Latest / Andy Stanley Sermons / Andy Stanley - Guardrails, Part 4 Money Matters
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Every once in a while, and maybe you do this too,
- 0:05Speaker 1: I wonder what I would have, what I would own,
- 0:09Speaker 1: what I would have, if I didn't know what everybody
- 0:11Speaker 1: else owned and what everybody else had. I wonder sometimes
- 0:14Speaker 1: how much influence what you have has on what I have.
- 0:17Speaker 1: And I also wonder sometimes what I would want if
- 0:22Speaker 1: I didn't know what everybody else already had. And I
- 0:25Speaker 1: also wonder sometimes how much more money I would have
- 0:28Speaker 1: saved if I didn't know what you spent yours on.
- 0:32Speaker 1: And if I didn't know what everybody else has spent
- 0:34Speaker 1: their money on. And then sometimes, in the deep recesses
- 0:37Speaker 1: of my soul, I wonder how much more money I
- 0:40Speaker 1: would have given away to people who have less than
- 0:43Speaker 1: I have if I didn't know what the people who
- 0:46Speaker 1: have more than I have had. My problem is this.
- 0:52Speaker 1: I know too much. I know too much about what
- 0:55Speaker 1: others have, and I know too much about what they
- 0:58Speaker 1: have that I don't. And the interesting thing about me,
- 1:02Speaker 1: not you, is that this information makes me dangerously discontent.
- 1:07Speaker 1: In fact, this... This information has the potential to take
- 1:11Speaker 1: me off a cliff on one side or into a
- 1:14Speaker 1: wall on the other side. It lures me toward the
- 1:17Speaker 1: edge of financial ruin. It lures me toward the edge
- 1:19Speaker 1: of too much credit card debt. It lures me into
- 1:22Speaker 1: making decisions that normally I wouldn't make and decisions I
- 1:24Speaker 1: would regret, owning things that later on I wish I
- 1:27Speaker 1: could sell and get half the money back I wasted.
- 1:29Speaker 1: It lures me in really dangerous situations financially, and specifically,
- 1:34Speaker 1: it feeds this internal appetite You know, appetites are never
- 1:38Speaker 1: fully and finally satisfied. That's the nature of an appetite.
- 1:40Speaker 1: You satisfy them for a few minutes and then you're
- 1:42Speaker 1: over at the refrigerator going, hey, is there anything else
- 1:44Speaker 1: in here to eat? You never fully and finally satisfy
- 1:47Speaker 1: an appetite. And my appetite for stuff, it's an appetite.
- 1:51Speaker 1: And it grows and it's never fully and finally satisfied.
- 1:56Speaker 1: So basically, I think I need counseling. And I should
- 2:02Speaker 1: probably make an appointment for most of you. Isn't that true?
- 2:05Speaker 1: Isn't that true? Today we're talking about guardrails. This is
- 2:09Speaker 1: our fourth in the series on guardrails. And in case
- 2:11Speaker 1: you haven't been here, or in case you just always
- 2:14Speaker 1: wanted to know, what is the official definition of a guardrail?
- 2:16Speaker 1: Here it is. Some of you have memorized it by now.
- 2:18Speaker 1: It's a system designed to keep vehicles from straying into
- 2:20Speaker 1: dangerous or off-limit areas. A system that's created to keep
- 2:24Speaker 1: vehicles from straying into dangerous or off-limit areas. As we've learned,
- 2:29Speaker 1: and you know this now, guardrails are never placed in
- 2:32Speaker 1: the danger zone. They're placed in the what? The... Thank you. Yes,
- 2:36Speaker 1: the guardrails are always placed in the safety zone. The
- 2:39Speaker 1: guardrails are designed to minimize damage. There's going to be
- 2:43Speaker 1: some damage, but it minimizes the damage. We've said that
- 2:45Speaker 1: guardrails are designed to direct us and to protect us.
- 2:49Speaker 1: But the point of this series is that the highway
- 2:51Speaker 1: is not the only place we need guardrails. In fact,
- 2:54Speaker 1: you would have avoided your greatest regret. You could have
- 2:57Speaker 1: avoided your greatest regret if you had had guardrails. guardrails,
- 3:01Speaker 1: maybe some financial guardrails, some moral guardrails, some relational guardrails,
- 3:05Speaker 1: maybe some guardrails in your marriage, maybe some professional guardrails.
- 3:08Speaker 1: So when we talk about guardrails in this capacity, we're
- 3:11Speaker 1: talking about personal rules of behavior, or personal standards of behavior.
- 3:15Speaker 1: You have yours, I have mine. I don't have any
- 3:17Speaker 1: right in the world to tell you what yours should be,
- 3:19Speaker 1: but I encourage you to set some up. So these
- 3:21Speaker 1: are personal rules, or basically, it's a standard of behavior
- 3:24Speaker 1: that becomes a matter of conscience. A standard of behavior
- 3:28Speaker 1: that becomes a matter of conscience. That is, that I
- 3:30Speaker 1: decide how far in this direction I'm gonna drift. I
- 3:33Speaker 1: decide how far in this direction I'm gonna allow myself
- 3:35Speaker 1: to drift. And when I begin to drift in unhealthy
- 3:38Speaker 1: or dangerous directions, it sets off alarm bells in my
- 3:41Speaker 1: own heart, in my own soul, and I go, wait
- 3:42Speaker 1: a minute, Andy. You're moving too close. You're moving too
- 3:45Speaker 1: far away. The point of a guardrail is actually to
- 3:48Speaker 1: light up our conscience before we hurt ourselves and before
- 3:53Speaker 1: we hurt other people. A guardrail is designed to light
- 3:56Speaker 1: up your conscience. It just, you know, alarm bells go
- 3:59Speaker 1: off before you hurt yourself and before you hurt other people.
- 4:04Speaker 1: So today, I want us to talk specifically about financial guardrails. Now,
- 4:10Speaker 1: if you're not a Christian, what I'm about to say
- 4:11Speaker 1: is so important, so I hope you'll listen real carefully.
