A Worldly Grief that Leads to Death

I can't take it anymore!!!! If there was a generation in the church that refused to talk about money it has clearly been replaced by a generation that loves to talk about money. Well, it is true that the Bible speaks of money often. We can't deny that. So if this is true, then church leaders need to be speaking about money. But if I hear another sermon on money that is nebulous I'm going to go nuts. If I hear another sermon that calls people to give more money but cannot give a plan from the Scriptures about how to give, I may lose it. Now, I'm joking (a bit). But it seems to me that the current evangelical talk about how God's people use their money lacks at least three vital elements. 1. There's little clarity in the current teaching on money. In the Bible, has God given Christians clear instruction about how to use their money? I find that many Christian leaders are not so sure. They are not convinced that God has been clear about how we should use our money. Many pastors deny that the Bible commands Christians to give a percentage of their money to the Lord. This is misleading to people. The one tenth tithe preceded the Law and was commanded by Jesus. Many pastors will not tell their people that their giving should be prioritized to their local church. This is also misleading because the book of Acts is full of people prioritizing their giving to their church. If your pastor is not clear on these things then he certainly is not in a position confront you concerning how it is that you give.....yet for an increasing number of people, their pastors are continually confronting them with their stinginess. Friends, what will be the result when teachers lack clarity but command devotion? The result will not be growth and change. I sense the result will be guilt and control (2 Cor 7:10). I sense the result is a worldly grief that leads to death, not the freedom of walking in obedience to Christ. The people will continually feel guilty for not doing enough and their pastors will hold the keys to their freedom as they dangle out the unending list of organizations and missions opportunities that "serious" Christians support. 2. Because there's little clarity, there's very little talk of sin within the current teaching. The prophet Malachi was outraged because the people of Judah were robbing God by not giving to him correctly (Malachi 3). It is only possible to rob God, when it comes to giving, if we understand that God deserves something. Are any of us robbing God? It is impossible to rob God when we boil down our understanding on giving to "give as the Lord is leading you." This line, sounds so spiritual but it denies the sinful propensity of my heart to hold back funds for myself and it makes me the final arbiter of how I should be giving. We routinely hear talk about "giving our all" and "never being able to out give God" and "give what God's placed on your heart" but these approaches always present God as a money monger who is never satisfied with what his people are currently giving. Friends, is that our God? Is he unclear about giving only to be disappointed with us? Jesus is clear with the Pharisees that they should never have neglected the tithe, nor justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt 23:23). We must face the reality that some Christians are pleasing God with their giving and some are not. Some are being obedient but some are proving their lack of faith in a sovereign God and an eternal Kingdom by withholding what is rightfully His. Some in our churches are obeying the Lord and some are disobeying God every day by not giving consistently, proportionally, generously, and cheerfully. 3. There's very little talk of the Cross within the current teaching. Regardless of what some are teaching, the story of the rich young ruler is not the biblical paradigm for salvation or even giving, in the church (David Platt or Shane Claiborne). If we use the story incorrectly and use the giving away of all money as a mark of genuine salvation then we must also use perfect obedience to the Law as another mark of salvation because Jesus also asks the rich young ruler if he has obeyed the commands. Interestingly, most teachers gloss right over this part of the story (I believe) because it does not meet their immediate agenda (to get people to give more money to their organization). Jesus was not giving the man a plan for giving or even living. He was digging deeper into his heart to expose the things that he placed his trust in (his morality and his money). Friends, Jesus was attempting to get the man to see the idolatry of his heart and his need for the Savior. But the man walked away sad. The text says he was sad because he had great wealth. His wealth was his savior and he was not willing to forsake it for the True Savior. How many sermons on money have you heard that did not touch on Christ's work on the Cross? All true obedience flows through a trust in Christ's Work on the Cross. All God honoring giving is motivated by Christ's work and is done cheerfully out of obedience to the entire teaching of God's Word concerning money.

