CORE 52 | week 21 | Money
August 31, 2022

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Matthew 6:19-33 (NRSV)

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.*

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.*

FOR REFLECTION

  1. What is something you own that you would have a really hard time lending to someone?

  2. What typically runs through your mind when the church brings up the topic of money?

  3. Select either Acts 5:1-11 or Joshua 5:13-7:26, what happened in the story?

  4. What specific consequences of greed and covetousness do you see portrayed in the story?

  5. Read the following passages: Matthew 19:16-30, Acts 20:35, and Philippians 4:13. What came to mind as you read these verses? Did God challenge you with anything?

  6. Can you think of a time when your pursuit of money kept you from fully pursuing God?

  7. Can you affirm from experience it is more blessed to give than receive?

  8. What does it mean to “lay up treasures in heaven” as described in Matthew 6:19-21? What does that look like in your life?

  9. What do you sense God is prompting you to do as a next step toward generosity? What resource(s) do you need to take that next step of faith (training, accountability, education, debt reduction)?


Key Points

  1. God wants your heart, not your money.

  2. Stewardship is spiritual.

  3. Generosity blesses the generous.

DAILY JOURNAL

WEDNESDAY
Read the essay.


THURSDAY
Memorize Matthew 6:19–21.
FRIDAY
Read Joshua 5:13-7:26.


MONDAY
Meditate on Matthew 19:16–30; Acts 20:35; Philippians 4:13.


TUESDAY
Talk with a financial coach this week to strategize either how to begin tithing or how to move beyond the tithe to generosity.

OVERACHIEVER CHALLENGE
Memorize Philippians 4:13.