- 4:14Speaker 1: If you're not a Christian, we're going to look at
- 4:16Speaker 1: some things Jesus says. And if you're not a Jesus follower,
- 4:18Speaker 1: Jesus has no authority over you. So consequently, please don't
- 4:22Speaker 1: feel like I'm trying to get you to do something
- 4:23Speaker 1: you don't want to do or trying to guilt you
- 4:25Speaker 1: into something because I have no authority over your life.
- 4:27Speaker 1: You're a free agent. Do whatever you want to do.
- 4:29Speaker 1: And but for those of us who are Christians, we've
- 4:32Speaker 1: already signed on. It's too late. OK, you have to
- 4:34Speaker 1: do this if you're a Christian. Now, just to let
- 4:37Speaker 1: you off the hook, most Christians don't do what Jesus
- 4:40Speaker 1: is going to ask us to do. OK, so you're
- 4:42Speaker 1: in the majority, but you may be in danger. OK,
- 4:45Speaker 1: because as a Jesus follower, the whole point of following
- 4:47Speaker 1: Jesus is we say, yes. Now, what is it you'd
- 4:50Speaker 1: like for me to do? But if you're not a Christian,
- 4:53Speaker 1: here's the other thing. It's a great time to have
- 4:55Speaker 1: tuned in or to be here because what Jesus suggests
- 4:58Speaker 1: is something we should all do anyway, but you don't
- 5:00Speaker 1: have to. And here's the last thing I'll say about that.
- 5:03Speaker 1: If you're not a religious person or maybe you're part
- 5:05Speaker 1: of another religion, you're not a Christian, my opinion, you
- 5:08Speaker 1: should always be curious about what Jesus says about anything.
- 5:11Speaker 1: Whether or not you think he's the son of God,
- 5:14Speaker 1: you should at least be curious, what did Jesus have
- 5:16Speaker 1: to say about that? You don't have to do it,
- 5:18Speaker 1: but I would think that you would want... And then
- 5:22Speaker 1: the last thing is this, it's so interesting. as a
- 5:25Speaker 1: pastor and as a bunch of churches, when people come
- 5:28Speaker 1: in with challenges in their lives and when they want
- 5:30Speaker 1: us to talk to them about their kids or they
- 5:34Speaker 1: come in and you can tell they want to talk
- 5:35Speaker 1: about something that's kind of dark and they're afraid and
- 5:37Speaker 1: maybe they've never told anybody before, did you know that
- 5:40Speaker 1: in most of those instances it has something to do
- 5:42Speaker 1: with sex or money? That it's either directly or indirectly
- 5:46Speaker 1: related to sex or money. But the fascinating thing is this,
- 5:50Speaker 1: that those are the two areas of New Testament teaching
- 5:53Speaker 1: that are most disregarded. The two areas in the New
- 5:56Speaker 1: Testament where Jesus taught and his apostles taught, the two
- 5:58Speaker 1: areas where people have the greatest inclination to say, I
- 6:02Speaker 1: don't want to listen to that, has to do with
- 6:04Speaker 1: what the New Testament teaches about sex and what the
- 6:06Speaker 1: New Testament teaches about money. That's why what we're going
- 6:09Speaker 1: to talk about today is so important, and yet there's
- 6:12Speaker 1: something potentially on the inside of you that's going to
- 6:14Speaker 1: want to stiff arm it. And I understand that, especially
- 6:16Speaker 1: if you're not a religious person, because word on the
- 6:19Speaker 1: street is the church is against sex and the church
- 6:22Speaker 1: just wants my money. I mean, that's our reputation, right? Now,
- 6:26Speaker 1: last week, we spent the whole time talking about sex.
- 6:29Speaker 1: So if you missed the last week, you need to
- 6:30Speaker 1: go back and listen to last week's message. You can
- 6:32Speaker 1: find it on our apps. You can find it on
- 6:34Speaker 1: our websites. It's easy to find. But you need to
- 6:36Speaker 1: go back because last week I said, look, the church
- 6:38Speaker 1: isn't against sex. God isn't against sex. God created it.
- 6:41Speaker 1: Remember my little story, you know, once upon a time
- 6:43Speaker 1: there was no sex and then God said, I have
- 6:45Speaker 1: an idea. The angel said, what is it? He said,
- 6:46Speaker 1: you wouldn't understand. So God came up with this. So
- 6:51Speaker 1: any church that's embracing the teachings of Jesus specifically or
- 6:55Speaker 1: is trying to be a church that follows the leading,
- 6:57Speaker 1: can't be against sex, good grief, God created it. And
- 7:00Speaker 1: when it comes to money, the church doesn't need your money.
- 7:03Speaker 1: and the church doesn't want your money, or the church shouldn't,
- 7:06Speaker 1: because here's the deal. Jesus didn't want your money. God
- 7:09Speaker 1: doesn't want your money, doesn't need your money, but God
- 7:12Speaker 1: wants something for you as it relates to money, and
- 7:14Speaker 1: as we're gonna discover, Jesus wants something for you as
- 7:18Speaker 1: it relates to money, and any good church that's trying
- 7:21Speaker 1: to organize around the teachings of Jesus wants something for
- 7:26Speaker 1: you as it relates to your money. They don't just
- 7:28Speaker 1: want your money. Now, When I say financial guardrail, specifically
- 7:34Speaker 1: what I'm talking about is not how to stay out
- 7:35Speaker 1: of debt. There's lots of programs to help you do that.
- 7:38Speaker 1: This is not about how to avoid bankruptcy. That's a
- 7:41Speaker 1: good thing to avoid, but this is not about that.
- 7:43Speaker 1: This is talking about something much, much deeper. In fact,
- 7:47Speaker 1: you could be completely out of debt. You could have
- 7:51Speaker 1: lots and lots of money in the bank and still
- 7:53Speaker 1: be in a ditch financially. You could have your house
- 7:58Speaker 1: paid off, your cars paid off, college tuition saved up,
- 8:01Speaker 1: or your kids are done with that, and no college debt,
- 8:04Speaker 1: no educational debt. You could be golden financially, and according
- 8:09Speaker 1: to Jesus, that's why you need to pay attention, according
- 8:11Speaker 1: to Jesus, you could still have run your financial car
- 8:14Speaker 1: off the road and put it down. Because Jesus goes to,
- 8:19Speaker 1: when it comes to money, the heart of the matter.
