Money Matters: Money in the Old Testament

Here is a helpful outline PDF that we used.

Preached by Jaren Singh on 10/2/24
Adapted in part from a lesson by Timothy Keller

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. Thank you so much for listening. We're startup church. We just planted in September, 2020 and at the Kalamazoo church, we believe that Christianity is done best when it is done together. And so if you live in the Kalamazoo area, we would love to connect, be it coming to a Sunday service, one of our small groups, or even just grabbing coffee with a member to learn more. You can visit kalamazoo.church in order to do that. We pray that you are inspired by what you hear today, but I'm going to record this. I think it, I think it'll be helpful for everybody to hear and not just, not just us. Everybody being, there's a number of people who aren't here right now. Basically over the next four weeks, we're going to be doing a, there's going to be a series on money that we're going to, that we're going to look at and money and wealth and our view of money. And it's a chance for you to assess like, what is your view of money? And it's a chance for us to all grow closer to what Jesus is view of money. You know, Jesus, God, you know, we're talking about the same thing, but his view of money. And so today we're going to look at a bunch of Proverbs that we're going to look a little bit more practical, but also in the old Testament. And then on, on not right, next week, we're going to look at Jesus, his view of money. And then after that, we're going to look in the, in the new Testament, some of the letters. And yeah, yeah, do you have, no, you got to hand them back in. Yeah, no, they're, they're yours to keep. Yes. You can, you can Venmo me if you really are convicted by this lesson. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. So the idea of, yeah, so take notes on them if you want, it's, it's interesting because money is brought up 2,300 times in the Bible. There's 2,300 verses related to money, which is almost twice as many verses that talk about faith and prayer. I would say for us, and this is, I hope, I hope that we see this and I see it at more of as an area for us to grow, because I think as a church, we just don't talk about it an awful lot, especially from the pulpit. And I would say, I don't think in the last four years, I've done a single lesson about that had any significance related to money, really. Maybe you could make it generality and you could add that in there, but really there hasn't been much. And, you know, so many, as I've been thinking about our church, I think it's uniquely important for our church to, to just understand the biblical, some of the biblical view of money. You know, I, some of my friends, they lead churches that are pretty affluent, or there's a lot that lead churches that are pretty affluent. And then there's a number who lead churches where there's a pretty big disparity, a disparity even in the church between those who have, have some money and those who are living in poverty or have government assistance even. And I think for a majority of us, like that's not really the case. Like a majority of us in the room and in the church aren't in a spot where we can, where we're, we don't have to work again the rest of our lives. So some of us are, and amen to that. A majority of us are also not in a spot where we're like, man, we need government support in order to, you know, in order to thrive and to function. You know, these, these churches, there's a big gap and we are really kind of right in the middle of it. You know, in our church, this is, it's a, there's a greater proportion of this than in other churches that I've, I've looked at and people that I've talked to. There's a larger percentage of households that are single income. There's a larger percentage, even of blue collar workers in our church, perhaps more than a lot of churches. There's a work with me here, like gig workers and that like, maybe you have a full time job, but then there's also like a side hustle that you're involved in, or you're doing something that in order to make money, you have to work for it and achieve something or do something. There's a bunch of young families and money is in general tighter. You know, I think all of the churches in the Midwest, many of them will feel it on some level. I think our church, perhaps, and maybe I'm off, but perhaps as much as any other church is going to feel, um, in the event that they're, that this inflation leads to a recession and there's some tightening of budgets even more so, uh, I think our church is going to feel it. And I've already had, I've had more than a few conversations with, uh, with different ministers just as, as 2024 for most of the year, I've just been like, man, how can we talk about this more? I really, I need to learn about it, but I want to, I want to talk about it. Like, I think it's a worthwhile thing to bring up from, um, you know, from, from my position. Uh, so I, but I think it's relevant, um, for the future, for sure. Let's assume that some, you know, there's a recession. I think this stuff that is going to be relevant then, um, but