Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: That's the point. Wherever I am, I better look to God's word to see what it says about my finances because it says something that will set me free and enable me to bless God and others.

Greg: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in Biblical Studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled, Where Do You Turn? Let's listen in as JP gives part two of When You Hit a Financial Crisis.

JP Jones: You cannot serve God and money. Jesus said it so plainly in Matthew chapter six. "No one can serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." He went on to say in Matthew six, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Paul wrote to Timothy in First Timothy: "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant or to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." Don't you like the way that's phrased? Take hold of the life that's truly life. How to do that? Pay it forward. Make kingdom investments.

So, the point of those scriptures is that you cannot serve God and money. Here's a sixth truth: we have a responsibility to provide for our families. Those who won't care for their own relatives, especially those living in the same household, have denied what we believe. Such people are worse than unbelievers, First Timothy chapter five.

Seventh truth: don't spend money you don't have. Don't spend money you don't have. But don't begin until you count the cost. This is Jesus teaching. "For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there's enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, 'There's the person who started that building and couldn't afford to finish it.'" So, a seventh truth about money management and financial freedom is don't spend money you don't have.

Here's an eighth truth: promptly repay debt. This is all logos, just information from God's word. Over 2,000 verses that deal with finances. These are just some of them. "Give everyone what you owe them. Pay your taxes and import duties and give respect and honor to all men to whom it is due." Romans 13. "The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously." Psalm 37. "Do not say to your neighbor, 'Come back later, I'll give it tomorrow,' when now you have it with you." Proverbs 3:28. "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the servant of the lender."

Boy, how much is that true? We understand that principle, don't we? Those of us who have debts we're trying to pay off. Promptly repay debt. Here's a ninth truth: it's wise to save. Proverbs 21 says, "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but the foolish devour all they have." Proverbs chapter six: "Go to the ant, you sluggard, and consider its ways and be wise. It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provision in summer and gathers its food at harvest."

This was the distinguishing act of Joseph, who had the opportunity to save the nation of Egypt and really the then-known world because God revealed to him the plan was there were going to come some lean times. And so Joseph stored away in barns from the abundance that they had, and then when the lean times hit, Egypt was able to continue its economy, people were able to continue to eat, and people from all over the then-known world came to Egypt to feed off what they had set aside and saved during the good times.

Here's a tenth truth: we are stewards of what God has given to us and should be good managers of God's resources. Everything that God's given to us—time, talent, treasure—still belongs to God because He owns everything. But we're stewards, we're managers of it, and we should be good managers of what God has given to us. First Corinthians four says, "A person who's put in charge as a manager must be faithful." Matthew 25, Jesus said, giving a story about the talents: "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.'"

And then here's a passage that I would swear got added in since the last time I read the Bible. In Luke chapter 16—I've read the Gospels I don't know how many times, I'm reading them through again—this verse often just jumped out at me. Luke 16, Jesus is teaching and says, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in the handling of worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?"

Do you see what Jesus is saying? He's saying if you can handle money, then I'll put you in charge of stuff that really matters—stuff that has eternal significance, like people's lives. So we're stewards of what God has given to us and we should be good managers of God's resources. Here's the eleventh truth. This is just logos, 2,000 verses in the Bible. What do we do when we hit a financial crisis? Well, we need to look to God's word. And here's some of the things God's word says: we should give generously and joyfully.

Second Corinthians eight: "Out of most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service of giving to the saints." Paul is commending the churches of Macedonia for their generous financial giving. He goes on to say in Second Corinthians nine, "This service that you perform, that is the service of financial giving, is not only supplying the needs of God's people, but is overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God because of the service by which you have proved yourselves. Men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace God has given to you." You can't outgive God. He always gives back more and it blesses so many people. So the principle: give generously and give joyfully.

Another truth: give expecting God's blessing. Second Corinthians nine: "The one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each make up your own mind as to how much you should give. Don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure, for God loves the person who gives cheerfully. Now, He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." So give expecting a blessing. Why? Because God promised to bless if we give generously.

Here is a thirteenth truth. I've got 15, so just three more. 2,000 verses! This is logos, this is content, this is information. The purpose is to overwhelm us, like, wow, I better look to God's word. That's the point. Wherever I am, I better look to God's word to see what it says about my finances because it says something that will set me free and enable me to bless God and others.

