5 March 2017
I. Introduction
-- turn
in Bibles to Proverbs 22:7
“The
rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”
-- I
heard a story about a woman who called her husband while he was driving to work
one day -- she told him to be careful, because the news said there was an idiot
who was driving the wrong way on the freeway -- he replied, “I know. It’s not just one, it’s hundreds of them”
-- this
evening, we’re going to be talking about driving the wrong way -- about heading
in a different direction than most people around us, even if it makes people
think we’re idiots
-- we’re
continuing in on our sermon series called, “Making Change,” a play on words
about making changes in our financial lives based on what the Bible has to say
about finances and to quit going the direction the rest of the world is going
-- just
to remind you, in this series we’re focusing on four things to remember when
we’re getting our finances on track: Less is More, Stress is Bad, Giving is
Good, and Tomorrow Matters.
-- last
time we met, we talked about the concept of Less is More -- about living with
less -- living below our means so we could enjoy our lives more -- about not
getting caught up in the world’s concept of needing the newest and the fastest
and the biggest and the most but being content with having our needs met and
taking charge of our financial lives rather than letting our stuff control us
-- to stop chasing after the wind, as Solomon put it, by accumulating
possessions that have no eternal value
-- this
week, we’re continuing in Part 2 of this series by looking at the idea that
“Stress is Bad” and focusing on the problem of debt in the life of the
Christian and in the life of the church
II. Stress is Bad -- Debt causes Stress
--
everyone knows that stress is bad -- stress impacts your physical, your
emotional, and your mental health -- stress can affect your body, your thoughts
and attitudes, and it can affect our behavior -- what we do and how we interact
with others
--
studies show that a person under constant stress doesn’t live as long as people
without that stress -- stress causes our blood pressure to rise -- it affects
our immune system and causes people to get sick more often than others -- it
increases the amount of cholesterol and triglycerides in our blood stream -- it
has been linked to migraines and headaches and to other physical maladies --
constant stress wears on a person’s physical and mental health, and it affects
our relationships with other people, especially our marriage relationships
-- one
of the major causes of stress in our lives today is financial stress -- when we
think about stress caused by money, most of the time we’re talking about the
stress that comes because of debt
-- we
have become a society of debtors -- it is rare to find a family who is not
holding some kind of loan or under some form of debt -- not counting mortgages,
the average American family is about $5,700 in debt -- but if you are one of
the 38% of Americans who have credit cards, that average goes up to about
$10,300 per household -- but that doesn’t tell you the whole story -- the
average person with credit cards is carrying a balance of over $16,000 on those
cards, and because you are paying somewhere between 15 and 19% interest on
those credit card balances, you rarely can get out of debt without some help
because it can take you decades to pay them off if all you pay is the minimum
monthly payment1
-- and
with the lower interest rates that we see at the car dealerships now, more and
more people are buying cars they really can’t afford -- the dealers have
started stretching out the car loans out to 72 months, and in some cases I have
seen them advertised for 84 months, to get the payments to the level that
people can afford -- that means you’re in debt on a car for six or seven years
in some cases -- and even though the interest rates are low, you’re still in
debt and every year you own that car, you’re losing money in depreciation -- at
the end of 72 months, that $48,000 truck you bought is going to be worth less
than $10,000
-- I
really worry about our young men and women -- those kids in high school and
college who are just starting to work on their finances -- young men like Ben
and Tucker -- they are constantly preyed on by credit card companies with
offers for free credit cards and low introductory rates -- these free credit
cards are gateway drugs to a lifetime of debt
-- and I
haven’t even mentioned the problem with student loans -- as college costs have
continued to rise and rise, the debt that a student accumulates in college has
gotten greater and greater, even with the Hope scholarship that is available
here in Georgia -- and while those loans look like a good idea and have low
interest rates, they saddle a newly graduated person with another debt and
