'Til Debt Do Us Part

Rev. Dr. Christopher Carlson

A woman was talking with her teenage daughter about values.  She said, “Honey, what you need in order to survive in this world is faith in God and a good sense of humor.”  The daughter thought about that and said with a twinkle in her eye, “It also helps to have a good credit card.”  That is so American.  We are a country in debt in many ways.  It’s not all bad but in many cases people are very much in debt and its not surprising to hear that finances are one of the biggest issues in marriage. In fact, finances or the lack of how to handle them cause major problems in marriage and often is one of the factors leading to divorces.  Over the last few weeks we’ve been preaching through a series of sermons on relationships, particularly marital relationships.  As I said before, some of you are obviously in very different places and all kinds of folks in here are in different relationships.  Some of what we have said may not have applied to you and some of it may have.  Our prayer has always been that as you listen that God will speak to you where you are at your particular spot in life.  I say that today as well because some of you may have great finances, you may have them all under control but I’m hoping that wherever you are that what I’ll say today may be able to help you in some way or another. 

The Bible talks about finances and money more than many subjects.  Its hard to choose the scripture today so I’ve chosen a couple that relate to a couple of the points I’m making, short passages which you are very familiar with.  First from Proverbs 3:9-10. The Word of the Lord says:

9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:6-8:

6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Please join me in prayer

Father, as always I ask that your Spirit will be upon us, that what is said will speak to us in our hearts and minds.  Use the word preached today to help us and change us.  I give this time to you Lord.  In Jesus name, amen.

We are going to talk about five principles of good financial management.  The first is very simple, keep good records.  Proverbs 27:23-24 says: 23 Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; 24 for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations. The Bible is very practical.  I know a lot of times we read it and we go, “Wow, how does that apply to me?”  And of course He is talking to folks who had flocks and herds in this time but the principles are the same.  The Living Bible says of the same verse in another translation: Riches can disappear fast so watch you business interests carefully.  This is the principle of accounting. Know where your money is going.  Keep good records, it’s a starting point.  We’ve all heard so many people say, “I don’t know where my money is going?”  I’m sure we’ve said that ourselves.  Someone said that, “Money used to talk. Now it just seems to silently walk away.”  This principle is really about facing the facts.  If we aren’t honest with ourselves in where we are we’re certainly not going to be able to do anything about this problem if we have it at all.  We have to face the facts of how much money we actually make, what we have, how much debt we have and where does it go? Keep good records.  This is very basic.  Its not rocket science, yet, I have talked to so many people who have said to me “I just hate paying the bills. I don’t like to deal with the checkbook.”  And guess what?  They don’t.  Or usually in a relationship you have one or the other, the man or the woman, who keeps the checkbook and often it, goes with the one who is the saver.  There is always some sort of conflict going there.  There is not a lot of communication.  And sometimes if there were communication within thirty seconds they’re fighting with each other about how it works, making accusations, spiraling upward.  Some never talk about it.  Until you know these things you’re in the dark and if you’re in the dark you’re probably in debt.  We can’t ignore these principles. 

The next thing we need to do is plan our spending, the principle of planning.  All through the scriptures the Bible teaches future planning.  Moses says in one of the Psalms, “Teach me to number my days oh Lord that I may gain a heart of wisdom.”  He’s simply saying, “Lord help me to remember that my life’s not going to last forever, to count my days, that I may make plans.”  Proverbs 21:5 says:  The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. Haste, you’ve got to plan your spending.  It’s really talking about impulse buying.  We spend hastily.  How many have bought something on impulse?  I have.  Now sometimes it works out.  But I have to say most of the time I’ve been real sorry that I’ve done that.  It’s easy to do.  When we go to the mall we’re like the Calvary – CHARGE it!  We’re doing the American Express Master Card dance. 

Also under this category is a subject which is touchy which is debt.  Proverbs 22:7 says: The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is the slave to the lender.  Notice that’s not necessarily evil but if you get into debt in the wrong way you lose your freedom is what its saying.  Sometimes it’s wise to be in debt like buying a house and some other things.  Sometimes it’s very unwise, particularly with credit cards.  One preacher says that credit cards ought to be called “debt cards”. In America twenty five percent at least of every dollar goes to spend on consumer debt.  Again, its not rocket science.  You know that impulse buying of say a watch for two thousand dollars.  Pay it off at fifty dollars a month.  That’s forty payments, three and half years!   Then add the interest to it.  I just love it when you go into Sears.  “You want to get a credit card? You’ll get fifteen dollars off your next purchase.” Well, isn’t that nice.  Then think about the twenty two percent interest and all the money they’re going to make off you.  That just drives me nuts but that’s what happens.  Only forty easy payments.  There is no such thing as an easy payment, they’re all difficult.

