Last month my wife and I had the privilege of going with Share Him to Tanzania, Africa. And while we were there we got to meet some kids, and you know, the people in Africa don’t have much. They are very poor. And something that made a big impression on me was a little boy, I showed you his picture in Sabbath School. He came to the meetings with a big smile every day, and he only had one toy. And that toy was a ball. And he made the ball himself. And it was about 8 inches in diameter and it was made out of plastic bags. I think that boy should have been an engineer, because I challenge you to make a ball like that out of plastic grocery bags. Anyway, he was happy with what he had. He was satisfied. Praise the Lord for that. Here in America we are wealthy, compared to them. And we are not satisfied with our stuff, because every time we go to the store, we end up with a whole load of things that we didn’t even plan on getting.
Come over here to Hebrews, the 13th chapter in your Bible. Hebrews 13, and verse 5. I’ll be reading according to the N.I.V. in this verse. It says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; and never will I forsake you.'"
So I’d like to mention several things that Solomon suggests, and number 1 is don’t boast about what you do have. Do you like somebody that is always boasting? Have you ever met somebody who is quite well to do and wants to show it off, and wants you to see it? And they’re wearing gold this, and gold expensive this and expensive that. They brag. One day I got a tour of a new church, and the minister said, “Let me show you our fancy steeple. This is awesome. And look at how tall it is. It’s the tallest steeple in town!” I heard of another pastor who was showing his fancy church off. He said, “Let me show you the velvet covered pews. And I’ve got to show you this, and that. This pipe organ is… we spent a fortune for this pipe organ.” Finally it was getting dark and they went outside, and the pastor said, “And look at that steeple. Look at that cross up there on top of that steeple. We paid ten thousand dollars for that cross.” The other minister said, “You got cheated. A time was when Christians could get those things for nothing.” Be slow to brag. Pride goes before destruction.
Point number 2. Conserve what you have. We all have something. We don’t have to drive a brand-new car. Don’t do it. We don’t have to go out and spend great big fortunes of money. But whatever you do have, conserve what you have. Back during the depression… How many of you remember the depression? Anybody here? Two, three, wow. We’ve got a young crowd here. The depression, they tell me, happened back in 1929. And there was a key phrase. “Make do or do without.” That’s a good phrase. I was at a used book store and they sell audio tapes, and I bought an audio tape called The Millionaire Next Door. And I listened to it. And I found out, and I didn’t know this, that most millionaires get their money by being frugal. Not all of them invent a computer, or software, or this or that. And did you know that most millionaires, 75 percent of them, get their shoes resoled or repaired regularly. And most poor people, when the shoes wear out, they go buy another pair. Most millionaires shop at the economy stores and seldom enter the big expensive stores. A large percent of millionaires never buy a new car. They drive an old car. One that’s three years old, or four or five. They get a nice car and they take care of it. I was asking one of our church members, and we were talking, and I said, “Boy. Food is so expensive.” And he said, “Yeah, it’s terrible.” I said, “Well I go over here to Save-A-Lot.” They were shocked that I would go to Save-A-Lot. A person of… the senior pastor of the church goes to Save-A-Lot. I said, “Well, man, I don’t know. Conserve your hard earned money.” Conserve it. Part of our problems in America are the big spending that we do. And why do we spend? I just don’t understand it. We spend maybe 40 thousand dollars to buy a brand new school bus to bus our children a mile or two to the school, and then we spend 5 million dollars to build a gymnasium so the kids can get some exercise. Why can’t they walk to school if it’s only a mile or two, you know?
Point number 3. Do not hoard. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 13 speaks of "Wealth that is hoarded to the harm of its owner." Hoarding can harm you. Now you may say, “Well I never hoard.” Well, what is hoarding. Hoarding is excess money. Piles of money. Look at many of the lottery winners 2 years later. A lot of them are bankrupt. A lot of them are divorced. It’s terrible what happens. The money, it ruined them. And by the way, how much money is excessive? Well, I don’t see any ready answers here. I’m going to give you a guideline. Now this won’t fit all of you, ok? And I do this at great risk.
But take your age, if you’re an adult, and put a decimal point between the two numbers. Let’s suppose you’re 61. So it’s 6 point 1. You understand what I’m doing? Multiply that by your net income, per year. Your annual net income.6 point 1 times your net income. That equals the amount of money that you should save so far for your retirement. Minus, if you have a defined benefit program, if you have a pension that’s going to be coming in. You would deduct some from that. Or if you have, for instance, you’re pretty sure Social Security’s going to be there for you, then you would deduct even more. It doesn’t fit everybody. You need to make the decision. Pray about it and God’ll lead you. But don’t have an excess. And what if you do have an excess? Well, here’s what you should do with it. Take it, in my opinion, and help finish the work so we can go home. Use it to help God’s cause. There’s no need to lay up great big piles of money.
Too much money will dampen your commitment to God. The Barna Research Group asked Americans about the importance of religion. And the results were very significant. And here’s… I want to show you how many people of different income brackets answered a certain question, and the question was this. "Is religion very important in your life?"
And here are the results.
