If Money Talked – The Consumption Assumption

This week on the podcast, we open our If Money Talked series by examining the assumption that everything we have is for our own consumption. Pastor Jon shares how Jesus cuts through this mindset with a compelling call to live generously and to view money as a spiritual matter, not just a financial one. Listen in as we unpack what it means to be rich toward God and how that redefines our priorities.

Transcript

Good morning. Yes. We are kicking off a four week series where we're going to be talking about money called if Money Talked. And maybe the idea of talking about money makes you feel a bit nervous. I mean, it's not something we even talk about much in our families, is it?

Or with our friends. It can be a bit of a taboo subject and the idea of talking about it for one Sunday may make you nervous. The idea of talking about it for four might feel like a punishment. But what I hope we'll do as we go through this series is if we're honest and reflective and serious about what Jesus says about money, it might transform how we view it, but also how we steward it. And so for the next four weeks, we're not just going to talk about money, we're going to let money do the talking.

Oh, this worked in the other service. We're going to let money do the talking. You see, so often we tell money what to do, we speak to it and we say, pay this bill, pay the mortgage, go into savings, go towards a holiday, go into the piggy bank or the bank account. What if money could talk? What if we invited it to pull up a chair and give us a bit of advice?

What might it say? What might it say about us, about our priorities, about the way we treat it? The truth is, there's probably some things we might not want to hear. It might remind us about the past. It might remind us about regret, about a financial decision that we made, that we look back and go, why did I do that?

I can remember vividly the first time I felt felt regret about a financial decision. One Christmas, I was given. So I was a child at this point. I was given a Toys R Us voucher. Fantastic.

And my family and I, we went to Toys R Us. And for those of you who don't know, Toys R Us is a magical place. And we were on our way there. There's toys in their millions, all under one roof. It's called Toys R Us, Toys R Us, Toys R Us and everywhere.

And you walk in and you go, wow. From floor to ceiling, stacked full of toys, of games, of lego, even bikes, everything a child might ever want. And we had our vouchers in hand, burning a hole in our pockets. And I went down every aisle, one by one, looking, what can I spend my voucher on? And the choice was almost paralyzing so much stuff.

And I made a decision. I made a decision. I went back to the aisle. And this illustration may alienate many people, particularly you guys. I walked Past the Thunderbirds section, and then I walked past the Stingray section.

Ever heard of that? Look it up. And then I came to the next section, and it was Captain Scarlet. Fantastic. One of my favorite programs.

And I reached up to the shelf and picked up this box, which was an spv, a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle. Brilliant. I was so happy. We went in the car, got home, and I played with it for about half an hour, put it on the shelf. And that evening, my mum comes upstairs and she finds me a bit upset, and she says, what's wrong?

And obviously I said, nothing. And she said, no, what's wrong? She said, I bought this and I think it's a waste of money. It doesn't do anything. I felt regret at a financial decision.

You know, if money could talk, it might say something like, you thought I'd make you happy. It didn't last for very long. We could probably all relate to financial decisions that probably weren't the. But maybe if money could talk, it might talk to us about our perspectives. It might say something to us like, I'm not your security.

I'm just a tool in your hands. It might talk to us about our priorities and values and say something like, I've seen what you love because I've been spent on. Might point towards generosity and say, you never lost anything when you gave me away. It might be honest about our habits, you spent me like I'd never run out. It might pipe up about identity or influence and say something like, you think you own me?

Maybe it's the other way around. It might sound like a good financial advisor. Give us some wise advice about how to steward it. It might sound like a parent. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.

It might say, I own you. You need me, I fulfill you. It might say, I'm the meaning of life. And that's why we, as believers in Jesus, need to talk about money. Because money does talk.

And the good news is that Jesus said a lot about money. And so when money talks and speaks to those things, if we're equipped to know what Jesus says, that stands us in good stead when it comes to how we steward our money. Jesus spoke and taught and gave principles and guidance that was relevant then and relevant for now. And nearly every time Jesus spoke about money, he didn't just speak about money, he spoke about something else. He nearly always linked it to something deeper, to their heart.

