Peter Tan-Chi - Budget Always Tight?
What does it mean to have Financial Freedom? Can you whisper to your neighbor quickly, in your own understanding, what does it mean to have Financial Freedom? For most people, Financial Freedom means "I am free..." of course, "...from debt". "I am free to quit my job," "I am free to retire," "I have enough money for emergency," "I have enough money to take care of my family members". That is their understanding. The only problem is that is not really the meaning of Financial Freedom that I want to share with you. It's much more than that.
So before I explain to you, what is Financial Freedom, let me ask you, what is the meaning of Freedom? For most people, Freedom is the ability to do what I want to do when I want to do it. What's wrong with that definition? That looks good. That definition, the freedom to do what you want to do, will eventually lead to slavery. Example. I'm free. Sure. I want to drink alcohol. I want to take drugs. I want to have sex. Before you know it, you become enslaved to your appetite. So that is not true Freedom. That kind of freedom leads to slavery. But what is true Freedom? True Freedom is the ability to do the right thing and to say "no" to the wrong thing.
As a Christian, what is true Freedom? It is the ability to do what God wants you to do, the ability to say "yes to God and no to sin". What is true Financial Freedom: the ability to joyfully do what God wants you to do with the money He has entrusted to you for His purpose and His glory. The good news is part of His purpose is to bless you. Part of His plan is for you to enjoy what He has given you. So there's nothing wrong with enjoying God's blessing, but God is saying, "My purpose is more than just for you". You and I are blessed to bless others.
In order to experience financial freedom, you need a Proper View of God; and number two, you need a Proper View of your Self. You cannot experience real financial freedom, if you don't, if you do not have a proper view of who God is. As somebody once said, I believe it was A.W. Tozer. He said, "The most important thing about you is what you think of when you think of God". Let me repeat, the most important thing about anybody is what enters your mind when you think of God and what you believe to be true about God, it will impact your life. Once you come to know God, you begin to see yourself. You will not have a proper view of who you are until you really come to know God. And once you come to know who God is, who you are, I tell you, you experience Financial Freedom.
So we will look at David, let's look at 1 Chronicles 29. I want you to look at the theology of David. Okay. What made him so generous? This is the theology of David. Okay. You will understand somebody's theology by his prayer life. This how David prayed, "So David" together, "bless the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said..." Notice David is now talking to God. That's his prayer. Everybody read along, "...'Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel, our Father..." For David understood, God is not just somebody up there. God is our Father. That's very important. Do you know God is your Father? What kind of father? Continue, "...Yours, O Lord," together, "is the greatness, and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed, everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all".
That's the theology of David. David has the proper view of God. David knows that God is the greatest: Everything belongs to You, heavens and earth, Yours is the dominion. He does not stop there. Look at the next verse. Let's continue reading. Everybody read, "Both riches and honor come from You..." Wow. That's David's theology, high view of God. A proper view of God, riches, honor come from Him. Continue, "...You rule over all," God is Sovereign. How big is your God? Be honest. How big? Oh, you mean like this only? No, no. How big is our God, everybody? Whoa! God is infinite. Continue reading, "...and in Your hand (in God's hand) is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone".
Notice, it is God who decides whom He will strengthen, whom He will grant riches, whom He will grant honor. That is God's department. It does not mean you become lazy. But it is simply telling us God, our Father is in charge. Amen? Now, with that in mind, let me ask you, if you sincerely believe who God is, will you still worry? Yes or no? Can I tell you why people worry? Do you recall when Jesus explained to His disciples: Do not worry what you shall eat, what you shall drink it, what you shall put on. Remember that verse in Matthew 6. What was the reason given by Jesus why they should never worry? Tell me, Jesus said, "Your heavenly Father knows your need". Remember that verse? You'd like to see that verse, yes or no?