I want to be, I want to be really clear also, and I don't want to, uh, mince words. I think as a church, we, uh, we have a lot to grow in terms of our financial generosity. Um, so I think both of those it's relevant for the future and develop, develop some convictions, but I think it's relevant right now as well. Um, instead of, you know, me just saying, Oh, we got to give more. We got to give more. I think let's, let's look at what the Bible teaches about it. Um, so the, the first, I'm going to go through three points this evening and we're all in the old Testament. You guys can just, we're going to be in Proverbs for, I think the whole time, um, let's go to Proverbs 10 and most of these scriptures are going to be on here. We're not going to go through all of these Proverbs, but, um, a lot of them are on here and I'm going to read, uh, in verse 16, you know, we're going to look at money and we're going to look at the power that money has. Perhaps you already know money has a lot of power. I'm going to show you what the Bible says about it because the Bible agrees. Money has a lot of power and money has the power to make or break a community. It says in Proverbs 10, 16, the wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death. You know, uh, what is so interesting in this scripture is that it talks about the same thing. It says the wages of the righteous, they produce something and then the earnings of the wicked also produce something. So the same thing is received and something different is, is pushed out or is put out. I think it's incredible and one thing that we have to understand is that money magnifies what's going on inside of our hearts. Money magnifies what's going on inside of our hearts. It's kind of like a trailing indicator of what's going on. You know, there's, there's a, there's a really interesting commentary. I just, I was listening to a lesson, but then I bought the commentary and I'm waiting to receive it. I'm really excited about it. This, the guy who gave the lesson said it was the best commentary on Proverbs. Um, and he like full stop. And so, but, but what he said was this, uh, this author talked about righteousness and wickedness in Proverbs and he looked at just the word and we hear righteousness and we can think of some things, but righteousness in Proverbs is, uh, anyone who disadvantages themselves to build the community and wickedness in Proverbs is anyone who disadvantages the community to build up themselves. You know, we, we have the opportunity with our giving to, uh, to make or break the community that we're in. Um, and we've seen this and I think we're disgusted by this on a big level, like you've seen, uh, perhaps in America, but if you travel, uh, if you travel overseas, you see it even more acutely. Like it's just kind of known that the government, uh, the government officials make this amount of money and they just keep it from their people. Or you look at some of the richest countries in the whole world and the top has 80% of the wealth or not the top, you know, 0.00% has so much of the wealth and, uh, and we see that and we're, we're disgusted by that. We look at that and like, well, that's very wicked. Um, we, we can do the same thing with our money as well. Uh, and money, it magnifies what's going on inside of our heart. We have the opportunity to build the community with our money. We have the opportunity to tear down, uh, the, the community as well. Um, you think about this in the context of being a business owner and a righteous business owner, at least according to Proverbs is somebody that's going to say, uh, my intention is not to make the, not to shave off everything to make the most money for myself. That's not my intention. My intention is to, uh, to charge what I have to charge and make an income, but then to pay my employees, uh, you know, give them raises as time comes. And also to not charge, uh, the, the highest amount I can for this widget, but instead to pass along these savings to these customers, um, you would understand and you would see that that is totally not what we see in the world. Like our, at every point the world is fighting against this. Even, even if, uh, even if the world says they do it, they probably say they do it through advertisements, um, that they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on, uh, you know what I'm saying? Um, the other thing that, that money can do, uh, the other power that it has, it has the power to make a break your soul. Um, it's Proverbs 11 in verse one, it says, the Lord detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights, find favor with him, the money money can make us dishonest in a way that, that so many things just, just cannot, or aren't able to do, um, it says, it says this, uh, the Lord detests dishonest scales. Um, you know, this, this word detests, it probably doesn't even convey exactly what the scripture says. Like it, it uses, um, it's the same word that means an abomination, um, an abomination of the old Testament is almost always referred to as some type of sexual immorality. God is saying, if we're being dishonest in the way that we're, uh, viewing, making, spending