Salary Cap Concerns
Enjoying What God Has Given
Ecclesiastes 5:19 / I Timothy 6:17
As we begin our message today, the last of our series on “Salary Cap Concerns,” I’d like us to take a moment to review the basic premise of the series. We have looked at 6 different activities that we all engage in regarding our money. We get it, we enjoy it, we pay bills with it, we save some of it, we give some of it to charities or church, and when we run to of money before we run out of month, we throw together some form of plan to do better next month.
We’ve looked at each of these segments of the money wheel and noticed that God’s way of going around the wheel is exactly the opposite of how we normally tend to go around the wheel. His plan is for us to recognize that we receive everything from Him – by his grace. Then we need to plan how we will use it – tell our money where to go instead of wondering where it went. Part of that plan includes giving back to God a portion out as an act of worshiping Him. Then we are to save for the future – both short term and long term goals. We have an obligation to repay any and all debts that are outstanding, and then – and only then – we arrive at the last part of the wheel – the topic of our discussion today – we get to enjoy the fruit of our labors.
Now many people would be surprised to learn that God intends for us to enjoy our money at all. Talk to most people, and they will tell you that religion is meant to rob us of enjoyment. “Religion is just a kill-joy, a bunch of rules and laws to keep you from enjoying life,” they say.
The reality is quite different, however. Jesus said, "I have come that your life may be complte," (perfect, total, full) in John 15:11, 16:24 and 17:13. God created life, He is the master designer of our world and our lives, and if we want to get the most enjoyment our of life, our best chance of that happening is when we follow the guidelines He has given us in His word. I’ve had this cell phone for almost two years. For most of that time, I have been very frustrated by the fact that on the volume control there is a silent setting, which means that nothing happens when someone calls me. Then it goes up from there – quiet, medium, medium loud, loud, and then loud/vibrate.
For two years I have been frustrated because I don’t want the phone to vibrate when it’s on the loudest settings, I want it to vibrate when I have the ringer off – but there was not option for that! I couldn’t believe it – every other person I know has a setting that turns off the ringer, but vibrates to let you know you have a call – but not mine!
Then, one day about two weeks ago, I was on the internet, checking out our cell phone account, and I saw a link to the owner’s manual for the phones – I clicked on my phone, then clicked on the page that talked about “ringer settings,” and low and behold, there was a way to set the phone to vibrate instead of ring! You hold down the star button for three seconds, and it goes to what is called “Manners Mode.” That’s it – that’s all it takes. No rocket science – just do the right thing for the right amount of time, and you get the desired results.
That’s a pretty minor issue, isn’t it? A ringer on a phone. But the principle is important – whether it’s the phone, our car, or our DVD player at home, if we want things to work properly, and provide us with the most enjoyment, and relieve us of years of frustration – the best place to start is with the instructions. The same is true of life. If we want to get the most our of it, and enjoy life to the fullest, then it only makes sense to familiarize ourselves with the owner’s manual.
Many people read in the Bible that sex is to be between married men and women – and they feel that God is robbing their right to enjoy sex – but countless studies have shown that the most satisfying and enjoyable love lives are experienced by men and women who are in a faithful, committed marriage relationship. The Bible says, “give, and it will be given back to you, pressed down and overflowing…” and we resist – but independent studies show that people who are generous are far more content and happy than those who are protective and hoard their resources.
The same is true about our finances. The world demands instant gratification – patience is seen as some sort of mental illness. We’re told, “Get it now! Charge it! Why wait? No Interest for 5 years! Spend it now, or lose it forever!” But the truth is that people who discipline themselves, spend carefully, save faithfully and give generously wind up with more money to enjoy than those who spend foolishly and thoughtlessly. And when you stop and think about it – it makes sense, doesn’t it!
If we follow the God’s way around the financial wheel – we will indeed find ourselves with more to enjoy in the long run. We will have an emergency fund when troubles come up. We’ll have savings set aside for fun times, vacations, and retirement. Additionally, we will have the satisfaction and contentment that comes from knowing that we did it right! Contentment, fun, security, satisfaction – enjoyment…The Bible teaches all that about money?
