Sermon Tone Analysis

Bling Week Four

Blingonomics: A Plan that Works

Jeff Jones, Senior Pastor

August 17~/19, 2007

 

 

I’m holding a really great gift that Christy got me, a GPS unit for traveling in the car.

Our cars are too old and not fancy enough to have these, and she knows that I get lost all the time.

I’m terrible about that.

I start driving and talking on my cellphone, and totally forget that I am driving somewhere.

I miss my exit and then have to navigate my way back.

On car trips, like we took this summer, I’m terrible about getting lost.

So, she got me this little GPS unit, and she became one my best buddies.

I say she because her voice is a girl.

On this trip, it was awesome because I always knew that I could get to where I wanted to go, because of my little GPS friend.

I’m getting a little misty-eyed thinking about my little friend here.

I had so much peace because of my little GPS buddy.

God wants you and me to have a GPS buddy as it relates to finances.

Wouldn’t it be great to know that you are headed toward financial health and eternal gratitude toward the choices you make?

Wouldn’t it be great to know that you are steering clear of trouble?

That’s what we are going to talk about today.

In this series called /Bling/, we are looking at how we can navigate this world of money and stuff, affluence, in a way that leads to a great destination in our lives, one of joy and peace and gratitude and avoid the trouble that most Americans are heading to.

Last week we talked about how the average American is in money trouble, and how easy it is to join the ranks of the in-trouble.

The problem is not that we don’t make enough money to stay out of money trouble, the problem is we don’t manage our money wisely.

It is not an income problem but a plan problem.

We need a reliable financial GPS.

A great illustration of that is a recent ABC poll that asked Americans this question, “What is the best way to build wealth?”

You know what 25% of them said?

Try to win the lottery.

That’s why the average American spends $1100 a year on lottery tickets, more than twice what they give to charity.

You don’t have to be a math genius to realize that with the odds of winning the lottery, that there might be a better plan…and of course there is.

Slide: __________________ ) Proverbs 21:5

 

says, /The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty./

Without a good GPS, a good plan, you and I will drift toward trouble 100% of the time.

We need a plan, and today we are going to talk about it.

Some of you today know you need to come up with a plan or evaluate the one that you have, so you are ready to go.

But I also know that some of you think you don’t need one, because you have enough money coming in that you don’t really have to worry about.

Money just comes in, you spend it, and you have some leftover, so why worry about it.

Think of it like this, since we know that our money is not our money but God’s.

Let’s say you have a money manager, someone that you send money to so that they can invest for you.

You call them one day to check up on things, and they say, “Oh, hey.

You want to know where your money is going?

You know, I don’t really know.

You have so much that I don’t really think about it.

It just comes in and I spend it or invest it or do something with it.

You’ve got enough that I don’t really have to worry about where it is going.

I just let it fly.”

It wouldn’t take long to fire the money manager.

Our money is God’s money, and he has asked us to manage it.

And he doesn’t just leave it up to us to let it fly.

He tells us how to be wise.

We need a good GPS, so let’s look at what the Bible says to help us build a good plan that will help us reach a good destination financially.

Let’s talk about a plan for good blingonomics, financial health.

This plan is made up of two choices.

The first is this:

 

Slide: __________________ )

 

1)      To live on a percentage of my income

 

We are going to look at the building blocks, but first let me give you the fundamental principle undergirding God’s principles: You have to choose to live on less than you make.

That is revolutionary in our culture, where we are taught to live on more than we make, but God’s plan is all about making a choice to limit my lifestyle to less than I make, so that I am free to be wise and will stay out of money trouble.

You will likely never have money troubles if you live on less than you make…so instead of just spending whatever comes in as fast as it comes in, which leads to a mess, what are we to do?

The first part of the plan relates to

 

Slide: ________________) Giving

 

Planned, priority, percentage giving.

This is a choice that God commands us to make with the money he gives us…to give to him right off the top before we spend anything else, to honor him with planned, priority, percentage giving.

Slide: __________________ ) Proverbs 3:9-10

 

says/, Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

/We are told to honor the Lord with the firstfruits, meaning off the top, from what we get.

That’s the priority part.

We choose to honor God not with the leftovers, but as Gene Getz said a few weeks ago, put God in our budget as the very first item.

Most people just live and spend and give as an afterthought.

God tells us to make giving our top priority.

Slide: __________________ ) 1 Corinthians 16: 1-2

 

tells us how to do so, /“Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do.

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income…” (16:1-2).

/Notice that the way God wants us to give is planned, priority, and a percentage.

He says, “Decide beforehand what you are going to give, do it regularly, and make sure it is proportional to your income.

It is what the Bible elsewhere calls a tithe, which is a strange churchy word, but a Bible word that literally means “a tenth.”

The general biblical benchmark on giving throughout the Bible is the tenth, the tithe, where you set aside ten percent of your income right off the top and give that to God first.

You have freedom to choose more and you can choose less, but that is the benchmark.

When Christy and I were newly married and eating lots of ramen noodles and 3 for a dollar pot-pies, we joyfully wrote out a check to FBCN at that time for the first ten percent of what we made.

We also gave extra money to a couple of other ministries as well.

And we’ve kept that pattern going since then, and I am so incredibly thankful that we have.

I’m glad we started it then, because it doesn’t get easier the more money you make.

You would think it would, but it doesn’t.

Studies show that the more people make the less generous they are.

Forbes latest study on billionaires found that they give on average about 1.2% of their yearly income to charity.

Strange but true how that works.

What happens when we give in a planned, priority, and percentage way?

Over and over again God makes this promise, like we just read in Proverbs 3, (repeat verse).

When we give in a God-honoring way, then we invite his enablement and his blessing into our finances.

I’m not saying that means we will all get rich…but God says what he says.

He waits to see what we will do with our money, and when we prioritize him, then he adds his empowerment and his blessing.

That’s why my spiritual mentor always said, “You can’t outgive God.”

You and I will never be more generous than him.

The first part of a good plan is planned, priority, percentage giving.

The second part of a good plan is

 

Slide: __________________ )

 

2)      Saving

 

What I mean by incremental is bit by bit over time, which ends up building wealth.

Slide: __________________ ) Proverbs 21:20

 

says, /In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has./

In biblical days the way to save for the future was to store up grain or oils or perfumes as a savings account.