12-14-08 Christmas Chaos Series – Financial Chaos
We’re in this series called Christmas Chaos and we’re calling it that, because some stress researchers discovered that Christmas is one of the forty most stressful times in a person’s life – not a bad Christmas, just Christmas. This week we are going to be talking about Financial Chaos, because financial chaos can keep us from experiencing the joy and freedom of being generous people during the Christmas season.
Lines, anger, police … A Wii story
A CNN staffer learns first hand what it’s like to be lucky … maybe too lucky.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney,com) — We all know the new Nintendo Wii is the number one present to give this holiday season, You’ve heard the stories of those who camp out in front of stores the night before shipments come in, or those who pay thousands of dollars on eBay. It’s obvious that people will do almost anything to get their hands on this hot new item.
I found myself waiting for a Nintendo Wii one late afternoon. A massive shipment had just come in that morning and the line didn’t look too unbearable, so I decided to wait and try my chances at getting one for my boyfriend.
After about 2 hours I was near the front of the line, Could this be it? I could see the pile of white boxes dwindling down, My heart sunk, I started to get nervous, Why didn’t I come earlier? I couldn’t imagine getting this close and not getting one! Closer and closer I came until finally, I was handed a white box. I honestly could not believe it In that one moment I became the girlfriend with the perfect Christmas present.
My heart was pounding and I kept asking the guy, “Are you sure this is it? This is the new Nintendo Wii right?”
While I was paying at the register, the man who had just handed me my Wii said very loudly to the line full of people still waiting, “Sorry folks, that’s it There’s no more for today”
Instantly I started hearing groans and seeing other disappointing gestures, it was then that I realized the position I was in. Here I was in line with all these tense guys who didn’t get a game system and I did, All at once, I felt their angry, jealous eyes shift focus to me, To them, I was an easy target But I felt confident that I could deal with angry Christmas shoppers, but it only went downhill from there.
While I was walking toward the exit with my new Wii, several unsatisfied customers began to grab at my bag! They were acting as if I was just going to give it to them. There was no way anyone was taking this away from me, but then somebody grabbed my bag and tried to pull it out of my hands. I was caught off guard in a game of tug-a-war with this man that was twice my size when a security guard intervened and rescued me from the chaos. He escorted me to a waiting police car. The policeman escorted me back to work.
I have not experienced any more drama with the Wii. Afraid of how my roommates would react to a Nintendo Wii being in our house, I hid it from them in a secure location until I can safely wrap it up and give it to my boyfriend for Christmas, Mission accomplished,
Now why would people go to that extreme just to get one toy? When you know that once all the gifts are opened and Christmas Day comes to an end, you’ve still got…
…”is that all there is?” …”another Christmas gone by”
Think about this: how many things from the last five Christmases can you even remember that you got or gave?
Now maybe you hear this story and other stories about people doing crazy things and spending crazy amounts of money presents and you think that’s nuts!! It is!! But the stats say we’re all a little nuts when it comes to spending this time of year…
In 2005 it actually made news when, because of the economy, people said they would spend less than $1000 on presents. (That’s $1k/person!)
They are now predicting that this we will spend a record $154 billion dollars during this Christmas season! We spend $150M alone on wrapping paper…$200M on postage!?!
And we never really feel the full effect of the whole financial chaos of Christmas until about six weeks from now. Mental health experts say that the third Monday of every January is the most depressing day of the year. Why? Because it’s the thick of winter and it’s also the day the mailman shows up with the credit card bills for all the stuff we bought.
It’s Not about Being the Grinch or a Scrooge
But let me assure you that Dr. Seuss wasn’t thinking of me when he wrote How The Grinch Stole Christmas, nor did I ever like the Scrooge character in a Christmas Carol. I like…
Christmas trees
and decorations
and cards
and I don’t mind buying all the presents. (Buying them is fine, paying for them?… not so much…)
So this is not about us necessarily spending less and not plunking down the plastic (though that might be a good idea).
