Money: Sermon Sunday March 22, 2009
Dear brothers and sisters,
Many Christian churches are observing Lent – the fast of forty days before Easter. It is generally a time of penance characterized, rather than fasting from food, by staying away from festivities, giving to the poor, and by the practice of more than the usual religious exercises. Many Christians find these observances helpful which I applaud. Yet these things do not increase our righteous standing before God. Scripture teaches that our righteousness is in Christ alone, and if we do observe Lent, the motivation should be love for Christ because of His gift of salvation. Also no one should know what we are doing lest we receive glory from others (Matthew 6:1-4).
I am preaching on the love of money, the root of all kinds of evil. Hopefully the Scripture in 1 Timothy will lead us to be generous not only in the giving of money to charity, but in good works as well. 1 Timothy 6:6-10, & 17-19 give us precious truth regarding possessions and the right handling of money. Here is a bit of Jewish wisdom: “Told that a certain man had acquired great wealth, a sage asked:”Has he also acquired the days in which to spend it?” Ahhh yes, the brevity of life must always be kept in mind.
Jesus condemned the hoarding of money and taught a cheerful and light hearted approach to wealth, leading to greater joy and a life more pleasing to God (Matthew 6:25-34). Surely God can be trusted to provide what is needed physically, especially if we are rich in spiritual wealth. Don’t you think that the more we have of the unseen riches the less we desire the seen? Think of how much joy Scrooge had after giving his money away than he did as the miser, “a good man of business”. We all would do well to remember the words of Jesus: “ If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? (Luke 16:1-11) How poor we are if our wealth is in what can be counted and measured. Have you an abundance of the true riches?
See you Sunday,
Lee
