A practical lecture on money – spending, saving, charitable giving – from famous pastor Wayne Grudem.

If you’re like me and you struggle with Bible study and church sermons unless you get something practical out of it, then these Bible studies are for you. You’ll like the way that Grudem navigates the Bible finding the passages that tell you who God is, so that you can make better decisions by analyzing alternatives and choosing the one that gives your Boss a maximum return on investment.

The MP3 file is here.

The PDF outline is here.

Spending:

• Christianity does not teach asceticism (= don’t enjoy anything in this world), Paul condemns it in 1 Timothy 4:1-5
• When you buy nice things, even if it is a little more expensive, it’s an opportunity to be thankful for nice things that God has provided
• Even being rich is OK, but don’t let it make you haughty and arrogant, and don’t set your hopes on your money (see 1 Tim 6:17)
• It is important for you to earn money, and you are supposed to use it to support yourself and be independent
• It is possible to overspend and live recklessly (Luke 15:13) and it’s also possible to overspend and live too luxuriously
• Increasing your income through career progression is wise, because it allows you to give away more and save more
• God gives us freedom to decide how much we spend, how much we give away, and how much we save
• every choice a Christian makes with money will give him or her more or less reward in his or her afterlife
• Do not spend more than you have – you should make every effort to get out of debt as quickly as possible

Saving:

• Saving money is wise so you can help yourself and others, and have money in your old age when you will not be working
• If you do not save your own money, you end up being dependent on others (e.g. – family or taxpayers)
• Not saving money for the future is a way of “putting God to the test” (Matt 4:7)
• You are to “be dependent on no one”, to the extent that you can (1 Thes 4:12)
• We don’t know the future, that’s why we should prepare for an emergency, and buy insurance to guard (James 4:13-17)
• It’s right for us to learn how to save to be able to buy bigger assets, like a car or a college education
• Saving and investing in stocks and bonds lets people in business start and grow companies, creating jobs and new products
• Don’t over-save, trusting too much in money more than you trust in God (Ps 62.10; Matt 6:19,24; Luke 12:15-21)

Giving:

• it is required for the people of God to give something out of what they earn, but no percentage is specified (Deut 26:12-13)
• you do not give money to become right with God, you can’t earn your salvation
• a Christian gives to show God that you trust him to take care of you, and to experience trusting him through your giving
• the quality of your resurrection life with God is affected by giving you do for the Kingdom (Phil 4, Matt 6:19-21; 1 Tim 6:18-19)
• when you get involved in the lives of others and give to them, you have the joy of experiencing caring for others (Acts 20:35)
• it’s possible to give too little, but it’s also possible to give too much – be careful about pride creeping in as well

The first part of this lecture made me think of my treat for the week, which is to go to an Indian buffet on Wednesdays, if I can. It costs $10, which is more than my usual $3.50 for a frozen meal for lunch and another $3.50 for a frozen meal for dinner. Spending a little more on a yummy plate of my favorite food makes it easy for me to remember to say grace, which is what Grudem said about spending making you thankful.

I was so happy listening to this talk because he was condemning bad stewardship, which I see in a lot of young people these days. I was happy until he got to the part about trusting in your savings for your security, and then I thought – that’s what I do wrong! I save a lot but it’s not just for emergencies and to share with others, like he was saying – I want a sense of security. This was more of a temptation in my 20s than it is now in my 30s, though.

Ironically, I woke up Wednesday morning and was singing this song in the shower:

It’s a song about being wanting to be righteous, and yet being unable to attain it on your own. I must think that being justified by faith in Jesus is more important than money, because I never wake up singing about the security I get from my savings. Still, I consider myself warned.

I can remember being in my first full-time job as a newly hired junior programmer when the 2001 recession struck. I would cry while signing checks to support William Lane Craig’s Reasonable Faith ministry, because I was so scared. I had no family or friends where I lived to help me if anything went wrong, and that’s been the story of my working life. If anything goes wrong, there is no backup. But it’s that experience of crying when I gave that allows me to say today “that’s when I became the man I am, that’s what a man does when he is a follower of Jesus”. If you are not doing the actions of charity, then you will not having the experience of trusting God and letting him lead you. There is more to the Christian life than just saying the right things – you have to do the right things.

If you’re scared about giving when you are young, then do what I did in my 20s: work 70-hour weeks, get promoted often, and save everything you earn. I volunteered every Saturday for 9 months in order to get my first white-collar part-time job when I was still in high-school. The faster you increase your savings, the easier it’s going to be to take a genuine interest in caring for the people around you. Read Phil 1 (fellowship), Phil 2 (concern for others), and Phil 4 (charity). Turn off your emotions and desires, and put Philippians into practice. Note that your freedom to give is very much tied to the quality of your decisions of what to study, where to work, how much you spend on entertainment, and so on. That’s why you need to turn off your feelings and desires and do what works, even it it’s not fun, and even if it involves responsibilities and obligations.