21st Century Captives
Psalm 102:18-22 Matthew 6:16-24
Jesus said, “I have come to seek and to save the lost.” He said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” And in the church today, we acknowledge that there are times when we lose our way and can become lost, and we need Jesus. And we confess that none of us are yet perfect. No matter how devoted we are and how much we try, we often fall short of our own standard, and so every one of us knows what it is to fall short of God’s glory. But Jesus also said, “I have come to set the captives free.” And like the crowd of believers in John’s gospel, we say, or we think, “What is He talking about? We’re children of Abraham. We’re not slaves or prisoners!” He must be talking about the more than two million inmates stuck in prison cells across America. And He is. But Jesus is also talking about you and me.
For several years, when I lived in Atlanta and attended seminary, I often visited a man named John in prison. John was on death row for murder. He had been there for nine years and was not yet 30 years old. One day he said something to me that really caught my attention. John said, I’ve been in prison for nine years, and everything around me reminds me that I am a prisoner. And yet, because of Christ, I am more free now than before I was ever locked up. My body is the only thing captive. But on the outside, the world is full of people who are prisoners and don’t even realize it, or they’re in denial. Their bodies may be free, but their hearts and their minds and their spirits are captives.” Is that true? When Jesus said, “I’ve come to set the captives free”, was He talking about people like John…or people like you and me?
Our New Testament text is from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It is the longest recorded discourse of Jesus: chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew’s gospel. And the crowd that has gathered is made up of people from every walk of life. In His sermon, Jesus talks about anger, and divorce, and commitment, and revenge, and anxiety, and a handful of other topics that people like you and me struggle with. And in the middle of His sermon, Jesus speaks about the need for approval, and He talks about money. The interesting thing is, that, while the need for approval may not be a crime, and poor money management is not a legal offense, there are more people held captive to the need for approval and to money than perhaps all the inmates in all the federal prisons, and all the state and local jails in America. The sad truth is, we are a nation of Relational prisoners and Financial captives.
Actually, we are captives in more ways than we realize and prisoners to more things than we’d like to admit. That’s why Jesus came to set the captives free. But time doesn’t allow us to deal with more than one topic this morning so I’d like us to focus on Financial Captivity because very few us, myself included…are financially free. Most of us struggle with debt and finances on a daily or weekly basis, and as the economy gets worse, we’ll become more and more aware of our captivity.
In 1986, it was reported that, nationally, personal debt was increasing at the rate of $1,000 per second, and consumer installment debt had mushroomed to a point where it was taking approximately $1 out of every $4 that consumers earn to keep up the payments—not including the home mortgage. It was also reported that 56% of all divorces were a result if financial tension in the home. That was 1986---how are things 22 years later? Gasoline is more than five times as high; we have a nationwide mortgage crisis with foreclosures at levels never imagined. According to a recent survey, the average American household has 12 Visas, MasterCards, and various other credit cards and our personal debt has exploded to more than $7,000 of credit card debt per household. Credit Card companies sent out more than 1 BILLION new credit cards last year. People ages 22-33 years old now carry 25% of the nation’s credit card debt. We are moving from a cash-based society to a credit-based society and debt has become a serious problem for many Americans. And the sad thing is, there is little difference between Christians and non-Christians when it comes to attitudes about money and debt.
So what does the Bible Teach about Debt? And what does it NOT teach?
--Nowhere does the Bible teach that it is a sin to borrow. It is a sin to presume upon the Lord’s goodness. It is a sin to covet. It is a sin not to trust in the Lord, but it is not a sin to borrow.
--However, the Bible does NOT teach that it is WISE to borrow.
--The Bible does NOT teach that God will bail you out of financial debt which
we’ve recklessly accumulated without consulting Him.
--The Bible doesn’t teach that going into debt is an exercise in faith. And in fact, it
can evidence a lack of faith…or patience.
--The Bible DOES teach that all our debts must be repaid. Ps 37 says, The wicked
borrow and never pay back..”
--The Bible teaches that surety, or co-signing is foolish (Proverbs 6 and 11) Mind
you, co-signing is not forbidden in scripture, it’s not a smart thing unless you are
prepared to pay the debt as your own. Much of the co-signing that goes on is
with parents trying to help their children out. A better approach might be to
teach them to save and avoid the debt in the first place.
