Stewardship and Legacy: A Biblical Approach to Wealth

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. 1 Timothy 6:10 - "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
2. 1 Timothy 5:8 - "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
3. Proverbs 21:20 - "The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down."

#### Observation Questions
1. What does 1 Timothy 6:10 say about the love of money and its consequences? How is this often misquoted? [01:44]
2. According to 1 Timothy 5:8, what is the immediate responsibility of a believer regarding their household? [06:26]
3. What does Proverbs 21:20 suggest about the behavior of wise versus foolish people in terms of their resources? [10:59]
4. How did the pastor's personal story illustrate the benefits of following biblical financial principles? [12:28]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why is it important to distinguish between money itself and the love of money according to 1 Timothy 6:10? How does this distinction affect our view of wealth? [01:44]
2. How does 1 Timothy 5:8 emphasize the importance of financial stewardship within one's household? What might be the broader implications of neglecting this responsibility? [06:26]
3. In what ways does Proverbs 21:20 encourage saving and wise management of resources? How can this be applied to modern financial practices? [10:59]
4. Reflecting on the pastor's story, how can being financially prepared enable one to follow God's calling more freely? What are some potential challenges and benefits of this approach? [12:28]

#### Application Questions
1. How can you ensure that your love for money does not overshadow your love for God? Are there specific steps you can take to keep this balance in check? [01:44]
2. What practical steps can you take to better provide for your household, as emphasized in 1 Timothy 5:8? How can you involve your family in understanding and practicing financial stewardship? [06:26]
3. Do you currently have a budget? If not, what steps can you take to create one? If you do, how can you improve it to better align with biblical principles of financial management? [08:00]
4. How can you start saving with intention, as suggested by Proverbs 21:20? What are some specific goals you can set for your savings and investments? [10:59]
5. Reflect on a time when you felt financially unprepared for an opportunity or challenge. How might following biblical financial principles have changed that situation? [12:28]
6. How can you cultivate a mindset of stewardship rather than ownership of your possessions? What changes in your behavior or attitude might this require? [20:03]
7. What legacy do you want to leave for future generations? How can you start teaching your children or those around you about the value of money and generosity? [16:26]

Day 1: Wealth's Purpose in God's Plan
Wealth is not inherently evil; it is the love of money that leads to moral pitfalls. Understanding this allows for the responsible use of resources without guilt. Wealth should be a tool for serving God's purposes and supporting one's family, not an end in itself. [02:21]

Ecclesiastes 5:10 - "Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless."
Reflection: How do you view your financial resources in relation to serving God's purposes?

Day 2: Stewardship Begins at Home
The Bible teaches that providing for one's household is a direct application of faith. By meeting basic needs and educating family members about financial matters, we lay a foundation for responsible stewardship that honors God. [06:48]

1 John 3:17-18 - "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."
Reflection: In what ways can you improve the financial stewardship within your own household?

Day 3: Visionary Saving for God's Calling
Proactively saving for the future with divine guidance aligns financial goals with God's purpose. Being prepared for unforeseen opportunities or challenges demonstrates trust in God's provision. [11:05]

Proverbs 27:12 - "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty."
Reflection: What steps can you take today to better prepare financially for the future God has for you?

Day 4: Ownership vs. Stewardship
Recognizing that all possessions belong to God transforms our approach to wealth and fosters generosity. This perspective encourages us to manage resources according to His will and to be generous with what we have been entrusted. [21:13]

Psalm 24:1 - "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."
Reflection: How does viewing yourself as a steward rather than an owner change the way you manage your possessions?

Day 5: Legacy of Generosity and Wisdom
Teaching the next generation the value of money and its use for blessing others ensures that wealth becomes a means of positive change. This approach to wealth can perpetuate a cycle of blessing that honors God. [16:56]

Proverbs 20:21 - "An inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed at the end."
Reflection: What are you doing to ensure that your legacy is one of generosity and wisdom for future generations?

