Kaleo San Diego Church

“Our hearts are restless, until they rest in You.”
-Augustine

INTRODUCTION

This morning we are going to be talking about money. Now we need to confess to God on the outset, that of all the topics we love to hear from Him, money, and arguably sex, are the two we prefer His sovereignty to not intrude upon. We have no problem with God speaking to us about His sovereignty in salvation, but when we come to the topic of money and sex, we prefer Him to be silent, and certainly for the man He has ordained to preach His word, to keep away from those two topics.

Fortunately, we don’t listen to your requests and are more interested in what God says than what you want God to say.

Now, why is it that the topic of money is one that you don’t want to hear a preacher discussing? Because you have seen guys like Robert Tilton, Peter Popoff, Creflo Dollar, and Jimmy Swaggart, and you have watched TBN and realize that most men that call themselves evangelists or pastors that show up on your T.V. are neither evangelists nor pastors but are more akin to used car salesmen and charlatans.

Or, you may not like me or any other pastor discussing the issue of money because you have made a god out of it, and like sex, you want sovereign control and the final say on the matter.

There is this perennial debate that rages within the ministries of the Church, at the board meetings of the Church offices, and within the homes of those that are not only Christian, but non-Christian.

The debate begins with a simple question: Is it better to be rich or poor?

I believe this is a stupid debate because it fails to ask a more fundamental question which is this: Is it better to be righteous or unrighteous?

Now, this issue of being rich or being poor, having much or not having much, could be settled by simply asking whether or not a person is righteous or unrighteous rather than asking whether they are rich or poor and then making judgments based solely upon their economic status.

This issue has raged for hundreds of years and has found itself in American politics with which both Democrats and Republicans take pride in their stance. One says that the rich are the oppressors and should be made to pay more than their fair share of taxes because they are the ones that keep everyone else down. The other side says that they are rich and not poor because they don’t blow their money on the Lotto and WWF ringside seats, and just because they have more than someone else shouldn’t mean they pay more than someone else.

Both assume they are righteous or “better” than the other because they have an underlying assumption about money.

Here is the issue. They are both right, and they are both wrong. The bible doesn’t really spend too much time on telling you to be financially rich (which would need a definition since rich is considered relative) or poor. It speaks more about being righteous or unrighteous. Don’t fall into the trap of asking the question in this passage as to whether it is good to be rich or good to be poor. It is neither good to be rich or poor, but it is good to be righteous.

Whether or not God will make someone rich or poor is ultimately up to Him. Sometimes making someone rich brings to surface their lurking unrighteousness. Sometimes making someone poor brings to surface their dissatisfaction in God because He isn’t blessing them like He is supposed to. Either way, it is up to God to give much or little to each one of us.

In Scripture and life we see people that are wealthy and righteous, and people that are poor and righteous. We also see individuals that are wealthy and unrighteous, and we see examples of individuals that are poor and unrighteous.

Some of you here this morning are very anti-capitalistic, you think every corporation is evil to the core, and that all forms of commerce are wicked, so you grow your own vegetables, you refuse to own a car and buy gas that supports oil drilling, you won’t conform to societal norms because you are in rebellion.

You may have a good point…or, you may simply be lazy and not very righteous at all. You hide your unrighteousness behind a cause which allows you to sit around all day watching cartoons and smoking a bong.

Is it possible to be rich and righteous? Yes. Some people that you know may know both love God and have much.

Is it possible to be poor and righteous? Yes. There are some people that refuse to lie, and lose their job because of it. They are called salesmen! I can say that because I was one myself.

So when we see these 4 categories- rich/poor, righteous/unrighteous, let’s make sure we understand that the combination can go either way.

To determine whether or not you are making your money or spending in Godly ways can be answered by asking these three questions:

1- How do you get your money? Is it in an honest, righteous, biblical way? Or is it in a dishonest, unrighteous, and unbiblical way?

2- How do you spend your money? Do you spend it on things that honor God, or on pleasures that will not dishonor God? Or, do you spend it on things that lead you to sin and cause your worship of God to be diminished?

3- Why do you use money the way that you do? In other words, what is the condition of your heart which causes you to view the use of money the way you do?

