Rick Warren - The Foundation of Financial Health—Part One

You know, finances can be a tough subject. But today

on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, we're going to begin a

powerful series called financial Fitness. In this series, Rick's going

to open up the word and tackle the tough stuff,

show you how to manage what you've been given with wisdom,

faith and purpose. And I'm sure, like me, as you

apply these biblical principles, you'll start to experience real financial

freedom and more peace. So let's get right into it.

This is part one of a message called the Foundation

of Financial Health.

First, we're going to study two of my favorite books

of the Bible, the Book of Proverbs and the Book

of Ecclesiastes. They're in the Old Testament, written by Solomon,

the wisest man who ever lived, and I love these

books and they are literally filled chock filled with advice

on how to get out of debt, how to stay

out of debt, how to prosper, how to have financial stability,

how to say spend, invest, not waste your money, make

the most of it, how to have money work for

you and not you work for money, and a lot

of principles. We're going to be looking at the laws,

the financial laws that are in the Bible in God's Word,

and they're twenty thirty of these we're going to look

at during this series. Now, before we look at Proverbs

and Ecclesiastes, we start looking at these laws of financial freedom,

laws of financial fitness, laws of financial blessing in your life.

I want us to look at first of what Jesus

said about it. You see, Jesus talked more about money

than he did heaven or hell. Did you know that

he talked more about money than heaven or Hell? Why?

Because we spend more time thinking about money than heaven

or hell. We spend much of our time thinking about

how to get it, how to make it, how to

save it, how to spend it, how to invest it,

how to protect it, how to know, you know, ensure it,

and all the other things. And it dominates much of

our lives. And so Jesus had a lot to say

about money management. He also told us that money management

is a spiritual discipline, that God is actually watching how

I handle my wealth to see what He can trust

me with with true spiritual riches in heaven. Jesus when

he told the parables, you know the stories, the famous

stories of Jesus, over half of the parables Jesus told

deal with material possessions. So there's a lot of material

in the Bible on how to get out of debt,

how to stay out of debt, how to control money

instead of having it control you. Now this weekend, before

we begin Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, I want us to look

at Matthew chapter twenty five. If you have a Bible,

you might want to open to Matthew chapter twenty five.

We're just going to look at the story that Jesus

told there. If you don't pull out your message notes

and all of the verses we're going to look at

are there. This is called the Parable of the Talents. Now,

many people misunderstand this parable because it has the word

talent in it. And when we hear the word talent,

we think of gifts, abilities. You know, your shape, your personality,

your spiritual gifts, your heart, the things you love to do,

what you're naturally good at. The word the English word

talent actually comes from this chapter in the Bible. Before

there was this Jesus told this story, that word talent

didn't exist. But a talent is actually a measurement of money.

And while this does have application to your talents, your gifts,

your abilities. This is actually a parable a story about

money management. A talent was a specific weight of gold,

and there was a Babylonian talent, there was a Greek talent,

and there was a Roman talent, which was a specific

amount of money. So we're going to look at it now.

In this chapter. We're going to start in verse fourteen.

We have the story of a rich businessman, and Jesus

tells the story of a guy who's very, very wealthy.

We can know that by what he gives his servants

to take care of. And he says, I'm going to

go away on a trip and I'm going to be

gone for a long time, so I'm going to put

you in charge of my property. And he divides up

his wealth. You know, in those days, there weren't any banks,

and so you didn't keep your money in a bank.

So he's got all of his wealth at home, and

he divides his wealth up among his three servants, and

he says, I expect you guys to make the most

of this, and when I come back, we'll see what happens.

And so he's gone for a long time, and later

the businessman comes back home and he says, Okay, give

me an account. What did you guys do with my money?

And they tell the story, and two of the guys

have a good report, and one of the guys has

a bad report. And then Jesus draws some spiritual truths

out of this. Out of this story, we learn seven

foundations for financial fitness. You ever needed to take notes,

you need to take notes this weekend, because these are

foundations that base the stability of your life on in

order to become all God wants you to be. Now,

let's look at it together. There on your outline. In

Matthew twenty five, verse fourteen, we see the beginning of

the story and it says this the kingdom of Heaven,

Jesus said, will be like a man going on a journey,

this businessman. And he called his three servants together, and

he entrusted his property to them. Now, if you're taking notes,

I want you to circle the word his there on

that verse. It says he called his three servants together

and entrusted his property to them. So when we're talking

about money here, whose money are we talking about? The

money owned by the master or the money owned by

the servants? Yeah, the Master Okay, it's not the servant's money.

It's the master's money. But he's giving it to them

to take care of this, by the way, is called stewardship.

You've heard this word before. A steward or a stewardship.

