The Christian and His Finances
Selected Scriptures
I don't expect to exhaust the subject that we're gonna speak about tonight, but just to introduce it to you. And I've been very concerned in recent days over many of the things that are going on in our world. And one of the things that has continued to be in the newspaper is the study of inflation, the problems of economics, the problems of...supplying food for the future, the problems dealing with gasoline, and the rising problems of fuel costs. All of these things are laying a tremendous weight on the Christian in a very specific area. And that is the area of the Christian and his finances. And, tonight, the subject that God has really laid on my heart to speak to you on is the subject of the believer and his financial responsibility. And I really believe, people, that this has a tremendous bearing upon your spiritual life and fruitfulness. And I think you'll see that by the time we are finished.
Now, I heard an interesting quote the other day. This was it: "Preachers are the poorest credit risks in the United States."...The particular commentator went on to say, "Credit bureaus will substantiate this." Now that is really a very grieving statement, because that shouldn't be true, and what a blight that is on our faith. Because the Bible, you see, is extremely clear about the believer's financial responsibility.
Several weeks ago, a man came to me and said, "I'm a new Christian. I have no idea what God requires out of me financially." He said, "Could you ever teach on that subject?" This morning, a lady came to me and said, "I have tremendous questions about what I should do in the area of finances for the future as a Christian." And this is only two of many people who have talked to me about this in the last month, and I just felt letter of the Spirit as I studied on my own to bring to you tonight some thoughts from the Word of God. I'm not gonna try to apply everything. I'm gonna let you do that. I just endeavor to give you the Word of God and trust the Spirit of God to make the application in your life.
Now, when we talk about money, we're talking about life. Money in a...in a sense is life, for you spend all your life to get money to stay alive. So, in one sense, money is life. Money, itself, is amoral. It's not good, and it's not bad. But depending on how it is used, it either becomes good or becomes bad. And so money really, then, either has righteous ramifications in your life or unrighteous ones and, thus, becomes very important.
Now we wanna look tonight at Scripture, and I wanna show you God's standards for the Christian's finances in three categories. Three categories, and I'm gonna trust the Lord to make the application individually and just really deal with the Scripture...
We're gonna consider these categories: One, the right to possess money. Two, the way to regard money. Three, the way to use money. The right to possess money; the way to regard money; and the way to use money.
Now, first of all, let's begin with the right to possess money. It's interesting to me, and I suppose you've come across this, too, that there are some people in the world, even who call themselves Christians, who say that it's wrong for a Christian to have any money. And they advocate a kind of a Christian communism. And they usually defend Christian communism on the basis of Acts chapter 2, and they say in the early church that they all things in common...And, therefore, all Christians, upon becoming Christians, should get into some kind of community thing where they give out everything to some central source, and it's doled out on an equal basis according to need. And the Christian has no right to possess money.
Well, we oughta see what the Bible says. Does the Christian have the right to possess money?...Well, let's look, first of all, at this thought. All money belongs to God. In Haggai 2:8 it says this, "The silver and the gold are Mine." And God was talking about all of the nations of the world, and He was talking in reference to all of these nations, and He was saying, "All of their silver and all of their gold is really Mine." So it's all God's. In Deuteronomy 8:18, the Bible says, "But you shall remember the Lord your God...listen...for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth." Notice two things, all money is God's. Secondly, God grants to men the power to get that which is His in terms of wealth or money. In 1 Corinthians 4:7, the Bible says, "And what do you have that you did not receive?" Now, all money belongs to God, and you can only give to somebody else what belongs to you. If God gives it to us, then it was His to begin with. So all money is God's. That's basic.
Now, you say, "Well, then what does that have to with me?" Well, God also gives men the power to gain that money which is His. So it is not assumed in the Bible that it's wrong to have money, but rather that God allows men to make money. You see, you have to look at money sort of like one of God's gifts. All of God's gifts, which He intends for man's good, have been somehow perverted into evil. Take, for example, God's gift of nature. Man somehow learns how to take the things of nature in the category called science and invent bombs and so forth and so on to destroy. Take the area of sex. God invents sex for His...for the pleasure of man. It's good. The marriage is...marriage is honorable, Hebrews says, and the bed is undefiled. But man perverts that. Take, for example, food. Do you know that food is a good gift of God? Of course it is. In fact, in 1 Timothy chapter 4, it says, "All things are to be received with thanksgiving." But man takes that kind of thing, that kind of food which God gives as a good thing and turns it into gluttony. Man has a way of twisting and perverting all of God's good gifts.