money, uh, that he, it's, it is as impactful to our salvation and our souls as committing sexual immorality. God views greed as every bit as detestable as immorality. And then it also says, uh, in, in verse four of chapter 11, this is wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. Another thing, you know, I said that it can make or break our soul and it can do that through dishonesty. It can also do that through creating the shallowness inside of our hearts. Um, when, when we think of the day of wrath, this is something I learned. So day of wrath, when we read it and we think about it, we're like this, that must be judgment day. Um, like that's, that's what it's talking about. Um, it's interesting because if it was talking about judgment day, then it would be in capital letters. And so the, the, the commentators are like, no, it's not talking about judgment day. This day of wrath is not judgment day. This day of wrath is when something horrible happens to you. You're diagnosed with cancer. Your wealth doesn't matter at all. You know what I'm saying? Uh, if there's a, a close relative of yours that, that gets sick, your wealth doesn't matter at all. You would trade all your wealth for them to get better when, uh, perhaps even in the middle of some kind of turmoil, uh, you know, your family turmoil, that's, that's none of your doing. You would trade your money for it. Your money's worthless when, uh, when, when some day of wrath comes unexpected and crazy situation occurs, your money, your money doesn't, doesn't matter that much. But if we are striving for and searching for and trying to gain as much money as possible, then our view of everything becomes pretty shallow. Like, like it becomes shallow in, in the way of everything is like cost benefit analysis. And perhaps you've been in the middle of this. Um, I felt super impacted as I was studying and, and, you know, reading this and the idea of making money. And if I'm only focused on that, like making a good income, what am I doing with my wealth? Then everything's cost benefit analysis. Do I give it to that person? Like my time? No, my time is better spent somewhere else. Uh, is, are they worth it? Is it worth it if I spend, uh, this on this person, they're not going to receive it well. No, it's not worth it. And everything, if I'm thinking about everything through cost benefit analysis, I'm just not, uh, I'm not viewing things. I'm not preparing myself for the day of judgment, um, rather the day of wrath, excuse me. You know, another, another thing, this is this shallowness is that, um, maybe we all, we all get it. Making money takes time. Um, spending money also takes time. Uh, you know, um, well it's, I probably can't even quote the, um, you know, I can't even quote the, uh, the song lyric anymore. I think I'll get canceled, but there, there's a song, um, that says more money, more problems and like, and it makes sense. Uh, you know, when, when there's more money, you have more things to spend it on and there's more issues and you think, well, I have to invest it here and I have to do this and making money takes time. Uh, but that you remove it, it removes time that we work on our characters though. If we're, if we're focused on making money, um, and, and making the absolute most money that we can possibly make, we're not spending time with God. We're taking time from what we could be spending it with God. We're taking time to just sit with ourselves as well. We're taking time with our friends or our mentors to, to commune and to talk and the fellowship, we're doing all of that and this is making our kids can make our character pretty shallow. And so all of this, uh, money has a lot of power. Um, the, the, the other amazing thing that I want to talk about is like why it has such great power. Um, it's in Proverbs 18 is a few down here. It says the name of the Lord is a fortified tower. The righteous run to it and Proverbs 18, 10 and 11, the righteous run to it and are safe. The wealth of the rich is their fortified city. They imagine it a wall too high to scale, you know, in the ancient day, living in, living in cities was like the way it provided you security because that was the only place where you were, you were safe. Like there was walls and there was people and there was rules and there was like stuff that you could actually get retribution if somebody harmed you. And so people were less likely to harm inside of cities. Like that was the security and it also was a form of status as well. Like I would, I'm in this city and I, I, I'm under this rule that I have these people in my life and I have some kind of, uh, affluence or security and this is what living in a city would do. Um, you know, money probably more than any other vice or any other stronghold. Uh, it promises as much as God promises to us and it provides a little bit of, you know, almost everything else. Like you'd have to understand like almost everything else. It promises what God promises, uh, you know, security, love, all this stuff. And it doesn't, it just doesn't give you that like that. Like it just doesn't give it to you. Um, money, this is quite difficult. Money promises it and then if you are