Financial Freedom with Biblical Peace #1
Faith Church, Saint Thomas, Ontario
Pastor Bill Coleman
{This is an on-going mini-series that is being given from time to time in 2011, where additional principles will be added throughout the year.}
Jesus Christ promised His disciples, not only eternal life in the After-life, but an abundant life in the here and now. Part of that abundant life includes financial freedom with biblical peace.
There are many today, who would say, “I do not have peace with regard to my finances. In fact, they keep me up late at night, worrying.” Most divorces can be traced to financial pressures.
So, periodically, in 2011, I would like to take a few minutes, from time to time, to share with you God’s principles for financial freedom, which promotes biblical peace.
The first principle God gives us about this subject is:
Principle #1: God created everything
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
This simple principle profoundly leads to:
Principle #2: God owns everything
Psalm 24:1 ”The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,
See that apostrophe‘s? That means that the earth and everything in the earth and everyone who lives on the earth is God’s possession. Why?
2for He has created it….”
So, when it comes to our possessions, we soon discover they are His possessions first.
This even goes so far as to include, “those who dwell therein.” All people on the planet, whether they recognize it or not, belong to Him because He is the Creator God, and they are responsible to Him.
The Apostle Paul picked up on this principle in a letter to the Christians in the church of Corinth, where he was encouraging them to collect an offering for the needy Christians, who were under persecution in the regions around Jerusalem. In that letter, he used another group of Christians as a good example of what God is looking for. He wrote:
2 Corinthians 8:5 “… they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”
In other words, it began with surrendering to God as Creator and Owner of all, including “themselves”. Then, they gave their financial contribution. That’s principle:
Principle #3: We Put Him First.
This acknowledgment would include our time, our talents, and our treasure. So, when we worship the Lord with our tithes and offerings, we are acknowledging what He already is. We are recognizing that He is our Creator. We belong to Him, and whatever we own is His to be used for His glory, His way. This is why our giving is an act of worship.
Financial Freedom with Biblical Peace #2
Christmas
I remember Christmas as a boy, so looking forward to some special toy. When I got the toy, I was thrilled. But, I also remember that about now, mid-January, a few weeks after Christmas, there was this post-Christmas let-down. The toy really didn’t do for me what I imagined it would. Maybe it broke. So, I started thinking about some other toy, I didn’t have. Sound familiar? It is a lesson to be learned that stuff just does not give lasting peace and contentment.
As part of our worship experience together this year, once in a while before we worship the Lord with our giving, I’m going to be sharing with you what God says about finding biblical peace through financial freedom.
Finding Financial Peace
God promises His obedient children, that if we put His truth into action, He will bless us with a special kind of freedom in our finances, which always brings a sense of peace and contentment and joy, we would not have otherwise.
Last Sunday, we looked at the first three principles from God’s Word. They were:
Principle #1: God created everything
This leads to a “therefore”, a practical conclusion for us, which is principle #2.
Principle #2: God owns everything
Psalm 24:1 ”The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,2for He has created it.”
So, when we worship the Lord with our tithes and offerings, we are simply acknowledging that He is our Creator, we belong to Him, and whatever we own is His to be used for His glory, His way. This is why our giving is an act of worship.
A Crisis of Ownership
This truth that God owns us and everything we have throws every person into a crisis of faith, a crisis of ownership. Will we acknowledge this? Will we surrender to His ownership?
Our third principle was God calls us to
Principle #3 – We put Him first.
Jesus Christ put it like this:
Matthew 6:33 ”But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
In the context of this passage, He was discussing our everyday needs: food, clothing, shelter, and so forth.
These “things”, He is referring to, are all of the material stuff we need to live in this life.
When we pause every week to worship God with our giving, we are acknowledging that He is the Owner of everything and deserves our first and best gifts.
When we put Him first and His kingdom first in our giving, He promises to provide for us. See where He said “all these things will be “added” to you?
Let’s trust Him to do what He promised.
Financial Freedom with Biblical Peace #3
Toni Riss had a credit card with a 79.9% interest rate, according to CNNMoney.com.
