Wisdom and Wealth (pt. 2) (Proverbs 10:16)

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Wisdom and Wealth (pt. 2)

Chet Phillips

Transcript

You Good morning, my name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. It's good to see y'all this morning. We are in the book of Proverbs. Grab your Bibles and go to Proverbs chapter 10. The primary thing we like to do is walk through books of the Bible.

We are working our way through Proverbs, but we're not going verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We are taking some of the primary things that the Proverbs gives weight to and trying to grow in wisdom. As we looked at money last week, we realized that the Proverbs says a lot about money, and so we wanted to spend one week looking at kind of the mental approach to money and some of the things we needed to understand before we handled money. And then today, hopefully we get to look at some practical principles that the Proverbs give us for handling money. So we have been sold on the idea that if I just had more money, things would be better.

Life would be better. Life would be easier. Everything would be nicer. I'd be handsomer. If I just had more money, it would enhance life. And the Proverbs says, not so fast.

That actually is not true, that you getting more money might actually be bad for you and for the world. And that's what we looked at last week. We looked at Proverbs 10, verse 16. It says, the wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin. Meaning that if the righteous get money, it's good. But if the wicked get money, it's bad.

And so we just said getting money and having money and being rich cannot just necessarily be a good thing. But the Proverbs tells us that we need more than just more money. And so we spent most of our time last week on the back half of that verse. The idea that getting more money could be bad for you. And so we talked about some of the ways that we approach money potentially sinfully. But we did say at the very beginning that money is just a tool because money in the hands of the righteous is a good thing.

So in some ways, money is just a tool. We said that it tests us last week. We said that it tempts us. But there is a reality to money is just a tool. And so to help us picture this, I want to talk to you all about a movie I watched. I've watched it a couple of times.

And in the beginning of the movie, there's a character that's introduced. And I want to show you all this person. This person shows up in the movie. When he shows up, us in the audience, we're not super excited that he's here. And we're pretty sure that the thing he's holding, which is some sort of a weird hammer axe thing, is bad. We would much rather he had like a bouquet of flowers or something.

But he doesn't. He shows up with this. And so this is a bad moment in the movie. But later in the movie, this character shows up. And when he shows up, we're all very excited. But he's also holding a weird hammer axe thing.

But I've been told that people who watch this movie in the theaters, that people actually cheered when this guy showed up. And so the reality is, it's not what they're holding, it's who's holding it. And that's what the Proverbs says about money. That money on its own isn't necessarily good or bad. Who has it? Do the wicked have it?

Do the righteous have it? Because the reality is, the righteous having money leads to life. And that's true. How many scholarships have been paid for? How many meals have been offered? How many people have been clothed?

How many orphans have been cared for? How many of you in your life have had somebody show up and help pay a hospital bill or a car payment or help you replace some tires or some shoes? When the righteous have money, it leads to life. And so the Proverbs has no problem whatsoever with the righteous having money. The truth is, we should give more money to the righteous. This is what the Proverbs says.

Okay, I'm getting excited. Let's pray first and then we'll go into other things the Proverbs says. Lord, we pray that you'd help us to grow in wisdom today. But more than that, may we grow in our understanding of wisdom so that we might grow in our understanding of you and therefore growing in loving wisdom and loving Jesus. May we not leave here more filled with ourselves, but may we leave here more filled with your spirit. And by your grace, we ask for your help in that.

And towards that end, in Jesus' name, amen. Proverbs 8, 17 through 21 says this. This is, wisdom is speaking here. So in the book of Proverbs, wisdom speaks. It's personified as a lady wisdom. And so she sometimes talks and that's, so this is wisdom talking.

It says, I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. So it's not just that riches and honor are bad. It says, no, wisdom says I have riches and honor. They belong to me. And I, I grant these to people who seek me.

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold in my yield than choice silver. So wisdom does say I have riches, I have enduring wealth, but wisdom is better than gold and better than silver. And this is some of what we've been looking at is the idea that if you have wisdom, if you have righteousness, then you can have money and it's okay. But if you don't have wisdom, you don't have righteousness, then money is bad. And so wisdom says I'm better than money, but I have money. I walk in the way of righteousness in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me and filling their treasuries.

