Welcome to Christ the Redeemer Podcast.
A little something different this week because our sermon did not record on Sunday.
So I'm going to try something different this week.
I'm going to just talk my notes into a recorder.
I'm not going to so much preach as talk, and I'm just going to go through my notes like I did on Sunday, but I'll do it for you, the podcast listeners.
So last week I got curious about what Christian books were selling in the month of December.
So I looked it up, and the number one Christian book in December of last year, just before Christmas, was the book being sold.
It's Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.
So this sort of piqued my interest.
I researched a little bit more and got into some research.
And according to Fidelity Investments research, you know, they sell mutual funds and different stuff like that.
Their research for 2020, about 70% of Americans have some sort of New Year's financial resolution.
Now, 51% of us Americans hope to pay down debt.
And 35% of us want to spend less.
I think all of us, we'd hear that, we'd nod right along.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, that's us, that's me.
Now, of course, we all know money plays a huge role in our lives, but also in our hearts.
And what the research shows about our resolutions and certainly biblical teaching is that money can either serve us or money can enslave us.
Money can either serve us or money can enslave us.
So before jumping into studying the book of Joshua, which is what we're going to study this winter and this spring, we're going to talk about money this morning.
We're going to talk about how money affects the heart.
Listen to what Paul says to his menti Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, 6 through 10.
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
So, point number one, coming off of that passage, is that contentment begins in the heart.
See, this is about the heart.
That's why the scriptures talk so much about money, why Jesus talks so much about money is because it is about the heart.
And this passage is saying that godliness and contentment, these are heart categories when we talk about godliness and contentment.
They're about the heart.
Godliness means piety toward God, piety toward God.
Now, that word piety or piety can be a bit of a loaded word in modern times, but what it means is a heart directed toward God.
That's what godliness is.
It's a heart directed toward God.
It's been ravished by the love of God, redeemed by the work of Jesus, and is directed toward God.
Now, contentment means sufficient.
I'm sufficient, you're sufficient.
Or satisfied with what you have.
That's what it means to be content.
You're satisfied.
Your heart is satisfied and at peace with what you have.
So Paul is talking about a heart directed toward God that is already satisfied and is living in a place of peace and contentment and calm and satisfaction.
So this begs some questions for our hearts.
The first question that comes up is, and you can look at the screens, the first question is, does my heart begin in satisfaction and contentment or neediness and wanting?
Does my heart begin in satisfaction and contentment or neediness and wanting?
Number two, how am I trying to use money to find satisfaction and peace?
How am I trying to use money to find satisfaction and peace?
Number three, last question Am I living holistically as a whole, from the entirety of my heart?
Am I living holistically from the heart?
Allowing the love of God and the truth of scriptures to transform my relationship with money.
Last week I read in my Men's Journal magazine.
I take Men's Journal, one of my favorite magazines.
And this magazine is always telling me about the greatest, the best things, and it was about the most expensive sports car to ever be built.
The Bugatti Cheeron, Cheeron, Cheeron, I'm not sure how you pronounce that.
Cheeron Super Sport 300.
And it's arrived in New York City.
There's one in New York City.
This is a French automobile manufacturer.
They're only making 30 of this car, the Super Sport 300, 30 for the entire world.
It can go 300 miles per hour.
It can go zero to 60 in 2.3 seconds.
So that means from right now, one, two, to 60 miles per hour.
I mean, that's incredible.
And it only costs, it only costs four million dollars.
That's it.
That's all it costs.
Now, even if you don't have that kind of money, I doubt you do, most of us don't, but even if you don't have that kind of money, you sort of, you sort of wish you could buy one.
Even if you don't want to buy one, you sort of wish you could buy one, right?
Like even if you wouldn't piddle your money away on that, you still have something that you wish you could piddle your way, some money on, because it means you would have so much money, right?
I mean, this is something we so easily fall into, and it's just this idea that like if I had that thing, if I had that, I would be enough.
If I had that, I would be enough.
Right?
I mean, this is something we so easily believe that's incredibly unhealthy for our hearts.
If I had that next amount of money, if I had that next amount of mutual funds, if I had that next thing, then, then, then, then, then I would be at peace, then I would be enough, then I'd be content.
And as soon as we begin into that cycle, we have lost in our hearts.
It's about our hearts, our hearts will never know contentment.
And that's what Paul is saying in that 1 Timothy 6.6.
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
Your great gain.
My great gain is godliness with contentment.
That's what it is.
A heart directed toward God that is living, satisfied, and sufficient.
That's what we want, anyways.
And that's not about perfection, it's about a heart definition and heart direction.
Point number two is this great gain, straight from the verse there, 6-6.
Great gain comes by godliness and contentment.
Now, Paul isn't talking about an increase of cash flow.
He's talking about an increase of the flow of peace and contentment for your heart.
