"A Slave to the Lender"

Here is the second of four messages I'm bringing on financial freedom. Free copies of this message are available on CD in the main foyer if you missed it. As we think about debt, I'm reminded of an old Lending Tree commercial that came out a few years back. I was going to use this commercial in my message Sunday, but I had some technical problems with the program we use to convert files into MPEG's. So, for your viewing pleasure, start out by watching Stanley Johnson who's in debt up to his eyeballs!

“A Slave to the Lender”
April 20, 2008
2 Kings 4:1-7

It’s amazing who can get a credit card these days. A 3-year-old girl from Rochester, New York, received an application for a platinum Visa card in the mail. This so amused Allesandra Scalise's mother that she filled it out, listing her daughter's occupation as "toddler," and leaving the income line blank. She also wrote on the application, "I'd like to have a credit card to buy some toys, but I'm only three and my mommy says no." The card arrived a few weeks later!

From the earliest of ages we are pulled into a culture of debt. A man named Nathan Dungan wrote a book called Prodigal Sons and Material Girls. He points out that in the last 10 years, the amount of credit card debt per cardholder has doubled. He went on the say that thirty percent of Americans believe that they will always be in debt. In other words, they have no real hope for ever being debt free. He compared that to the fact that seventy percent of college freshmen said that being well off was essential. Finally, he made an interesting statement: “Living within your means today is counter-cultural.”

As you know, we are in the midst of a series of messages on the topic of financial freedom. You cannot talk about financial freedom without talking about freedom from debt. And the Bible, as we’re going to see, has a lot to say about debt. But it would seem that most Christians have either ignored these instructions and these warnings or they simply never heard them. Many Christians remind me of that old saying that there are three types of people: The haves, the have-nots, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-haves. Many Christians are like the pro-golfer Doug Sanders who said, “I am working as hard as I can to get my life and my cash to run out at the same time. If I can die right after lunch on Tuesday, everything will be fine!”

This morning, we are going to read in the Word of God the true story of a woman who was trapped by debt and how she was freed from it. Now we are going to look at a number of verses this morning, but I want us to focus in 2 Kings 4. I believe that in this passage we learn three practical things that we must do to be free from the bondage of debt.

1) UNDERSTAND the DANGER of ACCUMULATING debt.

Look with me in verse 1. “The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, ‘Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.’” Elisha was the prophet of God, the main mouthpiece to God’s people. Elisha also had what is called “the company of the prophets.” This was a school of prophets, for those who proclaimed God’s Word to the people. You might call this the first ever seminary. Anyone who has ever been to seminary knows that seminary students are known for not having any money! And apparently one of the seminary students died. We aren’t told how, only that he died. Not long after, here comes the widow. And the Bible says she “cried out.” Can you see her desperation? She “cried out” to Elisha and she had a confession to make. She said, “Elisha, you know that my husband was a godly man, he revered the Lord, but he had one problem: debt.” Now in case you didn’t know, many Christians who love God and are serving God are burdened by debt. That was the case here. But this woman had forgotten one small thing. She’d forgotten that David said in Psalm 37:21, “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;” Her husband may have revered the Lord, but he borrowed and did not repay. And he got caught by the same trap that catches many believers even today. It is the trap of presumption. He borrowed because he presumed that he would be able to pay it back. He must have had a job and he must have had a little income, so he told himself, “I’m going to pay it back little by little and everything will be fine.” He had no idea that soon he’d be dead. Beware the trap of presumption that says, “It’s okay for me to borrow recklessly because I’ll make the money tomorrow to pay what I borrow today.” Proverbs 27:1 says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” If that principle is true anywhere, it’s true in the area of borrowing and debt. Don’t presume that you’ll be able to do what you may not be able to do.

This man did just that and as a result the creditor was coming to take her two boys as slaves. In ancient days, if I man had a debt and did not pay that debt, the lender could claim that man’s children as collateral. She’s already lost her husband, but now she’s about to lose her sons. And don’t you just know that for it to come to this, this poor woman has already sold every possession she had? I imagine the furniture was gone. The beds were gone. Everything of value was gone and it was not enough to pay the debt.

Now the Bible does not come right out and say “Thou shall not borrow.” What the Bible does do is warn us about the danger of debt. Listen to what the Bible says in Proverbs 22:7. “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” That word “servant” could also be translated “slave.” In other words, you can’t do what you want to do because you debt tells you what you have to do.

Imagine a man who is gets reckless financially, and he spends and he spends and he spends and one day he wakes up and debt has a stranglehold on his life. He can’t give what he wants to give because debt won’t let him. He’d like to better himself by going back to school. But debt won’t let him. He can’t spend time with his family, because debt won’t let him. He has to work two jobs from early in the morning to late at night to pay it off. He’s a stranger to his own children. Do you know what the Bible calls this man? A slave.

Likewise, there are some Christians who are called to go on that next mission trip, but they can’t because debt won’t let them. There are Christian moms who feel that God is leading them to stay at home, but debt won’t let them. When you become burdened by debt, you don’t have freedom. You don’t have the freedom to give as you’d like to give, to help who you’d like to help or to do what you’d like to do.

I want you to remember something this morning. When it comes to financial freedom, the real issue is not debt, but bondage. If you let a real estate agent talk you into buying a home that requires 40% or more of two incomes to pay it, that is bondage. That debt is going to dictate to you how you must live your life. If you are paying thousands of dollars a year in credit card debt, and most of that going to finance charges, that’s bondage. The issue is bondage. Many Christians would never get trapped in debt if they only understood the real danger. Understand the danger of accumulating debt. Secondly…

2) FOLLOW God’s INSTRUCTIONS for ELIMINATING debt.