Okay. Let's see. It says here, everybody read, "Do not worry..." Why? "...'What we shall eat?' or 'What we will drink?' or 'What we will wear...'" No, don't worry, "...For the Gentiles (the unbelievers) they seek all of these things;" I love this. Everybody read, "for your heavenly Father knows that you need all of these things". Do you believe that God knows your needs? But some of you have a problem thinking of God, the Father. Because you have a father who is irresponsible. I know some people, they really react about God being a father. You know why? They have very bad experience with fathers. But can I tell you something: change your mind. Think of the best father. God is infinitely better than the best father.
This became very true in my life when I became a father. Because I realized how I love my children, how I like to protect them, how I like to bless them. Do you know my joy? Is to see my children being joyful. Do you know how I love to protect my children? Literally. I even prayed a prayer before, I said, "Lord, just make me sick, but cure my son". I'm willing to give up my life. Now I'm an earthly father, but God is saying, "I'm your heavenly Father". Do you believe God loves you? Now, be honest with me. Do you believe He'll provide for you? So why do you worry? You know why you worry? Why?
When people say, "Well, because you lack faith," that is not the root problem. The root problem is not you lack faith. The root problem is you do not know the object of your faith. How can you trust God, if you don't really know Him? Really? How can I put my faith in somebody I don't really know. So the problem is you don't have personal intimate knowledge with who God is. I have met people in my life, not many, but they don't worry. I have friends they've learned not to worry. Every time they are about to worry, they turn to the Lord. They live a joyful life. Such people exist. I'm not perfect, but my wife knows. We don't worry. Yes, we are concerned.
Like last week, I have to have an MRI because I was coughing. I had to have my x-ray, concerned but not worried. You know why? When I die, I die. And I'll wait for you in heaven. Okay? Now, you better pray I don't die. Okay. But the truth is you worry, not because you lack faith, you lack knowledge, experience with who God is. Can I share with you why David was able to write all of this? All right. Let me tell you a quick story about David. So you'll understand. When God wanted to replace the king of Israel, God told prophet Samuel, "You go to the family of Jesse. One of his son will become king".
So prophet Samuel went to the house. I want you to imagine now, you are Jesse. You are the father. And the prophet said, "I have good news for you. One of your son would become the king". Would you be excited? Wow! Really? Yes. "All right, present your sons to me and I'll tell you which one". Wow, the father got so excited. He presented Eliab. the eldest. God said, "Not this one". Eliab was tall. He was strong. He was a leader. "No, no. Not him". And then, he sent Abinadab, the second son. God said, "No, no, not this one". He sent the third son, Shammah. "No, no, not this one". The father presented every son, seven of them. And then, someone said, "De nada (none of the above)". And then someone said, "Do you have any other son"? "Ah, do you still have a son? Do you have..." "Yeah, yeah. I have, I have, he's a boy. He's taking care of the sheep"?
Can you imagine? Even your own family do not see any potential in you to become a king, even your own family members can neglect you. But can I tell you something about God: God's purpose in your life will be a compass. Even if men will forget you, even if people will think you are not qualified, God's purpose will be accomplished in your life. Amen? So your security lies in God's hand. And you know what, when they presented this young boy to the Lord, you know what God said, "This is the one". 1 Samuel 16, let's look at verse 12, "So they brought him in and the Lord said, 'Anoint him;" notice, "...Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers;" This is the secret now, "and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward".
You know, my assurance, your assurance for your life is the presence of God in your life. People may think you are not qualified. That's okay. You know, people may think you are not good. You and God, the most important thing. Okay. Now, how in the world will God present David to the whole nation? They don't have internet. They don't have any way of broadcasting it. Ah, you know what God did? God allowed a guy by the name of Goliath to enter the picture.
Now, who is Goliath? Goliath is the worst enemy of the nation of Israel. They're all afraid of Goliath because he was a giant. And everybody's scared of him. By the way, do you have Goliath in your life? Yes or no? Are you facing Goliath? David was anointed king. I was hoping his career would be so easy, smooth all the way, from young boy, anointed, all the way to become king. But that is not how God works. God gave him a Goliath, a problematic person. But you know what David did? I like what David said. David said, let me just read for you. David said, "You come to me with javelin and spear. I come to you..."
