The Christian's Approach to Money

If you would go ahead and take your Bible and turn back with me to 1 Timothy chapter 6. We were there earlier in our scripture reading. Now from time to time we do have messages where we will have lots of other passages like I always do. I encourage you to write those passages down. We will stay right here in this 1 Timothy chapter 6 passage. There's lots of other scriptures that we will use and like I say frequently. We challenge you to study your notes throughout the week.

Maybe go back and look at some of those scripture references, put all of the pieces of the puzzle back together in your own study time so that you could retain all the Lord wants to give us. Now we will look at this 1 Timothy 6 passage two different times in our message. Well this morning we'll be looking at the subject of money. I think it's obvious by some things that I have shared and some direction that Brother Keith has taken us during worship. We will be looking at at least two more messages. I'm not sure. I know I expressed some uncertainty in that area earlier. I know we'll be here at least two weeks after this message.

Now this passage this morning will serve really as a launching pad. Like I said we'll be here in two other places this morning. But then this will be a launching pad. This message will be a launching pad for where we will go the next couple of weeks. This morning we're looking at our finances, simply the title of the message is the Christians approach to money. That's the subject that we're looking at this morning. Our approach is born again people, people that God has brought here, our approach to money.

Now truthfully in the life of the church there are always people who have the wrong attitude when it comes to looking at money in the life of the church. I've seen that throughout the years and some of you have as well. Now some of those attitudes are justified. I've been in the life of the church when pastors, ministers approach this subject really in an unbiblical way. And I had those skeptical attitudes as well. But some of these attitudes are unjustified. A lot of people think that the pastor shouldn't deal with these subjects. But I think we're going to see from the scriptures that that is not the case.

Truthfully we have all been intimidated at times by people who can express these bad attitudes. We've been in business meetings, we've heard of Deacon's meetings. We've just seen the negative. And if we're not careful the negative can scare us away from dealing with these subjects. Now when it comes to discussing finances and monies in the life of the church, we're in good company when we are dealing with this subject. Jesus in His three year ministry taught extensively on money. Eleven of His thirty nine disciples were on the topic of money.

Jesus talked more about money than He did heaven and hell combined other than teaching about the kingdom. In other words His kingdom, the kingdom of God, Jesus taught more on money than any other subject. If we move on past the earthly ministry of Jesus into the book of Acts we find that Christians were very concerned with their monies. We see individual Christians giving sacrificially. We even see people traveling great distances with offerings for the church. We even see groups of Christians. Groups of what we would call churches giving sacrificially towards the Lord's work.

If we move on past the Acts of the Apostles, if we look at Paul's writings, Paul taught more, Paul taught about money very, very often. All throughout his writings he urged individuals and churches to be good givers. He regularly mentioned those who gave and also how they gave. He regularly mentioned great needs and how individuals or churches were meeting those needs. So I give us those examples to show us that we are in good company today as we address the subject of money in the life of Christians and in the life of the church. Now I've already given us the title of the message. It's rather simple, the Christians approach to money.

We're going to explore three questions. Three questions. How do we think about money, which is very basic or foundational? How do we gain our money? Again, this is basic and foundational. And then how do we use our money? How do we use our money? And like I said, this will be a launching pad for the next couple of weeks. In the next couple of weeks we will refer back to some of this teaching because truthfully it will all tie together to be a part of what God is teaching us today and this time as we as a church approach this subject of money. So let's look at our first question that I want us to explore. How do we think about money?

As Christians, born again people, that God has assembled here, how do we think about money? Now we all have our own opinions when it comes to money. Our views are formed in many ways. I'll give us a few that will help us see how our views are formed. Many times our views about money are formed by our upbringing, our family, our moms and our dads. Sometimes our views about money can come from our close friends, our close associates. Sometimes our views about money come from just simply personal experiences. I call this trial and error. I think we all have a little trial and error in this area of our life.