moving things the wrong way, money actually gives you a lot of that security and money does provide you with, uh, uh, a fake, but a maybe a temporary, but a sense of peace or a sense of security or a sense of like, I can do what I want to do and I feel powerful in that. Um, it provides you with some identity that, that, and it actually does give some of that. This is why I think it's so vital to talk about money. This is why we, uh, we, we just need to talk about it as a, as a, as a community. You know, I, the, the, the reality, uh, is that of all God's substitutes, money is the most attractive. Um, and when we say money, I understand it like you can read it security or you can read, you know, you can read it like, sorry, like wealth or some kind of like that. Like it is, it's the most attractive to us, um, says if you have enough of me, you're safe. Um, if we understood money, how God understands money, I think we'd just be much more generous. Um, and I feel like I just feel, uh, it's not lost on me. I'm not trying to like speak this, like I just have it all figured out and worked out. Like I was, I was in the middle of writing this lesson. I'm like, man, I got to assess, I got to assess what I'm giving. Like, I, I promised you I stopped and I'm like, I gotta give, I gotta, I gotta put some more in the plate. Like, I'm not, I can't, I can't, uh, I can't read these scriptures and understand how God wants me and then come and speak before you guys and not be living this hour. Uh, money's useless to us on the day of wrath, um, money, it inflates our identity though. Uh, you know, the, the minute, um, the minute that we broke our relationship with God as a, as humanity, like in the garden, we broke our relationship with God and, uh, and, and what did we do? Well, we felt shame and so we hit, um, we decided we didn't want it. We didn't want God, but we didn't want each other to see all of us. And so we decided let's hide and let's, let's secure what we can. Like we felt shame. And so every one of us in some way, shape or form is insecure and we're unsure of our worth and our value. Nothing offers us this type of value that money does though. Uh, nothing, nothing purports to offer this like money does. Um, you know, let's say, uh, you're smart at making money. Um, well we can think, well, I'm just smarter. Uh, let's say you've done better financially. You can think, well, I am better. Um, maybe you've got people below you on the financial ladder and you can think I'm just above people. Uh, this is, this is what money can teach us and, and now, uh, consider something else though. And I, I, I feel, um, man, I just feel like this is difficult to even share, uh, because even if you say money's not my idol, um, what it's going to do, money tells you what your idol is though. Money communicates where you put your significance or what is battling for. Let's say you're like, money's not my idol. Nothing is my idol. God is way above it and yet money is going to tell you, uh, where you spent your money is going to tell you what's fine for your attention. Like what is you say? Oh God is first. Perhaps he is. Money's going to tell you what's second. Money's going to tell you what's third as well. It's going to, it's going to communicate where your significance is found. Perhaps it's in experiences or vacations or going out and eating food or perhaps it's in, uh, some things that we value as a society much more highly. We say, well perhaps you, you're like, man, I gotta work and spend money for my children or for my spouse and to give, uh, to get this, this house, I need this house and perhaps it is that perhaps you spend it on yourself or your, your, you know, your clothing, your body, all of that stuff. Um, the approval is really important, really significant to you. Uh, if, if God is our only God, then we're going to be much more generous. If we look at it and man, it's so powerful. It tells us what we value. If we say, no, I'm going to decide to live a life that is devoted to God, not just on Sunday, not just with my words, not just in my character, but then also in the way that I'm generous. Uh, we're going to live much more generously. Um, we, we're going to look at it not this week, but next, but we understand the scripture where your treasure is there. Your heart will be there. Your heart will be also like this. We have the opportunity for our hearts to be centered on heaven and on salvation and on things that matter and things that are going to be with us. Uh, when, when we die, I, um, yeah, we'll, we'll keep going and then we'll, we'll, we'll close up here pretty soon. Um, so we think, well, then the third point then is how, uh, how can we break this? And, um, you know, this is, uh, Proverbs talks about it too is Proverbs 11 and then it's in, it's on the left side of your sheet in verse 24 it says one person gives freely yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. People curse the one who hoards grain, but they pray God's blessing on the one who is willing to sell. You know, uh, we, we think about scriptures and we, we hear, uh, you know, you reap what you sow. It's talked about in the new Testament. It's talked about in