How To Be Wise With Your Money Series

ILLUSTRATION

Bob Russell told the story about a GREEDY rich man on his DEATHBED who was determined to take his WEALTH with him when he DIED. He told his wife to get all of his MONEY together, put it in a big TRASH BAG, and then hang the BAG from the RAFTERS in the ATTIC.

He said, “When my SPIRIT is caught UP to HEAVEN, I’ll GRAB the BAG on my way UP.”

A few days later the man DIED, and his WIFE raced UP to the ATTIC, only to find the BAG of MONEY still there. Shaking her HEAD, she said, “I just knew I should’ve put the BAG in the

BASEMENT.”

A. Have you ever had a problem with COLLECTING too much STUFF?

1. Why is it that another word for TOO MUCH STUFF . . . is JUNK?

COMMENT:

If you took an honest TOUR of your HOME, would you say that you have MORE, I mean, WAY MORE, than you really NEED? I believe that most of us would be GUILTY of that. Frankly, we Americans ACCUMULATE a lot of STUFF that we WANT but not necessarily NEED.

2. Now, this doesn’t mean that it is wrong to have MATERIAL things or that having WEALTH is sinful.

a. There is a MISCONCEPTION among many Christians that God is AGAINST MONEY and

POSSESSIONS.

b. We have taken PASSAGES like our James text that contain WARNINGS to the RICH and have concluded that God is against people with LOTS of MONEY and that the truly BLESSED are the POOR.

B. No where does the Bible teach that.

1. Deuteronomy 8:18a- “Remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce

WEALTH…”

COMMENT:

Throughout the Bible we find God BLESSING his children with WEALTH. He’s not going to GIVE you SOMETHING that is SINFUL.

2. The SIN comes in with the WAY we RELATE to our MONEY and/or ACCUMULATE our MONEY.

a. Paul- “The LOVE of MONEY is a root of all kinds of evil” not having MONEY- 1 Timothy 6:10.

b. MONEY itself is neither GOOD or BAD. In fact, if used the way God intended, MONEY can be

a tremendous BLESSING.

3. However, the “LOVE of MONEY” is always BAD.

COMMENT:

LOVERS OF MONEY are SELFISH not SELFLESS. LOVERS OF MONEY place HOPE in their WEALTH not in GOD. LOVERS OF MONEY are never SATISFIED with what they HAVE,

and will often STOP at nothing to GET MORE—no matter who gets HURT in the PROCESS.

a. LOVERS OF MONEY are the ones Jesus is referring to when He commented, “It is easier for a

camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven”- Matthew 19:24.

b. It is this ATTITUDE about MONEY that James addresses in our text.

4. HOW DOES JAMES SAY WE SHOULD HANDLE OUR MONEY?

MESSAGE:

I. DON’T HOARD IT GREEDILY—MANAGE IT WISELY- James 5:1-3 (READ)

A. Remember, James is referring to people who are MISUSING their WEALTH and not merely

condemning them because they are WEALTHY.

1. In the first century there were three common ways that people would ACCUMULATE wealth.

a. BARNS full of GRAIN—FOOD PRODUCTS.

b. STORAGE of EXPENSIVE CLOTHING and CLOTHS.

c. COLLECTING of PRECIOUS METALS and COINS.

2. But notice that when James refers to these three kinds of WEALTH he adds the ELEMENTS of TIME and DISUSE—“the FOOD is ROTTING, the CLOTHING is MOTH-EATEN, and the

GOLD and SILVER are CORRODING.”

COMMENT:

You probably know that GOLD and SILVER cannot RUST or CORRODE. The point that James is making is, “You are not USING your WEALTH.” They are not using their WEALTH for themselves or anyone else, they are merely HORDING their WEALTH, and by doing so LOSING it in the PROCESS.

I believe when James says “you have hoarded wealth in the last days”, he is reminding them that in DEATH they cannot take their WEALTH with them—they will LOSE it all.

ILLUSTRATION:

There is the story of John G. Wendel and his sisters, whose eccentric and tragic lives are chronicled in an article written by Lori Chambers entitled: The Fabulous Wendels. Even though they had received a huge INHERITANCE from their parents, they were some of the most MISERABLE people of all time. They spent very little of their MONEY and did all they could to keep their WEALTH for themselves.

John was able to INFLUENCE five of his six sisters NEVER to MARRY, and they lived in the same house in New York City for 50 years. When the last sister, Ella Wendel, died in 1931, her ESTATE was valued at more than $100 million (that is equivalent to over billion-and-half dollars in today’s currency). Yet, her only DRESS was one that she had MADE HERSELF, and had WORN for 25 years.