Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Finding True Gold In Your Ministry (EXCELLENT!)
Rhonda Rhea

The dog needs medication for an emotional disorder, and if you don’t get your water heater fixed, it’s cold showers for the week. There’s another fundraiser at the kids’ school. For some reason, that means that you have to buy a gross of toothbrushes that you don’t need at 10 times the cost of the perfectly good toothbrushes that you already have. You need a root canal, the transmission on your minivan is going, and your plumbing has to be replaced. Tax day is looming, and the last time you saw your accountant, he was weeping.

Many ministers’ families face weeks like that now and then. If this is your week and you’re tossing around the possibility of buying a lottery ticket, let me just point out that you might actually win. Then you’d have to explain it to your church family.

Does it ever frustrate you that the minister’s family on the other side of town has an emotionally well-balanced pet, problem-free plumbing and a brand-new SUV? And what about the chairman of the trustees? When he’s at his computer pulling up his money program, he’s probably never tempted to pound his head repeatedly against the monitor.

Spinning the Wheel of Fortune

It’s easy to slip into a pattern of comparing. Spin the wheel and let’s see who we’ll compare ourselves to today. We’ve all been down that road enough to recognize that comparing ourselves to other ministers and church members builds discontent. Second Corinthians 10:12b says: “But they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

Whether it’s keeping up with the Reverend Joneses or with the chairman of the trustees, measuring success by material things is a bust. Eventually we’ll end up fighting the frustration that comes with enviousness and maybe even searching for a permanent call to the First Prosperous Church of Fort Knox.

One of my favorite cartoon characters is the Rev. Will B. Dunn from the book "Preacher," by Doug Marlette. I had to snicker when the reverend decided to limit his pastoral care to a “select remnant of the spiritually bereft.” Was it the poor? The widows and orphans? No, his heart for ministry went out to “the fabulously well-to-do.” You might think he came upon this calling while soul-searching, fasting and praying. But actually he had the revelation while taking tea in the Tadsworths’ hot tub.

Most of us haven’t been called to a country-club ministry, and it’s easy to drool over what someone else has. But a materialistic focus can result in a nonexistent ministry, a cold heart, dissatisfaction and, believe it or not, more greed. Wanting leads to wanting more.

The Meaning of Treasure

Instead of finding value in things, we need to line up our idea of treasure with God’s idea of it. Matthew 6:19-21 reminds us that it is a “heart” thing: “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 (NKJV)."

Succumbing to Dangerous Thinking

The Lord knew that in our fallen state we would be in jeopardy of embracing a wrong view of material possessions. In God’s Word, we find faith mentioned almost 500 times. Prayer is mentioned more than 500 times. Money and possessions, however, are mentioned more than 2,000 times. Jesus Himself talked about money and material things more than He mentioned heaven and hell.

And still we get ourselves into some dangerous thinking:

We think that money equals happiness. Folks that have lots of money can tell you that money does not guarantee happiness. If your ministry doesn’t bring you more satisfaction than the idea of big bucks, it’s time to realign your thinking. “The good life” has nothing whatsoever to do with how much money we have.

We think that money equals importance. God says that you are worth the very life of His Son. The worth we find in our material possessions is nothing compared to the sacrifice Christ made for us. Finding importance in things leads to a need to put on airs. If you wear a disguise when you take advantage of the blue-light special, you may have a problem. (You know for sure that you have a problem if you put your blue-light special in a Neiman-Marcus bag.)

We think that if God is blessing, we’ll be wealthy. We hear a lot of prosperity teaching these days. But if His will was for all of His children to have wealth, what would that say about Paul? And how would we explain away the time in Job’s life when he had nothing? It’s God’s choice. When He chooses to bless monetarily, we rejoice. When He chooses to meet our needs in a different way, we rejoice in that as well. Trusting in His choices brings a peace and contentment that will blow the world away.

We think that we have to live in poverty to please God. It’s not wrong to want nice things for your family. Nice clothes, for example, can give a testimony of order on the inside too. But we get out of balance when we begin to fret over appearances or let pride creep in to convince us that the clothes are only acceptable if they have a designer label. It’s equally out of balance to refuse blessings with the idea that God is pleased when we’re in need. Even in the garden, He said to Adam, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat” (Gen. 2:16, NKJV). We do need to stay away from pride and from those things that would cause us to sin. God spells those out for us in His Word, just as He showed Adam which tree would spell sin for him. But the Father enjoys blessing His children. So go ahead. Freely eat.

We love money and the things it can buy. It’s not wrong to have nice things for your family. But it’s wrong to love those nice things, to sacrifice ministry to get them, to go into debt to have them, to make them more important than eternal things—in other words, to love them. We should aim for balance. We get that balance when we take on a Jesus perspective. Money isn’t the root of all evil, but the love of money gets us into hot water (1 Tim. 6:10). We can love things and let them become more important to us than people and ministry. Or we can love Christ first and see material things take their rightful place—as tools to serve Him.

We think we own what we have. Acts 17:28 says that it’s in God that we “live and move and have our being.” We don’t own what we have. We don’t even own ourselves. “You are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:19-20, NKJV)." The real secret to a blessed life is recognizing His ownership and laying everything on the altar.
If the Price is Right?

What is the rock-bottom price for right perspective and a balanced life? It is 100 percent of our lives. Romans 12:1 teaches us to present our bodies as “a living sacrifice.” When our lives are on the altar and we recognize that everything belongs to the Lord, we are set free from worrying and stewing over money.

I’m afraid I can testify about that worry scene. All five of my kids are in orthodontics. I think my orthodontist is going to name his little red sports car “The Rhea-mobile.” With the “mortgage” we have on the kids’ teeth, I tend to get a little concerned about affording those other frivolous items—like food and clothes! I figure that at least my kids will be easy to spot in a crowd. They’ll be the skinny, naked children with the really nice smiles.

In truth, any worrying I’ve done has been completely wasted. The Lord has met our every need. He is faithful. So rather than setting the goal of “arriving” financially in the world’s eyes, I want my financial goals to line up with the Lord’s. If my goals are to have security and importance because of money, or to have power and influence through money, I’m obviously off base.

Finding satisfaction in spending money misses the mark, too. Our finances, our material goods, all we have and all our energies should be spent on the ultimate goal of bringing glory to the Father. You need your house to provide for your family and to provide a place for ministry. Your car enables you to minister to your family and others. And it’s okay to enjoy those things.

Putting Finances in Focus

When you set your spiritual and financial goals, make giving to the Lord a priority. Proverbs 11:24-25 says, “There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself (NKJV)."

Giving to others is a blessing, too. The real blessing comes when we give, not because we have more than enough, but simply because we’re instructed to give. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work (2 Cor. 9:7-8, NKJV)." And isn’t that really what our goal should be? To have an “abundance” not just to enjoy for ourselves, but “for every good work.”

So take advantage of your material possessions. Just don’t take stock in them. Medicate your pet and enjoy your new toothbrushes. A right view of money and material possessions comes from having a right view of what’s important to the Lord. You can find yourself shrugging off the plumbing with a grin as “It’s only money” becomes your catch phrase. Put your life on the altar and put on the mind of Christ, and you can lose the urgent need to put on the designer duds. I don’t have to phone a friend or ask the audience on that one. That’s my final answer