- 8:23Speaker 1: And that's why it's so fabulous. If you're a Christian,
- 8:26Speaker 1: tune in. You got to do this, okay? If you're
- 8:28Speaker 1: not a Christian, hey, you get to decide. But here
- 8:30Speaker 1: is what Jesus said. Here's what he said. One day
- 8:33Speaker 1: he's teaching, he says this. No one, that would be everyone,
- 8:36Speaker 1: no one, no one can serve two masters. To which,
- 8:40Speaker 1: when I read that, I shrug and say, I don't
- 8:42Speaker 1: even have one master. What are you talking about? But see,
- 8:46Speaker 1: Jesus is shrewd, and he's baiting us in, and he
- 8:49Speaker 1: says this. Either, talking about masters, either you will hate
- 8:52Speaker 1: the one and love the other, Or you will be
- 8:56Speaker 1: devoted to the one and you'll despise the other. To
- 8:59Speaker 1: which we say, what are you even talking about? You know, one, other, devote, despise.
- 9:05Speaker 1: Maybe you have us confused with someone else. Now the
- 9:08Speaker 1: little Greek word that's translated master, it's a very interesting
- 9:11Speaker 1: little Greek word, Because when we think about master, we
- 9:14Speaker 1: think about a boss. This wasn't a boss. This was
- 9:17Speaker 1: someone who owned someone. And Jesus is saying this is
- 9:22Speaker 1: an issue of possession or ownership. That is, you can't
- 9:26Speaker 1: be possessed except by one thing. Now, you've met some
- 9:29Speaker 1: people that you might have felt like were possessed by
- 9:31Speaker 1: multiple things, but that's not what we're talking about today.
- 9:34Speaker 1: He says, you can only be owned or be the
- 9:38Speaker 1: possession of one person or one entity or one thing.
- 9:43Speaker 1: You can only have one owner. Again, we say, well,
- 9:46Speaker 1: that's fascinating. It's interesting. It's logical. But nobody and nothing
- 9:52Speaker 1: owns me. And besides, what are you talking about? And
- 9:54Speaker 1: we would expect him to say, you know, nobody can
- 9:56Speaker 1: serve two masters. You can only serve God or Satan, right?
- 10:00Speaker 1: But Jesus doesn't say that. Because Jesus is shrewd. And
- 10:04Speaker 1: Jesus is right. Because he's Jesus. And here's what he says.
- 10:08Speaker 1: He says, you cannot serve God alone. and money, or
- 10:14Speaker 1: God and wealth. In fact, the little Greek word can
- 10:16Speaker 1: mean stuff. You can't serve God and your stuff, you
- 10:20Speaker 1: can't serve God and money. Now this is so fascinating,
- 10:23Speaker 1: because where he goes from here underscores this very, very
- 10:26Speaker 1: important point. And if you're a Christian, you gotta listen
- 10:29Speaker 1: to this, okay? Here's what Jesus is saying. That for Jesus,
- 10:32Speaker 1: for Jesus, the primary issue, the primary issue regarding money
- 10:38Speaker 1: for Jesus isn't the money. The primary issue when it
- 10:42Speaker 1: comes to money for Jesus is mastery, control, ownership. The
- 10:48Speaker 1: question that Jesus wonders about as it relates to our
- 10:52Speaker 1: personal lives, if you're a Jesus follower and if you're
- 10:54Speaker 1: a Christian and if you're not a Christian, you should
- 10:56Speaker 1: consider this as well, is this. Do we have money
- 11:00Speaker 1: or does money have us? Do we own it or
- 11:03Speaker 1: does it own us? Do we possess and use it
- 11:07Speaker 1: or does it possess and use us? And the reason
- 11:12Speaker 1: Jesus followers need financial guardrails is that money and what
- 11:16Speaker 1: money promises, money and what money promises is the chief
- 11:21Speaker 1: competitor for your heart and for your heart and for
- 11:25Speaker 1: my heart. That money and what money promises is the
- 11:29Speaker 1: number one competitor for ownership over my heart. And without
- 11:36Speaker 1: guardrails of some sort, without guardrails of some sort, you
- 11:39Speaker 1: may never declare bankruptcy. You may never have overwhelming credit
- 11:42Speaker 1: card debt. You may be so good with your money.
- 11:45Speaker 1: I mean, you may need to be the person that
- 11:46Speaker 1: teaches classes on how to manage money. But his point
- 11:49Speaker 1: is simply this. Without guardrails, you're either going to veer
- 11:53Speaker 1: off the cliff of consumption or you're going to wreck
- 11:56Speaker 1: your financial future into the wall of hoarding. One is
- 12:00Speaker 1: unbridled desire, consume, consume, consume, consume, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade.
- 12:05Speaker 1: The other is unbridled fear. What if I don't have enough?
- 12:08Speaker 1: What if we don't have enough? What if I don't
- 12:09Speaker 1: have enough? What if we don't have enough? And the
- 12:11Speaker 1: root cause for both of these is the same thing.
- 12:14Speaker 1: And it's a word that we really don't like. It's
- 12:17Speaker 1: a word that we can't see in the mirror. And
- 12:20Speaker 1: it's the word greed, greed, greed. Now, some time ago,
- 12:24Speaker 1: a bunch of us memorized the definition of greed. I
- 12:26Speaker 1: made it up, but I like it because it's easy
- 12:28Speaker 1: to remember, and I need things to be easy to remember.
- 12:31Speaker 1: And so I'm going to give you the first part
- 12:32Speaker 1: of the definition, and I'm going to see if you
- 12:33Speaker 1: can remember the last word. Greed is simply this. Greed
- 12:38Speaker 1: is the assumption it's all for my... consumption. Yes, three
- 12:43Speaker 1: people got that right. I feel so good. I think
- 12:46Speaker 1: everybody watching the live stream got it at home. We
- 12:48Speaker 1: could hear you as well. That's right. So what is greed?