Now in the life of the church some have views from specific teaching. I can remember years ago as a layman I knew people in the life of the church. When I first came to know Christ who were very influenced or heavily influenced by a Christian named Larry Burkett. He was gifted in the area of teaching Christians how to manage money. One man that's very popular today, and I've seen him be influential with some, is Dave Ramsey. What I'm showing you is there's teaching in the life of the church that can influence the way we view money. As Christians though, we must be sure to allow God to form how we think about our money.

If our views on money are contradicted by the Word of God then we must change how we think. Now a question for us to ponder before we move on. If you, just sitting here this morning, if you were to discover that your views concerning your money did not line up with God's Word would you repent? Would you be willing to change? Would you even make major changes in your life when it comes to finances if you discovered that you were not biblical? Now what I'm going to share here speaks to how we should think about money on a very basic level.

I know I said this, and I would encourage you to write some of these passages down for prayer, for your own personal meditation, and examination because we want to examine ourselves in light of what God's Word says. So there are a few observations or a few specifics I want to mention. First of all I want us to see that we can't serve God and money. We cannot in any way serve God and money. Jesus deals with this issue, this problem, back at the Sermon on the Mount.

In Matthew 6, verse 24, as Jesus is teaching he says, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one or love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other." And he goes on to say, "You cannot serve God and mammon or riches." Notice that according to this text there will be a master. The question is not do we have a master, the question is who or what is our master. Also there will be a love for one or the other. The question is not do we love, but who or what do we love. Notice too that there can be no duplicity. We can't serve as Christians both God and money. So this leads me to a question.

What does this mean for us today in the life of the Nola Baptist Church as Christians? Remember that this should speak to us at a very basic and fundamental level. As Christians we must see that we cannot in any way have two masters. If we try to serve God and anything else we will fail. We cannot serve God and money. Then second I want us to see we cannot seek to be rich. In any way we cannot seek to be rich. Now for this we move on into 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 9. Again we know the context, Paul's writing to Timothy, but Timothy's ministering in the life of the Ephesian church.

And so Paul is saying to these Christians in verse 6 and 9, "But those of you who want to get rich fall into the temptation, and a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and to destruction." Notice Paul says those who want to get rich fall. The first step is temptation. And then the next step is a snare. There is a picture here in the wording. It's of being caught in a trap or caught in a snare. Not only are these ensnared, but they are trapped in the foolish and harmful desires. All of which lead to ruin. This word here means to sink or to drag to the bottom. This speaks of total destruction. Again a question.

What does this mean for us as Christians? This is very direct and we should easily see the teaching here. We should not seek to become rich. Seeking to become rich is a trap. And if we fall into this trap, it will. It will lead to utter destruction. So we cannot serve God in money. We cannot seek to become rich. And then third, we can't fall into the trap of loving money. You might say, "Pastor, is it that similar to what we just looked at?" Yes, but we need to see this other layer. First Timothy 6.10 says, "For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.

And some, by longing for it, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pain." Notice the text here says that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. Now there's a common mistake people make here. Many think that this means it's the root of all evil. That's not the case. That's a great error. Paul says that pursuing, pursuing the love of money, that leads to all types of evils and it will cause the individual to wander away from the faith. Now a question here. What does this mean for us as Christians? Again, this teaching is direct.

Simply loving money turns into all sorts of evil and leads one to wander away from the faith. Supporting money leads people down different paths of evil in life and the end result is wandering from the faith. And then fourth, we must use our money for good. Now this takes us back to our passage. I said that we were going to build on in this message. First Timothy 6 starting in verse 17. "Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to become conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed." Now you might say this is talking to the rich. This is talking to rich folks. This does not apply to us. Well we're all wrong here my friend and we need to see this. We as Americans, we are very, very rich compared to the rest who live around the world. Now that's another subject for another day. But based on how we live and what we have, we are very rich. But notice there is a condemnation.

