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Financial Injustice

Faith And Finance / Rob West
The Truth Network Radio
January 29, 2024 3:00 am

Financial Injustice

Faith And Finance / Rob West

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January 29, 2024 3:00 am

GOD'S CREATION AND EXPECTATIONS:

God created humanity in His image, as reflected in Psalm 139:13 and Ephesians 2:10. These Scriptures emphasize His intention for His people to live justly and righteously.

 

THE REALITY OF FINANCIAL INJUSTICE:

The world, marred by sins such as greed, envy, dishonesty, and pride, often leads to the unfair financial exploitation of others, a stark reality that Christians must recognize.

 

BIBLICAL WARNINGS AGAINST FINANCIAL INJUSTICE:

The Scriptures provide clear warnings against various forms of financial injustice:

  • Proverbs 22:16 and 14:31 caution against oppressing the poor, teaching that such actions lead to poverty and are an insult to God.
  • Proverbs 20:10 denounces dishonesty in transactions, labeling unequal weights and measures as abominable to the Lord.
  • Psalm 12:5 reflects God's concern for victims of robbery and embezzlement, assuring His protection and support.
  • Exodus 23 explicitly forbids false testimony and bias in legal matters, underscoring the importance of integrity in financial dealings.

 

CONSEQUENCES OF INJUSTICE:

  • Galatians 6:7 tells us that God is not mocked; individuals will reap the consequences of their actions, highlighting the seriousness of engaging in injustice.

 

CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO INJUSTICE:

  • In confronting sin within the community, Christians should adhere to Jesus' instructions in Matthew 18.
  • Reporting legal wrongdoing to authorities is a necessary step when witnessing financial misconduct.
  • Prayer is a powerful tool for addressing injustices beyond one's immediate influence, seeking God's intervention for the oppressed and the exposure of evil.
  • Victims of financial injustice are encouraged to seek resolution through church or secular authorities and to expose fraudulent activities to prevent others from being victimized.

 

MAINTAINING PERSONAL INTEGRITY:

  • In cases of personal discrimination or unkindness, upholding one's integrity is crucial. Psalm 41 offers solace, affirming God's support for those who maintain their integrity.
  • Jesus' assurance in John 16:33 provides comfort in the midst of worldly injustices, reminding believers of His ultimate victory.

 

CONCLUSION:

We wrap up our thoughts on financial injustice with a reminder from Micah 6:8 that Christians are expected to “… act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. “

 

ON TODAY’S PROGRAM, ROB ANSWERS LISTENER QUESTIONS:

  • I've been diagnosed with cancer and plan to retire this year; my wife will continue working. How should I manage my finances, including $500,000 in a 401k and the option of taking Social Security now or later?
  • I'm 66 years old and recently moved from my home to a rental. I'm enjoying renting but wonder if there's a benchmark for when it's wise to step back into homeownership.
  • Should I pay a tithe on my Social Security income, and if so, how do I calculate the right amount to give?
  • Where can my son and his wife go for budgeting assistance?

 

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Certified Christian Financial Counselors

 

Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network as well as American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.comwhere you can join the FaithFi Community, and give as we expand our outreach.

 

 

Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach.

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This faith in finance podcast is underwritten in part by Guidestone. Guidestone envisions a world transformed by Christian investing.

Through screening, corporate engagement, and impact investing, our investment strategies allow investors to be more proactive with their investment dollars to make a meaningful difference in the world while preparing for their financial future. Learn more at guidestonefunds.com slash faith. And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, render true judgments. Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another.

Zechariah 7, 9, and 10. Hi, I'm Rob West. God is a God of justice and righteousness, and he expects the same from his people today. Today we'll talk about financial injustice, and then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is faith in finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. In Psalm 139, 13, David praises God saying, you created my inmost being.

You knit me together in my mother's womb. In his goodness and power, God made each of us in his image. Ephesians 2, 10 confirms that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. God intended for his people to be just and righteous as he is. Unfortunately, the world we live in has been spoiled by sin, and we're faced with this reality every day. In the realm of finances, sins like greed, envy, dishonesty, and pride can lead to financial injustice. This happens when a person takes unfair advantage of someone else financially. According to God's word, financial injustice takes many forms and has severe consequences.

