Radical with David Platt
Spending Money Like This World is Not Our Home
As followers of Jesus, we often say that this world is not our home, but is that reflected in the way we view our money? Do we spend our resources on that which will matter for eternity, or are we primarily focused on temporary comforts and pleasures? In this message from David Platt, we’ll learn from the book of Proverbs a wise approach to money, an approach that helps us flourish under God’s design. Neither guilt nor greed should motivate us, for the gospel frees us to use our possessions to store up eternal treasure.
From unexpected olympic champion to martyr in China. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell’s win in the 1924 games.
In Glory Road, Radical’s new narrative podcast, we’ll follow Liddell’s remarkable journey, and discover the current state of the gospel in the countries he knew best.
Start listening to this 6 part series now everywhere you listen to podcasts or find out more at radical.net/gloryroad
As followers of Jesus, we often say that this world is not our home, but is that reflected in the way we view our money? Do we spend our resources on that which will matter for eternity, or are we primarily focused on temporary comforts and pleasures? In this message from David Platt, we’ll learn from the book of Proverbs a wise approach to money, an approach that helps us flourish under God’s design. Neither guilt nor greed should motivate us, for the gospel frees us to use our possessions to store up eternal treasure.
From unexpected olympic champion to martyr in China. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell’s win in the 1924 games.
In Glory Road, Radical’s new narrative podcast, we’ll follow Liddell’s remarkable journey, and discover the current state of the gospel in the countries he knew best.
Start listening to this 6 part series now everywhere you listen to podcasts or find out more at radical.net/gloryroad
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author and teacher David Platt. Once you have a Bible and I hope you or somebody around you does you can look on the way. Let me invite you to open with me to Proverbs, chapter 22. Feel free to use table of contents if you need to Proverbs, chapter 22. As you're turning, I want to welcome those of you in other parts of our church family around Metro DC, as well as some of you online, who are physically unable to be with us today, especially if you're visiting with us. My name is David. I'm one of the pastors here and we are sincerely honored that you are here. I have good news today for everyone who knows Jesus as Lord of your life. Amen. For anybody who has come here today anxious or stressed or worried or tired or exhausted in your life in this world, I have good news. This world is not your home. Amen For anybody experiencing physical struggles, emotional struggles, mental struggles in this world. For anybody who is weary from doctor's appointments or hospital visits, for yourself or for a family member or a friend. I have good news. This world is not your home For anybody who's frustrated or disappointed in political parties and or personalities in this world, I have good news. This world is not your home. For all who are hurting or have been hurt in this world, for all who have been unfairly or unjustly treated in this world, for anybody who's heavy-hearted when you see news headlines of conflict and crime and suffering and war in this world, I have good news. This world is not your home. As followers of Jesus, we rightly cling to and celebrate this good news. This world is not our home. So here's the question I want to ask us today If this world is not our home, then why do we spend our money like it is? Why do we regularly think about how to spend our money in this world and rarely think about how to spend our money on the world to come? And we don't look at stresses or struggles or suffering or pain or heartaches or headlines as if this world is all there is. So why would we look at our finances as if this world is all there is? And what might happen? How might it revolutionize our lives and what our lives count for in this world if we started spending our money like this world is not our own?
Speaker 1:G Campbell Morgan is a British preacher from about a century ago. He said you are not the child of today, you're the child of tomorrow, you're of the eternities. You're the offspring of deity. You belong to the infinite If you make your fortune on the earth poor, sorry, silly soul. Poor, sorry, silly soul You've made a fortune and stored it in a place you cannot hold it. Make your fortune, but store it where it will greet you in the dawning of the new morning.
Speaker 1:I love that, Like a right understanding of who you are and where you belong totally transforms your approach to money in this world. You don't live like the rest of the world lives. You don't approach money like the rest of the world approaches money. So today I want to help you see who you are and where you're going and see how to spend your money on what will matter in this world and in the world to come and think about how important this is, a lot of this series we're in on adulting in real life, as we think about the many high school and college graduates and young adults in our church family, because the world is telling you spend, save, invest, approach money now in a way that will be good for you 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now, when you retire.
