Powerball
Proverbs • Sermon • Submitted
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· 32 viewsHow much is enough? The relationship we have with money reflects so much about our relationship with God.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The Powerball drawing yesterday was for 314m. I am not sure who won if anybody. Maybe it was one of you! But I really hope not. Is there any adult that hasn’t driven by the billboard or walked by the lotto counter at the gas station and not dreamed a little bit about what it would be like to win the lotto? Maybe even wished for it or said a little prayer?
Well, it turns out that you should be careful about what you wish for. You see, the majority of lottery winners actually wish they never won the thing!
An article about the fate of lottery winners in the NY Daily News explains it like this:
It's more likely you'll get struck by lightning than win the Powerball — but if you do win, there is an even better chance that you'll go broke.
Nearly 70% of lottery winners end up broke within seven years. Even worse, several winners have died tragically or witnessed those close to them suffer.
Edward Ugel, author of the book "Money for Nothing: One Man's Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions," told the Daily Beast of the thousands of lottery winners he's known, few were happy and only a small number lived happily ever after.
"You would be blown away to see how many winners wish they'd never won," Ugel said.
For example,
William "Bud" Post III: Betrayed by his own brother
Just two weeks after winning $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery, Post had blown through $300,000 on a car lot, restaurant and even an airplane — although he couldn't fly. He was $1 million in debt one year after winning.
Not only was he broke and forced to declare bankruptcy, but his own brother was arrested for hiring a man to kill him.
"I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare," he once said of winning the lottery.
Post was later jailed for firing a gun over the head of a bill collector.
He was on food stamps before dying at age 66.
Or how how about Jack Whittaker?
Jack Whittaker of West Virginia was already worth around $17 million when he won a $315 million multi-state Powerball jackpot back in 2002. Whittaker used most of his winnings for good — like building churches and donating 10% to Christian charities.
POWERBALL JACKPOT SO BIG DUE TO RECENT CHANGES IN GAME
He also launched the Jack Whittaker foundation to provide clothes and food to low-income families before his life began to fall apart.
Whittaker was arrested for drunk driving and threatening a bartender after hitting it big. A woman also sued him for groping her at a racetrack. On two separate occasions, thieves robbed him, once outside of a strip club for $500,000 and another for $200,000.
He and his wife divorced after he became an alcoholic. After supplying his 17-year-old granddaughter with a weekly allowance of $2,100 she died of a drug overdose, as did her boyfriend. And Whittaker's daughter later died of unknown causes.
Both Whittaker and his wife said they wished he had torn the ticket up.
How could something so many people dream about be such a devastating thing to those who get it? And it doesn’t have to be through the lottery or gambling. How many people are wrecked by inheritance or even the windfall that comes as the result of hard work?
Well, the way I like to explain it is that money can either be your master or your servant. The choice is yours.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
So, for the Christian this is a big deal and this is a big struggle. I think we can get that on the big picture/philosophical level. But in living that out and applying these truths it is so hard. We need the help of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of His Word to help us. And help us He does.
Now you may say, o boy, here comes the tithing sermon. And let me just say that you will never hear such a thing from me. First, because we will just go through the Scriptures and secondly, because tithing for the Christian is not the challenge. Tithing is just where things start. it is the place of entry level obedience. It is simply obeying what God has said to do. The journey begins with the tithe and takes us to new levels of trust that move us beyond obedience into sacrifice.
So, may the Lord give us eyes to see and expand our vision to see freedom and the joy of God that He offers in how we handle money. So, may we see The Blessing of Money; The Curse of Greed; The Freedom of Generosity
The Blessing of Money
The Blessing of Money
The blessing of the Lord makes rich,
and he adds no sorrow with it.
You may say, what about these lotto winners we just talked about. How is money a blessing? There seems to be much sorrow with it. But do you understand that God owns everything?
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
And He freely shares it with the world. The saved and the lost! Who provides for you today? Your employer; your hard work; your government; your investments? No, it is the Lord who owns it all and provides for you. How do you view this? Do you think it is dependent upon you?
Do you work hard for your money? You should. But what if you viewed it this way…I work hard to glorify the Lord. It is an act of worship. Then the result of your work as worship is that you are making money by the blessing of the Lord rather than by your own devices. Do you ever bend the rules, slack off, lie, cheat, steal, beg, manipulate or don’t pay attention to detail in your work? How does that make you feel?
Remember last week?
Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life,
but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.
The one who conceals hatred has lying lips,
and whoever utters slander is a fool.
“Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
But he does not know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
In the end, and in this life, that type of money making will only bring sorrow. But when you work to the glory of God and depend Him and seek to do quality work then He supplies for you wealth with a blessing. It will bring you peace and fulfillment and prosperity. So that no matter the amount you are satisfied abundantly.
For example, your conscience can be clear and you don’t have to overwork and you can share with others and bless others with your work. That sounds joyful.
Think of wealth as a blessing this way. God created everything; owns everything and made us in His image to be His stewards over his wealth. So, He is the one that made the gold and silver and the oil and the diamonds. He knew they were valuable and gave them to us as a blessing right? As His image bearers and stewards then, we care for His wealth and manage and share it just the way He did with us. And when we see money as His and His blessing to us then we can share it with others and be just in how we handle it.
Why did God make everything this way and share it with us? Because He loves us and is pleased to bless us and see us use His resources wisely and generously.
So He gave us the resources and He gave us the ability to work. To be creative, like Him. There is dignity and blessing and redemptive quality in our work. We express the beauty and worth of our Creator through our work.
A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
But there is the rub isn’t it? To be slack, lazy, cut corners, lie, cheat and steal comes so naturally to us doesn’t it? Because we were made in His image, but sin has corrupted us, broken that image and given us a twisted view of work and money and generosity.