So let’s talk briefly about the history of economy so that you can answer these questions in a way that is informed. If you are going to ask- how do I get it and how do I spend it? You are going to need to understand and discern how the structures of our economy and the things you purchase play into your question. The day we live in is very complicated and very confusing. I’ll explain why.

By the way…there is a good book called “The Experience Economy” that you can read if you’re interested in learning more about this section.

Here is a background on the history of our economy.

Commodities-

A couple hundred years ago, our economy was driven by commodities. Things you could plant and grow on your own to feed your family and your animals. If you wanted something, you had to grow it, kill it, or chop it down. That’s how you got what you needed. You can imagine the amount of work involved in getting what you needed, so there wasn’t much time for window shopping and impulsive buying. If you wanted coffee you needed to acquire coffee beans, plant the coffee, grow it, and then take time to harvest, grind it, and make it so you can drink it.

Goods-

We then transitioned from a commodities based economy, to a goods based economy. In a goods based economy, instead of having to plant and grow coffee plants, you now could buy ground up coffee which you simply needed to run boiling water through to drink, much easier. You could also buy lumber instead of growing trees, or going into the woods to cut down, shave and plane the tree to make wood which was usable to build houses and benches and other things. Rather than buying a cow and feeding it, you could now just go buy milk at a store and bring it home.

Services-

We went from a commodities based to a goods based economy, then on to a services based economy. Where now someone else does all the work of growing, harvesting, grinding, and mixing coffee grounds with water, and now you can go to a restaurant and buy coffee and someone will serve it to you. It is now service based where someone does all the growing or buying and preparing and all you have to do is give them money and they will serve it right to your table, or house.

Many of you here this morning work in a services based environment. You are a waiter, or a customer service agent, sales person, or some other job that involves serving people. You don’t work with commodities, since you don’t work with your hands to take things out of the ground or cut something down, or kill it. You don’t work in coal mines, or gold mines, or in agriculture. You take the goods and transport them to the person buying your service.

Information-

We went from a service based economy to an information based economy. You live in a time in which for the first several thousand years of traceable history till 1900, the amount of information could be considered one unit. From 1900 to 1950 it went from one unit to four units in only 50 years. From 1950 till 1990 our information doubled every 10 years. Now from 1990 till today our information doubles every 2 years. So we traffic in information. So instead of dealing with goods or services, you deal with dispensing information. You may work in the tech industry, or publishing industry, or you may be a writer or teacher or lawyer. You specialize in the distribution of information. Now you can tell us all about the facts behind the coffee and where in came from, and how it affects us, and what kind is healthy and what kind is not. You give us ratings on coffee to tell us what is good coffee and what is poor coffee.

Experiences-

Our economy is more and more moving towards an experience based economy. You and I now spend more and more of our earned income on experiences. We don’t buy a cow, or a goat, or a chicken, or a tree to cut, we don’t only buy goods or services now, what we are more and more attracted to are experiences. We go to movies, or concerts, we go to theme parks where we give a tremendous amount of our hard earned cash and ask what we get in return and the guy with the big ears says…you get a memory! Wait a minute… I wanted a goat or something. Nope, you get a memory for your experience. What do you get at a concert or a movie? You get a memory. And a t-shirt of your favorite band that won’t fit you in 10 years.

Some of you make your money this way. You make your money creating experiences for people that stays with them in thought. Yet several years ago that would have been ridiculous. Not that entertainment is a novel concept, but the idea that most of our money is spent on experiences rather than tangible, touchable goods would have been unheard of.

This makes earning and buying much more complicated than ever before.

In a commodity based economy, you had much more restraint, much fewer options and those options were dependent upon your soil and climate. People didn’t overspend, or get in debt because whatever they needed they made with their own two hands. If they couldn’t make it, they wouldn’t last very long.

Today there is an infinite number of ways that our economy will help you lighten your back pocket. We have individuals that are “information” oriented, that do nothing but spend their entire careers learning your psychological makeup so that they most effectively market you. They want you to buy their service, or their information, or their goods, or their experience. And now you have multiple options for throwing away your cash in a variety of directions.

