Devotion
Matthew 19:16-26
Two Irishmen who were traveling in the Holy Land came to the Sea of Galilee. They discovered that it would cost them $50 each to cross the lake by boat. They cried out in protest. "The Lakes of Killarney are the most beautiful lakes in the world and one can cross them for a few shillings." The guide explained: "Oh, but this is the lake Jesus walked on!" The Irishman quickly retorted: "Small wonder, at the prices you charge for taking a boat." We know alot about rising prices these days. It’s seems that just about everywhere you look, it’s much more expensive to live, eat, travel and play these days. We’ve been reminded how important money is to just about everything we do. In fact, you can’t do anything without money.
Jesus knew how important money is in every day life but also in our spiritual journey too. About half of Jesus’ teachings, 16 of 38 parables, were on money or possessions. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,000 verses on money and possessions. I believe that money is not only one of the greatest areas of stress in our lives but also one of the greatest areas of bondage for God’s people. In our culture today, the whole area of money management is a burden for many people. It is one of the primary causes of arguments in marriage and 70% of divorce is caused by frustrations related to money.
Today’s scripture is the story of the rich young ruler, a man probably in his 20’s or 30’s who had every convenience one could want as well as position and influence in society. The rich young ruler has often been maligned throughout the centuries but the fact is he did a lot of things right. Warren Wiersbe says, “The rich young ruler came to the right person, showed the right attitude, asked the right question, received the right answer, but made the wrong response!“
He was seeking the right goal in life. This young rich man approaches Jesus with a genuine question about eternal life. “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” He didn’t ask about increasing his wealth. He didn’t ask about increasing his political position or job. He didn’t ask about perfecting his business sense or craftiness. Instead, he asked about God and relationship to Him. Now this is a man who is seeking the main thing. Too often in life we major in the minor things and minor in the major things. We are concerned with our jobs, our family, our material possessions, our bank statements and then, oh yeah, we’re concerned about God. But this man wanted to know about relationship with God! The young man asks about eternal life. Eternal life is about quality of life. This rich young ruler understood that quality of life is not tied to the amount of time you have or the quantity of your possessions but your relationship to God. He started right as he understood that quality of life is tied to your devotion to God.
This man had followed all of the commandments and done all that God had asked him to do and yet still feels something lacking in his life. He felt an emptiness, an unquenched thirst and a desire for something more. He still felt distanced from God. So he asks what else he might do. Jesus answers, "If you wish to be perfect . . ." Perfect means complete. John Wesley understood that perfection was being totally in line with God’s will. If you wish to be in line with God and connected to Him in all things, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor…” And so the question becomes not if you desire to have God in your life or to be connected to Him but how much you desire for your life to be in line with God.
A young student went to his spiritual teacher and asked, "Master, how can I truly be connected to God?" The teacher took the student to a nearby river and invited him to go into water. When they got to the middle of the stream, the teacher said, "Please immerse yourself in the water." The student did and immediately the teacher put his hands on the young man’s head and held him under water. The student began to struggle. The Master kept holding him under. Moments passed and the student was thrashing and beating the water and air with his arms. Still, the master held him under water. Finally, the student was released and shot up from the water, lungs aching and gasping for air. When the student finally got enough air, he screamed, Why did you do that? The teacher answered, "When you desire God as truly as you desired to breathe the air you just breathed -- then you shall find Him and be connected to Him."
What Jesus saw in this man’s heart is that he was committed to God in every area of his life except one. But salvation impacts every area of your life. Salvation is meant to make you complete in your relationships, in your vocation, in your spiritual life and in your fiscal life. God is concerned about wholeness in every area of your life. Jesus gets to the heart of the matter for this young man. You see, as much as he did and as passionately as he tried to live for God, there was still one thing which stood in the way of his relationship to God: his money.
