Do you remember your first job? Where it was what did you do how old were you?

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1 Dr. Mark Owen Fenstermacher HOW TO SIMPLIFY & BUILD HEALTHY FINANCES September 29, nd Corinthians 8 & 9 (Selected verses); Mathew 25:19-30 First United Methodist Church 219 E. 4 th Street Bloomington, IN Do you remember your first job? Where it was what did you do how old were you? I m not sure what my first job was. Not really. When I was in junior high a neighbor in northwest Alaska asked me if I would help him carry frozen reindeer meat from a truck into his freezer warehouse. It took us most of an afternoon. The neighbor, who happened to teach middle school math, asked me how much he owed me. I made the mistake of saying, Whatever you think is fair. He gave me $5 for three hours of hauling frozen meat. I wasn t pleased and I learned a lesson. Sometimes when you say whatever s fair you may be giving the other person permission to take advantage of you! One summer, during high school, I worked for the local grocery store. (Which happened to be owned by the man who would later become my father-in-law, Ray.) It was the first time I actually received a paycheck. This would have been the summer of 67. I was paid.50 cents an hour. I used to jokingly complain about having been underpaid. I usually made sure Ray was around to hear my complaint about what he paid me. I stopped complaining when one day, after he heard me grumbling - as a 50 year old-about only getting fifty cents an hour as a teenager, he smiled and said, You were overpaid. Do you remember your first job? And do you remember what it was like to get paid for the first time? Do you remember what it was like to take that paycheck down the street to a nearby bank? Some of you may never have that experience. Some of you may do all of that online. Which is too bad because it is quite a moment when you stand at the teller s window, turn the check over, sign your name, and then watch the bank teller count the money out in front of you. It s quite a moment when you watch the teller count out the money, and then you pick it up. Hold it in your own hands. Usually, for most of us, that was a good moment. Even if you were getting paid fifty cents an hour, you felt good you felt like you had accomplished something and you might even feel some power! You didn t have to ask anyone to buy you a Mountain Dew or a hamburger or the latest LP by Blood, Sweat and Tears you had the economic muscle to do that for yourself! Here is a third question: do you remember what you did with money you earned? That first paycheck I cashed from Dave & Ray s? I m sure I saved some of it. And I m pretty confident that I used some if to buy an LP (they were like compact discs but they were made out of black vinyl, and if you played them on something called a record player they would make music) or two. And I probably used some of it to take the store owner s daughter out on a date. 1

2 I can t remember what I did with that first real paycheck, but I can tell you about the first experience I had in delayed gratification saving money rather than spending it as fast I could get my hands on it. There was a discount store on the near east side of Indianapolis. It was part of a chain of stores called Ayr-Way. There was a great looking baseball mitt there. I saw it and asked my Dad to buy it for me. He suggested I save up my allowance and buy the mitt. I looked at my Dad with absolute puzzlement. When he talked about saving my money, holding onto it and planning a future purchase, it was as if he had suddenly begun speaking some rare dialect of Chinese. My Dad wouldn t budge. So I saved and saved and saved until I had the money it took to buy this baseball glove. Do you remember your first job? Do you remember what it was like to get paid for the first time? Do you remember the first time you said No to spending your money today so you could accomplish something better with it in the future.do you remember first coming face-to-face with the concept of savings? Jesus spoke more about how we handle our money, our possessions, than he did almost anything else. Which tells you a couple of things about Jesus First, it tells you that the Carpenter loves people. The people who love us most tell us the truth even when the truth is difficult. We re going to talk, off and on this morning, about an exchange Jesus has with a man in the 10 th chapter of the Gospel of Mark. The man approaches Jesus and asks, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? The question says a lot about how the man sees God and sees salvation. The question tells us that the man assumes we have to earn whatever we receive from God. The question assumes that the economy of heaven is the same as the economy on Wall Street or Main Street: nothing good is free and you have to earn the good stuff. Jesus and the man have this exchange. Jesus reminds the man of the commandments. You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness. Jesus lists the commandments of God that point to the good life, the healthy life, and the man says, Teacher, I have kept all of these since my youth. The statement is stunning. The man may be an extraordinary man, but it takes someone who is out of touch with the reality of their lives to insist they have kept all of the commandments of God since they were a child. Jesus accepts the man s statement. He doesn t push the point. He doesn t say, Oh, really, what about that time in 5 th grade when you got into your Mom s purse and took a dollar to put in the missions offering or the time in high school when you told your Dad you drove straight home from the Mall and didn t stop by your buddy s house for 45 minutes to play video games? Jesus doesn t push the man and say, So tell me about the time you were on the beach at St. Petersburg during Spring Break when you were a sophomore at Indiana State? Didn t notice the swimming suits but kept your eyes on the sand and the water, huh? 2