Speaker 1:And God is saying that's foolish. Why live for 50 years from now, knowing that a few years after that it's all going to be gone? God's saying I want to help you live 100 years from now and a thousand years from now and 50 million years from now. That's a wise way to live and that's a wise way to spend your money. And now some of you might think well, I don't have a lot of money as a high school or college graduate or a young adult, so maybe this will apply to me when I actually get more money. But the reality is, everything we're going to look at today starts in your heart, regardless of how much money you have. So don't think when I get more money, then I'll live wisely, especially when more wealth in this world is actually prone to make you less wise in this world. Don't underestimate the hold that more money will have on your heart.
Speaker 1:What I want to do is I want us to walk through the book of Proverbs. I want to show you a wise approach to money in this world, according to the God who created this world and who's one day going to usher in a new world, and to be clear when I say wise approach to money in this world. If you take the definition of wisdom that Mike gave us at the beginning of this series about how to flourish in life, what we're going to talk this series about how to flourish in life, what we're going to talk about today is how to flourish through your use of money in this world. So this is not a message about how you need to feel bad or guilty about how you use your money. This is a message about how you can flourish, thrive in this world and in the next, and I'm just assuming you want that. I'm assuming you actually want to flourish in every facet of your life, including your money. So let's listen to God what it means to flourish, how to be wise with our money.
Speaker 1:Also, to be clear, my name is David Platt, not Dave Ramsey. So if you are looking today to have all your financial questions answered, you have the wrong Dave. But if you're looking for clarity on what God says in his word, and specifically the book of Proverbs, about money, hopefully you have the right Dave today, and what that means is you'll likely walk away from the next few minutes with a variety of questions about how this relates to your budget or your savings or your investments or your 401k in this country, in this economic system. But the Bible doesn't actually answer all those questions. Instead, the Bible gives us something much better. The Bible gives us timeless truths about God, about us and about money, that guide how we approach money in any country or any economic situation in any time in history, and the Bible points us to the power we need to live according to those truths. That's what I want to show you today.
Speaker 1:So I want to take I'll put it up here on the screen, if we can get it up there. I'm going to take over a hundred Proverbs, which means wise sayings that deal with money. I'm going to boil them all down to two tips for reading Proverbs about money and nine truths from Proverbs about money that will help you flourish if you take them to heart. So, yes, that is 11 points and I've already taken a good bit of time. So if you're taking notes, write quick. So we're going to start with and, to be clear, we're not, this is not going to be exhausting. We're not going to be able to hit everything. So if you want to stay around for about 12 hours, we could get closer, but for the amount of time we had, we got two tips, nine truths starting with. So the two tips I'm going to do, give you one at the beginning and one at the end. So here's the first tip, the first piece of counsel when reading Proverbs about money. Here it is tip number one Remember that Proverbs were written under the old covenant and we are under a new covenant and we really could spend all day on this one because it's so important.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna try to fly through it, but it's gonna get thick for a moment, so just hang with me. We need to remember the powers were written under the old covenant, were under a new covenant. So let's take a proverb like what you see in front of you, proverbs 22, verse 4. Look at it. What it says the reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life. Now, in one sense, we know Mike talked about this during the first week of the series that Proverbs are more like principles and guidelines, not promises and guarantees. So this proverb is not a guarantee that if you're humble and you fear God, you'll definitely have riches and honor and, some translations say, a long life in this world. We can think of many examples of people in the Bible who are humble and fear God and are poor and dishonored in this world and who die young. Jesus would be a clear example of this. That doesn't make this proverb untrue. It's a true principle, not a promise for every person's life, but a principle that there is reward, there's value in humility and the fear of the Lord. At the same time, when you understand the old covenant and the time in which Solomon was writing this in the Old Testament that's what testament means covenant it makes sense in a way that's actually different from the New Covenant or the New Testament. So you've got to see this.