another debt payment for 10 years or more
-- I
remember when Kim and I were getting out of school and starting life that one
of the major stressors we had was paying back those student loans -- it
affected what we could do and where we could go -- we didn’t have any extra
money because it was all going back to paying off those loans -- and while we
were making enough money to live on, we couldn’t afford to go out to eat or to
do things because all the extra money we had were going to pay those student
loans -- it took 10 years to get those paid off, and one of the happiest days
in my life was the day I mailed my last loan payment to Tucker, Georgia, to get
that burden off of us
--
here’s the thing -- debt is killing us -- one out of every six Americans says
they are under serious financial debt2 -- and this debt primarily
comes from a need for instant gratification -- the “I need it now and I don’t
want to wait” syndrome -- and it’s affecting our health, our relationships, and
our spiritual lives
-- fewer
people are tithing or making donations to charitable organizations because of
financial concerns -- debt is keeping people from pursuing ministry
opportunities -- the Barna Research Group did a study and found out that few
people go on short-term mission trips even though they feel that call and know
the benefits from going and helping others, partly because of the cost of going
-- being
in debt keeps us from being free to help those around us -- from ministering to
those in need -- as Proverbs 22:7 says, “the rich rule over the poor, and the
borrower is servant [or slave] to the lender” -- when we’re in debt, we’re not
free to serve God because we are slave to our lenders
-- can
you imagine what your life would be like if you didn’t have debt? -- the
freedom you would experience? -- the changes you would be able to make?
--
instead of using plastic to buy things, you’d just pay cash -- instead of
paying a lot more for something over time because of the interest payments, you
just pay what something is worth
-- when
an emergency comes up, you’d be able to take care of it without obligating
yourself for years to come -- if somebody you knew needed help, you’d be able
to help them without it hurting you -- you’d be able to take time off of work
for vacations or to spend more time with your family -- you’d be able to
downsize and not work as much -- you’d be able to minister more freely -- to do
what God was calling you to do -- to go on those mission trips and to help
others find freedom in their lives
-- you’d
have less stress and less worry -- your relationships wouldn’t be strained
because of your finances, and you would have more freedom in your life to enjoy
life and to live out the abundant life Jesus intended for us to live
III. Getting Out of Debt
-- so
what do we do? -- how do we begin to get out of debt?
-- it’s
not going to be easy -- it’s going to take work and it’s going to take
sacrifice and it’s going to take relying on God to get you out of debt -- but
the good news is that God will bless you as you start this process -- the Bible
tells us that whoever if faithful with a little, God will trust with more --
God is pleased when we start managing the resources He has given us wisely, and
as we begin making steps to get out of debt, He will bless those efforts
accordingly
--
rather than going over the practical ways to get out of debt, I want to focus
on the spiritual aspect as we close this message -- if you’re in debt and
you’re looking for a way out, I think you need to begin by realizing that debt
is a spiritual issue -- debt is usually a consequence of sin -- of not being a
good steward and taking care of the money and the resources that God has given
you -- not being patient with God and waiting for Him to provide -- not living
within your means but trying to follow the world’s pattern of wanting the best
and the newest and the biggest and wanting it now -- allowing yourself to be
bound up by others and by becoming a servant and slave to the lender rather
than serving God with your whole heart -- these things are part of a spiritual
sickness that needs to be addressed before the overall problem of debt can be
solved
-- I’m
not a financial expert, so I do encourage you to look up the resources
available from Christian experts in this field -- Crown Financial Ministries
out of Atlanta has great resources available to help you begin to get out of
debt -- they’ve got a radio segment that is aired on WAFT 101.1 here in our
area every afternoon you can listen to and call into with your questions -- you
can find books at the library from the late Larry Burkett, who was part of
founding Crown Financial Ministries
-- and
you can’t go wrong by following Dave Ramsey’s advice or taking his Financial
