Our new preaching series is called “Rich Towards God” – a phrase Jesus used in several parables.

Luke 12:16-21
And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.”

We’re living in tough economic times, and there’s not much indication that it’s going to get better any time soon. It’s in these times we start realising that money has a huge hold on us, and, for many of us, we’re being ruled by the fear of not having enough.

What is ‘enough’, though? The world will tell us there is never enough. This world is constantly shouting to us that success and happiness and security is found in money, but Jesus says the very opposite all throughout the scriptures. In fact, Jesus spoke more about money than he did about marriage, heaven or hell – even as much as over 60 percent of what Jesus taught was about our attitude towards finances and stewardship.

He taught us that money is dangerous! It can be a tool used for good things, but we often store it up for ourselves and, therefore, are not rich towards God. We need to envision our finances and attitude towards finances. We are called to be disciples of Jesus, and money is a part of our every day lives: so what did Jesus say about it, and how should we live?

The fear surrounding our need or lack of money is something we must always contend with. Even in the church there are competing cultures, such as the Prosperity Gospel, which measures our faith according to our worldly goods. On the other hand, there is a poverty spirit, where we think the poorer we are the holier we are.

God wants each of us financially free, focused on Him and an example of His supernatural provision, living out his Kingdom culture financially. This series looks at how we can live according to Jesus’ words about money – how we can be generous, and steward what he gives us well. Being rich towards God includes more than just money, as well, but is all about how we live our lives. As we talk about the touchy subject of money, we will learn just where it fits, and how – in everything we do – we can be rich towards God, laying up treasures in heaven, and not treasures on earth.