Now, God also gives men the power to gain money. In 1 Timothy 6:17, in a passage talking about money, that whole passage there is talking about it, it says this. "God gives us richly all things to enjoy." God is no cosmic killjoy. God is not some browbeating kind of ogre who wants everybody in pain and misery. "God gives us richly all things to enjoy." So God, the possessor of all monies, is willing to grant some to us. You take Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they were all extremely wealthy men. God prospered. Even Israel was rich. In Isaiah 2:7, the Bible says, "Their land is full of silver and gold. Neither is there any end of their treasures."
So God has designed to grant that power to gain wealth to men. In Deuteronomy 8:17, it says, "Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth." Now, as we examine Scripture, we find, first of all, that nowhere is money condemned. And if you were to go to Acts chapter 2, and I'll ask you to do that. Lemme show you something. Acts 2:45...says this...and it's speaking of the early church, the church in Jerusalem just at the time of Pentecost, "And sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had need." Now people take this to...to be a sort of Christian communism, but that's because they really don't understand the...the Greek tense. The verb "sold" and the verb "parted" are both in the imperfect tense. The imperfect tense is a continuous action. It should read this way, "And were selling their possessions and goods and were parting them to all men as every man had need." It does not say that all at once they sold and all at once they parted. It simply says that all the believers were selling their goods and giving the money to those who had need as the needs arose.
You see, it was a...it was a picture of giving, a picture of self-sacrifice for the need of another, not a pooling everything in a kind of communism. And the verbs make that in...implicit with hardly any necessity for any deeper kind of exposition. They were all selling and parting as men had need. It's simply the principle of giving, not the principle of communism. The Bible nowhere advocates that all monies be put into a common pot and doled out by some hierarchy.
The same thing appears in Acts 4:34, "Neither was there any among them that lacked...why?...for as many as were possessors of lands or houses were selling them, and were bringing the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles' feet. And distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." So when a person had a need, somebody was willing to sell something, get the money, and go meet that man's need. That's all it was advocating in the...that's really, incidentally, another thing you keep in mind is that the only place that ever really happened, Biblically, was in the church in Jerusalem...
Now, so the Bible does not forbid money belonging to men. In fact, the Bible says all money is God's and God actually desires men to gain it. God wants to bless men with a certain amount of wealth...Now lemme go a step further. There are, in the Bible, certain Biblical principles, now watch this, that are designed to increase a man's money. Now, hang onto that one. There are Biblical principles designed to help you gain wealth. Now, when I use wealth, I mean as opposed to nothing. Something as opposed to nothing. I'm not talking about being a rich man. I'm just talking about the term wealth as it's used biblically, that is, having something as opposed to nothing.
Now, there are some Biblical principles in order that a man might gain a measure of wealth. You say, "What are they?" All right, we're gonna go through them, and I'll give you three at least. One, you ready for this? Work...work...Proverbs 14:23 says, "In all labor there is profit, but more talk leads only to poverty." Boy, that is practical..."In all labor there is profit, but more talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23. God had designed that labor issue in a measure of wealth and prosperity. God has given us work in order that we might gain.
Now, in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, there's a very practical principle. "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you: that if any would not work, neither should he...what?... eat."...I heard one guy say, "It's a good thing I'm not in charge of the Welfare Department, or there'd be an awful lotta people sweeping streets and cleaning windows and doing everything." And you know what? A man needs that for his own self-respect. Believe me, he does. "If any would not word, neither should he eat. For we hear...says Paul...that there are some who walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies."...Work is a practical principle.