So that one of the blessings from wisdom, one of the blessings from God is wealth. It's not necessarily an evil thing. It can be very good. It just depends on who has it. Proverbs 10, 22, the blessing of the Lord makes rich and he adds no sorrow with it. So there's a reality to money in and of itself is not bad, but we need wisdom and righteousness before we get money.

And so today though, we're going to spend most of our time just looking really practically at some of the things the Proverbs has to say about money because it has a lot to say about money. So this is the Proverbs basic wisdom. And we're going to walk through this for money. Get a job. Maybe Proverbs specifically say an honest Job, but get a job, trust God, save some and live simply so you can be generous and use your wealth for the good of others. Get a job, trust God, save some and live simply so that you can be generous and use your wealth for the good of others.

That's what we're going to walk through. So first step, get a job. Get a job. Proverbs 14, 23, in all toil, there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. Get a job. Not an idea about a job, not some things in the works, not a few irons in the fire.

Get a job. That's what Proverbs says. And it says it repeatedly. Proverbs 28, 19 and 20, whoever works his land will have plenty of bread. So they go out and they work.

There's just nothing glamorous about it. They're working, but they have plenty of bread. But he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. Proverbs got jokes. You can have plenty of bread or you can have plenty of poverty. It's up to you.

Are you working or not? A faithful man will abound in blessings, abound with blessings. But whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. That's helpful for us because how much do we want to get rich quickly? I've recently heard that there are local moms who are making $3,000 a week from home. Haven't y'all seen these things?

How many people have told you that if you could just get into this, if we could just get in, you get into the right time. If you could just, I mean, we got cryptocurrency and we've got different stock market schemes. We've got these ideas for you could take on this and the side. And if you could just get this going, if you can get your downline going and if you can recruit three other people, it's like, now there, there's a way that some of that is just good work and people are trying to have extra jobs and work. And it's, there's a way for us to have side things going on that is us working our land.

But there's also a way that we are chasing worthless pursuits and trying to get rich quickly. And it says we won't go unpunished. That that has negative effects on us, that it harms us and that just working is good. So I want to tell you this, do not feel bad about having a job. There's some people who are like, I don't know, I just went and got to work and these other people have these other things going on and they've got this. And I don't, am I wrong to just be working?

Like, should I have thought about this more? And the Proverbs is like, no, you can keep thinking about it. You might could change careers. The best way to get a job is to already have a job, but don't feel bad about working. It's actually really good. That's what it says.

Proverbs 13, 11, wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. The truth is, if you get a lot of money really fast, you probably have not built up the wisdom to handle a lot of money. And so it goes away very quickly. Look at professional athletes. Look at people who get big inheritances or win the lottery. Many of them go broke because they gained it quickly and they didn't know how to handle it.

But wealth gathered little by little, whoever gathers little by little will increase it. One of my favorite little YouTube videos is these two guys are, they're in a dark room. They're over this table. It's lit. One guy rolls out this map and he goes, okay, here's the plan. We get jobs at the bank.

Doesn't matter what the job is, just as long as we're in there. And you go to work, do the work, gain their trust, get them in the palm of your hand. This buddy goes, okay, yeah. And how do we get the money? It's like, that's the best part. They deposit the money in our accounts week after week, month after month.

They don't even know they're being robbed. Then 20, 30 years later, we walk out the front door like nothing's ever happened. This friend goes, man, that's a job. But that's what Proverbs is saying to you. Hey, you want to get rich? Cuts the light on?

Start working at the bank. Go there. Do your job. They'll deposit the money in your account. That's it. That's Proverbs wisdom on gathering wealth is get a job, do the job, do a good job, go to work.

20, 30 Years later, walk right out the front door. So get a job. All right. Now we got a job. Now what?

We're getting a paycheck. What do we do with that? And that's some of what we said we would look at last week is what does wisdom do when it gets a paycheck so that we might understand what ought we to do when we get a paycheck? What do we do when we get some money? Proverbs 3, 9 and 10. We'll look at a couple of places, but we'll start here.

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. So this is wisdom referring to some Old Testament law on how the Israelites were taught to handle their money. So God tells them, I'm the one. I'm the one who rescued you. I'm the one who brought you out of slavery.

