In preparation for this week, I actually ended up writing 3 different messages. The first is lasts 5 minutes and it costs $5000. The second lasts 25 minutes and it costs $2500, and the third costs $1000 and it lasts an hour. Now we’re going to take up a collection and see which one I deliver.
Today we conclude our series on the five practices of fruitful living, based on a book of the same name by Bishop Robert Schnase. We have looked at passionate worship, radical hospitality, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service, and today we conclude with extravagant generosity. For the past three weeks we have also been answering a series of question about the church. The first week, the question was what we loved about our church, and one of my favorite answers was from someone who said they loved my sermons, except when I talked about money.
That means today is going to be a day that they aren’t going to enjoy, but I know they aren’t the only ones because lots of people don’t like it when I, or any minister, begins talking about money, first because they want to hold onto their wallets a little tighter, and second because they don’t want to be made to feel guilty or uncomfortable about their finances. But the simple fact is I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t talk about money, because Jesus talks more about money, and things that come out of it like greed and envy and covetousness, than he talks about just about anything else. And here is also the simple truth, we don’t have to give.