That's the old English word for manager. Any of you

who are managers or involved in management in a business

are actually starts. A steward is a manager, and stewardship

simply means management. We are called to be stewards of

our time, manager time. We are called to be stewards

of our influence. We are called to be stewards of

our health, of our minds, of our relationships, of our opportunities.

Everything you have, you are to be a steward or

a manager of. Now, he says, here he entrusted his

property to his servants. Now, this is the first law

of financial freedom. And it is this. The law possession

is this. You might write this down. Everything I have

belongs to God. I need to just settle that one

right up front. It's not my money. It all belongs

to God. He said. Wait a minute, but I worked

for this. Where do you think you got your body

to work for it? Where do you think you got

your mind to work for it. Where do you think

you got your energy to work for it? Where do

you think you got your intelligence work? Everything you have

is a gift from God. So you don't really own

anything in life. It's all on loan. Someday I'm going

to write a book and the first sentence of the

book will be what you think you own is really

on loan. You see, I didn't own anything before I

was born. I didn't bring anything into the world. I've

been there at the birth of all my babies and

grand babies. None of them came in carrying a satchel

full of money. Okay, you didn't bring anything into the world.

And I've been there at the other end to you,

at the funerals. Nobody takes it out with them. You

never see a hearse driving a you know, a U

haul with it, okay, So you only get to use

it while you're here. It's God's money. God loaned it

to somebody before you. He's loaned it to you for

eighty years, and he's going to loan it to somebody

else after you die. You don't own it. It's all

under management. The master owns it all. God is the owner.

Now the risk is really important because we tend to

forget it. We forget and when we forget it, you

know what is the sign that you've forgotten that it's

God's and not yours. When you think it's yours, you

worry about it. Worry is the sign that you think

it's all yours. Now. Let's say you had a beach

house and you said, Rick, I'm going to Spain for

a year and we're gonna let you and Kay use

our beach house for a year. So we use your

beach house for year, and then you call up a

year later, go, you know what, we think we're gonna stay.

We're having a good time, so we're going to stay

another year in Spain. Use our beach house for another year.

And so then on the third year you call up

again say hey, go ahead and use it for a

third year. By this time, I'm starting to think this

is mine. You come home about you years and you

say I'm ready to move back in. I said, what

do you mean, You're not moving This is my house,

you know, possessions nine tenths of the law. It's mine now.

And we tend to think because God has loaned it

to us for an extended period of time that it's ours.

It's not. If you would remind yourself of this first

truth every day, you'd worry a whole lot less. Now,

in the next verse, verse fifteen, it says this master

he loans his money out, and he says to one

servant he gave five talents of money, and to another

he gave two talents of money. And to another it

says he gave one talent of money. Okay, now, what's

he talking about here, Well, a talent, literally, a Roman talent,

is seventy one pounds of gold. I think about that

now today yesterday gold was sixteen hundred dollars an ounce. Okay,

So that means if you got a talent of gold,

you got one point eight million dollars. This is not

a small investment. Okay. If you got two talents, which

he gave to one guy, he's just given you three

point six million dollars to take care of while he's gone.

If he's given you five talents, he's just given you

nine million dollars to take care of. This is not

a small amount. He's really trusting and God has made

a huge investment in you. We'll talk about that later.

But the first law, the law God possesses everything, it

all belongs to him. And then this is the second law,

and it says he gives one five talents to one,

two talents to another, and a one talent of goal

to another guy, each according to his ability. Then he

left on his journey. This is the law of allocation,

and it is this God has loaned me money. I

just talked about that. You don't really own it. He's

loaning it to you for thirty forty, fifty, sixty, eighty

ninety at the most one hundred years. Now you notice

in this story that Jesus tells everybody gets a different amount.

That's obvious. We're not all equally wealthy. We're not all

equally you know, have the same economic status. It says,

some guy get one talent, some guy gets two talents,

some guy gets five talents of gold. But the point

is this, everybody gets something. Now, there are no no

talent people in the world. If you're breathing, that is

a blessing. If you are alive, that in itself is

a blessing. Now everybody gets something, and they all begin

to go out. Now, notice the next verse verse sixteen

there in your outline. The man who had received the

five talents went at once and put his money to work.

Circle that phrase, put his money to work and gained

five more talents of gold. And so the one with

the two talents also doubled his money. But the man

who had received the one talent went off, dug a

hole in the ground and just hid his master's money. Now,

there's a couple of things I want to point out here,

and the first is this money is a tool to

be used. You put it to work. You use money,

and you love people. Now, if you get that reversed,

you're going to be in trouble because if you start

loving money, you will use people. No, people are to

be loved. Money is to be used. You are to

never love money. You are to use it. It is

a tool to be used. You say, well, wait a minute,

isn't money the root of all evil? Then not what

the Bible says. No, that's not what the Bible says.