Instead of Financial Chaos…what if this Christmas could be one that you would remember for the rest of your life? (2x)
I want to tell you a story today that I think tells us something about how to make this Christmas one to remember in spite of the financial chaos. Nope, it’s not a story we usually hear in church this time of year, but I think it’s a great Christmas story to show us how to create a Christmas to remember.
Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. One poor widow came up and put in two small coins-a measly two cents. Jesus called his disciples over and said, “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford-she gave her all.” Mark 12:41-44 (MSG)
Jesus and his disciples are passing through the where people brought their offerings. No bags or baskets or plates being passed like some churches do; it was just an area you’d go to give much like our black box. And it’s kind of interesting what they collected the offerings in: in this one area there were these 13 boxes with funnels on top that looked like the end of a trumpet. There wasn’t any paper money or checks back then, so everything was in coins, and the boxes were made out of metal and when people threw in their coins, it would make a loud noise as it funneled its way to the bottom. The more money you put in, the more noise it made.
So Jesus and his disciples are passing through this area and Jesus decides to sit down near where people are putting in their offerings. And they’re watching as the people filed by tossing in their money, and a lot of them were rich people, no doubt kind of enjoying all the noise their coins made. So Jesus is sitting there just watching this. I guess the disciples think He’s resting or just kind of hanging out.
And then all of a sudden Jesus sees something that catches His eye. A woman, the Bible says she’s a widow, and you could probably tell she was a widow because she was alone. Widows in those days often had nobody to care for them, no retirements, no pensions. Throughout Scripture God tells His people to take care of orphans and widows, and it’s because orphans and widows had nobody to watch out for them, no way to support themselves. Odds are she was dressed either super simply or maybe even looked like a homeless person. She was among the poorest of the poor
And this obviously poor widow woman does something that totally captivates Jesus’ attention: she walks past one of the boxes and drops in two small coins. And when I say small, I mean small. The word in the original language suggests it was two small Roman coins worth about a penny each. What she put in probably made hardly any noise at all, and odds are nobody else even noticed her amidst all the boxes and the metal sounds and the coins going in. But Jesus noticed.
And He wanted to make sure his disciples noticed, too: so he calls them to him, gets their attention and says, “. . .this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together.” Now if you’re one of Jesus followers who hears him say this while watching all these rich people put in all sorts of money and you hear for yourself the clinking and clanking of coins falling into the metal box, don’t you look at Jesus and say, “What?…you maybe a great teacher but you’re not much of an accountant…that lady only gave two cents!” Now Jesus has your attention and he explains what he means: “All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford-she gave her all” (Mark 12:44 MSG).
Okay, so what’s that story got to do with Christmas? We all know that Christmas is about giving, but we tend to focus on giving to the people closest to us:
Family, friends, bosses & co-workers, neighbors, and maybe the mail man.
And sure, we throw some change in the Salvation Army bucket…
So what I want to do to is talk to you about three kinds of giving that are NOT about people in our families, circles of friends, offices, and neighborhoods. Three kinds of giving, and I really believe getting into these three kinds of giving are the best way to make this Christmas memorable.
The first one is giving to God! Yup, you heard me right. Percentage giving to God: “tithing”.
“tithe” is another way of saying “tenth” or 10%
And maybe this is the last time of year you would ever expect to hear about this in church, so how about we call it the “Yule tithe” (Get it? Yule tide, Yule tithe? Ok, good thing I didn’t call it that!)
So why talk about this at Christmas? The cross of Jesus has two planks to it. The first one is vertical plank. This is the one that points toward God and reminds us of the greatest commandment to love God with all that we are. The second plank is the horizontal plank. This reminds us of the second greatest commandment, which is to love your neighbor – those people you find yourself next to – as much as you love yourself.
But it’s intersesting that when we give presents during Christmas, we give horizontally, from one person to another – to our children or our mom’s and dad’s, or friends; we remember to love our neighbor at Christmas, but we often times forget to give to God. Giving is the most fundamental form of love.
