Too Many Bills, Too Little Money Series

got stress?

Too Many Bills, Too Little Money

Slide

Last week we began a mini-series on stress. We looked at being stressed out by the lack of time we seem to have to accomplish all that seems to be on our plates.

We saw that we have to learn to prioritize the things that will help us fulfill our mission to bring glory to God and not let other things take up all our time so we get stressed out when we are not able to accomplish the major things of life. We sometimes need to say no to things that may be good, but not best and prioritize those things that are best and help us glorify the Lord in our calling.

No, today, we are going to talk about the other major stressor of life, money.

It seems that a lot of our stress is caused by our perception that we have

Too many Bills and too little Money

Slide

Money issues are one of the leading causes of stress in America, if not the world.

When we feel we do not have enough money or we have too many bills,

we become irritable,

it affects our relationships, and

it affects decisions we make.

In short, we get stressed out when we feel we have too many bills and too little money.

But as we saw last week in regards to the stress we felt with too little time, it was less about too little time and more about priorities.

This week we are going to see that the stress we feel over too many bills and too little money, has more to do with

our lack of trust in the Lord,

our improper view of the resources in our control, and

our lack of wise stewardship of the resources the Lord has given us.

We are going to be able to overcome some of the stress we feel due to money issues as we grow in our trust of the Lord, gain a proper perspective of the resources in our control and then when we become wise stewards of those resources.

I want you to turn to Matthew 6:19-34.

Slide

We are going to read a larger section than we read last week when we talked about time, but we are going to address what Jesus deals with more directly here, and that is our view of money and in whom or what we place our trust.

Let’s read Matthew 6:19-34.

Matthew 6:19-34

19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.