A popular show on television is Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Have you ever seen that? And they have all kinds of people writing in, “Can I be a contestant?” I wonder if it was Who Wants to be a Thousandaire if they would have very many people writing in. Somehow we get all excited about big numbers and big money. We want more.
And the Bible talks a lot about money. Do you know that for every verse in the Bible that talks about the values and benefits of wealth, there are probably ten that warn you about the hazards of wealth. No wonder Solomon focused so much of his time on this topic. Earned money is actually a condensation of your life. If you go out here and you work 40 or 50 hours, 60 hours in a week, and you get paid for that, you get a little piece of paper known as a paycheck, and that is the condensation of those 40, 50, 60 hours. Money. That’s what it is. It’s made into an object that can fit in your hand. Life is good. And therefore, money can be good also, because it represents our life. Money gives us shelter and food and clothing and can provide many, many wonderful things for us. And many people are interested in getting more of it.
But we need some sound wisdom on that. Hard work, I think, is the yeast that raises the dough. And good sense enables us to properly slice our dough, and not overdo it. Fortunately for us, Solomon has a lot of great ideas on money. Let me get started right away on these.
Number 1. The first success secret about money is, pay God first. Now I’d like for you to go in your Bible to Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 9. And I want to read this according to the New King James Bible. It says, "Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase." Verse 10, "So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine." So if you want your barns full of plenty, then pay God first. It’s a simple principle. You give to Him and then He blesses you and your barns will be full. If you give Him the first fruits. Pay God first.
Proverbs 8, verse 21. God says, "I give wealth to those who love me, filling their houses with treasures." That’s His promise. So put God first. Demonstrate your love for Him. And this happens wonderfully when God shows up in a significant way in both our date book and our checkbook. Proverbs 13:21. "Prosperity is the reward of the righteous." So does that mean if you go to church you’ll never have any bills that you can’t pay? It says prosperity is the reward of the righteous. Christians who follow the Success Secrets of Solomon, all of them, will be rewarded handsomely. I believe that. When you place God first in your life, you are really the one who benefits. And so, return God’s tithe. Return it first. And the tithe is 10%. You’ve seen people who will go to the Olive Garden and pay the waitress 10%, and then they’ll come to church and tip God. In fact, they give the waitress 15%, sometimes. And give God a tip. And God is… God is the one Who blesses us. This makes no sense.
Number 2. Be generous with others. Look at Proverbs, chapter 21 now. Proverbs 21 and verse 13. The New Living Translation says this. "Those who shut their ears to the cry of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need." That’s a heavy verse. This does not say ‘the worthy poor’. Does that mean that every time you go up there on Shallowford Road, and you get off to go to the Hamilton Place Mall, and the man is standing there with a sign that says ‘will work for food’, does that mean that you should give him money? I don’t know. You need to use your judgment on that, but when you help others you’re really helping yourself. You’re fulfilling what the Bible says.
Proverbs 22, verse 9. "A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." And this includes your family, your neighbors, your church. But, what happens when you ignore that principle? Notice Proverbs, chapter 28. Come over here to Proverbs 28, and I want to read this according to the Good Word Translation. And in fact, you just follow along in whatever Bible you have. Proverbs, chapter 28, verse 22 says, "A stingy person", a stingy person, "is in a hurry to get rich, not realizing that poverty is about to overtake him." Poverty awaits a stingy person. If you don’t help others, if you don’t use your money to help the poor, poverty is waiting for you. Not riches.
Principle number 3. Save. Save! This is in Proverbs 21, verse 20 in the NIV here. Proverbs 21 and verse 20. "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but the foolish man devours all he has." What’s in the house of the wise? Stores of choice food and oil, but the foolish man devours all he has.
Don’t use up what you have. Spend Less than you make! Nothing makes our clothes more out of style than when we get a pay increase. Don’t use it all up. I’m not going to use all this water up. I may need some later on. You need to save. When you get a raise, you get an increase. Increase your giving to God and increase your saving. The average American has a potential, over a lifetime of earnings, of earning about a million and a half dollars. That’s the average. However, by the time the average American retires they have a total net worth of less than $50,000, exclusive of home equity. Where did it all go? They consumed it all. Upon themselves or upon something. Solomon says the wise man’s house has stores of good food, while his foolish neighbor consumes all he gets. Don’t consume it all. If you’re a husband, don’t go out there and charge up all those credit cards. If you’re a wife don’t do that. Save! Save.