God himself has given you and I everything. He gave his life; he gave us all he could; no expense was spared. He has given us our lives. God has given us everything, and yet so often we forget to give him anything.
In the Psalms, a book in the Old Testament that’s really a collection of poems and songs to God. In Psalm 116, the writer is talking about how good God has been to him; and in the middle of this song or he says these words:
“How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?” (Psalm 116:12).
This is NOT a person saying, “how can I pay God back so we are even?”
This IS the cry of somebody’s heart saying “Man, what can I do to show God my gratitude for what He’s done for me?” Ever feel that way?
See the widow’s story fits in right here because this is what is going on with the widow. Gratitude!
She is not just doing what she is supposed to do.
She’s not just going through the motions.
That kind of giving never interested Jesus. Her giving is from a grateful heart.
Why else would she give her last two cents to God? Gratitude and Trust. She had seen how God had taken care of her in the past and she trusted God to take care of her in the future. Why else would you give away your last two coins?
See, this is what tithing – percentage giving is really all about. It’s about being both grateful to God for what He’s done for us and about trusting God that He’ll take care of us in the future. That’s what that widow was doing. She could give like that because the God who’d been so good to her. Despite the hard knocks of life, God saw her through them. She trusted God, because she knew that she could!
A guy I know calls giving back to God “vertical lavishness”. I like the sound of that? Vertical lavishness? Do you like that. Lavish is a great word. Lavish may not be a word that we use much ourselves, but when somebody gives us a lavish gift, you got to love that.
That’s what tithing is about! At this time of year where we tend to focus so much on giving horizontally – family friends and co-workers, how about vertical lavishness? Vertical lavishness – giving back to God a percentage out of gratitude and trust!
God is incredibly lavish to us. “It is by grace we are saved through faith. It is the gift of God . . .” God was and is lavish towards us. The question this Christmas for you and me is will we be lavish toward him. 10% is not lavish, even though it might feel that way. Let this be the Christmas that you choose to again or for the very first time give back to God a tithe. And if it helps, sure, call it a “yule tithe” – or not . . .
#2. Anonymous Giving
Now, I’d like to challenge us in the direction of horizontal giving. Here’s the second challenge. Give anonymously. I want to challenge you in addition to gifts you’re going to give to people you know who will know you got it for them; give one generous gift to one person you know and never tell anybody, including the person that you’re giving it to that the gift was from you.
About 25 years ago in a small Mississippi town, a young salesman hit on tough times and found himself out of gas, out of money, and out of luck. Having nothing to eat for two days, he walked into the Dixie Diner and ordered a huge breakfast and slowly sipped coffee refills, wondering how he could escape without paying. Finally, he pretended to lose his wallet. The owner, who was also the cook, waiter, and cashier, walked behind the young man’s stool, reached toward the floor, and acted as if he picked something up. “You must have dropped this,” the owner said, handing the man $20. The salesman’s heart was pounding as he paid for his food, left a tip, and pushed his car to a nearby gas station.
As he drove away it suddenly occurred to him that nobody dropped that money. The man behind the counter knew he was in trouble and helped him in a way that allowed him to maintain some dignity. He then said to himself, “If I’m ever in a position to help other people, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Later that year the young salesman rode a Greyhound bus to Kansas City where he found a sales job and continued to live from paycheck to paycheck. But things got better. In fact, things got really good. Today he’s a wealthy business man who regularly hands out $50k or more during the Christmas season, one $100 dollar bill at a time. He’s been doing this now every year for over 20 years. He’s become known in that part of the country as the Secret Santa because he always manages to give the money away anonymously.
Ask God to put someone or some family or some cause in your life to which you can give anonymously.
I’ll sometimes have someone come up to me after a celebration gathering and say, “I’ve really been blessed…and I’d like to bless someone else without them knowing it. Do you know of a family that really needs some help?
Jesus said to give this way, ” . . . when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matt. 6:3)
This doesn’t mean to give this way exclusively, but it’s a great personal discipline for generosity because you don’t get any kudos from anybody except God.