Thirteenth truth: give according to the tithe principle. Give according to the tithe principle. This is from the Italian prophet, Malachi. Actually, it's Malachi, last book of the Hebrew Scriptures. "Should people cheat God? But you've cheated Me. But you ask, 'What do you mean? When did we ever cheat You?' Well, you've cheated Me of the tithes and offerings due Me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating Me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in My temple. If you do, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in. Try it. Put Me to the test."

You know, it's interesting, this is a passage that some people have reacted to by saying, "Well, this is the Old Covenant, this is the law, we're under the New Covenant under grace." Boy, that's true, I'll buy into that. And they'll say, "You know what? Jesus does not teach tithing." That's true. And they'll say the apostles do not teach tithing. That's true. So all of that's true. But there's definitely a principle here, whether you don't believe the principle is to be seen as literal or whether you believe the principle is somewhat figurative, there's a definite principle.

The interesting thing I find is the way we'd love to read this is we'd like to take out the literal part, the tithe part, and say that's Old Covenant, but we want to keep the blessing part and say that's New Covenant. I don't know, there are a lot of people who know a whole lot more than me who have different ideas about what this means, but I can tell you what I know for sure it means. There's a part of our relationship with God that involves our tithes and our offerings. And there's a part of the nature of God which is to bless us. And there's a biblical principle that when we live according to God's plan, we experience the blessing that He wants to give. So there is a tithe principle here that's part of the scriptural teaching on financing.

Here's a fourteenth truth: give in order to meet the needs of one another in the church. Paul wrote this to the Corinthians: "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard-pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need so that in turn, their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: 'He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.'" He's using an Old Testament experience to teach a truth. And the Old Testament experience is when God provided manna and quail in the wilderness. And the teaching was, "Hey, you know what? If someone gathers more than they actually need and you have less than you need, they can share with you and you get it. Because guess what? It might turn around where you have more than you need and they have less than they need and you can share with them." So the point is you're part of a body, you're part of a community, you're part of a team, and you're in it together. So practice this principle of sharing and meeting one another's needs.

And the New Testament church was founded that way, by the way. In Acts chapter two, it says, "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. And with great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There was no needy persons among them, for from time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales, and they put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." So the truth is we are to give in order to meet the needs of one another in the church.

And the last principle I want to just discuss with you—there are 2,000 verses—give in order to advance the missionary efforts of the church. Acts 13, the missionary expansion of the church begins, the apostle Paul is called out to ministry. It says this: "In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul (who was later changed his name to Paul) for the work to which I have called them.' So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off." Awesome. First missionaries being sent out.

And the rest of the book of Acts describes the missionary journeys of Paul and the churches that he planted and the relationships that he developed. And the whole of the New Testament letters written by Paul were written during this period—except for Timothy's letters, they came afterwards. So you ever wonder, okay, Paul's out there serving, preaching, writing the Bible, doing all this stuff? I mean, how did he pay for himself? I mean, how did he pay his rent and how did he pay his food and buy clothes and do all that? Well, it's true, for a time at Corinth, he worked as a tentmaker, but he didn't do it all the time. He was supported, financially supported by the church. And the church isn't some abstract entity; the church is made of people. So people supported him.

In fact, it says this in Philippians chapter four, Paul writes to the church at Philippi and says, "It was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you only. For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I'm looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more. I'm amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Paul is writing a thank you follow-up letter to the people who supported him financially. We are to give in order to advance the missionary efforts of the church. By the way, it says in Philippians 4:19, "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Can't pull that promise out of its context. That's a great biblical promise. I've heard many believers quote that promise, but that was written to a group of financial givers, sacrificial givers who were supporting missionaries. And the promise was, "And God's going to take care of you too. God's going to take care of you too." That's the Malachi principle.

So, 2,000 verses! Not just about giving—about spending, about saving, about getting out of debt, about financial management. What's the point? If I'm in a financial crisis, I need to look to God's word. That's the point. Because different principles may be applicable to different people at different times. What do you do? Where do you turn when you're in a financial crisis? Turn to the Lord. Get on the same page with your spouse. Look to God's word. Here's the fourth thing: get help from God's people.

That was one of the principles behind giving. Get help from God's people. Romans chapter 12 says this: "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer, and share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." And then Acts chapter two talks about how they had all things in common and they were selling their property and giving to one another whoever had need. And that's how people's needs were maintained and taken care of in the first church.

