Month #8
Sunday Bulletin
God uses money as a tool to help us grow.
“Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;
for one’s life does not consist in the
abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15).
© Kenneth L. Williams
Christ the King Lutheran - Omaha, NE - Month #8
Month #8
Lay Speaker Presentation
Speaker’s Name:
Art Linkletter was absolutely correct in his observation a number of years ago: “People
are funny!” Linkletter was especially on target if you take his statement to mean that
sometimes people are strange in what they do and how they do it.
One of the ways people show their true character is their attitude towards money and
material possessions. Simply stated, people — including you and me — become very
possessive about “things.” We frequently fail to realize the truth of a principle we have
examined previously: Everything belongs to God, and we are just managers and stewards
of what He has entrusted to us.
God uses money and material possessions for a variety of purposes in our lives, but one
of His main objectives is to use these items as tools to help us grow in our spiritual lives
and in our attitudes. By providing our daily needs through His grace, God demonstrates
His absolute control over all things and His personal interest in each of us. By giving us
the strength and ability to work and earn that which is rightfully His, God helps us realize
that He is our source. By giving to us so that we can give back to Him, God teaches us the
value of investing for eternity.
Our natural response apart from the instruction and leadership of the Holy Spirit is to
hoard material possessions and money. That’s why Jesus said, “Be on your guard against
all kinds of greed.” Instead, as His children, our goal should be to obey His admonition
found in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew:
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.
Today, as you consider the place of money and material possessions in your life, would
you describe your life as one that is marked by a spirit of greed and by a spirit of
selfishness that causes you to hoard for the future? Or, conversely, would you describe
your life as one marked by a spirit of generosity and giving to God?
Stated another way, where is your treasure today? In the bank? In stocks and bonds? In
trusts and annuities? There’s nothing wrong with saving and investing for the future. In
fact, Jesus issued a public commendation for that in His Parable of the Talents. However,
if that’s your primary emphasis, you’ve missed a major point of the Christian walk of
faith. When it comes to financial matters, our emphasis as children of God is to store up
treasures in heaven. I know only one way to do that. It is something that is simple, and yet
at the same time, complex. The only way I know that we can store up financial treasures
in heaven is by giving to the work of the Lord.
© Kenneth L. Williams
Christ the King Lutheran - Omaha, NE - Month #8
As the offering is received this morning, remember these penetrating words of the Lord
Jesus: “ . . . store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. . . .For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.”
© Kenneth L. Williams
Christ the King Lutheran - Omaha, NE - Month #8
Applying Bible Principles
A wise person once observed, “Half of any task is having the right tool, and the other half
is knowing what to do with it.” Although we don’t often consider it as such, money is a
tool which God uses in our lives as a means of spiritual growth.
You see, money is not an end in and of itself. It is a means to an end. And in God’s hands,
one of its primary “ends” is to instruct us and to help us grow spiritually. God especially
wants us to avoid our natural tendency which is a bent toward selfishness, greed, and
hoarding. That’s why the Lord Jesus said, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds
of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15).
Well, if an individual’s life does not consist in having a lot of possessions, in what does it
consist? Jesus provided an insightful answer to that question in Matthew 6:20-21, where
He said, “ . . . store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.”
Now, according to Jesus’ teaching in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25), there is
nothing wrong with saving. There is nothing wrong with investing or earning interest on
investments. There is nothing wrong with being a wise steward by planning for the future.
In fact, Jesus taught that those who do so are to be commended. But our primary
emphasis as God’s children is to make our investments in the “Bank of Heaven.” When
we do that, our investments are secure. They are not affected by inflation, by theft, by
wear and tear, or anything of the kind.
There is only one way to make deposits in this special “bank”: By giving to the Lord’s
work. Although the money is used here, it is credited to your eternal account. Each time
you give your tithes and offerings at Christ the King Lutheran Church, you are giving to
the Lord by investing for eternity. You are storing up “treasures in heaven” that will
glorify God forever.
© Kenneth L. Williams
Christ the King Lutheran - Omaha, NE - Month #8
Instruction to S.S. Teachers and Youth Workers
Month #8
Our emphasis this month is on God’s use of money and material possessions as a tool.
God uses money as a tool in our lives to help us grow spiritually.
Have your students look up these Scripture verses:
Proverbs 11:28
Matthew 6:19-21
Luke 12:15
Luke 12:27-34
Emphasize to your students that it is right and proper for us to plan for the future, to save
money, to make wise investments. Point out to them that Jesus commended such people
in His Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25). But show your students that as Christians —
those who are members of God’s family through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ — our
primary emphasis in life is not to be on putting money in the bank.
Rather, our emphasis should be on investing with God, on making deposits in the “Bank
of Heaven.” We do this when we give to the Lord’s work. When we give to glorify God,
every time we place our money in the offering plate here at Christ the King Lutheran
Church, we receive a credit in our heavenly bank account.
Encourage your students to realize that God is using money as a tool in their lives today.
He is trying to teach each of them important lessons about Himself and His provisions for
us through money.
© Kenneth L. Williams
Christ the King Lutheran - Omaha, NE - Month #8