The Lion's Share

Part 1: Just Enough
Pastor Rick Henderson               January 4-5, 2025

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What is this new series about? First, let me tell you what it’s not about.

Months ago, when we planned this series, none of us knew that this weekend, the Vikings and the Lions would be playing for the number 1 seed in the playoffs. Even though I’m a Saints fan, and some of you still have unforgiveness in your heart over the fake news of Bounty Gate, this is not me trolling you. I’m not trying to jinx anything for you. If the game goes badly, don’t blame me.

What is this actually about? With this series, we’re tapping into that expression, which means the most significant portion. Here’s my question.

QUESTION: What/who gets the lion’s share of you?

Believe it or not, many of you were already thinking about this, even before you heard of this series, even if you didn’t use this exact expression. It might have sounded like this:

• I’m spending too much time on my phone. Who has said that or thought that? Maybe you realized that your phone has been getting the lion’s share of you. Did you know that the Oxford word of the year for 2024 is brain rot?

When we realize the wrong things have been getting the lion’s share of us and the right things have been getting the leftovers, what do we do? We make resolutions. Now, to those of you who are like me, and you have a cynical attitude towards New Year’s resolutions because they’re cliché—that’s understandable. But what if this really is a good time to take a step toward wisdom? Whatever may or may not be true about the effectiveness of New Year’s resolutions, I know that right now is always the right time to aim at wisdom, to move toward wisdom, to align with wisdom.

In 2024 I made three resolutions:

1. Work out each morning before I go to the office.
2. Faithfully practice the Sabbath every week.
3. Focus on who I am becoming in Christ, not what I‘m doing for

Those three pivots have changed my life. I don’t think I’ve ever been healthier. I don’t think I’ve ever been more at ease. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so free.

This series is not about New Year’s resolutions, and yet it will cover some ground that will likely confront us and challenge us to make some pivots. How you and I respond to moments of being challenged, how you and I respond to opportunities to make pivots has everything to do with this question.

QUESTION: What/who gets the lion’s share of you?

Will you permit yourself to get dangerously honest with yourself? Will you get dangerously honest in prayer? Would you get honest with someone else who is also daring to get honest?

Here’s why this question is for everyone. Something or someone is getting the lion’s share of each one of us. Some of us have stories about the wrong thing or person having the lion’s share of us. Some of us have more than stories. Some of us have the scars to go with it. Once you take seriously the question, “What does get the lion’s share me?”, it naturally leads to, “What should get the lion’s share of me?”

Let’s look at Jesus’ answer to that question.

MATTHEW 22:37-38 “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Why does he want all, every part of who we are, our whole hearts? Because that’s what foundational relationships require.

• In a parent/child relationship, if either side says, “I’ll love you, but I’m going to hold back part of my heart from you—that never leads to the kind of relationship we long for.
• In a husband/wife relationship, if either side says, “I’ll love you, but I’m going to hold back part of my heart from you—that never leads to the kind of relationship we long for.

Those are foundational relationships. God is saying to us, “I made you in my image. I love you, and I made you so that this relationship is at the bedrock of your life, and everything else is built on that.

Let’s look at something else Jesus said.

JOHN 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

It is not his intent to possess our hearts so that he can take from us, so that he can withhold from us. It is his intent to give to you a full, thriving, abundant life. That life is found with him, living in, practicing the way of Jesus.

Will you grab a Bible and turn to Proverbs? If you open your Bible to the middle, you’re probably in Psalms. Proverbs is the next book. This message series is about something massive, pervasive, necessary, and sometimes problematic. This message series is about something that is common to all of us.

PROVERBS 30:1-9 The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh—an inspired utterance. This man’s utterance to Ithiel: “I am weary, God, but I can prevail. Surely I am only a brute, not a man; I do not have human understanding. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know! “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. “Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

Today and over the course of this series, we’re going to talk about money. But here’s the good news—I’m not asking for any of your money. I want something for you, not from you. For those of you who came with a friend today. You came because someone convinced you that it’s possible to enjoy church—that person who invited you is probably sweating bullets right now. They are thinking to themselves, “I can’t believe I brought my friend on MONEY Sunday!” I promise you, right now they are frantically working on an apology, trying to figure out what they are going to say.

Let me diffuse the anxiety in the room and be as clear as I know how to be. The goal of this series is not to get more from you. I want for you. I want you to experience the freedom and the full, thriving, abundant life that comes with Jesus having your heart. If Jesus has the lion’s share of our hearts, it’s going to have an impact on our relationships with money. It might lead to you giving more. Believe it or not, it might lead to you giving less. That will make more sense in week 3.

WHAT THIS ISN’T:

• Desperation
• Disappointment

It will be in the next few days that we have a final tally of how our church closed out the year financially. Here’s what we do know. In my five years here, this was the highest year of financial giving. We finished in the black and were able to put money in reserve. In my five years here, this was the year of the highest generosity to needs in this city and to supporting local and international ministry partners. I’m astounded by you.

