Transcript

The Dollar · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. Today we're kicking off a deep
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dive looking into Christian finance, but hold off on pulling
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out your budgeting software. We're using our sources today to
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think about this more like a spiritual assessment.
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So this deep dive views money less is just, you know, debt and
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savings and more as a real spiritual litmus test.
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That's right. That's the core idea here.
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The materials we've looked at, they don't just give you, say,
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spending tips. They really try to draw out the
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theological standards, the benchmarks that ought to define
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well, righteous financial habits, serious generosity, and
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also that critical difference you find running through the
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confessions. Are our possessions serving us
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or we ending up serving them? OK, yeah, let's get into that.
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Because if we follow the thinking in these sources, the
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big question, the really searching one for every believer
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is what does my spending, my bank statement, my online
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transactions? What does that actually say
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about where my true loyalties lie?
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It's easy to say things, but our spending habits?
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That's like hard data on our behavior, isn't it?
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And we really have to start by sorting out what money is.
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There's this common idea you hear a lot that money is
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inherently bad, or maybe even the root of all evil.
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Our sources are pretty careful, pretty rigorous in correcting
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that money itself. It's a tool, it's neutral.
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It's how we exchange things and measure value.
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It's just a necessary part of the, well, the orderly world God
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made finance, salaries, budgets, these are OK.
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They're legitimate parts of a working society.
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That distinction feels really critical because it shifts the
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spiritual focus, doesn't it? Away from the object, the cash
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or the card, and puts it right back onto the person, the human
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heart. So if money itself is neutral,
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where's the spiritual danger then?
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Yeah, the danger isn't the tool, is how we feel about it, our
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disposition towards it. Paul gets right at this and
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First Timothy 6 point years there.
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He says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
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That specific craving, you know, a desire for what money can do
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for us, what it secures, what it buys.
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That's where the sin lies, not just in having some wealth.
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And Paul doesn't stop there, does he?
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He? He names two things that seem
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really linked. He points out the love of money,
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but also the desire to be rich. He calls that a trap, something
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that plunges people into ruin. Why is just the desire for
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riches, even if you're not rich yet, labeled as sinful?
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What's going on there? Well, because that desire at its
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core is about the self. It's focused on locking down
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future comfort, status, security, all based on numbers
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in a Ledger. And that fundamentally questions
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God's goodness, His provision. It's a challenge, really, when
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people get caught in that trap pulse as they Pierce themselves
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with many pangs. The desire itself causes
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spiritual and emotional pain even before any money shows up.
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It just bends the whole direction of life inward towards
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the self that inward. Focus that connects straight to
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how these sources talk about greed.
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It's not just being stingy, it's presented as self love finding a
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financial outlet. Exactly, Paul actually pairs
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them up, doesn't he? Insectivity 3.2.
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Lovers of money and lovers of self.
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Two sides of the same coin. Like you said, greed basically
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blocks us from developing the mind of Christ.
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It makes the self and the self security the center of gravity
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for every decision. If money is supposed to be a
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tool for, let's say God word goals, then greed is just
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refusing to use the tool as intended.
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So holding on to money, tightly hoarding it, becomes a spiritual
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issue because it shows a lack of faith.
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The sources seem to draw a straight line there.
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Greed or maybe parsimony. Stinginess reveals unbelief,
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unbelief in God's provision. That really is the bottom line
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test here. If we hoard money, whether it's
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a little or a lot, we're basically signaling fear.
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We're saying deep down that we don't trust God's promise, you
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know, like in Philippians 4.19, that He will supply our needs.
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So hoarding comes from a fear about the future, fear of not
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having enough and the money that should be a tool we use
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outwardly for others needs for the gospel.
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It becomes this idol, the security thing we cling to
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because we're afraid. It's a real spiritual
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contradiction, isn't it? If we genuinely believe God's
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resources are, well, infinite and available, why clutch so
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hard to the finite that we have right now?
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I find that picture of money as a tool really helpful.
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Like if you buy a hammer, you don't just admire it on a shelf,
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you build something with it. Precisely.
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And that sources keep coming back to this financial integrity
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means using money for long term Godward goals, not getting stuck
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in short term selfish purposes. The second that tool becomes a
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security blanket or something, we almost worship we failed the
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first step of stewardship. We've put the creation above the
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creator. Jesus saw this clearly, didn't
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he, when he sort of put money in its place, telling people to
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render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is
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God's. Money's earthly.
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It's conditional, our allegiance to God.
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That's total. OK, so.