Today we find there are three things which stand in the way of our relationship to God. The first is what Randy Alcorn, in his book “The Treasure Principle” calls the “Possession Obsession.” A PBS television program called Affluenza addresses the plague of materialism. The program claims: The average American shops six hours a week while spending 40 minutes playing with his/her children. Recently, more Americans declared bankruptcy than graduated from college. Jesus reminds us in Luke 12:15 that our lives do not “consist in the abundance of our possessions.” But that’s exactly the opposite of what the media and society are telling us. We all get trapped by this mentality that we need more. The problem is the more we have, the more we want. We live in a culture that is obsessed with things. To get to the heart of financial freedom you have to let go of the message our culture purveys that happiness can be found in money, power and material things. Nothing could be further from the truth. The control that our possessions hold over us is preventing us from having financial freedom and the spiritually healthy, abundant life that Christ came to give us.
Second is deficit thinking. Deficit thinking is thinking “I can’t afford to give.” Americans have difficulty realizing how rich we are. Robert Heilbroner writes, Put yourself in the place of more than 1 billion people in the world. To do so: take out all the furniture in your home except for one table and a couple of chairs. Use a blanket and pads for beds. Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit, shirt or blouse. Leave only one pair of shoes. Empty the pantry and the refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, some onions, and a dish of dried beans. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and remove all the electrical wiring in your house. Take away the house itself and move the family into the tool shed. Place your "house’ in a shantytown. Cancel all subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and book clubs. This is no great loss because now you can’t read anyway. Leave only one radio for the whole shantytown. Move the nearest hospital or clinic 10 miles away and put a midwife in charge instead of a doctor. Throw away your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies. Leave the family a cash hoard of $10. Give the head of the family a few acres to cultivate on which he can raise a few hundred dollars of cash crops a year, of which one 1/3 will go to the landlord and 1/10 to the moneylenders. Lop off 25 or more years in life expectancy. And then he writes, “By comparison, you now know how rich we are! And with our wealth comes responsibility to use it wisely, not to be wasteful, and to help others. Think on these things.”
I hear retirees say, “I’m on a fixed income!” Well, who fixed it? The Bible says our Father owns cattle on a thousand hills. He owns the universe. He can multiply loaves and fishes. He can bring people back from the dead. The devil would get you to think in a deficit way as if you don’t have enough. A young man was listening to his retired father talk about the difficulties of living on a “fixed income.” His son spoke up and said, “Fixed income – I’d love for my income to be fixed. Lately I’ve been thinking it’s broken.” Isn’t it amazing that no matter what stage of life we’re in, we never seem to have enough money. Most Americans struggle to make ends meet, and what really surprises me is that income level is no indicator of financial stability. Why? Because we adjust life styles according to our income. The more we make, the more we spend. And the difficulty is very few of us are disciplined enough to spend less than we make. As a result of this lifestyle, many people don’t believe they can afford to give what they should, no matter what income levels they might be in. Here’s the truth: Giving isn’t a luxury of the rich, it’s a privilege of the poor. Does that mean the rich shouldn’t give? Absolutely not! But giving should not be out of our abundance. Giving and devotion to God has got to be a sacrifice.
Third is a lack of trust. To get to the heart of the issue of financial freedom, you have to have the courage to let go. What does the rich young ruler need to do with his possessions if he wants to be complete? To let go of his dependence on his wealth. Freedom is a matter of devotion. This young man is drawing his security from his money and his possessions.
Keys to Financial Freedom. First, you have to have the courage to let go. Jesus was saying if you truly want to be free, then you have to be willing to let go and release your possessions to the hand of God. As long as I have my plastic and my cash in my hand, God’s not going to do anything with it. As long as I hold onto my cash and my plastic, then my faith is in my money and possessions. But if I am willing to release all I am and trust the promise of God, then I can let my cash, plastic and possessions go. God is a better manager than I am. If I don’t let it go, I’m saying to God, “No I don’t trust you with this; I can do a better job than you.” But as soon as I let it go, my focus is on the heart of God. The things that are important to God become important to me.
The whole issue with letting go is fear. Fear is a major part of our lives today. Everything we read in the paper right now makes us afraid. Terrorism, ecological disasters, levees, how the city and Gulf Coast region will recover from Katrina. People are moving away and businesses are leaving. In the end, we don’t really know how what the future will hold. Fear paralyzes faithfulness and prohibits fruitfulness. It holds you back from being faithful to God. Fear changes your focus from the abundance of God and the wisdom of God to looking only at the little bit you hold in your hand. When we’re afraid, we fail to remember that God is God. He alone is in the position and has the power of every blessing in a person’s life, and he is a good God. Some of us simply have a hard time believing that if we were to give what He wants us to give that God would provide as he’s promised to provide. It’s a matter of trusting God for who He is and what he has said He will do.