Look at verse two. “Elisha replied to her, ‘How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?’ ‘Your servant has nothing there at all,’ she said, ‘except a little oil.’" Now I want you to notice what Elisha did not do. He did not write her a check or give her cash. Now there are times when a person has a need and it is the appropriate response to give to meet that need. We see this in the early church in the book of Acts. But he did not do that here. I believe that he didn’t do it because the need was a result of reckless debt and he’s going to teach her a lesson. He didn’t give her fish, so to speak, he’s going to teach her how to fish.

Verses three and four say, “Elisha said, ‘Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.’" All she had left was a little bit of oil in a jar. This was probably anointing oil that the prophets used. It was probably the last possession she owned that reminded her of her husband. And Elisha said, “Gather as many empty oil jars as you can, not just a few, take them inside, shut the door and start pouring. Now this made no sense whatsoever. How would pouring a little bit of oil from one jar into another help her get out of debt? How is that going to pay her bills? How is that going to keep the creditor from taking her boys away? Listen, it did not make sense and I think that was exactly the point. For her, it was a simple matter of obedience.

You see, God is going to work on her behalf to eliminate the debt, but only if she’s obedient to what God has told her to do through the prophet. God will perform the miracle, but Elisha has her preparing for that miracle. God is going to fill the jars, but she has to gather the jars. And you know, that’s always the way it works in the Bible. The same God who flooded the earth could have made his own ark, but he put Noah to work. The same God who sent fire from heaven at Mt. Carmel when Elijah faced off against the prophets of Baal could have built his own altar, but He told Elijah to build it. The same Jesus who turned water into wine could have filled the jars himself. But he told the servants to do it. God involves us in His supernatural work. And once again, God is going to perform a miracle, but He first asks her to be faithful in doing what He’s told her to do.

Look at what happened in verses five and six. “She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another one.’ But he replied, ‘There is not a jar left.’ Then the oil stopped flowing.” Can you imagine the look on her face as she holds up the first jar and begins to pour it out, and the oil keeps pouring. And she thinks, “Sure seems like that oil would have poured out by now.” So she looks in the bottom of that jar, and there’s a little more oil than before she started pouring it out. Like the little boy’s lunch when Jesus fed the 5,000, God just multiplied her oil. If you’re here this morning and you are a slave to debt and you don’t know how you’ll ever get out, the same God who worked on behalf of this widow will work on your behalf. He’s more than able to take that little oil in your jar or that little money in your wallet help you to become free from debt. But listen carefully…God will only work on your behalf as you are faithful and obedient to the principles of God’s Word regarding money. Too many Christians seem to think that God is only concerned with the ten percent and He really doesn’t care how we spend the other ninety percent. Nothing could be farther from the truth. He does care. His word is full of principles regarding the ninety percent. And the starting point for breaking free from debt and financial bondage is being faithful to those principles where you are with what you have. You may not be where you want to be, but you can be faithful where you are. Let me give you some examples.

Here’s a biblical principle. Only borrow for items that appreciate in value or generate revenue, and then only when your budget can manage it. Don’t borrow for Christmas presents or for vacation. This is called consumer debt. Let me tell you why I believe that this is a Biblical principle. There are two reasons. For one, the Bible says in Proverbs 27:23, “Be diligent to know the state of your flocks.” Now for those of you who are not shepherds, that means know your financial statement. Know what you’re earning and know where that money is going to go. Have a spending plan. But if you’re using a credit card to pay for items that will not appreciate in value or generate revenue, there’s a reason. It’s because you DON’T KNOW the state of your flocks and you’re using a credit card to mask your lack of self control! That is not biblical. God isn’t going to bless that. That’s not “being faithful” with the ninety percent. And let me give you some personal advice along those lines. If you have a credit card, but you let it get out of hand and a single month goes by in which you aren’t able to pay off the balance, here’s what you do. There’s this new invention. It’s called scissors. Take your card and cut it to pieces. You’ve just fixed a major problem. But let me tell you another reason to avoid consumer debt. If you never borrow or use credit for anything that does not appreciate in value or generate revenue, you’ll never have to worry about being the Psalm 37:21 man I talked about earlier who borrows and doesn’t repay. Even if hard times come, you’ll be able to free yourself from that obligation. So these are biblical arguments that I believe we can make for avoiding consumer debt, any borrowing that doesn’t appreciate or generate revenue.

Here’s another principle for you. Make repaying the debt your highest financial priority. Proverbs 3:28 says, “Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow’—when you now have it with you.” When you owe someone money and you have a choice between paying them now or doing something else with that money, pay the debt now! If you have significant credit card debt, for example, you don’t need a plasma TV! You don’t need a vacation to Tahiti. The Bible says pay the debt.

Another principle is this: Avoid obligating yourself to pay someone else’s debt. Today we call this cosigning. Proverbs 17:18 says “A man lacking in judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.” Proverbs 6:1-4 says…

“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have struck hands in pledge for another,
if you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth,
then do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands:
Go and humble yourself;
press your plea with your neighbor!
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.”

Now when the Bible talks about putting up security for a neighbor, it’s talking about cosigning. The Bible says that this is unwise.

Remember, God wants you to be faithful where you are, and as you are faithful, He’ll work on your behalf to help you overcome debt, perhaps in ways you could have never imagined. But if you’re robbing God of the tithe, that’s not being faithful. If you’re using credit cards to pay for nonessentials, that isn’t being faithful. If there is no attempt at having a spending plan, to know the state of your flocks, that’s not being faithful. So follow God’s instructions for eliminating debt. Finally…

3) LEARN the SECRETS to AVOIDING debt.

