view of prosperity theology, where God is our spiritual Santa Claus that we use in order to get what we really worship, which is money, possessions, and treasure; Instead of falling into the faulty view of poverty theology, where we interact with money, possessions and treasure out of duty rather than delight; the Bible calls us to engage in stewardship theology, where we view God as the owner of all and embrace the role and responsibility that we have to manage all that God has given us in a way that reveals and reflects the generosity of Jesus to the world around us.

Now this week, I would like for us to address a natural question that arises out of last week. And that natural question is this: If God is the owner and we are the managers, then how are we supposed to manage all that God owns? How does God define success when it comes to how we are to manage the money, possessions, and treasure we have on earth? Will we be held accountable for how we manage all that God owns? And if that is that case; if we will be held accountable, then what is the standard we will be held to?

So, to answer these questions, I would like for us to spend our time together looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in our Bibles, called the gospel of Luke. In this section of this letter, we see Jesus telling a series of parables. And it is in the explanation of one of these parable that we discover the timeless standard that God will use to measure and judge how we manage the money, possessions, and treasure we have been given. So let’s look at this parable together, beginning in Luke 16:1-2:

Now He was also saying to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. "And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'

To understand what Jesus is communicating here, we first need to understand what a parable is and how parables function. A parable is an earthly story that reveals a deeper spiritual truth. In this parable, there are two characters. The first character is a rich man, who represents God. The second character is a manager, who represents us. Jesus explains that word came back to the rich man that his manager was squandering his possessions. In other words, the manager was wasting all that the rich man had given him responsibility to manage.

After receiving the report that the money, possessions, and treasure that he owned was being wasted by the manager, the rich man called the manager in for a meeting. The owner confronted the manager in a very direct manner: “What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.”

In other words, the owner is saying to the manager “I have received a report that you are wasting my money, possessions, and treasure. I have seen the evidence in the report and believe that it is true. So, I want to know what you have to say for yourself. You were under obligation as the manager of my finances to manage my finances. But what I am hearing and seeing is that you are not fulfilling your obligation to responsibly manage my finances.”

“And, because of that reality, you are going to have to give an account for why you have failed to fulfill your obligation to manage my finances. In addition, you are no longer going to be in a position to have access to or manage my finances. I am no longer going to enable your irresponsibility by continuing to provide for you financially.”

Jesus then tells us how the manager responded as He continues this parable in verse 3-4:

"The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 'I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.'

Now the manager’s response, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Uh oh, I am about to lose my job because I have wasted my boss’s treasure; my irresponsibility is going to result in a loss of my job and income. What am I going to do? How am I going to support myself financially? I am too weak to work a job that requires manual labor. And I am too proud to beg. How am I going to survive?”

Jesus then explained that the manager comes up with a plan; a plan that would result in the people around him being receptive enough of him that they would provide hospitality and support him financially until he would be able to find work. Jesus then reveals the wasteful managers plan in verse 5-7:

"And he summoned each one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' "And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'  "Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

Jesus tells us that the wasteful manager contacted each person who owed money to his master and renegotiated the terms of their debt. The manager negotiated what we would call in our culture today a series of short sales. In these short sales, the manager would collect what he could on the outstanding debt instead of risking never receiving any money from the debt that was owed.

Now, as you might imagine, these short sales were a great deal for those who owed money to the rich man. And the great deals that would come about as a result of these short sales would earn the wasteful manager favor in the eyes of those whose debt was being eliminated from the short sale. However, these short sales were not a great deal for the rich man. The rich man would end up losing money.

Which is why what Jesus says next, in verse 8, is so surprising. Tomorrow, we will look at what Jesus had to say about the manager’s plan…

When it comes to treasure, God is the owner and we are the manager...

This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Psalms. In Psalm 50, we see Asaph, moved by the Holy Spirit, write a song that confronted the Jewish people for the selfishness and rebellion that was beginning to surface in their lives.

We looked on as God, through Asaph revealed the reality that the Jewish people were guilty of was thinking that God was dependent upon them.  The Jewish people were offering worship to God as though He needed animals to be provided for Him and they were afraid that they would experience God’s judgment if they did not provide for Him.

