7UP:
This is Not This
Deuteronomy 15:1-11
November 2, 2008
This is not this. Right? The bottom line (that’s financial jargon, right?) is the question. When it comes to money, when it comes to finances, when it comes to financial security, when it comes to the stock market, your mortgage, your car loan, your 401K, your checking account, your savings account… Who do you trust? Printed right on our money are the words to remind us… “In God We Trust.”
Who do we trust? This or This. This is not This. This is the last of the seven areas that we need to give up to God’s control (7UP to God) in order to follow Jesus holistically or wholly or completely. To be completely, wholly, totally set apart for God’s use—every area of our lives needs to be set apart for God’s use. And when one or more of these areas are not addressed, it stunts our growth and effects the other areas.
Many people have been limited in their spiritual growth in the issue of finances and money. Jesus did say that we cannot serve both. The bible talks more about money and the use of his blessings than just about anything else. How money and treasures are used is directly tied to issues of social justice.
Of course, this area goes beyond our money and we really must consider the larger issue of how we use all of what we have… money and our skills and our treasures and our time and our abilities and our stuff. All of it needs to be under God’s control.
An elderly visited a church. As she entered the sanctuary, this was a church where ushers actually seated people. So the usher took her about halfway down and asked if this was okay.
“Well, actually, I see that the front is empty and I would like to sit down front.”
“Ohh, you really don’t want to do that.”
“Why not?”
“Well, we love our pastor but he is kind of boring and this week he is going to talk about finances, which is worst of all.”
“Do you know who I am?” asked the woman.
“No,” replied the man.
“I am your beloved pastor’s mother,” she stated emphatically.
“I see,” said the usher. “Do you know who I am?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Good.”
Right now finances and economy is huge. Things are so out of whack. To top it off… we have the election on Tuesday. In terms of finances, I want to address what I think is critical issue in the state of things. I think this is a major part of our problems and I don’t see any politician or party addressing what I see to be a major part of our economic problems. That issue is debt.
Our companies, our governments, and our families have been functioning and living on credit and now the debt is weighing us down. The news says that companies can’t function without banks giving lines of credit. The government gives the banks money so that they can make more loans. State governments are asking the federal government for money because they can’t pay their bills and can’t pay employees and can’t pay for the government assistance. The federal government, meanwhile, is approaching a national debt of 10 trillion dollars—a staggering amount. Meanwhile statistically, the average hourly wage of working Americans has actually dropped over the last decade while the average wage of CEO’s has increase from over $300 an hour to almost $1300 an hour.
Who do we trust? Our politicians? Our governments? Our bosses? Who do we really place our trust in? This is not this.
In Deut. 15 we read about God’s plan for his people—the canceling of debts. In our small group, we saw that while God doesn’t ban his people going into debt, God desires that we do not. Sometimes it can’t be helped, which is probably why God created a time of reconciliation of debts.
He prefers that we do NOT go into debt. Think about it… Most of us right now have firsthand experience that when financial woes hit us, every other area of our lives (those other six areas that we’ve talked about) are effected. Verse 6 actually said something that I felt was very convicting and scary at least for the future of our children… “For the Lord God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend [not borrow from] to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.”
Yet, our country is in such turmoil. We borrow and borrow. 400,000 people have lost or are in the process of losing their homes. And the solution is to give the banks more money so they can make more loans. This is not this.
God seems to view debt this way. When we are in debt, someone or something is elevated over us. They become our master. In Jesus’ day literally people were enslaved when they couldn’t pay their debt. While all debt does not enslave us, debt certainly has the potential to do so. How will our make it? How can I pay for rent or mortgage and clothes for the kids and gas for the car and insurance and medical expenses and food? This is not this.
The rest of our time I want to focus on some issues and things that might help us during these times. These are things that have to do with turning this area over to God’s control. These are things God looks for us to integrate into lives if we are truly going to trust him and give him control. Things help us to live out the idea that this is not this.
This Is Not This
• Keep your word.
Proverbs 6 talks about how if you have been foolish enough to go into debt then keep your word and seek ways to pay it off. Paul says in Romans 13 pay back everyone that you owe whether it is money or just respect or if you’ve hurt them. Verse 8: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”
If you are in debt, keep your word. I am not saying that a follower of Jesus should never declare bankruptcy. There are exceptions and some extra-ordinary situations especially when it comes to medical bills. But our guideline is to keep our word if we have borrowed on credit and pay back what we owe. Our word should be our bond. It should be worth more than gold.
• Seek justice.
Do what is right. And be a voice for others. God’s Word talks repeatedly about the person who abuses the wealth that God has given to take advantage of others. Not only are we to avoid that but we are called to be God’s voice against those who do. Don’t sit in silence while people take advantage of others especially the less fortunate.