All right, so we start a new series this week, and the title of this message is "A Biblical View for Wealth."

Now, I know sometimes this idea of talking about money makes everybody freak out. I need you to hold with me for today, and hopefully, you're not gonna panic by the end of this message because you'll understand what we're talking about, okay?

So before we get into it, I have a question: Have you heard it said that money is the root of all evil? Anybody? Yeah? Okay, so let's look at where that comes from because it's actually quoted out of the book of First Timothy.

First Timothy chapter 6, verse 10: "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and some people craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows."

I'm not sure about you, but I think that says, "For the love of money is the root of all evil." Is that what it says to you?

Okay, now some of you may think, "Faith, that's the modern language. You know, Faith reads that weird modern Bible, so she's changed the meaning of the verse," right? So let's just double-check. Let's read the King James and make sure that my modern Bible hasn't changed it.

Okay, so here's the King James: "For the love of money is the root of all evil." Friends, this doesn't say that money is the root of all evil. It says, "For the love of money is the root of all evil."

Do you know this is one of those verses that's misquoted everywhere? Most Christians today would tell you that it is just the love of money. I mean, that money is the root. Now, they leave out "for the love of," but that's a pretty crucial part of this verse.

And ironically, because we never misquote things, do we? That never happens in the church, does it? Did you know that 82% of Christians believe that the phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is found in the Bible? They did a survey. 82% of us believe that's scriptural. It's not. It's not in scripture anywhere.

So just note, as we start this series, that money is not the root of evil; it's just the love of money that is.

Okay, so to avoid all confusion, I want to state very clearly what this series is about and what it is not, so we can start on a common plane.

All right, so what we are going to talk about is that when we use money wisely and as scripture teaches, we get opportunities to actually be able to build savings, build retirement, and yes, build wealth, and do so in a way that's honoring of God and for future generations. And the Bible tells us to do that.

What we're not gonna do is make anyone feel guilty for having things they've saved and built. I am NOT going to make anyone feel like because you have something you've saved and earned that you should feel bad for it, because that's not what scripture teaches. Scripture doesn't say that if you have lots, you should give it all away, and we're gonna unpack that more in this series.

The reason that Paul wrote this to Timothy in this letter is because what happens sometimes is that people end up putting money above God. That is when it becomes bad: for the love of money.

Because, see, friends, when we love our stuff, when we love the money we've earned and the stuff we've bought and gathered, we lose the fact that it's supposed to be God that we serve, not what we've earned and what we've gathered. Did you catch that?

We can earn money and we can gather stuff; that's okay. But we can't put it above the God we serve. That's what Paul's trying to emphasize to Timothy.

So I'm not gonna sit here and try to emphasize that God gives people money in social classes because we're good or we're bad or any of that. The point is making sure what we have we use to honor God.

So to do so, we are going to unpack a pattern within scripture to talk about what it is to live our lives biblically. We're gonna do a quick overview this week, and the rest of the series is gonna really dive into what it means to use the money that God has given us wisely and to honor Him in our life.

So the first of that, going back into Timothy, is from Timothy 5, and this is the idea of "now." So when we have, we have to take care first of what's going on in our life right now before we do anything else.

First Timothy 5, verse 8: "But those who won't care for their relatives, especially those in their own house, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers."

Now, that's pretty dramatic. So you hear that, and if you don't take care of your house, you are worse than an unbeliever.

So the "now" part, the first phase of what we're gonna unpack—we'll do this more next week—is you have to take care of your household first. Meaning, if you don't make sure that your bills are paid and your family's fed and you take care of all the necessities in the immediate, then you're not taking care of your responsibilities. That's the most important thing.

And I'll add to that in the first "now" is also ensuring that our children know what we're doing. How many who have kids actually talk with your kids about paying bills? I see like two, three, five hands maybe. Friends, it's so important to teach our kids not only the value of money but how to handle money, so they know when they get to being adults what it's like to use that money well—the value of a dollar, where bills go. That's part of taking care of our house first.