The 58-year-old woman from Texas thought she struck gold when she found the First Premier Bank card, which is aimed specifically at consumers with poor credit.
Apparently 700,000 people have signed up for the card — and more than half of them carry a monthly balance at 79.9% interest and $135 a year in fees. And yet the customers keep coming. The company said it serves nearly 3 million customers nationwide and receives anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 applications a month, with 50,000 new customers a month at 79.9% interest. I wonder how many of those customers have a peaceful night’s sleep?
The Bible is extremely practical. It touches on nearly every area of everyday living, including money. God says that if we will do our personal money His way that there are many blessings which will follow, including peace of mind.
Periodically this year, before we worship the Lord with our tithes and offerings, I am sharing some principles from the Bible about Financial Freedom with Biblical Peace. Thus far, we have already seen three:
Principle #1: God created everything (Genesis 1:1)
This leads to a “therefore”, a practical conclusion for us, which is principle #2.
Principle #2: God owns everything (Psalm 24:1)
The truth that God owns us and everything we have throws every person into a crisis of faith, a crisis of ownership. Will we acknowledge this? Will we surrender to His ownership? This leads to the third principle God calls us to
Principle #3 – We put Him first.
Jesus Christ put it like this:
Matthew 6:33 ”But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
The things He mentioned in the context were the necessities of life. Obviously, Jesus Christ taught that God will provide for what we need if we place Him first in our lives.
I am sure we all know that what we need and what we want are not the same thing. It’s very hard living in our culture figuring out what we really need because of constant advertising. This is why visiting a Third World culture is so helpful.
We know that although the Bible teaches tithing, that is, giving our tenth to the Lord’s work, that most Christians in north America don’t even come close. Why is that? It really is simple. They have not put Him first in their lives, and when they discover that, it is usually very hard to change one’s financial situation quickly to do what God teaches. It is very hard to give a tenth when I’m spending 105% of what I make on myself.
This leads us to biblical principles #4 & #5:
Principle #4 – We Must Battle Consumerism
Principle #5 – We Must Learn Contentment
The Apostle Paul put it like this:
1 Timothy 6:6 “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9But 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. 10For 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, when we worship the Lord with our tithes and offerings, we are simply acknowledging that He is our Creator, we belong to Him, and whatever we own is His to be used for His glory, His way. We are trusting Him to provide for us and our contentment comes, not from accumulation, but from Him. This is why our giving is an act of worship. With a contented spirit comes peace.
Financial Freedom with Biblical Peace #4
I heard a speaker one time who said, “You hear people say, ‘Pastor, If I had a million bucks, I would give it to the church.” He went to say, “God does not care what we would do with what we don’t have; He wants to know what we will do with the five bucks we do have.” I thought, that’s good advice.
Periodically this year, before worshipping the Lord with our tithes and offerings, I am sharing some principles from the Bible on Financial Freedom with Biblical Peace. God wants to bless us financially and one of the things He offers is peace of mind about our finances. We’ve already looked at various principles. Let’s review:
Principle #1: God created everything (Genesis 1:1)
This leads to conclusion for us, which is principle #2.
Principle #2: God owns everything (Psalm 24:1)
The truth that God owns us and everything we own is actually His, puts each of us into point of decision. If I am His and all I have is His, then, I have to put Him first.
Principle #3 – We put Him first.
Jesus Christ put it like this:
Matthew 6:33 ”But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
The problem we face, of course, is that we are constantly bombarded with messages that teach us to put ourselves and our wants in first place. Don’t you find it much easier to spend money on something you want instead of donating to something else? Of course, we do. When our sinfulness, which is always self-centered, runs into non-stop media advertising telling to buy, buy, buy, we have to decide who are going to listen to. This leads us to biblical principles #4 & #5:
Principle #4 – We Must Battle Consumerism
Principle #5 – We Must Learn Contentment (1 Timothy 6:6-10)
The way to fight consumerism is thankfulness for what God gives to us. This thanksgiving leads to contentment and peace of mind.
There is a challenging and convicting story in the New Testament about a group of Christians, who were asked to help another group of Christians who were suffering poverty. In attempting to encourage the church located in Corinth, Greece, the Apostle Paul used another groups of churches in Macedonia as an example for them to follow.
