Here is the link to Sunday's sermon. You can follow it and download the audio of the sermon or you can read the text below. Hope to see you this coming Sunday!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/y0m4owtlnoj/Widsom and Finance.mp3
INTRO: Where Did All Our Money Go?
Living as Prodigals
Do you ever get to the end of the month and wonder where all of your money went? If you do, did you know you might be a prodigal? Prodigal is a word we associate with the story of the prodigal son told in Luke 15:11-16. The younger son takes his sher of his father’s inheritance and runs off to squander it. The word prodigal does not mean someone who wanders away or is lost.
It literally means “one who wastes money.” A prodigal is one who wastes money, who is a spendthrift. Many of us struggle with that habit as well. We’re not worried about tomorrow. We want it today. The problem with that kind of thinking is that, for most of us, the “famine” eventually comes. It comes when we have spent everything we have and even a little bit of next year’s income. So we use the credit card and charge it, and we go a little further into debt. Finally, we come to a place where we “find ourselves.” We have nothing left, not even any credit, and we can’t figure out how we are we going to make it.
So if you think you might be a prodigal or have wasteful tendencies don’t worry you are in the right place. We are now in week two the sermon series, “Enough: discovering joy through simplicity and generosity.” This week’s sermon is entitled, “Wisdom and Finance.” While finances may feel like a black hole of doom for you, they don’t have to. There is a lot of good, sound, and even simple, advice when it comes to properly handling finances. As we begin this morning, I want to draw your attention to the insert in the bulletin. On one side is a budget guide and on the other is a goal sheet. I’m going to mention them during the sermon, and I would encourage you to take them home and spend some time with them this week. Like I said last week, I trust you are going to get some helpful information during this series, but for it to have an impact you’ll need to put it into action.
The More We Make, the More We Waste
I hope the insert can be tools to help you implement, because implementing good financial stewardship can be difficult. For many people, the thought of money can be stressful. What if I told you that money or the how much money you have aren’t the real issues? The reality is they aren’t. Those of you in the congregation that make more money I’m sure can attest to this.
It seems that the more financially secure we become, the less we worry about spending money here and there. We waste a dollar on this or that, and we forget where it went. Money just seems to flow through our fingers. We’re not as careful with our money as we should be. There are many ways we waste money, but there are two primary money-wasters that many of us struggle with. It is not necessary to eliminate these two things all together, but we should think more carefully about how we spend our money.
As we begin to talk about the wisdom of finances, it is important that we learn to not waste money. After all, your parents always told you, “Money doesn’t grow on trees!” The two biggest money wasters are impulse buying and eating out.
Tips for avoiding impulse buying: 1) Never go grocery shopping when you are hungry. 2) Shop for what you need only. 3) Make a list and stick to it; buy what you need and get out of the store! 4) Wait twenty-four hours before purchasing an impulse buy.
Eating out: The issue is frequency. The average American eats out an average of four times a week. By eating out less frequently, we will have more money to save, spend on something more important, or give away.
SCRIPTURE: Clarifying Our Relationship With Money and Possessions
Once we eliminate wasteful spending, the next step is to begin to redefine and clarify our relationship with money and our stuff. If we can’t learn to relate to it properly, we will remain a slave to it. Instead of working for money, we need to learn to get money to work for us. We do not exist simply to consume as much as we can and get as much pleasure as we can while we are here on this earth We begin to redefine our relationship with money by being clear about our life purpose and then setting worthy goals. We have a higher purpose. We need to know and understand our life purpose—our vision or mission or calling—and then spend our money in ways that are consistent with this purpose or calling.
#1. Be Clear About Your Purpose and Calling
Our society tells us that our life purpose is to consume—to make as much money as possible and to blow as much money as possible. The Bible tells us that we were created to care for God’s creation. We were created to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We were created to care for our families and those in need. We were created to glorify God, to seek justice, and to do mercy. Our money and possessions should be devoted to helping us fulfill this calling. We are to use our resources to help care for our families and others—to serve Christ and the world through the church, missions, and everyday opportunities. We have a life purpose that is greater than our own self-interests, and how we spend our God-given resources reflects our understanding and commitment to this life purpose or mission.
If you haven’t discovered your life purpose, I would encourage you to talk to me or someone in your life that you trust. Knowing what you are passionate about, having a cause to pursue, will help you in your quest for financial stability. [family, community, cause]
#2. Set Worthy Goals
Being able to accomplish the greater purposes God has for our lives requires some measure of planning. Taking the time to set goals related to our lives and our finances is crucial if we are to become wise stewards of our God-given resources. The Proverbs which are filled with wisdom about finances says, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want.” (Proverbs 21:5) If you are going to discover abundance and live out of that abundance, then you need to be wise and plan.
Each of us should think about our life purpose and goals and then identify two short-term financial goals, two mid-range financial goals, and two long-term financial goals that are aimed at helping us to accomplish our broader life goals. At least one goal in each category should relate specifically to our faith. Take a look at your insert, “My Life and Financial Goals Worksheet.” now. I remember hearing once that you are like twice as likely to execute a goal if you write it down that if you don’t. So if you really want to accomplish something in life, write it down.