Yup, it does.
The book of Ecclesiastes is one of those books that most of us have never heard of, can’t pronounce, and probably haven’t read. It’s a bit of a downer book, actually. In many ways, the book could be summarized by the opening words, “Meaningless, meaningless, utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” It’s a book, much like the book of Job, that struggles with the fact that life is sometimes unfair, that evil is all around us, and that some questions simply cannot be answered. It’s a philosophical struggle that still goes on today in our world. “Why do innocents get cancer while the guilty grow old?” “Why do earthquakes and tsunami bring indiscriminant death and destruction?” “Why do bad things happen?” Most scholars believe that it was written by Solomon – the wisest man to ever live. His great learning and wisdom let him to some very difficult places. His insatiable desire for more has led him to a place robbed of joy.
Yet all through Ecclesiastes, and Job, too, for that matter, the writer bows to the sovereignty of God. We are called to stand in awe of the one God Who is able to know all and make sense of all things.
In one particular portion of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is bemoaning the fact that earning and piling up of riches is meaningless, just like everything else – this from the richest man in history! But he realized that it was an exercise in frustration – he writes, “Whoever loves money never has enough money, whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” Now that sounds like a man who knows what he’s talking about!
I want you to check out this video from Casting Crowns:
[Music Video The American Dream, © Casting Crowns]
The message of that song is very close to the message of Ecclesiastes – Solomon has discovered the futility of chasing after the stuff of this world…When we make enjoyment the first impulse of our financial plan, instead of the final goal, thne we are going to be robbed of our joy.
But then a few verses later, he writes this,
Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him – for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives a man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot in life and be happy in his work, this is a gift of God.
Do you hear that? It is a gift from God to be able to enjoy our wealth and possessions. In fact, it is one of the greatest gifts of God. Solomon goes on to say that a man can have a hundred children and live a long life with great riches, but if he doesn’t learn to enjoy his prosperity, he would have been better off to have died at childbirth! It does us no good to earn and have if we do not also have contentment and joy. The problem is having stuff – the problem is never being satisfied or allowing ourselves to be content with what we have!
In I Timothy 6, Paul talks at great length about money, and our attitudes about it. In verse 6, he links contentment and godliness together. In verse 17 he writes these instructions to Timothy:
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Jesus came that our joy maybe full, Paul urges us to be content – to be happy and to enjoy our possessions, rather than have our joy stolen from us. So why aren't we joyful? I believe that contentment with our possessions would be easy, and natural, if it weren’t for a few attitudes that rob us of our joy. These “joy thieves” make their way into our hearts and minds and rob us of the joy that God intends for us to have from our possessions and resources. Get rid of these thieves in your life, and your joy will overflow.
Thief #1 – Worry.
Chuck Bentley, from Crown Financial Ministries, describes worry as “a mild form of atheism.” Think about that for a moment, and I think you will agree. “Worry is a mild form of atheism.” When we worry, we deny that God is in control, that God is sovereign, that God is on the throne. In fact, when we worry, we deny that He exists – because if God exists, by definition He is sovereign, in control and rules all things. If God is, then I don’t have to worry.
John Schweitzer comes to my office just about every Tuesday for a time of prayer, last week he wore a T-shirt that said, “If there is no God, then nothing matters. If there is a God, then nothing else matters.” Folks, if you believe in God, who created all things, and by whom all things are held together, then why worry? He is in charge. When we worry, we deny His deity! We deny His sovereignty! We deny His existence!
So, how do we get rid of this joy-thief? We replace worry with prayer and faith.
Jesus said,
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? …Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Paul wrote (from prison, by the way),
Do not worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He has done.
When God is on the throne, nothing else matters! Prayer is the opposite of worry! When you feel anxious about something, use it as a call to prayer – remind yourself who is in control, and trust in Him.
Worry robs us of the joy and contentment that God wants us to have.