Speaker 1:In the Old Testament, obedience to God led to acquiring possessions in this world. So quick biblical theology of possessions from the very beginning of the Bible, god created all things, including material things, in this world. They were all good. God created man and woman to enjoy material things. And when you get to Genesis, chapter 12, and the founding of God's people in the Old Testament, old Covenant the people, the nation of Israel God makes a promise to Abraham.
Speaker 1:And listen to what it says Genesis, chapter 12, verse 1. The Lord said to Abraham go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, that I'm going to give to you, and I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. Him who dishonors you, I will curse, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abraham went, as the Lord had told him. Lot went with him. Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Aaron. Abraham took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered and the people they had acquired in Aaron, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.
Speaker 1:So do you see this? God promised to bless Abraham and much of that blessing was material. God promised to give him possessions and land as a sign of God's blessing on him, because God was establishing a nation, a people, in the Old Testament, and God was going to bless them so that through them, all the families of the earth, all the other nations of the earth would be blessed spiritually and materially. That blessing would flow through God's people to all the peoples of the world. And in the rest of the book of Genesis. We see this over and over again. We see the riches and the possessions of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob grow and they're emphasized over and over again, and it continues all the way until God's people. They're about to enter into the promised land, this land flowing with milk and honey, prosperous land, and listen to what God says to his people now in the book of Deuteronomy. They're about to enter the promised land.
Speaker 1:And listen to this guarantee from God Deuteronomy 28, verse 1. If you faithfully obey the voice of the promised land and listen to this guarantee from God Deuteronomy 28, verse 1. If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord, your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord, your God, will set you high above all the nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall come upon you. They'll overtake you. You'll be overtaken with blessings if you obey the voice of the Lord, your God. What kind of blessings is he talking about?
Speaker 1:Blessed shall you be in the city. Blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds, the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in. Blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will call your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command his blessing on you, in your barns and in all you undertake. He will bless you in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you. The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he's sworn to you. If you keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, and walk in his ways, and all the peoples of the earth will open to you His good treasury, the heavens to give the rain to your land in its season, to bless all the work of your hands. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and the Lord will make you the head and not the tail. You shall go only up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them. If you don't turn aside from any of the words that I command you today to the right or the hand of the left, to go after gods to serve them. Now, listen to this. Then God says but if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you. Curses will overtake you. Curse shall you be in the city. Curse shall you be in the field. Curse shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herd, the younger flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, cursed shall you be when you go out. It's basically the exact opposite. So you get this picture.
Speaker 1:In the Old Testament, old Covenant, obedience to God led to acquiring possessions, material blessings on earth. And don't miss the reason why. We saw it over and over again in what we just read God was giving possessions to his people to establish a place that would display his glory to all the nations. It's the whole story of the Old Testament. God led his people to this place, the promised land, where they would set up a nation, a kingdom, led by men like King David and King Solomon. So fast forward.
Speaker 1:Now to Solomon, who wrote most of the book of Proverbs. Let me show you what God said to Solomon at the very beginning of his reign, first Kings, chapter 3. So God had said, solomon, I'll give you whatever you desire Solomon asked for. You might know wisdom and listen to how God responded. It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him because you've asked this, not ask for yourself long life or riches or life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right. Behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you and then watch this, and none like you shall arise after you and then watch this. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all your days. And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. Do you see this? That's Proverbs 22, verse four on display. Humility, fear the Lord lead to what? Riches, honor and life.