Do you have a husband who saves? Do you have a wife who saves? Proverbs 31 describes a noble wife. If God has blessed you with a noble wife, involve her in your finances. The Bible says that she’s a hard worker. Solomon says she is wise in her management and wise in her industry. It sounds to me like that whether a boy ends up with a nest egg or a goose egg depends on which chick he marries. So when you choose a wife, choose a noble wife of Proverbs 31.
Let’s suppose that you lose your job. How long could you live without that paycheck that comes in? Well, you should have, they tell us, 3 to 6 months of savings saved back, stashed away. Ellen White. You know, she had a sock behind the door full of money. And when they were in an emergency in the church, and needed to publish the Review and Herald, or The Present Truth, they just simply got behind that door and emptied the sock, there was enough money, they could pay their bills. They had no emergency, because they had a saving.
Do you know that one of the members of my church told me one day, several years ago, “Pastor, saving money is a lack of faith.” I thought, “What?! Would you explain that.” And she said, “Yes, I will. God is going to take care of me. Why should I back Him up with my savings account?”
In my humble judgment the regular monthly act of saving a portion of my income is an act of obedience. And not a lack of faith. Because I’ve read the Bible. Look over here at Proverbs, chapter 13. You know, the ant has a stockpile of food stashed away for bad times. How does God take care of the ant? Well, Proverbs, chapter 13, verse 11, "Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow." You should gather money, little by little. Gather it. Accumulate it. Save your money, little by little. It will grow.
There are 5 things that you should be saving for.
Number 1, lay aside for future disasters that might happen. You never know when your transmission is going to go out in your car, or your heat pump’s going to go bad. You never know when the roof, the rug or the road are going to need your repairs. So prepare. Ecclesiastes, chapter 11, verse 2. "Invest what you have in several different businesses, because you don't know what disasters might happen." Now there’s a little nugget in here, says, in fact the King James says, you need to put your eggs in at least 7 or 8 baskets, in this same verse. Verse 2, Ecclesiastes 11. Don’t put all your nest egg in one basket. Some people say, “Well, I’ve got it all in the Edward Jones. Or it’s all in Merrill Lynch.” Uh, uh. It needs to all be in 7 or 8 baskets. Different locations. Each with some of the eggs in there. You know, my wife and I, we have family photographs. Do you have a drawer of pictures, or albums of pictures of your family? We store the negatives somewhere else, other than our house. Those negatives are not in that house, because that house could burn down, and then all of our pictures’ll be destroyed. Never put all your eggs in 1 basket. Solomon says to prepare for future catastrophes. So you need to save for that.
Number 2, you need to save for your retirement years. Social Security might not be there. Probably will be, but you should have at least 10% of what you make, hopefully, saved, on a regular basis. Solomon says in Proverbs 6, verse 6, "Consider the ant." You know, the ant lives a good life, I suppose, unless it’s a fire ant, because I feed them a special food. But the ant saves during the good times so that it will not suffer during the lean times of the future. Because lean times are coming. And in the tiny brain of that ant, it has the awareness that the vast quantities of summer food will not always be there. So let’s be as smart as the ant. Save for the future. For your future. For your retirement. The bottom line. Don’t consume it all.
Number 3, save for security. Look at Proverbs chapter 10. Proverbs, chapter 10, verse 15. The New Living Translation says, "The wealth of the rich is their fortress." Their fortress. Wealth is a fortress. Let’s say that you spend every dollar you make. At the end of Friday, it’s all depleted. Everything is gone. Then the car breaks down. Then what? You’ve lost your security. You’re financially vulnerable.
Number 4, save for the freedom of choice. Let’s suppose that you live from hand to mouth and suddenly the opportunity comes, you could be a missionary in Zanzibar. Well, you have no choice. “Well, I can’t go. I don’t have the money.” There is no choice. But when you have a savings account, you have freedom of choice.