We can breathe easy and think seriously together about money wisdom. This is a subject that comes with anxiety. I get that. But when we can breathe easy, it becomes clear how much of our lives are colored and shaped by money.

When we talk about MONEY, we’re talking about our __________________.

Think about all the ways that we could fil in this blank.

• Future

I heard a pastor describe it like this, “Today’s decisions shape tomorrow’s opportunities.”

• Freedom

Show of hands: How many of us have ever been held back from something good because of unwise money choices?

• Values
• Friendships

Does money impact friendships? Years ago, when everyone in our friend group was young and broke, one couple received life-changing money. What was now within their reach was out of the reach of their closest friends. Because their friends couldn’t hang, they didn’t hang out as much and the closeness evaporated. Sometimes, money sours a relationship.

• Family

Some of us know too well the hurt from family being divided over money.

• Marriages

Money consistently ranks as a top reason that couples fight.

• HEARTS

We often use “heart” as a colloquialism for the source of our emotions. Biblical writers used “heart” to refer to the intersection of our affections, our desires, and our will. It’s the core of who we are. My agenda today is not to tell you what you should do. Instead, I want us to behold something. I want to bring into view the stunning and public honesty of this guy Agur, about his own heart and money.

PROVERBS 30:8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

I think there’s an implied question here. What if our goodness is more FRAGILE, and our sin more RUGGED than we realize?

Prosperity is having MORE THAN ENOUGH, and poverty is having LESS THAN ENOUGH.

These are not moral lines. Having MORE THAN ENOUGH doesn’t say anything morally about you. Having LESS THAN ENOUGH doesn’t say anything morally about you. And yet, these are lines that he didn’t want to cross. What is above this line [NOT ENOUGH], but below this line [MORE THAN ENOUGH]?

I’m not going to put a dollar amount on these lines. I’m going to leave that to you to you to figure out.

What is just enough for me might be different than what is just enough for you. In fact, it might even be exponentially different. What is just enough to be responsible for all that God has placed in your hands? What is just enough to be responsible with what God has called you to do? It would be foolish and naïve of me to put a dollar amount on that. I don’t know.

I don’t know what is just enough for the home you need, the health care you need, the education, transportation, retirement and on and on and on—that you need. Instead of focusing on that and whatever dollar amount comes that, I want to focus on what this guy Agur focused on.

This was him getting dangerously honest with himself, getting dangerously honest in prayer, and getting dangerously honest with all of us. This was his declaration of wisdom: If I have more than enough, it’s going to have the kind of impact on me on that I don’t think I can handle. If I have less than enough, it’s going to have the kind of impact on me that I don’t think I can handle. I need to live in the JUST ENOUGH zone. Otherwise, it will pressure me, and squeeze me, and form me into a version of me that I don’t want to be.

This audience participation time. But it may not be fun. So, I won’t be surprised if you just stare at me. Here goes nothing. How many of us have ever thought that money wouldn’t change us, then the amount of money we have changed, and now we’re a little different?

Heather and I were poor college students. The night I asked her to marry me, I took her to what I thought was a high-end restaurant. I splurged. I was so nervous I didn’t eat a bite. But I splurged on the fancy. Now it’s 26 years later. My bank account is different and if you take me to that same restaurant, it feels like I have to downgrade my expectations from what I’m now used to. What changed? Wrong question. Who changed? Me.

I owe it to you to do the work of being a clear communicator. You owe it to you to do the work of being a careful listener. Let’s all do the work to make sure we experience clarity. This passage is not saying that everyone above this line is a scoundrel and everyone below this line is a criminal. What it is saying is that living above or living below these lines has transformative power—perhaps a more transforming effect on us than we realize.

If you’ve taken Practicing the Way, this will be familiar to you.

We are all being formed all the time. Some are unintentional in this process. Stories, our habits, relationships and environments are shaping us. Time and experience are shaping us. Money is a part of that.

The data is in and there is a lot of data. Why is there an undeniable correlation between poverty and crime, poverty and education, poverty and all kinds of ways we can measure well-being? Money may be morally neutral, but it’s not neutral.

It should not come as a surprise to us that there are around 2,000 verses in the Bible on poverty and justice. God’s word links poverty and justice because poverty unravels the full life that God intends for people. Followers of Jesus should be the people who are most committed to combatting poverty.

Let’s talk about prosperity. Are you familiar with the Dunning-Kruger effect? It’s the type of cognitive bias where someone has low competence but high confidence. Have you ever seen someone who couldn’t sing, but they’re convinced they can sing? That’s the Dunning-Kruger effect. There is something about wealth that tricks people into having high confidence in areas of low competence. Wealth tricks us into thinking too highly of our opinions. What we’re talking about is pride. Money may be morally neutral, but it’s not neutral.

We are not helpless products of an algorithm. We are responsible. We don’t have to be unintentional. If we want to be, we can be intentional.

We can study God’s word, put it into practice together, and trust that the Holy Spirit is using all of that to make us more like Jesus. I think this passage that we read is somewhat like a Russian doll.