the old Testament. You reap what you sow in that light. You sow seeds and you, you, you reap what you sow, like you reap more and the more you sow, the more you reap. And that's a truth in life. It's a truth in the Bible. You know, what's interesting though, is when you sow seeds, what do you reap fruit? You don't reap seeds. When we're giving our money, we're, we're giving these seeds, you know, we can use, and I think people have probably used these scriptures to some extent. There's truth to it perhaps, but that's not why we're doing it. Uh, that, that we're not sowing seeds to reap seeds and we're not sowing, we're not sowing money and we're not giving them, Oh, I'm going to give to the poor so that I give more and I, or so I receive more and I'm going to create some benevolent fund in my heart and so I'm going to receive more and God's going to bless me. And perhaps there's truth. I think there's perhaps truth if our character grows in the way that we can spend money. Um, I think God's going to continue to allow us to give us money in order that we can spend it to build up a community. I really believe that's true. However, that's not the reason why we spend money. Well, we don't spend money well to gain more money. We spend money well because fruit, something else is born. Um, you say, well, what's, what's born if we decide that we are going to sow our money, that what is born fruit, something way better. Uh, certainly, uh, the fruits of the spirit, like there's things that we struggle with that I really think if we grow in our generosity, there's things in your character, whatever it is you identify, what am I struggling with my character right now? If you grow in your generosity, uh, because you, you're out of like, I really love God. I really have faith in God moving and I want to show him my faith and I'm partnering with God inside of this. I really believe you're going to struggle less with some of these character things that you've been fighting for years and years and years. It's amazing that the ultimate example of, uh, of scattering and yet getting even more is, uh, again, we're, we're, maybe this is the preview a little bit, but it's, it's thinking about the cross and Jesus and allowing his, his, his body to be scattered and to be spread and his blood to be shed and it all in an effort so that we could be united and so that we could, uh, be, be built up as, as a body. Um, you know, uh, the, uh, the, this quote I found from this person, he says, uh, Jesus is the only treasure that's sacrificed for you. Every other treasure, you must be the one to sacrifice, but Jesus is the only treasure in our life that's sacrificed for us. He decided it was, it was worth more for him to give up his precious, beautiful body on the cross in order that we would have an opportunity to know God. And so, um, as we, uh, you know, as we kind of bring in for a landing, um, I want to, I want to just look at Malachi Malachi three Malachi three and, uh, you know, we'll, we'll read in, um, in verse six, it says, I, the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob are not destroyed ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them returned to me. And I will return to you says the Lord almighty. But you ask, how are we to return? Will a mere mortal rob God yet you rob me. But you ask, how are we robbing you in tithes and offerings? You are under a curse, your whole nation, because you're robbing me, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, test me in this as the Lord almighty and see if I will not throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops and the vines and your fields will not drop their fruit before it's ripe says the Lord almighty. Then all the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land says the Lord almighty. You know, I, I hope that scriptures like this, uh, I, I believe they're intended to give us great hope, like great, uh, great faith. Like we're partnering alongside God in everything, but, but right now we're partnering alongside God in the way that we can, uh, we can give to him. Like there's a way to do it. You think about how, uh, how difficult it would be. Let's say God said, I don't want you to give any of your wealth to me. Like, let's just say somehow in some random world, however that could be said, don't give any of your wealth to me. How would we show God that we love him? We'd sing songs and we pray and we try to help people, I guess, but there'd be a, there, there wouldn't be a chance for us to show it like there is where we can give our money to God. Like what an awesome opportunity that we have to, to show God, I've got faith in you, God. I've got so much faith that, that my accountant's going to look at me weird because I'm giving so much money to you. I got so much faith in you, God. I really believe that good things are going to happen, God. And if I never see this money again, I'm still going to give it to you because I know that something is waiting for me that's even better and it's not a physical and it has nothing to do with wealth. There's such a great opportunity that we have, um, to partner with God. I really, I don't want this, uh, I don't want