Money–Godly and Ungodly Ways of Spending It
John Wesley advised his followers concerning the use of wealth: “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can!” I think most Christians would offer a hearty amen! to Wesley’s words, but many live a slightly different version: “Make all you can, spend all you can, and hope that Social Security is solvent when you hit 65.” I am personally convinced that most Christians would like to be more frugal in their saving and would like to be more generous in their giving, but they cannot because their spending habits are out of control. They blame their in-come, but the problem is really their out-go.
Two weeks ago we began this series on finding financial freedom, noting that there are four things a person can do with money–get it, spend it, save it, or give it. Frankly, I think American Christians sin more in their spending than they do in their getting, saving, or even giving, so this may be the key message in this series. If we get our spending under control, our saving and giving will be a lot easier to take care of. And we will even be a lot less tempted to get money in wrong ways. In our first message we discovered that there are three foundational financial principles in the Bible:
1. The Principle of Ownership: God is the rightful owner of all things, not just 10%. (Ps. 50:10-12)
2. The Principle of Authority: God has the right to determine how His possessions are obtained and used. (Matt. 25:14-30)
3. The Principle of Dependence: God wants us to recognize Him as the only Source of our security. (Phil. 4:19)
These principles affect everything we do with money. Some of us don’t believe them yet, or at least we don’t act like it. But we need to, because they’re true.
Now when it comes to this issue of spending money, I’m not underestimating my task. The whole direction of society is almost diametrically opposed to God’s principles in this area, and Christian people have largely bought into society’s view. To accomplish any significant change is going to take more than clear preaching–it’s going to take some major conviction by the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Let me establish one point early on this morning: in no way should this message be interpreted as directed only at the people who drive luxury cars or live in the nicer areas of northeast Wichita or vacation in the Bahamas. I am speaking to them but by no means exclusively to them. I suspect poor people practice wrong ways of spending at least as often as the rich. In fact, that’s why some of them are poor! What each of us needs to do is to examine ourselves before the Lord and ask, “Is it I, Lord? Am I being a good steward in my spending?”
I want to begin this morning by reading a short, familiar passage from Luke 15, in which Jesus tells the parable of the Searching Father, better known as the parable of the Prodigal Son. The story begins like this:
“There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.” (Luke 15:11-14)
Look again at that last sentence: “After he had spent everything there was a severe famine.” That was not a coincidence. We can expect a famine when we waste what God gives us. In fact, if a famine doesn’t happen naturally, God may well bring one about by divine action. Interestingly, in the very next chapter of Luke (16:10, 11) we read this application: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much; and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” Obviously, how we spend the money God entrusts to us is a very important matter to Him and one which will determine other blessings He may or may not direct our way, whether in this life or the next.
There are legitimate, godly ways to spend money.
1. Meeting personal needs (2 Thess. 3:7-8). This point is almost too obvious to mention, but there have been certain ascetics down through the history of the church who have taken vows of poverty that forbade them to own anything or buy anything for their personal welfare. One of the more famous was a man named Simon Stylites who was a pole sitter. He sat on a platform at the top of a pole for 36 years without coming down once. Food was donated and hauled up to him in a bucket so as to enable him to remain uncontaminated by the world. I can find nothing in Scripture indicating that such a lifestyle is expected or encouraged. In fact, the Apostle Paul modeled a very different style of living. He said in 2 Thess. 3:7-8, “We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.” God has established the institution of work as the means to earn money so as to meet our personal needs.
2. Taking care of family obligations (1 Tim. 5:8). Again I mention this, not so much to convince you, because you already know it, but because the Scripture addresses this issue directly. In 1 Tim. 5:8 it says, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” I assume this does not mean one must provide them with luxuries or with all their wants, but with all their needs.
What really are a family’s needs today? Well, surely food, clothing, lodging, and protection would be on anyone’s list, but there are other things that are every bit as much necessities, which money can’t buy, like emotional nurturing, spiritual training, and both quality and quantity time. The tragedy in so many American homes is that in the effort to provide the very best of the first list, parents (and especially fathers) have often ignored the second.