Let's look at a few examples. To those who mistreated the poor or disadvantaged, Proverbs 22 16 warns, whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth or gives to the rich will only come to poverty. And Proverbs 14 31 puts it this way, whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker. Cheating in financial transactions is another kind of injustice that God hates. Here's Proverbs 20 verse 10, unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike, an abomination to the Lord. God is certainly on the side of those who suffer the injustice of robbery and embezzlement. Psalm 12 five says because the poor are plundered because the needy groan, I will now arise says the Lord, I will place him in the safety for which he longs. Robbery can also take the form of overcharging for rent or services, price gouging and identity theft.

I would contend that severely underpaying employees is also a form of theft and is unjust. Dishonesty in financial matters is another kind of injustice. God's word specifically forbids lying and inequality in court.

You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit siding with the many so as to pervert justice nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. That's from Exodus 23. Obviously, God is powerfully opposed to injustice and those who do it will have to answer to him. Galatians 6 seven is a warning.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever one sows that will he also reap as Christians. We should feel the same way God does about injustice. Obviously, we must never participate in taking advantage of others. But what do we do when we see it happening? If financial injustice is taking place within your family or the church, follow Jesus words from Matthew 18. If your brother or sister sends go and point out their fault just between the two of you.

If they listen to you, you have won them over. If you see someone breaking the law be prepared to expose financial wrongdoing and report it to the authorities. There are some injustices that are beyond our reach such as something we might see in the news in those instances prayer.

It's also a powerful tool. Ask God to protect the oppressed and to expose evil and what if you are the victim of financial injustice again, if the perpetrator is another believer follow Jesus command to go to them first. If that doesn't work take it to the church outside of the church. You may have to take the problem directly to secular authorities get wise advice about whether to hire a lawyer or call the police. If you've been scammed expose the evil don't let embarrassment keep you from reporting it your action in exposing wrongdoing might help someone else avoid what happened to you. Sometimes financial injustice is a matter of personal discrimination or unkindness against you.

There may not be anything you can do about it except to hold on to your own integrity. Jesus knows about the injustices. We experience John 1633 records it in his words in this world. You will have trouble but take heart.

I have overcome the world. All right, your calls are next. The number is eight hundred five two five seven thousand. That's eight hundred five two five seven thousand. I'm Rob West and this is Faith in Finance.

We'll be right back. God has entrusted his finances to you and we at Faithfi have designed our Faithfi app to help you live, give, owe and grow with that perspective. Our Faithfi app is the leading biblically based finance app. You can manage your money, get top biblical financial resources and interact with a community of like minded believers where you can ask questions, get answers and share what you're learning.

Go to Faithfi.com and click the word app to get started. We are grateful for support from One Ascent Investments on the Faith in Finance program. They manage a comprehensive suite of value based investment strategies designed to help Christian investors live aligned with what they value most. One Ascent believes that if your values inspire the way you live, they should also inspire the way you invest.

This can be a unique form of worship. More information is available at Investments.OneAscent.com. That web address is Investments.OneAscent.com.

Welcome back to Faith in Finance. I'm your host, Rob West. The number to call is eight hundred five two five seven thousand. Let's dive in.

We're going to begin in Chicago. Thanks for calling. Go right ahead.

Hi, Rob. Thank you so much. It's a real blessing to hear you as it's been listening to you over the years. Awesome.

Thank you. In two thousand, I'll tell a quick story. Two thousand nineteen, I got my first cancer diagnosis at sixty years old. I've gotten my second one in two thousand twenty.

And this one's requiring a little bit more of a battle. And I just started on some chemotherapy. My wife and I have prayerfully made the decision to retire this year. At the end of the year, I'll retire. She's going to keep working for a couple of years.

And I'm curious and I won't go into specifics unless you just want to know them. But I'm curious what advice you have to people who are in this situation as far as how to handle your finances. We think we've done, you know, by listening to you guys and taking the big biblical principles, which I think the ones for debt just follow down the road.