And the condemnation for being rich is not here in the verse but there is a warning not to fix our hope on riches. Paul does command those who are rich to be rich in good deeds. So there's not a condemnation for being rich. Now question, what does this mean for us as Christians? This is the first positive text that I've read. Have you noticed that? If we go back and look at what we've learned so far, we cannot serve God in money according to Jesus in Matthew 6. We cannot seek to become rich according to 1 Timothy 6.9 and we cannot fall into the trap of loving money in 1 Timothy 6.10. But here we see a positive.

We must see that God, He supplies us with all the things physical in this world for us to use and also enjoy. Go back to the text. What does He say? Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to become conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God. Who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. And then instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works. So what do we see? We must see that God supplies us with all things to enjoy and then to use for His glory. Yes our money, yes our possessions, especially our money. Now in summary, what have we seen here? Truthfully it's a lot.

We cannot serve God in money, Jesus teaches. We cannot have two gods. We cannot seek to become rich. This is a trap which always leads to destruction. We cannot fall into the trap of loving money. This leads us down many paths of sin and destruction. We must see that our money and our possessions and all things are a gift from God whether we have much or little. And they are first to be used for good. Isn't that what the text says? And we'll revisit this verse like I said. But in application I have one simple question. How does this basic teaching strike you? I mean this is basic teaching. This is Christians and their money 101.

And I want to challenge you, if any of what has shared has struck a chord or stirred up some spiritual curiosity or maybe prompted you to ask a question or two, I would encourage you to dive deeper in what the text says, to study the subject and to see what this would say to you. We must ask ourselves the question, how do we think about money? And even at the very basic level, we should make sure we ask ourselves that question. Now this leads us to the second question, how do we gain our money? How do we gain our money? Now I want to introduce us to a word that's become unpopular with many today. And that's the word work. The word work.

The first mention of work is in the scriptures. The first mention of work is in Genesis chapter 2. God finished the creation in six days and on the seventh day what did God do? He rested. Now God did not need to rest from exhaustion, but God being God set a pattern of work and rest. God did work and God rested only as an example. So the first example of work in God's word is God himself within the creation. The example of work and the example of rest. Now I want to carry this a little further and I want to apply this to our money as Christians and who we are today. And there are two specifics I want to give us.

The first specific is we must work for our money. We must work for our monies. Now we know that we can't attain monies in different ways. We have gifts and things such as that. But the only way we earn anything is to work for it. If we do not earn it then it is a gift and there's nothing wrong with that. But let's look a little deeper as to what the scriptures say about this idea of work. Within the Old Testament, Genesis 2 verse 15 says, "Then the Lord God took man," that's Adam, "and He put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it." Exodus 20 starting in verse 8 says, "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all of your work and on the Sabbath day it is a Sabbath of the Lord." Adam, Adam and Eve, they were to care for the garden. I like how the Holman Christian Standard reads this. It reads, "To work it and to watch over it." And then in the giving of the Ten Commandments the Israelites were expected to work six days. That was a given way of life for God's Old Testament people. They were to work and they were to work even six days. And the reason I mention Adam is, is because the standard of work was given to Adam even in the garden. But then the New Testament Commandment. The New Testament Commandment.

One example is 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 10. Paul writes to the Thessalonica church, "For when we were with you, we used to give you this order. If anyone will not work, neither let him eat. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life doing not work at all, but acting like busy bodies." Paul is teaching the Thessalonica church that they are to work for their own needs. Some in the church had developed a bad habit. There was a bad habit of not working. Many had become unproductive. They had become a burden on the church. And Paul could expect this from the Thessalonica because he lived this very teaching.

Throughout his ministry, many times Paul worked outside, and I use that terminology purposely, outside of the work of his ministry. In Acts 18 verses 1 and 2, Paul worked with Aquila and Priscilla as tent makers. This was an everyday job until Silas and Timothy came to assist him in the ministry. Verse 5 says that after Silas and Timothy came, Paul devoted himself completely every day to testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. So we have the Old Testament commandment and then the New Testament commandment. So we must work to earn our monies. And then another specific, we must be honest in our work. We must be honest in our work.