I'm the one who brought you into a good land. I'm the one who makes things grow. I'm the one who's provided everything you have. So when you have your first bit of your harvest, you bring that to the temple. You present it before the altar. You present it to the priest.

They actually had a whole thing they were supposed to say that this bringing in the first fruits was reciting for them, was practicing for them the reality that he is the one who redeems. He is the one who rescued them. He is the one who provides. And so they had this whole thing where they would have to say, like, my father was a wandering Armenian in the woods. And then he grew, but he went into slavery. But you rescued him out of slavery and you've brought us into a good land.

And it's this rehearsal of God's provision. That's what this idea of first fruits is. Now, there's a catch to first fruits. There are no promise of second fruits. In an agrarian society, you have no control over the weather, whether or not bugs come, whether or not enemies come, whether or not there's enough rain or too much rain, enough sun, too much sun. You have no control.

First fruits is an active participant practice in saying, I trust that you're the one who provides and I trust that you're the one who will continue to provide. And so wisdom says the first thing you do with money is give some back to the Lord, trusting that he's ultimately the one who cares for you. Now, what we are often tempted to do is to give him last fruits. Let me wait and see how it all turns out. Let me wait and see how my bills work out. Let me wait and see till the end of the month, till the end of the quarter.

And then I'll give the Lord what's left over. And what you're doing at that point is kind of looking at the Lord and saying, all right, we'll make a deal with you. You give me to the end and you make it all work out well, you'll get some off the top. But the problem is that's not faith. The only way that we can operate in giving money away and giving money back to the Lord is to actually trust him. And so that's what he calls us to.

And he says, he'll bless that. Now, this has been hijacked by prosperity preachers. Talk about seed money and, you know, prayer rags and sweatshawls and all the stuff that they'll sell you. If you, we watched one time in, in our dorm room in college, I remember Matt and I watching a guy who would, if you send in a certain amount of money, they would hand him a thing and he would pray a recession proof blessing over you. Okay. So that's not what this is saying.

It is saying that he is the one who provides and cares for us and that we're better off in trusting him than in not trusting him. And there are times where the Bible says that he will multiply our seed for sowing. Well, what that means is that when you give, he multiplies your seed for sowing, which means you give so that you can give more. That's what seed for sowing is. It keeps going out, not your seed for eating, but as a reality to the first thing that wisdom does is gives money back. Now, biblically, this would have been called a tithe, which was about 10%.

I would be happy to talk with you more about this. We don't talk a ton about the tithe because the new Testament doesn't talk a ton about the tithe. Jesus mentions it once. He says it's good, but we're in the new Testament era. We don't have a temple. We don't have priests.

We have the church that is meant to gather funds together for caring for each other, for it's okay to pay pastors. It's okay to pay missionaries. It's okay to send them. We're out to do these things. And we just say that we think the tithe is a good mental picture of where God considers what a first fruits would look like, but that we're under grace. And so that if the law meant 10% that we think those who are under grace would probably go above that.

So we just say it's a good picture for you to know, like a benchmark kind of a floor area. And then we would operate in grace. Meaning that at times, if you're under that, he's not coming to smite you, but in general, we ought to be people who believe this. Proverbs 18, 10, 11. This is one of the reasons why we have to do this. The name of the Lord is a strong tower.

The righteous man runs into it and is safe. We spent here time here last week. A rich man's wealth is his strong city, like a high wall in his imagination. And then Proverbs 28, 25 says the same thing a little more simply. It says the greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched. The first thing we're supposed to do with the money is practice trusting the Lord.

And there is a temptation for us to trust our money more than we trust the Lord. And so that's why the Proverbs presses us here. That when we cannot give first fruits back to the Lord, some of what we're practically saying is I just don't really trust you to get me to the end and to make everything work out. And sometimes it's extremely difficult because we have things we have to pay for. We have bills, we have needs. And so we're going to him in faith saying, I trust that you'll make that work.

