Click For Audio Version
Debt And The Bible
Where do you start when talking about debt and the Bible?
I believe that we need to talk about money first!
You understand money is the driving force in our culture. From early childhood, we are taught the value of money. Many of us were also taught that debt was bad for various reasons.
We try to teach our children that they should study and prepare themselves for the future. Our desire is for our children to be able to have the life they want. Often our idea is that they should have the life we could not afford.
Perhaps we should have spent more time teaching them the value of spiritual assets, those things that do not perish.
Our nation is so absorbed in acquiring things that storage sheds and rental storage units are now growth markets. That fact tells us something about our values and that something is wrong.
The idea of earning to have what we desire is not knew. The desire for money and what it can buy has driven mankind from the beginning. At first, people traded what they produced for what they needed or wanted.
Soon, coins were adopted and given a value. It made life easier. You could carry coins easier than trade goods and you could save them for future use.
Since early times money has monopolized many lives.
The Bible is not silent about money, how we are to gain it, spend it, save it, and give it. Money is referenced over 2300 times in Scripture. The Bible tells about both the wise and the unwise use of money.
The following two Scriptures point to some basic truths we need to always keep in mind and teach our children.
First, we will leave this world the same way we came into it. Rich or poor, none of us can take any physical wealth with us when we leave this life.
Ecclesiastes 5:15 NIV says,
“ Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
and as everyone comes, so they depart.
They take nothing from their toil
that they can carry in their hands”
Second, money has a way of growing in value in our minds___ even if not in our pockets. Money can become an idol people worship and it can separate us from God who is the source of all we have.
It is easy to catch money sickness and it is hard to accept the cure. I find the following Scripture can often be applied to our society.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 NIV says, “Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.”
The sad thing is once we fix our attention on money and the things it can purchase for us there is never enough. There is always a better car, a nicer home, or some other thing we want. I have seen many Christians, including ministers, caught in this trap.
They accept Jesus and confess that they are going to follow Him. However, soon they began to be distracted by the things of this world. Satan uses the love of material things to separate us from serving God. As income increases, they see more things they could have and forget about spiritual things.
This love of things often leads to borrowing money, so that we can have something we can not afford or even need. Material things are a lot like chains that hold us back from serving God.
However, money is important in our Christian walk.
Jesus talks about money a lot. Sixteen out of 38 parables talk about money. In these, He deals with men’s greed as well as ways money can be used to help those in need.
God wants us to use what He blesses us with in His service. Money can do a lot of good if we remember that we are stewards of God’s resources.
Let’s look at Psalms 24:1-2 NIV, which says, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.”
We need to put money in perspective.
Money, like all things, belongs to God!
As the above verse says, “The earth is the Lord’s” along with everything else in it. God created us to work with our minds and hands to produce all that is needed. However, He alone still possesses all things and they are simply put in our hands to use for His purpose.
Life is not just a struggle to get more stuff. It is to use what God gives us to help reach the lost and care for those who are in need.
You will never have enough money if you focus on what you want instead of what God wants you to do. He will always provide what you need to fulfill what He wants you to do.
God is for total commitment!
God is not against money! He is the one who makes wealthy and takes wealth away. Our Lord wants us to consider those things that have true value. Things that can not be purchased with money.
When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior you must count the cost. It will require changes in the way you do things. Jesus says in Luke 14:28 NIV, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”
If you ever built anything on a limited budget you understand what Jesus is saying. You consider the cost before you build.
God wants you to do the same in your relationship with Him. The cost may be very high, but so are the rewards.
What does walking with Jesus cost?
Are you willing to pay the price?
Our Lord wants us to be diligent when it comes to our Christian walk. He wants you to consider the cost and make a lifelong commitment.
There is no halfway with God!
In the 14th chapter of Luke Jesus gives several examples of counting the cost before starting a project. Each one required the person to examine what it would cost to finish the project.
Jesus puts it this way in Luke 14:33 NIV, “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”
What is Jesus saying to you?
One of the messages Jesus gives us is of a rich young ruler. I want you to note that this was a good man who had done many things right. You could find no fault in him except for one thing.
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Matthew 19:21 NKJV
Does Jesus require you to give up everything you own?