- 12:51Speaker 1: Greed isn't mysterious. Greed isn't some miserly guy counting his
- 12:55Speaker 1: gold and he never got married, never had kids because
- 12:57Speaker 1: he's going to spend it all on himself. We sort
- 12:59Speaker 1: of relegate greed to someone we don't know and someone
- 13:02Speaker 1: we'll never be. But greed is simply an assumption. The
- 13:06Speaker 1: assumption that if it's placed in my hands, it's for me.
- 13:10Speaker 1: If it shows up in my checking account, it's for me.
- 13:12Speaker 1: If it goes into my 401k, it's for me. If
- 13:15Speaker 1: it's part of my paycheck or my bonus, it's for me.
- 13:17Speaker 1: If it's part of my inheritance, it's for me. You know,
- 13:20Speaker 1: if I win the lottery, obviously it was God's will.
- 13:23Speaker 1: What are the odds of that? It's for me. It
- 13:26Speaker 1: is an assumption. It's an assumption. It's an assumption that
- 13:29Speaker 1: it's all for my consumption. And if I choose, out
- 13:33Speaker 1: of the compassion that occasionally bubbles up in me, if
- 13:38Speaker 1: I choose to give some of what is designed for
- 13:40Speaker 1: me to someone else, I hope God's watching and I'm
- 13:43Speaker 1: going to give in slow motion in case he gets distracted.
- 13:48Speaker 1: Did you see that, right? That's what some of y'all
- 13:51Speaker 1: do with the bucket. Most of you pass it real
- 13:53Speaker 1: quick and every once in a while there's excuse me
- 13:55Speaker 1: coming out slow kind of a thing, right? It's the
- 13:58Speaker 1: assumption that it's all for my consumption. Now, it's consume now, spend.
- 14:05Speaker 1: Consume later, hoarding. Consume now, it's for me, spend. It's
- 14:10Speaker 1: consume later, it's because I'm a hoarder. But either way,
- 14:13Speaker 1: it's for me, it's for me now, it's for me later.
- 14:15Speaker 1: And here's the tragedy, and you've never thought about it
- 14:17Speaker 1: this way, I understand, because who has time to think
- 14:19Speaker 1: about this stuff? When you live that way, whether you're
- 14:21Speaker 1: a Christian or not, or even if you're part of
- 14:24Speaker 1: another religion, when you live that way, you are living
- 14:27Speaker 1: as if there is no God. You're living as if
- 14:31Speaker 1: all there is to this life is this life. You're
- 14:33Speaker 1: living as if you might as well, as Solomon says,
- 14:35Speaker 1: and Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, his whole point was,
- 14:39Speaker 1: if all there is to this life is this life.
- 14:41Speaker 1: That's why Ecclesiastes is hard for us to understand. Basically saying,
- 14:45Speaker 1: under the sun, that's his phrase, under the sun, that
- 14:47Speaker 1: is in this life, you might as well eat bread.
- 14:50Speaker 1: drink and be merry because tomorrow you die and when
- 14:53Speaker 1: it's over, it's over. And who cares what your kids
- 14:56Speaker 1: think about you when you're gone? You're gone, okay? Who
- 14:59Speaker 1: cares about your legacy? What's a legacy? You're gone and
- 15:02Speaker 1: all the people who have a bad attitude about you
- 15:04Speaker 1: because you hoarded it all and consumed it all, who
- 15:06Speaker 1: cares because one day they're gone as well. So eat,
- 15:09Speaker 1: drink and be merry. Tomorrow you die. All there is
- 15:12Speaker 1: to this life is this life. If that's what you believe,
- 15:14Speaker 1: then eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow you die.
- 15:16Speaker 1: But if there is something in you If there is
- 15:20Speaker 1: something in you, even if it's not the Christian version,
- 15:22Speaker 1: if there's something in you, that you just have this suspicion,
- 15:26Speaker 1: there has to be more to this life. And there
- 15:28Speaker 1: has to be something beyond this life. Then you dare
- 15:31Speaker 1: not allow your life to be driven by consumption or
- 15:34Speaker 1: hoarding because you're living as if there is no God.
- 15:39Speaker 1: It's about me now or it's about me later. But
- 15:43Speaker 1: then something interesting happens to all of us at some point.
- 15:47Speaker 1: Trouble comes along. Trouble that you created or maybe trouble
- 15:51Speaker 1: somebody else created. Trouble that you created because your spending
- 15:54Speaker 1: got out of control or you bought too much house
- 15:56Speaker 1: or you leased too much car or you got too
- 15:58Speaker 1: many loans, educationally related loans. But something happens that you
- 16:04Speaker 1: created or maybe there's financial trouble that somebody else caused.
- 16:07Speaker 1: Somebody laid you off. Somebody lied to you. A partner
- 16:10Speaker 1: took the money and ran. It had nothing to do
- 16:11Speaker 1: with you. But either way, do you know what we do,
- 16:14Speaker 1: even if we're not very religious, do you know what
- 16:16Speaker 1: we do when suddenly we find ourselves with financial trouble?
- 16:20Speaker 1: We do the strangest thing. We pray. It may be
- 16:24Speaker 1: a on your way to the bank whispered prayer, or
- 16:27Speaker 1: it may be flat out on the floor, oh God,
- 16:29Speaker 1: my God, my God, it's Andy, you have not heard
- 16:32Speaker 1: from me in a long time, hello. I have a
- 16:35Speaker 1: cross and a Star of David and a rabbit's foot.
- 16:37Speaker 1: I just need your attention, you know? We pray. And
- 16:43Speaker 1: here's what a prayer that is related to a financial
- 16:46Speaker 1: crisis is. Whether you created it or somebody else created it,
- 16:49Speaker 1: this is important. When you pray, here's what you're praying.
