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How we manage our money tells a story.

The last time I ran a stewardship campaign, we set a goal: pay off $1 million of medical debt for our neighbors in Central Georgia. We partnered with a nonprofit focused on the eradication of this particularly insidious form of debt. 

As I challenged the church to commit annual pledges, I also challenged the church to raise a total of $10,000 specifically for this purpose. Medical debt is such that $10,000 could pay off about $1 million of medical bills in arrears. Getting $100 per $1 of giving tells you something about this crazy form of debt. 

By the time we had reached our deadline, the church had generously given more than $10,000; enough, in fact, that we paid off $1.5 million of medical debt. 

To mark this special moment, I decided to incorporate a bit of a ceremony into our Sunday worship. Like burning mortgage paperwork upon paying off a house, I determined to burn the paperwork showing everyone whose debt we’d paid off. I had a bowl ready to catch the ashes, a lighter ready to go, and the paperwork, all nicely set on a table in the chancel. 

Together, the church said a litany giving thanks to God for this eradication of debt. The moment arrived and I lit the paper. It smoked, but no flame. I tried again. Nothing. I tried a different corner, nothing. Nervous laughter began to erupt from corners of the sanctuary. I held the flame of the lighter under a fourth corner for a long time, hoping it would light. Nothing. More laughter. 

Finally, I said, “well, today we have discovered that our printer paper doesn’t burn.” Then, to applause and laughter from all in attendance, I ripped up the paper and dramatically threw it into the bowl of water. 

The paper wouldn’t burn. But, our actions told a story that day of the church’s commitment to its neighbors. 

I’d challenged the church that season to recognize that how we handle our money tells a story. More than raising funds for the annual operating budget, more than seeking to shore up a flagging endowment, more than meeting substantial physical plant needs, we needed to examine the story we told through how we earned, how we saved, and how we gave. 

That’s been Mitch’s challenge in this stewardship season: to examine our lives in light of John Wesley’s admonition to earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can. 

But doesn’t that sound like the opposite of what Jesus says here? In the scripture, he starts out by saying to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth. That doesn’t sound like earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can. It sounds like the reverse. 

How we handle our money tells a story. But shouldn’t that story be the reverse of what Wesley said, beginning with give all you can? 

Years ago when I was a child and teenager, I stored up my money on earth, underneath a small tray I’d made one VBS. As I got birthday money, Christmas money, and eventually when I turned 15 and started working, I would simply place the cash, in a pile, underneath that tray. 

There it sat, on a windowsill, doing absolutely nothing. My parents would joke that it was going to grow moldy from sitting there so long, because I absolutely refused to spend it. Anytime there was something I wanted, they’d point to my pile and say I could afford it. But in my mind, it was their job to provide for me, so they should pay for it. Why should I part with my money? 

That attitude persisted with me into adulthood. If someone else could pay for it, they should pay for it. Why should I spend my money? 

You may call this greedy, but for me it wasn’t greed; it was fear. I feared running out of money. I feared what would happen if a big expense came about and I didn’t have the funds. I found security in having that pile of cash. 

My actions and attitudes in how I handled my money told a story: a story of fear. 

Think about your own accounts; your own pile of cash. Probably, it’s digital; a number on a screen or app. There’s a number, an amount, most of us have that we don’t want to see it go below. If we stay above that number, say it’s $5,000 in a savings account, we feel secure. If we go below that number, we live in fear. 

At one point when I was fundraising, I asked someone to give a substantial donation to support a specific project at the church. We talked and talked and, finally, that person told me they simply could not give the amount I was talking about because it would put their savings below their number. And that number, they told me, was $100,000. I almost gasped out loud in front of the donor. I thought how secure, how safe, I’d feel if I had $100,000 in savings! I imagine that’s true for most of us. 

But it shows how our view of safety and security are illusions, based on perception. What counts as security for one person, like $100,000, would be a windfall for many others. Or what counts as security for someone, like $5,000 in a savings account, would be a mere pittance to someone else. 

What’s common across all these is this: a mindset of scarcity. Regardless of the amount of money, the thought process is that there’s only so much out there, only so much money available, and we’d better hoard to prevent our imminent demise. 

That’s storing up treasures on earth. It’s not about where they’re located, it’s about where our heart is located. When we operate with a mindset of scarcity, we operate in the darkness of fear. 

It’s easy to forget that these passages of scripture come from a sermon of Jesus’s, starting with the beatitudes and ending with the parable of the wise man who built his house on a rock. Like any good sermon, there’s an internal logic to it. And here, we find that logic at play. 

Those who store up treasures on earth will live in darkness, another word for fear. And how great that darkness can be for all of us who have known the fear of not having enough, or of the unexpected bill that arrives, or of the moments in life where we just feel short of the money we need. 

And those times happen. I remember when we were young, just starting out, having bought a car we shouldn’t have, with a brand new baby at home, and suddenly needing a couple of thousand dollars worth of repair to our home’s HVAC system. I was short a few thousand dollars, and I didn’t know where it was going to come from. 