Example: There have been times that I’ve been the recipient of anonymous gifts – few years ago somebody gave me a membership to the SWAT fitness center on 9th street. I never did figure out who gave it to me. See, when I get an anonymous gift from someone who knows me and loves me, but I don’t know who it is, it makes me think about all the people it might be who love me and could’ve given it to me. It’s almost like more people get credit for the gift than just the one giver. And it’s a huge thing to feel that loved.
Want a Christmas you will always remember? Ask God to put someone or some family or some cause in your life to which you can give anonymously.
Challenge #3. Extravagant Giving
I heard about a whole extended family who decided that they would give each other $5 gifts and send the rest to a children’s’ home. Everyone got very creative with their $5 gifts and they had a lot of fun with it, and they felt really good about sending an extravagant gift to help kids who really needed it.
I think maybe the only way to really create a lasting memory for ourselves and our children is to do something that is extravagant and radical. Maybe even something as seemingly reckless as what the poor widow did who gave her last two coins to the poor. Talk about extravagant and radical!!
What if you decided right now that this Christmas you were going to change someone’s life? That by Christmas time you were going to do something extravagant…not for you or those in your family, but for someone else and that it would literally change their life! Wouldn’t that make this Christmas a Christmas that you will never forget? You bet!
What that widow did, if you think about it, is still being talked about nearly 2,000 years after she did it. How’s that for memorable? It may have been one of the most productive acts of generosity in the history of the world!
Think about this: What if we all started doing this every Christmas? That’s right every Christmas -
#1. Percentage Giving
#2. Anonymous Giving
#3. Extravagant Giving
And what if it carried over into Christmas 2009, and 2010, 2011. What if Christmas from now on wasn’t about just giving to family and friends and coworkers, but it was about the kind of giving that widow did? Lavishly, anonymously, extravagantly? I absolutely guarantee…I promise…there is no doubt about it…this would be a Christmas you would never forget!!
Life Link:
Ice Breaker: You have just been given 1 million dollars and have only 24 hours to spend it. You are not allowed to use any of it on yourself or your family, how would you get rid of it all?
Summary of the message/The Question – was there anything that you disagreed with, had a questions about or that struck you?
We live in a world where we are always comparing what we have with what other people have. We compare our houses, our cars, our paychecks, video games and even our bodies. If you want to compare then compare America with the rest of the world.
- America is the wealthiest country in the WORLD.
- Only 7 % of the world population owns a car
- The average income in the U.S. is $34,000 vs. $7,410 globally
- American’s spend an average of $3,400 per year per person on food and beverages. That’s 365 percent more than the total average income of over half the people in the world.
1. Right now, there is more financial chaos in the world than there has ever been in our lifetime. We live in a world that is in financial chaos. This could cause fear and anxiety. How are you doing at trusting in God and his provision during this time?
2. Does this affect your ability to give to God and others?
3. What can we learn from the Widow who gave her last two cents?
4. Why did God notice her? What would it take for God to notice you?
Contentment. It appears to be very difficult in our culture, or perhaps throughout the world to find contentment in what we have. We tend to believe that if we just had “a little bit more” we would be happy. We often make up for that “little bit more’ by spending what we do not have, leaving us in financial chaos.
1 Timothy 6:7-9
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction
- Why do think Paul only lists food and clothing when it comes to things he is content with?
- Is the formula for happiness and contentment really FOOD+CLOTHING and that’s it? What would you add to that list if you could?
1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world.The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
What’s Next?
What are some practical things that you are willing to do differently that could bring some peace and calm to financial chaos? Circle those that apply and share your plans with the group.
- Pray asking God for wisdom with your finances
- Pray asking God for a miracle with your finances
- Give more away to others
- Tithe
- Save
- Spend less
- Earn more J
- Make a budget
- Stick to the budget you made
- Ask for help
- Get rid of some stuff
- Downsize
- Other_______________________
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