Category Archives: Money

1 Timothy 6:3-10, 17-19 ‘Your money and your life’ (sermon notes)

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Text – 1 Timothy 6:3-10, 17-19

Which of the following is the odd one out?  Faith, doctrine, Scripture, gospel, salvation, money.  None of them!

Money is a spiritual issue

Martin Luther observed that “there are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, of the mind and of the purse.”

Consider the story of Zacchaeus, Luke 19.  As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus would have been very wealthy.  When he encounters Jesus, his response is, “Look, Lord!…

Simplicity

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What does it mean to adopt a simpler lifestyle?  Richard Foster suggests a number of aspects:-

1.  Simplicity means unity of heart and singleness of purpose.  Our one desire is to obey Christ in all things.  Our one purpose is to glorify him in all things.  We have only one use for money – to advance his kingdom.  Jesus taught us to have a ‘single’ eye, Mt 6:22.

2.  Simplicity means joy in God’s good creation. …

1 Tim 6:3-10, 17-19 – Money – sermon notes

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Which of the following is the odd one out? Faith, doctrine, Scripture, gospel, salvation, money.  Answer: none of them!

Money is a spiritual issue.  Martin Luther observed that “there are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, of the mind and of the purse.”

Consider the story of Zacchaeus, Luke 19. As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus would have been very wealthy indeed. When he encounters Jesus, his response is, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”…

Principles of giving

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What principles should govern a Christian approach to giving?  Richard Foster offers the following suggestions:-

1.  Let us give proportionately.  ‘Proportionate to what?  Proportionate to the accumulated wealth of one’s family?  Proportionate to one’s income and the demands upon it, which vary from family to family?  Proportionate to one’s sense of security and the degree of anxiety with which one lives?  Proportionate to the keenness of our awareness of those who suffer?  Proportionate to our sense of justice and of God’s ownership of all wealth? …

Mastering Mammon

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Given that, in biblical teaching, money has a dark side as well as a light side, Richard Foster offers some helpful counsel:-

1.  Listen to the biblical witness about money.…

What the Bible teaches about material possessions

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Towards the end of his thorough survey of biblical teaching on money and possessions, Craig Blomberg draws the following conclusions:-

1.  Material possessions are a good gift from God meant for his people to enjoy

God created a good world, desires that all have at least some property, and blessed Israel with material possessions in response to their obedience.  Job, Abraham, David and Solomon demonstrate that riches and godliness can co-exist, if sometimes precariously.  Wisdom literature teaches that wholesome work is rewarded materially. …

1 Chron 29:1-20 – The grace of giving – sermon notes

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Text: 1 Chron 29:1-20; 2 Corinthians 8:1-10

This sermon was not prepared for a special Sunday devoted to the church’s finances, but for an ordinary Sunday when our text happened to be all about giving.

How many people are like me? They’ve had it on their minds for some time to review their giving to the work of God, but not quite got round to it.

Here are two very different situations. In the first, King David, right at the end of his earthly life, is passing on the responsibility for building the temple to Solomon, and is holding a fund-raising day.…

Recent Christian thinking on wealth and poverty

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Historically, Christians have often distinguished themselves from their surrounding cultures by championing the cause of the poor.

Since the Second World War, Western countries have experienced very considerable economic growth and corresponding affluence.  At the same time, the general population of the world has expanded hugely, leading to an alarming increase in poverty.

Christian thinking and action has not always kept pace with these global changes.

One response to these trends began in the late 1960s with liberation theology. …

What Westerners spend their money on

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‘It is astonishing,’ writes Craig Blomberg, ‘to see what Westerners spend their money on.’  Compared with what Americans spend on overseas Protestant ministries, they spend approximately

  • one and a half times as much on chewing gum
  • twice as much on cut flowers
  • five times as much on pets
  • seven times as much on sweets
  • seventeen times as much on dieting
  • twenty times as much on sporting activities
  • twenty-six times as much on soft drinks
  • 140 times as much on legalised gambling

Neither Poverty Nor Riches, IVP, 1999, p19

[Although these figures date back to the 1980s and early 90s, there is no reason to suppose that the general trend has reversed.]…

Conquering the dark side of money

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Richard Foster offers some practical suggestions of how we can get to grips with what he calls ‘the dark side of money’:-

1.  Let’s get in touch with our feelings about money.  Let’s acknowledge our fear, our insecurity, our guilt about it.  Let’s realise that we often feel threatened by the whole subject of money.  We may be afraid that we have too little, or afraid that we have too much.  If we have been raised with little we may develop a hoarding attitude; if we have been raised in affluence notions of frugality may seems like vices rather than virtues.…