Sermon | Insulation From Bidenflation
INTRODUCTION
It’s no secret. The economy is not good. Many are calling this economic downturn Bidenflation, implying that it has been caused by President Biden’s policies.
Since Biden took office, the average worker has lost $2,762 in purchasing power due to higher prices.
Inflation is at 8.3 percent, a 40-year high.
Food prices are up 10.8 percent.
What a hundred dollars bought you at the grocery store during the Trump Era now costs you $150.
Fast food prices are up seven percent.
Full-service restaurant prices are up 7.1 percent.
Vending machine prices are up 7.1 percent.
Gas prices are higher than ever, at lover $5 per gallon, and expected to rise.
The stock market is way down. The Dow posted its biggest loss since 2020.
And we don’t know how bad it’s going to get.
It’s not looking good. Is there anything we can do to survive this economy? Yes.
God has promised that He will provide for us, regardless of how the economy is doing.
Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
But God’s promises are conditional. To receive God’s promises, we must fulfill the conditions. In short, God promises you insulation from Bidenflation, but there are several things you must do.
The bottom line is this: The key to financial security is to secure God’s blessing on your finances.
As a Christian, you are either the object of God’s favor, or the object of His discipline. If you are the object of God’s favor, then He will bless you financially. If you are the object of God’s discipline, then prepare for pain.
So, the question is, How can we secure God’s blessing on our finances?
Today we’re going to look at several verses in which God says, “Do this, and I’ll bless you financially.”
HOW TO SECURE GOD’S BLESSING ON YOUR FINANCES
1) Prioritize your relationship with God.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”
God promises to take care of you if you will put Him first in your life.
New Testament in Modern Speech “But make His Kingdom and righteousness your chief aim....”
Living Bible “give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to.”
Is God your top priority in life? Many Christians are casual Christians. They believe in Jesus. They like Jesus. But Jesus is not their top priority in life. They are half-hearted Christians. They are halfway Christians. They have one foot in Christ, and one foot in the world. They are divided Christians – they have divided interests. They are shallow Christians – preferring to hang out in the shallow end rather than going deep with God. They are lazy Christians.
Matthew 6:33 is saying make Jesus your top priority and make your life all about Him. Go all out for Christ. Total commitment. Total dedication. Total surrender. Full devotion. Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
Thomas Watson “The diligence of unbelievers in seeking after earthly kingdoms shames our coldness and indifference in pursuing after the kingdom of heaven!”
There are three habits that serve as good indicators that a person is prioritizing their relationship with God:
They give God the first hour of the day. They have a daily quiet time.
They give God the first day of the week. Church is a priority.
They give God the first ten percent of their finances. They tithe. We’ll come back to this one.
What are some common things that Christians put before God?
A relationship – such as dating a non-Christian, or living together before marriage.
Sin – such as adultery, or theft, or pornography.
Career or school – allowing work or school to keep you from church, from spending quality time with God.
Hobby – making time for hobby, but then claiming you don’t have time for God.
Eric Liddell was a track star – an elite runner. He was Scotland’s fastest 100-meter sprinter, and the Olympics were right around the corner. Unfortunately the Olympic trials were on a Sunday, and as a committed Christian he had made a commitment to never run on a Sunday – not even for the Olympics. Many people in Scotland were angry with him and wrote bad things about him. He also qualified for the 400-meter race, but had no hope of winning, because two of the other runners had already set world records, and he was assigned the worst lane. Before he left the hotel for the race, the team trainer slipped a note in his pocket that encouraged him. It read, “He who honors God, God will honor.” Eric went on to not only win a medal in the 400 meter, but to win the gold, and to set a new world record. That’s a man who kept first things first.
Do you want God to bless your finances? Do you want God to provide for you? He will, if you seek Him first; prioritize your relationship with Him.
Anonymous “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” Keep first things first.
2) Repent of all known sin.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”
This is the second part of the verse – seek first His righteousness. His right way of living. And He promises to take care of you financially.
Charles Stanley “God assumes full responsibility for our needs when we obey Him.”
God doesn’t bless sin. God will not bless your rebellion; your backsliding; your disobedience; your evil.
As a Christian, you can either live under God’s blessing, or under God’s discipline. God will never leave you, but He will not always bless you. If you are living in sin, He will discipline you. Don’t be surprised if He hurts your finances to get your attention.
Let’s just read a few verses to remind us of this principle:
Psalm 1:6 “For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.”
Psalm 37:17 “For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord supports the righteous.”
Proverbs 3:33 “The Lord’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.”