Why are there so Few Young Adults in our Church? Part 3

5. You probably shouldn't try to fix this problem by starting a program. When most churches discover that they have a problem they attempt to fix the problem by developing a new program. If your church believes that they are not ministering to individuals ages 18-29, the first reaction may be to start a small group or a separate service. Bible study groups and services that are designed for young people can be good but many times they exist as an unhealthy guard against the integration of young adults into the life of the church. The goal of the multi-generational church should be a harmony of approaches to worship and discipleship. If your youth ministry promotes worship of God and discipleship in a way that is antithetical to your corporate worship and teaching then you have a problem. Our goal should be an integrated approach if our goal is an integrated church. Programs can set our minds at ease that we are reaching people when all we have done is further alienate people from the greater Body. It seems to me that God wants your church to think and act about what it is that you do on Sunday morning, in small groups, in the community and prayer meetings that are not relatable to people of different backgrounds, differing ways of thinking and various age groups. 6. Through teaching, attempt to replace what they think they want, with what they truly need. It was said of the Puritan pastor William Perkins that "he was far from being 'needs oriented' in his preaching. He was more interested in creating needs that weren't felt than in pandering to needs that already existed."(2) Answering the pressing questions that young people need answered is very different than pandering to their every whim. Accomplish the former and you'll see less pressure to fulfill the latter. Your young people don’t really need sermons that are funnier or more entertaining but they do need sermons to be faithful to the text, encouraging, challenging to the predominate worldviews and Christ focused. Your young people don’t need a new service geared for young adults but the most faithful need to be integrated into the leadership of your current services. Your young people don’t need louder music but it is not unreasonable for them to expect music with great content in a contemporary context. Bibliography: MacArthur, John. "Plexiglas Preaching: The Devastating Consequences of a Watered-Down Message" www.9marks.org (1) Ferguson, Sinclair B. "A Godly, Learned, Resident Preaching Ministry", Westminster Theological Seminary, 1997. (2)

Why are there so Few Young Adults in Our Church? Part 2

Please excuse the way the blog appears. If you receive this blog by email there is no way for me to format the content. But if you view this blog online, for some reason, Blogger will not allow me to format the blog with appropriate spaces. Hopefully we'll clear up this problem soon. So we've been thinking about why there are so few young adults in our churches. Here's two more points. 3.Try to understand post-modern culture. Some of you want to put this article down right now, but please don’t do it. One of the biggest misconceptions in the church today is being propagated by faithful people who are unwittingly reacting against cultural trends. These faithful people make statements like, ‘you don’t need to understand culture to be a good pastor.’ Or, ‘as long as people realize your serious about God, that’s all that matters.’ Even John MacArthur, whom I love, has written that “the nuances of worldly culture are virtually irrelevant to me. I want to know the mind of Christ and bring that to bear on the culture, no matter what culture I may be ministering to.”(1) Might I suggest that John MacArthur is so smart that he can naturally adapt and relate no matter where he finds himself. He knows enough about the culture because he communicates what Christ “bring(s) to bear on the culture.” Not all of us are blessed in that way. Some of us need to work at understanding the average family in our neighborhood. The study of culture does not pit itself against the study of God but the sin and Truth we find in a culture points us to God. The greatest missionary endeavors of church history have been because God’s people taught the Word, without compromise, in culturally understandable ways. When the BFC sends our missionaries around the world, we applaud the fact that our people take the time to understand the people groups they will be ministering to. We desire for our missionaries to understand language, customs, and ways of relating. We don’t encourage these things because we want our missionaries to be carnal or worldly but we encourage these things because we always minister the Gospel in and through a complex cultural grid. We should approach our neighborhoods with the same care. The Apostle Paul speaks very clearly about these concepts at the end of 1 Corinthians 9 as his ministry was one of theological accuracy that promoted a love for people and an understanding of culture “so that by all means I might save some….all for the sake of the Gospel.” Hudson Taylor did not personally baptize 50,000 converts by accident. His was a ministry of the Word that was grounded in prayer and aided by cultural understanding. He encouraged all of his missionaries to dress and speak like the Chinese people. His understanding of culture did not negate his trust in the power of the Gospel, but strengthened his trust in God’s Word as THE means to reach all types of people. 4. They want to be heard, after all they are adults. If Pastors and Elders stay in one location for an extended period of time they are blessed with the privilege of seeing children grow up. Recently a member in our church commented that one of our Pastors dedicated his children, performed his children’s wedding ceremony and dedicated his grandchildren. Now that’s longevity. But we must fight the natural tendency to look at people as they were when we first met them. Are we seeing them with new eyes? Are we seeing how they’ve grown? If you’ve been an elder for twenty years then the newborn you dedicated is now an adult. It is your responsibility to treat them that way. Part 3 comes next week.

