Lessons from Facing a Broken Economy
Romans 8:28-39
Bill Hybels tells the story of finishing a meeting at his church and bumping into a woman who asked about their PADS Ministry which hosts people one night a week who need a place to sleep. They have between 30 and 50 people who show up. They feed them a wonderful meal and show grace to them and then serve them a breakfast the following morning. Bill assumed she was a new volunteer in the ministry but then realized she needed a bed. He walked her to her late model car and had her follow him to the building. When they arrived, he had a moment to talk to her and discovered that she was a suburban middle class woman. This downturn was different from every other downturn she had gone through. She’s not alone. People today are discovering that they no longer have jobs. Have you looked at your 401K lately? Anybody concerned about being downsized out of a job? We have all been through downturns before but this one is different. It has multiple, complex causes. It is global in nature and no one knows how long it will last or if the bailouts will work. What can we learn in a downturn?
First, downturns are an inevitable part of our collective economic reality. I read a story of someone who sailed around the world in a sailboat and they said, “No one sails around the world without running into storms.” No one in this church is going to make it from here to your grave without encountering not just this storm but others. We live in a broken world filled with fragile systems that are run by human beings and every so often those forces merge in a kind of perfect storm and here we are. It’s not an if question but a when question.
Second, downturns ruthlessly expose any weaknesses in our economic strategies on a personal basis. Does your AC ever break down when its 55 degrees outside? No, it only breaks down when its 95 degrees and 90% humidity and company is coming over. Any weakness is going to get exposed when you put in under a load. The same is true of economic downturns. The load exposes our weakness. Did you see the story of Edmund Andrews the NY Times Financial reporter who is on the brink of losing his house because he took advantage of the zero down adjustable mortgage rate which sounded good when the seas were calm and the sun was shining but now it’s a disaster.” Or how about a 28 year old with 10K in debt on their credit card, school loans, a car payment and no emergency funds, they feel great in the good times. Or the 55 year old sole provider for his family loads up his 401K with risky stocks believing he is going to beat the odds, retire comfortably when he is 60 or 65 and all it takes is a stock market reversal and his retirement is in jeopardy. When an economic downturn happens, now that whole house of cards is in peril. In a downturn, any shortcuts, any risks get exposed and usually the consequences are very painful.
Is the current downturn showing any weakness in your current personal financial strategy and have you owned up to that? Have you talked to God about that? Have you talked to your family about that? This is not meant to be you up over past decisions but rather just asking the question, “What can we learn in an economic downturn?”
Third downturns reveal how reliable any personal financial plan is in any kind of weather. We get reminded about how wise the teachings of money management in God’s Word really is. God’s money management plan is straightforward, it’s revealed in the Scripture and it’s crystal clear. Earn money enthusiastically and honestly. Earn as much as you can. Live well within your means. Have margin in your life. Avoid debt like the plague. Save and invest all you can. Plan for the future. Give generously to the poor. Honor God with the first 10% you earn so that his purpose in this world throught he church can be advanced. Then hold onto his hand. Trust him, not your income. Trust Him, not your portfolio. Trust him, not your 401K. And if you follow His financial plan and trust him completely and the Bible says repeatedly He will bless your life. That’s His plan. Anybody can do it. It works famously in fair weather and foul, it works if you’re young or if you’re old. It works if you make a ton of money or if you make a little money. His plan works and it has for millenia.
But here’s the point: when you are on that plan, when you’re following it carefully and consistently and meticulously, you have to realize you’re going to feel like your out of step with the world and most of the people around you. Most of them are living for today and not planning or tomorrow. They’re in debt to their eyeballs because they’re spending more than they earn. They’re buying bigger houses, driving luxury cars, wearing more fashionable clothing, giving their kids more than you and taking better vacations. Everybody is living the life, la vida la loca, and you’re slowing trodding along following God’s plan: putting your $75 a week in a savings plan, you drive the same car for the last eight years determined to take it past 200,000 miles, you are resisting the use of credit card of if you use them, you’ve got the money in the bank to cover it. You pay off the balance each month and you vacation with the in-laws at their house. You are writing out your tithe check to the church and everybody around is living the life!
