God and Money

“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.” Luke 16:13

Most Christians have heard Luke 16:13, most likely many, many times. You have probably heard it more times than you can actually remember. It's not a bad thing really. It's accurate isn't it? You can't serve both God and money. Sure, most of us try and serve both. We love having money and the more money we have, the more powerful we think we are. Don't worry, this post isn't about the evil's of money. Instead today I want to discuss a pet peeve I have with churches.

It's true, I have a pet peeve when it comes to church and I think it's one many others have as well.

I can't stand it when a pastor preaches a lot about giving to the church. There have been times when I've been to church and within 5 weeks 2 or 3 of the sermons were about giving money to the church. It annoyed me and I could tell it annoyed a lot of other people out there. If you talk about giving so many times, a church can start to sound like a broken record, and worse sound as though they are just begging to get money.  Don't get me wrong, giving to the church is an important message and one that God wants us to hear, but it seems like some churches spend so much time on that one topic, they forget about the others.

Think about it. Instead of preaching 10 or more times a year on giving, why not tackle some other issues? Issues that some may see as "controversial", sure they may offend people but that's okay. Hearing a sermon that makes us think and want to say "HEY! You're talking about me!" isn't always a bad thing.

This past weekend, I attended a church that talked about money and finances. I started to get worried a bit, but I thought the pastor did a fantastic job and I was very impressed. The pastor spoke about debt and how God wanted us to be free, and that many forms of debt keep us from freedom. He spoke about how God wants us to protect our money and be wise, and that just because you pray for money doesn't mean God is just going to dump it into your lap. God has blessed you with money and a job now so save wisely so you can use your savings later if needed. Great message and one I'll write about more in the future. He didn't even mention giving to the church until the very end for about a minute. All of his points got across, and no one left thinking of it as a "give to us" sermon.

Will this pastor give a sermon about tithing to the church at some point? Of course! And that's fine with me. I just want to see the sermons spread out to maybe 4 or 5 times a year. Then, you can still mention giving in sermons like this pastor did at different times.

So, what do you think? Do you think churches can spend too much time asking for money? Does it bother you? What are some other topics you would like to see churches spend more time on?