Speaker 1:1 Kings 3,. I give you riches, honor, long life. So that's the picture in Solomon. It's what God had said to him. It's what God had said all throughout the Old Testament leading up to them. And now it all leads, in Solomon's day, to the building of a temple, a few chapters after 1 Kings 3, to establishing this place where the glory of God would dwell in the middle of his people in Jerusalem, as a display of his glory to all the nations. You read about that in 1 Kings 6, 7, 1 Kings 8. They dedicate the temple with an extravagant feast, and we read about that in 1 Kings 6, 7. 1 Kings 8, they dedicate the temple with an extravagant feast and we read about all the possessions of Solomon in such a way that by 1 Kings 10, the queen of Sheba, a pagan queen, comes to see Solomon's wisdom and wealth and she's amazed. I'm going to show you one more passage. Listen to what she says. Let's kind of bring it all together.
Speaker 1:1 Kings, chapter 10, verse 7. This queen Sheba says Solomon, your wisdom and your prosperity surpassed the report that I heard. Happy are your men, happy are your servants, for you continually stand before you and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord, your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever. He has made you king that you may execute justice and righteousness. Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Moreover, the fleet of Hiram, which brought gold from Offer, brought from Offer a very great amount of alugwood and precious stones, and the king made of the almugwood supports for the house of the Lord and the king's house, and also lyres and orbs for the singers. No such almugwood, this nice wood as calmer, has been seen to this day. And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked, besides what was given her by the bounty of King Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.
Speaker 1:Do you see what's happening here? It's full circle. It's what God had promised in Genesis, chapter 12, coming to fruition. God had blessed his people, his nation, materially, in a way that they were now blessing other peoples, other nations. The rest of 1 Kings 10, you read it goes on to talk about all the wealth of Solomon. Now we don't have time to look at how Solomon abused that wealth. He didn't heed his own wisdom and he began to disobey God and by the end of his life the kingdom was totally falling apart. But don't miss the picture In the Old Testament God had promised to bless his people materially as they obeyed him, so that he would establish them as a nation in the promised land as a blessing to all the nations around them. That's the picture we see in the Old Testament.
Speaker 1:But what's interesting is once you turn the pages of the New Testament and you meet Jesus, who's inaugurating a new covenant that builds on everything in the Old Testament but as new, things are completely different. And Mark, chapter 10, a rich man with all these possessions comes up to Jesus. And what does Jesus tell him to do? Go sell all that you have and give it to the poor. Comes up to Jesus. And what does Jesus tell them to do? Go sell all that you have and give it to the poor. And you read on in Mark 10, it says the disciples are shot.
Speaker 1:We thought obedience led to getting possessions. Not, obedience leads to giving away possessions. Jesus says the same thing to the crowds Sell your possessions, give to the needy. Luke 14, 33. Any of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciples. My disciple and the disciples are shocked in all of this. They thought obedience would lead to acquiring riches, but in the New Testament, obedience to God is leading people to abandon possessions in this world.
Speaker 1:Now don't get me wrong. Not every follower of Jesus was commanded to get rid of everything they had, and there are major themes throughout the Old Testament and Proverbs when it comes to money that are repeated in the New Testament. We're going to look at those in just a minute. Money that are repeated in the New Testament we're going to look at those in just a minute. But nowhere in the New Testament do you ever see a promise like we read in Deuteronomy where God says if you obey me, I will bless you materially. You don't see any promise like that in the entire New Testament. Nowhere do you see Jesus say follow me and you will have riches and honor and long life in this world. We saw this in our church Bible reading plan this last week in Matthew, chapter 8. Jesus said follow me. You may not have a roof over your head, in the words of Craig Blomberg.
Speaker 1:He wrote a great book called Neither Poverty Nor Riches. It's a biblical theology of possessions. A great book called Neither Poverty Nor Riches. It's a biblical theology of possessions, he said. The New Testament carried forward the major principles of the Old Testament with one conspicuous omission Never was material wealth promised as a guaranteed reward for either spiritual obedience or simple hard work. Material reward for piety never reappears in Jesus' teaching and in fact it's explicitly contradicted throughout. Do you realize how significant this is?