Let me add as an aside that I think the upper middleclass society in which many of us live puts extraordinary pressure on breadwinners to provide things for their families that they shouldn’t feel obligated to provide. Since when, for example, do parents somehow “owe” a kid his own car when he turns 16 or even 18? Who says that it’s every kid’s inalienable right to go to sports camp in the summer at $700 a week? And where stands it written that parents are obligated to pay the full freight for their children’s college education, even borrowing the money, if necessary, rather than have them work their way through college?
Now if parents can afford these things and have determined that the child can handle them responsibly, I am not opposed, but I hate the fact that some parents are feeling enormous peer pressure to measure up to the Joneses in these areas, when there is actually no biblical basis for this pressure.
And I haven’t even mentioned the parents who think they have to provide every child with his own cell phone, TV, DVD, and MP3 player or, somehow, he is being deprived? I’d rather have my kid deprived than depraved, and that’s how many of them are turning out, in part because of the ridiculous spending habits of their parents.
But let’s not miss the key point here–spending money to take care of one’s family obligations is good.
3. Paying one’s taxes (Matt. 22:15-22, Rom 13:6). Now I dislike taxes as much as the next guy, and I almost always vote against initiatives that raise our taxes. But paying taxes is a biblically mandated responsibility. In Romans 13:5-7 we are told that . . .
“it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
You say, “Paul surely had a high view of government. He must have lived under a very benevolent ruler.” Not at all! Paul lived under Nero, one of the most cruel, inhumane, wasteful, and indulgent dictators to ever head up a government. But Paul nevertheless called upon believers to pay their taxes to Nero. Jesus taught the same thing. When the Pharisees tried to trick Him one day by driving a wedge between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar, which was certainly no democracy, Jesus masterfully disarmed them by taking the coin that was their instrument of entrapment: “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?,” He asked. “Caesar’s,” they replied. “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:20, 21) Paying taxes is a legitimate and godly way to spend money.
4. Helping those in need (Luke 6:34-36). I’m not thinking here of our responsibility to give to the Lord’s work, because that will be considered in a later message. I’m just talking about what we might call charitable spending. God has entrusted each of us with sufficient wealth that we may share some of it with others. Let’s say the Boy Scouts are collecting canned goods for soup kitchens and you have a pantry full of stuff, some of which has been there since your last move. It’s a good thing to be able to put sacks of groceries together to help. Or perhaps a natural disaster strikes and appeals are being made to help alleviate the suffering. Most people, and especially most Christians, enjoy having money to spend to help others in need. That’s good and its biblical.
5. Enjoying some of the “extras” God provides (I Tim. 6:17, Eccles. 5:18-22). Let me repeat a verse we read last week from I Tim. 6:17: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” Notice again that Paul does not command the rich to divest themselves of their wealth, nor even to spend only for their needs, but rather claims that God “richly provides (not just provides, but abundantly provides) us with everything for our enjoyment.” But at the same time he warns us to be careful not to put our hope in riches, and to be rich in good deeds, generous, and willing to share.
Another passage that speaks to this issue is Eccles. 5:18-20:
“Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him–for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work–this is a gift of God.”
It would be a distortion of biblical truth if I were to convey to you today that there is something inherently wrong with a large house in a nice neighborhood, a fancy car, nice clothes, a trip to a fine restaurant, or a vacation on the ski slopes. It is wrong if you can’t afford it, and it is wrong if you trade more important things for it, and it is wrong if you have to rob God in order to enjoy it. But if you aren’t doing any of those things, then it is legitimate to enjoy some extras with God’s blessing. Some of God’s choicest servants, like Abraham, Job, David, and Solomon were very rich, but they were rebuked only when they gained their wealth in immoral ways or used it for immoral purposes or forgot that God Himself was their security.
There are also some illegitimate, ungodly ways to spend money.
1. Spending money one doesn’t have (Luke 14:28-30). Buying pleasures or possessions on credit is dangerous and often just plain wrong. In Luke 14:28-30 Jesus told a story in order to press home the cost of discipleship. He said,
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”
There are many people who have lost homes, cars, businesses, boats, etc., because they were not able to meet their obligations. The pleasures were stolen pleasures, borrowed from an uncertain future. Our government is setting a terrible example for us in this regard, borrowing from the next generation to finance today’s pleasures or even to buy votes. The result is that every dollar of income tax paid by every person living west of the Mississippi River goes to pay only the interest on the national debt. And some Christian families are in the same tragic situation, relatively speaking. If interest rates ever go back up to double digits, we are all going to be in deep trouble!
