This week we will be talking about: Wisdom for your Work and Finances
- What does it look like to have God’s wisdom in our work ethic each and every day
- What does it look like to have God’s wisdom in our financial lives?
Why do we need wisdom in our work and finances?
- Why does any of this matter to God?
- Why does God care how I work?
- Why does God care how I handle my money?
- Why does God care how I use what I have?
Because ultimately, we were created to bring Him glory!
Isaiah 43:7 “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.””
1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
So if the purpose of our lives is to glorify God, then we need wisdom in these areas because we should want to handle them in a way that actually brings Him honor and glory! But again, where does wisdom come from?
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
- Biblical wisdom starts with God
- Fear of the lord = reverence that leads to submission!
Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;”
Everything belongs to Him. My abilities, my job, my resources, my money in my bank account... Everything ultimately belongs to Him!
So biblical stewardship begins when we:
- Stop asking: What do I want to do with my time and my resources?
- Start asking: God what would you have me do with the time and resources that you have entrusted to me?
Wisdom for your work
Colossians 3:23–24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
- Sometimes we separate our work life from our spiritual life... But scripture doesn’t give us that separation!
- Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as if working for the Lord and not for human masters
- Our work becomes an opportunity to worship God by the way we do it!
Proverbs gives us a pretty funny example of what this work ethic looks like.
Proverbs 6:6–8 “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”
- The ant teaches us that biblical diligence is seeing what needs to be done and faithfully doing it without always needing someone else to push us
Our proverb scriptures today also have warnings against laziness:
Proverbs 6:9–11 “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? 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 thief and scarcity like an armed man.”
Proverbs 10:4 “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.”
Proverbs 10:5 “He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.”
- So what if the work in our lives looked like that of ants and not of sluggards?
- What if whatever God has put in front of us, we worked at it with all our heart, as if we were working for the lord?
What would our homes look like?
Would all our neighbors know we love them?
What would our workplaces look like?
Would all our coworkers have a relationship with Jesus?
What would our church look like?
Would we be an "Acts 2" church where everyone went without need because we all took care of each other?
What would our witness look like if people could look at the way we work and see something different in us?
Would people know that we are madly in love with Jesus?
“Work in our lives is one of the primary venues of worship. From a time perspective, we spend a majority of our time at work, and therefor we must be careful that we are using it as a means to worship the Lord” - Pastor Kaleb Rockwell
Wisdom in your finances
- Money touches almost every part of our lives and it is really easy for money to become something that consumes our attention.
Luke 12:32–34 ““Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Jesus is posing a question in these verses
- Where are you building your treasure?
- Are we building our treasure here on earth?
- Or are we building our treasure in Heaven?
Treasure: a large amount of valuable things like gold, silver, jewels, money, or a person or thing that is greatly loved and cared for
- Biblical wisdom with money is not: "how do I accumulate more?"
- Biblical wisdom is: "how can I use what God has entrusted to me for His glory?"
Proverbs 13:11 “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.”
Proverbs 6:1–5 “My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion— and give your neighbor no rest! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.”
Proverbs 13:7 “One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.”
- Financial wisdom cares more about your reality than your appearance
- Biblical wisdom asks am I trying to steward what God has given me well?
- Or am I trying to impress people?
Proverbs 22:2 “Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all.”
- The bible does not teach that if you are wise that you will become rich
- Nor does it teach that if you are struggling financially that you are doing something wrong
- Rich and poor both belong to God
- Both have value in His eyes
- Both of them were made to glorify Him
The question is not: How much do I have?
The question is: “What am I doing with what God has entrusted to me?”
