The Christian’s View Of Money And Possessions 8-17-25 AM
I. Some people’s view of money and possessions.
a. You know as well as I do, people view things differently.
i. 2 people can have the same thing or see the same thing and have two totally different opinions.
ii. Oftentimes, the more people you add to the equation, the more varied ideas there are.
b. The same thing holds true with money and possessions.
c. The New Testament reveals to us various ways in which people view their money and possessions.
d. There are those that believe it is all their own.
i. Luke 12:16-19.
ii. Notice all the times personal pronouns were used by this man.
1. “What shall I do?”
2. “My fruits.”
3. “My barns.”
4. “My fruits and my goods.”
5. “And I will say to my soul...”
iii. He believed it was all his and gained all by himself.
iv. No credit is given to God anywhere in his words.
v. There are those like that today.
1. My house, my car, my money.
2. I work hard for my money and I will do with it what I want.
e. There are those that waste their money and possessions.
i. Luke 15:13-14.
ii. He had been blessed with a good amount of money.
1. He had a terrible attitude about money.
2. He was basically wishing his father was dead so he could go ahead and collect his inheritance.
iii. When he got some freedom, he lost it all.
1. His brother would later say that he wasted it with harlots.
2. However he used it, he wasted it.
iv. How many times have we gotten a little money and it was gone before we knew it?
1. Many don’t have good money sense.
2. Others don’t pay attention and, before they realize it, they’ve gone through all that they have.
f. There are those who let their possessions possess them.
i. Mark 10:17-21.
ii. This man was very well off.
1. Not only that, he was an extremely moral man.
2. He followed the Mosaic Law when it came to his treatment of others.
iii. But Jesus knew his problem when it came to being able to be saved was an unholy desire for all of the goods and money he possessed.
iv. So many people today get caught up in what they have and have no desire to share it with others or get rid of it to be right with God.
1. Their goods possess their thoughts.
2. Just look at reality shows like “Hoarders.”
a. Those people have problems.
b. They cannot get rid of anything because they are possessed by their possessions.
g. Then there are those who just want more.
i. Notice the beginning of 1 Timothy 6:9.
ii. There are those whose motivating desire is to be rich.
1. Their number one goal in life is to have a lot of money.
2. The more the better.
iii. It is said of John D. Rockefeller, that when he was asked how much was enough, he said, “Just a little more.”
iv. So many people around us, and even in the Lord’s church, are running after wealth as if it is the great cure-all for what ails them.
v. There is absolutely nothing sinful about money.
1. In fact, money is neither good nor bad itself.
2. Money is a wonderful thing to have and it takes money to live, and it seems like it takes a lot of it.
vi. Where we get in trouble is when getting it is our top priority.
vii. Those that “will be rich,” as used by Paul, are those whose main action in life is to get and accumulate wealth.
II. The fate of those who hold one of these views.
a. The rich man who viewed everything as his and did not acknowledge God was called a fool by God (Luke 12:20).
i. Can you imagine God calling you a fool today?
ii. Notice verse 21 (Luke 12:21).
1. This is exactly how God sees us when we fail to acknowledge Him.
2. His soul was required by God for refusing to see anyone else but Himself.
iii. Our fate will be the same as the rich fool.
b. The prodigal son, who wasted his living, ended up in the pig pen.
i. Luke 15:14-17.
ii. He ended up with nothing, contemplating eating what the pigs ate.
iii. Those who waste what they have, end up with nothing.
iv. What happened to the foolish servant in the parable of the talents?
1. There was a man who was given a large sum of money to do something with.
2. The others who did what they were supposed to do, upon giving an account, were blessed by the master.
3. Notice what was said to the one-talent servant (Matthew 25:26).
4. Then his fate is told us in verses 29-30.
v. When we waste what we have, we lose what little we have left and, ultimately will lose our souls.
c. The rich young ruler went away grieving and lost (Mk. 10:22).
i. When the Lord told the young man to sell all that he had and give it to the poor, it wasn’t because he was sinning by having a lot.
ii. It was because his possessions were his main priority.
1. He knew he had a problem.
2. He knew he lacked something that was keeping him from salvation.
iii. Those that are possessed by their possessions never find happiness, only want.
1. They want a little more.
2. If you aren’t happy with what you have, you won’t be happy with what you don’t have either.
iv. When we trust in our riches and make them our priority, we will be grieving and lost as well.
d. They that want more, that will be rich, end up hurting and destroyed.
i. 1 Timothy 6:9-10.
ii. There are so many temptations that go along with wealth.
1. This is why Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven.
2. Men trust in their wealth and that money won’t get us to heaven.
3. Several friends attended the viewing of a departed friend who all knew to be very wealthy, but the exact dollar amount was unknown.
a. As people are wont to do, one of the friends asked, “How much do you think he left?”
b. A wise friend in the bunch said, “He left all of it.”
iii. You and I are going to take nothing physical with us when we die.
iv. We will take the effects of what we did with what we had.
v. How we use the money and possessions we have will affect where we spend eternity.
III. The correct view of money and possessions.
a. You and I are nothing but stewards or our money and possessions.
b. V.P. Black defined stewardship this way: “that while we live in this world God entrusts into our care certain material things; we use them while we live in this life; we die; we go to the judgment and give an account to God as to how we used them.”
c. You and I don’t own anything; it all belongs to God.
i. Job learned this long ago when God said...(Job 41:11).
ii. The Psalmist understood it (Psalm 24:1).
1. How can it be His?
2. Keep reading (Psalm 24:2).
iii. Notice what David said (1 Chronicles 29:14).
d. If we could ever fully grasp this concept as Christians, preachers wouldn’t have to preach on giving.
i. Elders wouldn’t have to tell missionaries “no.”
ii. Worry wouldn’t have to be in the picture when it came to budget planning time.
e. What would you think about a congregation who oversaw a missionary, and when the missionary, who had gone out to raise funds for himself and had those funds directed to the overseeing congregation, asked for the funds was told, “All you do is ask for money. We aren’t giving you any more of our money?”
i. They received that money from other congregations.
ii. They were to oversee the funds for the missionary, not use it at their discretion.
iii. It was to go for the support of the missionary.
iv. We would believe those brethren to be terribly misguided at best and thieves at worst.
f. Isn’t this what we do to God when we fail to give back liberally to Him that which He has intrusted to us as stewards?
g. If we would learn and understand that we are stewards, giving on the first day of the week would be viewed as a joy and privilege.
h. When we have the proper view of our money and possessions, so much good gets accomplished.
i. More evangelization would take place.
ii. More benevolence would take place.
iii. More edification would take place.
iv. We wouldn’t be losing our young people at the rapid rate we are.
v. Families wouldn’t be torn apart by divorce, of which the leading cause is money problems.