If the person made less than 25 thousand dollars of annual income, 71 percent of them said, “Yes, religion is very important in my life.” If their income was 25 thousand to 40 thousand dollars, 69 percent, a little less, said it was important. If it was 40 thousand to 50 thousand dollars, 62 percent. If it was 50 thousand to 70 thousand dollars, 61 percent. And if it was over 70 thousand, which includes everybody else, it was 45 percent.
Apparently, the more money you have, the more your need for God is diminished. Think about that. We don’t need to hoard. We don’t need a big excess. We just need what is good. Too much can be harmful for our spiritual health. Luke, chapter 3 and verse 14 says, "Be content with your pay." How many of you would like a raise? Well, be careful when you raise your hand because Jesus said, “Be content with your pay.” You say, “Well, it’s not enough.” Well…
Let’s go to point number 4. Excessive money creates stress. You may say, “Well, I don’t have any stress then. My stress is trying to pay the bills.” Well, excessive money creates stress, too. Ecclesiastes 5. "The sleep of a laborer is sweet… but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep." So if you want to sleep good, don’t have excessive money.
Look at the lives of America’s rich and famous. Those people, when the stock market makes a major correction, they don’t sleep well at night. They really don’t. So, be satisfied. And the more stuff you have, honestly, you’ve got to dust all that stuff, when you move it home into your living room. You’ve got to care for all that equipment that breaks down. The more stuff you have, the more maintenance you have. There’s more to rake, there’s more to sweep, there’s more to mow, there’s more to pay taxes on. So just be careful.
Number 5. Avoid debt. Avoid debt! Proverbs 22, verse 7 talks about debt. It says, in the King James Version, "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." So be careful about borrowing. Don’t go out and borrow. Before borrowing money from a friend, determine which you need the most, the friend or the money. Because once you borrow from them, things will change. Never borrow to satisfy a wish, or a want. Just for needs. Try to pay cash for everything that you have. I think we would avoid all the traffic problems in America if we would only allow the cars on the highway that are paid for. And if, the only cars to use the highway were the ones with non-credit card gasoline in the tank. Wouldn’t have any traffic problems. Millions of Americans are servant to one of these. I have one. A credit card. Many Americans are servants to these things. They have credit cards. They have a first mortgage. They got a second mortgage. They got a home improvement loan. An automobile loan. Furniture loan. Student loans. They can hardly make the minimum payments. These things can be plastic passports to poverty. You have to be careful using these things. You have to pay them off every month, or don’t use them. The interest that you pay when you swipe that card, that card is swiping money from you, in interest, if you don’t pay it off.
Proverbs 22, verse 27. "If you cannot pay the loan, your own bed may be taken right out from underneath of you." We get into deep debt trying to keep up with our neighbors, who are in deep debt. So be careful.
Benjamin Franklin said, “I wish to be free from the dominion of vice by the practice of industry and frugality, and I wish to be free from debt which exposes a man to the confinement and slavery to his creditors.” There’s three kinds of people today. The haves, and the have-nots, and the “have not paid for what they have”. So, the old adage is, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” The new adage, “Enjoy it today and pay for it later.” So be careful. It’s to your advantage to not borrow.
The Bible says in Proverbs 13, and verse 8 that there’s an advantage to being poor. Did you know there’s one advantage to being poor? You know what it is? Proverbs 13:8. "Being kidnapped and held for ransom never worries the poor man." Have you ever been worried about being kidnapped? I’ve never worried about it. The poor fellow, he must really be poor, if he kidnaps me.
God does not want His people to be poor. Now Deuteronomy 15, and verse 6. "The Lord your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money, you will lend money to poor nations and will never need to borrow." You’ll be debt-free.
Romans, chapter 13, verse 8 says, "Owe no man anything." And that ought to be a warning sign to us. And Ellen White, sister White says this, “Shun debt like”, what? “Like leprosy.” Is that what she says? No, that’s a mis-quotation. She says, “Shun the incurring of debt as you would shun leprosy.” The incurring of debt. When do you incur debt? When you swipe your credit card. I never know which way to turn it when I’m swiping it. This way? They’re all different. When you swipe your credit card, you are incurring debt. You are incurring debt when you go to the loan officer to sign that big stack of papers when you buy a house or buy a car, and you sign all those papers, and you hold his gold pen in your hand, you are incurring debt. Avoid that, she says. Shun that. That act, like you would shun leprosy.
The average young adult household is now spending approximately 24 percent of their income just on debt payments. What a shame. Just think, if they could get all that paid off, it would be like getting a 24% raise. How many of you would you enjoy that? That would be great, wouldn’t if?
A credit card is actually a little debt detonator. That’s what a credit card is. A debt detonator. If you only pay the minimum payment each month, why you could spend nearly thirty years paying off a 3 thousand dollar debt. And probably pay the credit card company 10 thousand dollars in interest. It just isn’t worth it.
33 percent of Americans have maxed out their credit cards. So if you're not paying it off every month, then your money is being sucked down a compound interest hole. Newly married couples are especially suffering from this. By the time a newly married couple discover that money does not grow on trees, they’re already way out on a limb, financially.