And Jesus didn't want something from us. When he talked about money, he wanted something for us. He almost always links it to the Heart, money. And throughout this series, what I hope we'll see is money isn't just a financial issue. Money is actually a spiritual issue.

In Matthew chapter six, we spent a long time in this chapter last year, Jesus says this as recorded by Matthew, the Gospel writer. He says, where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. So he links heart and treasure. He says, our heart follows our treasure. What we do with our money reveals the orientation of our soul.

He goes on to say, you cannot serve both God and money. So he points to money being a rival master in our lives. And what strikes me about that verse in Matthew is that the person who's noting down what Jesus is saying knew what knew the pull of money. Because before he had an encounter with Jesus, he was a tax collector. And so Matthew knew what it meant to serve money.

And now he knows what it means to serve God. And he knows you can't serve both. Then in Luke chapter 21, a well known story, we read of the widow's offering or the widow's mite. And whilst wealthy people were giving lots in terms of value, there was this one woman who gave little too small coins, but she gave all she had. And Jesus sees it and sees that she didn't just give an amount, she gave from the heart.

And then back in Matthew, there's a rich young ruler and someone comes up to Jesus and says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus knows that money has a pull on his life. And so he says, go away, sell all you have and follow me. And the Bible says he walks away sad because his heart was tied to his wealth. So today we're going to look at an assumption that I'm going to say many, if not all of us make about money.

And it's called the consumption assumption. And it's the assumption that it's all for my consumption. Everything I have is for me.

And before I ask you a question, I want to say this. I do recognize that across this room there are lots of people in lots of different positions. There's people who struggle month by month to get by. There's other people who will have an abundance, and there's many who are probably in the middle when it comes to our finances. Not only that, but there's probably different approaches to I'm a spender, I'm a saver.

Not only that, but there's probably different levels of skepticism. Why are they talking about money? What do they want? And so my question is, what do you do with your extra, with your surplus, with your Margin. And what you're probably all thinking is like, who's got extra?

I mean, and I'm not talking about the pound you find down the sofa with the chocolate wrappers and everything like that, or the ten pound note you find in a jacket you haven't worn for a year. And you go, wow. I'm talking about your margin, your extra, your spare. What do you do with it? If you're anything like my wife and I, we're in a season where our kids are growing up into teenagers and we certainly don't feel, feel like we have extra, you know, even before anything's come in, it's been allocated or it's been spent just this month.

Football subscriptions, end of year school trips, the balance on youth conference. Can I have this? Can I have some money for this? Can I go to the carnival and have some money for this? And this one really topped it because one of our children, we got a letter from the school saying, your child has been invited to the school reward trip.

Fantastic. I was proud. They're going to go to the cinema in the morning, they're going to go to this in the afternoon. Fantastic. I read down the letter and then it said, this will cost £28.

I was like, wait a minute, you want to reward my child, but actually, I'm rewarding my child.

We all have pulls on our money, all of us do. And what I want to help us see today is money does talk to us, it does pull on us, and there's always those pulls and tensions. But statistically speaking, probably we do have some level of margin, some level of extra. And why do I ask that question? Because Jesus says something about accumulation and it speaks to this assumption, the assumption that everything I have is for my consumption.

If it's in my hands, it's for me. It might be for now, it might be for later, but it's for me. And we call it the consumption assumption, but it's sneaky and it's absolutely normal. So when Jesus teaches something different, what we need to understand is what he's saying is completely countercultural. Because the assumption that everything I have is for my consumption is absolutely normal.

In our society, our pounds become things, they become a house, they become things in the house, they become a car. We can consume, consume, consume. Or maybe you're a bit like me and this challenged me this week, is that you do something else. You, you hoard. We don't call it hoarding, we call it saving, but you put it away for later.

And what challenged me is why am I doing that? Because it seems like good financial management and it probably is to a degree. I'm doing it for later. So whether we spend it now or save it for later, the assumption behind it is, for me, it's me, me, it's mine. Consume, consume, consume, save, save, save.

And I'm sure at this point you're thinking, well, surely that is a good thing to do with your money. Like to be diligent, to be wise. And I would agree. We're not saying don't save. And surely you'd say it's a bit hypocritical.