You know, there's a great illustration in the Old Testament of...of hard work. And if you can look up to an ant, here it comes. "Go to the ant, thou lazy man. Consider her ways, and be wise. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her food in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest." You lazy people, check the ant out. Doesn't have any kind of employer, just does the job. Gathers food in the summer, stores it away, prepared for the winter. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 4 says, "Listen, if you won't plow in the cold, you won't eat at the harvest."...Practical. Now, work is a Biblical doctrine. We don't preach a lot about it, but it's a Biblical doctrine. In chapter 5 verse 8 of 1 Timothy, it says, "If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever or an infidel." Work is designed by God to bring you profit. God wants you to have money, because God knows that you have to have it to exist.
All right, there's a second principle in the Scripture. Not only work. Two, save. Save. There's a very, very poignant statement in Proverbs 21:20. Listen. "There is precious treasure and oil in the house of the wise, but a foolish man swallows it up." You know what a wise man does? He sets aside some of his treasure and some of his oil...for the unexpected. Do you know what the fool does? He swallows it all up.
You know, the Living Bible has a very good translation of that. It says, "The wise man saves for the future. The foolish man spends whatever he gets."...Save. Now, that's Scripture. You know, one good way to thing of saving is this. All...and...and this is something God is really teaching me in my own life, is always operate on a margin. Always operate on a margin. If you don't, then you're presuming on the grace of God. You're actually presuming on the grace of God hoping He'll meet your need. Well, you got out and you overdo it and buy some, you know, like one guy said, instead of buying a...a nice little transportation car, you've gotta buy a Belchfire 8. You know, and so you go out and you buy that thing. You say, "Well, God will provide." Now, wait a minute. Probably, as one fellow said, "A pound of grease and a bicycle will get you to the same place the Belchfire 8'll get ya."...
You see, you have to be careful that you're not presuming on God, extending yourself to the place where there's no margin left. And so if the crisis comes, you've gotta presume on God to provide for your foolishness. David said, "Keep back thy servant from...what kind of sins?...presumptuous sins." Those kind of sins that are illustrated in Matthew chapter 4 when Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and said, "Cast Yourself down, and then God will have to save You." And Jesus said, "It is written, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.'" Don't put yourself in a situation that you've gotten into by your foolishness, and then demand that God extricate you. That's presumption. That's sin...
So operate on a margin. I mean just as a hypothetical illustration, imagine a couple, and I'm not thinking of any couple, just in general, this is an illustration. A couple that didn't operate on a margin, and as so many couples did, they followed the great American way. You know what the great American way is? It's this. You buy the things you don't need with the money you don't have from the people you don't even like. And so they get themselves in a situation where they are overextended. They have more obligations than they do income. And let's say, along the way, they've taken under their wing the support of the local church and some, perhaps some friends who've gone to the mission field. What happens?
Well, pretty soon, they find they can't meet that missionary's need. And pretty soon they can't give to the local ministry what God has designed in their own life for them to give. And then maybe they get to the place where they face bankruptcy. The loss of the car, the loss of the house, the loss of the job, and the loss of the testimony. And now they are limited as to what they can do for God, because they are having to pay for their foolishness with every dime they get...If God ever came to them and called them away to some mission field, they couldn't go. They couldn't go...
God wants every Christian to have money. Listen to this. In fact, He wants you to have more money than you need. Did you hear that? Because God's principle in Scripture is spend some and what? Save. God wants you to have more money than you need...That's important.
Lemme give you a third principle of Scripture. Work, save, three, plan. Plan. You know, some people plan their...their budget like this. "Oh, well, it'll all work out in the end."...That's sort of like pan-millennialism. It'll all turn out in the end, you know...
Now, what you do mean by plan? Well, plan may mean for you a budget, maybe more sophisticated or less sophisticated. But I'll tell you one thing planning means. It's a priority list, doesn't it? Planning. Keep records so you know where you are. You know whose money you're handling? Whose money? It's God's money. You say, "Oh, but I give Him His money, His tenth." Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Tenth of that money you have isn't His. I don't even believe in tithing, so that isn't totally irrelevant. How much of it is His? All of it is His. You wanna know something interesting? If I got a job with a corporation and handled their money like I handle God's money, I'd be in jail for embezzlement. That's right...
