Today, Pastor Jack teaches that we live in a culture that places so much pressure on finances that we tend to overextend ourselves. Money can blur our vision, give us false hope, and can even change our hearts towards God.
The post What’s Wrong With Money? – A first appeared on Pastor Jack Hibbs.
Why does the river dry up? There could be a thousand answers to that question. But how is it in your life? And you can stand back and point to all of these reasons why you think your river is drying up of income. But the fact of the matter is, maybe God is just doing something in your life.
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This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible.
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Hey everybody, brand new year. Listen to this. What a promise. Psalm 65, 11, God there announces that his paths drip with abundance and he makes his way prosperous. So listen, draw close to God, enjoy the new year in Christ, celebrate him every day and everything that you do. Listen, let God’s work in your life be an incredible witness to other people. Bring them along. Bring them along with you into the kingdom of heaven. Love on them. Listen, the people in your life who are not Christians, start treating them like a Christian. Watch what happens. Share the joy of the Lord because you can. And exalt in his liberty and freedom because he’s given it to you. Let’s have an awesome new year in Jesus Christ together. Amen.
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on today’s edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues his series called The Book of James with the message titled, What’s Wrong With Money? Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was a letter sent to those Jews who chose to follow Christ. But as new Christians, they really needed some wisdom when it came to money. You see, whenever we get our eyes off the blesser and look to the blessings, well, that’s when we’re bordering on idolatry. The pursuit of money can destroy our faith. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that we live in a culture that places so much pressure on finances that we tend to overextend ourselves. Money can blur our vision. It gives us false hope and can even change our hearts towards God. Now with a message called, What’s Wrong With Money? Here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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Christian already needs to be prepared for trials and difficulties in this life. That when they come to the Christian’s life, it does not mean that God has turned His back on us. It doesn’t mean that God no longer loves us. It doesn’t mean that God is angry with us. But in fact, difficulties in life come to the Christian. or the perfecting, or for the completing, and this sanctification work of the Spirit bringing us to maturity. We will never grow up as a Christian without trials, as much as we hate them. We need to realize that God has, in fact, planned them. And so, with that, we can kind of relax. Because everything that comes to our lives, will you remember this? Everything that comes to our lives… is first filtered through the Father’s hands. We can boast about that as a Christian. The non-Christian world, that’s another story. God is trying to get them to give up on this world saying to come to Christ and know Him as Lord and Savior. In verses 5 through 8, James taught us that we need to have wisdom regarding trials. And I don’t know how it is in your life, but when a trial comes to me, I want to know, what’s this all about? How am I going to make it through? And what exactly is God trying to do in relation to this trial in my life? I mean, that’s nine-tenths of the victory. If I know what he wants to do, I can, in my stubbornness, lay a little bit more still on the spiritual surgical table as he works on me. If I don’t know, then I’m flopping around and asking questions and goofing off, not really taking advantage of this thing that God has engineered for me, and that’s a trial. I need wisdom to conduct myself in a trial. And so he said to us last week, we are to ask God for wisdom. And it’s free for the asking. Our problem is we don’t often ask. Oh, God, give me wisdom. God, give me understanding. Lord, help me to get through this. So in your own life, you can just pull out a piece of paper, you know, and just jot down, these are the problems of my life. And then you superimpose God’s presence on those problems and ask Him for wisdom and how to live through them and how to deal with them. And now this morning we come to verses 9 through 11, and he’s still talking about trials in our lives. He’s going to do this for quite a few more verses, actually. But in verses 9 through 11, he’s going to be speaking to us about our conduct regarding a certain status within the church. Look what he says, verse 9. Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation. but the rich in his humiliation. Because as a flower of the field, he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than the grass withers, the flower fails, and the beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. James just brings up this next spiritual shotgun. Cox that thing and he’s going to get us with it. He’s going to teach us. And you know what he’s going to teach us about? Everything in the construction of these three verses are all in the context of wealth, of money, and of status among brothers and sisters in Christ. So the title of the message this morning is, What’s Wrong With Money? What’s wrong with money? Well, can anything be wrong with money? Oh, yeah. There can be a lot wrong with money. What is wrong with money? I know what’s wrong with money. I never have enough of it. That’s what’s wrong with money. We might be like Tevye. You ever watch Fiddler on the Roof? Rent it. What a great movie that is. And Tevye, he’s there and he’s talking to God. And he’s saying, Lord, you know, we’re hardly able to make it. It’s so difficult. It’s so hard. And this time that we’re having, so trying. And he says, you know, Lord, he goes like this. He says, God, you say that money’s a curse. So I pray you’d smite me with it. And a lot of Christians are saying, oh, God, you know. If I just could win the lottery, you know, I’ll give money to your work. I’ve heard that a thousand times. Lisa tells me that all the time. No, I’m kidding. Just joking. But if I just, you know, if my ship came in, oh, what I could do for the kingdom of God. Listen, the fact is, what’s wrong with money? There’s a lot