Number 5, save for the education of your children. Don’t depend on the fact that Uncle Joe is going to die before your kids get in college. And he might not give it to you anyway. Of all the millionaires today, 2 thirds of them never got a dime from inheritance. Money comes hard.. It’s like trying to fill up a bucket full of dirt by digging with a needle. But money goes fast, like water soaking into the dry sand. Almost half of Christians, when they retire, retire at the poverty level of annual income.
Number 4 now. We’re getting back to our main outline. Have a will. Look at Ecclesiastes, chapter 2. Now you understand that your life savings comes to a screeching halt at the cemetery. You understand that. And therefore, you need to have a will. Only 41 percent of American adults have a will. And without a viable will, you don’t know who is going to take care of your assets. Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and verse 19, "Somebody else will control everything for which I worked so hard here on the earth, and I don't know if he will be wise or foolish." Well, in those days you didn’t have a will, but today, you can have one.
And who should you leave it to? Proverbs 13, verse 22, "Good people leave their wealth to their children’s children, the sinner's wealth is stored up for good people." The sinner’s wealth will go to good people. Solomon says you need to provide for that in your will. And the greatest thing you can pass on to your kids is your Christian values. That’s the greatest thing. Your Christ-like character.
Number 5. Realize that your money can be quickly lost. Proverbs, chapter 23 and verse 4 says, "Do not wear yourself out getting rich. Be smart enough to stop." At what point do you say, “I have enough.”? Be smart enough to stop acquiring wealth. “I’ve reached this amount, that’s enough. That’s enough. Stop.” You’ve heard of investors who think they, well, they want to get rich quick. You remember the Davenport scenario? We could earn all this money, real quick. Maybe double the money, or 25, 30, 40 percent a year. Avoid that type of thing. Most of them lose their shirt. The safest way to double your money… Let me… I’ve got some money here. The safest way for me to double this money is to just fold it over and put it in my pocket. You want to double your money, that’s the way to do it. You’re not going to lose anything on that.
Number 6. Never co-sign. Never co-sign. Don’t do it. Look at Proverbs, chapter 6 and verse 1. "My child, be careful about giving a guarantee (co-signing) for somebody else's loan, about promising to pay when somebody else owes." If the loan goes into default, you’re going to have to pay it. Proverbs 11, verse 15. "Whoever co-signs to pay somebody else's loan will suffer." Proverbs 17:18, "It is poor judgment to co-sign." Proverbs 22, verse 26, don’t be a man who co-signs. It’s there. Don’t do it.
Solving money problems is sort of the reverse of solving weight problems. A lot of America is obese. To lose weight you need to burn more calories while you are consuming less calories. To solve your financial problems bring in more money while at the same time you spend less money.
Number 7. Let’s talk about greed. Come over here to Proverbs, chapter 1 and verse 19. This speaks of greedy people. In one of the verses of the Bible it says "greed kills selfish people." Greed is similar to covetousness. Greed is when you excessively want wealth or power or fulfillment, or you’re excessively following some addiction. Greed is when we are willing to go to almost any length to obtain the thing that we are after. It becomes our all consuming passion, controlling our very being. Proverbs 28, verse 22, "A greedy person tries to get rich quick." Their focus is on acquiring wealth.
Now we don’t do that here. However, Tennessee does have the lottery. And I have noticed that some people go down to the place where you buy lottery tickets, and they buy those tickets. They give a dollar or 5 dollars, or whatever, and buy several lottery tickets. And you buy a ticket for a dollar and you hope you’re going to win. Last week, they had the Powerball Lottery, and it was a total of 314 Million dollars. And one person, I understand, from Richmond, Indiana won the entire amount. Now they tell me that when the total gets real high, people run down there and buy even more tickets. “Oh, it’s 300 million. I better go buy some more.” Why do we do that? Because of greed. That’s why. We want to get rich quick.
Your personal greed will destroy you, and it will destroy your loved ones. Look at Proverbs 15, verse 27. It says, "A greedy man brings trouble to his family." You go down there and buy those lottery tickets. Most of the people that buy the lottery tickets are already poor. And once they have shelled out 20 or 30 dollars per week on lottery tickets, they’re even poorer. The Bible says a greedy man brings trouble to his family. That’s a shame.
