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Andy Stanley - If Money Talked Part 4 Meaningful Money · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It's tough being someone's money. I feel like I have
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: so much to offer, and yet I'm underutilized. I'm stretched
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: too thin, there's no margin. I'm either completely ignored or
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: people are pushing me in directions I don't want to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: go in. I can provide so much more meaning to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: people beyond power boats or fancy shoes or new watches.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I just want what's best.
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  Speaker 2: For people, all right, I want them to live in
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: the dream. Well what would that look like? Terry?
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Great to hear from you man every Monday, life, clockwork.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: It's wonderful. Guinea pigs do need saving.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, I think giving five percent is a great place
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: to start. You know what you and Melody need. You
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: need to take some time away from the kids and
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: enjoy yourselves.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Take that vacation.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: You blew out both tires at once. Oh my goodness.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: The good news is is that that's why we have
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: our emergency savings.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Isn't it amazing?
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  Speaker 1: Savings check giving check. So guess what now you get
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  Speaker 1: to go spoil yourself, you know, go get something fun
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  Speaker 1: like repaint that house, Go get that car, buy that
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: new phone.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Consume your heart out, not to burst your bubble, but
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: do you really feel like that's realistic. Excuse me, hello, yes,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: just a moment, it's for you. There's money, Karen, Karen, Karen,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: you called back. Oh my goodness, what's going on?
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Congratulations you've been saving long and hard for that house.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: That's amazing, and.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: You've got a great rate. You're the best. No, no,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: you're the best. Okay, all right, we got a lot
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  Speaker 1: of work for you.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Okay, thank you.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: All right, So what we're gonna do is, first off,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: we're gonna make sure we get that homeowner's insurance. Got
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: to plan for that property tax, a lawn maintenance plan.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: If you had someone look at your gutters yet, that's
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: gonna be really important. Cable in internet is definitely a
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: must so we can entertain the guests. Oh you know what,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: another thing that I was seeing for fire insurance. Don't
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: forget your umbrella policy. It's important. Okay, you know what
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: you are the best. Next time, let's talk about you.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: You know you got to up your rate. You know
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  Speaker 1: we all know this ain't cheap. I gotta go.
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  Speaker 2: You're a genius.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Okay, therapy works.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Welcome back to if money talked. Where we are letting
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: the money do the talking. I hope you've continued to
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: spy on your money. In fact, I hope that becomes
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  Speaker 3: a habit for life. And I hope you've begun thinking
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: and maybe even spending more like a manager than an owner.
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  Speaker 3: And perhaps after our last session together, you've taken some
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  Speaker 3: steps in the direction of give, save and live. As
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  Speaker 3: we wrap up, I want to leave you with a
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  Speaker 3: big question, a question that on the surface doesn't seem
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  Speaker 3: to have anything to do with money, but in the
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  Speaker 3: end you'll discover it has everything to do with money,
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  Speaker 3: and it's actually a question that Jesus sets up with
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  Speaker 3: a parable. This is one of my favorite parables Jesus told,
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  Speaker 3: perhaps because many years ago this was the parable God
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  Speaker 3: used to redirect my thinking as it relates to my
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  Speaker 3: personal finances.
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  Speaker 2: Here's what he said. He said, the ground of.
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  Speaker 3: A certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.
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  Speaker 2: So let's stop right here.
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  Speaker 3: Here's a rich guy who now has even more wealth
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  Speaker 3: because the ground produced an abundant harvest, the ground, which,
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  Speaker 3: by the way, he had.
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  Speaker 2: No control over.
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  Speaker 3: Jesus continues, the rich man thought to himself, what shall
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  Speaker 3: I do?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this was a problem, right, What shall.
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  Speaker 3: I do I have no place to store my crops.
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  Speaker 2: And then he said, this is what I'll do.
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  Speaker 3: I will tear down my barns and I will build
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  Speaker 3: bigger barns, and there I will store my notice the
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  Speaker 3: word surplus, my extra grain. Now, on the surface, it
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  Speaker 3: doesn't seem like we have anything in common with this
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  Speaker 3: lucky fellow. But just below the surface, well, let me
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  Speaker 3: ask you this. Have you ever had a garage sale?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? Have you ever carried a load or two or
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  Speaker 2: twenty to goodwill? Right?
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  Speaker 3: Have you ever had a hard time finding a place
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  Speaker 3: in the attic or the basement for something you weren't
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  Speaker 3: using anymore because the attic or basement was already full
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  Speaker 3: of stuff you weren't using anymore. So, yeah, we may
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  Speaker 3: have more in common with this fellow than first meets
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  Speaker 3: the eye. Back to the parable, I'll say to myself,
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  Speaker 3: you have plenty of grain laid up for many years.
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  Speaker 3: Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry, which is
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  Speaker 3: really a great plan if you think about it.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's kind of the goal, isn't It's the
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  Speaker 2: American dream? Right? Have enough money to buy whatever you want.
