The Art of Money

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:37–38

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41–44

Money needs to be talked about in church. Giving needs to be talked about in church. But, like a lot of things that need to be talked about in church, the talking about money needs to be redeemed or reclaimed. You see, there is a lot of baggage that goes along with the talking about money in church, much of it deserved.

So then, why do we need to talk about it at all? The short answer is because Jesus did. Jesus spoke about money more often than anything except the Kingdom of God. Money, He said, is directly related to the likelihood of our discovering the Kingdom of God – and not in a good way. And so, we need to talk about it. Check that, we get to talk about it. We should never shy away from talking about things that are hard to talk about, or things that are unpleasant or could be misunderstood. My job as your pastor is to never shy away from talking about the hard stuff.

This week’s Next Step could get long if I am not careful, so I will simply provide you with a few bullet points and ask a couple of questions for you to ponder. If you did not get a chance to hear last Sunday’s sermon, I encourage you to do so here.

God promises to bless us (to give back to us in overflowing proportion) if we give.

- Jesus recognized that giving past the point of comfort showed a trust in Him that giving within our means does not.
- God wants followers of His to give, and to give more than they initially are comfortable giving.
- Giving is not “required” by God.
- Giving goes beyond simply meeting needs (it is as much for the giver as the receiver).

So, two questions:

- Do you agree with the above statements about giving?
If not, why?
- If so, how do they change your view of giving and what are you going to do about it?

In closing, I introduced the Planned Giving Cards on Sunday. If you are a regular attender, you should have received one in the mail either today or will get one tomorrow. I request that you and your family pray about your giving – to Creekside or elsewhere and to make a deliberate plan on how you intend to give. We will have envelopes at church on Sunday so you can send in your Planned Giving Card in a couple of weeks. We will also have a box so that you can put them into if you would rather. Again, giving is not required, nor is the turning in of a Planned Giving Card. That said, I encourage you to do both. I am convinced that giving is a huge part of our transformation process and that the Planned Giving Cards and surrounding process is a good tool to help us all get there.

Peace, hope and love


Doug

A Larger Portion

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:25–26 ESV

Who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? 1 Corinthians 4:7 MESSAGE

There is a Pink Floyd song called “Money.” One of the lines in the song is, "Money, it's a crime, share it fairly, but don't take a slice of my pie." I think that sentiment is a fairly common one. We are all in favor of generosity, but we get suspicious when people look in our direction for a contribution. Giving is a good idea . . . in theory.

Don't get me wrong; I am not saying that you or I or anyone else are not generous or giving people. I'm just saying that we are suspicious, or at least cautious when people start talking to us about giving our money away. I think we have good reason to pause. Requests for money have been misused as often as the money has been. Not universally at all, but enough so that giving in general and "church giving" in particular has been tainted. So then, as the pastor, I have a couple of choices. I cannot talk about money or I can try to recast and redeem the conversation -- and the practice -- of giving. Since Jesus talked about money more than He talked about hell (another preaching topic that has fallen into disfavor); talked about money more than anything except the Kingdom of God for that matter, the first option is not really a viable one. The reality is that God is interested in your money -- and therefore so am I. My goal is for us to be people who can say, like the Psalmist, I want a bigger portion of Jesus, not a bigger slice of the pie.

But I am perhaps getting ahead of myself. Before we talk about money at all, before we discuss giving, before we hash out God’s call to be a generous people, we need to begin with an understanding of all that God has done for us. Any conversation about generosity really has to start with grace. Paul asks the church in Corinth, “Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God?”

And that is my sole question for you this week. Can you think of anything that you have or are that is not a result of God’s gift? You may be tempted to say something like, “Yes and no, I worked hard for . . .” Great. But where did you start? Why were you able to work hard? How might circumstances have been different so that your hard work would not have mattered?

Take some time and look over the things that you have and the person you are; think through the Bible’s assertion that every one of them is a gift from God. How might that change your perspective on these gifts? How might it lead you towards working harder to “get more?” How might it lead you towards putting less energy into “getting more?” Share your thoughts with someone and share them with me as well.

Peace, hope and love

Doug