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A large manufacturing firm decided to open a new assembly plant in an underdeveloped Latin American country because labor was cheap and plentiful. The plant successfully opened and the operation was progressing smoothly - until the first paycheck. The next day, none of the villagers reported for work. Management waited...one, two, three days. Still no villagers came to work.
The plant manager went to see the village chief to find out the problem. “Why should we continue to work?” the chief responded, “We have already earned all the money we need to live on.” The plant stood idle for almost a month. Then someone came up with the idea of distributing the Sear and Roebuck mail order catalogs to all • the villagers. Since that time there • has not been an unemployment • problem. Now they know the word: • MasterCard.
There won’t be any Tax Day celebrations. I doubt that one solitary American has hung any Tax Day decorations in their home. You won’t see any Tax Day parades, just people trying to make you feel better about money lost.
The BIBLE is filled with two thousand references teaching us how to use our money and possessions. In the gospels, JESUS spoke often about money. ONE SIXTH of the content of the Gospels, including ONE out of every THREE PARABLES.......deals with the subject of MONEY. Jesus said more about money than salvation, heaven, and hell combined.
Why did Jesus spend so much time talking about money? Matthew 6:21 (NLT) Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
How we handle money reveals much about the depth of our commitment to Christ. That's why Jesus often talked about money. Jesus wasn't a fundraiser. He dealt with money matters because money matters. For some of us, though, it matters too much. Jesus does NOT want to get our money. He just wants to keep our money from getting us.
Luke 16:13 (NLT) “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Jesus could have put many words in the place of money. Why do you think he chose the word money?
Imagine where this dollar bill might have been? To what uses has it been employed? Has it ever been exchanged for drugs on a street corner? Has it purchased candy for a child waiting in a grocery line with their parent? Has it helped to put bread on a table for someone who needed food?
Did it ever get used to pay part of a someone’s utility bill who lacked sufficient funds? Did someone ever take it to a bank to put it in savings? Has it ever been placed in the middle of a poker game and played over? Has it ever been placed in an offering and prayed over?
Of course, there is no way to know, right? Who knows where the money in our wallet or our purse has been. Only God. But today, let’s think about money - its past uses, its current usefulness, and its potential uses in the future, and how we, as followers of Jesus, should use money.
John Wesley once said, “The world is corrupt, but is gold or silver to blame? ‘The love of money,’ we know, ‘is the root of all evil;’ but not the thing itself. The fault does not lie in the money, but in those who use it. In the hands of God's children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked: It gives to the traveler and the stranger a place to lay their head.
By it we may supply the needs of a husband to the widow, of a father to the fatherless. We may be a defense for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain; it may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame; a lifter up from the gates of death! ... It is therefore of the highest concern that all who fear God know how to use this valuable gift.”
PROVERBS 16:16 (VOICE) How much better it is to receive wisdom than the riches ofgold and to gain understanding over some silver prize! PROVERBS 22:1-2 (NLT) Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold. 2The rich and poor have this in common: The Lord made them both. PROVERBS 23:4-5 (NLT) Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. 5In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle. PROVERBS 27:23-24 (MSG) Know your sheep by name;carefully attend to your flocks; (Don’t take them for granted; possessions don’t last forever, you know.)
PROVERBS is teaching you and me to “WISE UP” and realize there are a lot of things that are of far greater value than money. -Godly wisdom is more valuable than money. -A good reputation and honorable name is more valuable than money. -One’s relationship with God is more valuable than money. -One’s relationship with family and friends is more valuable than money.
I heard about a rich man who was determined to take his wealth with him. He told his wife to get all his money together, put it in a sack, and then hang the sack from the rafters in the attic. He said, "When my spirit is caught up to heaven, I’ll grab the sack on my way." Well he eventually died, and the woman raced to the attic, only to find the money still there. She said, "I knew I should’ve put the sack in the basement."
Gain All You Can Through good old fashioned hard work ACQUIRE MONEY HONESTLY Proverbs 21:25 The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, Paul urges believers to become active participants in God’s kingdom and to work diligently and regularly: Brothers and sisters, we urge you to love even more 11 and make it your goal to lead a peaceful life, mind your own business, and keep your hands busy in your work, as we have instructed you. 12 That way you will live peacefully with those on the outside, and all your needs will be met without depending on others.
Idle hands are the devil's playground. What does this mean to you?
“keep your hands busy in your work” From a Christian perspective, work is a good thing--a gift. We sometimes spend so much time complaining about work that we forget that it is a gift. If you don't believe that, just ask someone who is unemployed or underemployed at the moment. But not just any work will do for the Christian.
According to Edward Conn, writer for the Complet Harper’s Index, “Ninety-Seven percent of paper money in circulation today contains traces of cocaine.“ That means there is a real good chance the money you and I have in our billfold or purse right now has passed through the hands of drug dealers, drug users, pimps, prostitutes, thieves and a sordid array of other dishonest characters who are acquiring money in an illegal , immoral or unethical manner.
There is certain kind of work that Christians should not do: First, they should not gain money at the expense of life or at the expense of our health or someone else's - that means drug dealing is out; prostitution is out; but so too, perhaps, is working for a company that exploits or harms people in other parts of the world. It has been suggested that any employment that deprives a person of the proper seasons for sleeping and eating should also be out. Proverbs 22:16 (NIV) 16 One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich— both come to poverty.
Carpet Industry across Pakistan, India and Bangladesh is notorious for employing child labor. An estimated 200 children, some 11 years old or even younger, are sewing clothing for Puma at the Harvest Rich factory in Bangladesh.
Thousands of children have been known to harvest cocoa beans for Hershey’s in West Africa today. Fair Labor Association says it found “multiple serious violations” of the company’s own supplier code. The code includes clauses on child labor, safety and working hours.
Philip Morris has actually admitted that 72 children work on the tobacco farms from which Philip Morris buys its plants. The youngest of these was just 10 years old.
Victoria’s Secret purchased all of Burkina Faso’s organic cotton. Much of it picked by child labor. WalMart’s in house clothing brand Simply Basic and other products have been manufactured using child labor in Bangladesh.
One of Microsoft’s suppliers in China has been accused of using child labor. The kids are allegedly making mice, keyboards and Xbox 360 controllers for $0.65 an hour. Although Microsoft itself has not officially sanctioned this sweatshop and its 16-hour workdays, the company is still under fire from the National Labor Committee which said that its supplier, KYE, often makes small children briefly sleep at their work stations in dismal conditions.
Samsung Electronics has been accused by a labor rights group of mistreating workers in China and illegally using child labor. Some employees were working more than 100 hours per month of overtime and that children were knowingly employed. Apple has discovered multiple cases of child labor in its supply chain.
Coca-Cola and other large businesses are indirectly benefiting from the use of child labor in sugarcane fields in El Salvador. Monsanto also employs child labor. In India, an estimated 12,375 children work in cottonseed production
Other USA companies that purchase products made from sweatshops include: (Sweatshops often have poor working conditions, unfair wages, unreasonable hours, child labor, and a lack of benefits for workers). $0.40/day
Secondly, we should not gain money that requires or promotes lying, cheating, or any activity that might harm one's good conscience. Proverbs 20:17 (NIV) Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel.