The Bible does not say money is the root of

all evil. It says the love of money is the

root of all evil. Money is totally neutral. It can

be used for good or bad. It can be used

by Hitler to bomb Europe, or it could be used

by churches to spread good news and feed the hungry.

You can use it on very selfish centered purposes, or

you can use it for very unselfish purposes. You can

use it to create businesses and products that bless the

entire world. Money is a neutral thing. It's neither good

nor bad. It's what you do with it. But he says,

put your money to work. One of the things we're

going to learn in the next several weeks together is

how to put your money to work. The reason why

most people are in debt, and the reason why most

people never get out of debt is because they are

always working for their money instead of having their money

work for them. You got to reverse this. This is

a whole different way of thinking about money. You've got

to learn how to put your money to work for

you instead of you working for money. If you work

for money, you will always be needing more, you will

always be in debt. But if you learn how to

make money work for you, then money becomes your servant.

Money is a wonderful servant. It is a terrible master.

It is a terrible master, and you know it's a master.

When it's causing stress in your life, then it's mastering you.

It's controlling you. Now, he says, he gives the money

out to these three servants. One goes out and invests it,

puts it work, goes out and puts it to work.

The third guy goes and hides it in the ground.

Here's the point. You get to choose what you do

with what God gives you. You don't get to choose

what you're given. Some people are given one talent, some

people are given five talents. Some people are given ten talents.

Some people are given two talents. It's just different amounts.

But you do get to choose what you do with it,

and what you do with it is what God is watching. Now.

When you get to heaven one day, God is not

going to say, why weren't you more like your brother?

Why wan't you more like your dad? Why wan't you

more like your mother? Why weren't you more No, you

are only responsible for the talents you've been given. And

I'm talking about not just money, but your time and

your abilities and all these other different things. When you

get to heaven, God is never going to compare you

to anybody else, And you can't say, well, look, you

only gave me one talent. You gave you that guy

five talents. God isn't going to say, who are you

talking about. God wants to know what did you do

with what you were given? What did you do with

what you were giving? Not what I gave somebody else,

but what I gave you. So God says, you get

to choose what you do with the money I give you. Now,

what can you do with that money? You can waste it,

and there are plenty of ways to waste it. You

can spend it, you can use it, you can invest it.

You know, they're all different kind You could hoard it.

There are lots of ways. Of God lets you choose

which way you want to do it. But you will

have to give an account one day for the reasons

you chose to do what you did with the money

He loaned to you while you were alive. This is

a test. One day you're going to have to explain it.

And that's why. In verse nineteen, it says, after a

long time, the master of the three servants returned to

settle his accounts. Circle the word accounts. He said he

returned to settle his accounts. This is the next law,

the third law, and the third law is the law

of accountability. And the law of accountability is this. One

day God will audit me. One day God is going

to audit me. He's going to come and settle accounts.

There's going to be a final exam on the life

God gave you. It will be a life audit, not

by the irs, but by the good. Difference with between

the irs and the God is God has all the records.

You don't have to bring any to that audit. He's

already got it. He's seen everything you've ever done with

your time, with your words, with your money, with your life,

the times you used it for good and the times

you just flat out blew it. But you will give

an account one day. And it is foolish to go

through life thinking that I'm not going to have an

audit at the end of life. You think God would

create you, put you on this planet, and then at

the end say now what'd you do with your life?

I put you, I created you, and I made you

for reason. And so there's going to be this this audit.

God has made an investment in you. He has given

you certain gifts, certain abilities, certain opportunities. He's given you

certain resources, he's given you a certain heritage, he's given

you certain freedoms. He's given you a certain amount of

intellect and intelligence and energy. And God's going to what'd

you do with all that stuff? Well, I made a

lot of money, retired and die A wrong answer. You

think I put you on earth to live for yourself?

I mean, come on, I mean really, come on. You

think I put you on earth to live simply for

yourself and to stockpile a bunch of things that you're

not going to take with you anyway when you die.

Life is not the in the acquisition of things. You've

seen that bumper sticker, he who dies with the most

toys wins. No, the sticker should say, he who dies

with the most toys still dies, and he wasted his life,

because life is not about the acquisition of things, because

you're not taking any of it with you. It all

belongs to God that God has loaned it to me.