wrong with money. It’s not so much that money itself is evil. Did you know that? Money is amoral. It’s not good and it’s not bad. The difficult thing regarding money is that it is an instrument that executes our will. Are you aware of that? Money allows us to express ourselves in our true pursuits and desires. Paul said in 1 Timothy 6, verses 6-10, he says, “…Godliness with contentment is great gain, and with having food and clothing we should be content. For those who desire riches expose themselves to many various temptations that drowned men in perdition and in destruction.” who, some having embarked upon that path, have been shipwrecked of faith. The pursuit of money can destroy your faith. And that is a warning. What’s wrong with money? There doesn’t have to be anything exactly wrong with money. What’s wrong, really, is our hearts. And there is enough in this message to offend all of us here this morning about money. We don’t want to talk about money unless we’re going to get some of it. We don’t want to talk about money, especially if somebody wants it from us. We don’t want to talk about money. It’s a private thing. We spend our money the way we want to spend our money. And God, you just be there on Sunday and I’ll do this the rest of the week with our money. Oh no, that’s wrong. We can’t name the name of Christ and take what God blesses us with and completely do it to our own benefit. So what’s this thing about money? By the way, if you’re visiting Calvary for the first time, I have figured something out today that this is the first time we’ve talked about money in seven years. So if you’re visiting, you say, well, they talk about money. Well, you’ve picked the… Come back in seven years, you’ll probably hear it again. What’s wrong with money? The first thing that we notice what’s wrong with money, first of all, in verse 9, is that it places financial pressure on people. It places financial pressure on people. And if you have money, you might be saying, so what? And God wants to speak to you about that attitude right now. The Bible says in verse 9 here of James chapter 1, Let the low brother glory in his exaltation. Look at verse 10, But the rich in his humiliation, because as the flower of the field he will pass away. Verse 9 is our first point. That what’s wrong with money is that it places financial pressure upon people. It’s not supposed to do that. The pressure comes from this. It says here in verse 9, let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation. The word lowly has three definitions in the Greek. It’s one little word in English, lowly. But the word means this in the Greek language. Number one, that there’s a river. The word pictures a river that’s drying up. There’s no longer any water flowing by you. Of course, in the context, it’s money. There’s no more money coming in. The next meaning of the word lowly in the Greek is that it causes depression. So you could read, let the depressed brother glory in his exaltation, or let the brother that doesn’t have an income any longer glory in his exaltation. And the third meaning is, let the brother be humble and glory in the exaltation. Humility… There’s depression and there’s the understanding that our ship not only didn’t sail, it sunk. And doesn’t that describe the dilemma that so many people are in? If you don’t have money, we so often get depressed. Now the Bible here is not condoning the fact that as a Christian, we should be depressed when things are bad and up when things are good financially. It’s just honestly recognizing the fact that we are prone to depression when we don’t have money. because we can’t maybe do the things we want to do, or we can’t live like we want to live, or whatever the case might be. But it speaks about the river drying up. Why does the river dry up? There could be a thousand answers to that question. But how is it in your life? And you can stand back and point to all of these reasons why you think your river is drying up of income, but the fact of the matter is, maybe God is just doing something in your life. It could be that we’ve mismanaged something, but God is not pointing fingers here. He’s acknowledging the fact that they are among the brethren here in Christ, the sisters, that there are those who are not doing well financially. And what are we to do? First of all, if that’s us personally, if we are experiencing this lowliness, we don’t need to be depressed and we’re not really even poor. What in fact is going on, God has placed us who are poor, all of us, depends upon the culture, you know. You know, we’re all like very rich here, you know. I don’t feel very rich. I was in Mexico this week. We’re starting a Calvary Chapel there. We’re rich. Do you have clothes on? Please say, yes, you do. You’re rich. Are you hungry right now? Oh, yeah. Well, you’ll in a moment satisfy your hunger at a restaurant or at home. You’re rich. You know, nine-tenths of the world, they go to bed hungry, not having enough food. We have been so blessed in this country. We need to be content with that. Godliness with contentment is great gain. But we live in a culture that places so much pressure on finances. How much money can I get out of this thing? How much money can I get for this? How much money in this money-driven society? And it’s sad to say there are many, many churches that are money-driven churches. That’s how they conduct themselves. Rather than focusing on God and letting God supply the need, I love Pastor Chuck has always said in Chuck chapter 1 verse 1, It’s when God guides, God provides. And if a church would operate under that simple rule, it would do so much better. And you might say, amen, may the church always operate like that. And all of us want to say amen to that. And I want to ask you, James wants to ask you this morning, how are you doing in your private life? How are your finances privately? How do you conduct yourself? According to Proverbs chapter 3, the Bible tells us there, around verses 8 or 9 or so, that we are to honor God with the first fruits of our increase. We are to give to God the first portion. In fact, in the Hebrew mind and understanding, if you get milk from a cow, you give God the best part of the milk. If you get grain from the field, you give God the best grain. That’s the first fruits. The most choice. But we live in a culture that has driven us to this brink of overextending ourselves. And we can’t give God any glory at all in relation to money. In fact, we don’t control our money, many people. The money controls us. And we’re driven back and forth.