You see, we need to get help from God's people. We need the help of prayer and the help of encouragement and the help of accountability and the help of wisdom and sometimes the help of financial assistance. We need help. We just need to ask for help. If we need help, we need to ask for help. When I was a younger man, Donna and I were first married, we were living in Santa Barbara, we were both working for Campus Crusade for Christ as supported missionaries, and we were going through a real financial struggle. And there was a couple in the church that we were attending that kind of heard of what was going on and they believed in our ministry and they said, "We want to help you guys because we think what you're doing is great."

And so they invited a bunch of their friends over to their house and had a little dessert and he said, "You know what? JP and Donna are serving Christ here and got all these young people coming to our church and they're just doing a—we think they're doing a great job, and we want to support them financially and we think you should too. You know, JP, Donna, share what your vision is and what you're doing." And we kind of just unpacked what we were doing. And they said—then the guy came back up and said, "Listen, there's no obligation here, but if you believe in this couple, you need to help them." And it just turned around completely our financial support base.

That same guy pulled me aside sometime later because we started spending time. He was in a Sunday school class I was teaching and in a Bible study I was leading and I was kind of pouring into his life spiritually and he said, "You know what? You're helping me spiritually. Let me help you financially. You're a mess." And he was right. He goes, "You don't know anything. So let me help you out." And he gave me some coaching about getting on a budget, about saving, about paying off some bills. He helped me, and I needed help, you see. Sometimes we need help and we need a group of people around us who love us and believe in us and will help us.

Where do you turn? We need to turn to the Lord. We need to get on the same page with our spouse. We need to look to God's word—2,000 verses, that's a lot of information to help us. We get the help from other believers. And here's the last thing: we need to receive coaching from mature mentors. Sometimes we need some very focused discipleship in the area of financial management because we're in a crisis.

Hebrews 13:7 says, "Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." There's some people in this congregation that we need to be imitating because they're living in biblical freedom because they're following a kingdom lifestyle implementing kingdom principles, and they can help the rest of us. They're mentors who can disciple some of us who need that kind of focused discipleship.

Solomon, writing the Proverbs, says this: "My son, if you accept my words (and by the way, he's not just writing to his biological son, it's a mentor writing to a mentee, it's a wise godly person passing on the principles of wisdom to those of us who would be learning from it), my son, if you'll accept my words, store up my commands within you, turn your ear to wisdom, apply your heart to understanding. If you'll call out for insight, cry aloud for understanding. If you look for it as for silver and search for it as hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." You see, some of us need to get the focused mentoring from a wise godly example or from a financial professional with a heart for the Lord who can help us because God wants us to have freedom.

So where do we turn when we have a financial crisis? Well, we turn to the Lord, we get on the same page with our spouse, we look to God's word—2,000 verses, it's a lot of information to help us. We get the help from other people who can help us and we receive focused coaching from godly mentors. And when we do, then we get on a plan for hope and for freedom. And that's what God wants all of us to experience.

Greg: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars.

Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250. For your gift of 25 dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. You know, I believe we find our greatest joy when we pursue God's greatest glory. Since I believe that, I believe we find our greatest financial joy when we pursue God's greatest glory in our finances. We've been looking at some biblical principles that discuss financial stewardship. Over 2,000 verses in the Bible that address stewardship and investment and financial management and what God has to say with how we are to deal with worldly wealth. God is deeply concerned with this area of our life. We reflect our relationship with Jesus Christ in the handling of our finances.

So, where do we turn when we hit a financial crisis? We should turn to God and we should turn to His word. We should do what God says and experience God's freedom in following Him in obedience. I've told my children ever since they were little there's three things that we can do with our money: we can give it to God and to His kingdom purposes, we can save it, and we can spend it. You see, giving it to God and His kingdom purposes needs to be first and foremost in our financial management. Saving it needs to be second in our financial management. And then spending it is third on the priority list.

And how we spend it is important because God has a lot to say about how we spend, what we spend. We can give it away, we can save it, and we can spend it. And in all three of those areas, God's word relates very specifically to stewardship and to the use of our finances. When we hit a financial crisis, we should do what we should be doing all along: look to God and look to His word because that's where we find freedom, that's where we find truth, and that's where we find grace.

If you're in the midst of some kind of financial crisis, don't try to handle it alone. Look to God, receive the help from God's people, and allow the truth to set you free and the grace to sustain you until you're out of the crisis. If that's what you desire, I invite you to pray with me right now. Lord God, help me in my financial crisis. Help me turn to You, help me see in Your word truth that sets me free, help me receive from Your word grace that will sustain me as I keep my eyes on You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Greg: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.