- 16:51Speaker 1: You're saying, dear God, I would like to invite you
- 16:54Speaker 1: in to my finances. Because I have a problem. And
- 16:58Speaker 1: come right this way, let me explain my problem in
- 17:00Speaker 1: case you have it. This is an invitation for God
- 17:05Speaker 1: to get involved with your money. Whether you need a job,
- 17:09Speaker 1: or you need a break, or you need a consolidation loan,
- 17:11Speaker 1: or you need mercy at work, whatever it is, it's God,
- 17:14Speaker 1: I'm inviting you into this area of my life. God,
- 17:18Speaker 1: I may have chosen the wrong master. So here's my
- 17:23Speaker 1: question if you're a Christian. And here's my concern if
- 17:27Speaker 1: you're not. If you think that you would pray and
- 17:33Speaker 1: invite God in to your finances if there was a problem,
- 17:38Speaker 1: why don't you go ahead and invite him in now
- 17:41Speaker 1: before there's a problem? Why wouldn't you do that? Why
- 17:46Speaker 1: wouldn't you invite him to be the master now? Because
- 17:49Speaker 1: you know if things get out of control, you know
- 17:53Speaker 1: whether you're a praying person or not, you're going to
- 17:55Speaker 1: pray that God would get involved if things go the
- 17:59Speaker 1: wrong way. The guardrail, I'm just really going to give
- 18:05Speaker 1: you one suggestion. The guardrail against greed. The way that
- 18:09Speaker 1: you invite God in now before there's a tragedy. The
- 18:12Speaker 1: way that you set yourself up for success whether you
- 18:14Speaker 1: have a lot of money or a little bit of money.
- 18:16Speaker 1: The way that you do that is by reprioritizing. This
- 18:20Speaker 1: is what Jesus teaches and I'm going to show you
- 18:21Speaker 1: where he says it in just a minute. If you
- 18:23Speaker 1: are living like most people, your finances look like this.
- 18:26Speaker 1: This is what it looks like to be mastered by money.
- 18:28Speaker 1: Here's why I say that. Live, save, give. I'm just
- 18:31Speaker 1: going to live and spend my money on me. And
- 18:34Speaker 1: if I have a plan at work, I may be
- 18:36Speaker 1: saving along the way. And then if there's any leftover
- 18:38Speaker 1: or if I feel really compassionate or if there's a
- 18:40Speaker 1: flood or a tsunami or an earthquake or there's somebody
- 18:43Speaker 1: in my community that's in need, then I'll give if
- 18:46Speaker 1: I have some leftover. But I'm going to live, save, give.
- 18:49Speaker 1: Me first. Me second. Everybody else, including what God's doing
- 18:55Speaker 1: in the world through the church. Third, when you live
- 18:59Speaker 1: this way, you are mastered because you are living as
- 19:04Speaker 1: if there's no more to this life than this life.
- 19:08Speaker 1: You are living as if God has no interest or
- 19:11Speaker 1: no idea what's going on in your life financially. This
- 19:15Speaker 1: is how most people live. They live, they save, and
- 19:18Speaker 1: then they give. Jesus comes along, as we're gonna see
- 19:21Speaker 1: in a minute, and he's gonna say, if you want
- 19:24Speaker 1: me to be the master of your life, you have
- 19:27Speaker 1: to embrace the way I see the world and my values,
- 19:30Speaker 1: and when you do, you're gonna flip this over. This
- 19:33Speaker 1: is how you master your money. You give first, you
- 19:38Speaker 1: save second, and you live on the rest. You give first,
- 19:43Speaker 1: somebody else first, you save second, and you live on
- 19:47Speaker 1: the rest. Now, whether you are a Christian or not,
- 19:50Speaker 1: and whether you ever give any money to this church
- 19:51Speaker 1: or not, I'm just telling you, you do this, and
- 19:55Speaker 1: you will send me a thank you note later. I
- 19:57Speaker 1: ran into a gentleman this morning. He said, Andy, I
- 19:59Speaker 1: remember the first time that you taught this? And we
- 20:02Speaker 1: were talking about it. I said, that was nine years ago.
- 20:04Speaker 1: He said, yes. And it had a profound impact on
- 20:07Speaker 1: my life. I'm just telling you, this works and this
- 20:10Speaker 1: came from Jesus. Now, whenever the preacher talks about money,
- 20:13Speaker 1: everybody gets nervous. You should get nervous, okay? So I'm thinking, okay,
- 20:16Speaker 1: how do I convince these people I love and these
- 20:18Speaker 1: people that if I knew that I would love, how
- 20:20Speaker 1: do I convince them this isn't about me, this isn't
- 20:22Speaker 1: about a specific local church, this is what it means
- 20:25Speaker 1: to follow Jesus. So I came up with this illustration.
- 20:28Speaker 1: And this is absolutely true. When my children were young,
- 20:31Speaker 1: I have three children, when they were young, they're 20
- 20:32Speaker 1: months apart. You know, the first one, 20 months later,
- 20:34Speaker 1: the second one, 20 months later, the third one. We
- 20:35Speaker 1: did not plan it that way, but it just all
- 20:37Speaker 1: worked out. We were busy, busy, busy, busy in those
- 20:40Speaker 1: early years. So we had three kids, and when they
- 20:41Speaker 1: were old enough to understand, we put three jars in
- 20:44Speaker 1: all of their rooms. And we labeled these three jars give, save,
- 20:49Speaker 1: and live. And I taught my kids, as soon as
- 20:51Speaker 1: they could understand, when you get an allowance, when you
- 20:53Speaker 1: do chores, you get money, grandmama gives you money, granddaddy
- 20:55Speaker 1: gives you money, sometimes grandmama didn't even know granddaddy gave
- 20:57Speaker 1: you money, grandparents are weird like that. When you get money,
- 21:01Speaker 1: we want you to put 10% in here, We want
- 21:04Speaker 1: you to put 10% there, and then that's bubble gum,
- 21:07Speaker 1: and let's go to the drug store, and let's go
- 21:08Speaker 1: to the toy store. That's your money. You can do
- 21:10Speaker 1: anything you want to with that money. But the first money,
- 21:12Speaker 1: we're going to split it up in nickels and quarters
- 21:14Speaker 1: and dimes so you can figure this out. It's kind
- 21:16Speaker 1: of a math lesson without it being a math lesson.