All too often, you’ll see someone finally get out of debt, only to get right back in debt again. Well I want you to notice what Elisha said to this woman in verse seven. “She went and told the man of God, and he said, ‘Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.’" Now remember from the previous verse that God did not give this woman a never ending supply of oil. When the last jar was full, the Bible says that the miraculous supply of oil stopped flowing. You see, the point was not for her to become rich. The point was for her to be free. So Elisha told her to do two things. “Pay your debts.” In other words, you can sell this oil now and there are any number of things that you can do with that money, but pay your debts. Secondly he said, “Live on what is left.” Now remember, what her problem was…debt. So it’s no accident that the last words Elisha speaks to her are “Live on what you have.” Five powerful words that can help almost everyone overcome debt. “Live on what you have.” Start now. There is a myth that many Christians fall for. Most money problems are not because someone doesn’t make enough money. It’s because they don’t manage the money that they have. Do you know how much money Mike Tyson made in the nine years before he filed for bankruptcy? He made $300,000,000! Does anyone here think that if only he’d had $400 million, he would have been okay? He had plenty of money, but he didn’t know how to manage it. Now here’s the secret to avoiding debt. It’s living within your means. But let’s take it a step further. But do you know what the secret to living within your means is? Contentment.

There’s a wonderful statement in 1 Timothy 6:8. “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” “If food and clothing is all I have,” Paul said, “I’ll be content.” Contentment. Hear this: Contentment is one of the greatest weapons that you will use to do battle against debt. A content person will not be pressured by the world to spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like. Someone once said that there are two ways to be rich in life. You can be rich by how much you have or by how little you want. I would argue that the latter person is the one who is truly rich. Now I said that the secret to avoiding debt is living within your means. The secret to living within your means is contentment. But let’s go one more step back. But do you know what the secret to contentment is? It’s giving thanks!
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” When we give thanks to God, the people of God fills our hearts. And it’s no coincidence that just a few verses later, Paul said, “I have learned how in every state to be content. If I’m hungry or full, I am content.”

When we understand the dangers of accumulating debt and we following God’s principles for eliminating debt and learn the secrets to avoiding debt, do you know what happens? When we’re free from financial debt, we’re suddenly able to devote our lives to the good kind of debt. Did you know that there is a good debt? I’m not talking about monetary debts. I’m talking about spiritual debts. For example, in Romans 1:14, “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks.” That means I am a debtor. To whom? To the lost. Paul said that I am indebted to preach the gospel to them. If you know Christ as Savior and Lord, you owe a spiritual debt towards every lost person, to bring them the gospel of Christ. Paul later said in Romans 8:12 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.” We owe a debt to God to live holy and pure lives. Finally, in Romans 13:8, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.” We owe each other a debt of love within the body of Christ. And only when I am free from financial debt can I dedicate my life fully to my debts to God, to the lost and to my Christian family. Those are the debts I want to spend my life paying.

Some of you are here and debt had no grip on your life, or your family. Praise the Lord! But some of you are here and you’ve made some mistakes and as a result, it’s crystal clear what God wants you to do. He wants you to start being faithful right now where you are and with what you have. He wants you to commit yourself to following the guidelines in God’s Word for the handling of money. He wants you to commit to live within your means, to give thanks and be content. And as you do these things, I believe that God will work on your behalf to free you from debt.

But there is one debt that you’ll never be able to pay on your own. That is the sin debt that you owe before God. When I was growing up, we used to sing a chorus. “He paid a debt, he did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay.” That’s why Jesus died on the cross: to pay your debt. You couldn’t pay it on your own. Only the death of the sinless, perfect Son of God upon the cross could pay it. And the Bible says that you will call on the Lord right now and ask Him to be your Savior and Lord, the debt will be gone.

Good News From Israel

Messianic Jews (those who accept Christ as Savior) now have the same right to citizenship that every other Jew has, according to a ruling by the Israeli supreme court yesterday. Here's the story.

A "Spirits" Filled Church

What is this, sell-out week? Here we go again. First United Methodist of Sidney, Ohio wants to reach new people, so they're renting a bar on Sunday nights. They advertise it as having "top regional bands, pizza, wings, rowdy fun & a short message." Here's the story.

On the other hand, Calvary Baptist Church of Bristow, Oklahoma was founded a few years back. They proceeded to buy an out of business bar, eliminate the booze and preach the gospel instead. Somehow, I think it brings God much more glory when churches evangelize and bars go under than when churches operate a bar for a few hours a week so they can insert a "short message."

Unbelievable

Author and speaker Brian McLaren recently spoke at a youth worker's convention at Willow Creek Church, one of the largest evangelical churches in America. Here are some quotes (his in italics, my response in bold)...

"Some of us came from a religious tradition or a religious background where our main role was to recruit kids to go to heaven, and that's a good thing. Mortality rates are still pretty high, and we all have to face that decision. But I'm here to challenge you to think bigger and deeper and in more layers and dimensions about your role."

Hmmmm. Bigger and deeper than recruiting for heaven?

"There are some ideas that are not truly ideas of the Gospel but are ideas of the modern understanding of the Gospel. The problem isn't the Bible. The problem is modern rings that we put around the Bible. And what we need to do -- some of us in our thinking -- is to find the courage to snip the ring so that our faith ... can really have a future."

Okay...which ideas is McLaren talking about? An article from today's Baptist Press quotes McLaren as stating in his most recent book...