I’m sure we’ve all been there. Those experiences can drive that sense of fear: we need to hoard, store up, to make sure we don’t experience that kind of fear again. But we also know from experience, that leads to more fear, more darkness, which leads us to serve wealth, as we strive to add to the money we already have. 

Then our lives tell a story: a story of living life based in fear, serving wealth; a story Jesus notes in these passages from his sermon. Jesus is speaking to those of us living with a mindset of scarcity, just like me with my pile of cash when I was younger.

What does it mean to live life without a mindset of scarcity? How do we do that? Does it mean to live like Wesley, earning, saving, and then giving all we can? Or does Jesus ask us to reverse that? 

Money management can be confusing, but there’s no doubt in this truth: how we manage our money tells a story; a story about where our hearts lie.

Not long ago, I learned that one of my clients had passed away. He had left quite an impression on me, for he deeply loved his family. Upon getting ready to leave our last meeting together, he told me he was going to tend to his wife’s grave. She had passed away 14 years prior, but I learned later on from his family that he tended to her gravesite most days of the week; a way of expressing his love. 

I also learned later on that he had lost three children to death prior to his wife passing. I sat trying to understand what a weight of grief that must have been. Yet, my experience of him was of joy, not a giddy happiness but a general gladness for life. He lived in the light, grateful daily for the chance to love on his family and take care of the people entrusted to him. 

He had earned well, working hard during his working years. While working, he had saved well, putting aside whatever he could. And he was generous with his family, with his church, and with his community, not just with his money, but also with his time and the ways God had gifted him. 

When he passed away, I began to contact his beneficiaries: all eight of them. As I met with them, I heard their stories of their father and grandfather; stories of the impact of his generous nature, of his loving care, of how he had taken care of them. And stories of their deep gratitude for his generous final gift to them; one that for several of them, was a life-changing amount of money.

In leaving behind one eighth of his estate to each beneficiary, he told a story: a story of light, of love, of serving God, and taking care of what God had entrusted to him. 

He had earned all he could, saved all he could, and given away all he could, both while living and through his estate. He lived out Wesley’s maxim. His generosity led to changing the lives of his children and grandchildren. And more than that, his legacy of generosity inspired their own giving. Late last week, one of his beneficiaries called me, letting me know that he had family members who were struggling and that he wanted to give them a little bit of his money he’d received from his grandfather. What a powerful witness to the life my client lived. 

My client’s money management told a story: a story of generosity, of living in the light, of serving God with what wealth God entrusted to him. 

That word wealth in verse 24 is tricky. It’s the Hebrew word mammon. Older versions of scripture would translate that verse as you cannot serve both God and mammon. Mammon, for the ancient Jewish people, came to mean not something evil or wrong, but, “that in which you place your trust.” Jesus is saying you cannot place your trust in two things simultaneously. You will hate the one and love the other, as he notes. 

Trust is what determines where our treasures are. Do we trust our wealth, that number we don’t want to go below, the pile of cash on the windowsill; or do we trust that God will provide? Do we operate with a mindset of scarcity, believing that we need to ensure our own future, or with a mindset of abundance, believing that God takes care of us? 

Where do you place your trust? 

Wherever that is, that’s the story you tell.

When I had my money under the tray, I told a story: a story of fear. Darkness, that word Jesus uses to describe fear, determined how I handled my money, which meant that I lived in a perpetual state of worry: would I have enough money, would there be enough? And when there wasn’t enough, it seemed that my worry and my scarcity mindset were justified. 

But the issue was that I put my trust in my wealth and, ultimately, in myself to provide, not in God. That meant I served wealth, not God. Which meant that I worried about money all the time. That’s the internal logic of Jesus’s message here: store up your treasures on earth and you’ll live in darkness, putting your trust in wealth and worrying constantly. 

When I confronted my fear, when I recognized the darkness driving me, I placed my trust in God that God would provide. And in doing so, in leaving behind that myth of scarcity to embrace trust in God’s promises, I stopped worrying. 

Instead, I recognized what Jesus ends this section of his sermon with: seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

The money I have, whether it was the few hundred dollars of cash under the tray or the money I have invested today, is first and foremost for the Kingdom. I’m called by God to be a good steward of it; to use it as God has called me to. That call looks first like work hard, Wesley’s earn all you can. Then it looks like being responsible, Wesley’s save all you can. But that doesn’t mean hoard. It means saving for the goals God has given us, to meet the demands God has placed upon us. For me, that looks like saving for my children to go to college, to repair and replace things when they break, to expand our house that was definitely not designed to be a primary residence, to take care of my family. 

