Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Welcome to a brand new series called Money Talks. We’re going to have some fun in this series. Over the next two weeks, we’re going to experience what the Word of God has to say about money.

Some preachers are scared stupid to talk about money. They skirt the issue. When they do talk about, they apologize for it. Money is like kryptonite for a lot of preachers.

I’m not one of them. Honestly, preaching about money gets me fired up! I love preaching about money! And there’s a simple reason why…money issues are ruining lives. They are wrecking marriages. And God has lot to say about money in His Word.

Did you know that Jesus taught more about money than He taught about heaven and hell COMBINED? Jesus wasn’t afraid to give people the hard, unvarnished truth about money. And if Jesus wasn’t afraid to tackle it, then neither am I.

Over the next two weeks, you’re going to hear hard, direct, pull-no-punches preaching about money. It might offend you. Or it might change your life. You get to choose which. But either way, I promise you this…you’re going to hear the truth of God about money.

Have you seen those Geico commercials with the stack of money that has big, wide-open eyes on top of it? They play that annoying song from Rockwell and Michael Jackson, “Somebody’s watching me.” Have you seen that? That commercial doesn’t make me want to buy insurance. Makes me want to buy earplugs because the song is so horrible, but not insurance.

Obviously we’re all smart enough to know that money doesn’t have eyes. Your money isn’t actually watching you. I know all the dead presidents on your money have eyes, but they’re not actually watching you. Your money can’t see.

But it can talk. And if you listen, it has quite a lot to say. In this series, we’re going to listen to the stories that our money is telling. And for some of us, the stories aren’t going to be pretty.

But God’s Word has a story, too. It’s a story of do-overs and second-chances. Your money might be telling a pretty pathetic story right now, but the story isn’t over yet.

Did you ever have a secret that you wanted to keep a tight lid on? When I was in the second grade, I thought I had found the love of my life. Her name was Randy Sue. That’s right. Randy Sue. She lived in my neighborhood and rode the same school bus as me.

This girl had long, brown hair. She was missing a few teeth. She liked to play football. She was everything a second grade boy could ever want…and she was mine.

It was awesome…I just didn’t want anybody else to know about it. I knew that the older boys on my bus would tease me mercilessly if they found out about the hot relationship between Randy Sue and me. So I played it real cagey. I never said a word to anybody.

But Randy Sue finally got tired of keeping her passion for me a secret. One day, she announced to everyone on the bus that she was my girlfriend.

My worst fear had come true. Everything that I thought would happen…happened. “Mike and Randy, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g.” It was a nightmare. I thought it couldn’t get worse, but I was wrong. It got worse.

One of the older boys dared Randy Sue to kiss me right there on the bus. Now, I thought I was in love with Randy Sue. But I was most definitely not in love with kissing. I couldn’t think of a more gross, disgusting thing to do. But Randy Sue saw it differently. This dare was all she needed. The older boys pinned me down and Randy Sue planted kisses all over my face.

I required extensive therapy to recover from this incident. I still twitch at the sight of a school bus.

But all of that happened because my secret got out. If Randy Sue had remained quiet, this nightmare would not have happened.

We all have secrets. But here’s the thing…secrets don’t stay secret.

Jesus promised, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” (Matthew 10:26b, NIV)

You can’t keep a secret. Doesn’t matter what it is. The truth has a way of finding you out. And your money is one of the greatest truth-tellers in your life.

We’re going to be in 2 Corinthians 9 for the next two weeks. This week, we’re zeroing in on one verse.

In verse 7, the Bible says, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7, ESV)

We often use that verse to remind people that giving is supposed to be a joy, not a chore. And that is exactly what this verse says. But look a little closer, because there is an even deeper truth here.

This verse tells us that the heart is where money decisions are made. How you handle money, what money means to you, whether you live with generosity or not…it all emanates from your heart.

The same heart that serves as the storehouse of all your secrets. All of those things where we would “just die” if it ever got out…we carry those secrets in our heart.

Our heart is the essence of who we really are. Not who we would like to be. Not who other people believe that we are. Our heart carries the truth of who we are.

We often want to keep things in our heart secret. Money lets the secret out. Let’s talk about some of those secrets.

• 1. I love my church.

Most Christians want other people to believe that they really do love their church. We just completed a series called I Love My Church. It was amazing to hear all the stories of lives that have been changed by ACC.

During that series, I asked you, “Do you love your church?” And everybody said, “Oh yeah! This church is awesome! I love my church!”

Let me ask you again, only this time, let me ask a follow-up question. Do you love your church? Do you tithe? What does one have to do with the other? Everything.

If you don’t tithe, you don’t love this church. You are using this church.

In his first letter to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do.

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.” (1 Corinthians 16:1-2, NIV)

From the very beginning, God’s church has been funded by the weekly, sacrificial offerings from God’s people. The church isn’t funded by yard sales or fund raisers or bingo tournaments. There is only one way of funding the church that is prescribed in the Bible. Generous, sacrificial giving. That’s it. It begins and ends with the generosity of the people in the church.