Notice, the name of the Lord of hosts. I love this phrase, "I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of... Israel..." David, wasn't afraid. You know what David said? "This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. ...that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's". Amen?
So how big is our God? The battle is the Lord's. Are you still worried? The reason you worry is because you have not really come to know God in a very personal way. David went through life. He encountered God's hand more and more, and then you will think after the whole nation will realize, "Wow, David, you conquered Goliath. You set us free. You be our king". But that's not how the story proceed. But you know how the story continued on? Who got jealous? Saul. Worst than Goliath in your life. Your own friend, your own mentor is now jealous. And Saul wanted to kill David. And when Saul trapped David, finally, he was about to kill David.
God made amazing way of David to escape. And his people said, in Tagalog, "Boss," I don't know how to say this in English, because King Saul was doing something in the cave. He was doing something in the cave. You know what he was doing in the cave, the call of nature. Okay. When you have nature calling you, it's hard to stop. So he went to the toilet. His toilet was a cave. He did not know David was there. So the men of David said, "Let's kill him now, let's kill him". You know what David said? "No, no, you should not do that. If God wants me king, He will get rid of so, but I will not be the one to kill him". Amazing faith. Freedom from worry means what? You're willing to wait.
So make a long story short. Eventually, God got rid of Saul and David became king. So David experienced the power of God in his life. David knew. Do you know the Lord? Now, How did David see himself? Okay. Remember, freedom from worry, freedom from comparison. You know why that is so important? Why you should stop comparing yourself with others? Very simple. In Psalm 75:6-7, this what the Bible says, "For not from the east, not from the west, Nor from the desert comes," what? "exaltation; But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another". You can honestly be set free from worry, from comparison. You know why? It's useless to compare. God is the one.
And you know, one of my favorite Psalm, is Psalm 34, written by David. In Psalm 34:10, David wrote this. Everybody read, "The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing". My friend, put God first in your life. You put God first in your life, you have nothing to worry. If ever I worry, when I'm in sin, I turned to the Lord. I said, "Lord, get rid of the sin". I want to walk with God day by day. That's how you know Him. Do you know, knowing God is progressive? The more you obey Him, the more you know Him. There are certain things about God you will never know until you walk in obedience and by faith. Let me repeat: There are things about God, you will never know until you obey. Everybody read, "But who am I..."
You see, "who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this"? That's a good question. Who are you? Do you know who you are? Honestly, how do you define yourself? How do you look at yourself? You know what David said? "For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You". You know what David is saying? "I am a distributor. I'm a steward. I'm not the owner. Everything is from You and what You have given me? I'm a steward. I give it back to You". Steward mindset, not owner. "For we are" everybody read, "sojourners..." In short, another word for this, we are travelers. We are pilgrims. We are on a tourist visa. We are traveling, "...and tenants..." Tenants means what? Not permanent, just going through.
My friend, you and I are on a journey. This world is not our home. And then, look at what he said, "...as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow..." In other words, David had a proper view of himself. God, who God is. And for David, I'm a pilgrim. I'm temporal. I'm a steward. I don't own anything here. I'm just passing through. Why is this so important? Years ago, my wife was counselling a family and they came to Christ, and the daughter told my wife, "Can you talk to my mom? Because my mom loves to go to the casino". At that time, casino was very popular. Maybe still today.
And when my wife talked to this lady, this lady told my wife, "How come my children are telling me what to do with my money"? You see the gut said, "It is my money. I can do whatever I want to do with. Pera ko ito". And then my wife said, "Excuse me, it is not your money". "Huh, it's not my money? I earned this" It is whose money? God. Until you understand God owns everything and you are stewards. My friend, you will not have real peace. You want to be in control. David knew everything he has is from God.
Now, you compare that to another man. One of my heroes, John Wesley. You know, John Wesley was a man of God. One day, his house burned and the people who loved him, ran to him, "Sir, sir, your house burnt down completely". He said, "Excuse me, it's not my house that burned down. It is God's house that burned down. Now, I have less problem to worry". My goodness. What an attitude. He reminds me of one of our pastor, Dr. Glenn, when his house burned down, instead of being depressed, the attitude is "everything belongs to God".
