Focal Point

Dave Drewery: Today on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: I'm all for enjoying what we have now. Let's enjoy it. It's great. You've got a big house. Great. Fantastic. Enjoy it. Don't have this insatiable addiction to get more. Okay, enjoy what you've got. But here's the deal. Ultimately what matters is that you do good and you do right and you're rich in good deeds, because if you are, you'll lay up for yourself treasure in heaven. That's the right place to be.

Dave Drewery: Money. The word registers a whole host of emotions. Some say it's what makes the world go round. Some say it talks. In reality, money is usually associated with worry. Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez encourages us to handle the pressures and temptations associated with money before they handle us.

The sad reality is that financial stress can ruin marriages and tear families apart. Money worries have caused disease and even death. But it doesn't have to be that way. Pastor Mike points to a better way, God's way.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: If you have your Bibles, I want you to open up to Hebrews chapter 13 as the principle in the Christian virtue of contentment doesn't necessarily lead to a life in a monastery or a vow of poverty. As a matter of fact, that's a bit of an abuse of this principle. You can fully practice and apply this principle and live in the real world because the issue of contentment or its antithetical problem of sin that we often call materialism really doesn't have anything to do with the amount of your paycheck.

And it's really not necessarily tied to the size of your home. You may not believe it, but it's not necessarily connected to the kind of car you drive because materialism or contentedness in our hearts, it's really a matter of our hearts. It's what goes on inside. You're either content in your heart, which may or may not be reflected by an amount of money that you have, or you're involved in something in your heart that the Old Testament called coveting and the New Testament liked to call the love of money, and that's going on and it's all something here.

You can make minimum wage and have the problem or not have the problem. You can make a lot of money and either be contented or you could be covetous. There's no real necessary connection. There's two things here for us in the bottom of verse five. If I want to be free from that kind of engrossment in material things, that love of money as the Bible calls it, that covetousness of the Old Testament, that materialism that we often talk about, then you need to do two things: be content with what you have, and you need to affirm this statement, "I know that God will never leave me and never forsake me."

There's two things here. There is some kind of focus on the things that I have, a contentment in what I have, and a focus on who I have. I have God and he's never leaving me. Let's jot it down this way, number two, and then we'll unpack it. You and I, we need to celebrate, that might be a big word, I'll try to justify it here in a minute, celebrate what and who you have. Because you have some stuff and you have someone that should change everything about the fears of "what if" and "I don't know if we'll have enough." That is the antidote to the problem and the temptation to be anxious about stuff.

Because notice what it doesn't say. And I know a lot of people read this passage and they read the wrong thing. They think it says, "Be content with what you don't have," right? Be content that you don't have something. Be satisfied that you don't have the seven thousand square foot house on an acre overlooking the ocean. Just be satisfied that you don't have that. Is that what it says? It's not a statement about doing something with what I don't have. It's a statement about doing something with what I do have. Be content with what you have.

Part of the solution to materialism is a focus, a biblical focus, and it's called contentment on what I have. Let's celebrate what we have. Materialism is the focus on what you don't have as opposed to the focus on what you do have. Try and focus on the things you have. Stop seeing the things you have as just an advertisement for something else that you don't have. Focus on what you do have and enjoy that because it's been given to you for your enjoyment.

God creates and gives good things to his children and he'd like us to enjoy them. When you give a good gift to your kid at Christmas, do you want them to go, "No, I don't want that. That's not. I don't want to enjoy any of that"? You love your kids, right? You like to give them something they enjoy. God is the same way. And when he gives you something, it may not be the best, but what he gives you he'd like you to enjoy. And that is one of the best prescriptions for keeping your heart from focusing all the things you don't have.

Celebrate what you have because God has given you a lot and he'd like you to enjoy it. But more importantly and most profoundly, back to Hebrews 13 verse 5, you need to celebrate who you have. And I don't care like David said if your mother and father forsake you. Here's what you've got if you're a child of God, and I'm talking to Christians now. You have God himself. And God has promised to walk with you through this life. And he puts it this way in Deuteronomy 31, "I will never leave you and I will never forsake me."