Paul said that every week we should set aside a sum of money in keeping with our income. That is a Biblical call for budgeting.

Some of you don’t even have a budget. If you don’t tell your money what to do, your money will tell you what to do. The only way you can stop the insanity and regain control is by developing a budget and then living according to your budget.

But the other point that the Bible is making is that your church needs to be in your budget. Let me ask you: do you love your church enough to create a line item in your budget for it?

Paul also said in these verses that we should save it up, not just pull out whatever is in our wallet at the time. That’s generosity.

Who is on the receiving end of your generosity? You are generous with somebody. It might be your kids or your spouse. It might be your favorite restaurant or your favorite store or your favorite sports team. It might even be yourself, but somebody is on the receiving end of your generosity.

The Bible is incredibly clear on this. God’s Word tells us that, as part of God’s church, we have to be generous toward God’s church. It is never listed as optional. It’s never written as a suggestion. The Bible commands God’s people to be generous toward God’s church.

So here’s what that means: if this is your church, then this church had better receive 10% of your income. That’s a tithe. A tithe is one tenth of your income. And that’s the expectation for everyone who considers ACC their church home.

I said at the beginning that this might offend some people. This is the kind of message that creates some extra seats. Messages like this are space makers.

I watch it happen all the time. People will start coming to ACC. They’ll get all into it. They’ll clap their hands. They’ll say amen during the sermon. They’re just all about it. Then I preach on money, and they never come back.

I can think of specific examples where this has happened. I preach on money and people leave, usually with some lame excuse. “Well, we really don’t like the music.” Oh really. You liked it just fine until we talked about your money. Then all of sudden, the music is too loud or we don’t sing enough hymns or we sing too many hymns.

It’s amazing. And it happens all the time. Some of you are here today and you’ll never come back because you are offended that I would have the audacity to even suggest that you need to tithe.

Listen…I unapologetically preach generosity toward the church because it’s commanded by God in the Bible. You can get mad at me. You can make any excuse that you want.

But if you want to be honest and truly consistent, what you really need to do is rip a lot of pages out of that Bible that you claim to believe. There is your real problem. Your problem isn’t with me or anything else. Your problem is with God, so take it up with Him.

For the rest of us, the truth is that we can’t claim to love our church if we’re not supporting our church. And the benchmark for Biblical support is a tithe. You can’t honestly claim to love our church if you don’t tithe.

Here’s the scary thing…the average Christian gives just over 2.5% of their income to their church. And I bet a lot of those people would claim to love their church. That just doesn’t work. You can’t claim to love your church and withhold the support your church needs to grow and expand ministry.

That’s like claiming that you love your kids, but only feeding them once a week. You claim to love them, but you’re not giving them what they need to grow. No sane person would believe that a parent like that truly loves their child.

But that same person finds it easy to believe that they can love their church without giving it what it needs to grow. It’s insanity.

A lot of us in this room are faking it every week. We come to church, act friendly toward everybody, sing out in worship, take in the sermon, maybe even get involved in serving and ministry. We do everything we can to make people believe that we love this church.

But the secret in our heart is that we’re withholding a tithe from our church. The secret is that, instead of loving this church, we’re simply using this church. Here’s the problem with that secret…your money tells on you. Your money reveals your hard, selfish heart.

One of the most tangible ways you can show your love for our church is through a tithe. And just in case you’re wondering…no. We’re not pleading poverty. No, we’re not begging for your money so we can keep the lights on. God is blessing us. We’re not impoverished. It’s not that at all.

What we’re saying is that it’s time for you to quit living a lie. You can’t claim to love our church while you don’t support our church. It just doesn’t work. You thought the lie was buried in your heart, but your money is a tattletale. The truth has found you out.

• 2. I trust God.

Here’s another lie propagated by a ton of Christians. I trust God.

One of the most popular passages in the entire Bible is found in Proverbs 3.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV)

Tons of Christians quote these verses. They claim that these verses are the driving force of their lives. No matter what, I will trust God. It sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? This is a great bumper sticker Scripture. You can go to a Christian bookstore and find this Scripture on bumper stickers and coffee mugs and T-shirts. And I understand why. It’s an amazing piece of Scripture.

But the problem is that we quit reading too early. Skip ahead just a couple of verses in Proverbs 3.

“Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” (Proverbs 3:9-10, NIV)

When is the last time you saw those verses on a coffee mug or a bumper sticker or a T-shirt? We like the “trust in the Lord” verses because they do look good on a coffee mug. Trust God, and he’ll make your paths straight.

That sounds awesome! What does it mean? I don’t know. It’s a very generic, intangible concept. Trust God. What’s that mean? It’s so general that it could mean almost anything.