Let’s suppose that that 314 million dollar Powerball was… those tickets were purchased by 200 million people. Each spending more than a dollar, because most people spend more. That means that 199 million 999 thousand, 999 people lost their money. Only one person won. Each of the needy families now has less money to get by on than they had before, except one. The odds are 1 in 200 Million. Those are terrible odds.
How would you like to get rich? Solomon tells you the way to get rich. And it is a sure fire success secret. I would like for you to come to Proverbs 14. Here it is in your Bible. Proverbs 14, and look at verse 23. He says, “All” of a certain thing brings profit. Do you know what it is? Would you like to know what it is? "All hard work brings profit." That’s the way to get rich.
My uncle Wayne Maples, he used to be a painter over here at Southern Adventist University. He said, “I’ll tell you, Don, what the way to… You could be a millionaire. Just save a dollar an hour and work a million hours.” There’s a millionaire. I thought, “Well, I could do that.” So I began figuring out how long it would take me, and I gave up.
But Solomon says all hard work brings a profit. Proverbs 28, verse 19. "He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty." When you buy a lottery ticket, you are chasing a fantasy.
That reminds me of a story I heard. This 38 year old man walked to work, to save money. Well that’s a noble thing. This happened on March 3, 1995 in Rosemont, Illinois. He had to walk across the Tri-State toll road. It was 8 lanes of traffic. Well, you might think, “Now that’s not a very good way to save money.” As he was crossing one day, he had already gone across the northbound lanes, and a gust of wind came and blew his hat off. And so he turned around and ran after his hat and a semi-truck came and killed him. Don’t risk your life for some material possession. Never chase a fantasy. If you want to chase after something, then let it be the character of Jesus Christ. You chase after Jesus.
I’ve seen greed exhibit itself even among newlyweds. People get married, and they don’t have any money. They’re just starting out in life, and they’ve got to have furniture, they’ve got to have a micro-wave oven, and a little TV, and it’s a color TV, and they’ve got to have a VCR, and they’ve got to have this and this and this. Before they know it all their credit cards are high and they’re in financial problems.
You know, you might not like this. But if you’re greedy, there is a remedy. And you might not like the remedy. But I’m going to give it to you anyway. Proverbs 21 and verse 26. Here’s the remedy for greed. It says, "They are always greedy for more," talking about the wicked people, "while the godly love to give." So you see the contrast? Greedy people exist to get. Godly people exist to give. Now there’s your cure for greed. And Jesus knew that. Remember when the rich young ruler came up to Jesus and he said, “What do I lack?” And Jesus said, “You go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and come and follow me.” And the rich man’s riches had a greater hold on him than Jesus did, and he went away sorrowful. That is the cure for greed.
And greed begins at an early age. There was a birthday party. It came time to serve the cake and a little boy named Brian came up and he said, “I want the biggest piece!” And his mother corrected him. She said, “Brian, that’s not right to say that. It’s not polite” and so forth, and she reprimanded him. And the little codger looked at her in confusion, and he said, “Well, then, how DO you get it?” Bound and determined to get the biggest piece. He just hadn’t learned the lesson that greed just begins at an early stage in life.
But you know, if you are truly greedy, instead of accumulating a monstrous nest egg, concentrate on generously helping others. If God has blessed you monetarily, look around yourself. Are there pressing needs in your community? In Chattanooga, or in the church, or in your neighborhood? Roll up your sleeves and help out. After all, we live in the volunteer state, you know. And use your resources to help somebody else.
Proverbs 30, verse 8. "Give me neither poverty nor riches." Solomon says. “But give me just enough to satisfy my needs." The kind of wealth that we need most is not dollars as much as sense. We need sense. And only God can give us true wisdom. And let me just tell you this. If I were to ask you, “How many of you are wealthy here?” probably all of you would raise your hands, because if you have Jesus Christ, you are wealthy! Amen? You are wealthy. Acquire Jesus. Acquire His wisdom, and you will have more sense and more dollars. God bless you.
Let’s sing our closing hymn, number 7, The Lord in Zion Reigneth, and we want him to reign in Zion. We also want him to reign in our hearts.
Hymn of Praise: #15, My Maker and My King Scripture: Proverbs 23:4,5 Hymn of Response: #7, The Lord in Zion Reigneth
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McDonald Road Sermon transcribed by Steve Foster 9/20/07