Reflection: In session one, Pastor Stanley shows us that the hallmark of being Christian is extravagant generosity. In this session, we learn about the dangers and effects of wealth, and the power it has to move us away from God. We will learn next week that Jesus doesn’t care about the amount you give, but the percentage (session three). Finally, He will show why you should make giving and being generous the priority in your life (session four).
Statement: The more Americans make, the less they give away.
The reason – wealth has side effects:
1. Rich people live in denial
- *45K in income = top 1% in the world
- *Most of us have this income level and beyond, yet we are not joyous and thankful because we don’t feel rich.
- *Nobody’s rich but everyone knows somebody who is. Example: a Gallup poll asked the average American what is “rich.” The answer was 150K a year. When people with that income were asked, they said they were not rich.
2. Rich people are plagued by discontentment
- *The growing appetite of stuff. The more a person has, the more he or she wants. When, and if, you ever get rich, your appetite will expand (i.e. Upgrading!)
- The Problem – People don’t know they are rich so they don’t know how to act.
Our natural inclination is that if you gain wealth you start to think you are smarter, and eventually better, than others. Money also has a way of allowing people to try and save their way to safety, a movement away from God and toward finances.
*Proverbs 18:11 – The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale.
Question to consider: How much money would you need to secure your future against all imaginable eventualities?
Answer: More than you currently have – this is always the answer, because of hope migration.
When wealth becomes your hope, you begin to hoard, you will not be generous, you work on building the great wall of “what if.” You close your hands around your wealth and become a terrible rich person. Wealth becomes a wedge between you and God.
The solution – put your hope in God.
Both Jesus and Paul say; don’t be arrogant, don’t put your hope in wealth, put your hope in God. You cannot serve two masters – Matthew 6:19-21; 24
Why hope in riches when you can hope in the one who richly provides?
Try the two statements anxiety test. Which statement creates the greatest anxiety for you?
There is no God. You have no money.
When you are dying and at life’s end, chances are you will put your hope in, or ask for help from God. If you put your hope in God at the end of your life, when you have no control over what’s next, why not put your hope in God in the middle of your life, when you still have no control over what’s next. Another way of saying this: Why put your hope in the provision when you have an opportunity to put your hope in the provider. Put your hope in God. This will stop the hope migration, and help you keep your hands open and not close in on the wealth you have.
If you continue down this path, you end up chasing something you can never catch, and lose out on years you can’t get back, turning into yourself, and becoming ungrateful and entitled. This always leads to unhappiness, and joy will be lost.
Game-Changing Declaration – I will not place my hope in riches, but in Him who richly provides.
Action Item: At Pacific Lutheran University, the school has a reflection/action process to help incoming students begin to discern their lives of service, how they might be rich toward God. This is their guiding question, which is from a poem by Mary Oliver: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Today is the day to stop your hope migration! Now is the moment to begin a life of increased generosity. We are rich. It is time to be rich toward God. What will that look like this New Year? Who or what will you start supporting, right now?