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  Speaker 3: Now, save enough so that you can retire and buy
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  Speaker 3: whatever you want later, and if you've really done things right,
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  Speaker 3: you'll have enough to make sure your kids are taken
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  Speaker 3: care of as well. If you can do all of that,
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  Speaker 3: you've pretty much won, right. I mean, you're blessed right well,
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  Speaker 3: so thought everybody in jesus audience. And then Jesus surprised
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  Speaker 3: them with this. But God said to him, the rich man,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: you fool. It's like what I mean, everybody in Jesus'
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  Speaker 3: audience is taken aback, just like you probably were the
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  Speaker 3: first time you read this. Parable I mean, he achieved
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  Speaker 3: the goal he's lived in the dream. Clearly there's some
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  Speaker 3: kind of disconnect. But God said to him, you fool,
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  Speaker 3: this very night your life will be demanded from you then,
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  Speaker 3: and listen to this question.
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  Speaker 2: Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?
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  Speaker 3: In other words, you are out of time, even though
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  Speaker 3: you're not out of grain. You are out of time,
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  Speaker 3: even though you're not out of money. And that's going
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  Speaker 3: to be the story for most of us, isn't it.
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  Speaker 3: We've talked about this. For most of us, because of
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  Speaker 3: family support or pensions or four to oh one k's
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  Speaker 3: or decent investing, we're actually going to run out of
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  Speaker 3: time before we run out of money. So the question
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  Speaker 3: that God asked the rich guy is really a question
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  Speaker 3: for all of us. Then God ask him, then, who
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  Speaker 3: will get what you have prepared for yourself? And the
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  Speaker 3: answer is somebody else, But not because this guy was generous,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: Because this guy was dead. He didn't give it, He
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  Speaker 3: just left it. Now, at this point, Jesus pulls out
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  Speaker 3: of the parable and he addresses his audience, and well
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  Speaker 3: he addresses us as well.
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  Speaker 2: And here's what he said.
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  Speaker 3: This is how it will be, this, this thing that
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  Speaker 3: I just described and illustrated, this is how it will be.
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  Speaker 3: Total complete loss, everything as in, everything.
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  Speaker 2: Was left behind.
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  Speaker 3: He ate, he drank, he was married, and then he died,
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  Speaker 3: nothing meaningful to show for his life. This is how
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  Speaker 3: it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves
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  Speaker 3: but is not rich towards God. Jesus is not teaching
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  Speaker 3: against preparing for the future. Here's what Jesus is saying.
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  Speaker 3: He's saying, this is how it will be for anyone
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  Speaker 3: who only prepares for their future and is not rich
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  Speaker 3: towards God. This is how it will be for anyone
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  Speaker 3: who embraces the consumption assumption, the assumption that everything that
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  Speaker 3: comes my way is for my consumption. That's the mistake
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  Speaker 3: the rich man made. He built bigger barns because he
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  Speaker 3: thought it was all for him and in the end
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  Speaker 3: total loss. Do you remember what money told us back
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  Speaker 3: in Part one? Money said, I can add meaning to
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  Speaker 3: your life, but I'm not the meaning of life. I
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  Speaker 3: can add meaning to your life, and that's the right lens.
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  Speaker 3: That's how we should view our money. Money can add
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  Speaker 3: meaning to our life because money is a tool, and
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  Speaker 3: when we use money as a tool, it adds meaning
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  Speaker 3: to our life.
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  Speaker 2: The rich man he never realized this.
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  Speaker 3: He thought his money was a gift, not a tool,
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  Speaker 3: an entitlement, a reward to sit back and enjoy. Jesus
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  Speaker 3: teaches that our money is a tool, and that's why
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  Speaker 3: it can add meaning to our life. So here's the
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  Speaker 3: question I mentioned up top, the one that at first
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  Speaker 3: glance seems to have nothing to do with money. Here
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  Speaker 3: it is to what ends? Do you want your life
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  Speaker 3: to be a means? To what ends? Do you want
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  Speaker 3: your life to be a means? If something is not
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  Speaker 3: a means to an end, it has no meaning. That's
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  Speaker 3: what it means to have meaning. It has no purpose
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  Speaker 3: it's the rich man's life. His wealth was not a
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  Speaker 3: means to anything other than himself, and in the end
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  Speaker 3: he had nothing to show for himself but himself. So
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  Speaker 3: his life, even with all of his wealth, had no meaning.
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  Speaker 3: So when he was gone, as Jesus said, total loss
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  Speaker 3: again for something, including your life. For something to have meaning,
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  Speaker 3: it must be a means to an end.
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  Speaker 2: So to what ends do you want your life to
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  Speaker 2: be a means?
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  Speaker 3: Here's another way to ask that same question, what do
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  Speaker 3: you want people to celebrate about you when you're gone?
