Somebody said it to me just the other day: "It's about time to re-up, isn't it?"
He was referring to this time of year...fall...stewardship...our financial pledges to ministry.
Yep, it's about time to "re-up." This year, we're asking everybody to consider what it would mean to "Embrace God's Grace" and take more steps down the path of radical discipleship.
But, believe me, I'm the first to say that churches should be very careful, and very biblical, when it comes to asking people for their financial gifts.
How do you ask for money without being greedy for money?
It's an important question. The answer has to be all about people, all about change, about sharing that changes both the world and the giver of the gift.
This Sunday we'll begin celebrating the ministries that emerged from our springtime listening groups as those that are truly changing lives. Be there this week to hear the stories of our prayer ministry, and to consider the ways that God has embraced you with his grace. What is he calling us to next?
I Timothy 6:6-19 (The Message)
A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough.
But if it's only money these leaders are after, they'll self-destruct in no time.
Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.
But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this.
Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.
I'm charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took his stand before Pontius Pilate and didn't give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don't slack off.
Our Master, Jesus Christ, is on his way. He'll show up right on time, his arrival guaranteed by the Blessed and Undisputed Ruler, High King, High God. He's the only one death can't touch, his light so bright no one can get close. He's never been seen by human eyes—human eyes can't take him in! Honor to him, and eternal rule! Oh, yes.
Tell those rich in this world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow.
Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they'll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.