There are two areas I want to apply this. First as an employer we must be honest. James says, James 5-4, "Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields and which has been withheld by you cries out against you. And the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord. These were employers who were sinning against what? Their laborers or employees. They sinned in different ways by hoarding, by robbing, and by selfish living. And this principle here shows us that as an employer we must be honest. But then as an employee we must be honest.

Colossians 3, 23, 3 says, "Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men." This passage deals with working as God is watching, not just men watching. Paul is teaching that we are to work from the heart as if we are working for the Lord knowing that we will give an account. So what do we see here? All of these passages speak of earning or working for our monies, working for compensation. Christians were expected to work, to work honestly as if they were working for the Lord, no matter what job they were doing. This is straightforward.

And there are many other passages that teach this very same thing throughout the Scriptures. Now in application what must we see? We must see that the principles of earning our monies are found all throughout the Scriptures. Again, this goes back to that word "work." Now to be honest with you, this is something that really needs to be shouted from the rooftops. There are some with political agendas who want to promote people not working. There are far too many people living on government assistance in this day and time. Now we could just go down that rabbit trail for a long time. What am I showing you?

There are more and more people in our culture who are against that word called "work." Those of us who are in the life of the church, those of us who claim the name of Christ, we must be examples of those who work and we must practice this teaching just as Paul taught this and just as Paul practiced it and we must teach our children and those in the life of the church to do what? To work. Why? Because that which we have we must earn. Now again, this is very basic. Think about what I've explored or think about what I've put before you. How do we think about our money?

We need to be prodded and moved along to think about monies and how it relates to us as Christians. And then we need to examine the question, how do we gain our money? See, for some of you that might have caused you to perk up and think I better be the best employee I can be. These are basic things, fundamental things, but they must be dealt with first before we can move on because if we put that check in the offering plate, if we give to a need and we're not right with the Lord in these basic and fundamental things, we give and sin and we must not do that. Basically, just to the third question, how do we use our money?

How do we use our monies? Here I want us to revisit the passage that we looked at earlier. This will be the basis for the last portion of the message and this message will also be the springboard of the teaching in the next couple of weeks. I know that I have said that. Now let's go back to this first Timothy passage, Chapter 6 starting in verse 17. "Instruct those who are rich in this present world not, not to become conceited." That means puffed up or arrogant. "Instruct those who are rich in this world not to become conceited, puffed up or arrogant, or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches." What is he saying?

It can come and it can go. It can be given and it can be taken away. Think about our Old Testament friend, Joe. But on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy, but not just to enjoy. Notice how Paul takes one more step. "Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works or good deeds, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed." Now I want to use this passage as a springboard. I want to take the time to show us three areas of our lives where we should seek to do good.

Good with our monies, good with our possessions. God supplies us according to this text with money and possessions, whether it's a little or whether it is a lot. And we should seek to do good with what God has given us. Now this is not exhaustive, but again this is a springboard for where I believe the Lord wants to take us. So how do we use our money? First we should provide for our families. We should provide for our families. Now if we go back a chapter in Paul's teaching, as he is teaching this Ephesian church, we see Paul address issues concerning the family. Family needs.

He teaches that the needs of widows in chapter five should be met by who? By children and grandchildren. And then Paul goes on to lay down one of the most basic and concrete principles concerning needs within a family. And this is in chapter five, verse eight. Notice what the verse reads. "Blunt, this was after he had taught on widows and children and grandchildren meeting needs, but if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his old household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever or a pagan." So here Paul restates what he had said earlier in verse four. Now in verse four there's a positive.

Go back and study that on your own. But in verse eight there is a negative. Go back to verse eight. But if anyone does not provide, see earlier in verse four he talks about providing. So what do we see here in this verse, verse eight? He talked about providing in verse four and providing in verse eight. Now there are two things I want us to see. First, the construction of the language tells us that there were those within the Ephesian church who were violating this principle. There were some there in the pews who were guilty. They were in sin. They were guilty of not providing for their family.