"Many of us have been increasingly critical in recent years of popular American eschatology in general, and conventional views of hell in particular. Simply put, if we believe that God will ultimately enforce his will by forceful domination, and will eternally torture all who resist that domination, then torture and domination become not only permissible but in some way godly." Another statement reads, "This eschatological understanding of a violent second coming leads us to believe (as we've said before) that in the end, even God finds it impossible to fix the world apart from violence and coercion; no one should be surprised when those shaped by this theology behave accordingly."

Now hold your horses, cowboy! If we believe in hell, we are more likely to commit or foster acts of violence? Are you kidding me?

McLaren also said at this conference that youth pastors should not teach youth the faults of non-christian religions because...

"The kids walk out thinking, 'Man, I don't want to be a Christian because Christians are always attacking everybody else. So you end up giving the opposite message you intended to give because they're living in a world where to be critical seems like it's dangerous because they're worried that people are going to kill each other and blow each other up. We've got to realize the storm is occurring and the landscape is changing."

When a church with membership in the tens of thousands invites a speaker to come and tell youth workers to stop talking about (or believing in) hell and to never criticize false views of God, we know we are in trouble. I'll be hoping for a statement by Willow Creek's pastor, Bill Hybels, distancing himself from these statements, but I'm not holding my breath. This is why we should never evaluate a church based on its size, but based on its faithfulness to the gospel of Christ.

"Who's in Control?

Here is the manuscript from the first message I preached last Sunday on the Road to Financial Freedom, called "Who's in Control." I don't have the digital file yet to put up the audio, but if some of you missed it, you can always just read it. (For those of you who don't know, I usually manuscript my messages and then wean myself off of it by Sunday morning. Thus, I don't get up and just read the manuscript and I always reserve the right to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and stray from the prepared notes.) Anyway, here goes...

“Who’s In Control?”
Matthew 6:19-34
April 13, 2008

You’re probably familiar with the name Alfred Nobel. Every year an award is given in his name, the Nobel Prize, to individuals making the greatest contributions in the areas of chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and peace. What you may not know is that in 1888, Nobel’s obituary appeared in newspapers across the country. One headline read, “Merchant of Death is Dead.” You see, Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. Therefore, when he died, his obituary described a man who got rich by helping people kill each other. There was only one problem. Alfred Nobel was not dead. His brother died and an editor confused the two identities! You can imagine how taken aback Alfred Nobel upon realizing that this was how he was going to be remembered. He didn’t want to be remembered this way. So for the rest of his life, he dedicated himself to using his money, using his wealth, in ways to better humanity. And when he died eight years later, he left his fortune, $9 million dollars (in the nineteenth century) to funding an annual award that would be given to others who benefited humanity, the Nobel Prize. You see, Alfred Nobel had a change of attitude. His attitude towards money changed. His attitude towards wealth changed. And because of that change of attitude, we remember him today in a positive light.

This morning we are beginning a series on financial freedom. Now financial freedom is not about getting rich. Nor is it solely about tithing. We’re going to talk about tithing a little bit, but financial freedom is more than that. Financial freedom is about being free from financial bondage, learning how to make Biblical financial decisions and having the right attitude about money and wealth. Did you know that in the Bible, there are 2,350 verses which talk about finances and possessions? The Bible has more wisdom on finances than Forbes, Fortune, Money Magazine and the Wall Street Journal combined! And when we begin to looking into what the Bible has to say, do you know what we learn? We learn that the most important factor in financial freedom is not how much money you make, or how high your bills, but what is the attitude of the heart? Before we talk about dollars and cents or how they are spent, we must first address the attitude of the heart. Most Christians need a change of attitude when it comes to money. In America, we spend $1.20 for every dollar we earn. We have $600 billion in credit card debt, averaging $8,300 per family. We save only 2.2%, less than what we saved during the Great Depression. And the average Christian in America gives not 10% but only 2.6% to their local church. Financial stress is one of the leading causes of divorce. We need a change of attitude.

This morning, we are going to hear from Jesus’ own words what should be our attitude towards our finances. I want us to see three things that our attitude towards money should reflect.

1) My ALLEGIANCE to God’s AUTHORITY.

A proper attitude towards money begins with an acknowledgment that God is the owner of all, controller of all and Lord of all. But if we aren’t careful, how we view money will begin to effect others areas, including how we relate to God.

In fact, Jesus mentions three areas here that money will affect. Money will affect my PASSIONS in life. Read verses 19-21. [Read text.] Now we’re all going to be storing treasures, figuratively, one place or another. The issue is not “if” but “where?” In fact, the Greek word for “store up” and the Greek word for “treasures” come from the same root. It’s like Jesus is saying, “Do not treasure your treasures.” By treasure, he means anything with a price tag. If you treasure earthly things, Jesus said that moths and rust will erode them and thieves will steal them. No matter how much money you have and no matter where you put it, your money can be taken away from you or you can be taken away from your money. But notice that last statement, because here is Jesus’ point. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Remember this statement. “My heart always goes where I put my money.” That’s true. My heart always goes where I put my money. Now we’re not talking about required giving. Jesus is not saying that if your power bill is high, your heart belongs to FL&L! He’s talking about our investments. He’s saying that when you invest your money into something, a piece of your heart goes with it. If you invest your money, or spend your money on entertainment, your heart, your passions will be in entertaining yourself. If you invest in your hobbies, over time your heart will be there. If, however, you invest in God’s work and God’s church, if you invest in missions, for example, you’re going to develop a heart and a passion for missions! If I really want to know where your passions and priorities in life are, I only need to look at your checkbook or checking statement. Because my heart always goes where I put my money.

