Should It Really Be All About Me
1/20/2019 Ecclesiastes 5:10-20 and 1 Timothy 6:3-10 Luke 12
Do you know anyone who thinks the world revolves around them. They actually believe the purpose of all that God has created is to make and to keep them happy. Our society constantly tells us, life is about us, what we want and what we deserve as individuals. It does not matter who we are, it is hard to escape this message. Facebook and Instagram makes it even easier for us to let the world know, it’s all about me.
If I want it, I should get it. If I don’t want to do it, I shouldn’t have to do it. If I say I need it, somebody should get it for me. If I got it, its mine to do as I please. It is hard for us to escape this reality from creeping into our spiritual lives and into the life of the church. We have to ask ourselves, how much of my walk with the Lord is all about me, and me being in control of what I have.
Today is our pledge Sunday. What we are doing is deciding how much of my resources is going to be all about me. Before we can fill out the sheet, we have to answer, “ How much do I actually owe myself.”
Do you know why Jesus tells us to love one another? Because the default position is that we don’t and we won’t. The biggest deception we accept as true is that “I love everybody in the church.” All we mean is that we are not going to intentionally harm anyone in the church. But if I brought one of the cats on our porch to church, as long as you don’t bother it, it will not do anything to bother you. Do you therefore think the cat would be right in boasting, “I love everybody in the church?”
Love is not, not doing anything bad. It is intentionally doing something good. The only problem with love is that it always costs you something and usually its going to cost some money. The money that’s supposed to be our money.
We have three debts that we never stop paying until we die. These are the debts that we will give an account to before God. The first is “what I owe me”, the second is “what I owe you,” and the third is “what I owe God.” If we’re going to be balanced and blessed in our spiritual and financial lives, we have to settle how we’re going to pay these three debts.
Today we are going to look at what might be the toughest of the three to deal with, and that is the battle that it is going to take place between you, your money and God. Our sermon title is”Should It Really Be All About Me.” It begins with you deciding. “ “What I owe me.” Say that with me, “What I owe me.” Not knowing the answer to this single question, can ruin your credit, destroy your marriage, and send you to the end of the poverty line, and prevent you from growing in God..
When It came to giving, what economic class do you think Jesus was in when he was on earth, top 15% or bottom 85%. Where do you think you rank. The funny thing is that when it comes to giving, the top 15% the rich people, most of they think their biggest problem is they need more money.
They have not been able to settle the issue of “what I owe me.” Can you imagine having that much and still wanting more?
If God were to move you were into the top 15% of the richest people in the world today, how many of you believe you would be willing to tithe and maybe even give a little extra above tithing. What if God moved you into the top 5% of the richest people in the world then could you do it? Let me tell you how much you need in order to be in the top 20% of the world’s richest people.
You need a yearly salary of $1500.00.
Top 15% Food, Shelter in House or Apt., Car or Reliable Transportation
To be in the top 5% you need to have some money in the bank, own a house, have a wardrobe of clothes and two cars of any kind that run.
How many of us are far richer compared to the rest of the world than we had thought we were. When you think of the word greed, what comes to your mind. A rich oil executive, a kid that won’t share his cookies, somebody with too much food at the buffet table.
Some of you have heard of the word tithe. A Tithe is nothing more than giving God one penny and keeping 9 for yourself. It never goes up and it never goes down. Jesus told the Pharisees who gave a tenth of everything they got, these things you should have done, along with showing lover and mercy to others.
As long as we have very little, we find it easy to tithe. It only becomes a problem when we start to have a lot of pennies. At what level does greed start to force you to hold on to your pennies
Do you know God has a purpose for tithing that is really all about you. It really is all about me. Tithing is a spiritual discipline that will do 3 things to you. 1) It Changes Your Heart To Love God. 2) It Changes Your Heart To Love Others. 3) It Changes Your Heart To Learn Commitment.
Tithing actually puts you in the place for God to pour unexpected blessings in your life. God gives you the desires of your heart that you could not get on your own.
