The Christian And His Money

Ask any landlord. He can tell you how many people have deceived him over and over again with their nice talk and appearance. The prospective renters may have looked like the most honest people ever, yet once they moved in they turned out to be some of the biggest "dead beats" in town.

When you deal with people, often you find their love for money has totally consumed them. Just let something come between them and their money, and they will show you a side of themselves you have never seen.

One of the BIGGEST TESTS of our strength of character can be seen in our relationship to OUR MONEY, and to OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY!

For example, in our text we see THREE kinds of men that James talked about, in relationship with money.

I. THE POOR MAN AND HIS MONEY

In verse 9 we read, "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted."

Illus: We have all heard the saying many times, "Jesus must love poor people because He made so many of them."

This statement makes an assumption that is not fair. That is, when we consider why people are poor, we CANNOT ALWAYS blame God. The fact is, many people are not poor because God made them poor.

Illus: A man who was born into a very wealthy family, inherited the wealth at the death of his folks. He used to have a beautiful home, nice cars, boats, and clothes, but today it is all gone. DID GOD TAKE IT FROM HIM? NO! That man foolishly spent all the money, and even went into debt.

Even a person that most might consider to be rich, has to live on a budget. His budget may be bigger than ours, but he still must discipline himself to not spend more than his income, or else he will find himself in trouble, and may loose everything he has.

Illus: The man whose income may be $50,000.00 a week is in big-time trouble if he is spending $100,000.00 a week.

All across this country, people are blaming their poverty on God. They claim it is God's fault they are broke, can't afford better housing, cannot wear better clothes, or cannot afford a better car. But, the fact is that it is their own fault! No matter how much wealth God would bless them with, they would spend it faster than they got it.

Illus: A young man went to his grandfather in his flower garden and said, "Grandfather, can you tell me how I can be rich one day, like you?" The grandfather saw the young lad was sincere, and really wanted to know how he acquired such wealth, so he showed him. He said, "Son, see that water can over there that I use to water my flowers with?" The grandson acknowledged he saw it. Grandfather said, "Son, the other day I was watering these flowers, and I noticed it had a hole in it. That is, every time I would fill it up, the water would begin to leak out."

He continued, "I had several choices of what to do with that can.

• "I could plug the hole, and then the water couldn’t leak

out."

• "I could use it with the leak in it, if I made sure more water

went in faster than it was draining out."

• "But son, I could not use it at all if the water went out faster than I put more in. Son, the secret to getting rich, is to learn to save, and never spend more than you are taking in."

Many people have never learned that the secret of financial success is to never spend more than you can take in! So many today are "dirt poor," not because God made them poor, but because they have not been wise as the Bible instructs us to be.

Also, we have to consider that there are some who are poor because GOD MADE THEM POOR, as we will discover very shortly in our text. But, a poor man is a poor man regardless of how he got that way.

James refers to the poor man as one who is of "LOW DEGREE." That is, he is a humble man who is at the bottom of the financial totem pole.

Illus: Poverty deprives a man of buying things that others are able to buy.

But, James gives this man some unusual advice. We read that in verse 9 he says, "Let the brother of low degree REJOICE..."

Now, that is contrary to everything we have been taught. We have been taught that THE MORE YOU HAVE, THE MORE REASON YOU HAVE TO REJOICE. For example...

Illus: We sometimes see an ad on television in which someone in a big limousine drives up in front of an old farm house. Then a person in nice clothes gets out of that limousine, and walks to that old farm house, and the little old farm lady comes to the door, and the stranger in nice clothes tells her she has just won the TWENTY-MILLION DOLLAR READER'S DIGEST SWEEPSTAKES. All of a sudden, the farm lady, who probably is sore from arthritis, forgets she can hardly move, and she begins dancing joyfully all over the front porch. Soon her husband hears the commotion, and when he finds out they are millionaires, he begins to jump all over the front porch with her.