Now let me reiterate something I said two weeks ago. I do not believe the Bible forbids borrowing per se. I can see nothing wrong with borrowing a manageable amount to buy a home, provided one has enough equity to cushion a drop in real estate values. But borrowing for consumables and for depreciating assets is dangerous, if not downright wrong.
2. Spending selfishly with unbridled luxury (James 5:1-6). James 5:1-6 speaks to the rich who practice conspicuous consumption:
“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.”
The difficulty we face here is in determining what is unbridled luxury, for the very definition of luxury is relative to the culture in which one lives. A poor man here in the U.S. would be a rich man in Somalia. And even here, one man’s luxury seems to be another man’s necessity. I think there is a sense in which each of us has to trust our spiritual intuition on this matter. Or maybe it would be better to say, each of us needs to develop godly discernment on this issue.
But some examples of conspicuous consumption should be obvious to anyone. Several years ago there was a lengthy article in the newspaper about a doghouse that Richard T. Ziegler built for his white German shepherd and his Doberman pinscher. This doghouse featured a redwood cathedral ceiling, Italian porcelain tile flooring, solid brass fixtures, a terra cotta chimney for the flagstone fireplace, a cedar-shake roof and double-paned windows with space heater. Outside there was a kidney-shaped pool surrounded by a patio deck and rock garden. Ziegler had this $15,000 doghouse designed as a miniature version of the $3.5 million contemporary Victorian mansion he built for himself on 25 acres of rolling woodland in the Virginia countryside west of Washington, D.C. Even more amazing he was planning an equally lavish guest cottage below the doggie pool to house his dog’s overnight visitors.
Another example I found in a Sports Illustrated article by Leigh Montville. He wrote about Jack Clark, a former Cardinal baseball player who made $3 million/year and yet had to file for bankruptcy. He was $6.7 million in debt, owing $55,000 to American Express, $19,800 to Visa, $37,000 to Nordstroms, $400,000 in back taxes, and apparently a great deal of money on the 18 cars he owned worth over $1,780,000. Montville writes,
“I will be generous. I will say that if a man does a good job and makes a lot of money, he is entitled to a large and fancy automobile. A big ride. I will say that his wife should also have a good car, probably just as large and fancy, in these days of political correctness, as her husband’s. Maybe there should be a van or something for the big jobs, and a fun jeep for vacations and maybe a vintage special as a toy in the garage. That’s five cars. Maybe throw in a sixth just for a whim, an extravagance. I do not understand 18 cars.”
“Do you print out a little domestic schedule when you have 18 cars, telling you which car to use on which day? Or do you decide by chance, throwing the 18 sets of car keys into a large fishbowl and picking a daily random winner? Is there confusion when you have, say three Mercedes and two Ferraris? Are you always asking, ‘Where’s the Ferrari?’ only to be answered by the question, ‘Which one?’ Can you remember which of the 18 cars are filled with gas and which are not?”
We could go on and on with examples of conspicuous consumption from the lives of the rich and famous. But there’s a danger for us here because it is easy to tell ourselves, “I’d never buy a $15,000 doghouse; I’d never own 18 cars; therefore, I’m not guilty of unbridled luxury.” You know something, I’m quite convinced there are people in this room right now who have outspent Jack Clark relative to their income! Even buying a VCR is unbridled luxury for a person on welfare. Buying a new car, even a basic one, when one has to finance it for six years, may be conspicuous consumption.
3. Spending on harmful things (Rom. 13:14). I’m thinking here of things that are intrinsically harmful to the body, soul, or spirit of a person–things like tobacco, drugs, hard liquor, illicit entertainment. Romans 13:14 says, “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” The cost of gratifying the sinful nature is very high, even when weighed only financially, and it’s getting higher all the time with the increase in “sin taxes.” Isn’t it interesting that even the government recognizes the need to discourage certain behaviors by levying exorbitant taxes on them; yet some who name the name of Christ continue to spend God’s money on these same things.
