Jesus Is Watching!

In Mark 12:41 we read the surprising statement that Jesus sat where He could intentionality look at what people were financially giving to God. This may surprise us if we wrongly believe that God is not interested in how we spend our money or in the financial aspects of our lives. But in this account we see that God the Son is very focused on these things.
     
  It is surprising that Jesus even notices the specifics of what people are giving for the offering time in the temple was usually crowded and loud as numerous coins were clattering into the bottom of the receptacle. In this loud moment Jesus notices that which would not have seemed important to anyone else. As the “multitude” were putting money into the receptacle and as many rich people were putting in large sums of money Jesus focuses on a poor widow. She doesn’t have much for she is “poor,” therefore starvation is always a possibility, and to add to her plight she is a “widow,” she has no advocate in a male dominated society. Her present situation is bleak. The immediate question is why even look at this giver?

Yet Jesus continues to watch her and sees that she gives only two small copper coins which is only worth a penny! Her gift was so small that it was probably not even heard in the midst of the loud outpouring of funds. We could easily think, “What a waste of one’s time and money. With such a little offering it is not even worth a trip to the treasury. Especially when you are facing starvation!”

Have you ever felt that way? You may not have much and wonder if your giving even matters. You may be barely making it and wonder how can you give and still make ends meet. But please don’t miss the key point of these verses—Jesus is watching!  Never underestimate your giving to the Lord based on how it compares with others.  Never refrain from giving to the Lord because He knows what you have and will bless your trust in Him.

Please note that God is still looking at what we give for He knows that how we handle money is a litmus test of our true character and a measure of our true spiritual walk. Our stewardship of our money and our possessions becomes an accurate read of our spiritual lives.

The story does not tell us, but I am sure that all this poor widow’s needs were taken care of after her sacrifice. Remember, there is no sacrificial gift you can give to God that does not get His attention and His blessing. Step out and believe God and see how He responds—‘O Taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge [trusts] in Him!’ (Psalm 37:4).

Does Money Matter to God?

“[Our] Giving is not God’s way of raising money, it’s His way of raising children. Every time we give money away we give away a little bit of our selfishness.” —John MacArthur

Do you know that money matters to God? The reason for this is given to us in Luke 16:10-11 where we read—“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.  Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?” 

Money matters to God because it is a tool that He uses to measure our growth.  Just like height marks on a wall is a tool for measuring the physical growth of a child, so God uses money to see our spiritual progress.  From our use of money Jesus teaches us that God learns if we possess the character trait of faithfulness.  For if we are faithful with a very little thing, such as money, God then knows that we can be trusted to be faithful with more significant things in life, such as leading and encouraging His people.

So, as the old MasterCard commercial use to say—“What’s in your wallet?”  Are there items for your own pleasure or for God’s?

Father, I pray that in this day you will grow your children to see their money and possessions from your perspective. Empower us to let them go into your hands so that we might be led of you on how we should use them to your pleasure.

Money Matters

Yes, even God would agree with this. Some have wrongly believed and taught that God is anti-money and is opposed to His people having wealth.  Yet, that is not biblical.  Jesus repeatedly communicated that God is not against wealth.  It is important to note that Jesus spoke more about finances than about hell.  Jesus said that it would be “hard,” not impossible, for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God (Matthew 19:23—24).  To the contrary, God is very concerned with money for He knows that Money Matters! 

Why is God concerned with money?  God knows that money is a false god to most people, even to those who seek Him. Note 1 Timothy 6:10 where Paul says, “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.” Paul highlighted that the “love of money,” not money itself, is a root from which much evil grows. 

As He opposes all pretenders to His throne and distracters from His glory, so God also opposes a wrong view of money.  That is why Hebrews 13:5 tells us that our character, the core of who we are, must not be built on a love, trust and obsession, for money.  In contrast, God strongly desires His people to worship Him alone.  So, money matters most when it is kept in its right position in our lives—as an instrument and not a goal.  Unfortunately, for some of us the end goal of life is money. But, from God’s perspective the end goal of money is life.

Only this perspective will keep God in His rightful position in our lives.  Our lives do not depend on what we earn but on God’s provision.  Our lives do not depend on what we have, but on God’s grace.  What we have can then be held on to a lot looser for we are not dependent on anything or anyone but our heavenly Father for what we need.  We can aggressively seek to better ourselves and to increase our earnings for then we are honoring the God who invested potential in us that should be developed to glorify Him (Note Joseph in Genesis 39:2, 21; 41:38-39).