“The wise man saves for the future,” says Proverbs, “but the foolish man spends whatever he has.”  How do we break that habit?  At the end of the sermon I have a tidbit I want to share with you that I have found helpful.  Basically, how we break the habit is B-U-D-G-E-T budget.  A budget is simply planned spending, its future spending, it’s telling your money where you want it to go rather than wondering where it went. Keep good records and plan how to use your money. 

After you’re married there are some characteristics of a good budget you need to remember.  One, it needs to be a mutual decision. This is where a lot of couples have trouble.  One is control and doesn’t tell that one.  Or, one goes out and spends and says, “I needed to buy that so here’s the bill.”  Or one likes to do certain things in sports.  Other people like to do other things.  Some people like clothes.  Some people like shoes.  Some people like this.  You have to sit down and make it be a mutual decision.  I had a friend who I roomed with my last year in college.  As we moved into this apartment he said, “I would like the biggest room.”  I didn’t really care.  It wasn’t because he had any furniture.  It was because he had about a thousand record albums.  Half of his room on the floor had record albums.  Even then I wondered, “When he gets married will his wife like to spend all that money on records.”  I happened to see him twenty years later and found that his wife didn’t mind but they worked it out.  That’s the whole point, they worked it out.  Now, they’re CD’s, but they worked it out. 

It also ought to be a matter of prayer.  This is also something I doubt many people pray about, their budget.  We ought to pray about how we are going to spend our money.  Too often we feel like that’s my business.  You’re Americans and it is your business, it’s a free country, nobody tells you how to spend your money.  The fact is that we often have this attitude that we’re just self made people.  Someone once said that a self made man usually worships his maker.  We think we’re God of our lives and we’re just plain not.  God gives us the ability to do anything particularly make money or to build or whatever it is in our lives its God that gives us the ability to do those things.  So pray, “God you put me here on earth how do you want me to spend my life?  How do you want me to spend my time?  How do want me to spend my money?”  Ask God for help.  We all will stand before God.   We are saved by grace through faith.  We’re going to heaven because we’re in Christ but God will ask us how we lived our lives.  That is part of the biblical doctrine.  I don’t know about you but I don’t want to stand before God and say, “Gosh Lord all that stuff you gave me; my talents, my money, everything I just spent it on myself.”  I don’t want to do that.  Keep good records, plan your spending. 

Third, enjoy what you have.  It’s the principle of contentment.  Proverbs says: Better is a little with fear of the Lord than great wealth and turmoil.  Better is a meal of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.   It’s better to have a little with the Lord than a lot when you’re uptight.  Principle of contentment.  I really believe that our entire society is built to produce discontent.  The three biggest enemies of contentment are probably the television, magazines and catalogs.  I mean, after all that’s all they’re trying to do is make you discontent with what you have and to go buy something else. “I’ve got to have that new car.”  “I’ve got to drink that particular kind of beer because the Swedish Bikini team is going visit me if I do.”  When the catalogs come, “Oh isn’t that cute and it’s on sale.”  “I’ve got to have that.”  Sometimes we shutter every time a preschooler picks up a catalog because we all realize all the things we don’t have and all the things we think we have to have.  Paul says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we carry nothing out of it.  Therefore, having food and clothing we should be content with that.  It’s the principle of enjoyment and contentment and yet we also spend our lives so busy just trying to pay bills.  Again, it’s not wrong to have goals.  It’s not wrong to work hard but I really think we’re going over board. Many kids don’t know their parents because that’s all they’re doing is running around trying to make a dollar.