So this is the part that we do first and foremost. And next week, we're gonna unpack it more, but I want you to think: You can't do the "now" until you've taken care of some key things, and that's things like paying off your debt, making sure you stay on a budget.

Sometimes, just pause for a second. Sometimes the word "budget" is a bad word. Does anyone feel like that's an evil word? Like, this is what you say to your kid when you don't want to buy something: "We can't buy that because it's not in the budget."

But where would you be in your business if you didn't have a budget? Anyone who owns their own business, would you ever have a business and not have a budget? No. Y'all would be pretty upset with the church if we didn't have a budget.

And if you trust us with your money and you want us to have a budget, then why in your house do you not live sometimes by the same? See, it's just saying you want to use your money and know where it's going wisely. But often we get to a point where we go, "Oh, I don't need a budget anymore."

So part of the "now" is getting out of debt, staying on a budget, spending less than you make, saving, and giving generously. These are the things of "now." We're gonna unpack all of this next week, but if any of this is intriguing to you and you want to learn more, I want you to save a date because in February, we're gonna have an open house after worship on February 11th for Financial Peace University.

Our church is providing free Financial Peace University for the entire congregation. Chris, who will play drums today, is gonna teach these classes. He's a wonderful teacher of Financial Peace, so save the date so you can learn about what it is and how you can learn about the best way to do retirement—all of these things. It's a great program.

All right, moving forward. So when you have taken care of "now," you can start looking for the future, and that is then what is ahead of you.

This is the part I think is the hardest for us because we feel like sometimes that we shouldn't have too much stored. Has that ever felt like to you that if you have too much stored up, that you should feel bad?

Let's see what scripture says about that. For our Proverbs 29:18: "When people do not accept divine guidance," some translations say "accept a divine vision," "they run wild, but whoever obeys the law is joyful."

Now, what we're saying here is that if we want to deal with what's to come, we have to make sure we're doing so in what God guides, meaning having a vision or guidance of what's in our future.

So saying, "All right, God, I've taken care of 'now.' I have some extra funds. Where do you want them to go? What am I saving for?" And just note, you can't just say, "I'm saving to not work." It's got to be bigger than that. What am I saving for?

And when God gives us this and we save up and we put it in the bank, Proverbs tells us to save in the bank is wise. We look back on Proverbs 21, it says, "The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get. The wise store up choice food and oil, and fools gulp it down."

See, we're not supposed to just take everything and spend it. We're supposed to put it up for later. And sometimes we don't know what is down the road. We don't know what later brings, but right now, the "then" we have, and "then" is that we're supposed to look towards the future.

And that future may be unknown, but we have to be ready for wherever God is sending us, friends, wherever we go. And that's exciting sometimes to say, "Okay, God, I'm gonna put this away so whatever you tell me to do, wherever you want me to go, I will be ready for it."

And I just want to share a brief story with you about that because, you know, I want y'all to know AJ and I have worked really hard to live by these kind of biblical principles. I'm not saying this just because of theoreticals; this has been our goal in life.

For years, I was not matched well in ministry. It wasn't a bad church; it wasn't a bad staff. It just didn't match my ministry philosophy and personality. And y'all deal with my eccentricness really well, okay? Just throwing that out. All right, I am kind of crazy, okay? And thank you.

And every year it would come around, and I would ask God, "God, am I supposed to stay another year?" And God said, "Yes." I'm like, "Why?" And He goes, "You're just gonna stay."

And AJ and I would pray, and AJ would get the same word, and we'd stay. And another year would come around, and we'd get the same word, and we'd stay. And we kept staying. I didn't understand, but we were in a good financial place, and he had a good job, and I had good pay, and we kept putting money away.

We also kept working on student loans, and we got all of his student loans paid off early. And we did all of these things, and we just couldn't understand why we were staying.

And you know what happened? AJ got his job at Camp Landing, and he was offered this position, which is very rare in the National Guard. And what happened was we had to pay all of our moving costs, and my pay got dramatically cut. But we knew we were supposed to go, and we had the money in the bank to do it.

