©1999 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
|
6/20/99
|
Financial Freedom Pt. 1
|
...
|
6/20/99 Financial Freedom Pt. 1
Those of you who were here last week
heard me say I was thinking about
talking about money this week -
Biblical principles given to us by our Lord
to help lead us into true financial freedom.
When I made that comment to you
I had forgotten that this was Father's Day.
But as I thought about it this past week
I decided that it would be hard for me
to find a more appropriate topic
to speak on for Father's Day
than the topic of financial freedom.
Can you think of a single issue
Dad spends more time thinking about
and worrying about
and brooding over
than the topic of money?
In the fall of 1991 I taught a series
on Biblical Principles for Financial Freedom.
The series lasted 6 weeks.
In that series I shared
what I understood to be
the four essential principles
for developing true financial freedom
in our lives.
To do justice to those principles
we would need to invest another six weeks now.
I'm not going to do that.
But I do want to offer you
an abbreviated statement
of the most vital concepts we looked at in
that series.
I mentioned last week
that whenever a Bible teacher
tells his congregation he is going to teach on
money
the first assumption is that the Church needs
more
and the teacher wants to find some way of
getting people to increase their giving.
I want you to know
that is not our situation as a church
or my motivation as your teacher.
What I will share with you
during the brief time we'll spend on this topic
I share because our society is flooded
with some disastrous lies
concerning money,
lies that will generate tremendous bondage
if we believe them
and if we attempt to build our lives upon
them,
and I want you to know the truth.
And I want to begin
by offering you a crucial distinction.
The money minds in our society
talk a great deal about techniques for achieving
financial success.
God, on the other hand,
does not offer us financial success,
He offers us financial freedom.
Financial success is a cultural goal,
and even if we are able to achieve it
from a cultural point of view,
financial success does not
and cannot in itself bring financial freedom.
God's goal for us
is not that we all be incredibly wealthy.
His goal is that we all be totally free in spirit
when it comes to our finances.
But financial freedom,
like every other kind of freedom for the
Christian,
is not something God crams down our
throats.
It is something He offers us
through the principles He has given us
if we are willing to receive it.
Financial bondage is not limited
to those who run out of money
before they run out of month.
Financial bondage comes
in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
It can come from facing unmet bills.
But it can also come from a spirit of greed,
always wanting more and better and newer.
It can come from being constantly obsessed with our
investments,
attempting to guard
and protect
and increase our reserves,
feeling as if we never have enough.
It can come from covetousness,
seeing what someone else has
and wishing it was ours.
It can come from an inability
or unwillingness to give freely
and regularly to the needs of others.
It can come from the addictive longing
to get rich quick.
God wants His people to live
in true financial freedom
where our money becomes a well-managed
tool
that effectively accomplishes
the goals for which it was entrusted
to us.
If I could select one word
that best characterizes true financial freedom
it would be the word "contentment",
the kind of contentment
that can only come from knowing
you are making sound financial choices
based on principles that operate
both today
and ten years from today
and 1000 years from today.
We live in uncertain financial times.
Most of the rest of the world
is currently in a major economic recession,
while we in the U.S. are still experiencing strong
economic growth
at least in some areas of the economy.
It's possible that growth
could continue a while longer.
It is also possible that
there may be some tremendous
economic upheavals ahead for us
in the next few months or years.
But the principles God shares with us
are designed to equip us for financial freedom
no matter what is happening
in the society around us.
It's my intention to share with you
the two principles
I have found to be
of the greatest value for me personally,
and the two that I believe to be
the most relevant to all of us.
God has a great deal more to say to us
about a number of other important financial
topics -
principles governing investing,
and financial partnerships with others,
and money dealings between parents
and children,
and between employers and
employees,
and much, much more.
There is a great wealth of excellent literature in most
Christian book stores
dealing with these topics,
written by men and women
far more qualified to deal with them than
I would be.
But the two principles I want to share with you now
are the ones upon which I believe
everything else is built.