- 21:19Speaker 1: 10% give, save, live. This one's going to go up
- 21:22Speaker 1: and down. This one's going to go up and down,
- 21:25Speaker 1: mostly down. And this one, you're going to watch this
- 21:27Speaker 1: jar fill up. Now, here's my question for you. Why
- 21:32Speaker 1: in the world... Would the preacher teach his kids to
- 21:36Speaker 1: give first, save second, and live on the rest? Is
- 21:40Speaker 1: it because I want the church to get my children's money? No,
- 21:44Speaker 1: I could have just taken their money. I could have
- 21:46Speaker 1: gone in there at night. I could have gone in
- 21:49Speaker 1: there at night and just emptied it all into a
- 21:51Speaker 1: bag and the next morning I'm like, I don't know,
- 21:53Speaker 1: tooth fairy, I don't know, somebody came in there and
- 21:55Speaker 1: stole your money. I don't know what happened, right? No,
- 21:58Speaker 1: that's not, is it that the church needed their money?
- 22:02Speaker 1: You know, honey, you have to pay that electric bill.
- 22:04Speaker 1: I need $ 1. 70. We need that. Don't even put it
- 22:06Speaker 1: in the jar. Right here in the pastor's hand. No,
- 22:08Speaker 1: it's not because we needed their money. I'm telling you why.
- 22:12Speaker 1: I did not and I do not want my children
- 22:15Speaker 1: to be mastered by money. Because I know where that leads.
- 22:21Speaker 1: We all know to some extent where that leads. This
- 22:24Speaker 1: is the key to financial independence. Independence from the belief
- 22:30Speaker 1: that life equals stuff. People who live as if life
- 22:36Speaker 1: equals stuff live as if there is no God. And
- 22:39Speaker 1: here's the thing, come on. No matter what you have,
- 22:41Speaker 1: you are always discontent, always. There is no amount of
- 22:44Speaker 1: stuff that makes you completely content. Why? Because it's an appetite.
- 22:47Speaker 1: When you're driven by your appetite, unhealthy things happen. Let
- 22:52Speaker 1: me just tell you, just a heads up, 99% of you,
- 22:55Speaker 1: probably 100%, but let's say 99% of you, 99% of
- 22:58Speaker 1: you are going to run out of time before you
- 23:00Speaker 1: run out of stuff. 100%, most of you, probably all
- 23:06Speaker 1: of you, you are going to die and there's going
- 23:08Speaker 1: to be a whole lot of stuff left over. You
- 23:11Speaker 1: know what that means? It means you lived as if
- 23:15Speaker 1: life was stuff. It's not. Your life is your time.
- 23:21Speaker 1: Your stuff is your stuff. Why would you live as
- 23:26Speaker 1: if life is stuff and why would you allow your
- 23:28Speaker 1: stuff to master you and control you, and I didn't
- 23:32Speaker 1: want my kids to grow up that way. I didn't
- 23:34Speaker 1: want them to grow up thinking that way. It results
- 23:37Speaker 1: in financial independence in the sense that it's independence from
- 23:40Speaker 1: a lifestyle that relegates God to emergencies. God, you know,
- 23:45Speaker 1: you stay over there in the corner, and if I
- 23:46Speaker 1: need you, I'll get you. I don't want my kids
- 23:48Speaker 1: living that way. I want them to invite God into
- 23:50Speaker 1: every single area of their life, including their finances. Independence
- 23:54Speaker 1: from this. It's really independence from a life independent of God.
- 23:57Speaker 1: That's what this habit does. This habit ensures that you
- 24:01Speaker 1: don't try to live your life independent of God because
- 24:04Speaker 1: for the rest of my children's life, for the rest
- 24:07Speaker 1: of your life, for the rest of your life, for
- 24:09Speaker 1: the rest of your life, for the rest of your life,
- 24:12Speaker 1: money is going to compete. for first place. And money
- 24:15Speaker 1: and stuff is going to compete for your heart and
- 24:17Speaker 1: for my heart. And I don't want money to win
- 24:23Speaker 1: with them. And I don't want money to win with
- 24:27Speaker 1: you either. But who cares what I think? Your heavenly father,
- 24:31Speaker 1: your heavenly father doesn't want money to win either. I
- 24:36Speaker 1: don't want my kids to grow up having to choose
- 24:38Speaker 1: between money or their personal peace. I don't want them
- 24:41Speaker 1: to prioritize money over their marriages. I don't want them
- 24:44Speaker 1: to prioritize stuff and the acquisition of stuff over their
- 24:47Speaker 1: health or over their children, which would be my grandchildren.
- 24:51Speaker 1: I don't want them to be slaves to consumption. I
- 24:56Speaker 1: want them to have stuff. I don't want their stuff
- 24:59Speaker 1: to have them. That's why I did that. It has
- 25:02Speaker 1: nothing to do with the church getting their money or
- 25:05Speaker 1: the church getting your money. Jesus, best we can tell, never,
- 25:10Speaker 1: and I don't get any ideas, never took up an offering.
- 25:16Speaker 1: I don't want my kids, and I don't want you
- 25:18Speaker 1: to be slaves to consumption. I want them to own
- 25:20Speaker 1: their stuff. I don't want their stuff to own them.
- 25:21Speaker 1: So this is what it looks like. You give first,
- 25:24Speaker 1: you save second, and you live on the rest. That's
- 25:28Speaker 1: how you do it. So here's what Jesus said. He said,
- 25:29Speaker 1: no one can serve. No one can serve two masters.
- 25:32Speaker 1: You'll hate the one and love the other. You'll be
- 25:33Speaker 1: devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
- 25:35Speaker 1: serve both God and money. And then a few minutes later,
- 25:38Speaker 1: in the same sermon, he says this. He says, so,
- 25:41Speaker 1: in light of that, do not worry, saying, what are
- 25:44Speaker 1: we going to eat? Now, you know, we don't worry
- 25:46Speaker 1: about what we're going to eat, but that's because we
- 25:47Speaker 1: have refrigeration. Back in those days, the only thing that
- 25:49Speaker 1: kept without, the only thing that they could keep for
- 25:52Speaker 1: very long was grain and wine. Grain and wine. That said,
- 25:55Speaker 1: everything else rotted and spoiled. What are we going to eat?
