EZEKIEL'S PROPHECY: There will time when money won’t be valuable.
- Ezekiel 7:19.
- Earlier in the chapter (vv. 1-6), multiple references to the End. Other references in this passage to economic instability (vv. 12-13 on property).
- Disaster and catastrophe will come upon this people. This is a prediction of the problems to come.
- For us right now, it’s easy to think of that as being impossible for us. But it’s not. I’m not predicting anything tonight. I don’t know what the future holds. But I do know that the Roman Empire is gone and the Ottoman Empire is gone and that every great power the world has ever known collapsed and faded away at some point. None of them were able to last forever.
- Right now the American dollar is the world standard. I hope it remains that way for many years but there are no guarantees. And eventually, unless the return of Christ happens first, someday America will cease to exist and the American dollar will become worthless.
- Story of the currencies that were replaced by the Euro.
- I recently read John Williams’ book Butcher’s Crossing. It’s the story of a young man who travels out west back in the frontier days. He ends up in the middle of nowhere: Butcher’s Crossing. He connects with a few guys that go out on a big buffalo hunt. The trip is a wild one. They find a huge herd of buffalo. They kill a ton of them. But their greed for more pushes them to stay later than they should and they get blindsided by an early winter storm. They’re stuck out in the middle of nowhere and have to improvise to survive the brutal winter. They somehow do and when spring comes they load up all the buffalo skins can. It’s been horrible but at least they’re going to be rich because of the ordeal. On the trip back, one of them get killed trying to get the wagon piled high with buffalo skins across a river. Finally, they get back to Butcher’s Crossing. Only then do they find out that since they left the buffalo skin market completely collapsed during their trip. Their “treasure” is basically worthless. There are no buyers for all they’ve risked their lives to bring back.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THAT?
1. PUT MONEY IN ITS PLACE.
- Luke 12:15.
- We elevate money to a high position. Many make it the most important thing.
- This isn’t surprising in general but especially in America, where money is our god.
- We need to put money is its place. Money is a tool, not a god.
- Yes, money is of some importance. We need to pay our bills and buy food and shoes for the kids. But it’s only a tool. We shouldn’t worship it.
- When you look back on Black Thursday we see a great lesson. That’s the day in 1929 that the stock market collapsed and the Great Depression started. People who were rich at the start of the day were penniless at the end of the day.
- You know where many people had put their hope by the number of people who committed suicide that day. Money can become worthless in a moment.
- Have a $50 and a piece of paper the same size.
- Which is more valuable? Well, both are just a piece of paper. The $50 is worth something only because we’ve all agreed it represents something. But it’s just a piece of paper too.
- If the white piece of paper turned out to have the autograph of a famous person on it, though, suddenly it might be worth $1,000. But then if that person is caught up in a scandal, it might suddenly become worth nothing. It’s all relative.
- Which leads us back to the point of not overprizing money.
- All this is why Jesus said in Luke 12:15 that our life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions.
2. ONLY ONE KINGDOM IS UNSHAKABLE.
- Hebrews 12:28-29.
- I want to list a few companies for us right now and I want you to raise your hand if you ever shopped there:
a. Pier 1.
b. Stein Mart.
c. A.C. Moore.
d. Dressbarn.
e. Lifeway Christian Bookstores.
f. Payless Shoe Stores.
g. Gymboree.
h. Crazy 8.
i. Toys R Us.
j. American Apparel.
k. Family Christian Stores.
l. RadioShack.
m. The Limited.
n. A&P Grocery Stores.
o. Borders Books.
p. Blockbuster Video Stores.
q. Woolworth Department Stores.
r. Hecks.
s. Circuit City.
t. Hills.
- What do all those have in common? The stores are all out of business. In a few of the cases, the stores closed and they still are online but most are completely history.
- Lots of big names who at one point generated millions and millions in sales. Many had their names in the New York Stock Exchange. They were in the big time – at least until they went belly-up.
- Hebrews 12 tells us that there is an unshakable kingdom. What does that mean?
- It means no matter what this world throws against it, it’s not going out of business. It means that no matter what happens, it’s not going bankrupt. It means that no matter what happens with the economy, it’s still going to be around. It means that long after America no longer exists, it will be still be standing strong.
- It’s the church! It’s the Kingdom of Jesus! It’s the Kingdom of God! And it isn’t going anywhere.
- It is an unshakable kingdom.
- When someone says, “I worked by whole life for that,” what are they referring to? If it’s money or possessions, that’s a waste. If, however, it’s the Kingdom, that’s not a waste.
3. INVEST LONG-TERM.
- Matthew 6:19-21.
- I want to conclude by bringing two of the ideas we’ve been talking about together and talk about where to invest our money.
- Yes, money is a tool and we need to not put undue importance on it.
- Yes, also, money is something we can do a lot of good with if we see it in the right context.
- We need to put our money where our priorities are – specifically, the Kingdom of God.
- We do, as noted, have bills to pay, but giving to the Kingdom is not something that should depress us – it should excite us. It gives us a chance to invest in what is eternally significant. If I treasure Jesus above all things, I should want to invest in spreading His name around the world so that people hear the good news of what He’s offering.
- I say invest long-term. Not for a year or even 50 years but for eternity.
- That’s long-term investing.
- And it’s an investment. We’re not throwing our money away. We’re expecting to see a harvest of souls.
- Matthew 6 invites us to store up treasure where moth and rust don’t corrode. This doesn’t mean that we are doing this so we can say that we’re rich in eternity in stocks and bonds. Far from it. The New Jerusalem is a place with streets of gold.
- Joke: guy who puts a suitcase of gold with him in the casket; gets to heaven; “Why did you bring pavement?”
- No, the idea is to invest what we have in the kingdom of God and receive the returns on investment of praise from Jesus, authority in the kingdom to come, and the joy of seeing those changes lives.