The Discipline of Managing Your Money
#1. The Necessity of a Budget/Spending Plan
It begins with a plan. Once you have established some personal goals and maybe some family goals, the next step is to establish a plan to manage your money. Proverbs 21:20 says, “Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it.” If we don’t learn to be wise with our money, we will devour it or someone will devour it for us [think spouses, children, charitable organizations even].
Once we have set some financial goals, we need to develop a plan to meet those goals. A budget is a spending plan that enables us to accomplish our goals. Some people use an envelope system to help them manage their saving and spending and stay on budget. Others use a variety of different approaches. Many people find it helpful to seek the advice of a financial advisor. For those who find themselves in the midst of a financial crisis, a financial counselor can help to work out terms with creditors and develop a workable financial plan. Whatever approach you choose, the important thing is simply to have a plan. (*** Show the video clip “Finding Financial Stability.”)
#2. Six Financial Planning Principles The following financial planning principles can help us to manage our money with wisdom and faith: As a side note, many of you will be getting a letter in the mail with these six principles on a static cling this week. If you don’t, please contact the office and we’ll get you one.
1. Pay your tithe and offering first.
Put God first in your living and your giving. Give your tithe and offering from the “top” of your paycheck, and then live on whatever remains. So many of us have a tendency to give what’s in the wallet or write a check at the end of the month. Giving period is good, but if we are going to discover joy through our finances, we need to make giving to God a priority. [We’ll talk more about this in a couple of weeks.]
2. Create a budget and track your expenses.
Creating a budget is simply developing a plan in which you tell your money what you want it to do. Tracking your expenses with a budget is like getting on the scales: It allows you to see how you are doing and motivates you to be more careful with your expenditures. I think this is important so I’ve included the bulletin insert “Basic Budget Worksheet.” Again, there is something confessional and powerful in writing stuff down, so I would encourage you to sit down and do this.
3. Simplify your lifestyle (live below your means).
Because this discipline is critical to the success of any financial plan, next Sunday’s sermon will be devoted to this topic. [do I really need this to survive?]
4. Establish an emergency fund.
An emergency fund is an account separate from checking or long-term savings that is set aside specifically for emergencies. Dave Ramsey recommends beginning with $1,000 and building that to three months’ worth of income. When you have this amount, you won’t need to use your credit cards anymore.
5. Pay off your credit cards, use cash/debit cards for purchases, and use credit wisely.
As you are building your emergency fund, begin to pay off your credit card debt and start using cash or debit cards for purchases. Some experts suggest starting with the credit card that has the highest interest rate. Others suggest paying down the smallest debt first, experiencing that victory, and applying your payments from the first card to the second, and so on, creating a snowball effect to pay off the cards as soon as possible. Cut up your cards as you pay them down so that you are not trapped or leveraged by your future for present-day pleasure, as the prodigal son was. If you must use a credit card, such as when traveling or making purchases online, be sure to pay off the debt monthly. If you are unable to do this, then it is better for you to cut up your cards and stop using them altogether.
6. Practice long-term savings and investing habits.
Saving money is the number-one wise money management principle everyone should practice. We do not save merely for the sake of saving. There is a word for that: hoarding. Hoarding is frowned upon in the Bible as the practice of fools and those who fail to understand the purpose of life. Saving, on the other hand, is meant to be purposeful. There are three types of savings we should have: 1) emergency savings, 2) savings for wants and goals, and 3) retirement savings.
CONCLUSION
I used to be afraid to talk about finances in church. I felt the fear and anxiety that many people feel when talking about this issue. I must confess that stewardship and money has become one of my favorite topics because the Scriptures have so much to say about it. The church and God really have much more to say about money than simply give us yours. It has much practical advice that can radically change lives.
I was talking to one of our members after church last week and she was talking about how she had put some of these principles into action. There was a joy and excitement in her face. It reminded me that regardless of how much or how little money you make joy is accessible when we chose to live in simplicity and out of generosity.
Please make sure you spend some time this week looking these things over. If your spouse doesn’t attend worship with you, I would encourage you to still talk over these issues of finance with them. They may not want to talk about tithing but they might benefit from the advice nonetheless. May you be filled with joy as you apply timeless wisdom to your finances.
Resources for Developing a Budget
http://www.crown.org/Tools/Calculators/Budgeting_SpendingPlan.asp
This is a fun and helpful budgeting calculator that automatically generates a suggested budget based upon the user’s inputs and Crown’s recommended expenditures.
http://crowncanada.ca/resources/CrownSpendingPlan2.pdf
This is another Crown resources site focused on budgeting and financial freedom. There is good information here.
Getting Out of Debt
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University offers a great deal of online information including his approach to reducing debt found at this site: www.daveramsey.com/the_truth_about/get_out_of_debt_4055.html.cfm.
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