There are basically 3 reasons that people who want to follow God, do not tithe. They are 1) I Don’t Make Enough Money, 2) The Church Does Not Need My Money 3) The Bible Says Give What’s On Your Heart.
Of all the sins that come from our hearts, very few of us think that greed is a problem, because in our society greed is acceptable because it comes in so many disguises. We’re not greedy, we’re savers. We’re not greedy, we’re fashionable, we’re not greedy, we’re good planners. We’re not greedy, we’re prepared. We’re not greedy, we deserve this. We’re not greedy, we’re keeping up to date. We’re not greedy, we’re successful
Let me define greed. Greed is when I have enough for my needs, but I want more for my own personal use.
In America, there is a whole industry, bent on redefining what it is that we need. How many of you remember when you had one tv. Today in my home, we have 3 large flat screen tv’s in our home, and five flat screen 43” tvs. That’s 7 tv’s in a home where there is an average of 3 people in the house. Why do we keep telling ourselves, but we need these just in case guest come in from out of town. Isn’t the issue, we have not decided how many tv’s we owe ourselves. Inside of me, there is a piece of pride, that wants to impress others with, look what we can provide.
Apple constantly tells us, this new phone is going to be the greatest phone ever, yet we know in another year they will be telling us, you really do need to upgrade to this new phone. The phone we have is a perfectly, good working phone, but pride and greed, says, “forget about being behind in your giving, you’ve got to have that phone.”
Even if you are current in your giving, you may still be able to put that money to a better use. One Christmas instead of upgrading the phone, I decided to use that same $250 to free a slave in Sudan and provide them with clothing and a goat to start their lives of freedom. So now each Christmas, the gift I give myself is to free a slave.
What is your area of greed in which you tell yourself, you deserve this and you have got to have it. We say, I don’t have a thing to wear. When what we mean is, I don’t have something brand new to wear that will impress others. Or we don’t have something with the right label on it to wear.
We think if we just made a little more money, we could finally be happy with what we have. Greed will no longer be an issue for us.
Jesus comes along and messes with our minds, by saying the true way to handle greed is to have less and learn to be content. I told you that it would be easier to be a Christian if it were not for Jesus.
How much do I owe me to be paid in full. How many computers do I need? How many outfits? How many cars? How much money in the bank? How many pairs of shoes? How much stock? How nice of a neighborhood? How many bedrooms? How many acres? How much food? How many vacations? How many dresses, outfits or suits? How many cd’s? How much jewelry? How many rings? How many tattoos? How many i-phones. How many upgrades.
There’s nothing wrong with any of these things in themselves, but how much do you owe yourself with them. Whatever amount we define, is going to determine what will be left for others and for God? We often like to think, that God is on the top of our list for our possessions, but if we’re honest our greed places God is at the end of the line when it comes to money?
Andy Stanley wrote this. People with greed lodged in their heart fear that God either can’t or won’t take care of them.
More to the point, they’re afraid that God won’t take care of them in the fashion or style in which they want to be cared for. And the gap between what they suspect God might be willing to do and what they want becomes a major source of anxiety. Greedy people then carry the burden of getting and maintaining everything they need to provide the sense of security they desire.
, Luke 12:15 (NIV) 15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
Notice that Jesus used the words all kinds of greed. All kinds means that there is more than just one type of greed. We can be greedy with our possessions, our money, our family, our children, our lifestyle, our time, our home and a host of other things
Jesus then began telling a story. He said the ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. First of all do you see where this increase came from. It came from the ground, which means it came from God and the things that God had provided. When the rich man saw this abundance, he thought to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.
Now this is the same thing as the person, who got a raise, got a bonus, got a promotion, received an inheritance, or won some amount of money. It was an unexpected blessing in his life. There was nothing wrong with the rich man’s question. What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. We all ask that question in one form or another.