Now, you're worried about your retirement. You're worried about having that kid, can we afford college? You're worried about can I afford the next set of tires on my car? Here's the deal. God loves you. And he is not going to leave you when your tires go bald. He's not going to leave you when you're too old to work. He's not going to leave you when your kids are in college. God is going to walk with you through all of that. God is going to take care of you.

God will walk you through the rest of your life and he'll take your hand in his. I know that's poetic and it's a little Hallmark for you, but it's biblical. Let me give you a passage, Psalm 37. Take a look at this text. Stick with God. He owns the planet. You're afraid about your future? Don't be. Look at verse 23 of Psalm 37. If Yahweh delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm. Look at verse 24. Though he stumble, now this isn't the prosperity gospel, right? You understand that. This is not about prosperity.

You will, there's going to be seasons of financial trouble. I guarantee it will all happen, those. That's going to happen. But here's the deal. You're not going to fall, okay? You may have some things crash and your house may not be worth anything. You may have to move into a condo. I don't know what your life's like. But you're not going to fall. Why? Here it is, underline it. Yahweh upholds him with his hand. Do you see that? And now David testifies, "I was young and now I'm old, yet I've never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." Never seen it. God doesn't do that.

As a matter of fact, invertedly, verse 26, here's what I find as a pattern. They always are generous and they lend freely and their children will be blessed. It's the principle of Jesus. Seek first the kingdom of God, Matthew 6:33, and all these things will be added to you. Don't focus on the stuff. Focus on the relationship. Hold his hand. Focus on that relationship. Know that he's going to walk with you through your kid's college education, through your next pair of tires, through your retirement, and say, "I'm going to trust God and let all the other stuff work itself out."

I'm not going to be sitting there counting my money every night. I'm not going to be looking over my portfolio every week. I don't have to do that. I'm not worried about that. God will never leave you and forsake you. David says, "I've never seen God's people forsaken by God." They're not living under the freeway overpass. God takes care of them. You've got to know that's the truth of the Bible. So what are you worried about? And why are you worrying about stuff? Verse 6, Hebrews chapter 13, and just to connect both of these quotes I guess we should read them both again.

He's never going to leave us and never forsake us, okay? That's the foundational principle. So we say with confidence, okay, now it's something about my heart, and I love that. It's kind of like another layer on top of contentment. I've got confidence now and the confidence is, future tense, "the Lord is my helper." Not only now, but he says, "I'm not going to be afraid what man can do to me." I'm looking ahead here and I'm seeing, number one, God's not going to leave me. God is my helper and he's walking with me through the future.

I'm not going to fear. That's the opposite of contentment. And I'm not worried what man can do to me, which again is an issue I think in our hearts. It may be translated a little bit differently in our day, but you're worried about the effects of "what if." And the point is you don't have to worry about that. You can look at the future with confidence and that should be the test. If the test of the other is doing diagnostics on my heart to see if I love money, you want the test to see whether or not you're trusting God with your stuff, then you should be able to be confident about the future.

You ought to be confident about your future. You ought to be able to say, "I am confident about my retirement. I am confident about my kid's college education. I am confident about the needs of our family. I am confident about our housing situation." Well, but it doesn't look good. But you're trusting God and you're recognizing that God is, circle the word, your what? Helper. Do you see that? That's an interesting word, too. Without going into another word study here, it's not the common word in the New Testament for helper. It's a different word.

It's a word that is used of someone who is ill and desperately wants to get healthy and calls out to a doctor. That's how it's used in classical Greek. Not used very often in the New Testament. And it's someone who's doing what they can to try and get healthy, but they need the assistance of a doctor. Now don't get this wrong. This is not some kind of synergistic collaboration and we get credit for it. God is the one who gets credit for it, Deuteronomy chapter 8. But you are having God help you in life, which assumes, let's put it this way, and I know that sounds synergistic.

I'm not trying to say that. I'm not trying to say God isn't the author of all things. He is. But here's the deal. The imagery painted for us here is that you're not sleeping in and slacking off, that you are doing your part. You can be confident about the future not because, "Now, oh great, I learned a message that we don't have to worry about the future and that's what our pastor said. No worry about your retirement and don't count your bank statements and don't even reconcile the checking account and let's sleep in the hammock all for the rest of our lives because that's what the pastor said."

Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs chapter 6. You can be confident about your future because God will help you through this. And by that, the imagery here is it assumes that you're being prudent. The call to contentment is not a license to irresponsibility. The call to contentment assumes that I'm fully trusting God, but I'm also doing the work. Here's what it says. This is not a contradiction. Proverbs 6:6. "Go to the ant," did your parents used to say this to you on your summer vacation, "you sluggard." "Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider its ways and be wise."

"It has," verse 7, "no commander, no overseer, no ruler, and yet it stores its provision in summer and it gathers its food at harvest." Track this now. Does that sound like a contradiction about the birdbrains flying around and don't even worry about it? They don't even have a refrigerator. They don't store up anything. There's no pantry for the birds. God expects you're going to be a little smarter than the birds. He expects you to be a few notches above the ant, right? And the ant is smart enough to do its work and to prepare for the future.

I'm saying don't worry about your kid's college education. Am I saying don't save for it? Is that what Pastor Mike taught? No. You need to prepare because the ant is even preparing for the future, okay? "Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider its ways and be wise. It's got no commander. No one has to crack the whip over its back, yet it's storing up its provisions. It's gathering its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, lazy people," verse number 9, "When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." You won't be able to resist it.

You're going to be poor. "What? I don't get it. You taught just the opposite." Here's the layer of responsibility. I can say about my future, "God is my helper," okay? I'm going to give him all the credit if anything works out, Deuteronomy 8, because he gives me the ability to earn wealth. That's what Deuteronomy 8 says. But being my helper in this thing, even though he gets all the credit for this, does not give me a license to lay back with my feet up on the desk.

As a matter of fact, invertedly, and even the New Testament teaches this, we ought to be distinct in how hard we work. You understand that, right? The Bible says that when the rest of the world slacks off at work, we ought to be the hardest workers. Christians should be distinctive because of their hard work, their planning, and their prudence. Do they trust in their planning and prudence? Do they trust in their money? Do they trust in their savings? No, they don't. And they're distinctive in that. That's the amazing thing.

They're the ones that save and work hard, and yet they don't even trust in that. See the distinction on both sides of this track? And you and I need to say that's what the Bible is teaching us. We don't sit around and do nothing. We have to work hard. We have to plan. We have to save. We have to be prudent. Don't waste all your money on stuff you can't afford. That's a good reminder as we enter the holiday season because that wouldn't be prudent. And if you want to trust God for your future, he's expecting that you're going to do your work.

See? You want to be confident about the future. The confidence ingredients are, "I'm trusting in God because he is my my helper. I'm not afraid what man can do to me. I don't fear." Why? Because I'm working hard and I'm trusting God. Those go hand in hand in scripture. Let me prove it to you, one more reference. Go to the end of the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31, the classic passage on the noble wife. Remember this passage? The wife of noble character, it says. And how rare she is and how praised she should be.

There's one line in Proverbs 31 about the noble wife. It's my favorite line in this whole Proverb. It's a great line and it's a line about the future. But you can't read it without reading the whole context. Proverbs 31, it starts in verse 10, the wife of noble character, man, she's rare. Who can find her? Her worth is far more than rubies. And that's not saying they're not out there. Obviously the guy who wrote this found her. And he talks about her. And he says stuff like this about her: She's a hard worker.

She, verse 15, gets up while it's still dark. She's a worker. Provides food for her family. Look at verse 17. She sets about her work how? Vigorously. Her arms are strong for her task. She sees her trading is profitable and her lamp doesn't go out at night. She gets up early, she stays up late. She works hard. Wow, she must be a crass materialist that trusts in things. No, she doesn't. As a matter of fact, drop down to verse number 26. I know this is a godly woman, who speaks with wisdom. She's got faithful instruction on her tongue.