But if we keep reading, we see that God doesn’t leave it in the realm of the general. He gets incredibly specific. Trust God…with your money.

This was written in an agricultural society. Crops meant cash. And the Bible says that trust means that you honor God with the firstfruits of all your crops. In other words, you don’t give God the leftovers. He gets His cut off the top.

Here’s the truth, church…2.5% is leftovers. 10% or beyond, that’s honoring God with your firstfruits.

The problem is that, even though most of us claim to trust God, we don’t. Our heart is filled with a sinful distrust of God and His promises.

God doesn’t just command us to honor Him with our firstfruits, but He gives us a promise of what He’ll do in return. He promises, “your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim with new wine.”

In other words, the promise is that if you honor God with the first and best of your income, He will supply everything you need. God can do more with 90% than you can do with 100%. If you trust Him enough to follow Him with your finances, you’ll be amazed at how He takes care of you.

This isn’t health-and-wealth preaching. I’m not a televangelist scumbag. I’m not promising that God will make you a millionaire. But I am promising that if you trust God with your tithe, He’ll bless the 90% you keep much more than the 100% you’ve been hoarding.

The question is do you trust Him? Most of us claim that we trust God, but money tells the real story. Money tells the secrets that we’d like to keep buried.

• 3. Jesus is more important than anything else.

Here’s the biggie. Every Christian wants to convince every other Christian that nothing is more important in their life than Jesus.

It’s all about Jesus. My life is lived for Jesus. Nothing else is more important than Jesus. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Yay Jesus.

Ok. If you’re really all about Jesus, then these words that He said might interest you.

Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Luke 16:13, NIV)

Here’s where the secrets of our heart and the truth of God come to a head-on collision. If you’re living a selfish life, Jesus is calling you out. If you aren’t supporting His church, Jesus is calling you out.

His message is simple: choose. You’ve got to choose. Jesus is saying, “Don’t open your mouth to sing to me while you close your wallet to rob me. Choose.”

“Don’t use that pen to take sermon notes if you’re not also using it to write a tithe check each week. Choose.”

It doesn’t get clearer or more direct than this. Jesus flat lays it out for us. It’s the most cut-and-dry, black-and-white thing He ever said.

If you are not generous with your money, then you are serving your money. And if you are serving your money, you can’t also serve God. You’ve got to choose.

It comes back to your heart. You thought this was a money message, but actually, it’s a heart message. Your money just happens to be the most tangible thing there is to expose the secrets of your heart.

Some of us are living a lie. We’ve been living a lie for so long that we’ve even convinced ourselves that it’s true. But the Word of God has exposed us. Our secret is out.

Yeah, I’ve preached hard today. That’s because I care way too much about you to sugarcoat this.

Your spiritual life will only go as far as your generosity will take it. That’s a hard truth, but it is the truth nonetheless. Your relationship with Jesus will only be as deep as your generosity allows it to be.

The Bible puts it so simply. “…the righteous give generously.” (Psalm 37:21b, NIV)

You can be generous without being righteous, but you can’t be righteous without being generous. You can claim to be righteous, you can claim to love your church, you can claim to trust God, you can claim that nothing is more important than Jesus…but your money will reveal if it’s true or not.

I know someone will walk out of here today thinking that this message is nothing more than a money grab. I want this to be crystal clear…our church is blessed. I am blessed. This church takes care of me and my family very well. I couldn’t ask for more.

This is not a personal agenda from me. It’s not a money grab for our church. It’s nothing more than the truth of God. The truth is that God has called you to live generously. And as one of God’s people, your generosity begins in God’s church.

If this church is where you are spiritually fed, if this is where you learn the truth of God, if this is where you receive encouragement to keep living for Jesus, if this is where your kids encounter Jesus and grow in Him…then this church needs to receive a tithe from you every week.

For some of you, you can’t see past the economy. In the current economic conditions, tithing doesn’t make sense. Actually, you’ve got it totally backwards. Now more than ever, it makes sense to tithe.

Remember God’s promise from Proverbs. If you give him the first and best of your income, He promises to take care of you. When you tithe, your financial problems become God’s problems. And He’s way more equipped to handle it than you are. If you understand God’s Word and you trust His promises, there has never been a better time for you to start tithing.

We’re going to give you the opportunity to let your money do some talking right now. Every week when the offering plate is passed down your row, your money talks. It talks about selfishness and greed. It talks about how you simply use our church. It talks about how you don’t really trust that God will do what He promised.

Or, it talks about your selflessness. It talks about how much you really do love our church. It talks about how you have placed your entire life in God’s hands, trusting that He can do whatever He promises to do. It talks about how Jesus is the most important thing in your life, and everything in your life, including your money, is in submission to Him.

Your money talks. It talks loud and clear. And it’s getting ready to speak right now.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: 2 Corinthians 9, generosity, giving, money, Money Talks, tithing