The more we meditate on it, the more we connect the dots other parts of the Bible, we start to see that there is more to it than a mere a surface reading. Yes, money has a formative impact, but there is more to it than that.

PROVERBS 30:7-9 “Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he quoted this Proverb in his model prayer. “Give us today our ______________.” Daily bread. The point of that prayer was to tune our hearts to the reality that a full and thriving life is built on relying on God. It’s about breaking up with the mythology of independence.

We always go wrong when we go our own way. Believe it or not, this is pointing back to what happened in the garden with the first man and woman.

GENESIS 3:4-5 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The lie was, you don’t have to rely on God. You don’t have to wait on God. You can have it all on your own terms. The real problem wasn’t knowing good and evil, it was defining it for themselves.

PROVERBS 30:9 “Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

He’s saying to God, “I don’t want to repeat that same mistake that has been playing out again and again in human history, going back to the beginning.

• Disown: replace you with another authority

I’m too vulnerable. If I have more than enough, I’m not going to live under your rule. I know me. I’m going to be ruled by my appetites and desires.

• Dishonor: replace your commands with another standard

I’m too vulnerable. If I have less than enough, I’m going to use it as an excuse to disregard your moral boundaries for life.

What is the wisdom that he knew and that we should know?

Having MORE than enough and LESS than enough exposes the same vulnerability: SELF-RELIANCE.

Financial pressures and privileges can eventually squeeze us into becoming who we don’t want to be. If that’s true, what could be wiser than praying the same kind of prayer? What if we prayed this?

PRAYER: Even though you don’t need my permission, I’m giving you permission to interfere with, orchestrate, and manipulate my income level, my bank account and portfolio, and my circumstances in whatever way is necessary to form me into someone who delights in and honors you.

When we pray we don’t have to be passive. We can be active. Let’s be people who ask God to act while we actively and intentionally apply our hearts to wisdom.

I’ve got something to share that I’m convinced is wisdom. It’s not rules. It’s not advice. It’s not a have to. It’s just wisdom. Each of us gets to decide what we will do with it. Each of us gets to decide how intentional we will be. Each of us gets to decide if it’s time to pivot.

WISDOM:

1. Everyone lives on a PERCENTAGE of their income, but not everyone is intentional about the PERCENTAGE.
   • >100% (slavery)

Some people live on more than 100% of their income. All debt is a kind of slavery. There are some debts that may be unavoidable: mortgages, medical, education. But there is a lot of debt that is senseless. The borrower is a slave to the lender.

• 100% (pre-slavery)

Anyone who is spending 100% of their income is in pre-slavery. Something this coming that this person is not prepared for. Because they’ve been living at 100% they are not going to be able to avoid debt.

• <100% (freedom)

People who are financially free are the ones who get intentional about living on less than 100%. Here’s the weird reality of it all. Everybody knows this is true. But not everyone lives like it’s true. So much in our culture is wooing us to spend just a little bit more, wooing us to spend more than we have.

I heard Pastor Andy Stanley say something that is so good. It applies to all kinds of things, but certainly this.

Culture will bait you to the threshold of self-destruction and then condemn you when you walk through the door.–Andy Stanley

There are too many people who are baited into financial slavery. If I have any sway with you at all, I want to use 100% of the trust I have with you to get you to take FINANCIAL PEACE UNIVERSITY.

Money is wonderful servant, but a horrible master. I want you to know the freedom of you being the boss of your money instead of the other way around. Anyone who is thinking, “It would be a lot easier to live on less than 100% if I had more money,” maybe. Maybe not.

2. More money may not mean less STRESS.

There are problems that can’t be solved without money. If you are living on LESS THAN ENOUGH, you need more so that you can get above that line. If you live below that line, ignore this. If you’re above that line, this is for you.

More money means more responsibility. How many things can you point to in your life in which more responsibility means less stress? To whatever degree I’m less than responsible with what I currently have, history says that I will do the same thing if you give me more. There’s a lot me we can say, and we will, just not today.

3. There’s no rule that your lifestyle must keep PACE with your income.

There is more to this than simply living on less than 100%.

This is about setting a cap on our lifestyles. This is about finding a place where we decide, no matter how high this line [INCOME & ASSETS] gets, I’m capping my lifestyle here. There is more in my reach, but I’m not going to reach for it. Just because I can level up doesn’t mean that I’m going to level up.

Have you ever thought about that? Folks who’ve made this decision are the ones who live a surplus.

What do you do with that? We’ll talk about that. But we’re not ready yet. I want to suggest this as a next step.

BOTTOM LINE: Wrestle down how much is JUST ENOUGH.

The essence of this isn’t about how much we want or need to possess. It’s about what posses you and what posses me. What/who gets the lion’s share of you? Have you come to see that having Jesus and living in his way is enough?

PRAYER: Even though you don’t need my permission, I’m giving you permission to interfere with, orchestrate, and manipulate my income level, my bank account and portfolio, and my circumstances in whatever way is necessary to form me into someone who delights in and honors you.