And then second, Paul says those who were guilty are worse than pagans, worse than unbelievers. Even in Paul's day, most unbelievers did care for their own families, even in the most basic of ways. And Paul is saying this, if you as a Christian in the life of the church do not provide for your family, you're worse than a pagan. So what do we see? We should provide for our families. Now this leads me to a question. What does this mean for us as Christians? For us as Christians in the life of the church, if we are not providing for our own families out of the good things that God has given us, then we are denying the faith.

We are denying the very basic principle of Christian love. We learned that basic principle quite a few weeks ago in John 13. John 13 verse 35, what is Jesus saying to his disciples? By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. And see, this is the most basic of Christian principles to provide for those who are within your own family. Now second, I want us to see that we should provide for the work of the church. We should provide for the work of the church. Go back to verse 18 and instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.

Now if you notice in verse 19, there is an illusion of kingdom work, storing up for yourselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. John has an echo ring of Matthew 6 verse 33. But what do we see here? This is simply an introduction for where we will go. This is how we will get started. We should provide for the work of the church. Like I said earlier, this is a springboard. We will refer in the next few weeks back to this verse and this teaching and this responsibility. But there are a few specifics I want us to see here. First, Jesus points us in this direction.

If we go all the way back to the sermon on the mouth, Jesus deals with the very heart of this matter in Matthew 6 starting in verse 19. What does he say? "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy or where thieves break in and steal," verse 20, "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy or where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will also be." This is not only the heart of the matter, but this teaching deals with the very heart of the true believer.

Jesus calls believers to use their monies, their possessions, even their entire lives to store up wealth in heaven. And this is the work of the church. This is kingdom work. See if this does not ring in this verse. Verse 18, "instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for yourselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed." Then second, notice we see in the example of the New Testament church. Early on, we saw how those early Christians approached the needs of the church. We study the ongoing development of the church.

In Acts 2, verses 44 and 45, "And all of those who had believed were together, and they had all things in common, and they began selling their property and their possessions, and they were sharing with all as anyone who might have need." The early church lived the verse, Matthew 6, verse 19 to 21. They gave all their monies and their possessions for the church and for kingdom work. They did not do this simply on one occasion. They did it for all of the rest of their lives as the needs arose. They laid up for themselves treasures in heaven. And then third, we see this in the remaining teaching in the New Testament.

The churches within the New Testament committed their monies, their possessions, and their lives to the work of the church. They are our example. One specific. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul says the Macedonian churches, plural, gave much even in their difficulties. This is just one of many examples of how the New Testament church used their monies and possessions for kingdom work. Now question here, what does this mean for us as Christians? We must see that it is God's people who are to give for God's work. It is God's church, the ecclesia that called out once who were to give for the work of the church. This is you and this is me.

If we're born again and God's called us here, this is us. And together we are to give for this work of the church. And then third, continuing out of this, how do we use our money? We should do good outside of the church. We should do good outside of the church. Go back to verse 18, instructing them to be good, to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. Here we see that as Christians we should be doers of the good, rich in good works. Now question, what does this mean for us?

Not only should we give adequately, even sacrificially to the work of the church, we should be good at doing good when we're out in the culture. I give you an example that will help you understand what I believe this means. We find ourselves at work and there's a need, it should be Christians who step up and meet needs. When we are in our neighborhoods and in our workplaces and even in our families, when there is a need, we should as Christians seek to meet those needs. Why? Because we should be doers of the good. Now summary, what do we see here?

Simplistically I'll put before us three areas of life where a Christian should use their money and their possessions. First, meaning the needs of our families. If we don't do that, we're worse than pagans. Second, meaning the needs of the life of the church, giving sometimes sacrificially, according to the needs, pouring our resources into kingdom work, and then three in the culture. As life leads us and God blesses us, being those who do good in the culture. Now again, in application, I ask the question, how does this basic teaching strike you? I mean, how does this strike you?