The further down the economic ladder you go, the more it costs you. Think about it. If you wanted to grow and make coffee, it would cost you a few cents to do it. If you wanted to buy ground coffee as a good it would cost you about 10 cents more per cup. If you want to buy coffee from a restaurant it will cost you about a dollar. If you want to buy coffee from an information oriented place, you will learn all about where it came from and how happy the coffee growers are, but it will cost you about twice the price of Denny’s without the free refills. In an experience based economy, you walk into Starbucks and smell the smells, check out the nice paint and fabrics, experience the lighting, and buy an experience that costs you not only for the coffee, but for the experience that is Starbucks.

I like Starbucks, and I like those kind of experiences, and that is why I will probably stay poor. Does liking these experiences make you righteous or unrighteous? Neither. It is neutral. What is not neutral is how you live and spend to get those experiences. If you are so enamored with the experience based economy that you are unable to pay your bills, there is a problem. You are living for the next emotional experience instead for the God who provided that experience. It may be that your pursuit of these experiences, though not in and of themselves unhealthy, can be very unhealthy because it caters to your feelings and can cause you to think more about living and spending and getting your money based upon how you feel and the experience you’ll get rather than whether or not it is good or responsible.

So, are you going to be righteous or unrighteous with the money that God has entrusted to you? That’s right, you don’t own it. God owns everything, and he gives you certain things that you are then entrusted to be a steward over. You give your money to things that are important to you and to things you value. At the end of the day you need to determine if the way you give it is righteous or not.

We’re going to see a righteous and unrighteous rich person, and a righteous poor person. We are going to see 3 of the four we talked about.

Some of you may be saying- I don’t need to hear about this because I don’t have any money. It may very well be that you don’t have any money because you haven’t been very righteous with what you had. I can speak from experience in that arena.

Alright, let’s begin.

STUDY

Ecclesiastes 5:8-20

Unrighteous Rich

Verses 8-9- If you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight; for one official watches over another official, and there are higher officials over them. 9 After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land.

Are government officials and politicians crooked? Is that possible that a politician would seek to use his or her power for their own gain? Of course it is.

People in a position of authority are usually concerned for their own good and their own gain, and whatever promises were made to help the little guy is usually forgotten so that they can help their campaign contributors that financed them so that they could get into office. Now they have to make good on their promises to their “friends” and since we are usually not their “friends” we are often times forgotten along with the promises they made.

I don’t need to give examples of this since it is so obvious. Every politician knows how to promise to help the poor and to ensure that justice is served, but the fact is that you and I are so cynical towards these promises that none of us are surprised when they are broken.

The sad part about all of this is that “one official watches over another, and there are higher officials over them.” Some commentators think this refers to God, but it is actually a way that Solomon is saying that the whole system is bankrupt to the core. From the local liar, all the way up to the liar in Washington D.C. These officials know what’s happening and they don’t care because they benefit too.

Some people are optimistic and are shocked by scandals. Not me! Why? Because I think the term total depravity is optimistic. I don’t think that humans are good by nature. I think that we are born crooked and we only find ways to mask how crooked we are, which makes us look pretty righteous to one another, and is proof that we are crooked. We are by nature so crooked that we think we are pretty righteous.

Don’t be surprised when unrighteous people in power do unrighteous things. It’s inevitable. We look to power structures to fix our problems, but the problem is you and I and the person in charge. The power structures will never be righteous until the unrighteous meet God and become righteous by faith in Christ. Until then, expect crooked people to do crooked things until they are made straight by God.

Let’s look at some additional problems with unrighteous rich people.

Verses 10-11- He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity. 11 When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on?

Is materialism the answer for the rich? Some of you think it is.

Materialism is the theory or attitude that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life. Some of you agree with this definition.

What happens with individuals that love money instead of God, and worship money instead of God? Are those people ever satisfied? No! Why? Because like those that are true worshippers of God, who want more and more of Him, so will those that worship money want more and more of it. The problem is that God will satisfy and money will not.

Jesus said “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (Matthew 6:24).

Jesus also said “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul (Matthew 16:26)?”

