The Math Problem

Welcome to Season 3 and thanks for joining in!

I hope you heard last week's episode, as we saw the story of Lorenzo and Heather. What started with overcoming my personal weaknesses, led to someone being baptized into Christ! Did it require some time and money to meet their needs? Yes it did. Was it worth it? Oh yeah!

But the question today isn't: "should we be using our goods to help the needy?" You already know the answer to that. The bigger question is:  "am I actually ready to share?" Maybe some of us have not prepared well to give, to assist, to serve. 

Part of this is "The Math Problem." By the time we get down to what is left in the bank account to give, there just isn't any money left.  There is Netflix, but there isn't $15 to help someone get a lunch. We can do better. But first we need to look at a few key things:

- What is The Math Problem that can keep us from helping?

- What did Paul tell Timothy about what to do with our riches?

- What did Jesus specifically command disciples to do with their goods?

- What did Jesus say will be the criteria for eternal judgment in Matthew 25?

- And what steps can you and I take today to solve The Math Problem and start giving?

Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to the third season of the Excel Still More podcast. I am your host, Chris Emerson, and I'm here to encourage you with tips and strategies to help you deepen your faith, build stronger relationships, and do the most with your life in Christ. Thank you for joining. Let's get started. Okay, so you heard it in the intro. Season three of the Excel Still More podcast starts right now, January the 4th. Thank you for tuning in. It's a little hard to believe to me that we've been going for two years now. We started in January 2019. 134 episodes recorded. And now we're ready to start 2021 with a lot of faith and optimism, but also with a plan. So many Christians want to go out and get better, but oftentimes they lack a vision of what better looks like. And even if they have that, they lack an understanding of the steps to get there. So I really hope that the opening episodes for this year give you a lot of clarity in that way. In particular, today we're going to talk about money. We want to talk about your income and how you use it, and in what ways the usage of what God gives you reflects how you serve in the kingdom. I believe it is a colossal mistake, and a lot of Christians have made it, to separate our service to God, our love for others from the money in our bank accounts. You will see today that Jesus himself connected those two things, and we need a reset among Christians to see that more clearly. If you follow this program, then maybe you heard last week's episode. We ended with the story of two people, Lorenzo and his daughter Heather. And they came to our church building and they had monetary needs. And we investigated their story and we helped them. And it wasn't easy for me to do. You heard me admit that last week. But as a result of it, not only did they get the help that they needed to get where they needed to go, but Heather heard the gospel and was baptized into Christ. Someone will be quick to say, well, you can't just go throw money at people in the world in order to get them to obey the gospel, but I would argue that you're defending something in you that ought not be defended and you're misrepresenting the way the world works. There are people around us hurting, hungry, in trouble. They need help. When we help them, we show love for them. When we show love for them, we show Christ to them. And when we show them Jesus, we begin to show them the gospel. It doesn't always work like that, but maybe it does a whole lot more often than we're ready to admit. So as I told you last week, I'm going to pursue that further today, but specifically in your life and the life of your family and what you do with the money that comes in every week, every month, where it's going, and how intentionally are you setting aside funds to help people God puts in your life who need it? I have at least three Bible passages to share with you today. These will help you emotionally invest in the work that God has prepared for you to do, and they may even serve as a major wake-up call for you and your family. But before we get into the passages, I have a feeling that you will be convicted just like I have been. Maybe even before we read the words that Paul told to Timothy or the incredible things that Jesus told his disciples to do, maybe you are already convicted. Maybe even last year in 2020, there were people who you felt like you needed to help. But perhaps you fall into a category that I have fallen into in the past. Perhaps you found yourself in a problem, a math problem that has kept you from doing important work. So I'd like to begin with that. To put it simply, if I wanted to give of my means to help someone, but I had already spent it all, I would not be able to help them even if I wanted to. And this is where the math problem comes in for a lot of families. I want you to envision a few words written on a piece of paper. Word number one at the top is your income. That is how much money you have to work with, let's say every month. Probably you could get into some ballpark figure over how much money after taxes will belong to you in the month of January, 2021. For most of us, the word that comes under income is spending. Pretty much as soon as the money comes in, it is demanded to be