Peace University class, which is occasionally offered by churches and
ministries in our area -- Dave Ramsey’s concept on debt is “live like no one
else now so you can live like no one else later” -- meaning make the sacrifices
now to get out of debt so you can live debt-free and really enjoy life later
while others continue to live their stress-ridden debt-burdened lives -- Dave
Ramsey has a daily radio show, too, but I don’t think it airs in our area --
but you can find it online and you can find his books and resources at Lifeway
or at the library
-- I do
want to tell you to stay away from secular financial counselors and to seek
advice solely from Christian counselors on debt issues -- not that secular
financial counselors are bad people, but they have a different way of looking
at finances that may not be in accord with what the Bible tells us, and they
can steer you wrong in regards to biblical foundations of financial freedom --
so be careful in that regard -- stay with Christian financial experts like Crown
Financial Ministries, Larry Burkett, and Dave Ramsey and listen to them
-- so
let’s get back to the spiritual way out of debt -- like I said, this is going
to take God’s help to get our minds and our spirits back in alignment with His
principles -- and the way we seek God’s help is through prayer and through the
study of His word
-- I’m
going to close by giving you three prayers to constantly pray as you seek to
improve your financial situation and reset your thinking and your attitude
towards the proper way to handle God’s resources
-- the
first is “God, give me self-control” -- let me read Proverbs 25:28 for you
“Like
a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.”
-- like
I said, debt is primarily a function of a need for instant gratification -- “I
want it and I want it now” -- and the key to defeating this siren call of
instant gratification is self-control
--
self-control sounds easy, but it’s not -- it takes effort and it takes help
from outside of us -- self-control is more than willpower -- it’s relying on
God to help you make the right choices when it comes to financial matters
-- a lot
of people forget that self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit from
Galatians 5 -- we only are able to experience and implement self-control when
we rely on God’s presence and power within us
-- in
regards to financial self-control, this means we really adopt the Less is More
Lifestyle -- before we hit the stores, we make a list of what we need and just
buy what we need -- we don’t go out and make impulse purchases -- yes, I know
it’s on the clearance rack and you’ll save a lot of money if you buy it, but
the question is “do you really need it in the first place?”
-- cheap
doesn’t mean free -- and cheap can land you in debt just as quick as anything
else -- we need to learn to say “no” when it comes to immediate purchases and
“no” to frivolous things, like $5 coffees
-- I
used to buy a coke every time I was in line at the checkout until one day I
realized I was paying more for a 20 oz coke than I could buy a whole 2-liter
coke for -- and I realized this was adding up -- it was costing more and more
to go shopping every week because of these little impulse purchases -- the
cokes and the candy and the other things they so conveniently put right at the
register for you
-- so I
quit -- I started keeping a water bottle in the car with me, and if I was
thirsty, then I went and filled up my water bottle at the water fountain and
kept my $1.78 for something I truly needed or wanted
-- and,
men, don’t think this is just a woman’s issue -- men are the one who really
have an issue with self-control because we’re not just hitting the clearance
racks -- no, when men make impulse buys, they make big impulse buys -- I’m
talking boats, trucks to pull boats, new fishing equipment, Jeep Cherokees they
can’t really afford
-- so
everyone needs to pay attention and pray this prayer -- God, give us
self-control -- don’t let our walls fall and let us get invaded by the enemy of
instant gratification
-- the second
prayer comes from Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge”
-- “God, give us knowledge -- God, give us wisdom”
-- one
reason why America has turned into a debtor nation is because we just don’t
know any better -- no one’s ever taught us -- we didn’t have any classes in
school about finances -- I was taught how to balance a checkbook, but no one
ever taught me about credit cards or interest rates or debt -- even in college
economic classes, we didn’t get this type of practical information
-- no
one told me that if put $16,000 on a credit card and make a monthly payment of
$250 with an interest rate of 19% that it would end up costing me $105,000 in
interest and take 40 years to pay off!
