How Should a Follower of Jesus View Money?

How Should a Follower of Jesus View Money?

(MULTILINE)

“Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of  every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish but understand  what the Lord’s will is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17)

Word Study…

“Wise” (sophia): A behavior, governed by and .

A. What Did Jesus Teach Regarding Money?

1. The widow’s offering…

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.

They gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.'”

(Mark 12:41-44)

a. God what do with our money.

b. in an offering is a legitimate expression of .

2. The parable of the soils…

“Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying, ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.'” (Matthew 13:2-9)

“The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22)

a. There is an element of and associated with money that we ignore at our own peril.

3. The parable of the rich fool…

“‘Watch out! Be on our guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance

of possessions. And he told them this parable: The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years.

Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night

your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God.”

(Luke 12:15-21)

a. One danger associated with money is to see it as your of .

4. The sermon on the mount…

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… 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.”

(Matthew 6:19-21, 24)

a. If we make the pursuit of money our , it will become our .

Today’s “Big Idea”…

Money is and money .