This is an excerpt from the book First You Dream, A Financial Management Workbook, by Emily Mann and Debra

Hadsall, Featuring the Sermons of Rev. Dr. Marti Zimmerman, Doctor of Ministry.

Shopping for the Glory of God?

Scripture: Read Matthew 6:19-25 RSV Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Sermon Shopping is an important part of our daily lives. Do you know how much a gallon of gas costs this week? What are you paying for a gallon of milk? Did you know that a gallon of individual bottled waters could run about $7.00 a gallon? What is your guess on a gallon of Starbucks coffee? It comes to about $33 a gallon. We shop and for many of us, whether its a once a day Starbucks Caramel Machiatto, or a tan k of gas, or a trip to the mall, shopping gets us into debt, and debt controls our ability to be faithful, giving disciples. Are you ready to shop? According to yesterdays Denver Post, there are only 58 shopping days till December 25, Jesus birthday, n ot mine, not yours. A recent Consumer Reports poll says 29% of you have already bought some gifts. 60% of you plan to take the easy way out with gift cards, even though 19% of those who received them last year have not yet redeemed them. No matter if you are ready to shop, the stores are ready for you! Aisles stuffed to the brim and marketing materials in the mail and the newspaper, TV and radio, all done so well that they make this pastor covet their advertising budgets. Oh to have a four-color slick paper brochure designed to offer you the delights of the Garden of Eden or at least a holiday get away. Warmth, smiles, and hearts desires are all just a purchase away And our new mall! How many have been out there already? I didnt know I needed, well maybe just wanted, so much stuff until I walked down the pretend Main street. How about that, a store filled with nothing but calendars? As the Wall Street Journal once quoted, Nobody ever got rich by going shopping. Page 1

Shopping is not a sin. In fact for generations shopping, the buying and selling of goods in the marketplace was a womens work as she cared for her family and the place where a man bought the tools and sold the crops that made daily life possible. In the early church Paul, the traveling salesman used his tent making trade to back his missionary efforts allowing him to share the good news found in Jesus Christ. He even preached in the marketplace. And remember Lydia, a former slave turned successful businesswoman, who created and sold purple cloth all over what is now part of Turkey. Her profits supported her household and the missionary activities of churches in many cities. Her marketplace skills served the risen Lord. Somehow since then, shopping has become a part, well maybe even the main focus of the holy celebration we call Christmas, the sacred day when we take time to remember Gods love shown for us and to us in the birth of a baby. We forg et its Jesus birthday, not mine, nor yours. I in spite of the fact that we pray each week, give us this day our daily bread and lead us not into temptation, materialism and debt will be more a part of our cultures celebration of Jesus birthday, than our giving the kind of gifts Jesus wants, gifts that honor the ministry of the holy child we celebrate. Shopping can be done for the glory of God but we have to approach as Christs disciples, thoughtfully, and with a plan if we hope to live the life of abundance that Jesus offers if we give, give, give a life different than the false promise of our consumer culture guarantees if we will just buy, buy, buy. Shopping is not a sin. But materialism and debt can be if they, not God, are the center of our lives. As our scripture reminds us where your treasure is, there your heart will be. My job as your pastor is to help you look at your finances with Jesus eyes, with a spiritual focus. We are called to follow Jesus as givers. But if you are in debt so as to embarrass yourself, or if your financial life is such that you literally cant give to any of the causes that would be an appropriate birthday gift for Jesus, not a cashmere sweater or a diamond from Jareds, but a real gift for the poor, the hungry , the homeless, the refugees, those in prison, those bound by the chains of addiction, those who are lonely, then you need the hope and help that Christ offers in that manger, a gift to help you make faithful choices allowing you to get through this shopping season so that come January, you will be freed from debts emotional and financial paralysis. Lets shop for the glory of God by asking several important questions. 1. Is what I desire, a want or a need? Needs need to be shelter, food, transportation and clothing. This holiday season, if advertising has its way, needs now include a closet full of clothes, dining out an average of 4 times a week, houses that have doubled in size in Page 2

a generation, a cruise and more. Needs are really those things that make life possible. Food, clothes, housing, health care and transportation. 2. Secondly, ask yourself, can I afford it? Do you have a spending plan, a budget that gets your basic needs paid for before you splurge on your desires? Does your plan include a 3-6 month rainy day fund for when the furnace or the frig goes out, when your health goes bad, when you job disappears, when your business hits a recession, or when your house depreciates. 3. Do you have a Christmas gift plan? Is there something for the birthday boy, Jesus, the one who will call us to account for how we live our financial lives as well as those you love? Many of our kids and grandkids really, really, really want amazing electronic toys. There is sure to be a new one this year to replace the one you stretched several hundred dollars to buy last year. But if you must buy it on credit to make their short lived dream come true, what life lessons are you modeling? Your debt wont teach them about whats really important in life or help you sav e to make a real difference in their long-term wellbeing through college support or help on a house down payment.

4. Do you know conditions of the workers who made your gift? Will they be able to live a decent life and raise their families? And what will happen to it when you are tired of it? Toxic landfill? Junk store? Clutter? So before you head to the mall or e-bay, start by asking yourself do I need this or just want it? Create a budget, make a plan. Make a commitment to live a debt-free Christmas. Scripture: Proverbs 22:7 NRSV The rich rule the poor and the borrower is as servant to the lender. Debt makes you dependent on an uncertain future. By using cash to shop, you dont get lead into temptation to spend more than your planned by impulse delight and 50% off sales. Remember you will pay more, way more, if you buy now pay later at 18% interest. Finally, look at each purchase with Gospel eyes. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. What does this purchase say about your faith? Does it give God glory or does it store up riches here on earth where moths can destroy and thieves can steal? Tithing, the Bible standard for giving is only 10%; credit card debt is 1824%. Wouldnt you rather use the money for kingdom building, supporting a youth program or a Habitat House, than bank profits? Shopping can be done for the glory of God.

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One of my most important jobs as your pastor is to separate you from your money. Greed and materialism are considered good in our culture but bad by our Lord and Savior. And its his birthday. Its my job; now before Christmas buying frenzy gets under your skin, to remind you that what you do with the money entrusted to you is a spiritual question. I want to challenge you to spend half as much on Christmas presents as you expect and to offer up the other half to Jesus ministries-for the poor, for AIDS orphans, for the homeless, for refugees. My goal is to help you give, give, give. For what we discover in that manger after all the gifts and shopping is over is that money and things will never fill the deep places of the human soul. That is the Christmas gift God offers you in Christ Jesus. So go shop like you believe it.

Sermon by Rev. Dr. Marti Zimmerman as featured in First You Dream, 2 nd Edition, A Financial Management Workbook, www.financialdreaming.com.All rights reserved. Copyright 2013 Emily Mann and Debra Hadsall. Used by permission.

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