Why are there so Few Young Adults in our Church? Part 1

One of the greatest concerns that I hear from leadership in churches has been their observation of how few young adults are in their congregations. I've heard it said that ages 18-29 represent the lost generation of the church. This is interesting because in the past 60 years the American church has spent massive amounts of money and energy on ministry to young people. After decades of focus on ministry to young people (Youth Pastors, Youth Retreats, Young Life, Campus Ministries, Young Adult Services etc) is the American Church any better off? Are we healthier? Have we raised up new generations of Christians who love Christ and His church? Not in my experience. I’d like to propose some changes that you could make in your congregation that may increase your opportunity to minister effectively to young adults. 1. Refocus your youth ministry. Let's get serious. What is the drive of your youth ministry? What's at the center? What do you care most about? Youth Pastors, Directors, and volunteers are not mainly called to plan the social calendar of students and focus on ski trips. They are called to shepherd the hearts of students and walk through many of their most formative years. So many today are writing and preaching about the massive number of young people that are falling away from their "faith" in the first two years of college. I've heard many guesses as to why this is. "They can't defend their faith" or "they don't know the Bible well enough" or "they don't know creation science well enough." My guess is much more simple. My guess is that most of them were entertained in their youth ministry and the entertainment was enough to hold onto them through high school. But the entertainment of the College Campus Ministry can't beat the entertainment of the frat party/sports scene/video game scene and they've chosen a more entertaining path. There is a place for fun in youth ministry but let's ask hard questions. What do our Elders want to see happening in our youth ministry? Are our Elders impressed with numbers? Do our youth leaders understand biblical doctrine? Can they teach it with conviction? 2. Don’t make your problem their problem. What is your reaction if you look at your body and see very few people between the ages of 18-29? Young adult flight is a symptom of an unhealthy body as much as it is a symptom of young adults who don’t love God or don’t understand God’s call on the Christian. God has called every local church to minister to multiple generations and God makes this possible when our churches teach God’s Word in its entirety and worship Him in spirit and Truth. We can continually blame larger churches who “steal our sheep” or the culture for our inability to reach people or we can look realistically at ourselves. What are the ways of relating and teaching in your church that alienate young people? If you like what you're reading, feel free to pass this on to a leader in your church. http://markrevans.blogspot.com/ Part 2 will come next week.

When "Leaders" Stop Growing

“There is a theory of human behavior that says people subconsciously retard their own intellectual growth. They come to rely on clichés and habits. Once they reach the age of their own personal comfort with the world, they stop learning and their mind runs on idle for the rest of their days. They may progress organizationally, they may be ambitious and eager and they may even work night and day. But they learn no more. The bigoted, the narrow-minded, the stubborn and the perpetually optimistic have all stopped learning.” – Philip Crosby _Quality is Free__ Here's seven signs that you're, possibly, being led by people who are no longer growing. 1. They're rarely reading books or listening to sermons/lectures or, 2. They can't tolerate books or sermons/lectures that aren't from their pet perspective. 3. All of the people that influence them are in their close knit social circle (church, organization, school etc.) 4. They will challenge no one and they run from being challenged. 5. Their communication is full of cliches rather than cohesive, thought induced, sentences. 6. They continually posit their current situations in the best possible light, regardless of evidence to the contrary. 7. They rarely surprise and therefore rarely create. Their answers and actions are incredibly predictable. They are at incredible peace with the the way they are doing things.

And They Crucified Him.....

Below is a great clip from a sermon of a 20th Century teacher named Art Katz.
I think it is an appropriate reminder of the Cross but also a reminder of what the Cross means to our lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XK1xpKRWyQ

Dull as a Butter Knife

I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was in a 3rd grade Sunday School class with a teacher named Marshall Tress. Our memory verse for the week was Hebrews 4:12 which states, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and the spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." That verse and that lesson made an impact on me. The writer of Hebrews presented the words of God as powerful, sharp, and able to accomplish something. That verse made a 3rd grader sit up and listen.