In other words; you can’t serve God and money, and you will loose your soul if you try.

It’s not that the Bible teaches that you shouldn’t have or use money, but that you shouldn’t love money. That is the issue.

Paul says “the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil…(1 Timothy 6:10)”

If you love money you will be forever unhappy. Money will never make you satisfied because only God can truly satisfy.

Anything that causes you to place your affections on it above God is idolatry and sin, and needs to be repented of. Only God should be the true object of your ultimate satisfaction. Not money, not power, not prestige or even relationships. God must be the one whom you give your worship to because only when you worship God are you truly satisfied.

It is not a selfish request of God to ask for our greatest and highest affection if only in giving Him our greatest and highest affections will we be loved and satisfied.

We will never be righteous before God if we pursue other things to try and ultimately satisfy us. This doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy temporal things in this temporal world, but that those things should never be confused with eternal pleasure and joy from our eternal God who has saved us and made us for eternity.

Do unrighteous people attract unrighteous people? Yep. This is the reason that foolish and unrighteous people who get rich have foolish and unrighteous people around them trying to take all of their money.

Was Don King a good friend to Mike Tyson? Nope. Two fools, two unrighteous men, two greedy and rich men, and one of them was happy to relieve the other of their wallet. Wickedness will produce an attraction to other wicked people who will try take everything you have.

It’s not a money issue, it’s a heart issue. Money is like a gage on your dash, it simply reflects the state of your heart. It simply indicates what you love.

But if you love God and work hard, you sleep like a baby.

Righteous Poor

Verse 12a- The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much;

Are there any blue collar brothers here this morning? Plumbers, electricians, mechanics, anybody that works and labors with their hands to earn their income?

A hardworking man with a lunchbox sleeps better than rich, unrighteous men because his conscience is clear and no one is out to get him.

Can a man be a worshipper of God in the most mundane tasks of life? Yes he can. You know why? Because those individuals that swing a hammer or bang out code on a computer, are not encumbered by guilt of broken communion with God, and they are not distracted by all their possessions and all their investments and all their worries about all their competitors and enemies.

God says that we are to do everything to His glory. 1Corinthians 10:31 “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Swing a hammer, dig a ditch, lay some power lines, snake a toilet, sweep a floor, eat a big dinner or a small one, if you do it to the glory of God by being satisfied in Him above all else, you will sleep like a baby with a belly full of warm milk.

Not for the wicked though…

Unrighteous Rich cont’d

Verse 12b- …but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

Call it an ulcer, call it anxiety, call it whatever you want, a rich man can never sleep well without a clear conscience unless he is heavily medicated.

One thing you can’t buy is a clear conscience, only God can give that to you. A good night sleep is tied to a clear conscience. Without a clear conscience before God, you won’t get much sleep in that big king size, silk sheeted, bed.

Verse 13- There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt.

Is it possible to get a ton of money and that money ends up being a curse to you? Yes it is. Wealth isn’t for hoarding, it is for sharing.

People who hoard their money are never pleasant. Someone that has decided they are going to save everything and give nothing away will not end up with a satisfied life.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that “God loves a cheerful giver.”

What God does not love, is someone who gives out of spite or duty with no heart or desire to give. Some of you may be saying “how to I change myself or my family member so that they are not so selfish?” Introduce them to Jesus Christ who came and took their sin upon His back and it cost them nothing. He gave willingly out of the treasures of His heart. He then asks for us to follow Him into selfless living and giving.

Grace and I gave away a Volvo to a young man that needed it. Why did we do it? Because he needed it. That’s it. We wanted to bless him as God has blessed us. There are some of you that would never give anything away. You’ll go through all of the trouble of a garage sale instead of just giving that couch, or that washer and dryer, or that refrigerator to someone who can’t afford to buy one.

If you see someone struggling to make their electric bill, and you have an extra $60, you know you’re just going to spend it on nonsensical stuff, give it to that friend and help them out.

You can’t take your stuff with you when you breathe you last. You can take friends if they are righteous and memories of those friends. Your good works will go with you as well, but not your selfishness.

Here is a warning too-

Verse 14- When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him.

