Today we are adding one additional view to the series that is inspired by:
Isaiah 29:13 The Lord says:
"These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is made up only of rules taught by men.
My reaction to the scripture was to think that the people described would be considered open minded atheist. They honor God by what they say but their hearts don’t know God.
Moving this ancient statement to today…People, people that would call themselves Christians…basically claim belief in God but, live their lives in ways that deny that God exist or makes any difference in their day to day lives.
So far we have looked at Christians that would say that they believe in God but don’t have a fear or respect for God. And Christians that again say that they believe in God but don’t want to be crazy about it and end up being lukewarm and according to scripture make God sick.
Today we are adding to this views of specialized atheism by looking at Christians that say that they have faith in God but, have faith or trust in money even more.
Don’t start squirming in your seats yet, The only hope I have for all of us is that we will be open to the message. That we will not shut down our minds and hearts in a kind of self-defense.
-- Let’s start with two ways that we trust money:
The first is that in our culture everyone puts trust in money for happiness.
A Bible Scholar and head of the religion department at UGA said, “Money will buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail”
Henry Ward Beecher, a preacher from the 1800’s, is quoted saying, “Riches are not an end of life, but an instrument of life.”
In 1989 Donald Trump said, “Whoever says money can't buy happiness doesn't know where to shop.” From my research this may not be original; Bo Derrick is also given credit for that statement along with someone named “anonymous”.
== How many would agree that money does not buy happiness?
== How many would agree that just a little more money would help you?
If we are honest…then probably most of us wonder if just a little more might help us to obtain happiness or at least rent happiness for a while.
So we claim to believe that money does not buy happiness but a little more would help….hierocracy.
We will when we claim to be Christians we are saying that we trust Christ/God for our future and acknowledge his constant provision for us. Unfortunately, we say one thing as if we believe it but we actually believe more of something else could something else would be better.
On the news all around us people are drowning in financial debt. Maybe we or some of our family is caught up in financial problems.
Foreclosures on homes are filling the newspaper announcements. Unemployment is hurting people that want to work. There a large numbers of families that are living paycheck to pay check. All too often, they are stressed because they believe that this (10/20 bill) will make them happy.
They have gone into debt looking for that happiness that they believe money will buy.
Let me pause for a moment to say that there are plenty of situations where the debt comes from medical bills or lost jobs or a divorce that leaves normally a woman working at a minimum pay job struggling to get along. That is not the situation I am pointing to.
I am talking about are the people that buy the house or car that they could not afford. People that have to have the clothes for the family that the other soccer moms have. The vacations and Christmas gifts that had to go on a credit card to make sure the family is happy.
People in our culture automatically believe that to be happy we need stuff and entertainment.
This is not an unusual concept for Christians or non-believers alike. Basically, for most Christians we say we believe in God as our provider but in reality we trust in the power of the dollar to give us happiness.
-- The second way we trust money is to provide us security. As Christians we claim to believe in God but if we have a need to have lots of sound financial resources to feel secure in our lives…. If that is the case, we are living as open minded atheist.
Our scripture identified that there are people that believe righteousness qualifies a person for God’s blessings which is translated to wealth.
If we can only feel secure when there is a growing bank account, then money’s place in our lives functions as our savior.
Please, I know that this message is challenging some of you. Please ask the Holy Spirit to help you to hear me out. This message is NOT a personal attack on any of you.
Let me define what having money as a functional savior means.
-- It is a desire to organize our lives in such a way as to not need God.
We find ways to not be dependant and ultimately hold an unspoken feeling of earning everything we have on our own.
We want to pay off or stay out of debt and put away enough money as to be financially secure.
For many it is an important goal….you may be thinking what is the problem with that… you are just being a good steward of what God has given you.
Let me assure you that Good Stewardship, taking care earthly future IS a righteous goal.
However, it changes into something different when the accumulation of wealth for personal and family security is your only Goal. When we are driven to make or save more to gain more security in your lives and offer little or nothing to the kingdom of God. It is a problem if the wealth you have is Your money.
Consider this as a way to evaluate if money as your savior.
When the stock market took a dive and values of everything…house, cars, investments dropped.
How panicked did you feel? Was the sky falling in? Did Panic take over your heart and mind and make you lose sleep? Did you cry out to God wondering what you would do?
Was the loss of net worth the worst thing that could have ever happened?
As Christians, we claim to trust in God but when something beyond our control messed with our investments, our money, our security We get upset and depressed..
Why…because money has become our functional Savior and instability in the economy, in our money floods us with fear.
-- Staying with the current teaching method, let be just be blunt and direct.
If things that mess with your money, cause you to feel insecure then money is your savior and not Jesus.
You have a problem in your relationship with God. Not a small problem. A big deal problem.
So money is evil, right? We should stay away from money and no Christians should ever be rich. Wealth must be a sign of unrighteousness….
We know better than that right. At the end of our scripture reading this morning we heard what most of us have been told all of our lives. What is Evil?
The Love of Money is the root of all kinds of Evil…..
1 Timothy 6:10
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.
In Luke Jesus tells the parable of the shrewd manager. And talks about using earthly wealth to make friends to assure an eternal home.
we read in Luke 16:13
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
I thought it strange that Jesus was so specific in this parable.
I thought it a bit odd that Jesus did not say that You cannot serve God and power….God and sex or God and self interest.
