Proverbs - Managing my money (Proverbs 3:1-10 & Luke 16:1-11)
Billy Milton - November 26, 2006
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Today we’re going to continue our series in Proverbs and we’re looking at the area of finances. Why is it so important that we manage our money? Well, one good reason is that, in the UK, Care for the Family tell us that poor finances are the cause of 67% of all divorces. Another reason for talking about finances is that God does not want us living under continual financial tension and stress. God has a plan that can get us and keep us out of debt. Jesus said this in Luke 16:11, “If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” Your personal responsibility with your money determines how much God can bless your life. Finances are tests of character, of your spiritual maturity.
Today I want to look at 5 important financial principles that are found in the Bible. (Again Rick Warren of Saddleback Community Church has very helpfully provided me with the headings to follow.) When you follow them all carefully they will show you how to manage your money properly and get out of debt.
1. EARN AN HONEST LIVING. The principle of WORK.
In the very first conversation God had with Adam he commanded him to work. Work is a blessing from God, to be enjoyed and to find fulfillment from. If you hate your job then we need to have a chat – come and see me in my office and I’ll try to help you in that area. However we are commanded by God to work. 2 Thess 3, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we appeal to people – no, we command them: settle down and get to work. Earn your own living.” This might seem almost naïve but the first principle of financial freedom is you’ve got to have an honest income source. In fact the Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “If a man won’t work, he shouldn’t eat.” That doesn’t say if he can’t work because sometimes you can’t. It says if he won’t work. If it’s a matter of poor character, if you’re just lazy, the Bible says you shouldn’t eat. God wants us to earn an honest living. Hundreds of thousands in our present culture have no idea what that means. They are missing out on God’s best for them.
2. PLAN YOUR SPENDING. This is the principle of BUDGETING.
You’ve got to set some financial goals and stick with them. Don’t go through 2007 the way you went through 2006 – just spending, hoping and guessing; not really knowing where your money is or where it’s going. Proverbs 27:23-24 says, “Riches can disappear fast. So watch your business interests closely. Know the state of your flocks and herds.” God’s word is saying, “Know where you’ve put your money. Know where it’s going.”
Here’s the starting point: Keep good records. You’ve got to be aware of how you use your money. Have you ever said, “I just don’t know where it all goes.” If you’re saying that, that should be a warning light – a great big red warning light that says you’re not keeping good records. People say, “Money talks.” It doesn’t talk; it just quietly slips away. And it doesn’t leave any forwarding address! You have to plan your spending but in order to plan your spending you have to keep good records. Proverbs 23:23 “Get the facts at any price.” You need to be realistic about your finances. You need to ask, “How are we really doing?” before you go out and buy something. Some people don’t want to know where the money is going because it would be too painful. That’s like a woman who finds a lump in her breast but doesn’t go to the doctor just in case its cancer. She couldn’t face that news. In finances, the quicker you face up to bad news the quicker you can get healing started.
There are 4 things you need to know:
First you need to know “What I own.” That’s your assets. You need to make an inventory, a list of all the things you own. Some you might have to sell to pay off your debts.
Second, you need to know “What I owe.” That’s your liabilities, your debts. Get them all out on the table and face up to the truth.
Third you need to know, “What I earn.” It’s amazing how many people don’t even know exactly what they earn. And this must be your take home pay, after tax and National Insurance.
Fourth, you need to know, “Where it’s going.” Take a month and write down every pound that you spend. It’s the only way you will know where your money is going. I promise you, if you’ve never done this, this will shock you. You have to have a record of where your money actually went in order to figure out how you can use your money to help you get out of debt. You say, “I don’t have time to do all that. I don’t have time to write it all down.” Do you have time to worry about your finances? If you’ve got time to worry, you’ve got time to write it down. If you’d write it down, you’d have a whole lot less to worry about. This is a principle that’s in God’s word. First, earn an honest living. Second, plan your spending and keep good records.