Do you recall this man, Job? When he lost all of his fortune? When he lost all of his children, what did he say? Job understood. God job said, "Naked, I came from my mother's womb. Naked, I shall return. Blessed be the name of the Lord". Job worshiped God. Why? Because he knows God. I'm not saying it is easy. I cannot imagine when you lose all of these things and you can still be saying "Blessed be God, the Lord gives the Lord taketh away. Blessed be God".
Do you really believe God loves you? Be honest. Do you believe God knows what is best for you? And do you really believe God wants what is best for you? That's David. He knew God's omniscience, God's timing, he is willing to wait. The truth is this, you need prayer. I love this prayer as we are about to finish. Okay. In Psalm 39, Let's read this together, everybody, "Lord make me know my end And what is the extent of my days;" This is the prayer of David. Okay. Let me know how short my life is, "Let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as hand-breadthds". Your hand breadth, is something like this, the breath of your hand. David said, "My life is just like this". It's short. "And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath".
Now, look at me now. What is a mere breath? exhales That's it. Compared to eternity, That's your life, that's my life. This COVID-19 experience has taught me the reality of the brevity of life. We had a class reunion sometime ago. It's our 50th anniversary from the time of graduation, okay, from college. So 50th year. You were not yet born, some of you. But I notice, almost 20 of my classmates had passed away already. The class is getting smaller and smaller. Such is the brevity of life. Look at his prayer, "Surely" everybody read, "every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather (after) them".
In other words, David is saying "Be wise. Don't be covetous". Because the truth is everything you have, You can't bring it with you. As we close, I want you to look at David, how he processed all of this. All right. So in first Chronicles 29, "O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours". So David simply returned to God all of his blessing. Do you know how much David gave to the building of a temple? Can you guess? Anybody? Shut aloud. I'll give you a price. Seriously. I'll give you a price. More or less, how much? Anybody? Million dollars, billion dollars? That's how you called "seguristang guess". Millions. Billions.
My friend, David, according to some scholars, he gave almost $200 billion. What will make a man do that? You know what hit me? God told David, "You are not going to be the one to build a temple. You not going to be the one". But because David understood, he's just a conduit. He's just a distributor of God's resources. He said, "Okay, if I'm not going to be the one to build the temple".
Many Christian, you know what they will do "if I am not going to be part of this, bahala na kayo. If my name will not be part of this project, bahala na kayo". Not David. God said, "David, you will not be the one to build". But know what David did? He prepared. He's not after a personal glory, he's after God's glory. What is True Freedom? True Freedom? Financial Freedom is the ability to do what God wants to do with the money He has entrusted to you for His glory, for His honor.
So David was free to give. My friend, at the end of the day, knowing God, knowing yourself will lead to worship. You know, worship is generosity. Many people don't realize that if you are not generous, and I'm still learning, okay, I praise God my wife is generous. My wife has impacted my life when it comes to generousity. I'm still learning. I'm still struggling, but you know what? There's a joy when you give, I don't know about you. But I'm experiencing this joy that I cannot explain. By the grace of God, I like all of you to learn what real Financial Freedom. And the best test is generosity. Let's bow our heads and pray.
Lord God. I want to know You. I want to know You intimately as my Lord and my Savior. I confess my selfishness, my covetousness, my self-reliance. Today, Jesus, I invite You to really come into my life. I surrender my all. With complete trust, I surrender it to You, because you are trustworthy.
Lord Jesus, I just thank You for this group of men and women today who have declared their desire to know You, will You bless them. Will You make Yourself very real in their lives and show them Your faithfulness as they trust You, day by day. Thank You, Jesus, for loving all of us. Thank You, Jesus, for Your amazing promise to provide for all of our needs. And above all, for reminding us, we are just conduit. We are distributors of your blessing and help us not to be covetous. But to pass this blessing to others. Thank You for blessing us to bless others, and above all our greatest blessing is You, Yourself, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, for being with us. And our final destination is heaven and we are on our way to heaven. Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen.