Scripture is very clear that believers are to give generously, but it's not explicit that each local church should be the sole beneficiary of our tithes. So if you are a Christ-follower attending The Stone, to the extent that the work of The Austin Stone accomplishes the Biblical purposes of the church as "the hope of the world" (Matt 5:14), we would hope that we are a place where you could, in good conscience, direct the substance of your giving to the purposes of the church in redeeming our community and the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. As an attender, this is a matter to seek God on, and then obey how He directs you.
Of those who align the mission of their lives with the mission of the church through partnership, however, we do ask that a tithe be given to The Austin Stone. This is because we view partnership as a commitment to be fully dedicated and invested in our mission as a church, both in time and resources. For attenders and partners alike, we desire to see every [KEEP READING]
Among many reasons the scriptures give us for why we should give, one that should move your heart most directly is because it makes us more like Christ. Giving is absolutely essential to following Christ. Take some time to read Luke 18: 18-25 and the last blog post if you doubt this. The rich ruler was actually saddened when Jesus told him to sell his possessions and give to the poor. Jesus knew that that the man's heart was more stirred by what his wealth could afford than it was by the promise of life in the kingdom of God. When we give out of love for Christ, and with a generous heart, it causes many changes within us. Here are a few to think about:
1) It increases our intimacy and directs our attention and heart to Christ. (Matthew 6:21)
2) It increases our character, conforming us to Christ's image as an unselfish giver.
3) It helps us realize the true ownership of ALL of our possessions. (I [KEEP READING]
In the scriptures, God talks about money and possessions with great frequency - in fact it's mentioned more than 2000 times. Though this is interesting in itself, we have to ask the question, "why". Perhaps we can get a view into the answer by looking at one of the many places that money is mentioned - particularly the story Jesus told of the rich ruler in Luke 18:18-24.
18 And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" 21 And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth." 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 23 But when he heard these things, he became [KEEP READING]
This past year has been really tough on our nation from the economic perspective. Our lives have been lived out against the backdrop of recession in our economy and in many of our personal lives. In actuallity, we've learned that God actually uses recession in our lives for many good purposes. It's with this in mind that we launched a financial discipleship ministry at The Austin Stone in the late spring with a Financial Training Workshop, and financial small groups or financial counseling opportunities as next steps to this Saturday event. Now, as we plan for our next events and small groups to launch again next spring we, in the mean time, want to provide resources, teaching, and opportunies for help now and along the way. This is what the Money Matters blog is about.
Money is a sensitive issue in our culture, yet the Bible speaks of our relationship with money as a window through which our love for Christ can be seen - and matured.
"For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" - I Timothy 6:10 John Piper explains it this way: "The root of all evil is that we are the kind of people who settle for the love of money instead of the love of God."
The purpose of Money Matters is to explore how God wants us as believers to love Him enough to become good managers of all that He's provided, so that He is given glory and made famous. Our prayer is that the [KEEP READING]