WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?
Monday, January 4th, 2010• It is the subject of over 2,300 Bible verses.
• Jesus talked about it more than any other subject.
• It affects the lives of everyone in my church.
• Marriages break up because of it.
• Siblings stop speaking because they fight over it.
• It has an entire section in the newspaper and segment in the news.
• Everyone has an opinion about it
• People spend their lives searching for it.
• It corrupts people.
• It blesses people.
• It is the root of all kinds of evil . . .
• And I am scared to death to preach about it!
What is wrong with me? Any other subject as weighty as this would be aggressively tackled by any respectable pastor. Yet every January I try to summon the courage to preach just a couple of sermons on this topic.
Perhaps part of the problem is all the baggage that the Church has created for itself by spending more time taking money from people than giving grace to them. We have all heard the accusation, “All the church wants is your money.” For that reason I spent the first decade of my ministry NEVER talking about money – not a single sermon on the subject.
But how do I call myself a biblical preacher when I completely ignore a subject so prevalent in the Bible? Three years ago I came to this conclusion – I can’t ignore it anymore. So I delivered my first sermons on money with my body so tense that my ears were begging my shoulders for personal space.
I get push-back every year. People say money is a personal thing and I shouldn’t preach about it. What biblical issue isn’t personal? People say that the congregation will dwindle if I talk about finances. Yet we keep growing slowly but slowly.
The main problem is me. I know it is the right thing to do. I know that people need to hear what the Bible says about money. I know that money is a spiritual issue. I know that we would follow Jesus and lead better lives if we adopted biblical attitudes and habits concerning money. Yet I still do not look forward to money sermons. What is wrong with me?