spent. A large portion of the pie is automatically dedicated to expenses. You know, your house note, taxes, insurance, vehicle payment, fuel, food, all of that. These basic expenses that are set for most families. When we talk about spending, that's what we're referencing. Of course, not all of the spending that I do in January will be on expenses. Some of it will be on excesses. Things like Disney Plus and Netflix, eating out, getting new clothes, all these variety of things that just come flying out of the bank account as the month goes by. Now, most of us see our month-to-month kind of like that. There is income, and there are all of these optional and non-optional expenses. So if you can imagine this on a sheet of paper, you have the word income written in green with a plus beside it. Underneath that, you have in red with a minus the word spending. And then if there is much left, you also have the word saving. Maybe this happens automatically through your work, 401k or IRA investments or whatever. For most of us, our savings are both short-term and long term. Long term is how much comes out of your income to prepare for retirement or some goal that's way down the line. And then there is short-term saving as well. If you want to take a vacation next year with your family, you save a certain amount each month. Now, while a lot of those savings minuses are automatic, they usually come behind your expenses. In other words, you may have to adjust the savings downward if you're not able to pay all your bills. But obviously, we have taken a massive amount of our income away on just two words, spending and saving. So let's add one more word underneath it. Sharing. I am not going to have to work hard today to convince you that God gave us good things to share. He wants to put people in our lives who need things, and he wants us to share with them. Biblical accounts and examples abound. This sharing can include giving on Sunday to the work of the local church, giving things, items, finances to church members who are going through a hard time, or yes, from last week, answering the door, a call, someone who needs help, a stranger that may be an angel of which you are unaware, Hebrews 13, and you share with them. Now that sounds great, except that the word sharing is at the bottom of the page. And the money begins to come out from top to bottom. You start at the top with everything you have at your disposal, out comes the spending, then comes the saving, and if there's anything left at the bottom, maybe we will take an opportunity to share. This is a massive math problem because most American households, for a number of reasons, run out of money long before they get to the third S. Have you ever experienced that? You'd love to share, but there's just no money left. You would love to go to the bank and grab some funds and go buy some food or help with that payment for a church member who's hurting, but there's just not much there in the bank to work with. Your bills are paid, your 401k is financed, and that's about it. It may not look like a math problem to you, but it is certainly a math problem for people God puts in front of you who could really use your help. Maybe we try to explain it to them sometimes. Oh, I'd really love to help you, but I just can't. I do have $20 in my wallet, though, you can have that. I sure hope that helps you find a motel tonight. By the way, if this in any way sounds like I'm coming at you, I'm basically looking at a mirror in front of my microphone right now, confronting some of the pre-programmed demons of my own past. But hey, it's 2021, it's a brand new month, brand new year, great opportunities, but we need to solve this math problem, don't we? We need to reorganize the way that things go out once God allows them to come in. Okay, so I'll wrap this thing up in a few minutes by reorganizing some of those words and fixing the math problem, but I told you about three Bible passages, and I need you to hear them now. In First Timothy chapter six, the Apostle Paul taught Timothy about money, and he warned about the desire to get rich, verse 9, those who long for it, and how the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. Just before that, in the text, he talked about the need to be content with what we have and also to understand that we cannot take the money with us, so we need to use it wisely. Now, when preachers read that text, most Christians say, That's not me. I don't have that sinful love of money, and it has not caused me to wander from the faith. And I certainly pray that is true for you, but the real message comes later in verse 17. Please listen carefully. Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. If we do not suffer from the love of money, then we need to be ready to share. What we store up spiritually should be our greatest treasure, and we should be preparing ourselves to share our monetary goods so that we can put that spiritual joy on display. And that's what today's episode is about. I almost titled it Ready to Share, because some reorganization of how we process our income can get us to that place. All right, so that text is helpful, but the one verse that changed my life is found in Luke chapter 12, verse 33. Jesus was not talking to that rich young ruler we sometimes reference. He was talking to disciples like you and me. Listen to this. You may be shocked that Jesus actually said this. Verse 33 Sell your possessions and give to charity. Did you know that Jesus said