3 Jesus lets the man say what he says about having kept all the commandments of God since he was a child. Jesus lets that go. Then, Jesus says something very hard to the man about his possessions. The Carpenter has this way of knowing where we are chained up. Jesus has this way of knowing what our weak spots are. This man has more than he ever dreamt of having. So Jesus says (10:21, NRSV), You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. The writer of Mark, before reporting what it is Jesus says to the man about his money, his possessions, says this, Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said The fact that Jesus talks so much about money and possessions tells us he loves us. Because only someone who really loves us will tell us the hard truth. Only someone who loves us will go down deep to the dark place where we are being held captive frozen in place because of some idol, some addiction, some fear. I have a hunch. I have a hunch more than a few of you here this morning assume that the reason preachers talk about money is because they are trying to get into your pocket. Squeeze another couple of bucks out of you each week to pay the bills. That happens. I won t stand here and tell you that doesn t happen. But the real reason we talk with you about God and faith and how we handle our money and our possessions is because we love you. And we want you to have a life that is free and whole and blessed and joy-full. The second thing we learn, because of the frequency of Jesus lessons about money and possessions, is that the Carpenter has courage. Because there aren t too many people who say, Heh, I think we need more sermons around here on money and stewardship! We don t get many s saying, Would you address my addiction to money and stuff? Would you share with us some of God s truth about faithful handling of financial resources? The truth is that every time we begin to talk about money in church, most folks hold their breath. You can hear the room get silent. People sitting in the worship space lean back, they make sure they are sitting hard on their wallet so the preacher can t get to it, and they hold their breath and wait for this moment to pass. We re more comfortable in worship hearing the preacher talk about the subject of sex than we are hearing a sermon about money and possessions and the faithful handling of wealth. Jesus has this irritating habit of telling the truth. No matter where he is. No matter how unhappy someone might get with the message. He is fearless. So the fact that Jesus talks so much about wealth and money and possessions tells us he has a whole lot of courage. 3