And we had enough to pay our expenses, and we had freed ourselves from all these student loans that if we had still had, we wouldn't have been able to go and take the job because our expenses would have been so high handling those horrific loans that we wouldn't have been able to go where God sent us anymore.

When we came there, we eventually got here, and I met all of you wonderful people. And sometimes we can't see where we're going, but God says, "You're to do this," and you say, "But why?" And He goes, "You'll get it eventually."

And I want you to think for a second: Can you imagine a time in your life where you're free of whatever finances are holding you back? And can you picture with me what if you had lots of extra in your budget?

This past week, when we were watching those tornadoes hit our state, God said to you, "I want you to send five thousand dollars to the relief fund," and all you had to say was, "Okay," and you sent the check. Would that not be the most amazing feeling?

Can you imagine what that would be like in your life to have that much flexibility? See, this is what happens when we use our funds to create the margin and to create the flexibility that God's asking because He then says, "Go do these amazing things. Go build a well in Africa." That's the "then."

But we have to get the dream from Him. It's exciting. We're gonna unpack that even more, and I can't—can you tell I'm excited about that one? I can't wait.

All right, so let's keep going. As your vision expands, you start looking into what we call a family legacy. All right? And that's the "us," where it's not just you and your significant other; you're talking about changing others.

And if you're single, maybe changing others you're not related to. But when you're talking about changing beyond you, and for this, we're gonna look at Proverbs 13, verse 22: "Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren."

There's this reality in society right now that leaving money to your children, your grandchildren, ruins people. You heard Dave mention it. But if we train our children up in the way they're supposed to go—that one's in here too. Bob, you can give me that scripture reference. I think that is in Psalms.

Proverbs 22: "Direct your children on the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it." If we teach our children what to do with money and we teach them how to use it to bless other people, then leaving them whatever we've earned in our life isn't gonna ruin them; it's just gonna change the world even more for God's glory.

And we don't have to feel guilty for it because the Bible says it's the right thing to do to leave things for the next generation and the next generation and to keep changing the world for God.

And you know, I've been reading some books I hadn't read before by Dave, and there's one that makes me laugh. He says that when he leaves things, he has a requirement that you can't be a part of the Ramsey estate if you don't work.

And I'm like, "That is such a Dave thing to do." He doesn't say what you have to do; he just says you have to work. You can't freeload on the Ramsey estate. And that's godly too, isn't it? That we are all supposed to put effort in.

He even makes a comment to say that a stay-at-home mom is working, but that we are all supposed to put in something to life and not just sit and allow other people to do the work for us.

You see that we can safeguard what God has given us, but that doesn't mean that we have to just say that the money is evil and I have to get rid of it. That's not what scripture tells us.

And actually, it was other people's money that built the temple of Solomon because when David became king, he had his ancestors' assets that he inherited. We don't have to feel bad.

The last thing, though, we need to remember is when we receive, if we're doing God's stuff and we're building retirements and doing all these things, sometimes when you start to gain more, did you know money can change people?

Yeah, so let's—I want to just point out a couple things that can affect—we call it the lenses—about when we start looking at changing our family tree that we need to remember.

The first is what we call the magnification lens. If a person is nice, money makes them nicer. And if a person is mean, money makes them meaner. That's the Grinch thing, right?

And if they're a giver, they become philanthropists, which also means if your marriage has issues, you're not gonna solve the issues by getting more money. So part of the reason we're giving financial peace is to help you in your relationship, but don't assume it's gonna solve it. If you need help, come talk to us, and let's get relationship support, okay?

The second lens is the fact that we—go ahead and just skip that next slide for me—ownership. There we go. I'm getting myself off track. Ownership is the second one, and that is this, friends: this is the hardest one.

Don't y'all stick with me for a second. It's the hardest: it's not ours. Some of you are with me, and some of you are like, "It's not mine. My house isn't mine. My car is not mine. My money's not mine. Friends, my child is not mine."