An unrighteous man who hoards everything and is greedy and selfish with his riches will find that the same God that graciously gave him those things will be the same God who will be happy to take it away.

We have a sovereign God in the equation and that changes everything.

God is known for blessing someone so that their heart is laid bare and all their selfish greed is made obvious, only to take away that wealth so that the person sees their sin and falls upon their knees to worship the living Gods.

I’m not preaching prosperity or poverty theology. What I’m saying is this, if you are prosperous and unrighteous, it’s just a matter of time before you loose. It may be your money, it may be your friends, it may be your health or your life.

Solomon sees this and says…

Verses 15-16- As he had come naked from his mother's womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil--exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind?

Those sinful people can work as hard as they can, but they will more than likely die without ever really enjoying it.

What profit is there in pursuing wealth, wisdom, or pleasure apart from God under the sun? None. There is no profit at all. Without God as the one who supplies our ultimate and most profound needs, we will never be rest until we rest in Him.

All that is left is death and darkness…

Verse 17- Throughout his life he also eats in darkness with great vexation, sickness and anger.

Unrighteous rich people grow to distrust everyone around them and become increasingly frustrated by their own wealth and life.

How sad a picture it is to say that one will eat in darkness. Eating with your family and friends is supposed to be a time of celebration and great joy, but instead it becomes burdensome and painful.

A person who refused to care for his parents or his children or his brother and sisters or friends with his riches, will find that he will eat at a table of one when he gets old.

A person will not have friends and good memories of those friends to take with him, he will only have his piles of money and an empty hollowed out hole in his chest that will never be filled or satisfied unless he repents and turns to Christ for forgiveness of his sin.

Righteous Rich

Verse 18- Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.

Righteous people who love and obey God and make God the center of their life and worship, will be able to accept the toil of their jobs. Why? Because they don’t live for the money, or the job, but for God. Since they live for God and find their greatest satisfaction in Him.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:21- For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where is your treasure? Where is it? Is it in Christ? Or is it in stuff.

Do you worship the gift rather than the Giver of the gift. Are you enamored with creation but pay not worship to the Creator?

If your treasure is in and with Christ, your heart will find its rest there and no matter what he job, what the stress, what he circumstances of life bring you, you will enjoy you life.

If you want to be righteous…eat, drink, work, love your wife or husband, love your kids, enjoy the portion that God has given you and most of all love your God above all else.

God gives us only a few years in this life and after that, we either continue our worship of Him forever with Him, or we are sent away from Him and will never rest, never be satisfied, and never love anything ever again. Only pain, anger, disappointment, and frustration will surround us for the rest of eternity.

Verse 19- Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.

Righteous people are enabled by God to work hard, laugh loud, enjoy their life and their stuff as gifts from God’s own hand. They have a rich and full life, whether they have prosperity or they are poor.

They see that their lot it life is determined by God and are not angry with what they have or with what they don’t have, because they trust and love their God.

Many of you here have believed a lie that you can be and do whatever you want. Is that true? Can you do whatever you want? I can’t. Can I play in the NBA with a 2 inch vertical leap and no outside shot? Nope. Can I make myself win the lottery? Nope. Can I be a supermodel? Nope. There are certain things that I simply cannot do. I am limited by God in some areas and blessed by Him in other areas.

Either way, I am satisfied with my wife, my kids, my ministry, because God has enabled me to be satisfied with all those things. Without His enabling me to be satisfied, I would never fully enjoy anything.

Verse 20- For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.

Righteous people spend their time loving God and living life with other people that they don’t need to spend their time navel gazing about the pains and miseries of life like some depressed philosopher, or some angry anarchist emo singer.

They see life as a gift, they see their station in life as a gift and they live it with joy and thanksgiving to the giver of their life.

Money is natural and can be used either for good or evil. But, the love of money is a tempting trap that can lead to ruin and hopeless despair. It can become an evil and false god.

The opposite of the love of money is not the hatred of money, but rather the love of God that redirects our hearts to worship Him and use money, rather than love money and use Him. Practically, we are left with two options on this matter:

Love Money and Use God & People

or

Love God & People and Use Money

Luke 12:15-21 And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' 18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

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