Speaker 1:Because I would say that for most people in the church today, particularly in our country, we still have an Old Testament, old Covenant, approach to possessions. We read stories about Abraham and David and Solomon and their wealth and we think that's what God wants for us. In fact, we've created an entire theology and we've exported it around the world that says if you trust God, you will have wealth and health. We've called that the gospel, the prosperity gospel, and it's not the gospel. It actually misses the whole point of the good news of Jesus Christ. He is not a means to having more in this world, he is the end, who is greater than everything in this world put together, and he's not establishing a place, a nation, a physical kingdom on this earth anymore.
Speaker 1:That was the story of the Old Testament, god giving his people possessions to establish this place that would display his glory to all nations. No, now, in the New Testament, god is giving possessions to empower a people, to spread his glory among all the nations, which totally changes the way we view money in our hands in this world. God has not given it to us to build a physical nation, to be sure. To be sure, we praise and we thank God for we celebrate our country, for its founding, for the freedoms we have. But, to be clear, the United States of America is not and never has been the light shining on a hill that Jesus was talking about in Matthew, chapter 5. Because that city that shines is made up of followers of Jesus from America and Saudi Arabia, china and Somalia and Pakistan and Afghanistan and India and Brazil and Iran and Russia and Ukraine and North Korea and South Korea. And God is giving his people, all among the nations, possessions, not ultimately to build up one nation, but to spread his gospel and his glory among all the nations.
Speaker 1:That changes everything about how we view our lives, about how we understand what's most important in this world and about how we spend our money. Now, again, that doesn't mean that nothing in Proverbs applies to us today in the New Covenant, in the New Testament. It just means that we need to make sure to filter everything we read in Proverbs through what we hear from Jesus and the rest of the New Testament about money, because if we don't, we'll approach money like they did in the Old Testament and we'll miss the point of why Jesus came. All right. That's the first tip. I have nine truths and one more tip to go. So, all right, now we're really going to go quick. So this is going to be secret church style. So maybe write these down, then go back and meditate on them this week or discuss them with somebody else, discuss them in your family or your friends in your church group and then have them there to come back regularly to them. So all right.
Speaker 1:Truth number one Again, these are not exhaustive, but well, this first one's going to seem exhaustive, but all right. Truth number one from the book of Proverbs about money that we also see read through the New Testament. Number one wisdom, understanding, knowledge, justice, righteousness, integrity, honesty, humility, love for people and fear of God are all more important than money. That's my way of getting like 10 points into one and if you're taking notes, just hang with me. I'll come back to this screen in a second and you actually I'll circle these words as we go along, but just see these Proverbs.
Speaker 1:So first, wisdom and understanding Proverbs 16, 16. How much better to get wisdom than gold. To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. Wisdom and understanding are better than gold and silver, as is knowledge Proverbs 8, 10, 11,. Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge, rather than choice, gold for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. Justice is better than money. Better is a little revenue, a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice. A little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. Justice, righteousness are better. That leads to Proverbs, chapter 11, verse 4. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. There it is. Riches will not save you in the end, righteousness will. So it's better to be just, righteous and poor than unjust, unrighteous and rich.
Speaker 1:Integrity proverbs, chapter 28, verse 6. Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in all his ways. Choose integrity over money every time. And honesty, proverbs 20, 17. Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel. An imagery. Honesty is better than money, than bread gained, as is humility, proverbs 16, 19. It's better to be of a lowly spirit, a humble spirit, with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. It's better to be humble and poor than rich and proud.
Speaker 1:Then, love for people Proverbs 17, 1. Better is a dry morsel with quiet, with peace, than a house full of feasting with strife. Love for people is more important than money. And finally, fear of God, proverbs 15, 16,. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. So wisdom, understanding, knowledge, justice, righteousness, integrity, honesty, humility, love for people, fear of God are all more important than money. So here's the question Just look at the evidence of your day-to-day life and what looks most important to you and most of us will go to work throughout this week to make money, which is not bad, it's good.