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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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We live in a time that is most radical. The United States at this moment, it’s rather alarming if you know the long-term picture. But America right now is experiencing incredible financial freedom right now. And many people are benefiting from that. According to statistics, we’re making money, all of us. And you’re putting more money aside in savings right now, aren’t you? Are you? That’s what they tell us. I’d like to see some of this happen, but the stock market almost from week to week is what? Breaking records. It’s amazing. People are making a lot of money. The society we live in with that, we have a tendency to lean upon that money and to trust in that money. And I’ve got to confess something to you. This is terrible to say publicly. But I already have the last three services, so I’ll continue to blow it in this one. I remember not too long ago going out to the mailbox to look for a certain envelope. Because years and years ago, I was able to buy a lot of stock actually at the time in a company that… To the glory of the Lord, it’s done very well. And so there’s the statement that comes. So I go out there, and I grab the envelope, and I look, and it took me like what felt a month to make it back to my front door because the stock didn’t do that well. And I’m like this. And then the following day, statement came in the mail, and I opened it up at the mailbox, and I almost fell into the gutter with joy and delight. I jumped to my feet, and I danced all the way into the house. Why? Because it was a very good, good performance of that stock. And I got in the house, and I said, oh, man, look at this. And the Lord said, you bum. Look at you. You carnal thing, you. You couldn’t rejoice when you lost, you know, some money last time, but now you’re all happy because you made some money. Where’s the joy? And I felt about this big when he said that, you know. Lord, you’re right. In our Christianity, a brother comes into the church of a low degree. Are we connected to him because he has money or he doesn’t have money? Should that even be a thought in the church? Never. It should be stricken from the record of our mind. Do the rich sit on one side of the church and the poor on the other side and maybe the middle class in the middle? James says be careful because there’s chief seats in places and will you give the chief seats to them? Jesus made reference of that as well. James says in James 2, verse 6, he says, don’t the rich, don’t they arrest you and sue you and take you to court? Have you ever noticed a poor man who’s been humbled by his depravity? He doesn’t push a shopping cart by and say, I’ll see you in court next week, brother. Oh, no, he won’t do that. He’ll get a call from my attorney. He doesn’t have an attorney. Can’t afford one. But the Bible says the rich sue us. The rich take us to court. Now, is it a sin to be rich? Absolutely not. Is it a sin to have so much? No, it’s not. It’s how we govern them. It’s how we manage it. Now, I want to say this loud and clear. There are people in every body that I’ve ever had the experience to know, both locally, here, and around the world. In every church that names the name of Christ, there is always at least one brother or sister who’s financially strapped and needs that body. And this is a theory of mine. I think God sends Christians like that to a church so that they can be almost like litmus paper to test the hearts of the believers. Oh, says the Bible, if you see your brother in need and you’re not giving the things that he needs, you’re a scorn concerning the word of God. Be warm and be filled, we would say to him, but we don’t give him the wherewithal to be warm or to be filled. Oh, you guys are in need, huh? Yeah, we lost our job and we’re losing everything. Oh, wow, I’ll pray for you. Well, that’s nice, but how about giving me a hamburger? I can’t eat your prayers. I do want you to pray, but my stomach’s rumbling right now. When we say, I’ll pray for you, we need to hand them something and say, I’m going to pray for you. That’s Christianity. This is what James is talking about. When a brother of low estate comes into the fellowship, first of all, that brother needs to know and that sister needs to know that God has highly exalted that person. That they may be going without in this world, but God says, you know what? You think you’re poor, but you’re in fact rich. You’re at least rich in faith. You’re coming in this trial, in this difficulty. You have nothing, and yet you worship me. And really, there’s going to be a great reward given to a mind and a heart like that. But we live in a culture that puts so much pressure financially on people. And again, I am not saying that wealth is evil. It’s how we use it and focus on it. We need to be very careful. Jesus is the poor we will have with us always. And in Galatians 6, verse 10, the Bible tells us that as we are given opportunity, we should minister to those who are of the fellowship. They’re in need. It’s very important. We need to be careful because riches can… even affect the way that we think. It puts pressure on people. Why is it that people, they get a little bit of money and it changes their attitude? Have you seen this happen before? I’ve seen this happen. People get a little bit of money and their attitude changes towards people and towards things. I was at a