Week Six – How should a Christian approach work and financial issues?

At a Wednesday evening church meeting a very wealthy man rose to give his testimony.

"I'm a millionaire," he said, "and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life.

I can still remember the turning point in my faith, like it was yesterday:

I had just earned my first dollar and I went to a church meeting that night.

The speaker was a missionary who told about his work.

I knew that I only had a dollar bill and had to either give it all to God's work or nothing at all.

So at that moment I decided to give my whole dollar to God.

I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am a rich man today."

As he finished it was clear that everyone had been moved by this man's story.

But, as he took his seat, a little old lady sitting in the same pew leaned over and said:

"Wonderful story! I dare you to do it again!"

As Christians, we often told about the need to trust God regarding work and financial issues. But, on the other hand, “waiting on God” can sometimes be used as an excuse for inaction. How can we strike the right balance between deferring to God’s sovereignty and His plans, while also recognizing that God works through the world – including the skills and abilities we’ve been given, the people around us, etc.? Let's also think about what financial success (or non-success) means for a Christian.

Make sure and look at the comments section for another article that was sent in by one of our members!

Possible readings:

Crown Financial Ministries, Why People Accumulate Wealth,

Crown Financial Ministries, Finances and Your Relationship With God,

Kerby Anderson, Bible, Economics and Capitalism,

Ray Cotton, Business and Ethics,

Dan Miller, Are You Losing Your Soul?,

Kevin Brennfleck and Kay Marie Brennfleck, ‘Killer Skills’: When Success Traps You,

Margaret D. Mitchell, Motives Matter in the Workplace

Reminder - No small group this weekend!

Everyone should go to the Congregational Meeting on Sunday night instead!!

Week Five – How should a Christian relate to, and participate in, politics, governance, and the law?

I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"

Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.

- Martin Luther King Jr., Letter From Birmingham Jail

Because of the rights and freedoms we have in the United States, Christians have the opportunity to participate in the process of governance and of developing and enforcing laws. How we exercise those rights and freedoms, however, is the source of many vigorous debates among Christians. Each side of those debates can cite many examples – both positive and negative – of churches’ involvement in politics and the law. How instructive are those examples? How, in principle, should Christians relate to politics, governance, and the law? How does it work in practice?

Possible readings:

N.T. Wright, God in Public? Reflections on Faith and Society.

David Skeel and William J. Stuntz, Christianity and the (Modest) Rule of Law.

William Temple, CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIAL ORDER.

C.S. Lewis, THE WEIGHT OF GLORY, Why I Am Not a Pacifist.

Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson, BLINDED BY MIGHT.

Week Four – How should a Christian relate to, and participate in, the culture?

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

-John Wesley

Christianity makes suffering contagious

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Christians are told to be ‘in the world, but not of the world,’ but it is hard not to err in one direction or the other. Too much emphasis on the “evils” of secular culture can lead people to isolate themselves in a bubble of Christian culture. On the other hand, Christians seeking to engage the culture can find themselves changed by it in ways they aren’t aware of. And even when Christians feel like they are striking the right balance, the secular culture might not be too happy to have them involved. What is the proper role of Christians in secular culture? Is there a place for Christian culture, or does that inevitably lead to isolation? And what should we make of the reaction of non-Christians to our involvement in the culture?

This week we are going to talk about the interaction with the culture (media, art, schools, relationships, etc.). NEXT week we are going to talk about politics and the law and the following week we will talk about finances and the workplace.

Michael Gleghorn, Augustine on Popular Culture: Ancient Take on a Modern Problem,

Jerry Solomon, Christianity and Culture,

Susan Wise Bauer, On Slippery Slopes, the Blogosphere, and (oh, yes) Women,

Andy Crouch, Creating Culture,

Philip Jenkins, "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?",

Todd Hertz reviewer, Saved!

Date update

Hi folks, just and update to let you know we will not be meeting on October 26 because of the congregational meeting at COA. Therefore, our last meeting will be on November 16, not November 9.

Week Three – Judgment vs. discernment

Judgment vs. Discernment – How do we deal with unrepentant sin in the Christian community? How do we deal with sins in non-Christians? In ourselves?

Judge not, that ye be not judged.

-Matthew 7:1 (KJV)

Who are you? where ya been? where ya from?
Gossip burning on the tip of your tongue
You lie so much you believe yourself
Judge not lest ye be judged yourself

-Metallica, Holier Than Thou

In an age when many people expect news, conversation, and entertainment to take the form of pithy sound bites, Matthew 7:1 (in some form) is tough to beat. It is short and memorable, and well known even by many non-Christians. But what does "judge not" really mean? And once we figure that out, how do we apply it in our lives?

Resources:

Lewis B. Smedes, Good Question: Who Are We to Judge?,

Roger E. Olson, To Judge, or Not to Judge,

Kerby Anderson, Making Moral Choices,

Timothy Keller, THE REASON FOR GOD, Chap. 3, Christianity is a Straightjacket

Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, HOW PEOPLE GROW, Chap. 16, Pulling the Weeds: The Problem of Sin and Temptation & Chap. 17, Facing Reality: How Truth Deepens Growth