Not only does money affect my passions in life, but money affects my OUTLOOK on life. Look at verses 22-23. [Read verses.] Many times when we hear these verses, it’s in talking about the things we allow our eyes to see and the need for purity. We talk about the movies we see and the books we read. That may be fine, but I believe that Jesus is talking about something else. On the one hand, in both the verses before and after, Jesus is talking about how we view money. So that is the context. Furthermore, when Jesus said, “If your eyes are good” (some translations say “single”), the word he uses for good is often translated generous. Five times Paul uses this very word in telling his readers to be generous. So when Jesus says “the lamp of the body” he’s talking about your outlook on life. When we are generous…in other words when we learn to see money as a tool that we use and not a thing we possess, our whole attitude on life changes. Instead of being full of the darkness of materialism, it’s like we are full of light.

A man named Ron Blue tells the story of visiting a village in Africa and asking a Christian worker there “What is the biggest challenge you face in reaching that village?” He was surprised to hear him answer “materialism.” Mr. Blue thought, “How can these people be afflicted with materialism? They have no cars, no television, no satellite dishes. How is it so?” The villager said, “Ron, if a man has a mud hut, he wants one with cow manure. If he has one made of cow manure, he wants one made of stone. If he has a thatch roof, he wants a tin roof. If he has one acre, he wants two.” And then he said this, “Materialism is a disease of the heart. It has nothing to do with where you live.”

Money will affect my passions in life, my outlook on life and my LOYALTY in life. Look at verse 24. [Read verse.] Jesus did not say “You should not serve both God and money.” Nor did he say, “You better not serve God and money.” He said “You cannot.” It’s an impossibility. You are going to serve someone. The issue is who or what? There is an important principle here that you’d better grasp. The primary competitor with Christ for Lordship of your life is money. You get to decide whether you’re a master over your money or a slave to your money, but it will be one or the other.

My passions, my outlook, my loyalty, all of these things point back to my allegiance to God as the ultimate authority in my life. If He is my authority, if Christ is Lord, then my attitude towards money, finances and wealth will reflect that allegiance.

2) My CONFIDENCE in God’s PROVISION.

Verse twenty-five says “Therefore I tell you" (because your allegiance is to God and not to the dollar). For the people in Jesus’ audience, the things they needed were very basic. They needed food and they needed clothing and most of the time, they didn’t know how they were going to get either. So Jesus begins with these basic needs and shows them why they can trust God to meet those needs. [Read verses 26-30.]

Everything in creation and everything in nature tells us that God provides for His own. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all that I haven’t seen.”
Look at the birds. God has no problem providing for them. He feeds them. Look at the grass. God puts clothing on the grass. You know why God can feed the birds? God can feed the birds because God owns the birds. You know why God can clothe the grass? Because God owns the grass! Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;” Psalm 50:9 says, “9 I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, (We don’t give in order to meet God’s needs. God doesn’t have any needs.)10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.” A proper attitude on money begins with the understanding that God owns everything and therefore, it is his responsibility to meet our needs.

George Mueller was a great pastor of years ago. His autobiography is probably the most inspiring work on prayer ever written outside of the Bible. In his autobiography, Mueller approached a man who’d been absent from church for some time. The man proceeded to tell him that he was working sixteen hours every day. Mueller suggested that he work less in order to make time for the Word of God, prayer and church. The man said, “'But if I work less, I do not earn enough for the support of my family. Even now, whilst I work so much, I have scarcely enough. The wages are so low, that I must work hard in order to obtain what I need.'” Mueller answered him, “'My dear brother, it is not your work which supports your family, but the Lord; and He who has fed you and your family when you could not work at all, on account of illness, would surely provide for you and yours if, for the sake of obtaining food for your inner man, you were to work only for so many hours a day as would allow you proper time for retirement.”

Listen, I’m going to say something that will surprise you. It’s not my job to provide for my family. It’s my job to work, to work hard and to work honestly, but it’s not my job to provide. It’s God’s job to provide for my needs and my family’s needs and He takes that job very, very seriously. In fact, one of the common names for God in the Old Testament, Jehovah Jireh, literally means “The Lord provides.” The very name of the Lord means that He will meet my needs! Psalm 37:25 says, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” No farmer would feed his chickens and not feed his children. Yet we would think that God would feed the birds or air and not feed His children? You see, when we worry about whether or not God will meet our needs, we’re really doubting His ability to meet our needs, or we’re doubting His willingness to meet our needs.

God may not provide for you the same way He provided for me. When the Israelites were hungry, He sent manna. When Elijah was hungry, he sent a raven. When the 5,000 were hungry, he multiplied a boy’s lunch. But in every case, the Lord provided. My attitude towards money should reflect my allegiance to God’s authority, my confidence in God’s provision and…

3) My COMMITMENT to God’s WORK.

Look with me at verse 33. Seek first. That means before you seek food. That means before you seek clothing. Seek first what? The Kingdom of God and His righteousness. God’s work in this world and God’s work in you. You’ll never have a proper perspective on money, wealth or finances until you embrace this truth: You exist for God’s Kingdom. You exist to be a part of God’s Kingdom, to support God’s Kingdom, to build and grow God’s Kingdom and you exist to see God’s Kingdom grow in you.

We have a name for the person who does just that. We call this person a steward. God owns it all and He’s entrusted His wealth to you in order to manage it to promote the Kingdom of God. You are a steward.

If you are going to be a Kingdom builder, if you are going to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, there are two extremes you’re going to have to avoid when it comes to money. If you’re taking notes, you’ll see a chart on the back of your outline that you might want to fill out. This may be the most important thing that I have to say to you this morning.