And that sort of gain comes by having a heart that's at the end of itself and overwhelmed and defined by the love of God and not the love of money.
Now, commercials won't tell you that.
My men's journal magazine doesn't tell me that.
No, they show me the Bugatti.
But what Paul's talking about, what the scriptures tell us, tell us the gospel story.
This is free to receive.
And it's such a good, good thing that we don't need anything else to be at peace, but a heart growing in awareness that it's only by the love of God and a heart directed toward God that we're gonna know any of this contentment and satisfaction and peace in this world.
Verse 10.
Now the bad news.
Verse 10, he drops the bad news.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
So it's a root, there's that heart language is inside of us.
Love of money, that's all that's heart language is inside of us.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
So out of that love, that consumption, that affection, that desire, all kinds of evils come from that.
All sorts of, you maybe you've seen it in people, yourself, your family, control, greed, hoarding.
Verse 10, it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
So, point number three is this the love of money can threaten your walk of faith.
The love of money can threaten your walk of faith.
Now, I don't think Paul is saying it threatens the gift of Jesus' forgiveness and absolution and righteousness for you.
Your justification is not at stake here, but the faith walk you have to experience that freeing relationship and the status you already have in Jesus, that experience of that freedom and that peace that's in the heart.
It begins inside the core of who you are.
That freedom, that faith walk is at risk when you love money.
16 years ago, Christy and I went through a robust premarital counseling.
I'm talking like eight months, 20 sessions.
Apparently, we really needed it, or the counselor thought so.
The section on the section on the money, uh, it was good.
It was the best.
I mean, the section on sex was good too, you know, that for sure.
But the section on money was great also, and I'm a saver.
I, you know, I live, especially then.
I mean, I just I could save everything, I could live anywhere, I could live in a tent and save, and I'd be happy.
I had to learn to give and I had to learn to spend.
I've overly loved money my entire life, just if I can save a little bit more.
Now, Christy came into our marriages, she came in as a giver and as a spender.
So I had to learn to give and spend, and she had to learn to save.
And now, those are the three categories.
They're the three categories for money anybody lives with.
Saving, spending, and giving.
Those are the only three categories that money does anything.
Now, contemplating these categories with the Lord, that is about derooting money as an idol of the heart, as to live in greater peace and contentment.
And then money doesn't enslave you, but it serves you.
And you don't even own that money.
You begin to realize you steward that money early on in our premarital counseling.
Two pieces of practical advice.
They've brought us so much great freedom to Christy and I over the years.
So helpful to us.
And the the first practical advice was this.
The first one was this agree if you're married, the first one's if you're married, the second one's for everybody.
The first one is this it agree upon a budget together and live by it together.
Okay, so agree upon a budget together.
You contemplate it, you sit down, you plan together, you agree upon it together, live by it together, so you don't have to police each other.
Now, this was groundbreaking because Christy loves Starbucks.
And I see Starbucks is like four bucks at a time, just gone, gone, gone.
It was like burning money, but she loves Starbucks.
And so to give her a line item where she had some money to spend and she could spend as much as she wanted to.
You know what?
If I wanted to buy a third chainsaw, I could buy a third chainsaw, and the budget became the one to say, you can do this or you can't.
The budget policed each of us, and we didn't have to police each other.
That gave us great freedom in our relationship.
The second piece of advice that was so freeing for us when it came to money was this: it was contemplate the giving question first, then the saving, then the spending.
Contemplate the giving question first, then the saving, then the spending.
Now this seems paradoxical because uh naturally we kind of go, well, you know, I'm gonna contemplate my spending and then I'll save some and then I'll give some.
But no, if you flip it around and you contemplate the giving question first, then the saving, then the spending, this creates time and space for you to consider your finances with God, asking the Spirit to guide your plans.
And here's what happens so radical.
But it makes sense when we stop and think this through.
You become more generous to the church and others when you live in a contemplative rhythm of giving rather than a reactive rhythm.
So a reactive rhythm of giving is good.
I don't want to downplay that.
That's a good rhythm, it's spontaneous.
That was a great sermon.
I'm gonna drop a little bit in the offering plate.
Or maybe you see somebody in need and you give money, you feel emotional, you have a reaction, you want to give, and you spontaneously give, you're a fundraiser, you're a friend in need, and you give, it's reactive, it's spontaneous, and it's good, it's good.
But to grow in giving, and then the freedom of a generous heart, heart that's free and generous, it means that you you you're reactive, but you're also you're also contemplative about it.
You are contemplating, and you are setting forth a pattern of giving from the very beginning of your finances, and you are setting forth this pattern because you want to have a free and generous heart.
And you're gonna do this no matter how you feel, because it's already set and it's planned, and it turns out a generous spirit in us increases our joy in life because we're moving from enslavement from money to money serving us and others.
And then we ask the saving question, and then we ask the spending question, and it's miraculous because then we begin to save more because we're more conscious, and then we become more self-aware of our spending.