In Tim Keller's book on Proverbs, it's a devotional on Proverbs. He was talking about this idea and he said there was a farmer who went to his local pastor and he said, hey, my cow just gave birth to calves, gave birth to twins. There's two calves and I'm going to raise them, get them fat, sell them. I'll keep one and give one to the Lord. The pastor's like, sounds good. And then a couple of weeks later, the farmer ran into the pastor again.

He said, oh, I have bad news. I'm sorry, but the Lord's calf died. And Tim Keller says, for many of us, it's always the Lord's calf that dies. That it'll work out as long as it ends up making it to the end, but we'll wait and see. And usually everything encroaches on it. And Proverbs says that's unwise that we should first trust the Lord.

So get a job. When your paycheck comes in, trust the Lord. This means making a plan. This means intentionally doing it. For some of us, it's, you can set it up online to automatically draft out so that you don't have to fight this battle every month. You just set it up and you say, I'm walking in faith on this, but also I'm not going to sit every month and look at it and have to like, some of you need to, you need to get the cash out and look at it and pray over it and stick it in an envelope and bring it over here.

Send it to a missionary. You need to do some of that to fight your soul a little bit so that you might grow in trusting the Lord. Secondly, save some, live simply. Proverbs 13, 22. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous. This is some, some of this is pointing out the principle that God has in the book of Proverbs where he thwarts the plans of the greedy and make sure that money makes it to the hands of the righteous.

That's some of what that's saying. But in general, it's also saying that it's okay to save some money that you ought to save some money. This doesn't have to be lavish, but it's okay to have some money set aside for your children and your grandchildren. I don't think it means that you're not good if you can't, but I think it means that it is a good thing to do. Proverbs 21, 17. Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man.

He who loves wine and oil will not be rich. Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it. Okay. A wise man has precious treasure and oil. A foolish man loves them. A foolish person devours them.

That stung a little bit when I read it because that's how our budget works sometimes. My wife's like, where'd our money go? And I have to be like, I ate it. It went to Bojangles and Eggro Station. It went to Taco Bell. It bought steaks.

It was very delicious, but that's where our money went. I devoured it. That's the reality. Some of you, it's like, where did my money go? Well, you're sitting on it when you watch TV or you're staring at it when you watch TV or you experienced it. You threw axes and rode roller coasters and you have memories that will last a lifetime and no gas to get to work because you devoured it.

But it's okay to have some of those things that it's okay to save. That's the other thing. There's saving for wisdom's sake, for future rainy days, for issues that would come up. It's saving for future enjoyment. And it's okay to enjoy things. It's actually wrong of us for God to bless us and us to never enjoy those things.

That was actually one of the rules in the law as well, that they would gather up some of what God had given them and show up to the temple just to enjoy it in front of him. They were supposed to show up and go buy the things they enjoyed to enjoy God's good blessing. If you gave a gift to a child and they said, I love this so much, I will never touch it. No, it's okay to enjoy it. But that can't be all you do with your money.

And that tension, that idea of saving versus spending is the thing that roommates clash over. You have one roommate that gets their paycheck and they just want to save it. They've got reasons why they're saving it, but they don't want to go do anything. And their other roommate's going, please, you have a job. What's the point of having money if we can't ever go do anything? Married couples do this.

One of them is going, you're so irresponsible. We need to hide that money in our mattress. And the other one's going, I don't want to work a job if I can't ever eat bacon. If we can't ever go do anything. And the reality is both of them are right. There's wisdom and enjoyment and worship and enjoyment, not only enjoyment, not loving it more than we love the Lord.

And there's wisdom in saving and worship and saving, trusting the Lord and being saving, not only for ourselves, but for others. And also knowing that if I don't save later, I'll be a burden on my church family because something will come up and I won't be ready to handle it because I'll have already devoured all of it. There's also potential sin in enjoyment. But I actually think that Jesus isn't that enjoyable. So I have to spend all my money on things that are right in front of me.

And there can be sin in saving, which is I don't really trust him to care for me. And the only way I feel safe at night is to wrap myself in the security blanket of how many zeros I have in the bank. Proverbs 17, 18. One who lacks sense gives a pledge and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor. Proverbs 22, 7. The rich rules over the poor and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

We have been sold on the idea that credit is amazing because you can have the stuff now and pay for it later. But the reality is you've become an indentured servant. You are paying someone else with your active labor for things that you already have. Your money is already spoken for when it shows up. Proverbs 22, 26, and 27. Be not one of those who gives pledges, who put up security for debts.

