Finances can be a difficult topic for people to talk about. And it may seem like finances are an odd thing to preach about but as Pastor Johnny pointed out this Sunday, there is a place for biblical finances in our church and in fact the Bible mentions and offers guidance and principles in over 2300 verses. In fact, Jesus taught more times on finances then He did on Satan. The truth of the matter is that finances are the 4th most taught kingdom principle. Jesus taught mostly about the kingdom of God. Second was His teachings on Father God and third was his teachings on faith. The thing is, finances are not important to God but God knew how important finances would be to us and how much it would impact our lives.
Our message this Sunday was based not on rules but rather on kingdom principles, wisdom scripture that if you do follow then you can be pretty sure what the outcome will be. We must however realise though that as we think about our finances, we must do so with grace. In 2 Cor 12: 9-10 it says
“But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.; Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
This verse, although slightly out of context, the application of it is in context because we need grace in money. Some people have great finances but that can lead to pride and conceit. God wants to give us grace to come away from those feelings. On the other hand, there are other people who struggle with poverty and debt. They may be feeling burdened with feelings resulting from past mistakes or bad decisions but God wants to give us grace from that too.
So to help us wade through our loves with the added burden that finances puts on us, and in some cases even imprisons us, God has set us some kingdom principles. Not to become legalistic but rather to be set free, free from our worries about finances.
3 basic key principles that we will focus on this month are:
1. Grace: There is a special name for everyone that has made a mistake with their money. Being an adult.
All of us have made mistakes, made bad investments, unnecessary purchases etc. All of us. So have grace. Have grace on yourselves and others when looking at financial decisions and situations.
2. Stewardship: the meaning of stewardship is to look after something on behalf of someone else.
This is exactly what our finances are as they most certainly are not our own. Rather our finances belong to God and actually we have been called to steward it. If we can get our heart to understand this key principle it will significantly change our spending and investment habits. What we need to begin to understand is that it is indeed a privilege to have any money and that we will be held accountable for all of God resources, we know this because in Psalm 50, God explains that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. That’s poetic because in reality, when God refers to cattle, He is explaining His wealth in terms that the audience would understand and the number 1000 was not a definite number but rather used to reference an infinite number. So really what this message tells us is that God has infinite resources.
3.Financial freedom: God wants us to have things but He doesn’t want things to have us. Only God should have us.
We have to ask ourselves why don’t we talk about the principles of finance with other members of our community? Is that something we should be asking the Holy Spirit to work with us in our lives so that we are not held captive by it? As Christians we do lots of weird things. We give our babies back to God in a dedication. We give declarations in front of God when we get married and yet we will not speak to God about our money! Is money becoming the biggest things in our lives?
1 Pet 4:8-10 says
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
God has given each of us a gift. We each have some kind of blessing. But this verse tells us we need to be sharing these blessings with others because God has given them to us. What we have, we did not earn. You might be thinking, but I have job, so isn’t the money I earn, mine? The simple answer is no. The same way you did not earn your spiritual transformation, or your salvation, or your finances. We are not really self-made. God gave us those opportunities. The brains you think with; the very breath you breathe when you wake up in the mornings. The opportunity to attend those interviews. We are actually just partnering with God, using the resources He has given us to then go and be good stewards who work hard. But at the end of it all, they are still all gifts from God.I suppose when you think it’s a gift, you may think there is no reason to work hard for it, it will simply be given regardless. But this is definitely not the case. In fact we should work harder to say thank you for the opportunity to steward. This simple change of mind will release us from the bondage of finance that we many times feel. God cares immensely about stewardship.
In the Parable of Talents, the 3 servants are each given 8 talents (which equates to a large sum of many). Each of the servants do something different with their money. 2 of them returned what they got with more. The third didn’t lose any money and kept the money safe but that wasn’t enough. Just as these servants were, we are given an opportunity. But we have to steward it for us and the benefit of others.
In a noteworthy John Wesley sermon, he says “Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.” So make sure that you go out and earn every penny that you can. Take every opportunity that is available to you. Steward your brain. But it’s not for your benefit. Save doesn’t mean to put the money under your mattress. It means don’t waste so that you can give all that you can for the benefit of the kingdom.
This is only the introduction and in the coming weeks we will be looking at debt, inheritance and giving and in those sermons we will build on the principles that have been touched on in this message.