There is, of course, an additional cost to these harmful, sinful behaviors that can’t be measured in dollars. There is a cost to one’s health, to one’s testimony, to one’s marriage, to one’s productivity. Spending on harmful things is wrong and it’s ungodly.
4. Spending on foolish, valueless things (Isaiah 55:2). In Isaiah 55:2 the prophet asks the question, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” In other words, why waste your money and time on things that have no value? Personally I have a lot more trouble with this category than with the previous. I have spent very little money on harmful things, but I have spent a lot on foolish things. I sat down this week and tried to make up a list:
When I got my first car, a ’55 Chevy, I just had to change out a perfectly good muffler for one that sounded hotter. Foolish and valueless.
I remember when electronic games first came out in the early 70’s. I just had to have this incredibly exciting game that allowed you to play ping pong on a TV screen! It cost $42 (probably the equivalent of $200 in today’s dollars). This game was primitive, friends, and we probably used it for a month before it became as boring as watching butter melt. Valueless.
I don’t think I’ll tell you my really embarrassing stories. But I suspect you have some as well. Guys, how many fishing lures can you possibly need? Gals, how many shoes can you wear, or how many knick-knacks for the home do you have to buy before they just become so much clutter? The tragedy of all this is that every dollar spent foolishly is a dollar you’ll never get back, and it cannot be spent on needs, cannot be enjoyed, cannot help others, and cannot be given to the Lord’s work.
Having looked at both godly and ungodly ways to spend money, I want to offer some simple, practical advice on how to get your spending under control. It starts with asking some serious questions every time we find ourselves in a spending situation. Well, not quite every time. I don’t think one has to ask all ten of these questions before buying a cup of Starbucks. Besides Starbucks is a necessity, not a luxury, as any intelligent person knows. However, if we begin to practice these questions on larger purchases it may become second nature and begin to affect even our smaller purchases.
Some questions to ask before we spend:
1. What is my motive? I believe it’s virtually impossible to label many particular acts of spending as right or wrong without considering motive. It seems to me that one can spend a lot of money without sinning if one’s motives are godly. A few of you may remember an illustration I used nearly thirty years ago about two families that attended the first church I pastored on an interim basis in Miami, Florida. We came here directly from there. Both families were very wealthy, but they lived very differently. The one family owned a successful furniture business but lived in Opa Locka, which is the south Florida equivalent of East St. Louis. They rented a small two-bedroom bungalow for $70 a month and had lived in it for 35 years. The man bought his suits at Robert Hall (which was kind of the Dollar Store of the apparel business) and then only on sale. But they gave tens of thousands of dollars to missions. The other wealthy family were retired and lived on Biscayne Bay in a gorgeous home and had a 53-foot, 3 bedroom, 2-bath yacht they tied up to their dock behind the house.
Now which family was the more spiritual? Frankly, you have no way of knowing from what I’ve told you so far. You see, this second family was also one of the most generous families I have ever known. They also supported missionaries, but in addition their gorgeous home was large enough to house missionary families when home on furlough, and they were constantly using their yacht to take Christian groups out deep-sea fishing at no charge. I could call Kai up anytime and say, “I have some students who have never been on the ocean. Do you think we could take them for a ride?” And he would say, “When can you go?” I was with him once when he filled up with diesel fuel–it cost $800, and that was when fuel prices were about 65 cents a gallon. I suspect that on balance more lives may have been blessed by the second family than by the first, though I hasten to say that only God is qualified to be the final Judge of that.
But often our motive in spending is not generosity but status. Many locate in the nicer areas of town but never invite anyone to their homes. They drive a certain model of car, and wear designer clothes, principally because of the status those things provide. Is that much different than the Pharisees who prayed on the street corner in order to impress others with their spirituality? Pride is the motive behind both. 1 Timothy 6:17 addresses pride when it warns the rich not to be arrogant. It’s easy to feel more important when you have nice things, but the Bible teaches that a man’s value lies not in the things he possesses.