What shall I do? There is no room left in my garage to store anything else. My closets and my drawers are all filled to capacity with clothes. I can’t put another thing in the attic or in the basement for storage. This freezer will not hold any more food. But I just got this new whatever, what am I going to do.
Did it ever occur to you, that an unexpected blessing in your life, just might be a test from God to see if He could bless you with more. Remember Jesus said, the one who is faithful with little, will also be faithful in much. But the one who is unfaithful in little, will also be unfaithful in much. If we feel, “I owe myself all of this little’, what makes us think we won’t feel “I owe myself all of this huge amount.” Everything that God sends through your hands is not for you to keep. God wants some vessels that he can pass things through to other people.
The rich man came to the conclusion, the most logical thing to do is to tear down my barns, and build bigger ones and there I will store all my grains and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. Isn’t what this rich man’s plan is the goal and the dream of American society. Store up as much wealth as you can, so that in your retirement, you can take life easy, eat, drink and go to Florida for the winters or better yet move to Florida all together.
If you had of asked this guy if he was being greedy, he would have said of course not.
This is a sound business investment strategy. He was searching for security in life. He had thought he had enough, but that was before he had the chance to get some more. Jesus told this story to a group of people who lived from day to day. The average poor person in Jesus’ day didn’t know where his next meal was coming from the following day.
Although the rich man was able to financially reach the American dream, early in life, God said to him, “You fool. This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself.” Do you realize that we never fully own anything.
Everything we get is on a lease. Nothing we have is going to last forever, so even when we pay for it, we’re only paying to get to use it for a certain amount of time, until we sell, trade it, give it away, or it falls to pieces. We never own anything. Even if they put it in the coffin and grave with our bodies, we still can’t take it with us into the life that is to come. Naked we came into this world and naked we go out.
Now we can’t take anything with us into the next life, but it is impossible to send some of it ahead and have it waiting for us. But the only way to do that is to overcome the issue of greed. Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
Slide 13
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Where do we want our hearts to be. In things or in God.
We put things into heaven, by fully and completely giving away things here on earth. But we will not give until we satisfy the question of what do I owe me. There is no single answer to this question, because our greed affects some of us in different ways and as I said before, Jesus said there are many kinds of greed. The problem of the rich man in the story, was not his wealth, but his selfishness.
How many of us are praying that God will bless us with more, so that we can be more selfish once we get it. I don’t know how many people God has taken from no income to a decent job, and they turn around and still won’t tithe. What they feel they owe themselves is far greater than what God expected them to take.
What do you think of the kid who has 10 cookies and you tell him to share his cookies with the little boy who has none and the kid with the 10 cookies, breaks one of his cookies in half to give to the little fellow with none.
Jesus wants us to get back to what the real needs in life are . He tells us that life does not consists of an abundance of possessions. Then he tells us something that we really do not want to hear in Luke 12:32-34 (NIV)
32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. There Jesus goes with that heart stuff again.
Now Jesus is not saying to go out and sell all that you have. He is saying each of us needs to learn how to trust God and be content. He’s challenging us to be a blessing to those who really have needs. Before we add another this or another that, why not give one that we already have away before it becomes useless or is stolen.
There is a value in knowing how much I owe me to be paid in full. It means we will get out of credit card debt a lot sooner. We can be honest and say, “I’ve paid myself in full already, I do not need to buy that.” We can quit wasting our money trying to get rich quick. The bible tells us, whoever loves money, will never have enough. Not only that, we fall into pits and schemes that destroy our lives. The love of money keeps us from becoming a new you.
We can quit killing ourselves trying to work two jobs in order to try to live at a level that we cannot afford to live on. Maybe it’s not God’s will yet for you to have that kind of a house, or that kind of car, or that kind of a phone. I say yet because there are times when the Lord gives you the desire of your heart, without giving you unnecessary stress and strain in your life to get it. Jesus needs to work in your heart concerning your possession in order for you to experience the true power of his death and resurrection. He not only died for your sins, He died to give you life which is truly life.