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We've talked about the nature of money, now moving to how we
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actually use it. This brings us to that huge
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verse, Matthew 6.21. Where your treasure is there
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your heart will be also. This seems to shift the whole
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discussion from potential sin, like desiring money, to the
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practical reality of what we do with it.
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Right. This statement from Jesus, it's
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like a spiritual accounting principle where your money goes,
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that's where your heart's loyalty resides.
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You can't really have your treasure invested in earthly
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comfort and security and simultaneously have your heart
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genuinely invested in eternal things.
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They're kind of mutually exclusive investments.
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But the sources stress something here.
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The biggest test isn't just if you spend money, because, let's
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face it, everyone spends money. The real test is whom and what
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we spend it on. That really forces you to look
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closely at the why behind every purchase, big or small.
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That's right. I mean, if you just stopped
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spending altogether, you'd actually be violating other
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commands like caring for your family using the means God gives
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you. So we need some kind of
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standard, some way to tell the difference between righteous
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spending and, well, self indulgence.
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The material we looked at laid out three pretty clear
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standards. The first one starts with
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necessary and appropriate needs. That seems like the obvious
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place to begin. Most of our spending for
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ourselves, our families, is just unavoidable, necessary stuff.
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Mortgage, rent, food, clothes, maybe education.
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That seems like good stewardship, right?
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Using income for its intended purpose.
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Yes, absolutely. The tricky part is defining
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needs. We're not called to live in some
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kind of self-inflicted poverty, just bear subsistence.
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Nobody expects Christians to live on, I don't know, bread
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crusts and wear rags just because they're the absolute
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cheapest options. That can lead to a false piety,
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or worse, neglecting real duties to family.
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So how do we get beyond just the bare minimum idea?
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The sources brought up Augustine's standard, the needs
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of this life. What does that allow for that
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bare subsistence doesn't? Well, Augustine's standard
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acknowledges that human life, since we're made in God's image,
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needs a certain level of dignity, a fitness for purpose.
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The needs of this life, in this view, includes what's necessary
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for living a life that's becoming more appropriate for
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human beings. It shifts the focus from just
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raw survival to sustaining a life that's functional and well
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reflects basic human dignity. So today, appropriate spending
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might cover things like decent healthcare access, safe housing,
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maybe reasonable chances for education or job training, even
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if those aren't the rock bottom cheapest choices out there.
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OK, but that immediately opens up a huge Gray area, doesn't it?
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One person's appropriate need could easily be somewhat.
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Yeah, that difficulty is definitely acknowledged in the
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sources. It's basically impossible to
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draw one single objective line that works for everyone
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everywhere. But the second standard they
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offer helps with this. It's the standard of freedom
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from enslavement. The key difference between
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righteous spending and luxury or self indulgence boils down to
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this. Does the spending lead to
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enslavement? Let's unpack that idea of
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enslavement. What does spiritual or financial
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enslavement to our stuff actually look like in everyday?
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Life. Well, it happens when the
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priorities flip. The goal should be a fully human
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life, one that's free from being enslaved to our stuff.
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Enslavement happens when our possessions start demanding our
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service instead of the other way around.
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Think about, say, lifestyle creep.
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Every time you get a raise, you immediately upgrade everything.
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Bigger house, fancier car, more expensive hobbies, things that
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need more upkeep. Right the moment the house is so
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big or the car so complicated that you have to work crazy
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hours just to afford and maintain them, you've become a
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servant to the stuff. It's exactly your time, your
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energy, your mental space. It all gets centered around
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service to our possessions and our desires for them.
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You often see this with huge consumer debt racked up just to
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keep up an image or a certain standard of living.
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When you find yourself worrying more about the maintenance
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schedule for your high end gadget that about your neighbors
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well-being, that's a pretty good sign you're enslaved.
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The possession isn't supporting your life anymore, it's
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dictating it. I like how that shifts the
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focus. It's less about the price tag of
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the item and more about your relationship with it.
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It makes you be honest about the stress and work your stuff
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creates. The sources do warn against
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sustained opulence, even though they don't give a specific
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dollar amount for what that means.
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Yeah, they use a good analogy. We can use your tell when it's
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midnight, even if we can't pinpoint the exact.
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Second day turns into night. We might struggle to define
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precisely where a reasonable house crosses into excessive
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luxury, but we recognize extreme, sustained opulence when
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we see it, and we need to be critical of it, especially in
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our own lives. First.
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The Book of James pulls no punches condemning self
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indulgence and hoarding luxury, right?
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James 5 is pretty stark. It shows that failing this
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freedom test has serious spiritual weight.
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OK, so define needs by human dignity.
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Define luxury by whether it enslaves us.
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That leads to the third standard we mentioned, the motivation
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check. Right.