The Jewish people made a fundamental mistake that we can make today, which is that the Jewish people thought that they were the owners and that they needed to fulfill the responsibility provide for God in order to meet His needs. And God wanted the Jewish people to clearly understand that they needed to be set straight.

We looked on as God revealed to the Jewish people that He owned everything and that He was not dependant on the Jewish people and their acts of worship in order to survive. Instead, the Jewish people needed to come back to the reality that they were totally dependent on God for their survival. Today we see the Psalmist close this section of this psalm by revealing the motivation that should be driving the Jewish people and their acts of worship in Psalm 50:14-15:

"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me."

To understand what Asaph is communicating here, we first need to define some terms. When Asaph refers to sacrifice of thanksgiving, this phrase, in the language that this letter was written in, refers to thanksgiving in the form of praise. When Asaph refers to vows, he is referring to an oath or a promise that one makes to another.

So when Asaph calls the Jewish people to pay your vows to the Most High, he is calling the Jewish people to keep the promises that they had made to God. The psalmist is saying “what God wants from you when it comes to worship is that you offer up praise and thanksgiving to Him as your provider, your protector, your rescuer, and your deliverer. What God wants from you when it comes to worship is that you are faithful to follow God’s word and keep the promises and commitments that you make to Him. God wants you to recognize that He is the all powerful and self sufficient owner and provider of everything that you have.”

You see, the Jewish people failed to recognize that they were to worship the Lord out of a response of their desperate need for Him and to bring Him glory as the owner of everything. The Jewish people failed to recognize that their worship of the Lord should be a response of thankfulness for His activity in their lives. And it is in this Psalm that we are able to discover a timeless truth that provides clarity about our role and responsibilities when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure. And that timeless truth is this: When it comes to treasure, God is the owner and we are the manager.

The timeless reality is that we never really own anything. We only manage God’s money, possessions, and treasure for a period of time. We are only on earth for a finite period of time and, when our time on earth is over, all of the money, possessions and treasure that we accumulate while on earth stays here. However, what can tend to happen when it comes to our role and God’s role in money, possessions, and treasure, is that we can find ourselves falling into some faulty theology.

Throughout history, when it comes to theology, which simply means the study of the nature and character of God, human beings have tended to fall into one of two extreme and faulty views of how God and money relate and interact with humanity. The first faulty view is what is referred to as prosperity theology.

Proponents of prosperity theology maintain that God desires that everyone prosper financially and physically as a result of their spirituality. Prosperity theology maintains what is called a “name it and claim it” mentality when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure. In other words, if you just have faith, you can ask God for material or physical blessings and He will provide. All you need is faith. “Just name it by faith and you can claim it by faith”.

Those who embrace prosperity theology will refer to themselves as being “word of faith communities”. For those who embrace prosperity theology, spiritually mature followers of Jesus are wealthy and possessions are a right that one receives as a result of faith. So, if someone is poor materially or suffering physically or emotionally, it is due to the fact that they are either unsaved, spiritually immature, or have sin in their life.

For those who embrace prosperity theology, generosity and giving is driven by the mentality that “the more I give by faith, the more I will get because of faith”.  So giving is motivated by faith in what they will get from God. And for those who embrace prosperity theology, the management of the money, possessions, and treasure that they have is driven by a carefree attitude that is focused on consuming all that they have been given by God.

However, there is a huge problem with prosperity theology. And that problem is that any theology that is true to the Bible must be able to have Jesus fit into that theology. Because, when you look at the definition of a spiritually mature person in prosperity theology; that a spiritually mature person is wealthy, with good relationships and without pain or anxiety, that definition excludes Jesus.

When you look at the tenets of prosperity theology, Jesus would not be able to fit into their theology. Prosperity theology maintains that the spiritually mature will be blessed financially, yet, when we read the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, we discover that Jesus was poor. Jesus was born into a lower, working class home of a carpenter and lived His life as poor itinerant preacher who was homeless and dependant on the support of others.

Prosperity theology maintains that the spiritually mature will be blessed emotionally and relationally, yet, when we read the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, we discover that Jesus was ridiculed, rejected and scorned. Prosperity theology maintains that the spiritually mature will be blessed physically, yet, when we read the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, we discover that Jesus was beaten and crucified.

So did Jesus not have enough faith? Did Jesus have sin in His life? Was Jesus spiritually immature? You see, Jesus would not fit into the prosperity theology’s definition of spiritually maturity. And if Jesus cannot fit into your theology, then your theology is faulty.

The second faulty view is referred to as poverty theology. Proponents of poverty theology maintain that the love of money is the root of all evil in the world. For those who embrace poverty theology spiritually mature followers of Jesus view wealth and possessions as evil and corrupting. So, if someone is wealthy materially or financially, it is due to the fact that they are either unsaved, spiritually immature, or have the sin of greed and covetousness in their life.

For those who embrace poverty theology, generosity and giving is driven by the mentality that “I give because I must”.  So giving is motivated by duty to God. And for those who embrace poverty theology, the management of the money, possessions, and treasure that they have is absent of gratitude to God because money and possession are evil. Poverty theology actually flows from an ancient heresy called asceticism, which viewed the physical and material as evil and the spiritual as good. 

There is a huge problem with prosperity theology, however. And that problem is that throughout the Bible we see individual after individual that were wealthy people who were used by God in powerful ways to advance His Kingdom and enhance His reputation. In the Old Testament there was Abraham, there was Job, there was King David and King Solomon, all of whom were wealthy and used by God in powerful ways to reveal and reflect His nature and character to the world.

In addition, nowhere in the Bible is the money, possession, or treasure mentioned as being evil. You see, money is amoral. It is neither inherently evil nor intently good. It is what we do with money that determines whether it is leveraged in a way that is morally good or evil.

While both prosperity and poverty theology find no support in the Bible, there is a third theological view when it comes to our role and God’s role in money, possessions, and treasure that is clearly supported by the message and teachings of the Bible. And that third theological view is called stewardship theology.

Stewardship theology maintains that, when it comes to treasure, God is the owner and we are the manager. And when we embrace what the Bible actually teaches about stewardship theology, spiritually mature followers of Jesus view wealth and possessions as a responsibility to be managed.

When we embrace stewardship theology, generosity and giving is driven by the mentality that “I give because I love God and want to respond to the generosity of Jesus by being generous”.  So our giving is motivated by a delight in God. And when we embrace stewardship theology, the management of the money, possessions, and treasure that they have is motivated by a prayerful and responsible recognition that God is the owner and that we are the managers of the money, possessions, and treasure we possess. Because, when it comes to treasure, God is the owner and we are the manager.

So which theological view of how God and money relate and interact with humanity are you holding? Prosperity theology, where God is our spiritual Santa Claus that we use in order to get what we really worship, which is money, possessions, and treasure? Poverty theology, where we interact with money, possessions and treasure out of duty rather than delight? Or stewardship theology, where we view God as the owner of all and embrace the role and responsibility that we have to manage all that God has given us in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus and God’s generosity to the world?

A tension and frustration that can arise when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure...

At the church where I serve we are in the midst of a sermon series entitled treasure. During this series, we are spending our time together talking about, in a real and practical way, the subject of money and finances. As we go through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would move in our heads and our hearts in a way that results in us embracing some timeless truths and principles that will enable us to live our day to day lives in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus head and heart when it came to the issue of money and finances.

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together addressing a tension and frustration that can arise when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure. To understand the nature of this tension and frustration, however, we first need to understand how prevalent money is in our day to day lives. You see, virtually everything that we do on a day to day basis involves the use of money. It isn’t that much of our life involves the use of money; much of our life revolves around the use of money.

If you do not think that is the case, just take a minute and consider this question: What do you do in your day to day life that does not involve money? Is there anything that you do on a day to day basis that does not involve money? Where and how you live, what you do and don’t do, what you wear, what you eat, how you travel, all involve money.

And because virtually everything that we do involves and revolves around money, we are continually making decisions when it comes to how we handle money, finances and treasure. We have roles and responsibilities when it comes to money and finances. The tension and frustration, however, that we can experience when it comes to our roles and responsibilities, usually surface in one of two areas. The first area that we can experience this tension and frustration is when we fail to recognize and fulfill the responsibilities that we have when it comes to money and treasure. 