4 The third thing we learn, because Jesus brings the subject of money and wealth up so often, is that there must be a great need for God s truth in this area of our lives. Many of us really don t know what we re doing when it comes to faithfully handling our money. We tend to overspend our income. We tend to buy what we don t need to impress people we really don t know all that well. We tend to buy what we want today and forget about long term planning. As a young pastor, back in the late 1970 s, I knew a couple who were carrying more than $10,000 in credit card debt on one credit card. They were being pestered by bill collectors. They were afraid to answer their phone. So they began counseling with the senior pastor. The pastor had a reputation for faithfully and wisely handling money. Over a few months he helped them avert a crisis. Things were getting better. They were working their way out from under this mountain of debt. They were on a budget. They were working with their creditors. They told me how good it felt! Then, one hot July afternoon the couple decided they deserved to reward themselves for the progress they were making. They stopped and signed a contract to have an in-ground swimming pool installed in their back yard. And they bought the swimming pool on credit. With one impulsive decision they were back in a financial hole! I learned, along the way, that the average United Methodist gives about 2.3 to 2.7% of their income to God to support the disciple-making work of Christ s Body. Which was unsettling. Some of these people talked a lot about God. Some of these people talked a lot about how they wanted the church to do more in the world. Some of these people sang the words take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold but what they were putting in the offering plate told a different story. That s why the offertory prayer of the late Reverend Hilbert Burger was so powerful and I ve never forgotten it. As the ushers brought the offering plates forward at Fort Wayne Aldersgate United Methodist Church, Hilbert would pray, No matter what we say and no matter what we do, what we put in the offering plate says what we think of you. I learned that a surprising number of people are dishonest when it comes to their giving life. The story of Ananias and Sapphira, in the 5 th chapter of Acts, shows us two Christians who lied to folks in the church about what they were giving to God. (That little piece of deception didn t end well. You can look it up.) In the book Simple Life Thom S. Rainer and Art Rainer surveyed over a thousand people. 45% of the people responding said they didn t have enough income for their lifestyles. Half of those surveyed said finances were causing a strain in their marriage. 46% of the respondents said their credit card debt is too high. 72% of those questioned said they did not have savings equal to six months living expenses in case there was an emergency. 73% of those responding to the survey said they had concerns about whether or not they would be able to retire comfortably. Jesus talks so much about money and the faithful handling of possessions because Jesus knows many of us struggle in this area of our lives. We need some help. We need some coaching. We need to be saved from either our addiction to money, or our impulsive handling of money, or the personal insecurity that leads us to think that what we wear and what we drive and where we go to school are 4

5 the ways we can prove our worth. We want to be somebody, and we think that certain kinds of vacations, certain kinds of cars, certain kinds of schools, will show the world we count that we are a somebody! So we need help. We need saving. Jesus loves us. So he shows up. So he speaks up. There are two readings from the Gospels we want to look at this morning. Each one has something to say to us about God, about life, and about how we handle the money we have in our hands. Another passage I d like you to hear today is the reading from the 25 th chapter of Matthew s Gospel. Jesus is telling stories in an effort to help his listeners understand what the kingdom of God is like. The stories are intended to help us see what life looks like when life is right lived out in the image and will of the Creator. The kingdom, Jesus says, is as if a wealthy person prepared to go on a trip and summoned his servants. To each of the three servants or slaves the master entrusted a huge sum of money. A talent, according to some scholars, was the equivalent of what an average laborer would make in fifteen years! If an average person would make $35,000 a year then one talent would equal $525,000. One servant, who has a reputation for getting things done with what he has been given, is entrusted with five talents. The second servant is given two talents. And the third servant, who isn t exactly a ball of fire in the initiative department, is given one talent. The master goes away. A long time passes. The master returns. The master calls the three servants together and asks what they have done with what they have been given. The first servant says he put the five talents to work, and he made five more talents! The second servant says he invested the money, put it to work, and produced two more talents. The first two servants, in other words, doubled what the master had placed in their hands. The third servant, who had been afraid of losing what he had been given, dug a hole in the back yard and buried it in an old cookie tin. The third servant didn t trust the markets, didn t trust the Federal Reserve, didn t trust the bankers, and -finally-didn t trust the master. Although the master had placed in his hands a sum of money most people never see in their lifetime s, the third servant saw the master as a harsh man, an unforgiving person, someone who is always looking for a chance to take what doesn t belong to him. The master isn t pleased. Not at all. He tells the other servants to take the one talent from the person who lived in fear, who was paralyzed by fear, and give it to the servant who turned five talents into ten. 5