2. Can I afford it? Do I have the money? If not, wouldn’t it be better to wait until I have it? There is a principle I alluded to several weeks ago which all of us need to learn, and that is the principle of delayed gratification. I haven’t always practiced it, but I know this principle is true. When I delay gratification until I can afford an item, I find that one of two things happen: either I enjoy it more having waited, or, more likely, I discover I don’t want it after all.
3. Is it worth it? Have I really investigated both the value and the price to see if this is a good choice? Looking for bargains seems to me to be a part of good stewardship, though we must not assume that everything that’s a good price is necessarily a wise purchase. There are some things that shouldn’t be bought at any price because they aren’t needed.
4. Did I plan for it or am I acting hastily? Most people will never get their spending under control until they establish a budget, which is simply “planned spending.” No business and few churches would ever try to operate without a budget, but the vast majority of American homes do. Even the government has one–unfortunately they plan to spend more than they take in. That’s not the kind of budget I’m talking about.
The person on a balanced budget is not nearly as susceptible to the advertising blitz that “does in” most people, because if the spending wasn’t planned or the money isn’t there, he doesn’t buy. Imagine how much you would save just on food if you made up a list of what you needed and never bought anything that wasn’t on the list! Another good question to ask is…
5. Is there a creative alternative? Can I rent it instead of own it? Contrary to popular opinion, there are lots of things that are much cheaper to rent than buy if one factors in all the costs. Especially is this true of vacation homes, camper trailers, boats, and other pleasure items. For example, even at the high price of renting a houseboat on Table Rock Lake, I read an analysis that indicated you could rent one every weekend of the summer for ten straight years and it wouldn’t cost you as much as buying one (because of insurance, interest, depreciation, storage, etc.).
6. What will it cost long-term? Years ago when I bought a Polaroid camera at a sale price, the company didn’t bother to tell me how much the film would cost over the next couple of years. I eventually decided that the cost of convenience was too high and gave it away. Here’s another:
7. What do I have to do without in order to buy it? Every purchase involves a trade, a trade of something purchasable in the future versus something purchasable now. We simply need to be aware of that.
8. Have I sought counsel? Sometimes that counsel should be with one’s spouse; sometimes it should be professional counsel; sometimes it needs to be biblical counsel. But nearly always we would profit from counsel before making major purchases.
9. Have I prayed about it? Pastor, are you serious that we should pray before buying a new suit or TV or set of golf clubs? Why not? It’s God’s money, isn’t it? Shouldn’t we want to know what He thinks about how we spend it?
10. Will it honor God? This is really the most fundamental question because honoring God should be our goal in life. We try to honor Him with our speech, our behavior, our gifts, and our talents; why shouldn’t we also seek to honor Him with our spending? Some 250 years ago John Wesley offered the following prayer at the time of making a purchase. Do we dare pray something like this?
“Lord, you see that I am going to spend this money on this particular item. And you know that I act with a single purpose to be a steward of your money, spending this portion in keeping with the purposes for which you entrusted me with it. You know that I do this in obedience to your word. Let this purchase be a holy sacrifice, acceptable through Jesus Christ. And give me a witness in myself that you will find this acceptable when you reward me along with every person when you come again.”
If we can pray that prayer with a clear conscience, then we can be pretty sure we are spending money with godly motives.
Conclusion: In about the year A.D. 960 King Abd-er-Rahman III of Spain offered these thought-provoking words:
“I have now reigned about 50 years in victory or peace, beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to 14.”
Obviously, it is not possible to spend oneself into happiness. Paul wrote in I Cor. 4:2 that “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” Not successful, not rich, not famous, not brilliant, but faithful. Each of us has been given a trust to manage for God–some larger, some smaller. Being a good manager mandates that we watch our spending to make sure it is in keeping with the owner’s principles.
But please understand that even if you get your spending totally under control, that won’t by itself draw you one step closer to God. It will just make you a solvent sinner instead of a bankrupt one. You still need your sin problem solved. But God has done that for you, too. He sent His one and only Son to be your Savior, to die on the cross for your sins, including your financial ones, but also your moral ones. He asks for your complete trust in Him and for your faith in His son.
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Spending money
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Charity
Borrowing
Unbridled luxury
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