Note: This sermon proved too long for a single sermon, and I ended up making a two-parter out of it.
Our Economic Downturn: A Time to Refocus
(I Timothy 6:17-19)
1. A business owner decides to take a tour around his business and see how things are going. He goes down to the shipping docks and sees a young man leaning against the wall doing nothing. The owner walks up to the young man and says, "Son, how much do you make a day?"
The guy replies, "150 dollars."
The owner pulls out his wallet, gives him $150, and tells him to get out and never come back.
A few minutes later, the shipping clerk asks the owner, "Have you seen the UPS driver?? I asked him to wait here for me!"
2. Misjudgments by businessmen have contributed to our economic downturn. But, whatever the factors, the economic downturn has concerned us all.
3. When things really started to sound bleak last August, people even stopped buying groceries. At that point, I realized that the most people would not learn the lessons they really needed to learn. Spending money on groceries is one of the best expenditures, and it was not a change that could last over the long haul. It is the extravagances, not the necessities, that get us in trouble. Short extreme change usually means no long term reasonable change.
4. Editorial by Rod Dreher, Dallas Morning News appeared in the KT, "People wonder how to get what they want but rarely think about what they should want."
5. How true. Did you ever consider that you shouldn’t want some of the things you do want? The problem may not be that you do not have the means, but that you shouldn’t want it in the first place. The 10th Commandment. Are you submissive enough to God that you would even consider controlling what you want? Or is that your own business -- God has no right to police your wants?
Main Idea: Our economic downturn and insecurity can force us back to the Word of God and a reassessment of our philosophy of life: What do we REALLY believe?
I. Riches, Materialism and A Career Offer Us FALSE Security (17a)
* I have broken pocketknives using as pry-bars or in ways for which not intended.
God blesses us with material things. He helps us find a career and our place in this world. He gives us wisdom to save up for a rainy day and retirement. But we abuse these blessings, just as I have abused pocketknives. Instead of enjoying them in proper perspective, we use them to get what we should be getting from our relationship to God.
Our security blanket in a scary world, an obstacle to trusting God.
A. It creates ARROGANCE
"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant"
Turn to Deuteronomy 8:6-14
B. It means our primary HOPE is in material things
"nor to put their hope in wealth"
To "put hope upon" is a verb in the perfect tense in the Greek. It means "to have placed ones hope in someone or something and to keep it focused there." In other words, a decision we made in the past that carries over to the present.
C. It is a SHAKY foundation
"which is so uncertain"
They say unemployment nationally in 9.4%, but, factoring in those who have stopped looking for work, it is over 16%. In Kokomo, we have hit 17.4%, though it is lower now.
The government has forced banks to take loans from Uncle Sam and distribute them as mortgages….sometimes to risky borrowers…isn’t that how we got into trouble in the first place? The word is that, before summer is over, gas will be up to $5 per gallon.
If you are into things big time, your foundation is fracturing.
D. It is simply advanced TOKENISM
That big house, the big title, that new car, that shapely body, that bank account, or that new outfit may be comfortable, and is human nature to seek comfort. Indeed, nothing spurs on creativity quite like the pursuit of comfort. But for many of us, those things make us feel secure and good about ourselves. It is beyond comfort or convenience.
And it is that sense of security and self-esteem we get from these things that is bad!
These things cannot provide genuine security. They are merely tokens of security.
• To plan ahead $ is an act of wisdom; to be reckless is not faith but presumption.
• But the motivation for a lot of materialism, keeping up with what others have, or the need to live in luxury is often fear -- and these tokens of security make us feel secure. But they offer no REAL security, just illusion (morphine masking pain)
II. The Alternative Operational System: GOD and OTHERS (17b-19)
It is futile to stop trying to be materialistic, or to stop trying to put our trust in things. Instead, we have to take a pro-active approach, start intensifying our relationship to God.
A. Finding SECURITY in God (17b)
"but to put their hope in God"
B. Finding An ENJOYABLE Life (17c)
"who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment"
God does not want all of us to be prosperous or wealthy, despite what the guys on TV say. Personal happiness is not more important than truth, freedom, or the will of God. Sometimes following God can bring unhappiness. But, normally, the opposite is true.
God expects us to take the desire to live an enjoyable life seriously. God does want us to enjoy life, to be happy; and those are separate categories. But He wants us to be happy in a theo-centric way. He wants us to be happy because we are God-oriented, not man-oriented. John Piper calls this "Christian Hedonism."
The Jewish Rabbi known as Rav held a similar viewpoint. Brad Young summarizes his view, "One will be judged not only for sins committed against Torah but also for pleasures in life that were neglected because of a false religious abstinence. The sense of joy in living comes from the creation. God created the world and pronounced His work good. Each person is responsible for enjoying the goodness of God and will be judged for seeing but not eating."
1. A GODLY life
Some of you are surprised that God wants you to be happy -- at least sometimes. Enjoying His creation is important, but He wants you to learn to delight yourself in Him -- and His Word.
Psalm 1:2, "But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night…"
Psalm 35:9, "Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation."
Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 43:4, "Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God."
Psalm 111:2, "Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them."
Psalm 112:1, "Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.
Psalm 119:16, "I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word."
Psalm 119:24, "Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors."
Psalm 119:70, "Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law."
Those of you who listened to "You’ve God the Time," did you notice being happier?
2. A CONTENT life
I Timothy 6:6-10 "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs
Joanie Yoder wrote, " When my husband and I first went out as missionaries, I recall being concerned about the growth of materialism in our society. It never crossed my mind that I myself could be materialistic. After all, hadn’t we gone overseas with almost nothing? Weren’t we choosing to live in a shabbily furnished, rundown apartment? I thought materialism couldn’t touch us.
"Nonetheless, feelings of discontent gradually began to take root in my heart. Before long I was craving hungrily after nice things and secretly feeling resentful over not having them.
"Then one day God’s Spirit opened my eyes with a disturbing insight: Materialism isn’t necessarily having things; it can also be craving them. There I stood—guilty of materialism! God had exposed my discontent for what it was—an idol in my heart! That day as I repented of this subtle sin, God recaptured my heart as His rightful throne. Needless to say, a deep contentment followed, based not on things but on Him." [Source: Our Daily Bread]
3. A truly RICH life
C. A PEOPLE Life (18)
"Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share."
It takes time and energy to do good deeds and be involved with people
* But the Bible places a premium on a lot of things. Consider all the time "off" under the Law. Sabbaths, Sabbatical years, holidays, newlywed year, 7 feasts…
* A lot of our views do not come from the Bible, but our northern & central European heritage: perfectionistic, materialistic, overly-emphasizing work as a way to serve God.
Ecclesiastes 4:6 "One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind…"
* On the other extreme, mooches!
2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, "For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ’If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’ We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat."
D. An ETERNAL Fringe Benefit (19)
"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."
1. Rewards in heaven
2. The deeper life now!
III. What This DOWNTURN Could Do for You
A. Teach you to walk by FAITH
B. Show you that have put your TRUST in riches
Early on, I read that quotation from the newspaper article about controlling what we want. That’s the answer.
C. Help you REFOCUS On what really matters -- and makes for happiness
Our economic downturn and insecurity can force us back to the Word of God and a reassessment of our philosophy of life: What do we REALLY believe?