The two extremes are these. One extreme equates godliness with POVERTY. This person believes that in order to be godly, you must be poor. They’ll take a vow of poverty because they think that this is a key to being the man or woman of God that He wants them to be. On the surface, this sounds good to some, but it isn’t Biblical. The Bible cites numerous examples of men who were wealthy and godly. Abraham was a godly man and he had considerable wealth. David was a man after God’s own heart, yet he too had considerable wealth. One extreme is equating godliness with poverty.

Another extreme is equating godliness with PROSPERITY. We hear this often. Much of the preaching that takes place on TV and on the radio is along these lines. They believe that if you aren’t wealthy, you must not be faithful. You must not have enough faith. You must not be in God’s will. This too is unbiblical. The Bible says that God prospered Joseph, even during times of his life in which we know he was not prosperity financially. God prospered him spiritually.

In between the extreme of equating godliness with poverty and prosperity is the Biblical attitude of stewardship. This person understands that godliness is not about whether I’m rich or poor, but whether or not I am a faithful manager of whatever resources God has entrusted to me.

Each of these three views has something to say. Look at that chart. The person who equates godliness with poverty says that possessions are evil. Therefore, I should rid myself of them. This attitude says I work to meet my basic needs. That’s all. This attitude says that godly people are poor and that ungodly people are wealthy. The attitude also says that I give because I must. Not because they get to but because they have to. Finally, this attitude says my spending is fearful and joyless. They purchase as little as possible, no matter what the need or cause.

The person who equates godliness with wealth has something to say as well. This attitude says that possessions are a right. They think they have the God given right to be rich. This person says I work to become rich. That’s always the goal. This attitude says that godly people are wealthy and ungodly people are poor. Again, they think if you’re poor, something must be wrong with you spiritually. This attitude says I give in order to get. In their minds, there’s always a string attached. If they give to the Lord’s work, it’s because they are expected some exponential return on that money. And finally, for this person, my spending is carefree and consumptive. Because they think they have a right to be wealthy, there is no restraint in their spending.

Finally, the steward speaks. Here’s the man who is seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. This is who I want to be. What does this person have to say? This person says that possessions are a responsibility. They see everything they own as something they’ll give an account for before God. A steward says I work to serve Christ. Whatever the job, they do not job, not in order to meet needs or to get rich, but because that job is a ministry and they’re doing it for the Lord. The steward says that godly people are faithful and ungodly people are unfaithful. Again, it has nothing to do with dollars and cents. The steward says I give because I love God. It doesn’t matter whether or not they ever get it back. The love of God is what motivates them to give. And finally, for the steward, spending is prayerful and responsible.
Now in the next three weeks, we’re going to talk about how to be prayerful and responsible in the money that we make and the money that we give and the money that we spend. We’re going to talk about debt and borrowing and saving and investing. But it all begins with the heart. And until the heart is right, the checkbook won’t be right. And there’s only one person who can make the heart right and that’s Christ.

We’re going to pray and as we do, I know that there are some of you here today who long for financial freedom. For some of you, your finances are out of order because your spiritual house is out of order. You know who you are. I want to pray with me. “Heavenly father, I admit that it starts with the heart. And I acknowledge that the attitude of my heart is way off. One look at my checkbook reflects that my allegiance is not with You. I have failed to trust You to meet my needs. I have taken matters into my own hands. I have made decisions that were against the counsel of Your holy Word. I haven’t concerned myself with Your Kingdom. I humbly ask for your forgiveness. I ask you to show me in the weeks ahead the steps that I will need to take in order to honor You in my finances and have financial freedom. I plead for Your grace to help me and I thank You in advance for all that You are going to do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Keep Your Foot on the Pedal

I received the following question from a church member for me to answer on this blog...

"I was in a conversation recently that has troubled me and would appreciate if you could clarify further about un-churched friends...In this conversation, led by a person who is very knowledgeable about scripture, I was led to believe that if I cannot bring a friend to Jesus or back to church I should disassociate with that individual. Not only a friend but a family member also. I have tried to find some guidance from scripture, but I'm unable to locate passages that would give me direction. I appreciate any scripture verses or input you could furnish. Thank you."

Name Withheld

Thanks for the question. There are two principles here that come to mind. Carefully weigh them both and pray about what God would have you to do. But let me first commend you for trying to find “guidance from Scripture.” Whenever there’s an issue and I have to make a decision, I want to know three things: Book, chapter and verse. Bravo.

On the one hand, Jesus was a friend of sinners (Luke 7:34). He associated with the lowliest of the low. He ate in the home of Zacchaeus (Luke 19). He spoke to prostitutes (Matthew 21:31). He commanded us to evangelize “all peoples” (Matthew 28:19-20). Thus, our lives should be characterized by connecting to lost people and building relationships with them. As salt and light, we are to enter into the culture around us and engage lost people on their own turf. (You seemed to imply that you may be talking about a backslidden believer, a situation I’ll address in a moment.) But for now, suffice it to say that if there are no lost people in your life right now with whom you are building bridges to the gospel, you need to go find a lost friend. Sometimes, we in the church can get so involved in church world that we leave no room in our lives to interact with nonbelievers. It’s not one or the other, it’s both.

On the other hand, when Jesus reached out, he always reached out evangelistically. He did not hang out with nonbelievers for fellowship’s sake, but for God’s sake. First John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Of course, “Do not love the world” does not mean the people of the world, but the system of the world, which is opposed to God’s Word and ways. This means that we are to be careful not to surround ourselves with those who will influence us to love the world instead of God.