And about the time when you thin, “I can’t continue living like this when my friends are living the life”, here comes a downturn. And while none of us gets any delight watching anybody else struggle, there’s a quiet voice in your head saying, “Aren’t you glad you didn’t join the arms race to live or even outdo the Jones next door.” You have a 6 month emergency fund. It’s right there if you need it. You have no credit card debts and no car payment. You have a mortage that’s manageable. Your investments are conservative, there’s no high wire acts going on. Your giving is consistent. The blessing of God is on your life and there’s a peace that passes all understanding in the midst of the storm brewing around you. In a downturn, if you have been doing it God’s way, you say, “I’ll being living like this for God forever.”
1 Timothy 6 says “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain…” Wow, have we seen that! “but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” I love that last phrase, “take hold of the life that is truly life.” I’ve seen so many people in the last 9 months who have tried to hold onto things that isn’t really life and is so uncertain and that will disappoint them not just in this downturn but in the one which is to come ten years from now or 20 years from now. But as believers, God calls us to put our hope and trust in God. They still believe in His ways, His money management plan for their life and that He will always provide and care for them. As a result, they know their’ future is secure because they know their future is in His hands.
Fourth, a downturn is a wonderful time to realign yourself with God’s financial wisdom. Sometimes, it takes a crisis or a significant downturn like no other to return us to God and his ways. Sometimes, when you get wacked financially and you feel yourself humbled before God and you have to confess to God that you were following part of His plan but not all of it. A downturn calls us to make adjustments in our lifestyle, our savings plan and our spending and to reassess our priorities in life. A downturn fully exposes us and calls us to realign ourselves with God and His ways and then you move ahead together with God on His plan, anticipating His blessing.
Fifth, God often uses financial pain to bring clarity to our minds of what really matters. When a financial storm blows into our lives, often beyond our control, catching us off guard, and we don’t know what to do or who to turn to and it’s in those moments that they go to God. You buy a Bible and start to read it. You start going back to church. You start praying again. You start attending a Bible study. And in those spiritual turns there comes a point when you realize that you have made money your god or career advancement your god or material possessions your god. And it’s in those moments that you have a decision to make: to either make God be your god, Lord and Master or to continue living as the world lives and be victimized in the next downturn or downsizing. In choosing God, you then start choosing God’s priorities in your life: God first, marriage second, children third, church fourth, job fifth. Financial pain and crisis can reconcile us to God and Christ. It’s in that moment you yield control to God in Christ and trust in Him to secure your future.
When you reach that point, it doesn’t mean that their situations immediately reversed themselves. Sometimes it gets worse. You lose your job or your house. You may go bankrupt. But for the first time in their life, you are not alone. And you can look back and say, “If that’s what it took to humble me to the point where I was reconciled with God in Christ, thank God for financial downturns.” And you begin to see that God is always faithful and true and that bring good out of anything, as Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” And so maybe we should be praying like crazy that God will use this to bring people to their senses and bring them back to him, not just in their finances but in their whole life. If this downturn actually ends up reconciling 1000’s if not 100’s of 1000’s to God, then they will look back and thank God for this financial downturn.
Sixth, less is more. Phil 4: “For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” In these words, Paul is saying we can draw on the strength of Christ to make us content, even in the midst of the storm of an economic downturn. Many of you have had to make some tough decisions as a result of this economic downturn. Some have had to sell their dream home. Others have had to let people go from their businesses, knowing full well the impact it would not only have on the individual but their family as well. Some have had to let go of that prized car or pawn a piece of jewelry. Some have had to cut cable, stop eating out or wear last year’s fashions another year or vacation here at home instead of going to Disney or Destin. And for some it devastating but for others they have a different experience. It wasn’t as hard as they imagine, they felt freer after they have less to worry about and less to maintain. The difference? Those make their faith and Jesus Christ central to their lives and those who do not. When you tap into the strength of Christ to find contentment in the midst of the storm, no longer are you tossed here and there with each days fall in the stock market or the crisis brewing around you. And what you are learning is to be content no matter the circumstances in which you find yourself. Instead of the frenetic, non-stop quest for more, contented people learn how to say an incredibly powerful 6 letter word: ENOUGH! Enough square footage, enough clothes, enough toys, enough gadgets, enough HD TV’s, just enough. Contentment can set you free and lead to a spiritual enrichment that will astonish you. It’s available to you but often it takes a downturn to get you to change.
And in so doing you can learn how to place God back at the center of their lives and how to respond in faith to an economic downturn. Over the next four weeks, we’re going to look at the spiritual response to an economic downturn in our sermon series, “When the Fasten Seatbelt Light Goes On…”