Do you think she trusts in stuff? Do you think she loves money? No, she doesn't love money. But she's a hard worker. She's diligent in her work. And because of all of that, when it snows, verse 21, is she all freaked out? No, she doesn't have any fear for her household because she's done her work. And she trusts in God. Verse 24, she's making linen garments and she sells them. She's doing a, that's great. And here's the best line of all, verse 25. She's clothed with strength and dignity, and I love this line, underline it, "and she can laugh at the days to come."

I love that. Why? Because she's trusting in her big bank accounts that she's got from all this trading she does? No. Because it's a collaboration, if you will, from a human perspective, of her confidence in God, that she's going through life with God. But she's also, if you will, earning her allowance. She's working hard. And if she's got five bucks in her hand and life demands fifty, she knows God's going to take care of it. But she's got her five bucks that she's gone about diligently working for.

Do you see that? There's that principle of responsibility that always underlies the issue of contentment. She laughs at the future. She smiles, the NAS puts it, at the days to come. She laughs at the days to come. That's great. Do you have that kind of confidence about your retirement? Ha! Bring it on, retirement! Why? Because you're cocky and arrogant because you've got a lot in the bank? No. Rich people aren't supposed to be arrogant. They're supposed to put their trust in God, not in their stuff.

Are you tracking with all? Put all this together in your mind now. The indicator that you're trusting God is always going to come with that layer of responsibility that you're working hard and you'll be able to look into the future and you'll be able to say, "I'm fine. It's okay. Bring it on. And even if my investments tank and even if things go bad and the housing market never recovers and my 401(k)s tank, it's all right. I'm doing my work. I'm better than the ant. I'm prudent about my my stuff. I'm saving for my kid's college."

Well Mike, I'm not. Then start, see? And then trust God. Don't put your trust in any kind of bank account and God will take care of it. Isn't this the principle of of Matthew 6:33? We've quoted it a couple times. Seek first the kingdom, his righteousness, all these things will be added unto you. Maybe what you don't remember, that all set up that discussion earlier in the sermon on the mount with this statement: "No one can serve two masters." Remember that? Because you'll either hate the one and love the other.

Now, that's the problem. You read Proverbs 31 or you read Proverbs 6 and you think they're serving both. You can't serve both because I know what a lot of people are going to take out of this sermon. "That's great, Pastor Mike. I'm going to do both. I'll trust in God and I'll trust in my hard work and I'll trust in my bank account." You can't do both. You're either going to be trusting in one and despising the other or vice versa. You cannot serve God and money both.

So the question is who you going to serve? If you serve God, he's going to have you get off the couch and do some work and do some saving and be prudent about budgeting. But he's also going to say, "Trust in me and I'll take care of your future," and you should be able to laugh at the days to come. Because I'll take care of you and you know that. And you won't be engrossed in the things of the world. First Timothy 6, one more time. We've read it, we've quoted it several times now.

Verse 17, but I want you to look at the two verses that follow. We haven't looked at those yet. First Timothy chapter 6. Look at how this ends. And this should be the focus of our lives. We can't serve two things here. Let's serve God. God will lead us to prudence. God will lead us to hard work. He'll lead us to trust him. This is the focus. Just for the sake of context and review, look at verse 17 one more time. If you're rich in the present world, don't be arrogant. Don't put your hope in wealth. It's uncertain.

But put your hope in God. He richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. That's the kind of God we have. Stuff we have, he wants us to enjoy. Verse 18: Command them, those who have stuff more than they need, to do good. That's the focus. Even if you were to study the first part of this passage, Paul calls Timothy, the young pastor, to flee from materialism and pursue righteousness and love and faith and patience. And so he's saying it here. Command those that have money: Just be good. Do good.

Be rich in good deeds. That should be your focus. And to be generous. Willing to share. Part with that check. Give what you've got. Share what you've got. And in this way, here's the real deal, you'll lay up treasure for themselves and a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is, I love this, truly life. You know my real frustrations with the prosperity preachers? The focus is always on this life, right? It's all about getting it now.

And I'm all for enjoying what we have now. Let's enjoy it. It's great. You've got a big house, great, fantastic. Enjoy it. Share it. Don't get arrogant. Don't have this insatiable addiction to get more. Okay, enjoy what you've got. But here's the deal. It really doesn't matter if all of us in this room get the great big house. Doesn't matter if you rent for the rest of your life. Doesn't matter if you retire with a flush bank account. Ultimately what matters is that you do good and you do right.