Number four is share with others in need, the principle of sharing.  This is where we are starting to turn it around a little bit because if we’re in debt, many times, not every time, sometimes it just happens because of some unforeseen circumstance but many times its because we don’t have our priorities straight.  The Bible continually talks about being a giver and not a taker.  If we give we are blessed by God.  “One man gives freely,” says Proverbs 11:24-25, “yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.  A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will he himself be refreshed.”  God says, “Share with others who have a need.”  It is possible to give away and become richer. It is also possible to hang too tightly and lose everything.  Seems to say if we’re a giver God almost accepts that as a payment and God gives wonderful interest.  There are more promises in the Bible regarding giving than almost anything else and I believe that is true because God himself is a giver and wants us to be like him. 

To go along with this is number five, give first to God.  In Proverbs 3:9-10 again we read, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”  I know some of you are thinking, “I knew it, the preacher finally got to tithing even in marriage.”  But I want you to notice what it says.  It says “first fruits.”  The principle in the scripture is that when the people of God began to get their crops God would get the first piece of that.  It was off the top.  And yet many people wait to see if anything is left over before they give anything to God at all.  Some when it comes to giving, nothing stands in their way, they give nothing. 

This reminds me of an old story told by Paul Harvey.  About a woman who called up the Butterball turkey company.  She called the consumer hotline and asked about the advisability of cooking a turkey that had been in her freezer for twenty-three years.  The customer service reps said, “If the freezer had been kept below zero all that time it might be okay but it probably would not taste very good.”  The caller replied, “Well that’s what we thought.  We’ll just donate it to the church.”  That turkey is not what the Bible means by first fruits.  The way it works for us as you’ve heard me say many times and will again is that we should give to God off the top.  I’m a big believer in percentage giving.  It’s valuable to give systematically to God.  For me that means choosing a percentage and I do believe in giving ten percent but sometimes when I say ten percent people have heart palpitations.  Start somewhere.  What it simply means is whatever comes through your bank account choose a percentage and give it to the Lord’s work in this world.  It’s very easy.  It’s illustrated by a young boy in the Amazon who came running to a missionary one day carrying a good fish he had just caught.  “Sir,” he said, “Here is my tithe.”  “That’s wonderful,” said the missionary, “but a tithe means ten percent that’s just one fish.  Where are the other nine?”  And with a big smile he said, “They are still in the river and I’m going to catch them now and God will help me.”  That is first fruits. 

We need to get our priorities straight.  It really is surprising that even if you are in debt or you are having trouble with your finances that if you can begin to give to God systematically you will find that will God will bless you and you will find He will enable you to live off the rest.  Things will go better.  The Bible says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (that is put Him first) and all these things will be added unto you.”  In other words, “if you put me first I will take care of you.”  Many of you may be sitting there thinking, “I’m so financially stressed that I can’t even think about these guidelines.  More than I can bear.”  I want to give you a tip I got from a man named Dave Ramsey by reading one of his books.  I’m sure he got it from someone else.  It goes something like this, “if you are really in debt go home and take your bills and lay them on the table.  Get the smallest one first and work to pay it off.”  We all have, in most cases, some extra money.  We may get a check if someone sends us something for our birthday or we get a bonus or something happens.  Discipline yourself, if you really want to get out of debt, take that and put that into that first thing and make as many extra payments as you can on that and pay it off.  When it’s paid off take what you were giving to that and put it on the second one.  Do the same thing.  Any extra money goes to that.  It may take you a while but do it.  Then take it and put it on the third one. All the while you have to make the minimum payments, of course, on the rest but keep adding.  It will become like compound interest, it grows, its compound bill paying.  It works, I’ve done it myself.  You may be thinking, “I can’t make any changes in this.”  I just want to give you some encouragement.  Find somebody who can help you and do it.  If you are not in debt or about to get married or wherever you are in your life, work on this.  Make a start however small.

There’s a place in Tennessee that used to be an important little town in Davidson County.  It’s where the North South tracks turn from east and west.  There were trains that would come up from the south and a switcher would just move the tracks like six inches.  If he moved them to the right the train would go to Louisville or Nashville but if he moved it to the left just six inches it would go to Chicago or St. Louis.  Just those six inches made a big difference.  Just small changes can make a big difference.  If you’re a golfer you know just even a half inch can make a huge difference in where the ball goes.  I played golf on Friday and my swing was more than a half inch off but that’s another story.  Little changes make a big difference.

God wants you to succeed, I believe that.  God wants us all to succeed in our relationships.  Wherever you are in this, I hope this is helpful.  God wants us to be able to take some of these principles and make our lives and our relationships better.  Go and seek His wisdom and He will help you.  In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.