Week 1 – Money & Woes… (Section 138 & 198‪)‬ Harmony Christian Church

The topic of tithing in a church seems to get more people riled up than lots of other issues, tune in today to hear what Jesus had to say on the topic and ways people can slide off into the deep end.  Jump in with us in Sections 138 (compare to 198) of the Gospel Harmonies @ https://www.harmonychurch.cc/tracking-jesus-timeline/. IT'S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316  to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).



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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:



One time, early in our relationship.  Jenni and I went up to Colorado to Pikes Peak.  It was beautiful.  We had hiked through the woods and were up on the side of this cliff, it wasn’t particularly treacherous, but it was steep.  Jenni and I had climbed out on this fallen dead tree to get a picture and we were balancing there.  I did what any dumb young buck trying to impress his woman would do in that situation.  I thought, “I’ll just pick her up and put her on the other side of me to show her how strong I am…”  Lol.  I don’t know what I expected her to do, swoon?  So, I put my arm around Jenni and tried to swing her around to the other side of me.  But instead of swinging her around, I ended up loosing my balance and throwing her down the mountain.  I fell off the tree too and jabbed my chest with a stick.  Lol, needless to say, Jenni wasn’t impressed.



I’ve been in several situations in my life where it felt like it was so easy to slip off one side to another.



-Some of you feel that in your relationship with your spouse right now, you have had a rough go of it and you are walking on a tight wire trying not to make him mad.



-Your parents seem to get set off at the slightest thing and you’ve been walking on pins and needles every time you’re in your house, you try not to be there as much as possible because of it.



This past few weeks we’ve been talking about money, possessions, and eternity.



I’ve been thinking about the two edges people slip off into when it comes to tithing.



b



Tithing is the biblical principle where someone who loves God gives 10% of their income back to God.



I know, some of you are like, “oh man, here we go again….”  If you’re worried that all churches care about and talk about is money I would encourage you to stick around and hear me out.  I get having a preconceived idea about something…  



ILLUSTRATION:



Our executive pastor David did this weightless transformation for like the past year or more.  He’s lost over 135 pounds.  I watched him, but honestly, I’m a skeptic at heart.  I’ve lost lots of weight before and I kept thinking, we’ll see when you gain it all back.  and I don’t want another diet.  I finally put aside my skepticism and tried what he was doing and found out it’s transformational.  



What if your skepticism was turned to transformation today?



b



It doesn’t hurt (or cost) you to listen…



Listen, there are a million things we can slip off into one side or another and tithing is no different.



There are two sides that Christians typically slip off into.



Today, I want to share those two sides and then show you a different way to think about tithing



b



1.  The first way Christians slide off the end with tithing is to neglect its importance.



b



This view says tithing is an old testament thing, it’s not important, and it views tithing as optional