Proverbs 21:5, “Plan carefully and you will have plenty. If you act too quickly, you will never have enough.” If you don’t get anything else, get what I say right now. Financial freedom is not determined by how much you make. It is determined by how you spend it. If you don’t have a plan, your yearnings will always exceed your earnings and you’re always going to be in debt. There will always be too much month left at the end of your money! No matter how much money you make, your expenses always rise with income. They always do! There are people who can’t live on a hundred, a hundred-fifty grand a year. Their yearning still exceeds their earning. What you need to do is write it down and get a plan. Again, Care for the Family say that the average British family spends 109% of their earnings.
When you go out, you can fall prey to a very enticing trap. I’m referring to impulse buying. “Plan carefully and you’ll have plenty. If you act too quickly [circle “act too quickly”] you’ll never have enough.” Impulse buying is, “I see it, I’ve got to have it! It’s in the window, it’s in the catalogue, on the television.” Every advertisement is made to encourage impulse buying. They don’t want you to think about it. They don’t want you to plan your spending because when you plan it you realise you can’t afford it now. So what they want you to do is not think. They want you to make a decision based on emotion. Impulse buying, especially on credit card, is a fast route to debt. If you want to control impulse buying, you’ve got to nip it in the budget.
Here’s your homework: If you haven’t done so already, I want you to go home and make a little, simple budget. All your income, all your expenses – they should be at worst equal. Ask me later if you’d like some help with this and I’ll show you in more detail. By the way, as a bit of an aside, married couples should operate from a joint bank account. Why wouldn’t they? Divide your accounts and you will almost certainly increase the likelihood of debt.
There’s a third principle of financial freedom.
3. SAVE FOR THE FUTURE. This is the principle of INVESTING.
Prov 21:20, “The wise man saves for the future.” The Bible says it’s wise to save. But we’re not very good at this as Brits. We live in this “Spend it now, live for today” mentality. Did you know that the average man in the UK has a lower net worth at age 65 than he does at 25? As a nation we are not saving and hoping for a big windfall before we retire. But remember… Prov 13:11, “Money that comes easily disappears quickly.” A Florida newspaper reported that 70% of lottery winners in Florida are bankrupt within three years. “Money that comes easily disappears quickly. Money that’s gathered little by little will grow.” What’s little by little? Regular saving.
The Bible actually has a lot to say about investing, far more than we can cover today. In Proverbs 6 it says, “Go study little ants. They store up food in the summer so when the winter comes they’ll be well taken care of.” The reason most of us don’t do that is we want everything now. You didn’t get into debt overnight. You’re not going to get out of it overnight. But if you’ll apply these five financial principles, you can get out of debt quicker than you think.
So, Earn an honest living (that’s the Principle of Work), Plan your spending (that’s the Principle of Budgeting), Save for the future (that’s the Principle of Investing)…
4. RETURN 10% BACK TO GOD. That’s the principle of TITHING.
You know about this. We’ve talked about tithing before. God says the first 10% of all that I make goes back to Him to honor Him as number one in my life. Most of you understand this but maybe some of you are new. In Malachi 3:10, God says, “Bring to My storehouse a full tenth of what you earn, test me in this,” says the Lord. “And I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out all the blessing that you need.”
Notice the words “Test Me”. This is the only place in the Bible where God says, “I dare you! You put Me first in your money, give Me the first ten percent back, and see if I don’t bless your life. Test Me!”
Now here’s an interesting fact. As an accountant I’ve been to a number of secular conferences on wealth management and they all say that one of the first principles to acquiring wealth is to learn to give it away! Now I’m not exactly sure why its so important to give it away if you are trying to pay off your debts except that maybe it breaks the hold that money can have in our lives if we learn to give it away. Some of the greatest philanthropists in the world are not Christians but they have learned that giving and getting are somehow tied up. And as Christians we have even more reason to give other than just to get wealthy.
Why do I tithe? The Bible gives three reasons:
1. Out of gratitude for my past. It’s a way of saying thank you to God for all that he has done for us.
2. It’s a priority statement in the present. I can pay lip service, saying, “Jesus is number one in my life.” But if I’m not tithing I really don’t trust Him. I don’t believe He’ll do what He says. So it’s saying in priorities, “God, You’re number one. I give you the first day of every week (Sunday), I give You the first part of my day, I give you the first part of my money.”