If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you? We've been sold that debt is a good thing and there are some forms of investment debt, specifically in how our culture works, that I think are okay. I'm not sold that debt is just sin, but I am sold that debt is unwise and potentially very unwise. And there are some people who are so in debt that they cannot listen to the call of God. They say, I would go be a missionary, but I have so much debt. I would do these things that God's calling me to, but I have too much debt.

There's reality of we've at times over spent and over enjoyed. The average American household consumer debt is $90,000. That includes college and houses. The average credit card debt is $6,000 and it gets higher the more money you make. So it's not that these are people who couldn't pay their bills.

So they had to put it on a credit card because the more money you make, the more debt you go into, the higher the tax bracket, the higher the debt, which is a little stair step, which means I'm making more money so I can spend more money. Pastor J.R. Vassar had this quote and I thought it was extremely helpful. He says, when we lose the transcendent, all we're left with is the imminent. The transcendent is this idea that I can be drawn up into the light with the Lord, that I can see him as above me and better than me, that I can be caught up in worship. But when we lose that, all we have is what's right in front of us, what we can see, what we can taste, what we can touch.

And therefore we're left with experiences. We're left with pleasures. We're left with things that we can consume and participate in because we've begun to worship what's right in front of us. And this is one of the reasons why we outspend how much we make and we are in debt and we are unable to live simply. And those who follow Jesus ought to look different. Get a job, trust the Lord, save some and live simply.

Another thing would be to avoid debt or to pay off your debt. So you can be generous and use your wealth for the good of others. A very wise Uncle Ben, not the rice one, but the Spider-Man's uncle, told Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility. I think Jesus said it better. And first, Luke 12, 48, he says, everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required. And from him to whom they entrusted the much, they will demand the more.

This idea that if God entrusts us with things, there's greater accountability and requirement. And so one of the reasons that we are blessed and one of the reasons that the righteous are blessed with finances is so that they can be generous to the poor. Proverbs 14, 31, whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. Whoever mocks the poor insults his maker. He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. There's a temptation for us to moralize money so that everyone who is rich is greedy.

Those fat cats up on Wall Street, they're evil, they're wicked. Or everyone who's poor is lazy. They're not willing to work. They're scum. They make society worse. And the proverb says, no, it's more nuanced than that.

Yeah, the proverb says there is wickedness. It says one of the ways to get rich is to be violent. It also says you can get rich through wisdom, through righteousness, through the Lord's blessing. It talks a lot about how those who are wealthy can use their wealth for wickedness and to grow in sin. It does say that poverty causes laziness. I'm sorry.

Laziness causes poverty. That you can be poor because of a lack of self-control. You can be poor because of addiction. But you can also be poor because of catastrophe, economic downturn, layoffs, storms. It also says that you can be poor through oppression. There was a way for the poor to make money, but the rich took it away from them.

But it tells us that the righteous and the wise are not running around discerning who's poor and why. They're just being generous to the poor. And it says it over and over and over again. Proverbs 21, 13. Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself cry out and not be answered. Proverbs 28, 27.

Whoever gives to the poor will not want. That means lack. We'll have everything provided for them that they need. But he who hides his eyes will get many a curse. Proverbs 19, 17. Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his deed.

11, 24. One gives freely yet grows all the richer. Another withholds what he should give and only suffers want. 12, 24. I mapped out on my whiteboard in my office every place that Proverbs talked about money. And I put them in categories.

And by far, the thing that Proverbs has the most to say about money is use it to be good to the poor. Over and over and over again. And I narrowed it down to a handful of them that I think are helpful. Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his deed. God cares for the poor, provides for the poor. And if you're generous to the poor, it's like you're lending to God.

It's like you're handing money to him and God sees it and repays. Sometimes here, sometimes eternally. Just for the record, eternally is better. Because you get it for longer. Just throwing that out there. Helping you know how time works.

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer. Another withholds what he should give and only suffers want. One of our biggest pushbacks to giving away money is that I can't afford it. And the Proverbs says, yeah, you can. You can give away freely and grow all the richer. The Lord will repay those who give away.

