Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

This is the fourth message in our “In God We Trust?” teaching series. In God We Trust is printed on our money, but in reality, money is one of the areas where we’re often the least likely to trust in God.

So in our first message in this series, we were challenged to trust God with the tangible things. We’re pretty good at trusting God with the intangibles a lot of the time, but it’s more difficult to trust him with the tangible things in our lives; things like our money.

In our second message, we learned how God called Abraham to go to a new and foreign land. Abraham had to leave the safety and comfort of his home and set out on a dangerous journey to an unknown land. Like Abraham, God is calling us to leave safety and comfort behind and tread into a dangerous and foreign land: the land of generosity.

And then last week, we were challenged to trust God in a very practical way. We learned that Trust=Tithe…and then some. Tithing isn’t just a part of the Old Testament law. As people living under New Testament grace, we’re called to give a tithe, and even beyond.

This whole series is a journey of trust. Trusting God with our money by following his instructions about our money. But what about those things in our lives that can really wreck our trust? That’s what we’re going to talk about today. There are things that push us to disobey God’s teaching about our money and our giving. These dangers that are lurking in our lives can quickly derail our trust in God. Today we’re going to rip the mask off two of these trustbusters.

The first trustbuster skulking around in our lives is The Debt Demon.

Dave Ramsey has a ministry that encourages and teaches people to leave the Debt Demon behind.

There is a page on his website called The Stupid Tax: Stupid Things We Do With Money. People can submit stories of stupid mistakes they’ve made with money. Most of them revolve around the Debt Demon.

A fellow named Kenneth posted his story on the website. He says, “It didn't take me long to think of the stupidest thing I've ever done with money...I purchased a computer using a 10-year student loan!

I was a computer engineering student in college, had no computer, and wanted to get the best, fastest computer money could buy. I bought the biggest hard drive available, put in as much RAM as the computer would hold, and bought tons of accessories and software. How did I fund this purchase? With a $6,500 10-year student loan, payment deferred until after I graduated, of course.

By the time I graduated 3 years later, the computer was already obsolete, and I hadn't even started paying on the loan! I went through two more computers (paying cash) in the 10 years it took me to pay over $10,000 for a computer I no longer owned!

And then there’s this posting by a person with the initials LC: We purchased four 4-wheelers and all the accessories for them on a Yamaha credit card, thinking we were taking up a family sport. The beginning interest on the card was 7%. One late payment (our fault) and one late payment due to them changing the billing cycle gave them the so-called right to jack our interest rate up to 26% on the $13,000 balance.

My husband spoke with a robot from Household Bank who told him to pay on time for 6 months and they would drop the extra interest. Six months later, they refused. (Imagine that!)

For 2 years we have paid $300 a month with $5 going toward the principle. We now owe more than we did when we bought them. Due to our credit problems, we could not refinance our home. As of last week, we put our home up for sale to get a fresh start and re-establish our credit. Our plans are to rent for a year and buy again later. Credit cards will never be allowed in our home again. This was the price to pay for buying on a whim when we couldn't afford it!

I beg every listener - DO NOT GET IN CREDIT CARD DEBT! It will rob you of everything. It affects your home, marriage, children, physical problems due to stress, job relationships (because others suffer being around your ill-self), your spiritual walk with the Lord, and it causes you to be burdened down so much you can't enjoy serving the Lord. It takes away the opportunity to do for others which is a far greater blessing. It was just surrender time for us! Words could never describe the pain we are feeling due to stupid money mistakes. We are in our early 40s and just hope we can redeem the time and turn our lives around.

This Debt Demon is alive and well in the lives of a whole lot of people. The first general use credit card that allowed balances to be paid over time was the BankAmericard issued in 1959. This card would later change its name to Visa in 1977. Back in the late ‘50s, no one could have imagined how credit cards would change the lives of most Americans. As of 2004, there were 1.3 billion credit cards in circulation in the U.S.