And they aren't so much principles
as they are mental attitudes
we need to bring to our money
if we truly want to find financial
freedom as God's people.
We human beings cling to our money
and our possessions.
Without getting side-tracked
on an extended study,
let me just say that we do that
because we look to our money
for three things:
1. Security.
2. Identity.
3. Happiness.
Our society tells us
that all three of those things
can and will come from money
and the things money can buy.
If I have enough money
I can feel secure about both my present
and my future needs.
If I have enough money
it validates my worth
and gains me respect from others.
They see my big house
and my new car
and they give me more resect
than they would someone who had less
than I have.
And not only can I buy security
and identity,
but I can also buy happiness -
I can travel when I want,
I can buy new toys
and fine possessions
that then make me feel good.
Who is the richest man in the world right now?
I think it's Bill Gates.
I heard an interview with him a few months ago.
I won't take the time to go into detail,
but I'll just say Bill Gates does not feel
secure,
he's not very well liked,
and he certainly didn't seem to be happy.
He talked a great deal about how
you need to be constantly on guard.
He said he may be on the top of the heap right now,
but there is always someone younger,
someone smarter lurking out there
ready to move in and take over
if you're not careful.
You see, in our society
we try to make money do
what only God can do.
The only thing that can ever give a human being
true security
is knowing our life
and our future
are being held firmly in the hand of God
Himself,
and He has committed Himself to taking care of
us.
The only thing that can ever give a human being
a true sense of value and dignity,
no matter where we fit in society,
is when we hear the voice of our God saying,
"You are My son, my daughter,
carefully created for Me, by Me,
and I have loved you with an everlasting
love,
and equipped you with unique gifts and abilities
that will enable you to fulfill
a crucial role in this world.
You are My ambassador, My priest,
My chosen one."
Only when we here God telling us who we are
can we find true peace with ourselves.
And the only place true happiness
can ever come from
is from within,
and it cannot be bought for any price.
We can buy brief emotional highs,
but we cannot buy happiness.
If we could, Bill Gates should be
the happiest man who has ever lived.
The truth is
that we have a number of people
in this room this morning
who are far happier right now
than Bill Gates will most likely ever
be.
I mention all of that
because the beginning of all true financial
freedom
requires us to be willing
to let go of the lies about money
we have been fed since the day we
were born.
We cling to our money
because we are hoping it can buy us
security,
identity,
and happiness.
But once we come to Christ,
and we begin to hear His voice,
and we begin to experience
some measure of the security,
the self-worth,
and the true joy only He can
bring,
He then offers us a whole new outlook
on our money and possessions.
And let me give this first principle to you
in s single, concise statement,
and then we'll talk a little more about it.
#1. The first and most important financial principle
God offers us
is entering into a stewardship relationship with
our money
by establishing and maintaining
a financial partnership
between ourselves and God.
We won't take time to go into it in depth,
but Paul talks about this concept
at some length in I Cor. 4.
He starts that chapter by saying,
1 Cor. 4:1 Let a man regard us in this
manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards
of the mysteries of God.
1 Cor. 4:2 In this case, moreover, it is
required of stewards that one be found
trustworthy.
A few verses farther down, in I Cor. 4:7
he asks a key question.
He says,
1 Cor. 4:7 ...And what do you have that
you did not receive?...
He is pointing out to us the obvious,
that everything we have
we have because God has chosen to allow us
to have it for the brief time we are here.
The problem we run into here
is that we play mental games with ourselves
to blind us to this truth.
We think, "I'm the one who worked the overtime to
make that money."
Or "I'm the one who worked my way
up to that position."
Or "I'm the one who came up with that idea,
or took that risk,
or made those choices that got me where I
am today."
The problem is,
we don't back up far enough.
Who gave us this body in the first place?
Who gave us these hands,
this creativity,
this talent,
this intellectual ability,
this personality?
Who gave us the health
to go to work in the first place?
What do you have
that you did not receive?
