There’s no such thing as a greedy Christian. If you know someone, or are yourself, who calls themselves a Christian and yet lives a pretty stingy and greedy life then perhaps we need to revisit what a Christian is! In my point of view you can’t be a Christian, or what I consider a Jesus follower, and be greedy. It just can’t happen!

Definitions are pretty important in life so let’s be totally clear here – a Christian is only a Christian if they’re following Christ. This means Christians are Christ followers. If you call yourself a Christian and aren’t following Christ, then we probably need to talk! This whole Red Letter Series has been about growing in Christ. We spent time just BEING with Christ in our first week. Then we moved into taking on one of Jesus’ more defining characteristics of FORGIVING. And last week we talked about SERVING. I hope you can see how each of these ideas builds on the previous. Without being in Christ, we’ll never forgive like him. And without being forgiven and forgiving we don’t have the right reasons to serve.

This week we jump from serving to GIVING. Admittedly serving and giving go hand in hand, but think of serving as using your person to help others and giving as using your stuff to trust Christ. I’m a firm believer that God has given every resource needed to his church. I”m also a firm believer that we like to hold onto those gifts far to tight! In this week’s message on giving we’ll look at our lives, all of it. I use the word TERM as a reminder of how we spend our lives.

  • Time reminds us that in our lives we have time to give and to keep. How do you use the time you have in a way that honors God and loves others?
  • Energy is a reminder that all of our ability and movement comes from God. How do you spend your waking hours?
  • Reflection moves to our conscious moments of thought. We all think, often without even knowing it! Here we ask what are we thinking about? And how do these things show our love for God and neighbor?
  • Money is probably better termed material resources but money seems to be the hot button issue for most Christians. How are you doing with tithing? How well do you manage the resources you keep?

Jesus spends considerable time talking about money and how it can so easily entangle us. If we don’t properly manage our financial resources then we’re very likely to let them, even unknowingly, become the most important part of our lives. Check out this week’s message on how there’s no such thing as a greedy Christian.