This is why I feel so strongly the need to do something with our health care system. Frankly it is sinful—it is full of sin. And who suffers? The people. We do.
The passage in Deut. was about doing what was right. Helping people. Taking care of your neighbor. Don’t allow others who have resources to hoard them but be generous with them.
This is not this.
• Work a plan.
If you are in debt, work out a plan to get out of debt and stop depending on credit to live. This is not this. Cut up your credit cards if you need to. Of course know yourself, your tendencies, and personality.
In our group we discussed some of the intricacies here. Studies have shown that people on the average spend 30% more if using a credit or even a debit card when making their normal purchases. For many people, dolling out cash helps us spend less. However, some in the group pointed out that the debit card has helped them because when they have cash in their hand they tend to spend it here and there because you have it. So you need to have a plan and work it.
It may help to consolidate debt. Pay off higher interest rate loans first. And for heaven’s sake if you have credit card debt pay more than the minimum payment. They minimum payment is not for your benefit but for their benefit.
And of course, working a plan means that you have to… work, if you are able.
• Be generous.
The interesting about debt and making loans from God’s Word is that God simply wants us to be generous. It seems to work like this. If we are trusting in God to provide for us and we have been bless with excess then we are to bless others with the excess. With the year of canceling debts, God seems to be saying, “Look, I’ve provided you with this. Help your neighbor. If you have something that would help your neighbor, loan it to him if he wants to borrow and you won’t miss it. And don’t be concerned whether or not you get it back. Don’t worry about that. I will worry about that. The repayment is not for your benefit because I’m taking care of you, right? Your trusting in me, right? The repayment is really for your neighbor’s benefit. It is so she can keep her word. It is so that honor can be given to me through your generosity and then through their diligence.”
Be generous. Check out the sermon on the corresponding deadly on our website on greed. This is not this.
• Forgiveness.
Debts are not just monetary. Sin is a debt that we incur not only against God but against others. Therefore we seek forgiveness and seek to keep transgressing the same old sins by changing our ways and we also seek to make amends. We repay our wrongs. As well, we forgive others when they transgress us.
This is not optional. This isn’t just a good idea. It is a way of living for the follower of Jesus. All aspects. Seeking forgiveness. Making amends. Forgiving as we have been forgiven.
Debts are repaid not as a way of earning forgiveness or the grace of God but as a sign that we have seriously given God control of our lives—all areas spiritual, as well as financial, emotional, physical, mental, social, and environmental.
We cannot talk about our financial area of our lives without seriously considering the huge role that forgiveness of debts figures into God’s ways of life for us and others. When we release others—we refuse to be their master. We turn down the tendency that we have to be God. We trust God to set matters straight. Jesus said that those who have been forgiven much will love much. We love God and others as Jesus said. And we love much. We continue to repay the debt that Paul said that we all owe and is never paid—loving others and doing good to them.
The penny is an interesting piece of metal. The price of the metal within the penny actually is worth more than its assigned value. And to top it off, the penny is almost worthless at least in terms economic buying power. You can’t get anything for penny nowadays. I can’t think of anything. Anybody? I don’t know what value you assign to yourself but I certainly think that my thoughts are worth more than a penny. As your thoughts are too.
I think it might have been Ben Franklin who said, “A penny saved is a penny earn.” However, considering inflation and the cost of goods today, a penny saved in a coffee can for a year is probably a half penny lost.
In fact, it seems that it is not even worth the effort to pick up a penny on the ground. There have been times when I have dropped a penny and I didn’t both picking it up. Anybody else?
But God convicted me recently. I read a story about a guy who picks up pennies because he wanted to honor God. Since the penny says, “In God we trust, all others pay cash.” Ok, you know what it says. He felt that to disregard money that is on the ground even a penny is to dishonor God and the words that say, “In God we trust.”
My conviction came not to imitate him for his reasons, although I thought they were very honorable. God seem to speak to me through his example that especially if I dropped that penny then I was dishonoring something that God has given me. I had assigned the world’s value to something God had provided me and I was discounting the blessing that God had given me. By leaving a penny lay that I had dropped, I discarding something God had blessed me with. Were there other blessings that I discounted? By leaving that penny lay there, who was I saying that I trusted in?
This is not this. When it comes to finances and debt, who do you trust?
This… is not this…
(Show a series of pictures of things that show “this is not this:--such as a Wii and then a bible).
I want to offer you one final time to consider if God is truly in control of every area of your life including your finances. I invite to take a symbol up here as a gift. It is a reminder of the blessings that God has given. I give it to you as a blessing. Let it remind you this week to stop and thank God. Let it remind you to stop and consider if you are valuing the things around you from an economic perspective or from God’s perspective. This is not this.