that? Sell your possessions and give to charity, make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, and unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. You might say in a little bit, I've got too many expenses, too many things in my life. I can't give to charity. I can't help people. Jesus would say, Then you need to sell some things. I guess I should say that differently. Jesus did say sell your possessions and give to charity. And that word is connected to the poor. I don't know who's going to be shaken up by today's episode, but you need to come to grips with the fact that giving of your monetary blessings to help people in need is not a suggestion, it is a command of our King who tells us that this is how you show that your spiritual treasures are all that matter. You use your monetary ones to prove it. And then, of course, lastly, we have Matthew 25, where Jesus gives us a glimpse at the judgment day scene where we appear before him and we're either put to his left or his right. And the way that he determined it was how we fed him when he was hungry, we gave him something to drink when he thirsted, we gave him clothes when he was naked, we visited him when he was sick, and we assisted him when imprisoned. And the people were like, Jesus, when did we see you in any of those situations? And he's like, Look around. I'm talking about people. When I put people in your life who are sick, who are hungry or thirsty or a stranger to the extent that you do so to the least of them, you have done so to me. He went on to say, Those whom I welcome in, I will welcome in because they clothed me and fed me and visited me when they did so to the people, the brothers and sisters, the neighbors, the souls that I put before them in this life. I know I'm coming at you hot and heavy today, but we've got to shake this thing up. A lot of this is a deprogramming of what churches even have taught for years to families, that there's some disconnect between what we give and who we are. Jesus says you need to put those two things back together because in the judgment, they're going to matter. So if you would like more details on any of this, I preached a sermon at the Lindale Church of Christ a few weeks ago. It had more passages, more in-depth study, and I commend that to you. For now though, if you are on board with me, how can we fix this? First of all, it's heart, isn't it? It's intentionality, it's opening our eyes to the souls around us. That's the beginning. I trust that you've already done that with me. But now we have to solve the math problem. So let's finish with that. You know, at the top you have your income, and let's say we don't change that in January. It is exactly what you thought it was going to be. But what if the first word under it was the word share? You made a decision to share a certain amount of that income. You set it aside, this much for contribution, this much for needy saints, this much for people in the community. You marked it, you set it aside, and once you did so, even if a need didn't arise for a few months, that money would be held in place only to be used for those purposes. If you will just do this, it will change everything. You will be ready to share. You literally have accumulated funds first to do this work. Let me give you a practical example of how this can help. In November this last year, we had a sacred selections benefit in our city. Sacred Selections accumulates funds to help Christian families adopt children. I hadn't prepared for that event. I paid for my ticket to go. I get there, I'm crying over all the stories. They start asking for money. I had some set aside, not very much. I gave it to them, but it was nothing. I wanted to do so much more, I wasn't ready to. I cannot wait for November 2021. I will each month set aside funds off the top for that sacred selections event. And when it comes, I will be ready, as the Bible says, ready to share. Well, listen, if you'll start there, the rest will work itself out. Underneath that, maybe you can put the word spending, your expenses. But remember, a lot of those expenses are optional. They're things that we don't have to have. We might be able to sell some things to eliminate the expenses, which is exactly what Jesus told us to do. We may be able to eliminate some of the excesses, but we do not compromise what we have set aside to share. And then savings comes underneath that. And it's great to save for future giving. Dave Ramsey has some great things to say about that. But look, I can't save my whole life in hopes of helping people later. I need to be helping people now and then try and save and invest so that I'm not a burden to others later. And maybe I hit some home run and I'm able to really help people, but I'm not going to be waiting for that. Jesus wants me at work now. So there it is, the solution to the math problem. Maybe you can get more income, but make sure to set aside for sharing first. You may even want to put save underneath that, and then determine what kind of car you can drive or how big your house can be. If this comes to mean real sacrifice for you, just remember that our true treasure is in heaven. So for now and for its sake, let's solve the math problem. Thank you so much for joining in today. If you enjoyed this program, consider sharing it with your family and your friends. As always, you can go to excelstillmore. And remember this whatever you choose to do today in the name of the Lord Jesus, excel still more.