You've just had a couple of days in the sun and you're saying, don't spend. And we're not saying that because I think God has given us our resources to use. So let's see what Jesus says about the consumption assumption, because he does. You see, In Luke chapter 12, Jesus addresses this by making a point and telling a story. And the story, if you've got your Bible with you and you turn to Luke chapter 12, verse 13, probably has some kind of subtitle or heading that says something along the lines of the parable of the Rich Fool.

Let me read from verse 30. Someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied, man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you? Then he said to them, watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. So we've got this scene where someone from this crowd shouts out to Jesus and says, jesus, I need your help. Be in my corner. Fight my point. Be a judge and arbiter, because I'm losing my hold on the inheritance.

Help me. And Jesus kind of throws it back to him and says, wait a minute, that's not the kind of help you need. Because what Jesus sees in this man is someone who is beginning to lose his hold on his share of the inheritance. He sees actually something a bit more. He sees an inheritance that's starting to take hold of this man.

You see, there's something about it, a deceptive pull that reveals the danger that wealth can often carry. The inheritance was lying to the man. Maybe if it could talk, it would say something like, if you lose me, you lose everything. Without me, your life shrinks. It becomes less.

Without that inheritance, you'll lose meaning, opportunity, freedom. And Jesus introduces this topic and he uses two Watch out. And I'd suggest that when the Son of God tells us to watch out or to be aware of something we probably should. He buttresses his point and doesn't just say watch out, but he says, be on your guard twice. Why?

What should I be watching out? What should I be on my guard for? For all kinds of greed. Now, greed perhaps is a word that triggers us because we wouldn't look in the mirror and say, I'm greedy. Perhaps when we think of greed, we think about a ruthless billionaire or a Wall street villain or someone with way more than us.

But greed isn't about value and how much we have. It's about the heart behind what we have, the and what we assume our money or our finance, our resources. For you see, the Greek word Jesus uses there literally means desire is a heart issue. Desire to have or to hold more. So he's saying to those that would make the consumption assumption.

Spending it all, saving it all, assuming that everything that comes in is for us, that actually that's greed. Desire to have or. Or to hold more. And then with urgency and passion, he delivers this one liner that I think we all know to be true. Life does not consist of an abundance of possessions.

I think we all know that. But somehow we can fall into this assumption that possessions and wealth and money will is the meaning of life.

Life is more than stuff.

The fact is that most of us are going to run out of time before we run out of stuff.

We're going to run out of time before we run out of money.

And this is what Jesus warns about in this parable. We will die with a whole lot of stuff left over. You see, if life consisted of possessions, we'd run out of life when we run out of possessions. And whilst we know that's not the case, it's so easy to fall into the trap of living like it is. And Jesus points out, if money could talk, it might say something like, I can add meaning to your life.

I'm a tool, but I am not the meaning of life. My money, your money, our money might remind us. It doesn't get much play at funerals. Apart from what's given away. That's not the point of life.

This is hard stuff, isn't it? It's something we don't often talk about. And Jesus uses his point and then shares a story to drive it home. In verse 16, he told them this parable, the ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, what shall I do?

I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, this is what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build Bigger ones. And there I'll store my surplus grain and I'll say to myself, you've got plenty of grain laid up for many years. Eat, drink, be merry.

But God said to him, you fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God. What Jesus is saying here is really important and I think often misunderstood. Jesus is not saying it's wrong when a man's land produces abundantly.

The farmer did well, the farmer had an abundance. I don't think Jesus is saying it's wrong when a business thrives or a promotion comes with a pay rise or investments yield a good return. That's not the point of the parable, that's not the why this man is being called fool. So why is he being called a fool? Well, I think it comes down to how he handled what he had, not because of how much he had.

And to illustrate that, I want to pick out two phrases. Because at the beginning, the man has got this abundance, he's got this resource, he's got his money and wealth. And there's a little line that says, and he thought to himself, what shall I do? And then later on in verse 20, he's actioned what he thought to himself. And in verse 20, Jesus says this.

But God said, you fool. And really that's the heart of the matter. We always think to ourselves about how we could spend our resource. The consumption assumption, it's all for me, myself.