-- and
no one told me that if I took that same $16,000 and invested it at just 12%
interest for 40 years, I would have over $1 million dollars at the end of that
time -- and that’s not counting the $250 per month I would be saving -- if I
took the $250 each month and added that to the $16,000 and invested it monthly,
I would have over $4 million dollars at the end of 40 years
-- think
about it -- what’s better? -- giving our money away monthly in debt payments or
using that money to invest in the future?
-- we
need wisdom -- we need knowledge -- we need people to tell us this kind of
stuff and to give us guidance on our finances -- that’s where people like Larry
Burkett and Dave Ramsey and Crown Financial Ministries comes in -- we live in
an information age, and we need to take advantage of the information we have
available on the internet and in our libraries and learn how we can use God’s
resources in a way that is pleasing to Him
-- so
the second prayer is “God, give us knowledge -- God, give us wisdom”
-- the
third prayer I want you to remember is simply “God, give me a plan”
--
Proverbs 21:5 -- “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste
leads to poverty”
--
remember the old saying, “if you don’t plan, you plan to fail” -- if we’re
going to get out of debt, we need to plan ahead -- you can wander into debt,
but you can’t wander out -- it takes a plan and a path to find our way out of
debt and into financial freedom -- we need to know the path God wants us to
follow so we can find freedom through Him
-- one
thing in this regard that I do want to encourage you to do is to set up an
emergency fund -- a lot of people find themselves without the money to handle
an emergency, whether that’s a car breaking down or a refrigerator going out or
a sickness or some other type of emergency -- and then they have no other
recourse except to go into debt to handle the crisis, which then causes another
crisis in their lives
-- this
is one thing that all those financial advisors say -- start an emergency fund
-- set aside money for a rainy day and don’t use it for anything except for an
emergency
-- start
with just $100 -- even if it takes you a year to set aside $100 as an emergency
fund, do it -- so when you have a $100 emergency, you’re ready -- and once you
have $100 set aside, then make it $500 -- and so forth, until you have the
funds available to handle emergencies without having to go into debt
-- this
is critical -- and it’s part of planning ahead -- we know emergencies are going
to happen, so we need to get ready for them
-- so we
need to pray, “God, give me a plan for getting out of debt and moving into
financial freedom”
IV. Closing
-- let
me close by sharing with you a quote from the missionary Hudson Taylor:
-- “If
the Word taught me anything, it taught me to have no connection with debt -- I
could not think that God was poor, that He was short on resources, or unwilling
to supply any want of whatever work was really His
-- “It
seemed to me that if there were lack of funds to carry on work, then to that
degree, in that special development, or at that time, it could not be the work
of God.”
-- the
Bible tells us that God is more than capable of taking care of our needs -- He
owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and He made those very hills the cattle
are standing on -- He has the resources to meet whatever need you have -- as
Hudson Taylor points out, God’s not poor and doesn’t have to go into debt to
take care of us
-- the
problem we have run into is that we’ve gotten our needs and our wants confused
-- God meets our needs, but He doesn’t necessarily provide our wants -- and so
we’ve gone out and gotten into debt in order to satisfy our own wants and
desires
-- the
only way out of debt and out of financial bondage is to recognize this as a
spiritual malady, to confess and repent of our sins in regards to finances, and
to seek God’s help and His deliverance to financial freedom
--
remember the three prayers I gave you:
1. God, give me self-control
2. God, give me knowledge
3. God, give me a plan
-- pray
those prayers every day and move forward with the direction and wisdom God
gives you -- go to Crown Financial Ministries and Financial Peace University
and check out what Larry Burkett and Dave Ramsey have to say and pick up your
proverbial financial mat and walk into financial freedom
-- you
can do this -- you can improve your life in regards to finances so that you can
do what God is calling you to do for His kingdom and you can be who He is
calling you to be
-- don’t
be bound any longer by debt or by any lender, but know freedom through the One
who frees us from all our sins and struggles
-- let
us pray
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