But it causes me to wonder, if God says his Word is so sharp, then why is most preaching that I hear so dull? Why is it so mundane? Why isn't it interesting? Why is most preaching that I hear not as engaging to me at 32 years old as that lesson was when I was 9? Why is it so palatable? Why is most preaching more like B101 (Easy Listening) than MMR (The Station that Rocks)? If the Word of God is sharper than a sword then the faithful preaching of that Word should be sharp also. The faithful preaching of that Word should cut me down to my soul. It shouldn't always be easy to digest. It seems to me that faithful sermons should be quite focused and cutting. Faithful sermons should be challenging and interesting and thought provoking. If the Word of God divides down to the motives and intentions of the heart then good sermons should do that also. Good sermons will "cut to the heart" like Peter's sermon did in Acts 2. Good sermons should make believers feel massive conviction over our sin and give us massive reassurance because of the love of God through Christ.

Christ Was Singularly Focused

I can't say I have a singular focus in my life. I'm currently reading 4 books (I rarely finish any of them). When I watch TV I usually have 2 programs going. I'm supposed to be studying Greek right now and the thought popped into my head to write this blog entry. I'm easily distracted and many times, I'm all over the place.

Christ, however, had a singular focus. He was absolutely focused, like a laser, on a set of ideals.
 John 4:34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish His work.”
 John 5:30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will but the will of Him who sent me.”
 John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.”
 Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

The way of Christ was focus on the propositional truths of God and the mission for which he was sent, imbedded in that proposition (Isaiah 53). Christ was obedient to His Father in his lifestyle and His mission. In other words, He always did what was right passively (the way he thought, especially the way he thought about God) and actively (when he preached and was crucified). Christ was fed by doing what God had commissioned Him to do. He had surrendered His will in submission to His Father. He was firmly under the authority of His Father in the greatest act of humility. Fear of man did not dominate Him but rather the will of His Father was all that He could think about and all that He could do. Obedience to His Father propelled Him.

Thinking about Choosing a Church? Part 2

Two more considerations when it comes to choosing a church.

3. Does the church practice a meaningful Church Membership? Sometimes I feel like I've heard every argument in the book concerning the archaic nature of Church Membership but in 1 Peter 5, Christian people are commanded to "be subject to the elders." I have been wracking my brain for 7 years attempting to figure out how a church of more than 20 people could oversee their people without church membership. In other words, you and I can't be subject to elders if we don't have a process to tell the elders that we are subject to them. The Apostle Paul tells the believers in Corinth to expel a man from amongst their number (1 Cor 5). A person can't go out, if they were never in. We need church membership because our hearts desire to go their own way and we are prone towards spiritual infidelity. The humility of the believer is honed under Godly authority. "Be subject to elders.... God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God."
For more on Church Membership, click on my blog from 2010 and check out a two part series entitled "Why I must be committed to my local Church in membership?"

4. Does the church practice meaningful Church Discipline? The Bible unquestionably speaks about the Elders of churches providing teaching, care, and discipline to their flock. But many churches do not know who is in their flock. A trend of more traditional churches is to maintain a membership that is not reflective of who is attending the church and a trend amongst many churches, planted in the past decades, is to practice no church membership at all. Neither is faithful to the Scriptures. The testimony of the New Testament is of a leadership and a congregation that knows, who is part of the church and who is not part of the church. Jesus speaks of a congregation that levies the final blow of discipline on an unrepentant sinner and informs the congregation to treat the offender as "a Gentile and tax collector (Matt 18:17)." Paul exhorts the Corinthian church that when it comes to unrepentant sexually immoral, who call themselves believers, to "not even eat with such a one (1 Cor 5:11)." Paul tells Timothy that if an elder persists in sin that he should be "rebuke(d) in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear (1 Tim 5:20)." James tells the church to go after those who appear to be believers and who have wandered away from the truth and that "whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins (James 5:20)". Our souls are on the line when we distance ourselves from Christ's church and practice lawlessness. God has enacted church discipline so that erring people might be restored to Him. God wants restoration but many times the American church wants comfort.

I hope these blogs have been helpful. If you'd like to read more about choosing a healthy church I would encourage you to read the book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever.

Thinking about Choosing a Church?