6 In the story the third servant is described as this worthless slave, and he is tossed into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. That sounds extreme, I know, but that is exactly what we do when we throw away an opportunity. I ve heard people weeping and gnashing their teeth when they threw away some great blessing. When they were inattentive and lost their family or when they took some illegal shortcuts and destroyed their career. What does this story tell us when we talk about how we handle money and possessions? don t. First, all we have is from God. It s all a gift. Some of us live like we know that and some of us Second, everything we have is a trust. We are stewards. God lets us have this stuff for awhile and then we have to turn it back in. You know that, right? Everything we have is from God and it is a trust. Third, the story reminds us that God is generous. For some reason more than a few of us grumble a lot about what God hasn t given us. That grumbling is evidence that we have lost sight of the extravagant generosity of God. Look around you. Open your eyes! God gives us more than we might ever imagine. Fourth, God wants us to use this stuff for God s sake. The master wants his talents to be used to create more talents. God wants us to us what we have been loaned to expand God s territory so God s kingdom can come on the earth as it is in heaven. So are we taking what God has given us and using it create more value for God in the world? Now, there are several steps that are going to be essential if we are to faithfully use what God has given us. This morning I have asked a friend, Jonathan Purvis, to lay out a couple fundamental steps to financial health.. (Jonathan Purvis shares.a very personal story of financial desperation and some steps to financial freedom. We will try and include his full story in the message we place on our web site.) Six Steps to Financial Freedom -Jonathan D. Purvis 1. REVIEW. How did you spend your money last month? Put your spending into broad categories like: -- housing --groceries, clothing, utilities --vehicles, gas, maintenance --restaurants and entertainment -- discretionary spending --savings and retirement --giving 2. ANALYZE. What percentage of your money goes to each of those categories? Do those categories align with your heart? If not, then admit that your money and your heart are not aligned. 3. PRAY. It takes courage to admit your heart and your money are not aligned. It takes courage to go against the grain of society. It takes more courage to do something about it. The kind of courage that only God can provide. The kind of courage that Jesus had. 4. PLAN. What would your finances look like if you lived on 80% of your income, saved 10%, and gave 10%? Develop a plan to get there, and involve others in developing that plan. What radical changes 6

7 might you need to make? Sell a house? Make do with one car? Make do with no car and ride a bike? There are several good faith-based money management programs that can guide you, but remember that ultimately it is YOU who have the power to control your own finances. 5. SHARE, REVIEW, AND ADJUST. Share the plan with others you trust and that can help hold you accountable. Review your plan regularly to help keep you on target. Adjust your plan as circumstances change. 6. CELEBRATE!!! For small things like not eating out for a week and for big things like paying off your credit card debt. The most important reason of all to celebrate is that you are freeing yourself from financial bondage so that you can do God s work. (Pastor Mark ) ++++ Jesus has a conversation with the man on the road about life and money. I am praying each of us will dare to enter into an honest conversation with God about who we are, where we are headed in life, what things really matter most to us, and what it would mean for you and me to be faithful stewards of what God has put in our hands. Begin to talk and pray about how you handle your money. One of my best friends in the whole world was a successful young CPA. He and his wife took their five young children to Disney World for a week at Christmas. When he came back from Florida, he and I were talking at youth group. Do you know what I learned? he asked me. I learned that I spent as much on a one week vacation in Florida as we gave to God all last year. I turned to my wife and said, Do you know how wrong this is? We can do better...we love God more than that! It was a life changing moment. They began a conversation about who they are and what their lives are about and what it means to say Yes when Jesus says, Come, follow me. Begin a conversation with God and the people closest to you. John Wesley said to make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can away. I m haunted by the story in Mark 10. I see that man listening to what Jesus has to say, and then I see him turning away from the Carpenter. I see the man walking back up the road. Walking away from an eternal adventure. Walking away from the opportunity to share the road with Jesus. Walking away from life. Does he stay away? Does he grow old sitting on the sun patio of his place in Cabo, watching his cholesterol, managing his assets, trying to figure out how to avoid estate taxes, thinking about that day on the road when he came this close this close to a kind of freedom he can only imagine? Is he haunted by the face and the voice of the Galilean?

8 Or does the young man finally turn back towards Jesus towards life? Maybe not that day but maybe a week later or a month later does the man come back looking for Jesus? Does he say, I m ready to follow? Does he say, I m ready to be free? What would that look for you? To be so free of money worries that you were free to really live and follow? 8