CRCF\u201d\u201d9\/6\/09<\/p>\n
The Meaninglessness of Money
\nJames 1:9-11<\/p>\n
Introduction–<\/p>\n
ME:<\/p>\n
I\u201d\u2122ve got a confession to make\u201d\u201dI think about money a lot. I think about what I don\u201d\u2122t have and what I\u201d\u2122d wish I made!<\/p>\n
I have friends that make twice what I make and have little to no concern about following Christ. Then I have other friends that really love Jesus but are, literally, millionaires. And I struggle with that sometimes! I mean, with some of my friends, I\u201d\u2122m more educated and work at least as hard as they do, but still struggle to makes the ends meet. Sometimes I feel like I\u201d\u2122m doing something wrong, I feel guilty that I can\u201d\u2122t \u201cbring home the bacon\u201d to my family like my friends can. Sometimes I just simply envy their lives. Other times I get bitter toward God because of where I am financially. Some days I\u201d\u2122m full of anxiety about the unpaid or upcoming bills and feel insecure and just plain afraid as I look at my wife and four kids.<\/p>\n
WE:<\/p>\n
Do YOU ever wonder why, even among Christians, things are so economically uneven?<\/p>\n
Our own hearts and society around us tell us that value and security are found in the pursuit of money.<\/p>\n
And I\u201d\u2122d imagine that every one of you have struggled\u201d\u201dand occasionally still do struggle\u201d\u201dwith the stuff that I admitted to you just now, right?<\/p>\n
Well, I wish I could tell you that it\u201d\u2122s God\u201d\u2122s will that everyone be financially the same and that if you\u201d\u2122ll just pray and believe, you\u201d\u2122ll \u201cget your piece of the pie\u201d. It just ain\u201d\u2122t so!<\/p>\n
But, there\u201d\u2122s something I AM going to tell you this morning that\u201d\u2122s even better and more powerful, if we can genuinely believe it and let it change our lives! We aren\u201d\u2122t the first followers of Jesus to deal with this stuff.<\/p>\n
The Bible tells us that Jesus gives us our only true value and security in life.<\/p>\n
GOD:<\/p>\n
James 1:9-11\u201d\u201d\u201cChristians who are poor should be glad, for God has honored them.\u201d (NLT)<\/p>\n
[Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation (as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God–Amplified)<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd those who are rich should be glad, for God has humbled them\u201d (NLT)<\/p>\n
[And the rich (person ought to glory) in being humbled (by being shown his human frailty)\u201d\u201dAmplified].<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will fade away like a flower in the field. The hot sun rises and dries up the grass; the flower withers, and its beauty fades away. So also, wealthy people will fade away with all of their achievements.\u201d (NLT)<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, that\u201d\u2122s the picture of the \u201d\u02dcprosperous life\u201d\u2122. At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.\u201d (The Message)<\/p>\n
James wants us to understand that Jesus, not money, gives us our only true value and security in life.<\/p>\n
Paul also taught this same truth:<\/p>\n
1 Corinthians 1:26-30\u201d\u201d\u201cRemember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world\u201d\u2122s eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God alone made it possible for you to be in Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Christ to be wisdom itself. He is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy, and he gave himself to purchase our freedom. As the Scriptures say, \u201d\u02dcThe person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done.\u201d\u2122\u201d (NLT)<\/p>\n
YOU:<\/p>\n
Galatians 3:26-29\u201d\u201d\u201cSo you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like him. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians\u201d\u201dyou are one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs and now all the promises God gave him belong to you.\u201d (NLT)<\/p>\n
The next time you find yourself envying someone who has more money than you do\u201d\u201dor feeling more valuable because you have more money than another person, remind yourself that:<\/p>\n
1) if you\u201d\u2122re a Christ-follower, all the differences \u201cin the world\u201d don\u201d\u2122t apply anymore!<\/p>\n
2) our only real value and security in life come from Jesus, Who makes money ultimately meaningless!<\/p>\n
You need to think differently about yourself and others\u201d\u201dand allow that perspective to change your actions.<\/p>\n
2 Corinthians 5:14-16a\u201d\u201d\u201cSince we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live. He died for everyone so that those who receive this new life will no longer live to please themselves. Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them. So, we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them.\u201d (NLT)<\/p>\n
James, in chapter 2 of his letter, shows us how to apply the truth that only Jesus gives real value and security in life:<\/p>\n
James 2:3-4\u201d\u201d\u201cIf you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, \u201d\u02dcYou can stand over there, or else sit on the floor\u201d\u2122\u201d\u201dwell, doesn\u201d\u2122t this discrimination show that you are guided by wrong motives?\u201d (NLT)<\/p>\n
Conclusion\u201d\u201dWe show the world that only Jesus gives real value and security in life when we treat everyone the same–as those for whom Christ died.<\/p>\n
WE:<\/p>\n
Imagine what could happen in our community if the people in this room all lived like money was meaningless and that only Jesus gives value and security in life! Imagine the richest and the poorest among us showing our neighbors and co-workers and friends at school that we live by completely different values that will last forever. What could happen?<\/p>\n
This group right here this morning could have a real impact in the Cartecay community. Your perspective and behavior concerning money\/possessions can show the world that only Jesus gives value and security in life and be used by God to rescue them from the insecurities and fears and anxieties and envy and bitterness and false guilt that plagues any of us who believe the lie that money gives value and security.<\/p>\n
Will YOU leave here this morning with your life changed by the truth that Jesus gives us our only true value and security in life?<\/p>\n
Prayer<\/p>\n
Song Video<\/p>\n
Lord\u201d\u2122s Supper:<\/p>\n
This morning, this meal is about the value and security that God has given us in Jesus. It\u201d\u2122s about the fact that Jesus loved us and died to pay the price for our sins so that we are now full heirs of God, His own sons and daughters. And THAT is value, THAT is security!<\/p>\n
For some of us, this may be a time to \u201creboot\u201d our thinking about all of this and get our minds back in sync with God\u201d\u2122s Word.<\/p>\n
For others of us, this may be the day that we admit our need for a Savior who gives us the only real value and security in the world by forgiving our sins and giving us a relationship with Him that will end in an eternity in heaven with God.<\/p>\n
READ 1 Corinthians 11:23-26<\/p>\n
PRAY<\/p>\n
Come to the Table!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CRCF\u201d\u201d9\/6\/09 The Meaninglessness of Money James 1:9-11 Introduction– ME: I\u201d\u2122ve got a confession to make\u201d\u201dI think about money a lot. I think about what I don\u201d\u2122t have and what I\u201d\u2122d wish I made! I have friends that make twice what … Continue reading