The beginning of all true financial freedom for the
child of God
is entering into a financial partnership
with God Himself
in which we see our role as being that of
a temporary steward over
whatever resources God chooses
to entrust into our care.
I won't take the time to read it,
but most of you are familiar
with the Lord's classic illustration of this
principle
in the His parable
of the 3 stewards and the talents of gold.
It's found in Matt. 25:15-30.
The Master was going on a long journey
and entrusted his slaves with some of His gold
-
to one - 5 talents of gold,
to another - 2 talents,
and to a third 1 talent.
Just stewardship...
But there is one more piece to this financial
partnership with God
that I need to share with you.
You see,
an attitude of stewardship
is not an easy thing to hang onto.
We can tell ourselves we are stewards,
but it is our name on the pay check,
and on the car registration,
and the insurance polices
and we are the ones living in the house,
or the mobil home,
or the apartment.
And this attitude of stewardship
becomes even more difficult
when we realize that,
unlike those servants in the parable
who received all their gold
in one single lump sum,
we receive our allotments
in thousands of tiny pieces throughout our lives,
once every week,
or once ever two weeks,
or once every month,
or sometimes once a year.
Our money dribbles into our stewardship
a little at a time
throughout our entire lives.
So, to help us,
God has provided us with a tool
that can make true financial stewardship
a living attitude within us
when it is used correctly.
Now, I'll tell you what that tool is in just a minute,
but I need to prepare you for it first,
because unless I do
your preconditioned thought patterns
may prevent you from really seeing its value.
I don't know how you handle your personal
finances,
but in our house I pay the bills on the first of
each month.
I get my pay check,
then I sit down at my desk
with all the bills that have come in
during the previous month
and I start writing checks.
Now that point in my financial month
is emotionally by far the most crucial for me.
It is at that point each month
when I really make the decision for that month
as to whether or not I'm open to a
stewardship partnership with God
for the next 30 days,
or whether I would just as soon
go it on my own.
It's really interesting...
at the END of the month,
when the money is nearly all gone,
and it seems like pay day
will never come again,
emotionally I am FAR more open
to some sort of partnership with my Lord.
"You and me, Lord! We're in this together!
Are You still into dividing up loaves
and fishes,
and oil jugs that never run out?
Yes sir! You and me Lord,
we're doing this finance thing together!"
But at the beginning of the month
when I've got my money in my hot little hand,
and I have the illusion that I can go it alone,
that's the point at which
once again I need to decide for that month
whether or not I want to be a steward,
or whether I want to pretend I'm an
owner.
And what's that tool I told you about,
that tool that allows us to live constantly
with a stewardship/partnership mentality
with God?
Every time we get paid
give a portion of it away.
How much?
As much as God tells you to.
Give it where?
To wherever God gives you a desire to give it,
so long as you receive no personal financial
gain from it.
Our family does not include Peninsula Bible
Fellowship in our regular giving
because I'm personally uncomfortable
giving to the organization
that writes my own paycheck.
And right now some of you are thinking,
"I knew it! He said he wasn't going to preach
on giving money,
and look here! He's talking about giving
money!"
Well, believe it or not,
I'm not talking about giving.
That's a whole different topic in Scripture.
There are lots of things we could say
about giving to the needs of those
who need our help
or have less than we have.
What I'm talking about today
is not giving to the needs of those around us.
I'm talking about finding financial freedom
through establishing
and maintaining a far more crucial
attitude in our walk with God -
the attitude of stewardship
and financial partnership with Him.
And because of the nature of money
there is only one way for us to do that -
each time a little of that money
is dropped into our hand,
rather than clenching our fingers around it,
we open our hand up
and give a portion of it away.
And when we do
we remind ourselves once again
that we own nothing,
that we are simply short-term stewards,
and that our security,
our identity,
and our happiness
can only really come from God.
There is one more principle I want to share with you
that can bring practical financial freedom
beyond anything you could imagine.
We'll look at it next week.