Why It Matters What Jesus Says About Money

We're halfway through a series on finances, and I'm actually excited to say that the feedback so far has been very good. People are apparently very interested to hear about what God's word says about money and possessions in the face of all the news about the economy, lay-offs, and the stock market. People are hungry to hear wisdom from God and sick of feeling bad about finances.

Let me underscore why it is so important for a Christ follower to get this particular area of their life straight. Because Jesus said so much about this one subject, more than He did about faith, prayer, Heaven, Hell, serving or any other single topic. Almost half of all of Jesus' parables were about money and possessions, and if you were to do a topical study of the entire Bible, there is only one issue that is discussed in it's pages more than money and possessions, and that is idolatry. Funny how that works out, since much of our cultural obsession about money and material stuff either borders on idolatry or it crosses the border.

So it's not a giant leap of logic to conclude that if someone is going to claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but be unwilling to allow what He said about the financial arena of their life to penetrate and make a change, there's a huge problem. The bondage that most people feel about financial issues makes it hard for them to surrender their lives to Christ completely. And since Jesus talked so much about the issue, to ignore what He said and try to do it the way we think best, or the way we see our culture chase it, makes no sense.

If you don't believe me, let me ask this question: what would be your response if I asked you today if you would be willing to go anywhere for two weeks and serve God if you knew it would make and eternal difference in the lives of people and bring you closer to God in the process? Could you make a commitment to do that in the next 3 months if you had to pay your own way? Could you afford to take the time off? Could you take that trip with the confidence that whatever expenses you ran into that would further God's work wherever you went, would you pay for it and do it without grumbling, worrying, or stressing out?

As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to make sure that our whole being and everything we are is being conformed to the image of Christ, including our time, our talent AND our treasure. We can't pretend to follow Christ and leave this area of our lives untouched by His wisdom, His plan and His love for us. God loves us too much for us to shut Him out of our financial dealings.

So in the next two Sundays, as we finish up this series and get ready for what God has coming next (the next series will help some people, I'm getting fired up about it, too), keep praying that we as a community of believers, as a church family together will be able to push back on the culture and allow the wisdom and understanding of God to bring our finances under His Lordship and control. There's too much at stake if we don't.