Refocus, Rebuild, Revival (p5) – Our Attitude Towards Money

Refocus, Rebuild, Revival (p5) – Our Attitude Towards Money

  1. The problem – money
    • Nehemiah 5:1-5
    • To get through these tough times the Israelites had to borrow money, but the money lenders were wealthy Jews who exploited their community.
    • Often people say money is the root of all evil, but the bible actually says ‘The love of money is the root of all evil’ 1 Timothy 6:10. Money is neutral and can be used for both good and evil.
    • Jesus spoke about money in 25% of his teachings and one of the ways we show our love to God is how we use our money and by being generous.
    • Malachi 3:10
    • 3 challenges around generosity and tithe:
  • 1. It’s a step of faith – 2 Corinthians 9:6, there’s a blessing that comes with this step of faith.
  • 2. We’re to give generously because of what it does to the work of God on earth – There’s a tension between what we read in Malachi 3:10 and in Psalms 50:10. Malachi says there’s a dependency on God’s people being generous, but in Psalms we know God has all the resources, how do we explain these two? It’s an antinomy, two principles that are irreconcilable but are both true, e.g. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man,
  • 3. It does something for us – there’s a blessing that comes from obedience.
    • 2 Corinthians 9:7
  1. The reaction
    • Nehemiah 5:6-9
    • Nehemiah was angry at what was happening and anger can be good but we need to handle it well, Ephesians 4:26.
    • Nehemiah shows us how to handle anger, he takes time to think, to calm down and then gives constructive leadership and lays out why he’s angry.
  2. The action
    • Nehemiah 5:10-13
    • Nehemiah repents, in front of all of God’s people, of being involved in the lending.
    • We can’t expect our leaders to be perfect, but we should be able to trust them and Nehemiah demonstrates this by being transparent and admitting that he’s wrong.
    • What do you do when you’ve done something wrong, how do you deal with the mess you’ve created? Nehemiah gives us 4 steps of what we do:
  • 1. We feel bad, that’s the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin.
  • 2. Confess our sin, to God always and to others sometimes.
  • 3. Repentance, which means to stop sinning and change the way we’re living.
  • 4. Restitution, it’s actively doing something to fix the mess you’ve made.
    • With these 4 steps, we often follow the first 2 steps and know that we’re loved and forgiven, but we then struggle with steps 3 and 4.

Two questions to think about:

    • Question 1: Do you worship money or worship God with your money?
    • Question 2: The gospel is forgiveness for our sins, but what about the power to change through repentance and the power to rebuild and repair the mess around us, how are you with step 3 and 4?