The reason that we are involved in this series is to communicate clearly the war we are trying to win at ONE&ALL Church.

We are trying to make the heavens sing, hear the angels rejoice and bring a smile to the heart of God.

I tell you…there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

-Luke 15:7

Helping people far from God come near drives everything we do at ONE&ALL Church.

Teach them everything I have commanded you.

-Matthew 28:20

Problem: Most people who have a bad relationship to money feel like their money controls them, instead of them controlling their money.

Solution: Spend and save in alignment with what you value most and peace between you and your money will come.

Where Creation is concerned, we learned:

1) The Theological principle of giving.

 

We are Stewards not Owners. Stewardship is giving away, not holding on. Stewardship is investing. Stewardship is investing in things that bring the Master joy. Spiritual stewardship is the only lasting investment.

2) The Motivational dynamic of giving.

 

The excitement of investing God’s money into things that last for eternity and things that cause rejoicing in the heavens.

3) The Practical guideline for giving.

 

The Tithe is my beginning point.

The doctrine of creation mandates we give generously.

The doctrine of the Fall shows us why we don’t. Where the Fall is concerned we learned:

Theological truth:

Money has an enslaving power over us.

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. 'Good teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?' 'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.”' 'Teacher,' he declared, 'all these I have kept since I was a boy.'

-Mark 10:17-20

Jesus looked at him and loved him. 'One thing you lack,' he said. 'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!'

-Mark 10:21-23

What do we learn?

1. In a fallen world, money is a master that demands allegiance in competition with Christ.

 

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

-Luke 16:13

2. The more money you have, the harder it is to make spiritual progress.

 

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!'

-Mark 10:23

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

-1 Timothy 6:6-8

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'

-John 9:1-2

The heart of the Gospel is the cross, and the cross is all about giving up power, pouring out resources, and serving. When Christianity is in a place of power and wealth for a long period, the radical message of sin and grace and the cross can become muted or even lost. Then Christianity starts to transmute into a nice, safe, religion, one that's for respectable people who try to be good. And eventually it becomes virtually dormant in those places and the center moves somewhere else.

-Tim Keller

3. The only way to break the power of money over us is to be radically generous.

 

'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'

-Mark 10:21

The only way to break the power money has over us is to give it away in radical proportions!

Theological point?

Money in a fallen world has an enslaving power.

Motivational impulse?

When you understand that through the fall, money has an enslaving power, then our motivation in giving our money away is to liberate our hearts.

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.

-C.S. Lewis

Practical guideline?

Be rich in good deeds.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

-1 Timothy 6:10

Therefore…

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth…but to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous.

-1 Timothy 6:17

Simple living, giving your money away radically, is the only way to be free from the enslaving power of money, and to find out the way your heart really works.

Through the lens of creation?

We are obliged to give God’s money for God’s purposes.

Through the lens of the fall?

We have the opportunity to give in order to break the hold money has over us.

Where is your treasure? Where is your heart?

Repent. Start Over. Renew!

Give