Biblical Generosity

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” This is one of the more famous movie lines in Hollywood history. Chances are you’ve heard it before, though you may not know where it comes from: Michael Douglas’s Gordon Gekko, in Oliver Stone’s 1987 movie Wall Street. Our culture is full of messages similar to this one. Whether consciously as in Wall Street or subconsciously, the world tells us that money is the most important thing to worry about. We value the thoughts and opinions of rich people and forget poor people exist. A dollar value signifies more value to us than a person’s character. Our culture assumes this, and we struggle to maintain perspective.

Our problems with money are not just cultural though. The reality is that our world sets money up as a thing you need to get other things you need. We need to have money for food, shelter, hygiene, to keep the A/C on, to fill up the gas tanks so we can make it work and make more money. Our trouble with money does not begin and end with sin but encompasses legitimate concerns that are worth caring about.

By and large, money is exhausting to think about. Thinking about money makes me long for a better way, and I am grateful that the Bible shows us just that. Providence Road’s new sermon series aims to open our eyes to how Jesus wants us to view our money and possessions. The series is titled Biblical Generosity, and it is our hope that the preaching of the Word in this series helps us to adopt the perspective of the sinful woman in Luke 7, who anointed Jesus’s feet with expensive perfume. Overwhelmed by Christ’s love, she saw her possessions as already belonging to Christ. She saw Christ for the treasure that he is; I pray this series reveals his immeasurable value to us as well.