There might be someone here who is doing just fine financially, even though you’ve been living in sin. And you’re thinking, I’m not worried about the economy. I’ve got plenty of money. My money is my insulation from Bidenflation. Do you know what that’s called? That’s called trusting in your money rather than God. Rather than repenting of sin and putting God first in your life, you’re going to trust in your money to take care of you if things go south. The Bible has an answer for you.
Proverbs 11:4 “Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath, but righteousness rescues from death.”
On the day of God’s wrath, when He comes to discipline you, your wealth is not going to help you.
Proverbs 11:28 “Anyone trusting in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like foliage.”
Trusting in your riches is a mistake. You don’t know what the economy is going to do; or how bad it’s going to get. But God does. And if you will repent and seek His righteousness, He will be your insurance. He will take care of you when things go south.
3) Tithe.
If you want God’s blessing on your finances, then you have to tithe.
What is tithing? The word tithe means a tenth. It means giving the first ten percent of your income to God through the church. So, every time you get paid, for example, you take ten percent and give it to the Lord at church.
Notice the promise in Scripture related to tithing:
Malachi 3:10-12 “10 Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the LORD of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure. 11 I will rebuke the devourer, for you, so that it will not ruin the produce of your land and your vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Armies. 12 “Then all the nations will consider you fortunate, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of Armies.”
What is the promise here for those who tithe?
“a blessing without measure”. God will enormously increase your finances.
“I will rebuke the devourer for you.” God will protect your finances from bad times.
“all the nations will consider you fortunate.” Unbelievers will notice God’s great blessing on your finances.”
I am so proud when I see the young people in our church tithing. Some of them don’t have a job yet, but when they get some money, they tithe. Others of them, when they get their first job, they start tithing. I saw that in Cameron McDonnold, and I’m seeing that in my oldest daughter Carter, who just began her first job at FedEx a couple of months ago. She gets paid every week, and so she tithes every week. She told me that tithing is easy. It should be.
Tithing should be a no-brainer.
It is a command.
God promises to bless and protect your finances if you obey.
Disobedience will result in a financial curse.
One time there was a man who saw a beggar on the street. Feeling compassion, he looked in his wallet and saw 10 dollars, so he gave the beggar 9 dollars, keeping only one for himself. The beggar took the 9 dollars, hit the man in his face, and grabbed the tenth dollar as well. This is what we do when we refuse to tithe. God owns it all. He doesn’t have to give us anything. Yet everything that we have comes from Him. He just asks that we honor Him with the first ten percent. And then He promises to reward us if we obey.
4) Be generous.
To secure God’s blessing on your finances, you have to be generous.
God will not bless the stingy man; the miser; the tightfisted; the selfish. He will not bless the hoarder.
The Bible commands us to be generous. If we have extra, or more than we need, then God wants us to share with those who are in need.
Ephesians 4:28 “Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.”
1 Tim 6:17-18 “17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share”
To be rich is to have more than you need.
God expects to share our extra with the needy.
“Jerry Bridges has observed that there are three basic attitudes we can take toward possessions. The first says, ‘What’s yours is mine; I’ll take it.’ This is the attitude of the thief. The second says, ‘What’s mine is mine; I’ll keep it.’ Since we are selfish by nature, this is the attitude that most people have most of the time. The third attitude – the godly attitude—says, ‘What’s mine is God’s; I’ll share it.” (Philip Ryken)
The Bible is filled with promises for those who are generous:
Proverbs 11:25 “A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water.”
Proverbs 19:17 “Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and he will give a reward to the lender.”
Proverbs 28:27 “The one who gives to the poor will not be in need, but one who turns his eyes away will receive many curses.”
Luke 12:38 “Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over—will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Charles Stanley “You can never outgive God.”
I’m sure you’ve heard the illustration about living open-handedly. When we are stingy, refusing to share what God has given us, our fist is closed, and God is unable to give us more. But when we live open-handedly, always ready to give and share with those in need, and to kingdom causes, then God is able to bless us with more.
CONCLUSION
Is there anything we can do to insulate ourselves from Bidenflation?
Go back to Egypt with me for a moment. When Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, God sent ten plagues on the land of Egypt. The last was the plague of the firstborn. God sent his death angel at night to kill the first born son in every home in Egypt, but he passed over and spared the Israelites. Why? Because they had applied the blood of the lamb to the door posts as God had instructed, and therefore they had God’s blessing; they had God’s favor; they had God’s blessing; so, God took care of them.
The key to financial security is to secure God’s blessing on your finances.
God promises to take care of you, but you have to place yourself in a position to be blessed.
Prioritize your relationship with God.
Repent of all known sin.
Tithe.
Be generous.
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