In stewarding those resources well, when God calls upon us to be generous, to do Wesley’s third thing and give all we can, we’re ready. When it’s time to help support a ministry of this church, when there’s a need we see and we give to it, when we have our hearts tugged by a need, or when God has set a goal before us to provide for someone else, we are ready because we have worked hard, earning all we can, and we have saved all we can. Then, our duty is to respond to God’s call and give all we can.

That’s what it means to store treasures in heaven. It’s to recognize that all of our treasures, all of our wealth, all of the resources God has entrusted to us, belong first to the kingdom. And our job as Christians is to seek God’s will in how God would have us utilize those resources to build the Kingdom here. 

Then, we tell a different story with our money: the story of our faith in God, and the difference that makes in the world.

Oseola McCarty grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. There, she dropped out of school in sixth grade, going to work to support herself and her family. For her entire career, until arthritis and other health challenges forced her retirement in her 80s, she washed people’s clothes and cleaned their houses. She never earned much money, but she worked hard, earning all she could, and she saved all she could. 

In fact, she never owned a car. She lived in a simple home that didn’t have air conditioning until she was in her 80s; a crazy proposition if you ask me for living in southern Mississippi! She walked everywhere she needed to go or asked a friend for a ride if she couldn’t walk there. She lived simply, responding to how she felt God calling on her to steward the resources entrusted to her. 

In the 1990s, the advancement office at the University of Southern Mississippi received a phone call from a bank. The bank informed the university they had a check for $150,000 to provide scholarships to African American students to attend Southern Miss; a check from Oseola McCarty. 

The gift made front page news all over the country as her story became known. Shortly before her death, she was interviewed by a national TV program. The interviewer asked Ms. McCarty why she hadn’t spent the money on herself. She smiled and said, “I am spending it on myself.”

When God entrusts us with resources, when God sets goals before us and asks us to earn and save toward them, when God calls upon us to be generous and to work toward that generosity, God does it to make a Kingdom impact through us for others. We are interconnected as a people; the way I manage my money impacts the way you manage your money. Ms. McCarty knew that: she spent it on herself because she was responding to how God was moving in power through her, and she was supporting generations who came after her. She recognized God had called upon her to have an impact, one where generations after her would thank God for how she had responded to God’s call. 

For me, that’s my story. I want to make a generational difference for my family and for those who come after me. That’s how God has called me, and that’s what informs my money management. That’s how I understand God to be calling me to seek first the Kingdom. When I stay there, I don’t fear, for I know God has called and thus God will provide. The light of love shines forth then, for I am storing my treasures in heaven. 

But if I were to lose sight of that call, choosing to manage my money however I see fit, I would quickly find myself in the darkness of fear, and then I would worry, for I would be trying to control the uncontrollable through money management. 

Rabbis in Jesus’s time understood when Jesus said to store up treasures in heaven, he meant doing good deeds on this earth. When we do good deeds, when we respond to God’s call to seek first the Kingdom, we build the Kingdom here; we literally build heaven on earth. When we seek first the Kingdom by prayerfully asking how God has called us, and then manage the money God has given us to fulfill those goals, we’re seeking first the Kingdom; we’re storing up our treasures in heaven. Then we live life in light, not in darkness, because we placed our trust in God, not in wealth. For where God has called, God will provide. 

And so, two choices lie before us. We can store up treasures on earth, trying to control our money and the world around us through hoarding or through extravagant and selfish spending. When we do so, we find ourselves enveloped in darkness, a darkness of fear. That fear leads to worry, and that worry leads us to more hoarding or spending, which leads to more darkness and fear, which leads to more worry, and we find ourselves in a spiral. 

Or, we can store up treasures in heaven, understanding that whatever resources we have, God has given them to us to serve the Kingdom. When we see those resources as aligned to serve that Kingdom purpose, whatever goals God has set before us, we shine the light of God’s love and we don’t worry, for we know if God has called us, God will provide. 

The difference between the two is fear. Do we live in fear of scarcity or in celebration of God’s abundance?

If you find yourself living in the former, cast out that fear. Confess it before God, then ask God to paint a vision for you. How is God calling you to use the resources God has entrusted to you to serve the Kingdom? Maybe money is very tight, or in short supply, and there’s not enough to imagine even giving any away. Ask God to paint a vision still, and trust that God will provide for you. No matter your personal financial situation, ask God to show you how to seek first the Kingdom, and trust that God will add all these things to you as you go forth. Earn and save all you can until you have clarity on that vision. Then give as God calls, for God will give you a vision and you will make a Kingdom difference. 

If you find yourself celebrating God’s abundance, never lose sight of the vision God has given you. Keep working toward it. It’s so easy to lose sight of the vision, because the demands on our resources are manifold. Make keeping that vision in front of you part of your prayer life, always seeking first the Kingdom, looking for how God is calling you to use the resources God has entrusted to you to make a Kingdom difference. 

The way we manage our money tells a story: a story of darkness or light, a story of hoarding or good works on this earth, a story of selfishness or of making a Kingdom difference. 

What story are you telling? 

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Amen.