In 2004, the average American had over seven payment cards in their wallet. Average household credit card debt has increased 167% between 1990 and 2004. Last year, total American consumer debt reached $2.2 trillion.

Age doesn’t seem to make any difference, either. As of 2004, the average graduate student had six credit cards and one in seven owes more than $15,000 in credit debt. The average debt for Americans 65 and older went up 89% in the past decade.

It seems like God had America in mind when his word says, "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender." (Proverbs 22:7, ESV)

This is why debt destroys our trust in God: it turns us into slaves. A lot of us have bought the lie that is so prevalent in our culture. The lie is that we deserve to live above our means. We deserve it and debt is simply the easiest way to get there. So we spend money we don’t have to acquire things we don’t need. And when this debt takes its inevitable toll in our lives, the results are devastating.

It can come in the form of the little plastic card in your purse or wallet, it can come in the form of a car payment, a vacation, a shopping spree, wherever it comes from, the results are the same. You become a slave to the Debt Demon.

For some of you, this whole series on trusting God with our money, on giving generously to his church with a tithe or even beyond, it all rings hollow with you. You can’t follow God’s lead because you already have a master. Your slave master is the Debt Demon.

Last week in London, Jack Neal briefly became the proud owner of a pink convertible after he managed to buy it for 9,000 pounds, or about $17,000. Jack purchased the car on the Internet, despite the fact that he’s only three years old!

Jack's mother, Rachel, told the BBC she had left her eBay password on her computer and her son used the "buy it now" option to complete the purchase.

Rachel said, "Jack's a whiz on the computer and just pressed all the right buttons.”

The seller of the car was amused by the bid and agreed not to force the sale through. Luckily he saw the funny side of the situation and agreed re-advertise the car.

Obviously a three-year-old doesn’t need a slick pink convertible. How nice a car do you and I need? Earlier in this series I mentioned that our church has experienced some financial difficulties in recent months. It’s interesting, though, that our giving has dropped, but there are still a lot of nice cars in our parking lot each week. Dave Ramsey said that we should stop and think about what we could do, “if we didn’t have a stinkin’ car payment!” Your car or truck is not an investment. It’s not like buying a house. Your car depreciated the second you drove it off the lot. The payment is nothing but a black hole to toss your money in. It’s a comfy home for the Debt Demon.

It’s a mistake that I made myself. We have a car payment and I hate it. We actually owe more than the car is worth, which is an ugly feeling. When we get this car paid off, it’s my goal to never have another payment for a vehicle. I’m tired of being a slave to the bank for a car.

If we are going to trust God enough to follow his lead, then he has to be our master.

Jesus reminds us, “No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24, NIV)

We will never be able to trust God with our money if we already have another master over our money.

The call of your creditors will always be louder than the call of your Creator.

If you are drowning in debt, please seek out help. There are Christian professionals and resources to help you as you struggle to get out of the debt trap. Don’t let pride stop you from seeking the help you need.

If you are not that deep in debt, then heed God’s warning. Don’t buy the lie that debt is just an accepted part of life in America. It is a demon that has left lives ruined in its wake. Pay off your credit cards and get rid of them. Keep one if you have to for extreme emergencies, but that’s it. Pay off your cars and then commit to never go in debt for a vehicle again. Financial experts tell us that our goal should be to eliminate all the debt in our lives except our house payment. And then you work to eliminate that.

And if you’re thinking, but I can afford it, can you really? If you have a lot of debt, how can you possibly afford to trust God with your money? How can you possibly be giving generously to the church when you’re spending so much on debt payment each month?

And here’s where we unmask the second trustbuster. Some of you don’t like the question I just asked because you’re still not convinced that you need to give generously to the church. You don’t see the need to tithe or even beyond. You don’t see why it should be a priority in your life.

You’ve fallen victim to The Me Monster. I want the nicer car, the bigger house, the better vacation. And because I want these nice things, my giving to the church will suffer. But it’s ok, because it’s all about me. Now we may not say that out loud, but it’s the way we live our lives a lot of the time, isn’t it?