Jesus seems to know that the biggest challenge to our hearts and mind… Money/gold/silver WEALTH is the #1 competitor to our relationship with God.
Wealth and the security and happiness that it seems to provide for many people is a false God. The love of money is focusing on a piece of paper to the point that the desire to have it and “promise” of happiness and security, The simple often unstated belief is that wealth has the power to help us….it is a form of worship. Worship of a false idol.
God wants us to worship and love and serve Him…As a part of that we can use money.
We can use money to accomplish earthly goals to glorify God. Money is a tool. …Money is a neutral tool that we can use which reflects a physical use of our natural talents of work and stewardship and wisdom….blessings from God which we make tangible and storable in the form of money.
But here is the problem, without ever realizing it, we tend to worship serve and love money and end up using God as a tool.
-- We tend to worship serve and love money and end up using God as a tool!
We pray, God give me more of This…($10) Just a little bit more, God.
.
I need what Money provides.
I want to believe in you but I want everything that this ($10) provides.
Folks for the past few weeks I have told you that this series of messages has not been easy. Today’s has been especially taxing for me.
I have not wanted to bring the messages but at the same time I have felt that I had no choice. My Job in this place is to please God not man and not even myself.
But let be share that the burden that I have struggled with is not really about you.
I believe that it is important that you hear the word presented and you receive a message from God and that I don’t want mess it up.
I clearly know that I am not God and I am unable to look down form this pulpit and declare that all of you are guilty for being open minded atheist.
What I can tell you is that I am personally a recovering Christian that has had atheistic tendencies. I have in the past be guilty of each failure presented.
Every Sunday I feel as if I am preaching to myself and you are listening in. I am hearing God point out my failings and faults and expecting a response from me.
-- I don’t think it is an accident that you are here to listen in on the message. I believe that God is speaking to a problem in all of us. A problem within all of mankind and within every Christian.
-- Have you ever had someone to offer you a correction, some advice and felt grateful for their input. Having someone with a different perspective to point out a problem helps you to see and adapt and maybe improve.
I have a set of golf clubs in my garage. It might have been some kind of omen…I found them on the side of the road in a pile of trash. For a short time I tried to learn how to play golf.
I was more dangerous than talented.
I took a trip out to a driving range near where I worked and I got a large bucket to balls.
I stood up on the tee area as far away from the other golfers practicing as I could. I swung and swung… golf ball went forward and sometimes went off to the right and other times off to the left. Occasionally they just rolled a couple of feet in front of me and occasionally they went straight up or backwards. At some moment in my disappointment all I wanted to do was get to the bottom of the bucket so I could go back to work.
I was running out of lunch time and I got more and more reckless. From behind me I heard a voice, This older gentleman spoke to me and said, “you are not very good at this are you?”
Sometimes people speak the obvious and you have an opportunity to respond or ignore the insight.
Each week I find revelations from God in the messages. And each week I find encouragement to move closer to God. Because I never feel that I am preaching to ya’ll and fail to include myself.
In the past few weeks we have been challenged on the idea that we fail to fear or honor God in the way that Christians should.
We have been called to check our spiritual temperature. To assess if our spiritual life has assumed room temperature and is lukewarm and sickening to God.
And this week I have been called to consider where we find our security.
If you are still listening, you may have the feeling that you are being beaten down. That some of the revealed problems are too much to deal with.
I want you to know that I feel the opposite. What I realize is that God cares enough about me…and enough about each of you to give us a nudge.
He is calling us to a “come to Jesus meeting” where we are challenged to identify our situation and go to Jesus for what we need.
Folks, for Christians these failings are deep. They are easy to hide from most people…even ourselves. We can live for years and become comfortable and even oblivious to the FACT that we have a problem.
Last Sunday, after the service a person …AS A JOKE…Said you really told them this week pastor.
That is how we often receive what we hear messages from God. It is easy to deflect and judge people around us as having a deeper problem that we have and not have a personal revelation or response.
I am telling you that God is asking you to notice your spiritual relationship and decide with the guidance of the Holy Spirit how you are doing.
Don’t check out and shake off this message and the feeling you have experienced in the past few weeks. It is an important matter for your soul. It is critical to finding real happiness and security in your daily life.
Don’t just shake off the challenges that you may have felt and walk away. You need to let it hurt for a while.
You need to let it wreck your earthly perspectives and life choices.
Let it speak to you.
Paul offers an instruction for what to do in
1 Timothy 6 :17-19
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, 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.
According to Paul, God provides everything we need for eternal wealth. We can never find real satisfaction in earthly wealth because it is always threatened. It is always temporary and we can’t take anything with us when we leave this life.
Think about your experience, has Money ever, ever, given you true satisfaction. Has it offered you a permanent happiness or does it drive you to want more or more of what it can rent.
When we trust in God he brings what matters and our lives change. The value of the worldly satisfactions lose power over you.
We declare our trust in money when we pray Just a little more, God. Expecting our servant God to help us out of situations our false worship has brought into our lives.
God has an expectation that believers will be willing to respond to Him by changing our l lifestyle. In doing so they become free of much of the pressures of this world.
God hopes to hear the prayer Just a little more, God and know that we are asking for his Presence and movement and even encouragement from our Heavenly father not to pay the bills for us but to fill us with wisdom and grow us in love of him.
What is your prayer today? Just a little more, God. Or just a little more of God.
All Glory be to God!