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This is where we have to be really honest with ourselves,
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with our hearts before making big purchases, especially things
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that feel optional or discretionary.
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The idea is that believers should develop an instinct, an
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instinct to ask a question about the why.
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What desire am I actually trying to satisfy here?
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Is this purchase mainly from my private comfort, or is it
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somehow aimed at advancing the gospel or maybe expressing love
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to family or friends? That changes the question,
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doesn't it? From Can I afford this to Why do
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I even want this? Precisely.
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And that lines up perfectly with cultivating the mind of Christ,
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like Paul talks about in Philippians 2.4.
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A mind that looks out not just for its own interest, but also
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for the interests of others. So righteous spending, even when
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it's meeting our own legitimate needs, should ultimately be
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driven by love for God and neighbor.
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It should help us fulfill the great commandments, not get in
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the way. We've talked about the standards
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for spending on ourselves, aiming for freedom, not slavery
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to stuff. Now let's switch gears to the
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positive command, giving to others.
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The sources describe generosity not just as something we should
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do, but as one of the great evidences of truly being a
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Christian. That sounds like a really high
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standard, theologically speaking.
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It is high, yeah, but it fits within the whole framework of
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Christian belief. Generosity isn't just some
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optional extra virtue. It's seen as a visible physical
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sign of the gospel actually working in someone's soul.
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The idea is, if the gospel message is genuinely taking root
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deeper in a believer's life, then it frees our fingers to
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loosen their grasp on our goods. That image listening the
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fingers, that's quite vivid. It suggests a sort of letting go
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both physically and spiritually of earthly stuff.
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So if Christ is truly living in a believer, we ought to see this
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open handed tendency showing up more and more acting against
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that inward looking greed we talked about earlier.
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Absolutely. Giving away money, it says a
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lot. It's the practical opposite of
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self love. And every time we give, it
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reinforces faith, doesn't it? Because we're relying a bit less
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on our savings and a bit more on God providing the future.
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It's actively pursuing the great commandments using our finances.
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It become tangible proof that our hearts focus is shifting
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outward. But if generosity is evidence,
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what's a flip side? What does it suggest if a
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believer is consistently, habitually, well, stingy, tight
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fisted? Well, it certainly raises a
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serious spiritual question. It suggests that maybe the
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transforming grace of the gospel hasn't fully sunk into their
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understanding of God's sufficiency, stinginess, or
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parsimony. It concerns that same fear, that
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same self centeredness we identified earlier.
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If someone is habitually closed handed, the spiritual evidence
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points towards them still placing their ultimate trust,
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maybe without even realizing it, in their accumulated wealth, not
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in a Heavenly Father. This seems to lead naturally to
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the highest standard of generosity mentioned, which is
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sacrifice, going beyond just giving out of our surplus, our
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excess. Right.
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Sacrifice brings in this element of calculating loss internally
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means being willing to embrace some personal loss or
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disadvantage so that you can be generous to someone else.
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If basic generosity is giving from what you have, sacrifice is
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more like giving what you might otherwise reasonably need for
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yourself. I think we need to be really
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clear about that test. How do the sources help someone
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help you listening. Apply this test of sacrifice in
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a real way. They frame it with a really
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pointed question. Do you ever abstain from
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something you'd otherwise think of as the needs of life in order
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to give to others? This is key, because it's asking
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if you're willing to dip below that standard of appropriate
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living we discussed with Agustin.
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Not because you have to, but as a deliberate choice to help meet
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someone else's need. Can you give an example?
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What might abstaining from a need of life look like today?
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Well, it could be something like putting off a necessary home
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repair, something that really effects how the house functions
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for maybe a year. Knowing that the money saved
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could immediately help with a critical need, maybe for mission
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work or poverty relief somewhere.
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Or it could be deliberately choosing to keep driving an
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older, maybe less reliable car, which means some personal
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inconvenience, maybe even a little risk doing that so the
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money saved can go towards, say, a family members education
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costs. You're choosing a personal
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disadvantage, A discomfort for someone else's good.
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That willingness to go without something that fits, that
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appropriate for a functional human life category, that's the
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real revealer, isn't it? That's what demonstrates
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spiritual freedom. Yes, the sources put it very
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plainly. Nothing shows our hearts like
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sacrifice. When a believer willingly takes
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on a personal loss for generosity's sake, it speaks
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loudly and clearly. It says this person is operating
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from a greater love than ourselves and our comforts.
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Sacrifice confirms that freedom from being enslaved to our stuff
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because it shows you're willing to let the stuff go even when it
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bites into your own comfort or security.