- 25:58Speaker 1: What are we going to drink? What are we going
- 26:00Speaker 1: to eat? What are we going to drink? What are
- 26:02Speaker 1: we going to wear? Clothes were extremely, extremely expensive. And
- 26:05Speaker 1: Jesus is saying, look, I know you think about this
- 26:08Speaker 1: stuff all the time. I know your inclination is to
- 26:10Speaker 1: worry about it all the time, to think about it
- 26:12Speaker 1: all the time. He says, but I don't want you
- 26:14Speaker 1: to do that. And here's why. Because when you worry, worry, worry,
- 26:18Speaker 1: worry about the future, here's what you're going to do
- 26:19Speaker 1: with your hands and your heart. You're going to close them.
- 26:22Speaker 1: And if you're going to be my follower, you cannot
- 26:24Speaker 1: live your life with closed hands. and a closed heart.
- 26:27Speaker 1: He says, besides that, for the pagans run after all
- 26:31Speaker 1: these things. You don't want to be a pagan, do you? Now,
- 26:34Speaker 1: the word pagan, we use this term in a completely
- 26:37Speaker 1: different context, different way than Jesus meant it. A pagan
- 26:39Speaker 1: in the first century was basically anybody that believed in
- 26:41Speaker 1: the gods, plural, as opposed to one God. So for
- 26:45Speaker 1: the Jewish people, everybody other than the Jews, they were
- 26:48Speaker 1: all pagans because they believed in the gods. And the
- 26:51Speaker 1: gods could care less about people. The gods toyed with people.
- 26:55Speaker 1: The gods manipulated people. The gods played with people. The
- 26:58Speaker 1: gods did not care about people. The gods were not
- 27:00Speaker 1: concerned about people. So the pagans were constantly trying to
- 27:04Speaker 1: bribe the gods to do their bidding. Sacrifice animals. Some cases,
- 27:10Speaker 1: sacrifice children. Sacrifice whatever we gotta sacrifice in order to
- 27:13Speaker 1: get the gods to do our bidding. And Jesus says, look,
- 27:17Speaker 1: If you worry, worry, worry, worry, worry, you're living like
- 27:20Speaker 1: the pagans that don't have gods who care anything about them.
- 27:24Speaker 1: They don't believe there's a personal god that's actually involved
- 27:28Speaker 1: in their life. And your heavenly father, and this is
- 27:31Speaker 1: the game changer right here. And besides, your heavenly father
- 27:35Speaker 1: knows that you need all that stuff. Now, here's the thing, Christians.
- 27:40Speaker 1: Do you believe that? Jesus said it, not me. Jesus
- 27:44Speaker 1: said to his audience, that our heavenly, what are we
- 27:48Speaker 1: supposed to call him again? Oh yeah, father, that's it.
- 27:50Speaker 1: That our heavenly father knows what we need. If your
- 27:57Speaker 1: heavenly father knows what you need, do you need to
- 28:04Speaker 1: worry about And Jesus says, no. And I'm telling you,
- 28:07Speaker 1: the moment you wrapped your heart and your belief system
- 28:10Speaker 1: around the fact that God knows what you need, you have,
- 28:14Speaker 1: in that moment, earned the opportunity and the right to
- 28:17Speaker 1: keep your hands wide open. But, he says, but, But
- 28:26Speaker 1: instead of worrying, instead of hoarding, instead of consuming, here's
- 28:31Speaker 1: what I want you to do. And now he says,
- 28:33Speaker 1: get your pen and paper out. Here's the plan. Here's
- 28:34Speaker 1: what you're going to do. Here's how you're not going
- 28:36Speaker 1: to worry anymore. Here's how you're going to know that
- 28:38Speaker 1: I care. Here's how you're going to know I'm involved.
- 28:41Speaker 1: But seek first. That is, put first. Reprioritize. But seek first.
- 28:46Speaker 1: That's reorder. Rearrange. Rethink. But seek first. And then he...
- 28:52Speaker 1: refers to his father in heaven, but seek first his
- 28:55Speaker 1: kingdom and his righteousness. Now, this word just throws us
- 28:59Speaker 1: off every time because we don't live in a kingdom.
- 29:01Speaker 1: We don't even think there should be kingdoms. We don't
- 29:03Speaker 1: get kingdom. Here's what Jesus is saying, and this is so, so,
- 29:06Speaker 1: so important. He's saying, I want you, I want you
- 29:10Speaker 1: to seek the kingdom of my father and my father's
- 29:14Speaker 1: kingdom is an other's first kingdom. If you're going to
- 29:19Speaker 1: follow me, it's about others first. He is an others
- 29:23Speaker 1: first king who dwells and has developed and is creating
- 29:27Speaker 1: an others first kingdom. And the reason it's his righteousness
- 29:30Speaker 1: is because Jesus taught throughout his ministry that what's right
- 29:33Speaker 1: for other people is what's right. What's best for other
- 29:36Speaker 1: people is what's best. That the kingdom of God is
- 29:39Speaker 1: an others first kingdom that's all about doing right for
- 29:43Speaker 1: other people. And so Jesus says, look, if you're going
- 29:47Speaker 1: to invite me into that area of your life, if
- 29:49Speaker 1: you're going to ask me to be in control of
- 29:51Speaker 1: your finances, you need to know where this is going
- 29:52Speaker 1: to take you. This is going to take you to
- 29:54Speaker 1: other's Firstness. One day, Jesus was on the way to
- 29:58Speaker 1: Jerusalem toward the end of his ministry. All the way
- 30:02Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. His guys are going along. They don't want
- 30:03Speaker 1: to go because they know that he's probably going to
- 30:05Speaker 1: be arrested. And if he's arrested, they'll get arrested. It's
- 30:07Speaker 1: just a bad day altogether. But they're hoping. They're thinking, well,
- 30:09Speaker 1: maybe he's not going to get arrested. Maybe he's going
- 30:11Speaker 1: to get there and go, da-da, da-da, and rip off
- 30:13Speaker 1: his rabbi robe. And it's going to have, you know, Messiah.