3. It is a statement of faith. Every time I tithe, I’m saying, “God, I believe Your promise. I believe that You will take care of me, that somehow You’ll figure out how I can live on 90% better than if I had all 100%.
Some of you are saying, “I’m broke. I can’t afford to tithe!” Can I respectfully submit to you that you can’t afford not to? You need God’s blessing in your life to get out of debt. The best time to start tithing is when you’re in debt. It’s either you’re going to figure it out on your own or you’re going to do it God’s way. Which one do you think God’s going to honor? It really comes down to a matter of, “Do I really trust God? Do I believe He’ll do what He says?” Test Me in this, He says. If you’re not tithing and would like to then talk to our treasurer Alison later and she will help you get started.
Here’s the principle: whatever you want God to bless in your life, put Him first in it. You want God to bless your relationships? Put Him first in your relationships. You want God to bless your time? Put Him first in your time. You want God to bless your money? Put Him first in your money. You’ve got to give ten percent back to God and then the fifth principles is very important…
5. ENJOY WHAT I HAVE. That’s the Principle of Contentment.
Ecclesiastes 6:9, says “It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to always be wanting something else.’ People today are so busy getting more and more they don’t have any time to enjoy what they’ve got. People go out and they get overextended. Their yearning exceeds their earning. Then both husband and wife have to work to make ends meet because they bought more than they could afford. There’s constant tension, constant frustration, constant fatigue because we’re always trying to keep up with everybody around us. Pretty soon we get too tired and relationships start to unravel.
I know we rationalise this and we say, “It’s only temporary. We’re struggling right now but it’s only temporary. A slower day is coming.” Who are you kidding? A temporary solution has become a permanent lifestyle. You say, “One of these days when things settle down.” They’re not going to settle down! They’re not going to settle down until you choose to settle them down. If you wait for them to settle down, the kids will be gone and it’s too late.
The key to all this is Hebrews 13:5, “Be content with what you have.” You didn’t get in debt overnight. You’re not going to get out overnight. But if you don’t do something it’s going to be worse next year. You need to take these principles and make them work. But two things: One, you have to do them all, you can’t pick and choose. And two, you’ve got to do them in the right order.
Here is the world’s order, what most people do with their money:
1. First they earn it
2. Then they spend it all. They enjoy it.
3. If they have any left over, they repay it
4. If they have any left over after that, they might save a little bit
5. If they have any left over after that, they might give some.
In fact, when it comes to giving, some people stop at nothing!
Here is the order that God blesses:
1. You earn it.
2. You tithe it. You put God first. “God, You’re number one in my finances.”
3. You save it. You pay God first, you pay yourself second. It’s your money that God has given you.
4. You repay. You set up a repayment plan so little by little get out of debt
5. You enjoy the results of that in your life.
I want to close today by praying for those of you who are in financial difficulties, who are in financial stress. God wants to help you get out of debt. But you’ve got to do two things: One, you’ve got to do your part. Take the outline and do a little self-evaluation. Put a tick by each of the principles that you’re already doing. Then put a star by the ones that you’re going to start today or this week. The key to this is not knowledge but action.
LET’S PRAY
Father, you know us better than we know ourselves. I don’t know each individual situation but You do. Many of us are experiencing financial stress and difficulty today. As we follow Your principles, I pray that You will give us the discipline to turn around our finances. I know we didn’t get into debt overnight and we’re not going to get out of it overnight, but replace that debt with dedication to do the right thing. Replace the pressure with peace. Help us to get out of a hole and onto Your pathway to financial freedom and blessing.
Pray this in your heart: “Father, I want to follow Your financial principles in 2007. Forgive me for spending more than I make. Forgive me for unwise purchases. Help me to get back on track with Your plan. Today, I commit myself to Your financial principles. With Your help in 2007 I’m going to start keeping better records. I’m going to learn to plan my spending. With Your help I’m going to save some for the future. And I’m going to put You first in my finances by returning the tithe back to You. Help me to enjoy what I have. Jesus, I invite You to be the manager of my life. I want to trust You with my finances and with my future. In Your name I pray. Amen.”