Speaker 1:We're actually going to talk about work next week, but are you pursuing this week the fear of God more than you are pursuing money that you're making? Are you pursuing righteousness, holiness, with greater effort than you're pursuing money? What's more important to you this week? Making and spending money through the work you're doing, or loving and serving the people you're working with, and loving and serving the people in your home that are more important than your work. Make sure, and more important than pursuing money, you're pursuing a wisdom, understanding, knowledge, justice, righteousness, integrity, honesty, humility, love for people and fear of God.
Speaker 1:Make sure money has its proper place in your life, behind all of those things. That's truth number one. Truth number two wealth is not worthy of your trust. God warns us over and over and over again. God warns us over and over and over again. Do not put your trust in your money. Contrary to what this world will tell you, your money cannot make you secure. You think I have this much in my bank account, so I'm secure. You're a fool. Proverbs 11, verse 28. Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. Money cannot make you secure because money will not last you very long. Proverbs 22, verse 23, verses 4 and 5.
Speaker 1:Do not toil to acquire wealth. Be discerning enough to desist when your eyes light on it and it's gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings flying like an eagle toward heaven. What a picture. And you think you've got it and just picture all that money flying away. We know this. I was just teaching from Ecclesiastes with another group recently. Like, you make all this money and then you die and you leave your money to somebody else who will waste it on something else. That's what you spent your life doing. Don't do it, fly it away.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 27, 23, and 24. Know well the condition of your flocks. Give attention to your herds, for riches do not last forever. The crown endured all generations. Wealth is not worthy of your trust. Third, god is worthy of your best.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 3.9,. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. Give out of your firstfruits Before it even hits your hand, before it even comes into your bank account. Let it be going out. Give off the top to the glory of God. This is the Old Testament principle of the tithe, which we've talked about before in the New Testament, is not a ceiling for giving, but a starting point To start with giving a tenth off the top and to increase your giving from there. God is not worthy of your leftovers. He's worthy of your best.
Speaker 1:Number four debt can be very dangerous in your life. Obviously, there are different kinds of debt. This is not a blanket statement that all debt is sinful or bad, but hear this warning from God in Proverbs 22, 26, and 27. Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your debt be taken from under you? So a general guideline for starting out and all throughout your life beware debt can be very dangerous in your life and related to that number five contentment is absolutely critical to your life.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 15, 27,. The greedy bring ruin to their households, for the one who hates bribes will live. Proverbs 28, 25,. A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched. Guard, guard, guard your heart against the desire for more and more and more, for newer and nicer and bigger and better. Be content with what you have. Trust in the Lord. This is the thrust of 1 Timothy, chapter 6 in the New Testament.
Speaker 1:Godliness with contentment is great gain in this world. You want gain. Godliness with contentment, that's great gain. And 7 Corinthians, 8, 9, god gives you more, not so that you can get more, but so that you can give more. So these are number six. God is generous towards you so that you can be generous toward others.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 11, 24, and 25. These proverbs are so good. One gives freely, yet grows all the richer. Another withholds what he should give and only suffers one. Did you hear that the world says you'll be richer, you'll be fuller, you'll be better off if you withhold? Keep more to yourself. God's word says no. You'll be richer, fuller, better off when you freely give to others. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched. The one who waters will himself be watered. There's a blessing in giving. God is generous toward you so you can be generous toward others.
Speaker 1:Number oh, sorry, I forgot. Proverbs 22, verse 9 says the same thing. Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor. It's good for the poor and good for us to give according to God's design. Number seven your relationship to the poor has a direct effect on God's relationship to you. Listen closely to these two Proverbs Proverbs 14 31,.
Speaker 1:Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. Did you hear that your approach to the poor either insults God or honors God? That's a penetrating question. Is your approach to the poor insulting God or honoring God? 21.13. Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered. That proverb just said you ignore the poor and god will ignore you. Amen, and we need to filter this, like like all of these others, the new covenant and our access to God only by faith in the blood of Jesus. But we also need to seriously ask the question how much are we listening to the cry of the poor? How much are you listening to the cry of people in need in our city, to the cry of people in need in our city? How much are we listening to the cry of people who are starving in Sudan right now, starving in Gaza? Not just listening through an American-centered political lens, but through a Christ-centered personal lens. When it comes to our use of money. We have leaders in our church who are continually exploring how we can give locally and globally to people in need, and your giving to the church is helpful toward that end.