He's watching what I do with it, and one day

I'm going to give an account of how well I

used the money, the resources, the time, the energy, all

things that God gave me. The Bible says this here

on the screen Romans fourteen to well, each of us

will give an account of himself to God. Now, you know,

it's fun to be irresponsible, but you can't be responsible

irresponsible your entire life. My guess is that when you

got out of high school, you either a went off

and tried to get a job or you went off

to college. And either way, whether you went to college

or went to work, there's probably a few years in

there you were just slacking around. You think I'm out

of the house. I'm going to have some fun, and

you're kind of, you know, irresponsible. You sleep in you

don't really try to get a job. You're watching cartoons,

eating cocoa puffs. You know, I'm playing video games and

things like that. But at some point you have to

wake up and go, excuse me, I got to get

a life. I cannot be irresponsible my entire life. It

might work for a year or two, but the Master's

going to come back and I'm going to give an account.

And irresponsibility never lasts. It always catches you in the end.

And that's what happens to people when they get in debt.

We are financially irresponsible, and it eventually catches up with

us and the chickens come home to roost. Right now,

America is reeling in the results of decades of overspending.

And how the most blessed and most prosperous and the

most wealthy nation in the world can be on the

verge of bankruptcy isn't amazing, but it can happen. All

you have to do is just spend trillions and trillions

and trillions of dollars and keep spending it. You cannot

be irresponsible forever. At some point you have to kind

of man up. Now, the law of accountability says that

one day God's going to say, what'd you do with

what I gave you? Now, notice these three guys have

three different responses. The first guy, he's got a good report,

he's got a good ROI return on in his investment.

And in verse twenty one, twenty twenty one, it says

the man who had received five talents okay, brought the

others I remember this nine million bucks brought the other

five he had made. And master, he said, you entrusted

me with five talents. See I've gained five more. His

master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. Well I guess.

So he's got one hundred percent return. I'd be happy

for a tenth of that today, wouldn't you. I mean,

I mean one hundred percent return. He doubled his investment.

I mean this guy bought Google. Okay, he clearly he

got in on the front end of Amazon or something,

and his stock has really soared. He doubles investment on

hundred percent return. Same thing with the second guy. Second

guy has another good return and a good report to share.

Verse twenty two, that servant who was given two talents

of money also came and said, Master, you entrusted me

with two talents. Now see I have gained two more.

He's doubled his and his master replies to him, well done,

good and faithful servant. One hundred percent return on invent.

Now the third guy does not have a good story

to tell because he has not used what God gave

him wisely, and he doesn't have a good report. In

verse twenty four, then the man who had received the

one talent came and said, Master, I knew that you

are a hard man. I notice he's turning the tables.

He's trying to put the blame on his boss. Master,

I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where

you have not sown and gathering where you haven't scattered seed.

So I was afraid, you know, I was afraid to

lose your money. And I went out and I hid

your talent in the ground. I buried it. He just

buried it. Now here it is. Here's what belongs to you.

Nothing ventured, nothing gain. And what is the master's reply

to the servant, You wicked lazy servant. Now let's just

tear this apartmentute, because this story in the Bible for

a reason. This guy buries what God has given him,

He does nothing with it, he doesn't use his talent,

and then he blames his master for his own mismanagement

and for his failure. He says, I'm a victim. We've

got people doing this today. They mess up their lives,

and you know, they mess up their lives and they

don't know what to do. So they blame the government,

or they blame the boss, or they blame their parents,

and they blame everybody else. God didn't cause you to

put all that money on all those expenses on your

credit card. God didn't tell you to go buy a

brand new car when you couldn't afford it. God didn't

tell you to go buy a house that you couldn't afford.

The Bible says this here on the screen Proverbs nineteen three.

People ruin themselves by their own stupid actions, and then

blame the Lord. You've heard me say this before. Anytime

I blame you, spell blame, be blame. Every time I

blame you for my problems, lame. Now notice the Master's

response to this guy's whining. He says verse twenty seven,

he said, you know, you should have at least put

my money in the bank so I could make some interest.

I mean, just put it in a past book account.

It's not making anything, but that's better than digging a

hole on the ground and just burying it. You could

have at least made some money on it. Now, this

leads us to the fourth law of financial freedom, and

it is the law of utilization. And the law of

utilization is this, I must wisely use God's money.

We really appreciate you joining us today on Pastor Rick's

Daily Hope. And Rick felt like he wanted to end

today's show by sharing a word of encouragement.

Jesus said, Heaven and Earth will pass away but my

words will never pass away. Did you hear that the

Bible is going to I'll last the earth and the universe. Why.

Because God's word is eternal. Because truth never changes. If

it was true five thousand years ago, it was true

a thousand years ago, it's true today, and it's gonna

be true a million years from today. This is why

it's more important to know God's word than anything else.

Opinions change, but truth never changes. It's why we focus

on studying it here on our Daily Hope broadcast. Thanks

for listening and let me hear from you. My email

address is Rick at pastorick dot com. Now that's two

hours in the middle. Rick at pastorick dot com. I'd

love to hear from you, and thanks again. Sure to

join me next time as we look into God's Word

for our Daily Hope.

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