The Role of Money 1

On Sunday night we ended our series "Hope, Habits & Hunger" by looking at the role that money plays in our spiritual growth. Talking about money is never a comfortable topic, especially in the context of church. But Jesus believed that money was important, and he talked about it quite often (16 of the 38 parables he told were about money).

We believe that we need to create a culture where talking about money is ok. It's way too private of a matter, and that's unhealthy for us all. We need to create a safe place where there's freedom to share our struggles and also where we've seen God move. That's one of my great hopes for our church in 2012.

I gave a number of lists on Sunday night, so I thought it might be beneficial for me to blog about that.

The big idea for the night was as follows:

Money is not neutral. It is either a tool that you use or a god that uses you.

Thinking of money as a god might be a stretch for some of us, but it wasn't for Jesus. Read this passage. For most of us, money is a god rather than a tool, and the problem with that is that though it promises freedom, all we get is bondage.

In the next three blog posts I'll give some ways to tell whether or not money is a tool or a god in your life. Stay tuned.