In the Old Testament book of Numbers, Moses ran into this same kind of selfishness. The nation of Israel was divided into tribes. In Numbers 32, the tribes of Reuben and Gad came to Moses with a request.

They said, “If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.” (Numbers 32:5, NIV)

We have to understand what’s happening here. The Reubenites and the Gadites had a lot of livestock. So they looked around and saw that this land was well-watered and absolutely ideal for grazing. So they said to Moses, “Please let us have this land. It’s perfect for us.”

But there’s more to it than just the good pastureland. The nation of Israel was gearing up for war. But these two tribes didn’t want any part of that. So they pleaded with Moses, “Do not make us cross the Jordan,” because crossing the Jordan River meant going into battle.

So you have these two tribes who want all this lush pastureland for the livestock. They want Moses to simply give it to them. It should be a free gift with no strings attached. There should be nothing required of them in return. They don’t want to go to battle with the rest of the Israelites. They don’t want to make any sacrifices. They simply want to have their own needs met.

“Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here?”” (Numbers 32:6, NIV) You want this gift but you don’t want to go to battle with us. You want to take something but you don’t want to give anything.

How many of us take the very same attitude about the church? I want my needs met. I want the church to please me. I want to take, take, take from the church and not give anything in return.

If we all succumbed to the Me Monster, our church would have to close its doors. Our ministry requires money. And if everyone takes and nobody gives, there will be nothing left to take because our ministry will shut down.

These two tribes received incredible blessings from being part of God’s chosen people. And because of this blessing, Moses told them, “Pay your share.” It is still an incredible blessing to be part of God’s family, and so God tells us the same thing. “Pay your share. Do your part. You’ve received a generous gift, so give generously.”

Ed Young said, “The true essence of God is generosity. And out of his generosity, He's given all of us certain amounts of stuff to manage. But too many of us are focused on own-ing, clothe-ing, house-ing and the bling-bling. When we do that, we miss out on the blessings God has in store for us.

Only God's "bless" can bring significance to my “ing." When you realize that, you'll discover a life full of true purpose, worth and meaning.

Are you valuable because of what you have in the world's eyes? Or are you valuable because of who you are in God's eyes?

There's much more to life than the "ing." God wants to put his bless on our “ing,” but he’ll only do that if we’re generous with our “ing.”

The Bible says, “There is one who is free in giving, and yet he grows richer. And there is one who keeps what he should give, but he ends up needing more. The man who gives much will have much, and he who helps others will be helped himself. The people curse him who keeps grain for himself, but good comes to him who sells it. (Proverbs 11:24-26, New Life Version)

As we said earlier in this series, as the people of God, generosity has to be part of the tapestry of our lives. As we grow in our walk with the Lord, generosity becomes a part of who we are. It’s becomes part of our spiritual DNA.

Selfishness has no place in the life of a Christ-follower. It is contrary to everything we learn in God’s Word. It is contrary to God himself. The Me Monster tells us to keep more, but in the end, we receive less. We have the “ing,” but we lose God’s “bless” on our “ing.”

Our theme Scripture for this series comes from Proverbs 3, starting in verse 5. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim with new wine.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, 9-10, NIV)

It’s all about trusting God. The Debt Demon and the Me Monster are trustbusters. They can derail God’s plan for our lives. Debt is a slave master who pushes God off the throne of our lives. Selfishness is a robber, because while it may give us more stuff, it robs us of God’s blessing in our lives.

Maybe today it’s time for you to turn things around. It’s time to allow God to reclaim his rightful place in your life. It’s time to truly make him the Lord of your life again, or maybe even for the first time. God is hungry for you to trust him in every area of your life. And while God’s principles may not always make sense to us, it does still make sense to trust him. It makes sense to trust and all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God rather to trust anything or anyone here in this temporary world.

Will you place your trust in Him today? Will you trust him with your money and your stuff, with every detail of your life? If you haven’t yet accepted him as your Savior, will you trust him with your salvation? We invite you to come and trust in him today.

Mike Edmisten