- 30:17Speaker 1: And he's going to take over. They're going to run
- 30:19Speaker 1: Rome off. The Pharisees are going to say, oh, we're
- 30:21Speaker 1: so sorry. And, you know, Jesus is going to take
- 30:23Speaker 1: the Temple Mount. And maybe this is the moment we've
- 30:26Speaker 1: all been waiting for. So they're having this conversation behind
- 30:29Speaker 1: Jesus about, okay, so when Jesus takes his throne, when
- 30:32Speaker 1: he's the new king of Israel, you know, what about
- 30:34Speaker 1: those little thrones? Who's gonna be on the left? Who's
- 30:35Speaker 1: gonna be on the right? Who's gonna be close to
- 30:37Speaker 1: the guy? So they're arguing about which one of them
- 30:41Speaker 1: is gonna be on the left or the right. Jesus
- 30:43Speaker 1: overhears this. So he turns around and he says, all right,
- 30:45Speaker 1: time out, everybody, under the sycamore tree, have a seat,
- 30:49Speaker 1: we gotta talk. I made that part up. But he
- 30:51Speaker 1: has them, he stops, he stops, they're on their way
- 30:53Speaker 1: to Jerusalem, this is like a big, big deal. And
- 30:55Speaker 1: he says, okay. Let's go over this one more time.
- 31:00Speaker 1: My kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world.
- 31:05Speaker 1: He says, you know, come on, you've been around. You
- 31:08Speaker 1: know that those who are regarded as rulers over the
- 31:11Speaker 1: Gentiles lord it over them. It's a little Greek term
- 31:14Speaker 1: that means it uses their power selfishly, an abuse of power.
- 31:17Speaker 1: He says, you know the Gentile rulers, they abuse their power.
- 31:20Speaker 1: They leverage their power for their own benefit. Yeah. And
- 31:23Speaker 1: their high officials do the same thing. They exercise authority
- 31:26Speaker 1: over them. And again, this is such a bland way
- 31:28Speaker 1: of translating this. His point was, you know how it
- 31:31Speaker 1: works in the world. Whoever gets in charge, they're in charge.
- 31:34Speaker 1: And everybody else has to do whatever they're charged to do.
- 31:36Speaker 1: You know how this works. And they're like, yeah, we
- 31:38Speaker 1: know how it works. That's why we want to be
- 31:39Speaker 1: number two and number three because you're number one. And
- 31:41Speaker 1: you know, that's exactly, we want to be in charge.
- 31:46Speaker 1: And then Jesus looks at him in the eye and
- 31:49Speaker 1: he says, this is so powerful. He says, not so
- 31:54Speaker 1: with you. Not so with you. You're going to be
- 31:58Speaker 1: part of my gang? You want to be part of
- 32:00Speaker 1: my kingdom? You want to be part of my father's kingdom?
- 32:03Speaker 1: That's not how it works there. Not so. With you. Instead,
- 32:09Speaker 1: whoever wants to become great, hey guys, now which one
- 32:12Speaker 1: of y'all want to be great? Come on, they're all like,
- 32:15Speaker 1: I want to be great. He goes, okay, you want
- 32:16Speaker 1: to be great? Then pay attention. If you want to
- 32:19Speaker 1: be great, then you must become the servant. And whoever
- 32:23Speaker 1: wants to be first must be the slave of all.
- 32:25Speaker 1: You want to be great in my kingdom? You want
- 32:27Speaker 1: to be great in my economy? You want to be
- 32:28Speaker 1: great in the world that I'm here to create? then
- 32:31Speaker 1: you don't try to get in first place. You look
- 32:34Speaker 1: for a way to get in last place and serve
- 32:36Speaker 1: everybody else along the way. And before they can raise
- 32:40Speaker 1: an objection, he says, for, and here's a verse every
- 32:44Speaker 1: Christian should memorize. For, even the Son of Man, talking
- 32:48Speaker 1: about himself, even the Son of Man did not come
- 32:51Speaker 1: to be served, guys. Guys. Even the son of man
- 32:55Speaker 1: did not come to be served, but to serve and
- 32:57Speaker 1: to give his life. They cringed when he said this.
- 33:00Speaker 1: And to give his life a ransom for many. Hey guys,
- 33:03Speaker 1: you think you're better than me? No, Jesus, you're Jesus. Okay, no,
- 33:06Speaker 1: we're not better than you. Then get in the back
- 33:08Speaker 1: of the line because that's where I'm headed. That's why
- 33:13Speaker 1: we're going to Jerusalem. I'm about to do for the
- 33:18Speaker 1: whole world what I'm gonna turn around and ask the
- 33:22Speaker 1: whole world to do for one another. My friends, that
- 33:30Speaker 1: changed the world. It could change the world again. Selflessness
- 33:40Speaker 1: would solve everything. Selflessness would solve everything. Selflessness would solve everything.
- 33:54Speaker 1: Welcome to the kingdom of God. But seek first his
- 34:01Speaker 1: kingdom and his righteousness and then relax because all these
- 34:07Speaker 1: things will be given to you as well. In other words,
- 34:10Speaker 1: if you'll put others first in your finances as evidence
- 34:13Speaker 1: of the fact that you put God first, you've invited
- 34:15Speaker 1: God in. When you put other people, when you put
- 34:18Speaker 1: what God is up to in the world first in
- 34:19Speaker 1: your finances, that's an invitation because what you've done when
- 34:22Speaker 1: you put God first is you're saying, God, you first,
- 34:25Speaker 1: me second. He says, hey, that's the combination. That's the
- 34:28Speaker 1: magic code. That's my kingdom. That's what I'm all about.
- 34:31Speaker 1: Remember the most famous verse in the whole Bible? For God,
- 34:33Speaker 1: I'll let you fill in the blank. For God so
- 34:35Speaker 1: loved the world that he gave. That he gave. That
- 34:40Speaker 1: he gave. That he gave. He says, welcome to my kingdom.
- 34:43Speaker 1: He said, and. I will take care of you because
- 34:46Speaker 1: I know what you need. The way that you make
- 34:52Speaker 1: sure you have your money but your money doesn't have
- 34:54Speaker 1: you is you seek first with your money the kingdom
- 34:58Speaker 1: of God.