Let’s be brutally honest. We don’t like to talk about money and how much we give to the church, and we as a church have a giving problem (nearly $13,000 below our budget). Much of the following is taken from a sermon that Rick Atchley recently gave. I hope that it will cause us all to do a little bit of self-evaluating in this very important area of our lives.

Generosity is a key of being a disciple of Jesus. Jesus talked more about money than any other subject except the Kingdom of God. 1/6 of all of the verses that record his words and 1/3 of all of his parables are about money. Jesus knew that money would be the chief battle ground over which He and Satan would fight for the hearts of men. “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

We should be generous because our God is amazingly generous! “For God so loved the world that he GAVE His only Son.” We shouldn’t want to be generous ONLY with our money. We want to be generous with our thanksgiving, with our words of encouragement, with the way we pray for others, with our time, AND with our financial resources.

Here’s the problem. The first Christians didn’t just give willingly, they gave visibly. It says they “brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.” (Acts 4:37) They gave in public and the church leaders noticed who gave and how much. That is so different from the “don’t ask, don’t tell” practice of stewardship common in churches today. Today, most Christians believe that “what I give is my business, not yours,” and so in the one area where Jesus talked so much and where Satan is going to be the most present, accountability is almost completely absent. This makes us nervous, doesn’t it? Is discipleship stunted because we talk so little about something that Jesus said so much about? Are we to assume that a young person is just going to figure out how to be generous if nobody ever talks to them about it? Who is mentoring you into becoming a more generous person? Who are you mentoring? Do you have an accountability partner in this area? Why can’t we get together as fellow brothers and sisters and talk about this item that is so important to Jesus so that we can better follow him?

We’re at this church today because somebody else was generous. Somebody else bought the first Bible we ever read. Somebody else paid for the building where we heard about Jesus. Somebody else paid the person that preached the gospel to us for the first time. We should want many, many more after us to come into the kingdom because WE are generous.

When you aren’t able to be at church on Sunday for whatever reason, please don’t be absent from your giving as well. I think it’s a wonderful thing that we can now give with the Easy Tithe app. Now I don’t have to remember my check book! We can also give through our new and improved website, churchinthefalls.org. Just look for “Donate.”

Money cannot buy happiness, but generosity sure can bring joy.

Embrace God, Encourage Others, Engage the World!

Love,
Jared