Now I know the question comes, right?
As soon as you start to talk about finances, because you're like, well, how much should I save?
And just to get practical, you can Google Crown Ministries, Crown Ministries budget worksheet.
And they'll look at your income, you put in your income, and then they'll break down the percentages of what you should be spending on each category.
Christy and I, we still work off the Crown Ministry's budget worksheet that we set in place 16 years ago.
Second question becomes this, how much should I give?
If I'm the contemplate this giving question first, like how much?
And I'd like to say, I don't know.
I'm still asking that question.
Christy and I are still asking that question for ourselves.
Because the gospel sets us free from the law of tithing 10% to be right with God.
You're already right with God because it's Jesus' love and death for you.
You're fully righteous because of Jesus.
It's not that at 9% of giving, all of a sudden you're not okay, and at 7%, or you know, heaven forbid, 2%, you know, God doesn't love you, but at 12%, all of a sudden he loves you in incredible and wow, if you up it above that, who knows what could happen for you?
None of that's going on.
This is about a heart set free to be generous.
And when it comes to the New Testament, Jesus is teaching that Jesus talks about money as not being a treasure in your heart and to give freely.
Listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9, 7.
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Now, different churches word this differently.
What we like to say at our church for sake of clarity is we love to say, you know what, giving 10% of your income is good to consider.
But the guide is joyful, sacrificial giving, because you're free from the law, so walk in the spirit.
You get to give to our church, or who knows, maybe you end up at some other church and you get to give there joyfully without obligation or guilt or burden.
And you get to give to that place to help that place run and the ministries they support.
And it's an act of worship.
It's an act from the heart.
And here's what actually happens by asking that quotes questions in that order, the giving question first and the saving question, then the spending question in that order, you'll probably give more or you'll grow toward it.
You'll probably save more, or you will grow toward it, and you'll become more aware of your spending.
And the giving becomes joy, and the saving becomes joy, and even the spending becomes joy.
And it's all from a heart that's been ravished by the love of God, directed toward God, and at peace and content with God alone.
Now, a few things as we close.
I'm on my last sheet of notes here.
Some of us are in debt, and it is really difficult to even breathe.
And Christmas didn't help because you know that credit card bill is coming in in mid-January and you're already worried about it.
And we have people in our church, if your finances are such a mess, you don't even know how to begin to get out of the hole, or you're just looking for some additional help.
We have people in our church that would love to sit down with you and set a plan with you to begin to get out of the hole.
And you can come and speak to me, or you can email our staff email, staff at redeemermarietta.org, and we will set you up with somebody.
So that's the first thing in my closing.
The second thing in my closing is this this past summer, comedian Tracy Morgan, he picked up his two million dollar Bugatti in New York City.
He pulled out of the garage to begin driving his two million dollar Bugatti home.
And he sure enough gets in a wreck with a Honda.
Now here's the good news.
Good news for Tracy, good news for that guy owning that Honda, good news for you know anybody.
That Honda and that Bugatti.
They're both gonna rust and break down.
And you're gonna rust and break down.
My hips are already positing me.
My lower back when I work too long at a desk, right?
Like, like we're all gonna die one day.
We're gonna leave it all.
And isn't that freeing to a heart that wants to latch on and tight grip things in this world?
Now here's the last thing.
Best of all, God walks with you in grace through all of this.
Yes, we overly love money.
We overly love money in so many different ways.
Or maybe we don't care at all about money, and that's its own issue.
Maybe you hoard or maybe you spin, maybe you hurt people with money.
We're sinners.
We are sinners.
We don't have a right relationship with money from our hearts.
But in Jesus, we are always absolved, always forgiven, and always righteous.
God loves us even while we don't have our hearts completely right.
Or our finances in impeccable order.
So listen to how Paul begins his letter to Timothy.
So this is in chapter one.
You've got to consider what we read about with the money, it was chapter six.
So long before, this is one letter, long before he writes about money, listen what he says to Timothy.
He roots Timothy in the security of the gospel.
Listen to this.
1 Timothy 1, 15 through 17.
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.
But I received mercy for this reason.
That in me, as the foremost Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
God, I pray for these listeners who hear this word from your word, 1 Timothy, about money and about the heart.
And would you put in us a free and giving heart in greater and greater ways?
Would we know we're already free in Jesus and you are calling us deeper into a greater freedom to know and walk in?
God, would you help us to see the ways in which we don't have right relationship with money?
Would we live in an ongoing repentance in your grace that we are free to repent and free to surrender over in new ways because you already love us, already absolve us, already forgive us, and we're already righteous.
Thank you that long before you gave us any thoughts about contentment and money, you gave us the promise of Jesus that we are fully secure in your children long before we have our acts together.
Thank you for this great love, this great mercy, this perfect patience that we need as sinners.
And thank you that you love us always.
Amen.