In my opinion, to know how far to go in reaching this friend for Christ, you have to ask yourself one question: “Does this individual pull you away from Christ? Are you influenced by this person in a way that would cause you to love Christ less?” If so, then it’s time to move on. You made an attempt to share the gospel, but there’s no response, so you discontinue the relationship rather than risk your own Christian witness. This doesn’t mean that you are not willing with open arms to help them in a time of need for such would be an opportunity to share the love of Christ. But that’s the line. This is why when a drug addict accepts Christ, the worst thing they can do is go back, by themselves, and surround themselves with their old drug using friends with the hope that they are going to win them all to Christ. An alcoholic who gets saved should avoid witnessing in bars. (Jesus said more about the danger of looking back/going back in Luke 9.) What happens 99.99999% of the time is the new believer falls back into drugs/alcohol and soon is completely separated from the church.

However, if this is a case in which you are reaching out to someone who simply has yet to accept Christ, but they are not hostile to you talking about your faith and they are not pulling you away from close fellowship with God, why in the world would you stop? You aren’t the Holy Spirit! How do you know that the seeds you’ve planted aren’t about ready to spread roots and grow? I can’t help but think about how patient Jesus was with the Pharisees, only leaving them when they decided to stone him to death for blasphemy. Your friend might have told you to stop because Jesus told the disciples to “wipe the sands from their shoes” if they went to a certain town and there was no response to the gospel. And I will admit that because there are only 24 hours in a day, there are times when I choose to shift the amount of time/effort I’m investing from one person to another because someone just isn’t responding. I made the last FAITH evangelism visit that I will make in a certain home for some time last week. The first time I witnessed to this woman, she seemed very close to accepting Christ. However, as time passed, her heart became hardened and her interest in the gospel waned. I will choose to invest my time witnessing to someone else next time, someone who has not had the opportunities to hear the gospel as she has. But that is a different situation altogether. Jesus was talking to missionaries who were shut out of an entire town. I haven’t closed the door, I’ve just changed my focus.

Now, if your friend is a believer who has simply left the church, I would argue that we should imitate the Good Shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one. We have a responsibility as believers to pursue those who have strayed from the flock. Keep pursuing as God leads you.

Meet Bling

"Bling" is the name of Brenda's box car which competed in last Saturday's 4th annual AWANA Grand Prix. As for speed, Bling posted a respectable 3-3 record with a low time of 2.73 seconds. But most importantly, it was the "bling-i-est" car in competition and the only one with an official name. Sometimes in life, what you lack in substance, you can make up for in style!

Chrysostom on Worship

Along the lines of the previous post on worship, here's some great advice from the great 4th century pastor, St. Chrysostom. In Book 5, section 7 of On the Priesthood, his preaching “how to” book for pastors of his day, he urged,

“Let, therefore, the man who undertakes the strain of teaching never give heed to the good opinion of the outside world, nor be dejected in soul on account of such persons; but laboring at his sermons so that he may please God, (For let this alone be his rule and determination, in discharging this best kind of workmanship, not acclamation, nor good opinions,) if, indeed, he be praised by men, let him not repudiate their applause, and when his hearers do not offer this, let him not seek it, let him not be grieved. For a sufficient consolation in his labors, and one greater than all, is when he is able to be conscious of arranging and ordering his teaching with a view to pleasing God.”

How We Worship

If I was an average Joe layperson looking for a church home, I think that one of my first questions about a prospective church's pastor would be about worship. What a pastor believes about worship will tell us much about their theology, philosophy and vision for their church.

There is a pastor in Pennsylvania whom I enjoy reading (in spite of the fact that I constantly disagree with him). This pastor's church recently opened worship by singing Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" (Click title to read lyrics.) The pastor proudly posted an email he received from someone in that service as well as his response.

Here's the email...

This past weekend, I could not believe my ears. When worship opened up, I heard the opening chords for Jet’s- "Are you going to be my girl?" I was expecting the Apologetix parody version, “Are you gonna be Ike's girl?”

But in listening to the lyrics it sounded like they were covering the actual Jet Song – a song about figuring out how to get a one night stand, for a girl who came to some club or party with another guy.

I am hoping that I was mistaken and they were playing the Christian Parody version because I am having a real issue with wrapping my head around why it would be remotely ‘OK’ to play this content in a worship service.

There is a line between having a light fun service to reach the new/non-believer and cheapening the value and truth that the gospel can stand alone to reach out to someone. This may have crossed it.

Frustrated…

Name Withheld

Here's the pastor's reply...

Frustrated,

I got your email and appreciate you taking the time to shoot me your thoughts.

I must say that while I appreciate your concern, this is certainly not the first nor will it be the last time we sing non-Christian music in our worship services.

We do this because we are trying to reach both non-Christians as well as Christians in the same service, and playing a non-Christian song up front in the service, we have learned, puts people far from God at ease.

Our philosophy has always been that Christians should be the ones that should be made the most uncomfortable in church, not the non-Christians. The way I put it is this -- we will always choose to offend the Christians before the non-Christians.

Seeing that you are frustrated, and given the fact that I talked with a bunch of people far from God on Sunday who loved the energy of the song and felt connected to the service because of it, it appears that we have achieved our goal.

My suggestion is this -- weigh carefully whether or not you want to be a part of a church that sings music like this, and plays difficult to watch video clips, and a host of other things to reach people far from God. If not, then now would be the time to look for another church before you put down roots too deep.

If on the other hand this is the kind of church you want to be a part of, I would welcome you to join in with everything you have and start reaching out to people far from God.

