Only 6 months to train for the July 2024 Summer Olympics. You are all going to watch some part: track and field, basketball, rowing, swimming. Right now, the athletes who plan to compete in those games are on a training schedule which will land them in the best shape of their lives so they can compete for a gold medal. Perhaps one area you need to really work on is your relationship to money.

In the Lord of the Rings, Smeagol/Gollum is fishing with a friend when his friend discovers the ring. Because of it’s power, the ring quickly turns into an idol he must have. He will do anything to get it and when he finally does, he disappears. It’s like his lusts have swallowed him up and his true self has vanished. He has a new master and he is never the same.

The title of the chapter from Run to Win we are discussing today is “Master Your Finances”. It’s an interesting verb choice, master. Other chapter titles use embrace, renew, practice, prioritize, redeem, pursue, but Challies chooses master your finances. Why?

The reason Tim Challies chose master is because he knows Jesus’ warning about money in Matthew 6. Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters…You cannot serve God and money.” Interestingly, Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest men in American history, made the same observation about the pursuit of money. He said, “Man must have an idol, the amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of idolatry. No idol is more debasing than the worship of money…it has the power to degrade me beyond hope of permanent recovery.”

You may have heard the famous response by John D. Rockefeller when he was asked, “How much money is enough money?” He replied, “Just a little bit more.” No matter how much you have, you are “just a little bit more” away from feeling secure, powerful, and happy. That’s a false narrative.

Jesus addresses the issue of money becoming a master in three ways:

1. Principle (Matthew 6:24)

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matthew 6:24

Jesus’ principle tell us something about the human condition. You and I are designed to serve. Let that sink in. We aren’t designed to be masters, we aren’t owners. We are designed to serve. Jesus tells us we will serve some master. The question is, what master will we serve?

Jesus’ principle also tells of the power of wealth. Jesus calls money a “master.” He assigns godlike qualities to money. Think about it:

• Money outlives us. It has an almost eternal dimension. Your money can exert incredible influence, for good or ill, long after you are dead. It’s power out-stretches our own lives.
• Money exerts a wide circle of influence. People respect money, which is why we have the phrase, “money talks.”
• Money pretends to offer what we want from God – happiness, freedom, comfort, safety! Money looks like it will provide the things we most want so it’s easy to make money your master.

Jesus also knows these two masters, God and money, have opposite agendas.

• Money as master will take you on a completely different course in life. Path 1 – Comfort: If you are not comfortable, then you should be, even if you have to borrow money. Path 2 – Safety: I must protect myself. Path 3 – Power: the more money you have the more powerful you feel.
• God as master has a different agenda for his followers. His agenda is not comfort, safety or power but is more like risks, sacrifice and service.

2. Picture (Matthew 6:22-23)

The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. Matthew 6:22-23

Money has a blinding effect. Your eyes serve as a lamp or a headlight. Your body needs something to tell it where it should go. Your eyes receive light which helps you to walk through the doors rather than run into the walls. Notice Jesus’ carefully crafted illustration:

• (vs. 22) – If your eye, this small piece of the body, is healthy and singled focused, not blurred or double visioned, then your entire body benefits.
• (vs. 23) – However, if your eyes are bad, if this one little area is bad, then your whole body is full of darkness. Here’s Jesus’ parallel – just like your eyes affect your whole body, so money affects your entire life.
• (vs. 23) – Here is the kicker. If you think your eyes are good when really they are bad then you are really in a dark place.

Do you see the danger? Jesus’ illustration points out there are some people who think they are healthy in regards to their wealth, but they are not. And because those people think they are healthy, it will be very difficult to help them. They live in “great darkness.”

There are a couple of ways money and possessions have a blinding effect on people.

• Money and possessions can blind you from thinking you are greedy. All it takes to think you are not in danger of being greedy is to know just one person, relative, neighbor, friend, who seems a bit more extravagant than you think they should be. So you think, “I’m not greedy, but I can show you someone who is.”
• Money and possessions blind you from remembering whose money it is. The blinding effect is we believe what we earn is ours. In other words, we tend to think of ourselves as Masters and not Managers. We think, “I have earned wealth” rather than “I have been entrusted with wealth.”

 

3. Practice (vs. 19-21)

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Here we see Jesus lay out his action plan:

1. Do Not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth (vs. 19):
   Reverse Course. We must stop moving in the wrong direction and stop spending so much money on things that won’t last. I love the dump out on 421. I love getting rid of stuff. The dump is full of big box TVs, yesterday’s treasures. The first thing we need to do is reduce spending money on things on their way to the dump. Here’s a key tip – many are stuck in the faulty pattern of Live, Save, Give. It’s part of the false narrative that I have to take care of myself first or once I establish my pattern for living, then I will be able to give. Uh, NOPE! If you start out with living, you rarely get to giving. So, reverse course! Give, Save, Live! Many people tell me they wish they could do more for the Kingdom of God, but think “I just don’t have the resources.” When the truth is they don’t have the right priorities.
2. Do make eternal investments (vs. 20):
   You might be surprised to see God’s investment advice is for you to be actively storing up treasure and storing up for yourself. Randy Alcorn makes this point: Look at Jesus’ argument – Jesus doesn’t say earthly treasures are bad, but that they just don’t last. So Jesus’ investment strategy is logical. You should invest, but invest in things you will benefit from not in 3 years or 30 years, but in 30 million years. Invest in things that are going to last forever.

Questions:

1. How have you experienced money exerting its power over you?
2. What false narrative are you tempted to believe about money? How did your family of origin shape your views about money?
3. How do you make the shift in your thinking about money from owner to servant/steward?

Iron Leadership Materials:

1. The Daily Office- 1-26-24
2. IL Handout – 1-26-24