But God said, and this is why money is about rival masters. Will we live our lives thinking to ourselves, this sounds like a good plan, Store it up, build bigger barns, eat, drink and be merry. Sounds quite good, doesn't it? Or will we be people who, when God says something, we say, yes, money will always try to be a rival master. But the problem is not that the man had money and finance and wealth.

So what would he have had to do for God to say, you wise farmer? Well, I think it's all about how he stewards it. I think if he had said something along the lines of, God, this all belongs to you. You made my land prosper. Thank you.

Help me to use it to honour you. Help me to not just use it to enjoy myself, but to give to others, to bless the farmer down the road, to help those in need, to be a blessing with what you've given me. Not just to assume it's all for my consumption, but to use it to honour You I don't actually need more stuff. I could build bigger bonds, but I don't need it. I want to share with others, celebrate with those I help, because giving is better than getting.

I think then God might have said, you wise farmer, because it's not about the amount, it's about how he used it. And imagine if our frame of reference when it came to how we steward and use our money from when we first get a little, it could be pocket money to maybe you're in a place of abundance. If our frame of reference on every financial decision was, wow, thank you God.

And I realize life doesn't consist of an abundance of possession, but I thank you for giving me this and I'm going to use it not just for myself, but for what you might say, God, God, would the extra have with the margin? Would the surplus? Would what you give me help me to steward it well, to be a blessing to others, to not just keep it for myself, but to be rich towards you, God. To not be like the rich fool, but to thank God in those times of margin and abundance and blessing, not just to build bigger bonds for ourselves, but to use what we have.

In Psalm 62, the Psalmist writes, if our riches increase, we are not to set our hearts upon them.

You know, the application of this series will look different across this room. As I said, some people are struggling month in, month out. Some people have an abundance, it will look different. But I think at every level of wealth we can easily fall into the consumption assumption that it's all for me. And I'd ask you across this series to listen to the challenges in the word of Jesus.

And in some ways I've got to get out of jail free card. Because it's not just my words, His God's words. And he talks about finance and he talks about money and he warns us about abundance.

Hey, and if you read on, if you, if you read on, In Luke chapter 12, what's the next thing that Jesus says?

Because there's another lie that says, well, if I start being a blessing or if I start giving more, I'm going to be worse off. Jesus goes on to say almost the next verse. He says, this is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life. Because anyone who has ever put the teachings of Jesus into practice in the realm of their finance knows that he is true to his promises, he is faithful and he does provide. And here's the thing, as a church, the second part of our mission statement, in other words, why we believe we are here is to equip people to become fully devoted followers Christ.

And simply, you can't be a fully devoted follower of Christ without inviting him into the realm of your personal finance. Christ can't be Lord over everything if you've got MasterCard going. And we all recognize those pulls and those tensions and that because money wants to be a rival master. So this is actually, this series is more about money. It's more about discipleship and following Jesus than it is about money.

It's about finance, it's about management, it's about wisdom when it comes to money. But actually it's about the heart and it's about spiritual issues. Because what you do with your money is an indicator of who, who and whose you are. So today, and as we start this series, I really want to ask you to be open to talk about it. Because money talks.

So let's let us talk about it and let us talk about it based on the words of Jesus. Be open to what God might be saying to you. It might mean some changes need to happen or some adjustments.

He is faithful and he provides. And he says, don't worry. Search your heart before God. Search the scriptures and say, God, I want to be a fully devoted follower of you. Let me pray as we finish.

And maybe you want to just say that I want to be open to this God. Maybe you feel that pull in your heart and you go, think about money. Just be open before God now and say, God, at the beginning of this series, I do just open the door and ask you to come into this area. Speak to me, challenge me if that's needed.

Help me, because I want to be and I want to grow to be a fully devoted follower of you. And we break from the consumption assumption.

God, help me to know that life does not consist of possessions. And would my life be one that is rich towards you in Jesus name? Thanks so much for being with us today. There'll be people to my right and my left who would love to pray with you. Have a fantastic week.

It sounds like you might need a, an umbrella. And we will see you next week. God bless.