Managing Money God's Way: Saving Series

Managing Money God’s Way: Saving

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 10/2/16

Last Sunday I began a short three-part series about Managing Money God’s Way. Like I said last week, the number one key when it comes to managing your money is acknowledging that it’s not your money—it’s God’s. The Bible says that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Proverbs 50:10) and, as Dave Ramsey often says, he owns the hills too! In other words, everything we have belongs to God and it’s our job to be good stewards of God money—to manage God’s money God’s way.

Again, as I said last week, there are only three things we can do with money—we can spend it, we can save it, or we can share it! Those are the only three options (unless you have crazy money and you use it as kindling for your wood burning stove). Last week we talked about spending. Specifically, we looked at the story of the prodigal son as an example of how not to spend money. When it came to money, the prodigal son was selfish, stupid and shortsighted. In the end, however, he repented and turned to his father for help—which is what we want to do too.

Our Father has imparted practical financial wisdom through his Word, so it’s important for us to dig into his Word and discover how to manage money God’s way. This Sunday, we’re going to look at what the Bible has to say about saving!

I’m reminded of a couple who’d been married for only a few months when the husband started to feel ignored by his wife. This went on for several days, so eventually he confronted her with what he perceived as the problem. “Admit it,” he ranted, “You only married me because my granddad left me $6 million, didn't you?” Her hands on her hips, his wife replied, “That’s just ridiculous. I couldn't care less WHO left it to you.”

For many of us, the idea of leaving an inheritance—especially $6 million—to our children or grandchildren seems completely unattainable. Most of us are just hoping our money doesn’t run out before our life does. So we might be surprised to learn that Scripture says, “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children.” (Proverbs 13:22 NIV).

Unfortunately, not many of us measure up to this standard. Like I mentioned last week, according to a survey by Bankrate.com 76% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That means Americans are living right on the edge — at least when it comes to financial planning. According to a separate survey of 5,000 adults conducted recently (Dec 2015) by Google Consumer Survey approximately 62% of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts and 21% don’t even have a savings account.

It doesn’t take much of an emergency to add up to $1,000, does it? A car repair, leaky roof, or hospital bill can get you there in a heartbeat. That means 62% of Americans are living on a razor’s edge, just praying that “life” doesn’t happen to them—but you know something will happen sooner or later. And when it does, these families go straight to the credit card or home equity loan or even barrow money from friends/family to bail them out. This is why the Bible tells us wise people save money!

And this morning I want to look at the story of a very wise person in the Bible and highlight three principles of saving money from his example. That wise person is Joseph. Fair warning: I did use Joseph’s story as an example of wise saving when I preached a similar series about 4 years ago, so some of this might sound familiar.

Joseph’s story itself should be familiar to most of you, but let me set the stage for this story. Joseph has been living in Egypt now for many years—first as a slave, then as a prisoner. But one night, when Pharaoh’s disturbing dreams seem to reveal a foreboding future, he turns to Joseph. Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams as a warning from God. Egypt would experience seven years of great abundance, followed immediately by seven years of terrible famine. Not only did Joseph foresee the famine thanks to God’s intervention, but he devised a plan to survive it. He tells Pharaoh,

“Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead and bring it to Pharaoh’s storehouses. Store it away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities. That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine will destroy the land.” (Genesis 41:33-36, NLT)