Poverty is not the sin, but laziness is. Poverty can be a result of many things outside of our control, but laziness is a whole other issue. And we reap what we sow. If we are lazy poverty is the result, but even in that we find God’s grace because this cause and effect relationship should point us to a merciful God who didn’t slough off the task set before Him. Indeed, God sent Jesus to do the work that would lead to our salvation and His glory.
He did the hard work of taking on flesh and living a perfect life in spite of the temptations and the sufferings and He finished the work by dying on the cross for your sins. And by being raised again He gave us hope and secured the new life we needed. So, in Him the curse is reversed and work does not have to be just about struggle and toil and leave us empty.
Now we redeemed in Christ can redeem work. We still struggle and toil, but there is purpose and blessing and fulfillment and there can be joy and praise given through our work. Because of Jesus. Because of His work. Because of His salvation.
So, whether you are making a home or running a business or a student or teacher or musician or an employee or a mother and wife your work is valuable and it mean s something to God. And when you work hard for the Lord it makes you rich. It may not make you a millionaire, but by it God will provide for you and you will be made rich in faith and love and good works.
Do you want to make America great again? Do you think it was always great? I do. Because our nation gives us the freedom to work and live unto the glory of God and out of that foundation rose a people who prospered because of their labor and God’s blessing. America didn’t become great out of laziness. And God hasn’t run out of resources to bless us with if we follow in the footsteps of those who built this nation.
Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,
but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.
Work simply pays off. But not just all work. We can work really hard at things that are not fruitful or add value to the world around us. It is so easy to be tempted by chasing fantasies rather than a calling from God.
Wealth gained hastily will dwindle,
but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.
Wealth is not earned through the lotto or an infomercial that promises great wealth in 30 days from real estate and multi-level marketing or the latest greatest craze. Get rich quick schemes are exactly that…schemes to make other people rich and you poor.
Steady plodding, hard work, and a sense of working for something bigger: as an act of worship; providing for your family; for being generous is a sure way to become rich. Because you will not care in the end how much money you make but rather how rich you are toward God.
But to see that we need to understand what it is in our hearts that holds us back and negates the blessings of God. And the opponents we face are fear and greed...
The Curse of Greed
The Curse of Greed
Better is a little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure and trouble with it.
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
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But godliness with contentment is great gain,
What is your greatest treasure? What is most valuable to you? What could you not live without and what would you die for? Would you consider yourself as content?
When we see God as our greatest treasure; that which is more valuable than anything else we could possess then things begin to make sense. Contentment then will come. But we struggle so much because that would mean that we have to dethrone ourselves and put God at the center of our lives and that means giving up control doesn’t it? And that is hard.
But trying to control and manipulate and coerce is for the purpose of our gain. So, people use money and possessions to control others. To “purchase” their love and affection and loyalty. To gain power and influence over others. To gain acceptance and admiration. In the end, to feed our own egos. And that usually then leads to conflict with others.
A greedy man stirs up strife,
but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched.
Greedy people are not satisfied people and then are contentious. They will use and abuse you to get what they want. More, more, more and it makes for conflict with others.
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
They are never satisfied and wanting what others have means you are not loving and cannot love others as you envy and covet.
And our greed leads to corruption and falsehood and stealing.
Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord,
and false scales are not good.
They lead to division and it is criminal! The SEC and FTC and so much of the 1000s of business laws and the agencies of the government are to control corruption and crime in business.
Unequal weights. So you would measure out the money to pay for something against the price based on weight. And the scales used were simply based on trust. An untrustworthy businessman then could cheat and make more money, but look what that does. It breaks down trust. Societies, commerce, government, any relationships are built on trust and where trust is lost so is civility. And then industries, famililes, and ultimately society is broken. And I know it all too well as I have spent 20 years in the financial services industry. Wall Street people don’t have the best reputations just in case you didn’t know.
But my goal is to be a redeeming agent. To serve people and change lives by living out the gospel and applying it to business. We are helping to redeem and reshape not just an industry but also where the flow of money is going so that it goes to companies that contribute positively to the world around them and we are trying to changes hearts and attitudes towards money so that people may be set free and live abundantly by living generously.
The Freedom of Generosity
The Freedom of Generosity
One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
and one who waters will himself be watered.
,
Someone said that no one has ever seen a hearse pulling a uhaul. Meaning that you can’t take it with you. You have also heard it said that he who dies with the most toys wins. Who is right?
More so, I want you to hear the saying “you can’t outgive God”. Do you want to find out if this is true? That is a test isn’t it? What are you trusting in today? Money and wealth or the power of God? I have said many times that the only sure cure for greed is generosity.
In giving, we are set free from the power of money to enslave you and become an idol. When you live with an open hand you are free to see God work in great power and to be involved in the miraculous and the blessings of God. It drives you to trust in God because you have to rely on His supply and not your own. How generous should you be? Maybe that should be answered by asking God just how greedy you truly are in your heart and then asking for an equal willingness to give.
Greed makes you sick and those around. It is a destroyer.
If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees,
miserable, greedy and sick.
– John Steinbeck
But generosity is a balm for the soul. Generosity tunes your heart to what God is doing in the world. Generosity makes you rich in treasures that never fail and never lose value.
How do you grow in generosity? Focus on the gospel. Consider all that was given for you.
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.
And respond! How do you give? Do you have a plan?
DSBC giving plan; personal plan; tithe the business; grow it by 1% a year.
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Our goal should be to become rich toward God. Which way are you going?
Is Christ your greatest treasure? Are life is simply a response to the gospel. Take in the generosity of God that is given in the gospel of Jesus Christ and give out a life of generosity. That is wisdom. That is wealth. And it last forever.