You can afford it. This ought to be a part of our budget. Just to give you some pictures of what the law helped them understand how much it meant. They were supposed to never glean all their fields all the way to the edges. They were always to leave the edges of their fields ungleaned. So that the poor could have something.

So that you weren't supposed to take advantage of all of your incoming wealth. Every seventh year. So you would keep your fields for six years. And on the seventh year, you weren't supposed to mess with them at all. So that the poor could use your fields and get whatever they could get from them.

So that they were told to consistently be ready to give to the poor. And then over the course of seven years, give about one-seventh of their income to the poor. Now, we pay taxes, which helps. And that's okay. But if the tax situation weren't as it were, the church would be called to provide for the poor across the board 100%.

So there are some of us who fight really hard so that our taxes are lower so that we don't have to do all these subsidies and handouts. But the reality is if we work to get those all paid down so that we don't do that in our taxes, your money should show right back up in handing it out to the poor. So I would encourage you to find something to give to. There are a lot of arguments for how you can read the book, How Helping Hurts. There are some ways that we can give that aren't helpful, that promote continued laziness and addiction. I understand that.

But there are ways to give. Don't use that as an excuse to guard your money. Use that as some wisdom to get it in the right hands in the right way. God's Helping Hands is right down the road. Our church helps support them, but you can help support them. They help pay bills and give food.

Oliver Gospel Mission across the river. They help with homelessness. His house helps men who are alcoholics get a job and get back on their feet. Compassion International. You can foster. One of the ways that we do this as a church is we help give money to Midtown Two Notch in downtown because they planted a church where the average household income is $19,000.

Not the average single income. The average household income is $19,000. And so in order for them to have a full-time pastor and somebody to be able to minister over there, they're not going to be able to pay. So we gather with some other churches to help support so they can have full-time work over there. Find something. Vet some organization and give some money to it.

All right. Y'all ready for some pie charts? I know y'all were hoping there would be some pie charts. Boom. Boom. Pie chart.

All right. So I did really even Numbers. So don't get super caught up on the Numbers. But let's say your income was $50,000. Household income $50,000. When money comes in, you're going to have to pay some taxes, but your first fruits would be right at 10%.

It's just a good starting place understanding how that would work. Then you would save some or you would pay down debt or both. So over the course of the year, you would save some money, and then you would live off the bulk of it. That's that blue section. That's paying bills, wearing clothes. At this rate, depending on how single or married or childrened up you are, depends on how thrifty you are.

And then you give some. I just put $100 a month. Like you're getting into this. You're figuring out how to do this. Depending on what you have, you would make this. But that's it.

Those are kind of the buckets of how you would put money and save and debt retirement are together. Let's say you work harder, get a promotion, marry a sugar mama, and your income goes up to $100,000. Again, just super level Numbers. What can happen is this. You'll notice the pie chart did not change. The Numbers just increased.

But the reality of what I think the Proverbs is calling us to is that as money comes in, the percentages also change. So that instead of it just being first fruits $10,000, save $10,000, live off of $77,600, and give $2,400 away, which you give more away, you doubled everything, but the percentages are the same, then it would actually start looking more like this the more money you got. That your giving would grow because your ability to live off of that amount. You were already living off a certain amount, so you learned how to live off of that. That eventually the wise might grow to the place where they've learned how to live.

Because what we've been taught in society, yeah, so then they get a raise of $15,000 over the course of a year, and that just cranks up what they give away. Trusting the Lord provides, trusting the Lord increases, trusting the Lord cares for them. The reality that our culture has taught us is that as your income grows, your lifestyle needs to grow. Your house needs to get bigger, your vacations need to get nicer, your clothes need to get nicer, that you level up continually. And the reality is if you get a big raise, yeah, I think it's perfectly fine to say, hey, thank you, Lord. We're going to use some of this for enjoyment, thanking the Lord that he provides for us.

But the reality of the way the Proverbs calls us to handle money is that the more that comes in, the more that ought to begin to go out. If you only make $40,000 a year, most of your money needs to be spent on living. It's just how it works. But if you're making $250,000 a year, you can live well inside of that and give a lot of money away. Trusting the Lord, lending to the Lord, that he blesses it, that he provides for it, and that he gives money to the righteous so that they might produce life in the world. If you are thinking, okay, I really need to figure out how to make a budget.