I hope this helps.

Thanks!

Brian

Please notice a few things about this pastor's philosophy of worship. Playing a song that is not Christian at best and perhaps has unchristian innuendo at worst is permissible in order to put "people far from God at ease." The goal of worship, thus, is to make sinners feel comfortable. Furthermore, this statement reflects his belief that being "at ease" is the norm when lost people become convicted of their lostness. Was Isaiah "at ease" when he experienced a glimpse of God's glory high and lifted up? Was John "at ease" when he experienced a glimpse of Jesus' beauty? Far from it! "Ease" is not the normal response when sinful man encounters a holy God! (Disclaimer: We are not to make people feel UNeasy by being unfriendly! We're talking about the content of our message here.) When the goal of worship is to make man comfortable, it ceases to be glorifying God.

This pastor makes a second interesting statement in the next paragraph. He says that "we will always choose to offend the Christians before the non-Christians." Now let me be the first to say that I'm all for offending Christians. Most of us, myself included, could use some good offending. The part of this quote that concerns me is "before the non-Christians." Paul made it pretty clear (1 Corinthians 1) that our message would be offensive to this world. (Disclaimer: We are not to add to that offensiveness by being offensive in our own right. Let the gospel provide the offense without you being offensive.) We need to be very careful about trying too hard to remove the offensiveness from the message. If you wanna know the truth, Jesus was quite offensive.

Finally, this pastor mentions that the lost people present "loved the energy" of the non-christian song and "felt connected" to the service. This, of course, is also the typical reaction after an evening at the local bar, but I wouldn't call that "worship." I've got something much better than that. Jesus said, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32) "Lifted up", of course, referred to crucifixion, but it also carried the idea of exaltation. Our goal is to magnify the name of Jesus and as we do so, we can trust that Jesus will draw people to himself.

Whether the style of worship is traditional, contemporary, southern gospel, praise and worship, or downright classical, we must always begin with the words we sing and ask the question, "Are we rightly describing God's attributes, character and Word?" If the answer is no, there's no need to use it in "worship."

Read the First Amendment Lately?

A Christian photographer in New Mexico refused to take photos of a homosexual commitment ceremony and has been fined by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission. I guess the New Mexico Human Rights Commission believes that if you receive a job offer which entails work that is against your personal religious beliefs, you should be forced to be hired anyway! What's next?

Will a Muslim butcher be fined for refusing to take a job cutting up pork?
Will a Christian videographer be fined for refusing to take a job filming pornography?
Will an Orthodox Jewish construction worker be fined for refusing to accept a job offer that would involve working on Saturdays?

The government can't force you to take a job, period. That becomes much more so when your objections are for religious grounds. The Christian photographer had every right to not take the job and the homosexual couple had every right to go elsewhere. Everyone has their rights. The fact that a state agency in New Mexico would start issuing fines to Christians who refuse to take jobs involving homosexuality is a disturbing sign. Let's pray that our courts have the sense to overturn this and to force the NMHRC to pay this man's legal fees!

Here's the story.

It's Now "Big"

It seems that whenever someone wants to denigrate an industry or entity these days, they do so by applying the modifier "big." For example, we hear people say "Big oil", "Big tobacco", "Big government", "Big law" and I've even heard "Big beef." The insinuation is that something is bad simply because it is big. You can argue whether or not that is true, but perhaps we can no longer debate this: "Big abortion." Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading abortion provider, announced this week that it had over a billion dollars (yes, billion with a "b") in income last year. That's just one provider. Looking at the numbers alone forces us to acknowledge that abortion is not just a debate being waged in America, but an industry driven by profit. If abortions decline, the industry suffers. Thus, we can never trust groups like Planned Parenthood who claim to care for the best interest of women. Are they willing to cease existing for the well being of women? No. Are they willing to support reasonable measures that would curb the total numbers of abortions (like parental notification/consent)? No. Today, it is no longer about a woman's "right" to choose, it is about dollars and cents. The provider has gotten "big." The monster is all grown up. Feed it money or it will die.

Road to Financial Freedom

This Sunday I'm starting a financial freedom series in our 8:30 and 11:0 AM services. DID YOU KNOW that there are 2,350 verses in the Bible dealing with money and our possessions? Well, I won't be preaching on all of them, but we will get a summary of Biblical principles regarding financial freedom and we invite you to join us for the journey. If you can't make the services, I will make an extra effort to get the messages online and on my blog. I'm the process of training someone to do that for me because I just don't have the time. See you Sunday!

Effective Pastor Conference

Here are some quotable quotes from the Effective Pastor conference I attended yesterday at the Urban Impact center in Hialeah.

Regarding a pastor's spiritual formation...

"First you make your habits, then your habits make you."

"The neglect of spiritual disciples is willful."

"Grace is opposed to earning, but it is not opposed to effort."

Regarding a pastor's integrity...

"Vulnerability is not transparency. It involves more risk and it offers more reward."

"He who tells white lies will soon become color blind."

Regarding a pastor's love for his church...

"Ineffective pastors put more emphasis on the organizational structure of the church. Effective pastors zero in on the nature of the church and its source in God."

Any thoughts?

They're Back!

Franklin Ave Baptist Church was one of the most vibrant churches of any stripe in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina. This past Sunday marked their return and from the looks of it, you'd think they never left. It was always a joy to hear their pastor, Fred Luter Jr., preach in chapel at Southeastern when I was there. I hope that now that his church is back, he'll become the first African American president of the Southern Baptist Convention (which would be long overdue).

Check out the story here.