Let's be honest, most people choose their church based on things that have almost nothing to do with God, His Truth, or the nurture of our spirits. My guess is that most people choose their church based on a few convenient, even carnal, principles. "I like their style of music." "The pastor is so great, he makes everything really practical." "They have a program for all of our kids." "This church is really friendly." "I grew up in this church (or a church like it)." "The service times really suit my schedule."

Over the years, when it's come to recommending churches to first year college students and young people who were looking for churches, I fear that I've been overly simplistic. I used to say things like "just find a church that teaches the Bible." Well, I don't want to overwhelm people with a 15 point checklist when looking for a church but I've tried to narrow it down to four categories that I sense will give you a window into the life of a church, identify a healthy church, and possibly ensure that you'll be able to worship with that church family for a long time.

1. Is the church focused on Expository Preaching and Teaching? I've stopped saying, "just find a church that teaches the Bible" and I've started to engage young people on the idea of Expository preaching and teaching. As you listen to your pastors next sermon, ask yourself, "Is the main point of this text, the main point of his sermon?" Next time you listen to a sermon you may want to ask something like "is he spending anytime talking about the real need of our soul; the need to be forgiven of sin?" He may be spending a lot of time talking about loneliness and the needs of the poor but never explain the greatest need of man. Thirdly, you may want to ask yourself, "is he exalting the Christ's death and resurrection within this sermon or is he just encouraging more moral behavior?" Without the Death and Resurrection of Christ we are left to save ourselves. All of these questions might help you determine whether or not you're being taught in a Expository and Christ focused manner.

2. Is the church Confessional? Trust me, I am not asking if your church has a document that is over 400 years old that governs the church. What we should be asking is, "does the church have any document that governs the life of the church, the church's leadership, and summarize important truths from the Bible?" Churches that have no detailed confessions that address doctrine and church order are under no real authority. You might counter that argument by saying, "Oh no, that's not true, our church is under the authority of the Bible!" People that say that they are, exclusively, under the Bible's authority are, actually, under one authority. They are under the authority of their own interpretation. Is that not true? The only authority in many churches is the authority of their pastor's interpretive whim. Confessions ensure that your church will not be led by one man but places each leader under statements greater than their own mind.

Points 3 and 4 will be coming next week.

I Repent: From Saying Nothing

So, sometimes I shoot my mouth off. Sometimes I say something that is not very well thought out. Sometimes I say something untrue. But more often than not, I say a true thing in the wrong way. I can speak the truth but not always in love. Sometimes I speak the truth in pride. This sinful ability means that I've needed to become more and more willing to apologize to people and turn away from my lack of self control. To, sincerely, ask someone's forgiveness because you've sinned against them is very humbling. It's part of God's work in our lives. It is God enabling us to repent. Hopefully we're all learning to repent in this way.

But I wonder, have you ever had anyone come to you and sincerely apologize because they should have said something but they remained silent? Have you ever had someone come to you and say "I repent for all of my years of passivity when it came to my words"? Have you ever had someone come to you and say "I ask your forgiveness because I didn't speak up but I kept silent"? Has anyone ever said to you "I want to ask your forgiveness because, when you were sinning against God, I didn't confront you"? Has anyone come to you and said "I'm sorry I didn't say anything but at the time I was putting my own comfort and reputation ahead of Truth"? Has anyone ever said to you "I am sorry and I've now learned that my silence was actually sin masquerading as humility"? I think it might be good for us to learn to say, "I repent, from saying nothing."

Punch me in the face and tell me I'm not doing enough... (Clarification)

In my last post I don't think I was as clear as I should have been concerning Expository and Topical teaching. First of all, expository teaching should address many topics but if it is done correctly it should be uniquely Gospel oriented. In other words, it should always be lifting up the character of God and resting on the death and resurrection of Christ.

On the flip side, if topical teaching is done correctly it too shall lift up the character of God and rest on the death and resurrection of Christ. I am not completely rejecting the idea of topical teaching. I love eating at Red Robin but we must realize that topical teaching limits the teacher (to what he already understands) and it limits the hearer (to what the teacher already understands). Topical teaching is, generally, a rehearsal of all of the verses on a given subject that the teacher already knows. Expository teaching keeps forcing the teacher and the students into unknown worlds of Biblical Truth.

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Punch me in the face and tell me I'm not doing enough...