restaurant, and on a day like this, this would be a good time to announce it, I guess. Great restaurant, my favorite. It’s down in Fashion Island in Newport Beach. It’s called the Cheesecake Factory. You ever been there? It’s the best. Great prices, great food, get the Cajun jambalaya. It’s the best. Well, everyone else thinks it’s the best, too, because when you go there, you’ve got to wait an hour or two to get into the building. In fact, they give you these little beepers. When you put your name in there, they give you a beeper. You’re out there walking around forever, then your beeper goes off, and it means it’s time to get to your table. Well, you’re standing in line to get our name on the list. And I’m standing there, and this guy just takes cuts. And he goes, how long is the wait? Hour and ten minutes. And the guy goes, this is all I have right now. He goes, how long is the wait? You know, I don’t know about you, but have you ever been robbed? That’s how you feel. Same feeling. The guy cuts in front of me and goes, how long is the wait? You know what I wanted to do with that guy. How rude. In other words, listen, I can buy you off. I want my name at the top of that list. We live in a society that just bends over for this, keels over. I knew, you know, I was thinking, oh man, I would love to be in that guy’s position right now who’s being bribed with this. People think I’ve got money. I can do this kind of a thing. And it’s a tragic thing. No, the Bible says in verse 10 that the rich needs to be humbled in his humiliation. The poor man can’t do this. But why is it that money comes into the life even of a Christian and they begin to change? You know, one week, you know, you’re talking to them and they have nothing. But, you know, somebody leaves them money and the thing is now they’ve got, oh, we got a check. And they change their attitude. And now they walk like this. Hello. What’s the matter? What? Well, you didn’t walk like that last week. Did you have surgery or something? What is this? No, you know, we… A check. Why are you talking like this? People, so many of us can’t handle money. It begins to alter the way. Well, I’m not going to sit over there. What is wrong with you? And we laugh about this because the thing is we’ve seen it happen. Pressure. There’s the haves and the have-nots, and it should never be in a church. And we are blessed in this body. There are people in this body who have multiple millions of dollars. There are people in this body who have no money at all. And you know what the beautiful thing is? Rarely do they ever know about one another’s case. The beautiful thing about many, many of you as you give, you know, part of your giving goes to a benevolent fund every month to help people stay in their homes or turn on their water or keep their lights on. Abandoned moms with kids can’t put gasoline in the car. These kinds of things you contribute to on a monthly basis and that’s a great thing. But we are to never talk down or look down at a brother or a sister who does not have the financial status that you might enjoy. Paul says in Philippians 4, verse 11 through 13, he says, not that I speak in regard to need. I love the way Paul said that. He says, I want to talk to you about something here in a moment. And by the way, I don’t have need of anything, so I don’t get any ideas. I like that. He says, I have learned in whatever state I’m in to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry. Have you learned? Have I learned to be hungry? I’ve learned how to be full. I haven’t learned how to be hungry. I haven’t had to learn that. I have learned both to abound and to suffer need. In verse 13, he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That’s the key, you know. Do you need money or do you want money? What are our needs and what are our wants? I’m not saying that desires are wrong and the pursuit of pleasures are wrong. It is this. We are a culture given over to it. We are obsessed with it. We are a culture that creates more amusement parks than any other culture in the world because Americans are pretty much bored. And we so often spend money and have nothing to show for it in the end because we’re trying to fill the boredom in our hearts. And God’s got a better way.
SPEAKER 01 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called What’s Wrong With Money? Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Book of James. It’s a series on being doers of the Word of God and not just hearers only. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, hey, everybody. This is Pastor Jack here, and I want to encourage you to get a great book. Now, listen up. I know there’s a lot of books out there, and we certainly do push a lot of books on this program because we want you to grow, and you should have a great library. Well, listen, One Day Nearer is a book written by Steve Miller, a dear friend of mine and a great author, and here’s the kick. It’s a 365-day book. devotion, one for every day, and all of it is themed around being prepared to meet the Lord Jesus Christ, how to be looking for him, how to be walking in light of his return. What are the scriptures that should encourage us? All of this in this fantastic book, One Day Nearer, by my good friend, Steve Miller.
SPEAKER 01 :
Get a copy for yourselves, please, and grow. One Day Nearer by Steve Miller, available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash Real Radio. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