Because scripture tells me in Psalms that everything—the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. That means that nothing that I have is mine.

And I know y'all are thinking, "Faith, of course you think that. You're the pastor. You got that little special thing to make you see everything scripturally." But this is the thing: when you take on the idea that everything is not yours, it makes it a whole lot easier to see it and use it as God wants you to use it.

I'll give you an example. I took Abigail to the Lego event. She wanted a Lego character that cost $35 for this one Lego character. I said, "No, $35 for a Lego character? That is too much money."

And I looked at her; she got all upset. I looked at her, and I said, "You gonna spend your $35?" You know what she said? "No."

Sometimes it's easier to give things to other people when it's not ours. She'll spend when it's not hers. She'll also give it away easier when it's not hers.

Now, my daughter's a natural saver. Do we have those natural savers and natural spenders? We're talking about that next week. But it's easier sometimes to give it away when we don't think about the fact that it's ours.

The last lens is this, and that is that community—the people you're around are gonna encourage you whether to continue on this path or not.

So think about having people in your circle that are committed to these same principles.

So the last scripture theme, which will be how we close this series out, is this idea of "them." And this is where we really move into being radically generous to change everything for God.

We want to change the world for God's glory, really make an impact. This is when, friends, we are like really rolling and using money well.

And I just—I want to use an example for you. If you just think for me for a second, I want you to picture that we're in a scenario where we have a whole bunch of stuff done. Your house is paid; you don't have any loan anywhere. Your retirement is just rolling and cooking, and you have your kids' colleges—all this stuff. You're doing great.

What would it look like of how you could impact others? And as we do that, I want to show an example of something for you.

See, this cup right here is a special cup used, but in the Jewish tradition, according to a book by Rabbi Daniel Lappen—so I hope that I do it justice—but on Sabbath, they have a ceremony called the Hadallah.

And every Sabbath, they use this cup to say a special prayer, and it always sits in a saucer like this because they intentionally overflow the cup. It's the first time I've done this, but the reason that they overflow it is they ask a prayer from God to overflow their week and to give them enough blessings for their family, providing everything they need and to give them more than they need so they can help others.

And they have their family, and the overflow is what they do with others. So what would it look like if we got to a place where our saucer just kept getting bigger, and we could just keep helping others more and more?

But you do so much in the world. That's what it means to keep building for our...

1) "The now part the first phase of what we're gonna unpack we'll do this more next week is you have to take care of your household first meaning if you don't make sure that your bills are paid and your family's fed and you take care of all the necessities in the immediate then you're not taking care of your responsibilities." [06:48] (Download)

2) "We can earn money and we can gather stuff that's okay but we can't put it above the God we serve that's what Paul's trying to emphasize to Timothy." [05:21] (Download)

3) "When you take on the idea that everything is not yours it makes it a whole lot easier to see it and use it as God wants you to use it." [21:13] (Download)

4) "Can you imagine what that would be like in your life to have that much flexibility? See, this is what happens when we use our funds to create the margin and to create the flexibility that God's asking." [15:28] (Download)

5) "If we teach our children what to do with money and we teach them how to use it to bless other people then leaving them whatever we've earned in our life isn't gonna ruin them it's just gonna change the world even more for God's glory." [16:56] (Download)

6) "Sometimes we can't see where we're going but God says you're to do this and you say but why and he goes you'll get it eventually." [13:53] (Download)

7) "The wise store up choice food and oil, and fools gulp it down. See, we're not supposed to just take everything and spend it; we're supposed to put it up for later." [11:05] (Download)

8) "The first is what we call the magnification lens: if a person is nice, money makes them nicer; and a person is mean, money makes them meaner." [19:36] (Download)

9) "The reason that they overflow it as they ask a prayer from God to overflow their week and to give them enough blessings for their family, providing everything they need and to give them more than they need so they can help others." [24:24] (Download)