The second thief of our joy is covetousness. Now there’s a religious-sounding word, right? The ten commandments – you remember - “Thou shalt not covet…” Well, in today’s lingo, we call it “greed.” The quickest way to lose your joy over what God has given you is to compare it with what someone else has. You love your new Chevy, ‘til you see the neighbor’s Ford, who noticed his bosses BMW, who is jealous of the Company VP’s Jaguar, who wishes he’d got the 12 Disc CD player like the CEO…and on it goes. When we compare our stuff to others’ stuff, it leads to two places – first, we think we’re better than others, which is pride, or we think of ourselves as worse off than others, which is self-pity. Either way, we are robbed of our joy.
Greed is a bottomless pit. It’s an inescapable trap! We will never be content if we are in the comparison zone. There’s only one way to escape greed, covetousness and comparison – it’s called contentment. We need to replace our greed with contentment. Be happy with what we have. We achieve that by not looking at what others have – and instead focusing on, and being thankful for what we have been given.
There is not a person in this room who has not been incredibly blessed! You know how I know that? Because you are here! You live in the wealthiest, freest, most advanced society in the history of the world. Even our poverty stricken are blessed! Listen to this:
The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the US Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:
Now I don’t share that to make a political statement – but to help us put things in perspective. We have been blessed! We simply need to recognize the blessings of God and learn to be content with them! Paul said,
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty – I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Again, words written from prison! Yet Paul was able to see the blessings of Christ in his life and he had learned to be content. The writer of Hebrews gave us this instruction:
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Now, lots of us remember the last part of that verse, and we say it to comfort others who are in a place of hurt or despair, but what about the first part? Are we willing to keep our lives free from the love of money and be content with what we have? If not, we will be robbed of our joy.
The third thief of our joy is very close to you right now – in fact, it’s sitting in your chair. Yeah, it’s you. One of the great joy robbers is selfishness and self-centeredness. When I can’t look beyond the end of my own nose, and get my eyes off of myself, and my troubles and my needs – then I am going to be miserable. We need to replace our selfishness with generosity. When I see the needs of others, and do all I can to help others in their need, I am filled with joy. Give it a try! Go and work at the food pantry. Come and serve our free Thanksgiving Dinner. Annonymously fill someone’s fuel tank in January, give up your Christmas gifts this year and instead spend all that you were going to on your selves on a family that has nothing. I guarantee you it will overwhelm you with joy! Romans 12:8 says, “If you have money, share it generously…”
Thief #4 – Guilt.
A couple of weeks ago Andrew talked about freedom – the freedom from sin’s penalty that we have in Jesus. He talked about how Jesus has already given us eternal life instead of what we deserve for our sins – they have been forgiven! But Satan wants to keep us in bondage to guilt and shame – for the very sins that we’ve been forgive of!
We will find ourselves depressed over past mistakes, poor decision making, ungodly values and thinking. I guarantee that if you start putting these principles of handling your money God’s way into practice in your life, you’re going to make mistakes – you’re going to fail – and Satan is going to do all he can to keep you locked in guilt. He will try to beat you into submission and bondage all over again…bondage of debt and greed and all the rest – but now compounded by the guilt that “I know better, and I still failed!”
Folks, there’s only one way to fight him – Scripture! It’s how Jesus beat the devil when He was tempted, and it’s our best and only defense as well. Here’s a verse to remind yourself of:
Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
If God was willing to forgive your sins when you first came to Him as His enemy, won’t He be willing to forgive you when you struggle as His child? Remember His faithfulness, His promises, His love and His grace – and replace that guilt for your unfaithfulness with worship and gratitude for His never ending faithfulness. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His faithful love endures forever!”
Folks, that’s what this whole series has been about. Imagine your wallet, your checkbook, your budget, your retirement plan, your fun all being as much a part of your worship experience as going to church or reading your Bible! Not only is it possible, it’s God’s desire for you – that He would be the center of our entire lives, that we would honor Him and live for Him in every aspect of our being. It is possible, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and I encourage you to discover the depths of living that life.
Prayer.