So how do you get out of debt? Well, there’s several ways.
Number 1. Stop spending more than you make. Sounds simple. Number 2. Stop borrowing. And if you have to, get rid of the credit cards. Number 3. Begin to repay by starting with the smallest one first, and then paying them off. Number 4. Increase your income. Get a second job, get a third job. Do whatever you can. I talked with one fellow in Collegedale that has three jobs. Making 3 thousand dollars a month. Number 5. Sell your assets. Sell your expensive home, and get in a home that you can afford.
Bankruptcy filings are up. The first half of 2 thousand and 7, this year, bankruptcies are up 48 percent from just a year ago.
Number 6. Excessive money can become a god. So be careful of excessive money. Proverbs, chapter 30, here in the Bible, and verse 8, the N.I.V. "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and I might disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." So we don’t need either too much or too little. Just pray that God will give you the right amount. Our greatest asset is not money, anyway. Our greatest asset is what? Jesus Christ and His salvation.
The Bible says that where your treasure is there your heart is also. Solomon says, "I might have too much." So be careful. I might disown you. So be satisfied with what you have. And how do you know if money is becoming a god? There’s a question that I can ask you. And here it is. "Would you do for gold what you would or should do for God?" Now let me translate that question so you understand it. Let’s suppose that you are not attending the mid week service here on Wednesday night. Let’s suppose you’re not attending prayer meeting. What if, we would say to you, “Ok. Anybody who comes to prayer meeting this Wednesday night, we will give you a 50 dollar bill.” How many of you would come? Now don’t raise your hand. And we’re not going to do that, by the way. But what if? Would you come? Would you witness for God more zealously if you were given some generous amount of money for each tract that you pass out? Would you go out and pass out literature? Would your contributions to the offering plate and the work of Christ be more generous if such investments impacted your savings account and your check book?
If there’s a reluctant "yes" to those questions, then it could be that you are more willing to do for gold what you should do for God.
Larry Burkett said this. "Focusing on material things is the greatest danger we face. What makes it seem so normal today is that virtually everybody is doing it." Everybody is doing it. They’re focusing on money. Well let me tell you the truth. You are not everybody. You are not everybody. You are a child of Jesus Christ. You’re a child of the King. You’re not everybody. Your focus is not the same as the focus of the world. Your focus is Jesus Christ.
Point number 7. Don’t fall in love with material thing. Ecclesiastes, chapter 5, and verse 10. "Whoever loves money will never be satisfied with money. Whoever loves wealth will never be satisfied with more income."
There was a lady, Donna McLean, she was shopping with her little 6 year old boy at the toy store. And he spotted a toy, a toy car or truck that he wanted, but he reached in his pocket. He didn’t quite have enough money. He had money. He came there with money. But he didn’t have quite enough. He said to his mother, “Mother, could you give me some money so I could buy this toy?” She said, “No”, because she wanted to teach him a lesson on financial responsibility. So she refused to help him. But the boy couldn’t wait. So suddenly he reached into his mouth and pulled out a loose tooth, his baby tooth. Pulled that thing out and gave it to his mother, and said, “Ok.” And she gave him his dollar and he bought the toy and went home. Parents do that for their children. Sometimes they give them money. Was that boy smart? What do you think? He was a typical American. We cannot stand delayed gratification. To satisfy our wants, we’re going to use all the cash that we can possibly get, and also our savings. We’re going to get rid of it all, if we can. We’re just going to use it. Use it up.
Philippians, chapter 4, verse 11. "I have learned to be content with whatever circumstance I have." And verse 12. "I have learned the secret of being content." Let’s be content. Let’s be satisfied with what we have.
Have you ever noticed that in Chattanooga there are a number of new business establishments called PayCheck Advance, or something like that? You can go there, you can show them your check stub from last week, and say I’m going to get paid this Friday, and they will advance you the money. For a price. There’s even one in Collegedale. We’ve got one here. Why is it that these businesses are starting up? You know why? Because so many folks have a zero reserve. We are living from hand to mouth. We don’t have any savings account. We habitually spend more than we make. And if you can get an advance on your next week’s pay, you actually are reducing next week’s income by 5 or 10 percent, or whatever it is that they charge, I don’t really know. I’ve never done that. But when that money does come, it will be less. And you need it. So stay at home. Every time you go out, you spend money. Have you noticed that? Unless you’re going on a hike or walk or something. Every time you go to the store, you’re going to spend money. So stay at home. First Timothy, chapter 6, verse 8. “As long as we have food and clothes, we should be satisfied.”
So what should you do if your paycheck isn’t big enough? Well, get that second job. Downsize, whatever. Spend less than you make. And when you go to the Check Advance loan company you are hocking the present for the future. If we were just satisfied with what we have.
Let me conclude by reading First Timothy, chapter 6. "Godliness with contentment is great gain." So be satisfied with your stuff.
Hymn of Praise: #634, Come, All Christians, Be Committed Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 Hymn of Response: #327, I'd Rather Have Jesus
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McDonald Road Sermon transcribed by Steve Foster 9/22/07