Becoming a Christian and receiving the New Financial Nature

The memory templet below is an acronym using the letters of SCARF to describe the process of receiving a New Financial Nature. Use this templet when explaining the Gospel message. 

Sin, Christ, And then what, Repentance, Faith 

Romans 3:23 (NKJV) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” 

Do you love God with your whole heart, depend on his guidance, pray to him for daily needs, and thank Him for His many gifts? If not, you sin.

Do you show by your words and body language that you are upright and kind providing encouragement to others, using words of respect and harmony, words that build-up and not tear-down? If not, you sin.

Are you eager to go to church for worship and song? Do you delight in reading the Bible learning of God’s powerful acts in history? Do you experience God in daily living? Do consider it a privilege to pray to God for family, friends, and the persecuted church? If not, you sin.

Do you honor your parents giving them respect and cooperation? Do you obey public laws allowing those in authority to rule over you including government officials to administer justice and accepting correction when necessary? If not, you sin.

Do you murder your neighbor with anger punishing him for innocent mistakes, yelling at children for childish actions, talking down to your spouse with unkind and hateful remarks? If this is how you act, you sin.

Are you faithful in marriage, deliberately avoiding zones of temptation, being patient, kind, respectful, and loving with your spouse? In matters of sex are your actions pure and honorable? If not, you sin. 

Do you steal small things from work, cheat on taxes, create property rights for yourself by twisting the laws, harm your neighbor by not protecting his property, steal time by doing personal activities while working, falsify government documents to get benefits? If this is how you behave, you sin. 

Do you gossip and make up stories doing harm to your neighbor’s reputation, lie to people around you giving false testimony to benefit yourself, make cover-up stories to pass blame to someone else? If you do these activities, then you sin.

Do you desire your neighbor’s car, furniture, fine home, his job, his expensive cloths, boat, or beautiful spouse? If you covet, you sin.

Violation of the laws of God in thought, word, and deed shows the sinfulness of the human heart. Death is the penalty imposed by God for sin (Ro 6:23).

Man does not become valuable to God by righteous works. Giving a million dollars to your college with your name on the building does not earn salvation or remove sin. To enter heaven you must be perfect. Matthew 5:48 (NKJV) “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” 

God provides free will to man and we choose evil consistently. So, God devised a plan to save people from hell. 

God would send his son Jesus Christ who is a perfect man and perfect God at the same time to be punished for the sins of the world. Since God hates sin, punishment is fully justified. But God punished Jesus instead of us saving us from hell. By the blood of Jesus we are set free from sin by faith. 

Through the whole work of Christ, his miraculous birth, his life of perfect obedience, supremely his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, his ascension to the right hand of God, his rein in history and his glorious return, sin has been overcome. 

In Christ, God has conquered sin; such are the great glad tidings of the Bible. 

What happens after we discover our sinful condition and our inability to make ourselves holy, perfect, and acceptable to God? Only Jesus Christ can reconcile broken mankind back to a Holy God. But how does this happen and what are we to do? 

The first step is repentance. At some point we compare ourselves to a Holy God and exclaim like Isaiah: Isaiah 6:5 (NIV2011) “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” 

Repentance is a turning away in Godly sorrow from sin, disobedience, and rebellion and a turning back to God in obedience and trust. 

Repentance is God’s will and desire for us as well as His command. 

Mark 1:15 (NKJV) and [Jesus] saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."  

We bring the forgiveness of sins into our lives by faith, not by works. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV) “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”. 

Faith itself is a gift. The Holy Spirit brings a person to new birth. John 3:3 (NKJV) Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

In the act of repentance individuals receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). The fruit of the spirit is: “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).

The new birth provides an amazing transformation in financial affairs which I call the New Financial Nature.

Work is no longer a burden but a calling to serve the Lord; the new boss is God and we aim to please Him; our efforts and skills increase and people take notice; the breadwinner uses money first for others; spending for entertainment loses its satisfaction; planning for future obligations increases; church contributions have new importance; we spend our time differently becoming volunteers; the budget balances because priorities change; each new day is a joy because we see the miracles of God everywhere; we accept losses without bitterness because our goal is heaven; unemployment is not a catastrophe but God providing a new direction; each day is productive and achieving; and godliness with contentment is great gain.