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Sunday, October 03, 2010

Wisdom and Finance

By Rev. Dr. Harvey C. Martz

Scripture: Luke 15:11-13 from the Common English Bible 

¹¹Jesus said, A certain man had two sons. ¹²The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance.’ Then the father divided his estate between them. ¹³Soon afterward, the younger son gathered everything together and took a trip to a land far away. There, he wasted his wealth through extravagant living.

Last week we began a five week exploration of the program called “Enough,” developed by the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. The purpose of this emphasis is to “help us discover joy through simplicity and generosity,” and to get control of our finances instead of buying into the dominant culture of consumerism all around us.

We talked last week about the differences between “wants” and “needs” and we used the image of the three inch bore holes that are being used to help the 33 Chilean miners stay alive.

I am impressed with how well the 1,100 people in worship last Sunday paid attention, especially when the message had some unintended consequences! Any sermon can do that, especially when we are trying, not only to address the 1,100 people here in the building, but many others who get copies or who read on line.

What happened last week, that was not expected, is that at the table in the hallway where our Fair Trade coffee and chocolate products can be purchased ever month, we saw a change. Some people who buy a bar of dark chocolate each month told the volunteer at the table that they had decided not to get anything last Sunday because they were reevaluating whether that was a want or a need!

When that report was mentioned in our church staff meeting on Tuesday, we began to have a discussion about whether dark chocolate is a want or a need. It was a short discussion! Dark chocolate has some health benefits for us, unlike M and M’s or different kinds of chocolate, and I have to admit that I have a dog in this hunt because I am one of the dark chocolate customers every couple of months and I keep a bar in my desk drawer to go get a piece on Sundays between services to keep my energy up.

Unintended consequences!

But it is good to know that the people here began to look at what might be “Enough” in their lives, and what each family might consider to be more than enough.

We heard those familiar opening verses from one of Jesus’ most famous stories of a father with two sons, or the story of the prodigal son. We stopped early in that story today to focus on what the son did with the money from his family.

Did you notice how he spent the money? The literal translation from the Greek says that he was living loosely, or extravagantly, or that he squandered what he had or wasted what he had in dissolute living.

He was reckless with his resources and wound up broke.

It might be a painfully accurate description of some of us in the past years in our country. We have been careless, or perhaps not careful enough with whatever we have. We have lived beyond our means and we do not like where that has put us.

The word prodigal means wasteful or lavish or reckless in spending.  The book by Adam Hamilton that we are using for this month, says that there is a prodigal inside each of us.

What do you think? Is it true that we accumulate some things we may not need, that, at times, we spend unnecessarily. It is true in my life over the years. We talked about some of those reasons last week.

The Bible has several stories about a role that was more common at that time than now. The story is about the job of a steward, a manager of someone else’s property, someone that the owner has put in charge to care for and be responsible for the resources. The stories about stewards say that there will be a time of accountability and reporting to the owner about what was done.

When Jesus tells stories about people who are stewards, he is saying that each of us is a steward, responsible for a while for some things that we do not finally and really own. And there will come a time of accountability.

Have you ever sat down, perhaps with a financial planner, and figured out how much money you will be responsible for managing over your life time?  No matter what our income, people are usually surprised by that figure. And money is only one resource that God has entrusted to each of us. We have been given time and energy and unique gifts by God, and there are some times, perhaps several times if we are listening to God, when God will ask us, “Well, how are you doing with what I have given to you?” What difference are you making? Where can you do better? Where are you being prodigal/wasteful with what you have?”

And I think there will be, not only those periodic check-in times, there will be a time of final accountability as well.

In the bulletin today we are providing some tools that will help each of us to do some checking in with ourselves and with God. They give us a spiritual underpinning about our life purpose, and they give us a way to begin to track and plan our spending. One professional financial adviser I talked with this week, recommended by a church member, said most people he sees do not have a plan. They have a dream, but not a path or a plan. He helps people to have goals and then a plan.

Here is the same observation from a financial planner from the ENOUGH curriculum.

One of the principles in Dave Ramsey’s financial management classes is that most of us do not know what we are spending and we do not know yet where our money is going. We can be more careful and aware instead of careless and prodigal.  The book in this program says that the two places that most of us are vulnerable to being prodigal or to spending carelessly are—can you guess–impulse buying and eating out. There is advice in the book if that is true for you. If we see something that we might buy on an impulse, the advice from the Enough program is to wait 24 hours and then decide, not to buy it on the spot. I can benefit from that advice and most of us can.

Judy and I are doing more outdoor cooking on our grill lately at home. I should say that I am! Most of us can cut back in both of the areas of impulse buying and eating out.

By the way, the theological principle behind all of today’s discussion about wisdom and finance, Biblical wisdom about our finances, is that we are not put here to consume all we can.

Here is the quote:

The Bible says that we were created to love God and others as we love ourselves. We were created to care for our families AND for those in need. We were created to glorify God, to seek justice, and to do mercy. Our money and our possessions should be devoted to helping us fulfill this calling…WE HAVE A LIFE PURPOSE THAT IS GREATER THAN OUR OWN SELF INTERESTS, AND HOW WE SPEND OUR GOD-GIVEN RESOURCES REFLECTS OUR COMMITMENT TO THIS LIFE PURPOSE AND MISSION.

What do you think about that? Is your life purpose larger than just being a consumer?

If so, the SIX FINANCIAL PLANNING PRINCIPLES can be a resource. There is very little new here, but most of us can practice them better. Put them on a mirror, or two mirrors. We have additional mirror clings.

• Pay your tithe and offering first. If you are still suspicious about church, I understand that, but we all need to be sharing part of ourselves outside ourselves. If you need a reason or two to be confident about your church, I remind us about the two third graders I heard about this week who have been sleeping with their brand new, two week old Bibles, or about the fact that when we get into our new building next month, it will be one of the “greenest” most environmentally responsible church buildings in all of Colorado.
• Create a budget and track your expenses.
• Simplify your lifestyle and live below your means.
• Establish an emergency fund.
• Pay off your credit cards and use cash or debit cards.
• Practice long term savings and investing habits.

You have known all that and heard that before. It is just that we let ourselves be seduced by the messages all around us that our job is to consume, consume, consume.

And so we try to fill the emptiness in our heart and souls with things that do not last when what God wants to give us in Christ is the real bread, the true nourishment, the one who is himself the Bread of Life-Christ himself.