It's MY money!

I don't usually do this, but I want to recap the sermon I gave on Sunday. I'm not recapping it because I have any delusions it was a wonderfully delivered sermon. I think the lesson for us is too important to not hear it again. If you heard the sermon then yes I am talking about money...specifically what you do with your money. (Please keep reading)

Before you get all excited this isn't a plea for you to give more money to the church. On the other hand, it is a challenge as to what we do with our money. I want to start off with a quote I heard once from somewhere. I think it was a seminary professor or someone: "Show me a person's checkbook and I'll show you what they love." Apply that to your checkbook. Where does most of the money go? Church, non-profits helping the less fortunate, restaurants, entertainment, kids, house? Now, let's be clear...I'm not saying your church or charitable giving should out pace your mortgage, for some maybe it should, but for the vast majority of us that truly isn't realistic. But, does your giving outpace your shopping or coffee budget? If you were to tally up your giving to church and helping the less fortunate is it a priority or only something that happens if you have some money left over? I guess the question is how important is your faith to you? Money is a huge part of our lives, and it is addressed by Jesus over and over again in the Bible. If the church and our faith life is important, does our checkbook reflect that, or is giving them money just an after thought? Money is a giant part of our lives. To think it isn't part of our faith life is foolish. How we handle and what we do with money is vital to our faith life.

I'll admit to you two things. I am not bragging or wanting to show off. I want to let you know that I am trying to practice what I preach. My wife and I come close to giving 10% of our income back to the church. The second thing I want to let you know is that we could certainly do better, and that we are going to do better. 10% is not a magical number in my book, but it is something Tracy and I have decided to strive for. For some people 1% of their income would be a big sacrifice. What you give is between you and God, but God is calling you do take an honest look and challenge yourself to do better. How long has it been since your giving has gone up?

The Gospel lesson that spurred this sermon topic is the story of the rich young ruler found in Mark. The rich man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life and after a short conversation Jesus tells him he must sell all of his possessions and come follow Jesus. The young man goes away sad because he cannot, or at least could not right then. Jesus then says it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich person to enter into the kingdom of heaven. I tended to think Jesus was talking about all those rich celebrities and athletes and business moguls, but then I saw some statistics that showed that most, if not all of us, are in at least the top 10% of richest people in the world. Compared to the rest of the world we in America are extremely wealthy. So Jesus is talking to us.

Does this mean if we are considered rich we can't enter heaven? Does it mean that in order to enter heaven we need to sell all of our stuff? Probably not, but Jesus isn't letting us off the hook either. He is challenging us. How we handle God's money is important. Did you catch that? I didn't say how we handle our money, because it isn't ours. Everything we have is God's. We are only caretakers of God's creation. So it isn't MY money, it is God's money. And the question is how are we handling God's money? Does what we do with our money reflect what we state our priorities are in life? Can we say we are a good Christian and spend more on coffee then offering or charitable giving? I don't know...maybe. I think Jesus might challenge us a little. Money is an intensely personal thing. And some might be reading this and get angry that I'd have the audacity to challenge what happens with THEIR money. Two responses: 1) Jesus is doing the challenging not me, and 2) it isn't THEIR money it's God's. There's a reason Jesus talks about money so much in the Gospels...it has an incredible hold on our lives. What does your checkbook say about your priorities in life?