If any of this is start-up curiosity, then you need to go study on your own. If this is start-up question and questions are good, then you should be asking those questions. What does this mean to me? What does this mean to us? So what have we looked at this morning as we move towards the conclusion? Some very basic teaching, some very fundamental things that if we do not have down, they will hinder how we participate in giving in kingdom work. How do we think about money? How do we gain our money? And how do we use our money? Now in conclusion, I want to leave us with three words.

Three words, and I will make some application from these words. I think this will help some of us. The first word is ignorance. Ignorance. Now, the word ignorance, sometimes we can run from, but sometimes we need to embrace. Many times we're ignorant of a subject or an issue. We just don't know. It doesn't mean we're stupid. It doesn't mean we're dumb. We are just ignorant. There are many things in life that I'm ignorant of. I believe there are many people in the life of the church. They are ignorant. They've not been taught properly.

They have not been taught what God's word says we should do as Christians with our monies, with our possessions, and how they should be used while we are on earth. We must not be ignorant here. As we proceed, if you find yourself saying something like this, well, you know I never saw that. If you find yourself thinking, well, I was never told that. Or if you find yourself saying something like this, well, I never read that verse. You could be in a position where you just were not taught. May we never be ignorant of what God's word says, and may we never be ignorant of how we as Christians should use our monies, use our possessions.

Look, we seek to do kingdom work. We desire to pour our lives in the life of the church. And may we never be ignorant. It puts a lot of responsibility on myself. Pray for me as I seek to teach us properly, not just this morning and the couple of weeks to come and in the years to come because I don't want us to be ignorant of how God wants to speak to us about how to use our possessions and how to use our monies in the days to come. The second word is maturity. Maturity. You know this word maturity we can misunderstand. Let me show you what I mean.

Many times when someone comes along and they have a lot of Bible knowledge, maybe they can articulate that. We will automatically assume they're mature. That's not the case. Many times. See maturity is this complex word. It's something that sometimes we have a hard time understanding and explaining. But maturity in the life of a Christian, yes it does come from Bible knowledge. But it comes through time. It just takes time. Because see part of Christian maturity is walking with the Lord, walking with the Lord day by day, year by year, growing in the Lord and you just have to have time to grow in the faith. It just takes time.

It takes Bible knowledge, walking in obedience, and God working in our life to bring us to the place of maturity where He wants us to be. And see we need to strive to be mature in how we approach our money, how we deal with our money and our possessions, but then specifically how we deal with our money and possessions as it relates to the church. I've known people who had a lot of gray hair, plenty of Bible knowledge, but they were terribly mature at how they approached their money at the church. I've known people who gave money away everywhere outside of the church, but they sure wouldn't give in the church. See what I mean?

We must not be ignorant and we must be mature in this area. And then the third word is obedience. Obedience. This is where many people trip up. Obedience. We must be willing to obey. The Lord moves on us, corrects us. But if the Lord just corrects some faulty views, will we be obedient to repent of those views? I mean if the Lord leads us and begins to put His finger on some of our possessions, how we view our jobs, what will we do with our savings? I mean if the Lord starts, you know this word meddling, will we be obedient?

Because I do believe there are certain people in the life of the church that are not mature in this area because they're disobedient. See our prayer should be, "Lord, no matter what you must do, no matter how you would change this, no matter what sacrifice I need to make, I want to be obedient." Now I'll take us back to the title of the message. The Christian's Approach to Money. I really wrestled over that title. It's real basic. But what we've looked at in many ways is very, very basic. And I'll repeat what I said. If we don't have some of these basics down, we cannot proceed. We must examine our approach to money.

And we must not be ignorant. We must allow God to work in us towards maturity. And we must be obedient. May the Lord help us today as Christians and as Nola Baptist Church to approach the monies and the possessions, all that we have that He has given us, may He help us to be in line with His will and all that we have and all that we would be in this area of monies. Let's pray.