My wife has been going through a
Bible Study called The
7 Experiment by Jen Hatmaker which has really engaged many of the ladies of
my church. The next part of this
particular study is all about excessive spending. What does the Bible actually say about
spending? Principles of Scripture should
be a key for us in any subject we tackle in the Christian faith. Our perspectives and attitudes should be
informed by Scripture and then we need to align ourselves with it where we
differ from God.
THEOLOGY OF SPENDING (CONSUMOLOGY or perhaps PRODIGOLOGY)
To be honest, I don’t remember my
wife and I talking about this particular emphasis in the study.
Hmmm… thinking about spending.
While I am doubtful of the
academic sturdiness of the presentation I will reference, it does give some
percentages and statistics that have good sources at the end of the presentation.
52% of Americans spend more than
they earn, out of which 21% regularly have monthly expenses in excess of their
income to which only 13.5% adjust their finances to get back on track. I’m not exactly sure what all the percentages
mean, but it sounds like we are spending more than we earn and we aren’t fixing
it.
Why do we overspend?
* We don’t set monthly savings
goals or we ignore them.
* Credit is easily accessed on so
many things
* Cash is readily accessible.
* Credit Cards are misused.
* We give into temptation when we
want something.
* We spend to feel good.
* We can’t say no to a sale or a
“good deal.”
* We use spending and money to
prove our self worth.
* We spend to feel powerful.
* We spend to keep ourselves at
the same level of comfort to which we have become accustomed.
* We spend to look like everyone
else.
So, does the Bible talk about
spending money?
Some key words in looking at
spending money: spend(ing) (48x), money (123x), moneylender (2x),
debt(s)(or)(ors) (21x), cash (0x), borrow (5x), buy (54x), coin(s) (13x), gold
(455x), silver (343x), rich(es) (141x).
The Bible spends a lot of time
talking about money (pun intended).
Why? Perhaps because I am not the
only one for whom money is a stressor! I’d like to look at one passage in particular
(not that there are any shortages)
to garner some Biblical/Godly
perspectives about spending.
Luke 12:13-21
“Someone in the crowd said to him,
"Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14 Jesus replied, "Man, who
appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15 Then he said to them,
"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does
not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them this parable:
"The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, 'What
shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18 "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear
down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my
goods. 19 And I'll say to
myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life
easy; eat, drink and be merry."' 20
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be
demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21 "This is how it will be
with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
I believe this passage is important for several reasons. First, Jesus Christ Himself is speaking. That to me puts it above other Scriptures
even though in my head I know that all Scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy
3:16). Because it is in “red” makes it
seem more important. Second, I think it
summarizes many of the other Scriptures command and speak of in other books.
We find first that Jesus is concerned with greed (verse 15). Spending for the abundance of possessions
(second part of verse 15) is Jesus’ definition of the word “greed.” I think I will stick with the Son of God’s
definition on any word He chooses to speak about. Noting the context of the words in verse 15,
greed is bad. Watch out + ! + guard +
does not + the parable that follows in verses 16-21 = greed is bad.
We find secondly that “being rich towards God” is the goal at the end of
the passage (verse 21). I know that
leaves a lot of unanswered questions in between:
Is it greedy to want to save up? [not necessarily…]
Is it okay to buy bigger and better? [not necessarily…]
Is greed and necessary motivator to be rich? [not necessarily…]
It is okay to prepare financially for yourself? [not necessarily…]
The reason that MY (stress the MY on that one) answers to each of those
questions is “not necessarily” (and I am most definitely a yes or no kind of
person!) is because the Godly perspective about spending has everything to do
with motivation and the desires of your heart.
Why did the man wish to build bigger barns in verse 17? The answer was, for himself, because he never
once stopped to ask God His opinion. Why
did the man wish to save up for later in verse 19? The answer was, for himself! Everything in the parable was for
himself! Even the argument that spawned
the parable in verse 13 had to do with the self.
So, what is a proper consumology? The
Godly perspective that this passage from Luke highlights and what I believe
other Scriptures also tell us is that spending and acquiring and planning and
desiring materials things only for ourselves is just flat wrong. Selfishness is a sin. Greed is a sin. Spending everything you own on yourself and
thinking you deserve it is a lie from the pit of Hell. We must be “rich towards God” (verse 21).
Action Steps on How to Be Rich towards God:
1. Make sure you tithe a minimum of
10% of your income to the Church.
2. Save a certain amount of money in
your budget so you can give it away on purpose as God leads.
3. Before you spend money on
yourself (a luxury), pray diligently to see if God wants you to spend that
money somewhere else, for someone else, to meet some holy need.
4. Do a check of your expenditures
and mark down (being honest): *needs, *self, *others
5. Spend the time to watch THIS
VIDEO (cause its awesome)
Troy Borst
Associate Minister
Up next…
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