God’s Word says a lot about money---in fact the Bible talks more about money than almost any other single subject. And the reason is NOT because God has a thing for money, but because there are serious consequences for His children when it is handled poorly. There are consequences to being in debt.
* Debt puts someone other than God in the position of being our Master. Proverbs
22 tells us, The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”
When we become slaves to our money, Jesus is pushed to the side and is unable
to be Lord in that area. This is most readily seen in how people view the tithe.
There are a lot of people who say they can’t afford to tithe because they’ve got
other debts to pay.
* Debt makes us lee like Jesus by forcing us to use our money in less meaningful
ways and on things that do not last. We cannot support AIDS research or support
an orphan, or give a scholarship—all things that can make a world of difference—
because we’ve got to make payments on a High Definition, wide screen TV. And
so, a child misses an education, a baby grows up in state custody, and an innocent
mother dies of AIDS.
* Debt goes a long way toward killing us by increasing the tension and stress in our
lives. We worry over money. We fret over debt. We get ulcers over bounced
checks and late payments. Our blood pressure rises with each past due notice.
And all that stress and all that worry measurably damages our health.
* Debt determines the direction of your life. Do this simple exercise this afternoon. Add up all your debts you owe. Include your home, autos, all your loans and credit cards—all your debts that aren’t necessary monthly living expenses, and get a total. Then divide that total by your hourly wage. The number you get is the number of hours you’ll have to work JUST TO PAY OFF the debt you’ve ALREADY ACCUMULATED, assuming you don’t create any more debt. If you charged $5,000 on a credit card that draws 21% interest and you made more than the minimum payments each month, you’d still have to work over 600 hours just to pay off that one card at $10 per hour. Is that how you want to spend your life?
Listen, God never intended you to live your life in debt. In fact, in Deuteronomy 15, we see that God set up the economic system in Israel on a 7 year cycle. At the end of seven years, all debts were cancelled. And the truth is, debt is not always a bad thing, nor is it always avoidable. Many times, we find ourselves in debt due to situations beyond our control. When disaster strikes or illness. When we lose our job or when a spouse divorces us and leaves us in financial difficulty. But MOST debt is of our own making. Most of us are captives on our own accord.
Debt usually has a Spiritual origin. Most debt is not about the money, but about a spiritual problem. It is narcissistic motives that leads us to go into debt.
--Lack of self control. Many of us are impulse buyers. We see it and we want it. But the Lord says in His word The one who has no self control is like a city that is broken down and without walls.
--Lack of Contentment. We want more than we have and it has to be bigger and better. I don’t want a truck, I want a new one. I don’t want a computer that works, I want one that is bigger and faster. Why is it that we are compelled to go into debt to replace things that are perfectly fine in our lives? The Bible says, Better is a little with fear of the Lord than great treasure and all the trouble that comes with it.
--Looking for Security. We have health insurance, life insurance, car insurance and home insurance. We buy extended warranties and get checking accounts with overdraft protection and we buy home security systems and feel less and less secure every day because security is not found in any of these, but in the Lord. God says, He that trusts in his riches will fall (Proverbs 11:28) but by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor and life. (Proverbs 22:4)
--Search for significance. The last reason we go into debt is a search for meaning and significance. Somehow we thing we are what we own. But nothing could be further from the truth. We are created by God and our worth and our significance is found in Him. You might say, that’s not me. I don’t go into debt for any of these reasons. Well, here’s a test: Next time you reach for that credit card, ask yourself: Why am I charging this? Can it wait? Have I really thought this through? Do I really need it? Have I been discontent with something I already have that is working fine? Who am I trying to impress? What is this charge really going to do for me?
The sad truth is, that most of us—your preacher included—are carrying more debt than is wise or healthy or scriptural, and in fact, we are to some degree, captives to our debt. We’ve surrendered part of our lives to Christ---Sunday mornings anyway, but there are some things that remain outside of His Lordship. And we feel it, even if we don’t talk about it. But Jesus talked about it. He came to set the captives free.
So, what can you do to get out of the prison of debt?
1. Realize that Jesus wants you to be free.
2. Believe that God has supplied everything you need to be free.
3. Place Your Finances under His Lordship.
4. Stop Borrowing (Cc. C. companies are NOT your friend)
5. Get Some Help
6. Set Up A Budget…and stick with it!
7. Develop New Spending Habits.
