MAIN IDEAS:
All people can be freed from the disease of materialism by replacing love of money with Godly contentment.
1. The average American is addicted to spending.
Did You Know…
• BusinessWeek says that total household debt in the US was more than 100% of our disposable annual income last year. Now that is scary.
• The total consumer debt is at 1.7 trillion dollars. (You can visualize a trillion dollars as a stack of $1000 bills placed one on top of the other, flat side on top of flat side, reaching 67 miles high.)
• The personal credit card debt carried by the average American is $8,562 and the total interest paid in 2001 was $50 billion.... an average of $1000 in interest per consumer.
• The average consumer carries 8 cards and 20% of cards are maxed out.
• There were 1.3 million credit card holders declaring bankruptcy last year. Bankruptcies have exceeded 1 million per year every year for at least 7 years now.
• IRS tells us that 85% of those reaching age 65 do not have $200 in the bank and that 87% retire on less than $250 per week for life.
Something is obviously going seriously wrong in our country. More and more people are spending than they make each month. And it’s a dangerous trend – for each person as well as for our country.
Maybe this is you. IF so I want you to know it doesn’t have to be that way. There is a way out of debt – and the patterns of behavior that cause it. And I am praying that as a result of this message many of you will change the course of your financial future. Because God wants you to be free from financial bondage.
TRANS: But if we are going to be set free from financial bondage we need to understand…
2. Debt is a symptom, not the root problem. Materialism is the root problem. (1 Tim. 6:9-10, Luke 12:15)
Materialism: seeking happiness through the accumulation of material things.
In Dangers, Toils & Snares, John Ortberg writes:
When we take our children to the shrine of the Golden Arches, they always lust for the meal that comes with a cheap little prize, a combination christened, in a moment of marketing genius, the Happy Meal. You’re not just buying fries, McNuggets, and a dinosaur stamp; you’re buying happiness. Their advertisements have convinced my children they have a little McDonald-shaped vacuum in their souls: "Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in a happy meal."
I try to buy off the kids sometimes. I tell them to order only the food and I’ll give them a quarter to buy a little toy on their own. But the cry goes up, "I want a Happy Meal." All over the restaurant, people crane their necks to look at the tight-fisted, penny-pinching cheapskate of a parent who would deny a child the meal of great joy.
The problem with the Happy Meal is that the happy wears off, and they need a new fix. No child discovers lasting happiness in just one: "Remember that Happy Meal? What great joy I found there!"
Happy Meals bring happiness only to McDonalds. You ever wonder why Ronald McDonald wears that grin? Twenty billion Happy Meals, that’s why.
When you get older, you don’t get any smarter; your happy meals just get more expensive.
Citation: John Ortberg, Dangers, Toils & Snares: Resisting the Hidden Temptations of Ministry (Multnomah, 1994), pp.99-100
There is a lie that Satan uses over and over again to lure people away from the life that God desires for them. It’s the “Happy Meal” lie. Buy this and you will be happy. Get rich and your problems will disappear. It is the lie that materialism will fill the empty place inside. What does the Bible have to say about materialism?
1Tim. 6:9-10 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.
Did you catch that – the love of money causes people to wander from the truth and actually pierce themselves. It is their own fault. They think they’re going to be happy if they just get the next thing on their list – but instead of receiving happiness they pierce themselves with many griefs. Can anybody relate to this truth?
Jesus said this:
Luke 12:15 (The Message) "Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot."
Materialism contradicts this verse. Jesus says our lives are NOT defined by what we have. But when we spend and spend, getting ourselves into debt to have more things – what do you think that says about us? When you fall into the trap of materialism you are saying that at least to some extent you believe your life is defined by what you have.
(ASIDE: Materialism is not a rich man’s disease only. Even those who don’t have much fall into the trap of believing they will be happy if they had a little bit more – their materialistic urges are simply fulfilled at Walmart rather than Nordstroms!)
TRANS: But God didn’t make us for that kind of life – he has made us for Abundant LIFE! He has made us for REAL LIFE. If you want it, keep listening, because the scriptures tell us the secret to defeating the power of materialism in your life. Here it is…
3. Those who want freedom from consumer debt must replace materialism with Godly contentment. (Heb. 13:5, Col. 3:5)
Heb. 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Did you notice whose responsibility it is to do this? It is YOURS. It is MINE. It is a command from the Lord – “You! Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have.”
The only way to get out of debt for good is to replace materialism with contentment that springs from a place of trust in God to provide for ALL of your needs. There is no other way.
Col. 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Once again – “You! Put greed to death!” It’s part of your earthly nature – not the one that God has given you that lasts forever. And when you feel that urge to find meaning in your life from spending and accumulating things – put that urge to death because it is really idolatry – putting your money ahead of God as the one who will bring you happiness and fulfillment in life.
Jesus said it very clearly in Matthew 6:24:
Matt. 6:24 “No one 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.
If you are in debt and you are a Christian then like it or not you are trying to serve two masters. And the Word I just read has bad news for you – it’s impossible to do. You can’t serve both God and Money. That’s why Paul called greed idolatry – because when you’re chasing after happiness through the things money can buy, then you’re depending on something else to provide for you. You’re worshipping an idol.
And that idol has to be replaced with the good news that God will never leave us or forsake us. The lie that things will make you happy needs to be drowned out with the knowledge that only a life centered upon God and filled with the power His Spirit provides will truly be a fulfilled life.
TRANS: Now – if I may be so bold, I’d like to offer some practical steps for those of you who realize you’re addicted to materialism and you want to break the bondage you’re in.
4. A 3-step plan to getting out of debt for good.
1. Stop spending more than you have.
• Cancel your credit and debit cards.
• Leave the checkbook at home.
• Use cash only.
• Reduce monthly commitments (cable, internet, cell phones, magazine subscriptions are NOT necessary for most of us)
• Ditch the expensive car with the oppressive payment and get a quality used car.
2. Pay off debts systematically.
• Pay off high interest credit cards.
• Don’t put money in savings when you are in debt – get out of debt first.
• Sell unnecessary household items for cash to pay down debt.
• Be creative in finding sources of extra income.
3. Once the debt is paid off use that money for savings.
• Once one debt is paid, lump that payment in with other payments until all debts are retired.
• Then start SAVING the money you had been paying out.
APPLICATION:
For some of you it’s time right now to take the first step. I’ve got scissors right here. If you want to – you can come right up here get in line and get your credit cards out of your wallet. As you cut them up – you’re going to be saying to God that you choose to rely upon God for your happiness. That you’re done with trying to rely on “Happy Meals” to make you happy. And that you want to be free of the bondage of materialism that threatens to ruin your future – or at the very least rob you of the true joy the Holy Spirit will give you when there is nothing else in your life you’re trying to find joy from.
Pray – renouncing the lie of materialism and it’s grip on our lives.
Sing “You are my all in all” by Dennis Jernigan and allow people to cut up their cards if they wish at the front.
