Here is the last post on this topic!!

5)Be conscious of consumerism

• It is the world that we live in, so allow your eyes to be opened to it. Don’t be duped into buying what you don’t want! Have a realistic view on what you own - don’t be “shamed” into buying upgrades. Don’t buy to make yourself feel happy, its effects are very short-lived [instead see point 6].
• Think about where the pound you spend goes beyond the cashier. Goods have many, many people [and world resources] involved in their production, delivery and sale. If there are ways that you can ensure that you pound helps people, then do that! You may want to fair-trade, even if it costs you a little more. You may want to buy from local stores rather than multinationals. You may want to avoid certain goods because you are concerned about how they got to you. You are the consumer and it is here that you are free to exercise your choice.
• I am well aware that this is a massively complicated area, again you don’t need to operate out of fear, worry and guilt, but loving generosity for people and the world.

6) Enjoy what you have

• A primary problem with consumerism is that as soon as you have bought something you immediately realize that someone else got a better deal and a newer product. The things we have are quickly obsolete and sources of consumer shame. The result is that we never really “have what we own”. Here is my encouragement: enjoy what you have. Make the investment of money, people’s creative energies and world resources count for something by enjoying what God has provided for you. Not as things that define you but as gifts. Truly have what you own.

7) Help and pray for those caught in debt

• Debt is one of the biggest social problems we face. Help and encourage those caught in debt. Give them tools to get out, or point them in the right direction. Be aware of how your talk and your actions could be heard for people in debt, or thinking of buying on credit. If you have credit cards, only use them for buying convenience and pay them off every month. Talk that way to make people realize that is the only way that they are a good idea!!

Express radical Jesus economics

• A Christian view of money has often resulted in stingy, grumpy penny-pinching attitudes to money under a general excuse of “stewardship”. This is deeply anti the attitude of Jesus. I believe that Jesus instructions to give to the poor fall under a general understanding that we are not operating within the limits of our own resources. Hence we can reflect the generosity of a generous God!!

• In the bible we see the Year of Jubilee, a 50 year return of land to their original owners and concealing of debt, a woman who break a jar of perfume worth a years wages over Jesus, and a radical Christian community in Acts 2 who are selling and sharing and giving. These are brief signs of a biblical thread of generosity and ’squandering’ of wealth for the sake of people, God and this world. Take the shackles off your wealth and participate in some crazy God-like giving!

Why can we do that? Because in honouring God with our money, in understanding that we are interesting in eternal riches, in being clear that what we have is gift, we truly understand that we are living in a world of resources beyond our own. The resources of a God who has all the resources we will ever need.

Here are some threads that I want to draw out:

1) Have an eternal perspective on wealth

• As Christians we have the firm belief that true riches are those that survive into eternity. This faith position is an absolute must if we are going to have the attitude and action towards wealth that Jesus calls us to. Having that attitude allows us to make choices about finances that look crazy from a Western mindset

2) Operate out of faith and trust, not fear and worry

• All actions concerning what we do with our money should not be out of some kind of penny-pinching protectionism. The clear instruction to “not worry about what you will wear” releases us to trust beyond ourselves for our provision, even beyond what our natural resources allow. The issue here is where is your trust, if you are trusting in your savings, in your pension even, in your job [high or low paying] for your security in life, then you are missing Jesus’ message. Why? Because as soon as one of those is threatened you will find yourselves in worry and fear.

3) Honour God with your money

• If money is a ‘god’ in our society [and every society?] then it draws allegiance from us. We must be practical in demonstrating our trust of God in this area. It is my belief that the biblical way to do that is regular giving into your spiritual family in proportion to your income - otherwise known as a “tithe”. That is my belief and that is my practice. As I practice that giving it demonstrates my utter connection with God. By honouring God with my wealth in tithing and other ways I am practically believing that my resources in life are not limited to my income potential and my income, but rather the resources of the God of all the earth who has all the resources that I could need!
• That is why I entitled this “do you really want to live within your own resources”.

4) Be wise with what is entrusted to you

• The fundamental posture that Jesus talk about is that the things that we have are entrusted to us, things that we steward on behalf of another, not things that we own. Hence when we look at all that we have, all that God has provided for us, we act with it in a way that reflects what the one who gave it would want us to do with it.
• Hence it should not be ’squandered’ but ‘invested’ in a way that reflects God’s priorities. I will come back to this later.

That’ll do for now!! the last four tomorrow!!

Take a look at these passages:

Luke 12:16-21 - Parable of the Rich Fool

“this is how it will be for anyone who stores things for himself but is not rich towards God”

Luke 12:27-34 - Do not worry

“Provide for yourselves purses that will not wear out … for where you treasure is there your heart is also”

Luke 14:12-14 - Banquet hosting

“Don’t give in a way that you will be repaid.”

Luke 16:10-13 - entrusted with worldly wealth

“You cannot serve both God and money”

These are awkward passages, deeply challenging, which we wrestled with bravely [mostly!!].

Tomorrow I will draw some threads through them.

Money is the big issue of our day. Money worries concern UK adults more than any other social issue, over terrorism, immigration, climate change and gun crime.

Why is that when we are amongst the richest people in our global village, where 53% live on $2 per day or less, and 43% live without sanitation. [See Miniature-Earth.com]. It seems that our privileged position has brought us “money worries” and … debt!!

This “rich” economy is built on consumerism - which relies on consumer spending their hard earned pound to keep the cogs turning. Hence the US plan to try to kickstart their flailing economy with a cash injection to the average John Doe to get them spending again. How warped does that sound!! We are bombarded with attempts to get us to spend our cash on things we “need”, “want” and “deserve”. Hence the fact that the average household debt not including mortgages is £9,052. A figure that increases to £21,051 if you take out those people who don’t owe anything. Debt is a serious problem for many in our society. But does our debt stop us spending? No! 27% of people with debts have increased them in the last 3 months. Debt is a helter skelter, and many of us and our friends are on it. Our economy needs us to spend, we are driven to spend, we are marketing fodder and we oblige. The drive to “have” overrides the stress and the worry of debt.

This was my starting point yesterday when I decided, bravely [I thought!] to talk about money. It may have been a little depressive? I realize now that I made things worse on hte cheeriness levels by taking us to the words of Jesus. We are looking at Luke’s Gospel at the moment, and I have been struck by his references to Jesus talk of the poor and how we should view money.

To start, compare Matthew 5:1-11 with Luke 6:20-22.

And I’ll post more tomorrow on what Jesus view of it all is [honest!]!!

Note: debt figures from Credit Action UK