You have to hear them and act on them. But we've been frugal in saving. We've got about a half a million in our 401Ks. We paid off our home. So we're comfortable with our budget going in. We'll be able to continue to tithe. But where would you tell a person like me to put his money? Yeah, I appreciate that, Ed. And I'm sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis. We'll ask our faith and finance community to be praying for you.

We'll certainly do that as well. So you said you have some funds in a 401K. About how much do you have there?

We got a little over $500,000. Okay. And are you on Social Security disability at this point? No, I'm not. I've been working and I was blessed, you know, and God's been very good to me.

So this is just an extension of his grace. But I was working for 30 years in a fairly good paying position. They went on a business and for the last about 10 years, I've been working at a company where I took a cut, but I was able to get good insurance and I was closer to home. So, you know, I'm going to retire at the end of this year. Okay, got it.

And then the income that you would have at that point, if you didn't take Social Security, you would just be living solely on your withdrawing from your retirement funds. Is that right? Oh, no, my wife's going to continue to work and my wife has a very, very good job also. So she's... Okay, great.

Yeah, so that's good news. So that you have the option then to let your Social Security continue to grow by delaying taking it at this point. Would you recommend that? Well, I would just because, you know, that's going to grow at 8% a year between now and age 70. There will come a time, certainly when she stops working, that you guys will want to take that.

You'll have both hers and yours. But your ability to let that, you know, continue to grow, if you can live modestly and minimize the amount you're pulling from your 401k, I think will make up for it. Now, there's always the question just in terms of longevity. And obviously, you know, your health factors into that, and you referred to that a moment ago.

So the question would just be given, you know, how severe your health situation is, ultimately, only the Lord knows how long he's got you here. And that's true for any of us. But we like the idea of that check continuing to grow. But, you know, you may decide just because of my health status, and I don't want to have to touch my 401k, I want to let that continue to work in the market. And we can talk about how you might manage that in a moment. You know, that may cause you to say, well, maybe I should start collecting and at least, you know, have that margin that could come in every month, over and above my bills, you could sock that away. And then obviously, your wife could wait and take hers down the road. So that might be one approach.

I mean, typically, for somebody who's healthy, you know, as long as the Lord tarries, we would typically say just wait, and let's at least get to full retirement age, if not beyond that, because locking in that higher check for the rest of your life has some merit. Does that make sense? Sure. Certainly, certainly. Yeah.

Yeah. One of the one of the contributing factors we had was, when I took this reduction in pay at this job, I almost ended up making less when I'm missing time for say, during a chemotherapy round, which has been my seventh round. I almost would make more collecting a Social Security check. So that's the only reason that brought that up.

Yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense. And obviously, that's going to be based on your highest 35 years of earnings. So, you know, the closer you can get to full retirement age, the closer you'll get your full benefit.

But again, you're going to have hers on top of it. Now, in terms of the half a million dollars, that's obviously a significant sum of money, we'd recommend you connect with an advisor. And perhaps when you do so, you could do some more in depth retirement planning, just to look at all the pieces and parts, what insurance do you need in this season of life? What about long term care insurance, you know, and then also this big idea of how or who is going to manage the money. And, you know, I think having somebody who's waking up thinking about that, minimizing your risk, making sure you're properly diversified, but still growing that money appropriately, so you can offset inflation is important. So I think that would be my next step, Ed.

Connect with a CKA on our website at faithfi.com if you don't already have an advisor, and then just as a part of that, make that decision on when you take social security. God bless you, sir. Thanks for calling. Let's head to Chattanooga. Hi, Marianne. Go right ahead. Hey, Rob, thank you for taking my call.

I my question is, I am 66. And this summer moved out of our home and into a rental sold our home. So I'm really liking renting and not having the responsibility of home ownership. But wondering how, if you have like a benchmark for when it's wise to go ahead and step back in to home ownership or to continue renting?

Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. If you were to buy a home, would you have the ability to do that with, you know, for cash? Do you have quite a bit of money on the sideline from your previous home sale? Or would it require a pretty substantial mortgage? I would be able to do it without you'd be able to buy it. Okay, you'd be able to buy for cash.

Yeah. So then I think it comes down to, you know, the downside of renting is, you know, your rents are high right now, because interest rates are high and mortgages are high. And so the people that own those properties that are renting them to you, they've got to, you know, service their own debt. And because of a shortage housing shortage in this country, it's pushed everything up home prices, despite the interest rates and rental prices. So, you know, you're paying a good bit for rent right now. And you're not getting anything for it in the sense that you're not building any equity. And so the counter argument to that is, well, you know, given that home prices are continuing to appreciate, wouldn't it be great for you to have a home that you own?

And, you know, you could continue to see that appreciate over time. Now, you also depends on what you're doing with that money, you know, the money that you would have to use to buy a house, if you have that invested somewhere, you're doing something else with it, it's growing as well. And so you could compare, you know, what we might expect in terms of the appreciation of a home you might buy as an asset, versus the other asset classes that you have this money in right now, whether that's a banking product, like a CD, or a bond, or a stock or a combination of those. So you can look at it from the financial standpoint, then you have to look at the non financial side and just say, you know, do you want to own something that you control? You know, whereas when you're renting, you're a little bit at the mercy of your landlord, what if they decide to sell it, that person doesn't want to rent it anymore. So there's a little bit of a loss of control there when you're renting. But then on the flip side, there's this idea that, you know, you don't have as much upkeep, you're not responsible for certain things.

And so I think you just have to weigh all these things, the financial and the non financial side, and then decide which is best suited for you. And I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here, Marianne. Let's do this. I'm going to take a break, but you and I can talk off the air.

We'll be right back. Do you feel like your hands are tied with debt preventing you from serving God? If you have credit card debt, Christian Credit Counselors can help. Through our debt management program, we can get you out of credit card debt about 80% faster while honoring your debt in full. For more information on how Christian Credit Counselors can help, visit christiancreditcounselors.org.

That's christiancreditcounselors.org or call 800-557-1985, 800-557-1985. We're grateful for support from Eventide Investments on the faith and finance program. Eventide's approach to values based investing is grounded in the belief that humankind was created in the image of God with intrinsic dignity, value and worth. Eventide calls this investing that makes the world rejoice. More information is available at eventideinvestments.com. That's eventideinvestments.com. You're listening to Faith and Finance where we talk about how we handle God's resources.

How are you using God's resources? We're talking about it and the lines are open to take your calls and questions. 800-525-7000 is the number to call.

Let's head to Miramar, Florida. Ariel, thank you for calling. Go ahead. Christian, I'm retired and I would like to know if I should pay tithes for my Social Security that I get. Very good. Yeah, that's a great question.

So there's a couple of ways to address this here, Ariel. First of all, we have to recognize that the tithe is an Old Testament idea that was a part of the Mosaic law and it was really based on your increase. Now, there was actually three tithes that totaled 23 and a third percent, but the word tithe means a tenth and it was a way to give off of the increase as the Lord prospered them on their harvest and they would bring that, at least one of the tithes, to the temple. And we would most often associate that with a gift of a systematic gift on the increase to our local church, God's plan A. Now, we're a part of the law of Christ because the Mosaic law was replaced when Jesus enters the scene, but he often raised the bar just in just about every situation and I would say that includes this area of giving. Now, New Testament giving is about giving freely. It's about giving proportionately as God has prospered you. It's about giving cheerfully, recognizing God is our provider and those of us who have seen what he's done for us on our behalf on the cross as he paid the penalty for our sin out of gratitude. One of the ways that we can worship him is through our generosity, through our giving, which is simply returning a portion of what he's entrusted to us back to him. Now, using the principle of the tithe, a gift, a systematic gift, a tenth on our increase, I think is a great place to start.