The second area that we can experience tension and frustration is when we fail to understand what responsibilities are ours and what responsibilities are God’s when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure. You see, God has certain roles and responsibilities that He retains when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure, and there are roles and responsibilities that God has delegated to us. Where we get off track, frustrated, and in trouble when it comes to finances is when we try to fulfill roles and responsibilities that belong to God, or ignore or fail to fulfill responsibilities that belong to us.

So this week, I would like for us to spend our time together discovering and unpacking what responsibilities are God’s and what responsibilities are ours when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure. And to do that, I would like for us to look at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Psalms.

The book of Psalms is a series of prayers and worship songs that were used in worship in the temple that were written down, recorded and preserved for us by God. The Psalm that we are going to look at this morning was written by a man named Asaph. Now Asaph was the Chris Tomlin of the Old Testament. Asaph was an outstanding musician during the reign of King David who was appointed to be the worship pastor at the temple.

In Psalm 50, we see Asaph, moved by the Holy Spirit, write a song that confronted the Jewish people for the selfishness and rebellion that was beginning to surface in their lives. In verses 1-6, Asaph begins by painting a courtroom scene in which God was summoning the Jewish people to hear the charges against them. Asaph explains that God is the Creator and Judge of the universe who is ever present and ever aware of His creation.

And as Creator and Judge, God was summoning the Heavens and the earth as witnesses to testify as to what they have seen from the Jewish people when it came to their rebellion. After summoning the Jewish people and the witnesses to the courtroom, Asaph reveals the charges against the Jewish people that God would be judging. Charges that are recorded for us in Psalm 50:7-8:

"Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. "I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.

Asaph begins by telling the Jewish people what they were not guilty of. As the One who had entered into a covenant relationship with the Jewish people, God was not reproving them because of a lack of worship activity. When Asaph refers to sacrifices and burned offerings, he is referring to the sacrificial offerings that the Jewish people were required to complete two times a day.

In the Jewish sacrificial system, there were two times every day that sacrifices were made to God for the sins of the people, one early in the morning and one in the in the late afternoon at 3 p.m. The sacrificial offerings involved animals who were offered as a substitute to pay the penalty for acts of selfishness and rebellion that had been committed against God. The burnt offerings were expression of worship and thanksgiving to God.

You see, the Jewish people did not need to be corrected because they were failing to show up for church. The Jewish people did not need to be set straight when it came to their worship activity for God. Now a natural question then is "Well, if that was the case, what was the problem?" We see Asaph reveal the problem in verse 9-11:

"I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds.”For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. "I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine.

In other words, God is basically saying to the Jewish people “My issue with you is not your acts of worship. My issue with you is the motivation that is driving your worship. You are not offering your sacrifices and offerings to Me because you recognize that your selfishness and rebellion requires a sacrifice that atones or provides a covering for your sin and rebellion. You are not offering your offerings out of thanksgiving to Me because of who I am and what I have done in your life. Instead you are offering these acts of worship because you think that I am needy and dependant on you to provide something for Me. But, here’s the deal. I do not need to take any of your animals for my sake, because I own everything. You do not need to give Me anything, because I am the One who has given you everything you have”.

You see, what the Jewish people were guilty of was thinking that God was dependent upon them.  The Jewish people were offering worship to God as though He needed animals to be provided for Him and they were afraid that they would experience God’s judgment if they did not provide for Him. The Jewish people failed to recognize that the purpose of these acts of worship was to fulfill their responsibility that flowed from their selfishness and rebellion against God.

The Jewish people made a fundamental mistake that we can make today, which is that the Jewish people thought that they were the owners and that they needed to fulfill the responsibility provide for God in order to meet His needs. And God wanted the Jewish people to clearly understand that they needed to be set straight. The Jewish people needed to have a correction in their perception when it came to their role and responsibilities. God then proceeds to set them straight in and correct their misperception in verse 12-13:

"If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats?

Here we see God, through the Psalmist, set the Jewish people straight when it came to their roles and responsibilities through a statement and a rhetorical question. First, God makes a bold and blunt statement: “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, For the world is mine and all it contains”. In other words, God is saying, if I was hungry, I would not need to tell you so that you could go down to the store to buy Me some food to eat. I am not dependant on you to provide for Me, because I own it all. If I was hungry, I am quite capable of providing for Myself.”