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It's like definitive behavioral proof that your heart's treasure
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really is somewhere else. OK, so if the test of generosity
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culminates in sacrifice, we have to talk about the engine behind
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it, the motivation. Why would anyone choose personal
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loss, choose discomfort, just to give the sources point straight
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to the great why of Christian generosity, Christ's own
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ultimate sacrifice? Exactly.
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Every single act of generosity from a believer is, in a way,
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just an echo of what we've already received.
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We are starting the generosity, we're responding to it.
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The whole motive is captured in 2nd Corinthians 8.9, which says
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though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you
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by his poverty might become rich.
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That verse is just central isn't it?
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Christ had infinite wealth, infinite glory in heaven, yet he
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willingly chose poverty. And not just money, poverty, but
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the total self emptying, the humiliation of becoming human,
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all to buy us back. He sacrificed the greatest
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possible riches to meet our deepest, most desperate need.
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And that act becomes the pattern, the standard.
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When we give sacrificially, we're imitating Christ.
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We're showing that we value what he valued, which was the
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well-being and enrichment of others more than our own
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comfort. The more we practice this kind
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of self giving, the more our hearts aligned with His.
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And the motivation isn't just Christ's example, but also the
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very character of God the Father.
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God's often called a giver, but the material highlights a
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specific aspect. God is the most cheerful giver.
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Right, God loves a cheerful giver, Paul says in 2nd
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Corinthians 9.7. And the reason he loves it is
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because he models it perfectly. God gave his own Son the
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ultimate sacrifice, not reluctantly or under compulsion,
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but with joy. If God himself gives joyfully,
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then we're called to reflect that same divine attitude.
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This pushes the spiritual goal beyond just doing what we're
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told to actually finding joy in it.
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Cheerful giving shows we genuinely believe what Jesus
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said. It is more blessed to give than
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to receive. That's a statement about where
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higher quality spiritual happiness is found.
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Absolutely. It's about pursuing the greater
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pleasures of spending on others over the perhaps small joys of
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self oriented spending. The question isn't just whether
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giving feels nice sometimes, but do we truly believe deep down
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that the satisfaction found in helping the gospel advance or
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meeting a neighbor's serious need is actually a better, more
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fulfilling pleasure than getting something comfortable for
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ourselves? If we give grudgingly, we're
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kind of announcing that we doubt God's word about where real
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blessing is located. OK, let's wrap up with a key
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theological point that ties us all together.
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Generosity is described not just as a command, but as a spiritual
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benefit, a means of grace for our souls.
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How does giving actually become a channel for God's grace?
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Yeah, this is where the divine economy, you might say, comes
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into view. When we give out of faith, the
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act of giving itself becomes an occasion for more divine grace
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to flood our souls. Now, this isn't a crude
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transaction like you give $100, God gives you $1000 back.
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That makes God into some kind of cosmic vending machine.
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No, it's about spiritual enrichment.
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The New Testament promises this, doesn't it?
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In 2nd Corinthians 9.8, God promises He is able to make all
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grace abound to believers, leading to all sufficiency in
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all things at all times. But the point of that
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sufficiency isn't just our own security.
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No, not at all. The purpose is stated right
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there. It's so they can abound in every
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good work God provides sufficiently partly so that we
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can keep being generous. He enriches believers in every
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way to be generous in every way. And the intended result of all
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this? It multiplies righteousness and
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ultimately leads to Thanksgiving going up to God.
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So the generosity we show is first enabled by God's grace to
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us, and then that act of giving becomes a way for us to receive
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more of His grace back into our souls, freeing us even more from
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being enslaved to self and stuff.
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It's like a virtuous spiritual cycle.
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So this deep dive has really shown that money is a tool.
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It's not inherently evil, but that love of money can twist it
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into a dangerous root of evil right in our hearts.
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Money ends up being this constant test, designed to
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reveal whether we're trusting God's provision and therefore
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rejecting the urge to hoard, or if we're just chasing our own
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private comfort instead of caring for others.
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Right. And the standard isn't about
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hitting some legalistic number on a spreadsheet.
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It's about spiritual freedom. The call is to live a life free
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from being enslaved to our stuff.
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End Quote. We all need to honestly look
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inside. Are our possessions serving us,
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helping us live a fully human, godly life?
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Or are we maybe through worry or debt or just sheer effort,
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ending up serving them? And if, as the sources suggest,
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nothing reveals our hearts quite like sacrifice, we'll leave you
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with this thought to consider this week.
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What specific need of life, something you'd normally
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consider appropriate for human dignity and comfort?
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Might you be willing to abstain from this week?
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Not because you have to, but as an intentional choice, choosing
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generosity for someone else's sake instead.