When you've been teaching in the same church for 7 years you have an opportunity to see trends in people's response to preaching and teaching. My teaching ministry is mainly expository and chronological. By expository, I mean is that I'm usually teaching a Biblical text and desiring for the themes of my teaching to come out of the Scripture. By chronological, I mean that I usually teach right through a book of the Bible, verse by verse. People's response to this type of teaching is underwhelming to say the least. It's like my mom's cooking. There's plenty of meat on the table and it fills you up but you don't rave about it for weeks.

But every once in a great while I do a topical series. I tackle topics like sexuality, relationships, stewardship, worldliness, or other charged issues. This is when I get the most response. "I've never heard you teach like that." "That was awesome... it was so practical." This type of cooking is like the cooking at Red Robin. The meal tasted great and it was really fun to be there but if you eat like that every night you'll be a nutritional basket case. You'll be overweight and under nourished. The compliments go on and on and at the end of those times of teaching and usually I am utterly distraught.

I'm distraught because the reason people like those topics is because evangelical Christians love to be told their not doing enough. The thinking goes something like this 'if you tell me I'm not doing enough, then I can make better decisions and then I can fix the problem and make some progress.' This thinking springs out of a belief that when we have spiritual problems, through the power of our will/choices we can better ourselves. We gravitate towards being punched, feeling sorry for ourselves, and attempting to pull ourselves up rather than ceasing to attempt to pull ourselves up. We want to work but we don't want to trust. We want to wallow in ourselves but we don't want to know God. We want a quick fix to our self centeredness not a life-long discipleship process. We want a soft spoken teachers who spout a lot of self help not a hearty herald of God's Word who holds out the promises of God. We want answers not the discipline of the Lord. We want crystal balls not walking by faith. We want works not grace. I want me not the Triune God.

A $45,000 Mercedes?????

Have you ever gotten bent out of shape when you saw a Christian driving a really nice car? What is that in us? Where does that come from? Some people might think that it is righteous to be offended at how other Christians spend their money. I have a friend who is a very committed believer in Christ who drives a Mercedes automobile. I know he takes some flack behind his back because of the car he chooses to drive. Why is that? Well, it's partially because our Christian generation is self righteous. Because of our Christian generation's emphasis on helping the poor we tend to hate the symbols of luxury that we found prevalent in previous generations. Luxury cars and big houses are a bit passé. Brad Pitt isn't being driven around in a Rolls Royce, he drives his own Prius (I saw it on TMZ). It might actually be cooler to live in a town house or a studio apartment than to buy a McMansion. But our Christian generation must watch out because the downsizing of your home does not, necessarily, mean that you are obedient or spiritual. The "place" Jesus is preparing for his people has many rooms (Jn 14:2-3) so large homes are not condemned by Christ (and we should oppose the false teaching that God despises wealth). The fact that you drive a Passat instead of a Mercedes could mean very little about the condition of your heart. More than likely it means you have a lot of school loans.

Luxury cars and houses might be "out" for our generation but $1700 laptops aren't. Having to upgrade my technology every 25 minutes isn't "out". Paying $200 a month for a cell phone isn't "out". Wearing designer eye wear isn't "out". Wearing $120 jeans isn't "out". Eating out isn't "out". Are any of these things wrong? Not necessarily, but before we get really judgmental about the Mercedes let's look deeper. My friend loves Christ and displays that love through his commitment to worshiping Christ with every area of life, even his finances. The Mercedes is, in no way, keeping him from honoring God with everything that he has been given. He bought the Mercedes new about 10 years ago. He probably paid cash for it. He still drives it. I sense the purchase of the Mercedes was a very sensible and wise decision. To purchase the $24,000 car at 5% interest over 5 years may not be as wise, if it keeps us from prioritizing giving to God.

Why do we get bent when we see Christians with nice things? Is our heart really breaking for the poor around the world? Maybe, but my guess is that more often than not, there is a jealousy in us that springs from the sinfulness of our hearts that we need to confess. Our sinful hearts might say, "I'd do much more with all that money." "He/she is so unspiritual." "Why don't I have more to give away?" All of those thoughts come out of discontentment and pride. Let's be thankful that God has blessed the church with people wealthier than us and admit to God that we are the wealthy because we are American's. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.