Boy, the Lord has really spoken to me about this. That's true. If I was working for a corporation, they'd have me in prison for misuse of funds. Thank the Lord for grace. But it's all His money. You say, "Well, where do you get this idea about keeping records?" Listen to this. Proverbs 27:23 and 24. Don't bother to look it up, just listen. Proverbs 27:23 and 24. Write it down if you need it. "Know well the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds, for riches are not forever." Boy, is that good advice? You oughta know how many flocks you have. You oughta know what condition they're in, because your money's not gonna last forever, and you need to know where you are at all times.
Listen to this one, Proverbs 24:3 and 4. Proverbs 24:3 and 4. And this is, again, the Living Bible, which normally I don't prefer, but in this case has a very accurate paraphrase. "Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through commonsense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts." That's Proverbs 24:3 and 4. Any successful venture is one where you keep abreast of the facts. That's basic. So you not only work, but you save.
And then you plan. In...addition to this, lemme give you a couple passages. Romans 13:8, "Owe no man...what?...anything but to love one another." The only debt you... you oughta have is love. Just, you can't ever unload that one. Just keep paying, paying, paying love. Just don't get in any other debt. "Owe no man anything." You know what happens when you owe somebody something? Now, I'm not talking about when you're making your payment on your house, and you're making it faithfully, and...I'm talking about when you're overdue, when you're owing money, when you can't pay it, when you're overextended. Listen to this. Proverbs 22 verse 7. "The borrower is servant to the lender." Did you hear that? You become the slave of that man to whom you owe something. And I'll tell you something. When you become the slave to some financial situation...you violate a Biblical principle. Listen to it, 1 Corinthians 7:23, "You are bought with a price; be not ye the servants or slaves of man." A Christian should always be free enough to respond to whatever God wants him to do at any moment. You know what we need to have in this world? Here's a good phrase. We need to have pilgrim mentality. A pilgrim mentality.
Well, God has some other principles that are very interesting. One other one in Scripture that appears and just really interests me is don't become a loan company. You know, if you've got...well, there are exceptions. If you've got some guy who just bugs you to death. He bothers you incessantly, you know the best thing to do to get rid of him? Loan him money. You'll probably never see him again. And in some cases, you may figure it's worth the investment.
You say, "Well, what about if a person comes to me and says, 'I have...I...I have need here. I want some money, because I wanna get that.'" And you say, "Well, that's not a necessity." If it's not a necessity, don't loan it to him. You say, "Well, what if he comes, John, and he says it is a necessity?" Then don't loan it to him either. Give it to him. Give it to him... If any man sees his brother have need and shuts up his vows of compassion, the love of Christ isn't all that he claims it is. Right? Sure, 1 John. If he needs it, give it to him.
Give you another interesting statement. Did you know this is in Proverbs 17:18? Are you ready for this? "It is poor judgment to countersign another's note." Well, that's pretty practical. To become responsible for his debts? Well, the Bible says a lot more about it. Let's go on. The Scripture then says that there are three principles by which God has designed that you make money. Work, save, and plan carefully. And isn't it exciting that all of those things imply that God really does want us to have a certain amount of money? Not just the bare necessities, but a little margin, so that we can just be sensitive to the Spirit. And when the Spirit says, "Hey, John, there's a need over there," we could say, "Good, because I've got this margin, and I can take, and I can supply that need." Boy, that's being free to be responsive to the Spirit, isn't it?
You say, "John, I'm glad to know that I have the right to possess money. That is wonderful. But I am always short....I'm so glad God wants me to have it, but He doesn't really understand my situation, because I never have enough." Listen, when you don't have enough, lemme give you a little test. One, do you need more? Need, not want, need more. Need, is it a need? Second question, is God testing my faith? Third question, did I already misuse what He gave me? Oh, that's a practical one. Fourth question, have I violated Biblical principles?
You say, "Well, what do you mean violated Biblical principles?" Well, listen, if God gives you a certain amount of money, and He knows that's enough for all your needs and margin, and He does know that, doesn't He? And you don't have enough, then maybe you violated Biblical principles. You say, "Such as?" One, here's a Biblical principle you may have violated. Stinginess. Proverbs 11:24, "There is one who scatters, yet increases all the more; and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and it results only in want."...Or maybe you violated the principle of hastiness. You got in a big hurry. Well, you know, some people get...get all excited and all energetic, and they gotta have it, they gotta have it now, see. I'll tell you, it took me a long time to get over the hump on that one. And I'm still working on it. I'm a sucker for a salesman. But you know what Proverbs 21:5 says about hastiness? "Everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty." Boy, that's straight talk. "Everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty." Be patient.