I know many of us are just like, this all sounds nice. I understand that Proverbs has given me some wisdom, but I need some practical help. I got three practical helps for you. Two of them are books. The Treasure Principle and Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, I would encourage both of these books. I would encourage you to read both of them.

Because what Total Money Makeover is going to do is he gives you practical steps to save some money, to get a budget. He has budget help in there. It's very straightforward. And the Treasure Principle is going to go through – it's a fairly short book, but it's going to go through a lot of the principles that the Bible has about giving your money away. So what Dave Ramsey teaches is learn how to handle your money well now so that you can be ludicrously rich later, rolling in the dough like Scrooge McDuck.

And actually, Dave Ramsey's a good place to start if you don't have a budget. But you need Randy Alcorn to tell you, yeah, that's not super biblical, that rolling in the money thing. And so let's talk about some better ways to use it that are more eternally minded. And so I would encourage you to read both. I would also encourage you to talk with our finance team. They are called Toast.

So Treasury Oversight and Sustainability Team. They named themselves that when we first started as a church plant because they said if they didn't do their job, we were toast. We agreed. They've done their job, and we're not toast yet. But we have a toast team that would – they will set up time with you to look at your money and help you make a budget and a plan.

And the truth is you'll be a little mad at them when you leave because it's your money and your heart's all wrapped up in it. And they're going to look at your thing and go, why are you spending that much money on that? And you're going to be like, hey, why are you all up in my business? And it's like, because you invited me to help. Oh, yeah, I remember. But it's helpful.

So those would be my three encouragement. You can email finance at millcitycasey.com and set that up. You can also just talk to me afterwards, and I'll get you in contact with somebody. All right. Basil the Great, AD 39 through 379. He says this.

He was a church leader in the early church. He says, the bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry. The coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it. The shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes. The money which you hoard up belongs to the poor. Therefore, as often as you were able to help others and refused, so often did you do them wrong.

Jesus loves the poor, and he calls on us to love the poor. So get a job. Trust the Lord. Save some and live simply so that you can be generous and use your wealth for the help of others. Now, if you're like me, the Proverbs are getting pretty annoying. They're helpful.

But I haven't been getting high marks. I haven't been reading through the Proverbs, and it's just been like a highlight reel of all my awesomeness. I keep going through this, and it's like, Ted, comment? I would have told you I was wise before this, but I'm doing some dumb things. Anger, words, which was an unfun sermon. Money.

I hadn't even enjoyed preaching these. It's like I've had to repent all week long. I'm having to have conversations with my wife about our budget. It's not... The only one I did well on was the womanhood sermon. I was...

But we're coming out of this going, oh, my goodness. I got another thing I got to work on. I got something else that I'm having problems with. I got... Huh. I want to tell you all something to make sure that we're thinking about this right.

We're Christians. Christians. I taught my son when his younger brother was first born. I had to cut the grass some, and I would need my three, four-year-old to help keep an eye on his little brother. But he's not able to do anything other than just check on him.

So I'd have the front door open. I'd be cutting the grass. I told him he can't just run up on me. So I taught him a signal. It was pretty subtle. It was this.

That's the signal. Come on the front porch and do that till I see you. I will quit cutting the grass. I'll come inside. All the signal meant was, I need you. That's it.

Stop what you're doing. I need you. The reality is every time we run into one of these situations where we're seeing what obedience looks like, what wisdom looks like, and we aren't there, all we're doing is looking at Jesus and going, this is a place I need you. This is a place where I don't actually believe that you're better. This is a place where I don't actually believe that you're more enjoyable. This is a place where I don't actually trust that you're good.

And the reason we want to get rid of these places is not so that we have more of us, not so that you can leave the Proverbs series being more puffed up in your own strength, but so that we might lay those things down and have what is actually good, Jesus. That's why we repent of sin. That's why we root it out. That's why we grow in these things. That's why when he says to you, you're handling your money wrong, and we want to hold so tightly to it, the reality is if we could just put that down, we'd get something better. Him.

