Transforming Our Relationship with Money Through Faith
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"Now, the truth is, some of us would probably rather not hear from our money. We already know what it might tell us. It would probably sound like a disappointed parent. You know, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed and for good reason, because some of our financial decisions and hindsight, well, they really don't make much sense." [00:03:50]
"Jesus actually said more about money than just about everything else. In fact, he said more about money than he did heaven, but not because he needed any. In fact, best we can tell, Jesus never even asked for any. He wasn't after people's money. He was after something else, but it wasn't their money." [00:04:37]
"Have you ever driven a perfectly good car to a car lot and then left it there and drove away in another perfectly good car but newer model that you use some of your extra money to purchase? How about this. when you went to purchase your current cell phone, Did you walk into the store with a perfectly good cell phone in your pocket?" [00:05:36]
"Greed is the assumption that it's all for my consumption. You see, you can be poor and greedy, or you can be rich and greedy. Greed has nothing to do with an amount of money. It has everything to do with an assumption about money. So your dollars become things, they become a house, they become things in your house, they become a car." [00:07:21]
"Different habits, same assumption, the consumption assumption, and most of us are guilty. We don't feel like we have spare money because we either consume it now, spending, buying, upgrading, or we stash it away in the bank or a 401k to consume later. But either way, it's for me. It's for me now, or it is for me later." [00:08:06]
"And Jesus says that is a faulty assumption. And he points to a completely different way of viewing our money. And when we begin to view our money the way he does, it changes not just our finances, honestly, it changes everything. It gets us off the treadmill of more, more, more, me, me, me, it's a completely different paradigm and it leads to freedom, contentment, and ultimately, satisfaction." [00:08:23]
"If our money could talk, it may say something like this, 'I can add meaning to your life, but I am not the meaning of life. I can add meaning to your life, but I'm not the meaning of life.' Money, your money and my money would remind us that it doesn't get much play at funerals, does it? Other than how much was given away, earning money chasing it, spending it, that's not the point of life." [00:09:56]
"It is a means, it is a tool for doing something meaningful. It has the potential to make your life meaningful. Imagine if that was the frame of reference for your finances. Every spending decision, the way you save, the way you plan for the future, regardless of how much or little you have, what if, when you had some to spare, when you had some extra, you thought to yourself, 'Wow, I have extra. How can I make the extra a means to something meaningful?'" [00:10:22]
"Now, if you had been thinking this way, for the past 10 years, your personal finances would look very different. In fact, you would have less stuff, but you would have less debt, you would have more margin. And this is a big one, you would actually probably have more savings. More on that later." [00:11:11]
"Besides, you can't be a fully devoted follower of Christ and not invite him into the realm of your personal finances. Christ can't be the Lord of your life when you've got him on one side saying, 'Here's what I want you to do.' And you've got Visa on the other side saying, 'Yeah, but let me tell you what you have to do because of what you already did.'" [00:12:12]
"You feel like God is nudging you to be generous to your local church, maybe a local charity or an after school program. But before you can find your checkbook, American Express starts nudging you in the other direction, that money's already spent. Or once you find your checkbook, you find yourself hesitating to add that extra zero because, well, just because." [00:12:30]
"This goes way beyond the realm of personal finances. This is about who's in charge of your life. It's about whether your life will simply be full of stuff, or perhaps full of meaning. In this way, financial issues actually become spiritual issues, don't they? What you do with your money is an indicator of who and whose you are." [00:13:13]
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"Jesus actually said more about money than just about everything else. In fact, he said more about money than he did heaven, but not because he needed any. In fact, best we can tell, Jesus never even asked for any. He wasn't after people's money. He was after something else, but it wasn't their money." [00:04:37]
"Have you ever driven a perfectly good car to a car lot and then left it there and drove away in another perfectly good car but newer model that you use some of your extra money to purchase? How about this. when you went to purchase your current cell phone, Did you walk into the store with a perfectly good cell phone in your pocket?" [00:05:36]
"Greed is the assumption that it's all for my consumption. You see, you can be poor and greedy, or you can be rich and greedy. Greed has nothing to do with an amount of money. It has everything to do with an assumption about money. So your dollars become things, they become a house, they become things in your house, they become a car." [00:07:21]
"Different habits, same assumption, the consumption assumption, and most of us are guilty. We don't feel like we have spare money because we either consume it now, spending, buying, upgrading, or we stash it away in the bank or a 401k to consume later. But either way, it's for me. It's for me now, or it is for me later." [00:08:06]
"And Jesus says that is a faulty assumption. And he points to a completely different way of viewing our money. And when we begin to view our money the way he does, it changes not just our finances, honestly, it changes everything. It gets us off the treadmill of more, more, more, me, me, me, it's a completely different paradigm and it leads to freedom, contentment, and ultimately, satisfaction." [00:08:23]
"If our money could talk, it may say something like this, 'I can add meaning to your life, but I am not the meaning of life. I can add meaning to your life, but I'm not the meaning of life.' Money, your money and my money would remind us that it doesn't get much play at funerals, does it? Other than how much was given away, earning money chasing it, spending it, that's not the point of life." [00:09:56]
"It is a means, it is a tool for doing something meaningful. It has the potential to make your life meaningful. Imagine if that was the frame of reference for your finances. Every spending decision, the way you save, the way you plan for the future, regardless of how much or little you have, what if, when you had some to spare, when you had some extra, you thought to yourself, 'Wow, I have extra. How can I make the extra a means to something meaningful?'" [00:10:22]
"Now, if you had been thinking this way, for the past 10 years, your personal finances would look very different. In fact, you would have less stuff, but you would have less debt, you would have more margin. And this is a big one, you would actually probably have more savings. More on that later." [00:11:11]
"Besides, you can't be a fully devoted follower of Christ and not invite him into the realm of your personal finances. Christ can't be the Lord of your life when you've got him on one side saying, 'Here's what I want you to do.' And you've got Visa on the other side saying, 'Yeah, but let me tell you what you have to do because of what you already did.'" [00:12:12]
"You feel like God is nudging you to be generous to your local church, maybe a local charity or an after school program. But before you can find your checkbook, American Express starts nudging you in the other direction, that money's already spent. Or once you find your checkbook, you find yourself hesitating to add that extra zero because, well, just because." [00:12:30]
"This goes way beyond the realm of personal finances. This is about who's in charge of your life. It's about whether your life will simply be full of stuff, or perhaps full of meaning. In this way, financial issues actually become spiritual issues, don't they? What you do with your money is an indicator of who and whose you are." [00:13:13]
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