The answer is YES you are required to give up your idea of ownership. First, consider the fact that you don’t own anything. Second, you need to understand God owns those things you call yours. He is allowing you to use them.
You can not use what God gives you correctly until you understand that God gives it to you for His purpose.
Everything already belongs to God.
Many places in the Bible point out this fact. In Psalms 24:1 it says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.”
God only allows you to use His possessions while you are here on earth.
When we come to Jesus it must be a complete surrender of all we are and all He has given us.
God never accepted partial commitment. Look at Israel! Israel tried to give God only what the letter of the law required. They attended all the services, they paid their tithes, they made token offerings to the poor, and they made sacrifices.
With their lips and some of their actions, they honored God.
What did they lack?
What did God want from them?
God wants all of you. He does not want a halfway commitment.
He wanted to be first in the hearts of Israel, and He wants first place in our hearts today. God wants all of you!
Jesus says in Matthew 22:37 NKJV, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’”
He wants you to understand that the things you have purchased for yourself with His money have no real value. It is only what you use to serve Him that will bring you into the right relationship with your Creator.
Accepting the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for your sins, and that He rose from the dead is not enough. These are vital to your salvation but He requires your total surrender.
Remember, Satan and his demons all believe these facts. In James 2:19 NKJV it says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”
Following Jesus is what sets us apart from Satan and his demons.
Jesus must be the Lord of our lives and we must follow Him in all His ways.
So, we have talked about money. What about debt?
Debt and money used unwisely can hinder us from following Jesus!
I want to assure you that I have not always been debt-free. While Pastoring my first church in Lumberton, North Carolina I made my first credit purchase.
The first week after we were married we became foster parents for a newborn. Two years later we were blessed with our first child and could see no end to washing diapers. Many of you have never seen cloth diapers, but throwaway diapers were not yet available.
We had to wash them by hand or haul them to the laundry a few blocks away.
I purchased a washing machine from Sears on credit. Over the years I purchased a car, a home, and even a commercial printing business, all on credit.
Today I would have done things differently.
I have seen what debt does to people and the Bible is full of advice against going into debt. Marriages are destroyed and people are enslaved by their debt.
Proverbs 22:7 NKJV says, “The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.”
None of us want to be servants to a lender, but when we borrow we give them control over our lives.
If we are open to the Holy Spirit leading we can be called at any time to serve Jesus anywhere we are needed. Debt can restrain us and keep us from feeling free to go when He calls us.
By God’s Grace I have been debt-free for years and can go anywhere He calls me. It is my daily prayer that all Christians would be as I am now in this. He has purchased me at a great price and I am completely His to send wherever He wishes.
As Christians should we have debt?
I want to let the apostle Paul answer that question. He says in Romans 13:8 NIV reads, Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
If you have indebted yourself to the world it will hurt your relationship with Jesus. He will still love you and want you to serve Him, but you will be handicapped by debt.
One of our great problems today is that we are so focused on ourselves that it is hard to do the good works God has prepared for us. By choosing a simpler life we free up God’s resources to help others.
If we don’t accept that all we have comes from and belongs to God we make wrong decisions. Often we get the idea that it is ours and forget why God gave it to us.
If we are not stewards of God’s money, we are not followers of Jesus.
We even get the idea that if we don’t have enough money for what we want we can just charge it or get a loan.
We look around us and see all we can purchase with money. It starts us on the path to wanting things we don’t need. That will get in the way of us serving God.
All of us need a place to live and transportation to work. However, we don’t need the biggest house on the block or the newest and fanciest car. Certainly, we don’t need five or six cars for two or three people.
In our society we are encouraged to get everything we want and if we don’t have money to pay for it to borrow against our future income.
God gives us money so we can do the good works that He prepared for us to do before we were born. In Ephesians 2:10 NKJV it says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Our Lord supplies what we need to do the work He has prepared for us. The problem is that we often steal what He gives us to use unwisely for our pleasure.
Steal? Did I say that?
Perhaps that is too strong a word. I don’t know. It is God’s money given to us for a purpose. Isn’t it stealing when we use it for something else?
Debt is often an expression of our lack of faith in God to provide what we need when we need it.
As Christians, we need to avoid debt and pay off any debt we have already made so we can be free to serve God.
Don’t you want that freedom for yourself?