this lesson or these lessons to be met with, um, discouragement like, Oh, you know, we have no hope. Like there's no, I hope that we actually can more encouraged. Like there's an opportunity that we have that maybe you've been utilizing and perhaps you have. And if you have, amen, keep doing that. Maybe you've not been utilizing and if you haven't yet, that's okay. Just, just do it then. Amen. Um, you know, some of the, uh, the things on, on right after the scriptures, it just says, um, how should we give or like, what should we give them? Like, what do you want me to do? Be practical. And, uh, you know, the old Testament, the standard was 10%. It was communicated many different places, but, uh, Leviticus 2730 is, is one of them. Um, again, what a cool opportunity that we have that, uh, that there's that we're not limited to 10%. Uh, I just, I just think what a, what a cool chance that we have to show God our faith. Um, you know, the new Testament standard, uh, it takes, um, it goes from don't kill somebody to don't hate somebody. Um, it goes from don't commit adultery to don't lust at all. Um, it stands to reason then that this 10% that that's, uh, communicated in the old Testament is only a starting point for our opportunity to show God our faith. How much did I give? What's the exact number? I can't give you the exact number, but I, I do know there ought to be a measurable difference in the way that you live your life from your giving to God, um, it should hurt and you should feel it. Or, and perhaps hurts the wrong word, but it should, it should matter. Like it should, you should feel it. It shouldn't be a, it shouldn't be a bill that you just give regardless, um, to be something you feel, um, you know, in, inside of these, uh, you know, these couple of like marriage D group conversations, um, you know, just, I think this is a great chance inside of your marriage to have these conversations. Um, but then even in your discipling groups, like how do I determine what do I get? You know what? And, and for me, it's tough me and Bianca, like there's times when I tell her and there's times like I, I manage the finances and so we have a communication, but I'll talk to her, but there's times when I, I don't talk to her about, uh, about our giving and she's communicated like that really, uh, it, it impacts our relationship if I'm not communicating to her, this is what I'm giving or this is what I'm giving to, or this is, you know, what we're doing, you know, this is like, it, it, it makes her feel like she's not a part of this. And so this is a great chance for you guys to talk inside of your marriages. Um, this is also a chance for our children. I just put some questions, uh, that I think are probably starting points. I don't think these are like the end all be all, there'll be questions next week and the week after that as well. Uh, but these are just starting points. Maybe you're, maybe your child, maybe they already get it. Um, but if they don't, then, uh, then perhaps this is a chance for, uh, for you to begin this conversation. Um, that, that's, that's all I got guys. I, I just, I feel, uh, I just feel super hopeful. Like I feel super hopeful at what God is going to do. I've been working most of 2024 trying to figure out, I was talking to Paul, like how to put my finger on, uh, what's going on. And I'm like, man, I wonder if we just grow in our generosity and our gratitude for God. I just have to believe God's going to keep doing amazing things. Like we're in the next phase of our growth as a church. And, uh, I believe it looks like repentance in this area. Um, so that's that again, grateful. Why don't we close with a prayer, dear God, Lord, uh, we are, we're grateful for you, God. We don't deserve what you've given us and you give freely and you give joyfully and you set the standard and the example for us. Um, Lord, I'm so grateful for the chance that we have to give Lord, I pray that you will, um, you'll look inside of our hearts, God, and that, and that you will show us, uh, where we're not being generous to you, God, you'll show us where the world has taken, um, just taking a stronghold. Father, you'll, God, I pray that you will, um, you'll show it to me, Lord. I feel, uh, I feel like I don't even want to pray that Lord. I don't want to pray that, uh, for, for what I believe it might mean for my character and for, uh, my day-to-day living. Lord, I pray that you will, um, work powerfully in all of our lives. Lord, I, I, I pray that more than, um, we're not giving to get more money. We're not, we're not giving God, we're giving so that we can receive a great inheritance in heaven. Lord, we're giving so that we can be more like you. We're giving so that, uh, these strongholds in our character can be eradicated father and we can be, uh, like your son, um, Jesus, we're so grateful for your sacrifice. Please continue to work inside of us. Lord, I pray this is only the start of our, um, our conversations, Lord, we love you. Uh, Jesus, this is in your name that we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected. Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on. In any case, you'll be hearing from us next week.