My friend Randy Alcorn calls that the training wheels of giving. So, if you wanted to apply the principle of the tithe to your social security, you would have to say, what portion of this is my increase? Now, it gets a little complicated with your social security because as you know, if you've been tithing on your gross income while you were working, you've in a sense, you've already tithed on a portion of this money that's coming back to you in the form of a monthly check as your social security benefit. Through your FICA taxes, you paid into social security and then at some point, you start claiming those benefits and they start sending you a monthly check.

Now, some portion of this check you get every month is a return of what you've already paid in and then a portion would be considered the gain or the increase. So, you've really got two ways to approach this, Ariel, if you want to give a tithe on your social security. The first is to say, listen, everything I receive is a gracious gift from God and so I'm just going to give systematically on everything I get.

I'm going to see it all as a gift from the Lord and I'm just going to give a tenth back to my local church as my tithe. The other approach you could take is a little more technical and this goes back to this idea that a portion of what you're receiving is a return of what you've already paid in through your FICA taxes. So, how would you approach that?

Well, here's the way you could approach it. Your social security benefit statement will tell you all that you've paid into social security during your working years and what you could do is you could say, okay, if I take my monthly benefit check times the number of years of my life expectancy, which once you reach age 65, your life expectancy as a woman in the United States is 86. So you could say, let's say you started taking your benefits at 66, you could say over the next 20 years, here's how much I'm going to receive back from social security if I collect this same check for the next 20 years. And you could compare that to what you paid into the system and determine what portion of that is being returned to you from what you've already contributed and what portion would be the profit. And then that portion that is the profit or the increase is what you would pay the tithe on. And you could establish a percentage, perhaps 70% of what you're getting every month is just returning to you what you've already paid in to social security and 30%, let's say, is beyond that.

And then you would just give a tithe on 30% of your social security check. Now, I realize that may be way too complicated, but I'm just trying to help you think through an approach to this. Does that happen to make sense, Ariel?

Yes, it does make sense. But God bless you for your brains to be working this out and I'm just listening. But just tell me, what should I do? You know, should I just give something or every month for it? Yes, at the end of the day, I think that's, first of all, that's between you and the Lord. So I can't tell you how much to give.

But what I can tell you is the Lord sees your heart and he knows you want to honor him. And so I would give something systematically. What that amount is, is totally up to you. And as long as you give with a cheerful heart, with the right attitude, and as an act of worship, I believe that's a gift that God will, that will honor the Lord. Whether that's a full tenth of that Social Security check every month, or some percentage that's less than that, I think that's between you and the Lord. But I would give something regularly. Thanks for your call today. Let's finish up in Orlando, Florida today. Hi, Alice, go ahead.

Hi, I just have a quick question. I wanted to know where I can tell my son and his wife to go for budgeting assistance. Yeah, so let me give you a website. It's actually a part of our website. We recommend something called a Certified Christian Financial Counselor.

And these are men and women who've been trained to do exactly what you're describing. They provide help with relational issues around money, money in marriage, budgeting help, getting out of debt. It's really for those folks who are not ready for a Certified Kingdom Advisor, a professional, but they need somebody who are trained, somebody who's trained in biblical financial wisdom, and really specializes in these types of issues, primarily budgeting, like you're describing. You'll see a list of our first dozen Certified Christian Financial Counselors on our website. If you've got a pen handy, it's faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com forward slash cert c-e-r-t c-f-c. That's short for Certified Christian Financial Counselor, cert c-f-c. So again, that website is faithfi.com slash c-e-r-t c-f-c. And that will take you to a listing of the men and women who have the Certified Christian Financial Counselor designation. And any of those folks on that web page will be able to help you with budgeting.

And you'll just want to have them look through them and contact the one that seems like the best fit. Okay? Excellent. Well, thank you so very much. I appreciate it.

All right. God bless you, Alice. Thanks so much for your call today. Hey, we're almost out of time, but I wanted to let you know that you don't ever have to miss a program. Just download our Faithfi app for your mobile device and take us with you anywhere. Thanks for joining us today. I look forward to talking with you again next time on Faith and Finance. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-06-28 18:02:53 / 2024-06-28 18:12:48 / 10

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