And so in these moments when we're seeing these things, we're saying, Lord, I need the gospel to penetrate my heart here. I don't really believe it yet. I don't really believe that you'll satisfy. So I have to chase all these other things. That's why I'm in debt. I'm looking for other things to satisfy.

I don't really believe that you'll protect me. That's why I'm trusting in my money. I don't really believe that you'll cover upcoming expenses, and you'll know that they're coming, and that you're sovereign and you're good. And I also kind of believe that you'll lead me into some difficult situations, and I don't really believe that in those difficult situations, I'll get more of you, and they'll be better. I just don't want the difficulty. We ought not leave beat up, and we ought not leave puffed up.

We ought to leave our sin and be wrapped up in the work of Christ, that we are free, and that He is good, and that He is delightful, and that He redeems. That's why we sing to Him. That's why we praise His name. That's why we say we just want Him, because He ultimately is good. So yes, we repent of sin.

Yes, we grow in wisdom, so that we might have that which is actually better to have. So I don't know for you what it is. I don't know if firstfruits is the immediate thing that you're just like, I can't do that. I just can't. Then wave your arms at Jesus and say, I don't trust you, and I need to believe the gospel more.

I don't know if it's, I don't want to get a job. I don't want to just get any Job. Maybe you have your identity wrapped up in a job, and can I tell you, it's not going to give you a good identity. Jesus gives you a better one. Maybe it's just apathy. You don't think you have much to bring.

You don't see the good effort and work in the world, and you need to wave your hands at Jesus and say, I just don't really believe that you've created everything good, and that you've redeemed it, and that you're working in this. Maybe you can't live simply, and you need to just wave your arms and say, Jesus, I don't find you that satisfying. Please let me learn to rest and trust and enjoy you. You say there's pleasures at your right hand forevermore. Let me believe that. Maybe it's that you can't, you only want to save, and that you just fear and doubt, and security is found in money for you, that you trust in it more than the Lord.

Maybe giving money away hurts you. I want to show you off something. This is 2 Corinthians 8, 9. It says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. Some of us are just struggling with the idea that all we really needed from Jesus was a handout. Not some good coaching.

Not some wisdom so that we could get it together. Not just, hey, just watch me for a little while, and then give me like three tips, and I got this. But Jesus, I don't have anything if you don't show up. And he who had all strength, and all power, and all glory, and all wisdom, and all riches, and all wealth, gave it up, was stripped, was beaten, was naked, bled out, was buried, and rose again, so that by his poverty we might become rich. And you are if you were in Christ. That's why we respond with money the way we're supposed to respond with it.

Because I'm already rich in Christ. Money can't give me anything that I don't already have. And I'm just practicing what I already believe, which is that Jesus, by his strength, used it for my good, so I get to use it for the good of others. And that I trust him, and that he's good, and that I can follow him in all of life. So as we walk through the Proverbs, repent!

Not so that you can be better, and present yourself to Jesus as glorious. No! He presents you as glorious through his atoning work on the cross. Repent so that you might enjoy Jesus. And for some of us today, that means money. But can I tell you, he's better.

Matt and Carson are going to come back up, and we're going to sing to Jesus because he's better. May we believe that he's better. God, we ask that you would help us to trust you, to get you, to get rid of these things so that we might have you. Lord, we thank you that you used your riches to make us rich. That you used your strength to make us strong. That you used your power to give us hope and a future.

You do not call on us to be rich, or to be powerful, or to have strength. You don't call on us to get it together and to be good, but you call on us to come to you knowing that you are good. So Lord, help us to get to work. Help us to respond with righteousness as you increase our wealth. So that we might grow in delighting in you, and sharing your life and your goodness and your grace with the world.

Lord, make the people in this church family rich in spiritual blessings. Make us rich in finances. So that we can send more missionaries. So that we can care for the poor well in Casey. Make us rich so that we can multiply life and righteousness through the way that we handle it. And Lord, by your grace, if we are not ready to handle it, keep us right where we are.

Until we learn to love you more than money. God, we thank you for your grace, and we thank you for your spirit, and may we have more of you. Get rid of everything that's in the way of that. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.