Money, Money, it’s so funny …
“Go out in the world and work like money doesn’t matter. Sing as if no one is listening. Love as if you have never been hurt and dance as if no one is watching” –Victor Hugo
“Money can buy you a bed but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries bur not culture; amusements but not happiness, a crucifix but not a Saviour; a good life but not eternal life; a passport to everywhere but heaven” –Unknown
Welcome
- Welcome everybody
- Start with an icebreaker – https://woordenlewe.com/ice-breakers/
Word
- Pray: Open with prayer
- Read:
- Prov 11:24-25 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
- Ecc 6:9 Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
- 1 Tim 6:6-10 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 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. Those 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. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
- Prov 18:11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale
- Act 20:35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
- Phil 4:11-13 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
- Discussion: Life is more than money and what money can buy.
Our saturation threshold is so high these days. Nothing makes us happy. It takes so much money to keep us happy and content, and then our “happiness” only lasts for a short while. We look at our children and see how quickly they finish playing with newly purchased toys. We used to play for days with the same toys. Our toys are getting bigger, better and more expensive. We keep on hoarding our possessions and keep on buying and buying, we do not get enough. Nothing makes a man so lonely as when his own interests become his only interests. A satisfied person is never poor, but a dissatisfied person is never rich. Spurgeon said, “It’s not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.” The Bible asks us to be content with what we possess. We must find our satisfaction in Christ’s all-sufficiency. Happiness is not found in possessions, but in relationships. Good relationships bring happiness. A 50-year study from the Columbia University in the USA has determined that you are just as happy as the deep and happy relationships you are in. Money cannot buy true and happy relationships.
- Talk:
- When is enough, enough?
- What role does money play in my happiness?
- What role does money play in real and happy relationships?
Worship – https://woordenlewe.com/connect-worship/
Spend time in God’s presence through Praise and Worship.
Works
This week: Think about your own finances and ask yourself.
- To what extent do my finances and possessions determine my self-worth?
- How do I measure my self-worth?
- What do I teach my children and the next generation about self-worth?