And you could claim a wonderful promise, Philippians 4:19, "But my God shall supply all our needs. Just be patient." There's another one. Not stinginess, lazy, hastiness. Here's another one you may have violated. Stubbornness. You're just gonna go out and do what you want with your money...Proverbs 13:8 has a verse that's very, very good. Says this, "Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects instruction." "Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects instruction," or the word discipline. Stubbornness. There's another word. Laziness. Maybe you don't have any money because you are lazy, and you're not earning enough. Say, "Where, is that in the Bible?" Lots of places. Lemme give you one. Proverbs 20:13, "Do not love sleep."... Listen to the next statement. "Lest you become poor. Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food." Get up. That's half the battle...You know, there's a great statement in Proverbs 23:21. You know what it says? It says, "Drowsiness will clothe a man with rags." "Drowsiness will clothe a man with rags." Now, maybe you violated the principle of laziness.
There's another one, indulgence. If you don't have enough money, maybe you've been indulgent. Proverbs 23:21 says, "For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty." "The heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty." A last one. Another Biblical principle that can be destructive is craftiness. Proverbs 28:19, "He who tills his land will have plenty of food." Hardworking people do well, "But he who follows empty pursuits...ohhhhh, he who buys a pig in a poke or he who pulls off some shady deal...will have poverty in plenty. A faithful, trustworthy man will abound with blessings."
I heard a man say the other day that most con men, he felt, if they were honest, would make ten times more than they make being dishonest, because they're sharp...Listen, God wants you to have money. He wants you to have enough to live and have all your needs, and He wants to give you more than that, so you'll have a margin to be available to the Holy Spirit. Isn't that exciting? And if you don't have enough, then you need to backtrack and find out what's wrong. You have violated a scriptural principle, or maybe you've already misused what God gave you, or maybe the facts are you don't even need it at all. It's just something you want, or maybe God is bringing you through a time of tightness to test your faith.
So then we see, first of all, the right to possess money. Second, point, the way to regard money. You say, "Well, now that I have it, how do I look at it?" Well, money can be a great blessing, and the key to it is what you think of it. That's right. You always hear people say, "Well, if I had a million dollars, I'd..." No, you wouldn't. No, no, the question is not what you'd do with a million. The question is what are you doing with the ten in your pocket?...That's the question. That's the question.
You say, "Well, if I had...I would support a missionary. I would do, oh, if I..." No, no, no. What are you doing with the ten in your pocket? Or the dollar?...No, Ecclesiastes 5:10 and 11, listen to this. "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money...When good things increase, those who consume them increase." The more you have, the more stores you go to, the more you buy. "So what is the advantage to their owners except to look at it?" Isn't that something? One translation says, "The only advantage in having money is to watch it slip through your fingers. The more you have, the more it goes." No, it is not a question of having more and doing more with it. It is just a question of what you're doing with what you have...
Listen, rich people have more problems. Well, how do we regard money? Well, lemme tell you the wrong way to regard it, and that is to love it. For the Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:10, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." And lemme tell you something. Doesn't say money's the root of all evil. You hear that all the time. "Money's the root of all evil." No, no, no. It says the...love of money. And you can have a lot of it and not love it, and you can have none of it and love it. It's the love of money, not money. Money is amoral.
Now, watch, beloved. Then it is a question of attitude, isn't it? It is question of attitude. What your attitude is toward your money. You know, we...money is such a powerful thing in our lives. We deal with it all the time. Do you realize that you never are, you know, in normal circumstances, without money. It's always a part of your life. Every time you turn around, you're dealing with it. How important it is that you have the right attitude toward it.
Look with me, for a minute, at 1 Timothy chapter 6, and let's just pick up a few thoughts there that are so very important. Verse 6, I...I think this is basic, talking about attitude. "But godliness with contentment is great gain." Godliness and contentment go together. Boy, when you're happy with what you have, that really goes together with being a godly person. "For...in verse 7...you brought nothing into the world, and it's certain yo