Speaker 1:Truth number eight God will judge those who acquire money through injustice. Proverbs 22, verse 16,. Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth or gives to the rich will only come to poverty. Now listen to this language in Proverbs 22, 22, and 23. Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them. God will rob of life those who rob the poor. Rob them. God will rob of life those who rob the poor. God will judge those who acquire money in unjust ways. And the converse of that truth. Number nine God will reward those who give money to the poor. Very simply, proverbs 19, 17,. Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his deed. What a picture. Giving to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his deed. What a picture. Giving to the poor is lending to God himself and leads to reward from God himself. Then listen to Proverbs 29, 7.
Speaker 1:A righteous man knows the rights of the poor. A wicked man does not understand such knowledge. Do you know the rights, the needs of the poor in our city, in our community? Do you know about what's happening in Sudan or Gaza right now, many other places, in such a way that you're giving in a way that is good and right for others. And you just pause there, these nine truths that we just flew through, and you realize, if we lived according to these truths, if we used our money according to these truths, our lives and I'm just as convicted about this as anybody else in this room like our lives and the world around each of us, our influence in the world would look a lot different. We desperately need to not be conformed to the pattern of this world when it comes to money, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Amen. And here's the beauty Like approaching money in a way that accords with what we're seeing in God's word will not just lead to others thriving, it will lead to us thriving Like this is good for others and good for us, and glorifying to God Win, win, win. It's wisdom, it's thriving, and you want to know how committed God is to us thriving in this way, in a way that's totally different from the world around us.
Speaker 1:Listen to this Second tip for reading Proverbs about money. It's related to that first tip about old and new covenant. Tip number two Remember that every proverb about money ultimately, ultimately points us to Jesus as the wisdom of God, who lives in us and leads us to live for treasure in another world. That's a loaded sentence, but let me explain it First. Wisdom is not just sayings on a page. Wisdom is a person who lives in us.
Speaker 1:The greatest news in the world is not just that God will forgive you of your sin when you put your faith in Jesus. Yes, that. For anybody in the sound of my voice who's never trusted in Jesus and what he did on the cross to pay the price for your sin before holy God, I invite you to trust in him today. He's died on the cross for our sins. He's risen from the dead in victory over sin to make a way for us to be forgiven of all our sins before God forever. And that's not all Forgiven of your sin and filled with his spirit, he comes to live inside of us To enable us to live the life that God has created us to live. You want to know how much God wants you to thrive with money, so much that he will put his very spirit inside of you, the spirit of wisdom, to transform the way you think about money in this world and lead you to live for true treasure that's going to last for trillions of years. This is what Proverbs does. It points us to Jesus as the wisdom of God who lives in us and leads us to live for real eternal treasure.
Speaker 1:We read this in our Bible reading. It's the church family this last week, matthew 6, 19,. Jesus says Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, in another world, where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. Do you want to thrive now and 10 trillion years from now? Then stop spending money like this world is your home, take Jesus at his word and live for treasure in another world.
Speaker 1:So I want to pause at this point and I want to give you a moment, in light of all that we've just looked at, heard from God in his word, to reflect prayerfully on this question. Before we do anything else, let's just pause and ask what are two or three ways, maybe more, that I can thrive more with the money I have according to God's word, not this world according to God's word and in light of the world to come according to God's word, not this world according to God's word and in light of the world to come Like. How is God calling you to shift your approach to money in light of his word and the world to come Like? Think practically. I want to give you a few moments, maybe write down thoughts you have and then after that I or somebody at your location will lead us from there. We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of Radical with David Platt. For more resources from David Platt, we invite you to visit Radicalnet.