Daily Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6 Actually, godliness is a great source of profit when it is combined with being happy with what you already have. 7 We didn’t bring anything into the world and so we can’t take anything out of it: 8 we’ll be happy with food and clothing. 9 But people who are trying to get rich fall into temptation. They are trapped by many stupid and harmful passions that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some have wandered away from the faith and have impaled themselves with a lot of pain because they made money their goal.
11 But as for you, man of God, run away from all these things. Instead, pursue righteousness, holy living, faithfulness, love, endurance, and gentleness. 12 Compete in the good fight of faith. Grab hold of eternal life—you were called to it, and you made a good confession of it in the presence of many witnesses.
Reflection Questions:Paul wrote to his protégé Timothy that the truest measure of any person’s wealth is not material, but spiritual. Verse 6 in the New Century Version says, “Serving God does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have.” Paul didn’t want the often short-lived pleasures of material wealth to blind Timothy or the members of his church to God, “who richly provides” for our well-being. After describing the spiritual dangers that go with a lust for money, Paul told Timothy, “Run for your life from all this” (verse 11,The Message).
- How rich (or poor) are you, by the measure these verses suggest? If your “contentment quotient” is strong, reflect on how it got that way. What changes might disrupt your contentment, and for what reasons? If your quotient is lower, ask God to help you raise it. Ask the most contented person you know what values and choices led them toward contentment. In a culture flooded with messages meant to make you want “more,” how do you run for your life from all this? How can you avoid both pride and shame related to your material “success”?
Dear God, help me to be a faithful steward of the money and things I have, to use them for your glory. May I never allow them to turn into a spiritually deadly trap that hides you from me. Amen.
Family Activity:
Gather or create the following: play money, pictures of items a child might want to buy (toys, vacation, junk food) and pictures of ways to give (missionary, charity, church). Assign a pretend purchase price to each of the items. Pass out play money, giving each family member different amounts. Show your family members their choices of items to buy and ways to give. Invite your family to spend their play money however they would like by purchasing the items on pictures or giving to the places/people in need. After each person has spent their money, read Mark 12:41-44[Mark 12:
A poor widow’s contribution
41 Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money. 42 One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny.[
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Mark 12:42 Or two lepta (the smallest Greek copper coin, each worth 1/128 of a single day’s pay), that is, a kodrantes (the smallest Roman coin, equal in value to two lepta)
] 43 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. 44 All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.”]. Discuss the choices people made then ask God to help you each become cheerful givers.Insights from Jason Gant
Jason Gant is the Campus Pastor at Resurrection West.
This past week I kicked off the series Your Money and Your Life at Resurrection West. One piece of my sermon that I’ve been reflecting on all week is this (remember that the best sermons are also directed at one’s self)….
Jesus has much to say when it comes to our money and our life. In Matthew 6:19-24 he says,
“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. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
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.”
Jesus addresses three concerns in this dissertation….
Whenever we hear the words of Christ in his Sermon on the Mount, the words most quoted when it comes to money are, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” These are poignant, challenging words, but what about when Jesus says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Jesus is using allegory to remind us we can easily become blinded to greed. In the other deadly sins, we know what we are getting into, but what Jesus is saying here is to watch out because you may be greedy and be blinded to that. I have appointments with people each week and people often come to confess sin or seek forgiveness, guidance, or spiritual encouragement –but I can’t ever remember a time when someone came to me to confess their sin of greed.
Jesus is saying here that we must ask the question of ourselves. Most of us would never think of greed as one of our great challenges. We all have relatives or friends who live more extravagantly than we do. It seems that as long as we can point to someone else who commits this sin in greater degree, our own self-reflection is gone. Jesus is warning us here of what materialism can become in our lives.
He concludes his dissertation by saying, “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.” Let us consider carefully what and whom we serve with our money and our life.
(You can view the sermon in its entirety at cor.org/west.)
This past week I kicked off the series Your Money and Your Life at Resurrection West. One piece of my sermon that I’ve been reflecting on all week is this (remember that the best sermons are also directed at one’s self)….
Jesus has much to say when it comes to our money and our life. In Matthew 6:19-24 he says,
“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. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
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.”
Jesus addresses three concerns in this dissertation….
- How money can have influence over us
- Why money has influence in our lives
- How we can stop that influence
Whenever we hear the words of Christ in his Sermon on the Mount, the words most quoted when it comes to money are, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” These are poignant, challenging words, but what about when Jesus says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Jesus is using allegory to remind us we can easily become blinded to greed. In the other deadly sins, we know what we are getting into, but what Jesus is saying here is to watch out because you may be greedy and be blinded to that. I have appointments with people each week and people often come to confess sin or seek forgiveness, guidance, or spiritual encouragement –but I can’t ever remember a time when someone came to me to confess their sin of greed.
Jesus is saying here that we must ask the question of ourselves. Most of us would never think of greed as one of our great challenges. We all have relatives or friends who live more extravagantly than we do. It seems that as long as we can point to someone else who commits this sin in greater degree, our own self-reflection is gone. Jesus is warning us here of what materialism can become in our lives.
He concludes his dissertation by saying, “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.” Let us consider carefully what and whom we serve with our money and our life.
(You can view the sermon in its entirety at cor.org/west.)
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
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