Pastor Phil Burdoin
May 1, 2022
You’ve heard the expression “Money Talks.” It means there is power and influence when you have money. It means if you’re the person with the most money in the room then you are going to get your way.
But we are looking at it from a slightly different angle. What if money really did talk? What if it could actually talk to us? What would it say? What would it want to tell us about it itself? Would it use old trite expressions like “I can never buy happiness” or “a penny saved is a penny earned?” Or would it have something more profound to teach us, would it tell us something more serious about itself?
As you examine the gospels what do you find were the two things Jesus talked about the most? Money and hell, booth things we don’t like talking about but they are real truths and if Jesus spend so much time talking about them then we should study closely what he had to say. It’s true Jesus spend a lot of time talking about money, but maybe for a different reason than you’re thinking. You know Jesus talked a lot about money not because of what he wants from you but what he wants for you.
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “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?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:13-21
Watch out when it comes to greed.When you are taught to drive a car, you are taught to drive defensively. Be on your guard, staying vigilant, watching for something that might cause an accident. That’s what Jesus is saying here. Stay vigilant, watch out when it comes to greed. Because it can sneak up on you, you can fall into it if you are not actively trying to prevent it.
Build wealth somewhere else.God called the man in the story a fool for building up wealth solely for the purpose of making his life on earth comfortable.
It wasn’t because he wanted to support himself in his retirement years it wasn’t because he wanted to share that wealth or make other people’s lives better. No. God calls him a fool because he thought that having all that wealth would allow him to sit around and live the party lifestyle. Eat, drink, and be merry. God says, “you fool!” “That’s foolish.”
“Enough” is a heart issueIf your heart’s desire is to know and follow Jesus Christ than “enough” becomes a heart issue. This means it’s less about your income or your retirement account balance or even how much stuff you have and more about where your heart is, where your desire is.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23
Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep. I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit. Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.
Ecclesiastes 5:10-15
Satisfaction only comes from one place, a heart that’s fixed on God’s grace.Learn to say, “I have enough.” Focus on the future. Bottom Line: Satisfaction only comes from one place, a heart that’s fixed on God’s grace.