And you're rich in good deeds because if you are, you'll lay up for yourself, I love it, this is the principle of Matthew 6. He says a firm foundation for the coming age so that you can take hold of life, life that is really life. You want to know about what really matters? How you're going to live for eternity. Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven where the moths don't eat it, thieves don't break in and steal it, or the rust doesn't corrupt it and destroy it.

That's the right place to be. And in our hearts, I want to say it doesn't matter if I ever get the iPhone, right? Sorry, stuck on the iPhone and the Porsche, you can tell. Trying to have that dispassionate buffer in my heart against them. But here's the deal. If I never get either one of those, it doesn't matter. That's not my quest. That's not what I'm all about. That's not what you should be all about. What we're all about is the next life.

I want to store up a firm foundation for that place. And I'm going to do that not by collecting as much as I can, but being good, being rich in good deeds, being generous and willing to share. God can guard our hearts from discontent, the anxiety of materialism, if we would focus on the right things. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and God'll take care of the rest. Let's pray. God, I pray we'd recognize that you are not a God who has created principles for us that are so otherworldly they don't have an application in this life.

Or that it's some kind of partial application. You want us to be one hundred percent and fully content. To be able to stand in your presence every morning when we get up and be able to say, "God, that we are not engrossed in the things of this world. We're not addicted to getting more. We are content and enjoy and celebrate what we have and more importantly, we celebrate who we have." If we have a relationship with you, our future is secure.

If we would but do what we're supposed to do, we would not only have enough for this life and not only you promise to to guard our steps and make our path firm, but God, you promise the most important thing, that we'll lay up for ourselves a foundation in that next world so that we'll be able to enjoy life that is really life because all the riches of this world as Paul put it are passing away. And they come with a lot of heartache.

And God, the next world and its riches, they don't. It's a great place to be rich. So God, I pray that we'd be concerned about eternal riches and that in this life we'd celebrate the riches that you give us here. We'd be willing to share. We'd be generous. But we'd be people that always guard our hearts against that love of money. God, let us be content. Let us be generous people. Keep us centered. Keep us focused, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Dave Drewery: Choosing to be content and then celebrating what we have and who we have. That's the path to joy and contentment. You've been listening to Focal Point. Today's message is called Motivated by Heaven's Perspective, and you can revisit these daily lessons anytime at focalpointradio.org or take them with you wherever you go, no matter what your schedule looks like, through the free Focal Point app.

As we near the end of the month, there's still time to get your copy of a special book Pastor Mike has picked out for you. It's called Making a Difference: Impacting Culture and Society as a Christian by R.C. Sproul. Sproul has no interest in culture war rhetoric or nostalgia for the past. His point cuts closer than that. Every believer who follows Christ changes the atmosphere of every room they step into, and Sproul lays out exactly what changing it well requires.

Pick up this book and the ordinary parts of life, your workplace, your vote, what you'll accept and what you won't, will stop sitting apart from your faith and start looking like its true shape. We'd love to put this book in your hands when you make a gift to Focal Point today. You can easily give over the phone at 888-320-5885 or go online to focalpointradio.org or mail your gift to Focal Point, Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654.

We'd also like to invite you to join our Focal Point partners with a standing monthly gift. This kind of giving reaches past today's bills toward the listener still searching for something steady and real. Join us today by signing up online at focalpointradio.org or call 888-320-5885. And if this is the first time you're reaching out to us, we have something at no charge set aside for you, a brand new booklet titled Battling Sin by Pastor Mike Fabarez. It's yours simply for getting in touch at focalpointradio.org.

Well, I'm Dave Drewery, inviting you to come back tomorrow for another thought-provoking message from Pastor Mike Fabarez. We'll be rediscovering an important spiritual discipline Tuesday on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Hi, Pastor Mike here. God's word promises it'll never return void. So I wonder how is God's word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line. Let us know. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org and then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of scripture. We'll see you then.

Dave Drewery: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.