Jesus talked about it. He talked about it a lot. In fact, he talked about it more than he talked about heaven and hell combined.
What is the “it” that Jesus always seemed to be talking about? Money.
A lot of preachers want to take the exact opposite approach, though. While Jesus talked about money constantly, many pastors talk about it sparingly, if at all.
You know what you call preachers who refuse to talk about the things that Jesus talked about? Dishonest. Cowardly. And most of all, unfaithful. Jesus preached about money, so those of us who want to faithfully preach His Word must do the same.
I’m not suggesting it’s easy, though. Preaching on finances is essential, but it’s certainly not easy. That’s why I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned over the years that have made my financial preaching more effective.
Money Preaching: 5 Keys to Improving
1. Be confident.
I visited another church several years ago when I had a vacation Sunday. The church was in the middle of a money series. The pastor’s exegesis was decent, but his execution was terrible. He kept apologizing for the message he was preaching! Every time he would deliver a biblical truth about generosity, he would actually apologize for it. He soft-pedaled the entire message. I was going out of my mind. I wanted to stand up and scream, “Stop apologizing for what the Bible says!”
I don’t know this pastor personally, but he sure seemed to be operating out of a position of fear. That’s a terrible place for preachers to live.
It’s true that someone is going to get offended when you preach about money. When you clearly teach the Scriptural truths of giving, tithing, and generosity, someone is going to be mad about it. Someone might even leave your church over it. I’ve seen it happen in my own context.
But we need to be mindful of this truth: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” (Proverbs 29:25)
When you preach about finances, preach confidently and directly. It’s much safer than preaching timidly out of fear of people’s opinions and reactions.
2. Be gracious.
Don’t interpret “be confident” as “be arrogant.” As preachers, we can be confident and still be gracious. We must understand that tithing and generosity are some of the most difficult Scriptural principles to apply.
It’s hard to accept the truth about tithing when I’m barely able to pay my bills. It’s difficult to accept what the Bible says about debt when I’ve been taught the exact opposite message my entire life. It’s easier to trust God with my salvation than with my salary. It just is.
Most of our people are financially stressed. Maybe even scared. That’s why we have to exhibit grace in our preaching. We need to tell our people, “Hey, this is tough. I get it. I’m not here to yell at you. I just want to show you why doing money God’s way is the best way.”
That is confident graciousness. Or gracious confidence. Either way, it’s what people need to hear from their pastors, especially when the topic is money. They don’t need us to apologize for the truth. They don’t need us to bludgeon them with it, either.
3. Be an example.
We can’t challenge our people to go to a place we’ve never been. For example, if you’re going to preach on tithing, then you need to be tithing. Maybe more than any other topic, when it comes to money, our people need to know that we actually practice what we preach.
Yes, I know the whole thing about the left hand, right hand (Matthew 6:2-4). I’m not advocating that you announce it with trumpets. The point of what Jesus is saying in this text is that our giving needs to be sincere, an act of true thanksgiving to God. It is not done to prop up our own image.
I need to be an example, but not because I’m trying to make myself look good. I need to be an example because people need to know what kind of leader they’re following.
When I preach on money, I say things like, “All of our leaders at Connect tithe. You can’t be a staff member or elder here if you don’t tithe.”
By doing this, I’ve avoided putting the focus on me. Instead, I highlight a truth about all of our leaders. I make sure our people know that the leaders of our church aren’t asking them to do something that they are unwilling to do themselves. Leaders always go first. That truth doesn’t change when it comes to finances. People need to know that.
4. Be visionary.
Before we became a portable church, our church owned a dilapidated, old building. The parking lot was crumbling but we didn’t have the money to fix it, so we started a financial campaign to repave it. It was an epic failure. We took in enough to patch a few holes, but what we really needed was an entirely new parking lot. We didn’t even come close in this campaign, and the parking lot continued to fall apart.
Contrast that with what happened in our church just last month. We challenged our people to sponsor a hungry child through a local youth organization. These kids only get decent meals at school. We want to be sure they have enough to eat on the weekends, too. In just one month, our church sponsored every kid in the weekend food bag program in two schools, plus a headstart! Every kid! Sponsored by our church!
It’s not a total apples-to-apples comparison. Our church is far healthier now than we were when we took on the parking lot project. But there is a truth that still applies. People don’t give to projects. They give to vision.
No matter how I tried to package it, that parking lot was still blacktop and painted lines. There was nothing there to stir the hearts of our people. It’s hard to generate excitement about pavement.
But feeding hungry kids is a different story. Our people caught the vision for what we could do, and they responded in a huge way.
When you’re preaching on generosity, capture the hearts of your people with a vision of what their generosity could do. They will respond.
5. Realize it’s not actually about money.
The reason Jesus taught so much about money is that our money and our hearts are inextricably linked. He summed it up by saying, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34)
Jesus said that money is one of the only concrete ways to measure what’s in a person’s heart. And that’s what Jesus is after. He wants our hearts. But if He doesn’t have our money, he’ll never have our hearts.
I want my people to love Jesus with their whole heart. You do, too. Let’s preach messages, including money messages, to help them get there!
Mike Edmisten has been the Senior Pastor of Connect Christian Church in Cincinnati for 11 years. He and his wife, Nicki (who is way out of his league) have two boys (13 and 10). Outside of family and ministry, Mike is passionate about Cincinnati Reds baseball and FC Cincinnati soccer. You can connect with him on Twitter @MikeEdmisten.
