Show two videos on possessions
Civil Action
Willy wonka and the chocolate factory
In December last year the reserve bank of Australia released figures which indicate that the average Australian household has doubled their debt in the last five years. Today Australian families owe 720 billion dollars because of a surge in personal and housing loans. We want it now, we are not prepared to wait, and if it costs us later, too bad.
When Melinda and I first had Clem, our first son, we were in a serious financial situation. Melinda had finished work from her school about 4 months prior, and we had gone from two salaries, to one.
Tension.
We had just moved into a new house with no carpet, not much furniture, and no back garden at all.
Tension
We had to purchase or obtain, clothes, cot, bed, nappies, paint and carpet for his room
Tension
He was born just after Christmas, with all the costs associated with that.
Tension
The water authority had failed to notify us of an outstanding bill from our previous residence, and we owed them about $1000, and they put us on restricted water until we paid
Tension.
Can anyone relate to me and my story, or do you all have plenty of money to spend whenever you need it?
Maybe some of you can share some good stories about how God has provided for you, maybe some of you are very careful with your money, and always have been, and always have enough. That’s great.
This morning we want to deal with some of the tensions, some of the prisons that we put ourselves in because of finances.
Slavery is a really interesting word with many connotations. The natural word that counters slavery is of course freedom. This morning we want to start off our three week series talking about money, and we want to start it off with talking about money and freedom.
Of course not everyone has the problem Melinda and I dealt with when Clem was born. We were under slavery to money because we had not planned as we should have for our changing lifestyles.
There is of course another type of bondage. That of chasing after money, for its own sake.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, celebrity Brad Pitt reflected on his lead role in the movie Fight Club, which is about a man who has the American dream and yet remains unsatisfied:
Pitt: Man, I know all these things are supposed to seem important to us—the car, the condo, our version of success—but if that’s the case, why is the general feeling out there reflecting more impotence and isolation and desperation and loneliness? If you ask me, I say toss all this—we gotta find something else. Because all I know is that at this point in time, we are heading for a dead end, a numbing of the soul, a complete atrophy of the spiritual being. And I don’t want that.
Rolling Stone: So if we’re heading toward this kind of existential dead end in society, what do you think should happen?
Pitt: Hey, man, I don’t have those answers yet. The emphasis now is on success and personal gain. [smiles] I’m sitting in it, and I’m telling you, that’s not it. I’m the guy who’s got everything. I know. But I’m telling you, once you’ve got everything, then you’re just left with yourself. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it doesn’t help you sleep any better, and you don’t wake up any better because of it
In a recent interview, Madonna, the self-proclaimed "material girl," commented on her material wealth:
Money is like everything. Money is like sex. It’s like food. They’re all manifestations of God. They’re blessings that we get, but they’re not what’s going to make us happy.
They’re not real. They don’t last. There’s only one thing that lasts, and that’s your soul. And if you don’t work on that, and you don’t pay attention to that, then all the money in the world is not going to help you.
The comedian George Carlin said, "The essence of life is trying to find a place to put all your stuff.
15% of all Jesus had to say, and which was recorded in the bible deals with money.
Can we read together from 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 1-10
The book of Timothy was written by the Apostle Paul, who by this stage had a lot of runs on the board. He was an experienced missionary, someone who Jesus had spoken to directly, someone who had set out and purposefully planted a whole heap of Churches. IN fact through what God did through Paul, the good news about Jesus had gone to most of the known world at that stage. Here he writes to a younger man Timothy, a young Pastor, starting out in his ministry life, and the concluding chapter, chapter six has a lot to say about money.
Can we read the first ten verses of chapter six.
Paul here describes someone who longs to be rich, chases after it and falls into temptation. In fact he describes the temptation of chasing after money for its own sake as being like drowning. The word he uses here for getting caught in this is like a man who is stuck in quicksand, and getting sucked under. It’s a very string word. Its almost like he is saying that the pursuit of wealth for its own sake is like some sort of monster, that we chase after trying to grab hold of it, only to discover that it is actually dragging us down its big black hole.
