Following Jesus With Your Finances, Part 4 - Dev. A Healthy Attitude... Series

Following Jesus with Our Finances

Part 4 – Developing a Healthy Attitude toward Finances

Various Scriptures

March 27, 2011

NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."

Audio of this message can be heard at www.aberdeenwesleyan.org.

Me: Today we’re wrapping up our series on finance, and I’ve got to tell you, last week’s message was a turning point for me in terms of preaching about money.

I think because it wasn’t a message about giving or the “eeeevil” of riches, but about being content, I felt more free to relax.

Today I think will be the same way, or at least I hope.

We’re going to look at some basic financial principles from Scripture – very basic things that if you’ll put them into place, will go a long way to eliminate something we all deal with from time to mine regarding money: worry.

We: I think I can say with confidence that I’m not the only one who hates worrying about money.

The Bible says we’re not supposed to worry about anything, but most of us here break that command on a pretty regular basis, especially when we come to the end of the money and we got a whole lot of month left, right?

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt – which I’ll sell to you cuz I could use the extra cash right now… 

Who couldn’t?

Well, I think that what we’re going to look at today will help us get past that, as well as give us some very practical teaching that all of us can put into practice very easily if we’re willing to just do it.

God: How many people here like Chinese food? I love Chinese food.

Well, a couple weeks ago I was eating at the Chinese place on Main Street. I eat there pretty often when I forget to bring my lunch to work at the shoe store.

Anyway, once after lunch I grabbed my fortune cookie and brought it back to the store.

When I opened it, this is what I read on the fortune:

“Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”

Can anyone here tell me who the author of that quote is? (John Wesley)

John Wesley was a guy who believed that Scripture addresses the issues of the day, and that Christ should be the Lord over all those issues.

And this pithy quote is his way of condensing Biblical wisdom regarding money.

We’re going to look at the three main points of his saying with some passages from the book of Proverbs.

The book of Proverbs is a great collection ancient wisdom. But as you will see, the wisdom is just as applicable today.

The financial advice in the book of Proverbs is right on for what we need here in the 21st century. But good advice, good teaching is timeless because it’s applicable in every time period.

In this case, it’s kinda like what Dave Ramsey says on his radio show: “the same financial advice your grandmother gave – except we keep our teeth in.”

So let’s start with looking at the first portion of John Wesley’s saying, that is – remember?

“Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”

Don’t be afraid to memorize that – and you probably will be the end of the sermon today.

Make:

Unless you’ve inherited a fortune from a wealthy relative, you will have to actually do something to bring money into.

You need to MAKE some money.

You do that by having a job, owning a business, or doing something to bring in some money.

God can, and has, at times, brought money into the hands of His people that they didn’t earn in one way or another.

But usually I’ve found that that happens to people who are already working hard to bring in what they can already and God says, “here’s something extra for you.”

A couple passages from Proverbs:

Proverbs 14:21 –

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

All what? Hard work.

Not wishful thinking, and according to this passage, not just talking about it.

Folks, there are lots of people who are good about talking about making money for their families. But that’s all it is – talk.

They don’t do anything about it.

They don’t find a job, they don’t do anything tangible about starting a business, they just talk.

And in the meantime, the family’s not getting fed, the bills aren’t getting paid, and they just sink further into the hole.

It happens more often than you might know.

On the other hand, hard work brings a profit.

- God has given most people the ability to work in some form to bring an income.