God then asks the Jewish people a rhetorical question designed to reveal the ridiculous nature of the motivation that was driving their worship of God. "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats?” In other words, God is saying, “Do you even know who I am? I am a Spiritual Being; I do not eat food and I do not need to eat food in order to survive. I have existed for all eternity, before the universe even existed, and I was able to survive without you”.

You see, God wanted the Jewish people to clearly understand that He owned everything. God was not dependant on the Jewish people and their acts of worship in order to survive. Instead, the Jewish people needed to come back to the reality that they were totally dependent on God for their survival. The Psalmist then closed this section of this psalm by revealing the motivation that should be driving the Jewish people and their acts of worship.

Friday, we will discover that timeless motivation together…

Jesus talked about treasure because how we handle our treasure reveals what we treasure...

This week, we have been looking at a part of perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever preached. In this famous sermon, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaimed to the crowds that they are not to store up for themselves treasures on earth. Jesus commanded the crowds listening, and followers of Jesus throughout history, not to center our lives on money, possessions and the treasures of this world. Jesus uses a play on words that literally means do not treasure treasure.

Instead of focusing on the accumulation of money, possessions, and treasure on earth, Jesus commanded the crowds listening, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to store up, to accumulate for ourselves treasure in Heaven. Jesus points out that when we accumulate treasures in Heaven; when we make deposits into our heavenly bank accounts, those investments cannot be consumed by the things on earth. Jesus point here is that while treasure on earth is temporary, treasure in Heaven lasts for eternity.

We also looked on as Jesus revealed the timeless principle that what we treasure is revealed by where we spend our treasure. Jesus then used a metaphor to reveal the reality that we follow what we are focused on.  Jesus is stating that when we are focused on storing up treasures in Heaven, we will reveal and reflect Jesus to others. We will reflect Jesus’ generosity. We will reflect Jesus’ desire to love and serve God and others through the money, possessions, and treasure that we have while we live life on earth.

By contrast, the person who is focused on storing up treasures on earth, whose life is clouded by greed and selfishness, is full of spiritual and moral darkness as well. Now, I don’t know about you, but sometimes we can find ourselves trying to have it both ways, can’t we? I can find myself tempted to try to have my feet in both worlds, so to speak. So, can’t we do both? Can’t we store up treasures on earth and in Heaven? We see Jesus provide the answer to this question in Matthew 6:24:

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Jesus, in verse 24, makes it clear that we cannot serve two masters. When Jesus uses the word serve here, He is referring to someone who acts in total allegiance and total commitment to someone or something. Jesus point is that you cannot be totally committed to two differing options. And here we see a second reason why Jesus talked so much about money, possessions, and treasure.  

You see, we cannot serve God and money not only because of the reality that we follow what we are focused on. Here we see that we cannot serve God and money because we will serve what we are devoted to. The timeless reality is that God and money, possessions, and treasure compete for our total devotion. You will either be totally devoted to God, or you will be totally devoted to money, possessions, and treasure.

That is Jesus point. God uses money to reveal who we love and trust more. God says “Dave do you love me? Do you trust me? Do you love me more than your money? Do you love me more than your possessions? Do you love me more than your treasure? Do you love and trust me enough to handle your money and finances according to my principles, or are you going to handle your money finances your way?”

And it is in this section of this famous sermon that we see Jesus reveal for us the timeless answer to the question “why did Jesus talk so much about money?” And that timeless answer is this: Jesus talked about treasure because how we handle our treasure reveals what we treasure. I think that Jesus had no problem talking about money because Jesus knew that how we handle money reveals our spiritual condition. Jesus had no problem talking about money because how we handle money reveals who or what has our heart. Jesus had no problem talking about money because we spend our treasure on what we treasure. Jesus had no problem talking about money because we follow what we are focused on. And Jesus had no problem talking about money because we will serve what we are devoted to.

You see, when it comes to money and treasure, God does not want something from us; God wants something for us. God wants for us to experience the relationship with Him that we were created for. So here is a question to consider: What does how you handle your treasure reveal about what you treasure?