Speaking about his new movie,, Star Wars creator George Lucas described how the young Anakin Skywalker becomes the evil Darth Vader: I don’t wont to ruin the movie for anyone who has not seen it, but we all know he turns into Darth Vader right? If you didn’t know that, sorry, he does, and I am about to tell you why, okay, just a little bit about why. George Lucas says this,
He turns into Darth Vader because he gets attached to things. He can’t let go of his mother; he can’t let go of his girlfriend. He can’t let go of things. It makes you greedy. And when you’re greedy, you are on the path to the dark side, because you fear you’re going to lose things, that you’re not going to have the power you need. Solomon in the book of Proverbs 28.25 tells us that a greedy person stirs up trouble. James tells us in 3.16 that when you have envy and selfish ambition there you will find disorder and evil practice. That is because of what Paul says next, that well known verse money is the root of all evil, is that what he says, money is the root of all evil? No, but that is how we have it quoted to us so often, and we will get to that in a moment. In fact what he says is that the love of money is the root of all evil, the desire to chase that monster down the deep dark cave, that is the root of all evil. You see there is nothing evil about money, it is in fact amoral. Your attitude towards it, what you do with it, well that has moral, social, family consequences, but money itself can be used for very good purposes.
I hesitate to use this next analogy, but hopefully we are all mature enough to handle it. How the media portray sex is a little like how they portray money, and certainly how they portray the Churches attitude towards it. Our media, our society propagate the idea that the church is full of wowsers, people who are puritans, who dislike sex and all that. In fact God was the One who invented sex, and He said go forth and multiply! Sounds good to me!
It’s the same with money. How often have you heard this verse quoted, money is the root of all evil. How can that be true? It is a serious misquote. Were the millions of dollars that Australians sent to the victims of the Tsunami tradgedy evil? NO. Where the hundreds of dollars you have given to starving orphans, evil? No.
It is the love of money that is evil, the grabbing hold of something material and putting it above God and above people that is evil. That’s my first big point this morning.
There is something else that is wrong about our approach to money, and that is when we are unwise with it. In fact I want to share two things with you this morning. The first big idea is this
If we find our security and purpose in the accumulation of wealth, we will live shallow and futile lives. If we live lives free from the love of money, we will lead joyful and fulfilling lives.
Listen to what Paul says to Timothy in verse 17 of this passage, command those who are rich in the world not to be proud, but to place their hope not in uncertain things such as riches but in God who generously gives everything for our enjoyment. Do you get that? In other words he is saying, yes enjoy the good things God has given you, we should enjoy the material blessings God has given us, but we should not think we are great because we have them, the day after tomorrow we could lose the lot. And instead place your hope in God, don’t think you can do it on your own, it is God who we should thank.
Did anyone see the episode of Andrew Dentons show enough rope, where they had Rene Rivkin on? I have talked about this before, but its worth mentioning again. Rene committed suicide a few months back, but before he did that he appeared on Enough Rope. And Andrew asked him about his relationship, his friendship with one of Australias wealthiest men, Kerry Packer. Rene Rivkin really opened up and with tears welling up in his eyes described how him and Kerry sat down at a table once and cried over how empty both of their lives are.
Imagining pursuing that monster all your life, only to find it does not care about you.
Secondly if we treat our money foolishly, we and our families will suffer. We need to live free from the bondage of debt, so we can enjoy life.
When my family was in financial strife, when Clem was born, we suffered. And we suffered because I had not planned well for the situation we found ourselves in. Now I am not being hard on myself, you learn, or hopefully you learn these lessons as you go along. Melinda and I have put in strategies and when our next daughter Ruby was born, we knew what we would need and we got through. We were not living high on the hog, but we could meet our responsibilities and we enjoyed very much our lives.
Paul hints at this when he says to Timothy in verse 20, keep safe that which has been entrusted to your care. Or in the Cev 20Timothy, guard what God has placed in your care! Now here Paul is talking specifically of teaching, but the same is true of our finances. God has entrusted them to us, like us they are just temporary, but we should be considered in how we use them.
Which is not to say we should not enjoy the things God has given us, just that we should be considered in our use of them, not foolish.
And the amazing and wonderful thing about being a Christian is that the Holy Spirit, Gods presence in our lives can help us to be wise with them.
Later on this year the Baptist Union has recommended that our Baptist Churches look at, take our people through a program which talks about budgeting and all those sorts of things. Now I confess to you this morning, I am mostly dealing with this topic from a spiritual perspective, from a pastoral perspective, because as we heard last week, and today, 15% of what Jesus said related to money, and as those of you with a credit card know, 15 % is a lot. But what I would want you to take away from today is the spiritual principles I have shared. Don’t chase after money for its own sake, it is a monster that has no regard for you at all, and will destroy your life, enjoy the good things, including money God has given you. Use it wisely and well, so you can enjoy your life.
Next week we are going to talk about our spiritual relationship with God and how it relates to our finances.
Lets pray.