2 Corinthians 8:1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
He is describing a group of Christians who were suffering affliction and, watch this, “extreme poverty”. But, he asked them to give anyway. Why? God blesses people who give.
2 Corinthians 8: 3For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4begging us earnestly for the favour of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
They were “begging” for the opportunity to give. No doubt, others were saying, “Oh. You’re already in trouble. Let others do it.” They gave according to their means and even “beyond their means, of their own accord.” They had a willing heart, because they “gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.” This is why, when we give our tithes and offerings each week, we can say we are worshipping the Lord with our tithes and offerings. What we are saying is: “God, I put you first in my life. I will obey you with everything about me, including what you provide for me. I will trust You.”
This is what giving to the Lord is really all about. It is about giving ourselves to Him, willing to sacrifice, even if it is beyond our means, because it is His will. God promises to bless that attitude. This leads us to principle #6 in finding financial freedom with biblical peace:
Principle #6 – We pray for a sacrificial heart.
Financial Freedom with Biblical Peace #5
I was sitting on a plane flying out of Miami on my way home to Toronto a few years ago. The guy sitting next to me was a chatty sort of guy, so we had a very interesting discussion about credit, debt, borrowing, and so forth. He represented some huge banking industry. His job was to work with the governments of Developing Countries helping their banking industry create ways for people to borrow money.
My first thought was, “Is this good?” What I never thought about and he explained was in Third World countries, people don’t have a way to borrow money. I have visited several of these countries. Their poverty is connected very much to what this guy was trying to solve. Because they had no credit system, they could not borrow money or have a line of credit to start a business. So, they didn’t. Because there was no way to have a mortgage on a house, they lived in what they can pay for on a daily basis. Often, this meant living in the open, in dangerous, unhealthy, and substandard housing.
This conversation changed my view of debt. Debt, borrowing, credit can be a wonderful thing, which is no doubt why the Bible gives certain rules to manage debt. It praises those who loan money in certain circumstances of generosity. Instead of saying, “Debt is Sin,” the Bible regulates it with certain principles.
Periodically this year, before worshipping the Lord with our tithes and offerings, I am sharing some principles from the Bible on Financial Freedom with Biblical Peace. God wants to bless us financially and one of the things He offers is peace of mind about our finances. Obviously, having too much debt is a peace robber. We’ve already looked at various principles. Let’s review:
Principle #1: God created everything (Genesis 1:1)
This leads to conclusion for us, which is principle #2.
Principle #2: God owns everything (Psalm 24:1)
The truth that God owns us and everything we own is actually His, puts each of us into point of decision. If I am His and all I have is His, then, I have to put Him first.
Principle #3 – We put Him first.
Jesus Christ put it like this:
Matthew 6:33 ”But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
The problem we face, of course, is that we are constantly bombarded with messages that teach us to put ourselves and our wants in first place. This leads us to make some important personal decisions, as followers of Christ:
Principle #4 – We Must Battle Consumerism
Principle #5 – We Must Learn Contentment (1 Timothy 6:6-10)
The way to fight consumerism is thankfulness for what God gives to us. This thanksgiving leads to contentment and peace of mind. This is where debt can become a trap instead of the blessing it was designed to be. We’ll come back to that.
We also read about a group of churches in Macedonia who gave sacrificially, even though they were, themselves, in deep poverty,
2 Corinthians 8:2 “for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part…. 5and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”
Again, we see the principle of putting God first in our lives. This leads us to principle #6 in finding financial freedom with biblical peace:
Principle #6 – We pray for a sacrificial heart.
It is really hard to be sacrificial when we are up to our noses in personal debt. This is the other side of the biblical teaching. The Bible treats debt as a valuable thing; but can be very dangerous. Most of the biblical comments on debt, borrowing, credit, and so forth are warnings. Here’s one:
Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
See that strong word “slave?” This leads us to Principle #7:
Principle #7 – Don’t Become a Slave to Debt
We could flip this and say, “start a plan to get our of debt as soon as possible.” Next week, we will look at such a plan.