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  Speaker 3: Or my wife Sandra's version of that question is this,
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  Speaker 3: what do you want people to line up and thank
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  Speaker 3: you for in the end. Most people never stop to
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  Speaker 3: ask those kinds of questions. Perhaps you haven't either. I
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  Speaker 3: don't know how you'd answer it, but I know how
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  Speaker 3: you wouldn't answer it. I know you wouldn't say, Well,
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  Speaker 3: for me, it's all about accumulation, consumption and upgrades, right.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, here's the thing. If you don't.
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  Speaker 3: Figure this out, life will figure it out for you.
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  Speaker 3: Your appetite, your desire for more, bigger, new, or shinier,
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  Speaker 3: will dictate the answer to that question.
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  Speaker 2: Culture will pull you toward that.
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  Speaker 3: She ate, she drank, she was merry, and she died.
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  Speaker 3: Nobody chooses that on purpose. That's why the meaning question
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  Speaker 3: really is about your money. Money is a tool. It's
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  Speaker 3: a tool that can add meaning to your life.
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  Speaker 2: So let me break this down and make it practical.
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  Speaker 3: Last time we were together, I said that the best
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  Speaker 3: way to prioritize financially is to give first, safe second,
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  Speaker 3: and then live on the rest. That is, reprioritize around
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  Speaker 3: generosity rather than consumption. Take the thing that's usually last
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  Speaker 3: on our list giving and move it to the top
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  Speaker 3: of the list. And I suggested this because of what
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  Speaker 3: Jesus said, where our treasure is there, a heart will
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  Speaker 3: be also. Now, this is the brilliant thing about that statement.
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  Speaker 3: It's a principle that actually works both ways. In other words,
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  Speaker 3: if you'd like to change where your heart is, you
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  Speaker 3: just change where your money is going. And here's something
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  Speaker 3: I've been suggesting to people for years. When you decide
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  Speaker 3: where to give, give from a grateful heart and give
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  Speaker 3: from a broken heart. Give from a grateful heart and
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  Speaker 3: a broken heart. Here's how that works. Choose an organization
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  Speaker 3: that you're really grateful for. You're grateful because of what
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  Speaker 3: it's done for you and your family, and then give
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  Speaker 3: a portion of your giving money their first, your local church,
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  Speaker 3: your kids' school, whatever.
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  Speaker 2: It might be.
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  Speaker 3: Then choose an organization or two that addresses a need
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  Speaker 3: that breaks your heart. For Sandra and I, those are
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  Speaker 3: organizations that support foster care and foster kids. For you,
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  Speaker 3: it may be an organization that does something overseas, or
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  Speaker 3: maybe a local hospital or a nonprofit committed to curing
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: a particular disease, and every time you get paid, you
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  Speaker 3: send them a check. That's what it looks like to
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  Speaker 3: give from a grateful heart and a broken heart. But
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  Speaker 3: the key is to decide ahead of time. Like we
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  Speaker 3: said last time, pick a percentage of your income and
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  Speaker 3: give it right off the top to the organizations you're
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  Speaker 3: grateful for and to the organizations that address things that
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  Speaker 3: break your heart. Now, giving first may sound crazy, and
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  Speaker 3: from a certain perspective, it is crazy, but it's a
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  Speaker 3: better version of crazy than spending everything on you and
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  Speaker 3: having nothing to show for it in the end. Right,
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  Speaker 3: crazy is living as if your life consisted and the
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: accumulation of stuff and of wealth. Crazy is leaving your
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: kids a bunch of stuff they're going to sell or
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  Speaker 3: throw away. So one more time, to what ends do
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  Speaker 3: you want your life to be? A means you should
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  Speaker 3: know the answer to that question before you spend yourself
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  Speaker 3: into a position where you can't address what matters most
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  Speaker 3: to you. Skip that question and you'll just follow your money.
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  Speaker 3: You'll settle for me first, living with a little left overgiving,
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  Speaker 3: and that would be a shame. Jesus says, that would
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: be a total loss. It would be a shame because
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: all you'll have to show for yourself is yourself. But
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: when you identify and embrace your answer to our big question,
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  Speaker 3: your money will follow. You'll begin to view everything you own,
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  Speaker 3: everything that comes your way, as a tool you can
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  Speaker 3: use to add meaning to your life and meaning.
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  Speaker 2: To the lives of others as well. So come on,
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  Speaker 2: let's get this right. Let's listen.
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  Speaker 3: When money tells us I can add meaning to your life,
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  Speaker 3: but I'm not the meaning of life.
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  Speaker 2: The moment you think you own me, I actually own you.
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  Speaker 3: My direction reveals your ultimate affection and the final thing,
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  Speaker 3: the final thing our money might say, is this something
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  Speaker 3: we've touched on throughout our time together. What you choose
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  Speaker 3: to do with me speaks volumes about who and who
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  Speaker 3: you are, so I hope you'll live like a manager,
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  Speaker 3: not an owner. I hope you'll give and say before
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  Speaker 3: you live, and in the process, I hope you'll discover
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: the peace and contentment Jesus talked about when Jesus talked
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  Speaker 3: about money