So, do you have money in its place in your life? A great way to determine this is to ask the Lord to show you the position money has in your life and commit to encouraging or changing that position once God reveals it to you. We have a great financial counseling ministry to assist you with money matters so contact the church for more information.

Don’t be Fooled

The Bible can be so Politically Incorrect, can’t it? Imagine calling a person who stubbornly refuses to listen to God’s instructions and abide by them a ‘fool.’ Here are a few examples:

  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.—Psalm 14:1

  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.—Proverbs 1:7

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, —Romans 1:21—22
In our present society this way of referring to a person is seen as haughty, abusive, and derogatory. We would never hold this up as an example to be copied. Yet God had a purpose in selecting such a strong term that has continued to catch people’s attention from the day in which it was originally written till today. The term cannot be overlooked as it challenges our sinful and self reliant hearts to realize how great our need is for God’s guidance. Imagine that an all knowing God wants us to clearly understand how horrible a life disconnected from His instructions will end up.

Father, constantly remind us through this day how great our need is for your guidance, then give us the strength to live it out in our lives today. Amen

Our Vision/Destination:
A Church Family where the Triangle will see, hear, & touch the diversity of God’s grace.

Don’t Believe The Lie

I hope that you have not fallen for the teaching that God wants every Christian to be financially wealthy/rich. This comes in many forms but the bottom line is that God never promised that every Christian, or even most, would be rich. In contrast He promises that He will provide all our needs (Matthew 6:31—33), that it is hard for a rich person to enter into the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:23, 25), that we will suffer for His name (Philippians 1:29), that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28:20), but there is no promise or measure of our spiritual growth being tied to the growth of our wealth.

An important truth that we must never forget is that the greatest need in any person’s life is not more money but a thankful perspective on what they already have (“contentment”—Hebrews 13:5) and a healthy ambition to achieve and progress in life (Proverbs 22:29). As we’ve noted, the danger of wealth and possessions is that they can deceive us into believing that our sense of significance and security comes from these things and not from God—“ Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said,

‘ I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,’ so that we confidently say, ‘ THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?’  (Hebrews 13:5—6).

Our Vision/Destination:
A Church Family where the Triangle will see, hear, & touch the diversity of God’s grace.

Beyond The Easy

Traditions, even good ones, run the risk of taking the place of God’s directions in our lives. This is made very plain in the account we looked at on Sunday in Mark 7:1—13. Here Jesus notes 4 times that the clear instruction of God is put aside so that human tradition might be practiced (in vain do they worship Me—v. 7; neglecting God’s commandment…hold to tradition—v. 8; nicely set aside God’s commandment…to keep your tradition—v. 9; invalidating the word of God by your tradition—v. 13).

As we look at the landscape of giving in American Christianity today we see the same pattern continuing as Americans only give 3% of their income to support the work of God through their local churches! This is a far cry from the minimum of 10%, or tithe, that is established in the Old Testament, and the New Testament’s teaching that everything we have is God’s and is to be used for His glory.

May we go beyond our traditional way of thinking (‘God doesn’t need our money,’ ‘God helps those who help themselves,’ ‘God doesn’t want me to give when things are tight,’ etc.) to hold to His instruction—“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:20—21.

Our Vision/Destination:
A Church Family where the Triangle will see, hear, & touch the diversity of God’s grace.

Give Like God

On Sunday we focused on ‘Giving Like God’ does as we looked at Malachi 3:6—12. As we look at God’s emphasis on how His people should give we noted these 4 characteristics:

Giving is expected—God continually gives to us, therefore we are to continually give all to Him (Malachi 3:8—9; Galatians 2:20).

Giving is purposeful—Our giving at least a tenth of our earnings to our local church allows our church to fulfill its calling (Malachi 3:10a; Nehemiah 13:10ff.; Matthew 28:20).

Giving is consequential—There is a curse-blessing emphasis our loving Father places on our Him with our finances (Malachi 3:10b—11; Luke 12:47—48).

Giving is a witness—God uses our financial trust of Him to accomplish His desire on earth and thereby uses our obedience to call others to Himself (Malachi 3:12; Matthew 5:16; 1 Timothy 6:18).

My prayer is that we will all give like God so that we might be blessed by Him. So, are you giving like the Father?

Grace, a great giving opportunity will take place this Saturday with TLC. Help us show the Triangle our great church family and our even greater Heavenly Father.