What Jesus Says About Money, Possessions, Generosity and How to Live for Him

For Us Not From Us

If God doesn’t need our money, which He doesn’t, why give? Because God wants more for us than we often want for ourselves. God doesn’t want us to spend our lives laboring away for treasure on earth, which is fleeting. But to store up treasure for ourselves in heaven, where it lasts forever. Ultimately, God wants to give us more of Himself, and one His key methods to make that happen is through giving. Jesus says it like this, “where your treasure is, your heart is also.” Your heart follows your giving. When you give to God’s mission, God’s church, God’s causes, your heart can’t help but go more and more to God. What could be better than that?

Live for the Line Not the Dot

Randy Alcorn’s book, The Treasure Principle, is really short and really powerful. Of all his insights, one of our favorites is this: “Live for the line, not the dot.” Meaning, this world, this life, is a blip, and eternity is coming. Living right now with both eyes on eternity changes everything. Including what you do with your money and possessions. This life may be brief, but what we do with it matters forever. With the right perspective, we are equipped to make God-honoring investments that pay dividends for eternity.

Good Gifts Make Bad Gods

God commands us to eat our bread with joy and drink our wine with a merry heart. He doesn’t just command it, He approves of it (see Eccl 9.7). In short, God made a material world full of joys and delights and pleasure and bacon. So, our Father’s command is this: enjoy it.

But this very good World, bumbling to the brim with very good gifts, when used wrongly, can ruin us. Jesus offers a solution. Recognize that good gifts make bad gods, no matter what the world tells you. Jesus then offers a strategy to help us keep good gifts from becoming bad gods. Serve God, not money. As you do, here’s what happens: your trust in God grows, your enjoyment of His gifts does too. Win. Win.

God First and the Rest Will Follow

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” It’s that simple. Not easy. But simple. Jesus invites us to “seek first” in every area of our lives, including our treasure. Giving trains and teaches that our ultimate trust, our ultimate stability, our ultimate everything, is our Heavenly Father, who already knows what we need. God first puts then keeps everything in the right orbit, ensuring that nothing in our life gets off track. God first deepens our confidence that when He’s at the center, the center will always hold.

The Giving Journey

Step 1: Just Start

Every journey begins with a step. Just one. It’s no different in our journey of generosity. If you want to grow as a disciple in the area of generosity, it doesn’t need to be complicated; just start.

Step 2: Grow Consistent

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become” (James Clear, Atomic Habits). That’s a fantastic way of putting things and applies perfectly to growing in generosity. It’s a journey that starts with one step, but a journey doesn’t stop there. God has so much for us down the pathway of generosity. Growing consistently is a must if we are going to see and experience more of what God has for us down the road.

Step 3: Get to Ten

As a church, we don’t believe the Bible commands a literal tithe (tithe simply means 10%), but we do believe it’s a fantastic milestone to work towards. We don’t need an exact command to give an exact amount, in order to learn from the standard of giving expected of God’s people in the Old Testament. To us, it just makes sense. If people before Jesus gave ten percent, then why wouldn’t we, who know Jesus and His grace, give more?

Step 4: Keep Going

10 percent is more ground floor than ceiling. Going past 10 isn’t a command, but an invitation to continue the journey of generosity. Where does it lead? More joy. More impact. More Jesus as your heart follows even more of your treasure.

If you want a real, live Biblical example of giving that knows no bounds, check out 1 Chronicles 29.1-22 and imagine what it would be like to experience this type of joy.

Where Does My Dollar Go?

Every dollar you give helps more people experience the Gospel

Kids and Students 18¢

We have over 250 kids in our church, from newborns to almost full-fledged adults. It takes a great staff team and amazing volunteers to help them and their parents grow up in the faith and truly change the world. Your generosity funds curriculum, events, meet-ups, camps, retreats, classes, and so much more.

Church Planting and Missions 12¢

We love church planting and missions because we love Jesus and are committed to seeing everyone, everywhere, experience the Gospel. We plant churches all over the globe and send missionaries to work in medicine and education.

Facilities and Operations 33¢

While the church isn’t a building, it meets in one. And ours is pretty special when you think about all the life that happens there. From weddings to baptisms, to worship services, and on. We love our facility, all the people who know it’s much more than brick and mortar, but a place where living stones are built up and sent out to make much of Jesus.

Community, Care and Discipleship 17¢

From helping new people become members, to groups, to one-on-one counseling, to learning how to read the Bible and pray, we invest heavily in the growth of people. Because that’s what the church is. People centered on Jesus, learning to live more like Him.

Sunday Worship 22¢

If we could only pick one spiritual discipline, it would be corporate worship because it involves so many other spiritual disciplines. We want Sundays to be the best day of everyone’s week. We hope you do too.

 FAQs