Malachi 3:10 "Bring all the tithe into the storehouse." A tithe is 10%, the first 10%. "If you do so, there will be enough food in my temple." We bring the tithe to the storehouse so there are resources. Remember, you are the body of Christ. A spirit needs a body to be the hands and feet of Jesus to meet the needs of the poor in the world. But why does God need resources in the storehouse to meet the needs of the poor in the world? "If you do, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great, you won’t have the room to take it in." Try it! God says “Put me to the test. Your crops will be abundant...” You don’t have to live by possession obsession, deficit thinking or be captivated by fear and a lack of trust in God with your finances. “for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe, says the Lord of heaven’s armies. Then all of the nations will call you blessed for your land will be such a delight, says the Lord of Heaven’s armies."
Financial freedom, freedom from possession obsession, from deficit thinking and from fear, comes only from disciplines and obedience to God. There is a relationship between disciplined obedient actions and the blessings you will experience in your life. People are saved by grace. I know that. And a whole lot of people say, "I have Jesus in my life, why am I not experiencing blessings?" The key to God’s blessings are God’s disciplines and our obedience. You are not experiencing blessings because even though you have Jesus in your life, you are not submitting your life to his disciplines and direction. Listen to the cause and effect relationship between financial freedom and disciplined obedience in Deuteronomy 28:1-9, "If you fully obey the Lord, your God . . ." It doesn’t say sometimes obey the Lord, your God. "If you fully obey the Lord, your God, and carefully keep . . ." A lot of people carelessly keep God’s commands only when it suits them or when it’s not too great a convenience…. "If you fully obey the Lord and carefully keep his commands I’m giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world." You will experience all of these blessings, not just some of the blessings, if you obey the Lord your God. "Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed. The fruit baskets and bread boards will be blessed." I’m liking this! Are you liking this? "Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed if you fully obey the Lord and carefully keep all of his commandments . . ." It keeps going. "The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven." The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and everywhere you go. "And fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you."
Blessings are the result of disciplined obedient actions. For financial freedom in your life, you have to go past just wanting God’s blessings to actively seeking them. That means being completely devoted to God in every area of your life: your career, your marriage, your friendships, your health and your finances. Devotion is a matter of trust. It’s about trusting God in every area of your life. You are never going to discover financial freedom until you trust God with your finances. A true demonstration of faith, an expression of devotion, is having the courage to turn your finances over to God and the courage to give as God calls. Jesus said if you wish to be complete, let go and take God’s hand. Let go of your possessions, your deficit thinking or your fear and lack of trust in God and release your finances it to God.
Getting a hold of your finances and getting out of debt begins with devotion to God. You will never know financial freedom until you realize that financial freedom is a matter of heart. Seek God first. Serve God first. Put God first and money will serve you. If not, you will always be a slave to money. I’m going to give you a challenge for the month of October. The Lord said, "Bring the whole tithe into my storehouse; try me in this." I want to challenge you to do one thing, tithe – give the first 10 per cent of your gross income. The Lord said, "Try me in this." Until you get this right, you are not going to experience God’s fullest blessings in your life. So for the month of October, the first 10 per cent of everything that comes into your hand give to God. You can’t give what’s not in your hand. God just asks for what’s in your hand. We are going to discover that this month. This month make a commitment to give the first 10 per cent of everything that comes into your hand. Test the Lord in this. You have two choices: either you can manage your financial life, or you can let God manage your financial life. God’s not even going to get involved until you release it to him. It all starts with your desiring God to be at the center of your life and being completely devoted to God.
Joseph Rogers tells the story of a missionary in Africa who received a knock on the door of his hut one afternoon. Answering, the missionary found a native boy holding a large fish in his hands. The boy said, "Reverend, you taught us what tithing is, so here. I’ve brought you my tithe." As the missionary gratefully took the fish, he questioned the boy. "If this is your tithe, where are the other nine fish?" At this, the boy beamed and said, "Oh, they’re still back in the river. I’m going back to catch them now."
