I did not envy Michael Mears when he took the stage a few weeks ago to talk about the subject of money.  It's not because I don't think the topic is important.  In fact, the Bible mentions money or its equivalent more than prayer, faith, Hell, or a myriad of other topics that believers would rather discuss.  The reason I felt for Michael was because I know the stigma surrounding the topic of money that is held by both the over-, under-, and unchurched crowd.  I could almost hear the eyes roll from those in the room that believe that the church is only out for your money. 

As with so many other topics, City Church does not shy away from talking about issues that some may deem unpopular.  But the reason that our pastors periodically talk about money is not because we have some upcoming expenses that we need the congregation to foot the bill for.  They don't call the offering a time of worship as a way to guilt churchgoers into opening their wallets.  There are two glaring reasons that City Church talks so openly about money: if the church isn't defining how we should treat our money, then society will; and because Jesus said that our hearts are tied directly to our finances.

If you turn on the television or the radio today, it won't take long for someone to talk about money.  Sometimes, it is a direct conversation; other times, it is a subliminal approach.  There is so much noise surrounding our financial lives, and there isn't much consistency between the messages being hurled our direction.  We have been so conditioned to chase the "American Dream" by any means necessary.  For some, that means working themselves to death to attain as much income as humanly possible.  For others, that means financing on credit cards a lifestyle way above their means in order to keep up appearances and impress people that they barely know or don't even like!  The end result of these relentless pursuits is the same: the accumulation of things that won't matter for eternity.  Society doesn't refer to the things you have as a gift from God, or that we are merely stewards of what belongs to Him.  Instead, our culture is purely concerned with what we personally own and making sure that our stack of stuff is taller and shinier than the guy next door.

If City Church talked about money for no other reason than because Jesus said it was important, that should be good enough.  But under a line of thinking that appeals to my more logical side, the message from the pulpit concerning finances is consistently this: Jesus and the Bible say that your money is directly tied to your heart, so to not talk about money would mean that the leadership at City Church is not concerned about your heart.  And anyone who has spent five minutes at City Church knows that nothing could be further from the truth.

We all know that it takes money for a church to run: utilities, lease payments, salaries, events at the Moon and the Civic Center; the list is endless.  But this church started with twenty-four people in a living room, and has continued to grow against great odds not because the congregation was shamed into giving. The church has continued to grow because the leadership is faithful to God's calling and commands, and because the owners that call City Church home understand that giving is not an obligation, but rather something that we are allowed to joyfully do to fuel the mission of bringing the gospel message to the lost.  We are owners of our church, and of its message.  When a homeowner has a need for their house, the responsible ones do not sit around and wait for someone else to take care of it.  They see and meet the need.  It is no different with being an owner at City Church.

After being an inconsistent giver for many years, I began to rationalize putting my giving on hold in order to get myself in better shape financially.  I even went so far as to twist Proverbs' message that "the rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender" (Proverbs 22:7) to mean that God would rather I take money I could be giving to the church and using it to no longer be a slave to any lender.  After all, God doesn't want that for my life!  While it is true that God wants us to live in that freedom, I had to take a look in the mirror and stop kidding myself.  That passage in Proverbs is a warning to not go into debt; it is not a hall pass not to give back to God a portion of what he so freely gives us. 

When I lost my job, it was the wake-up call that I needed.  I don't think God caused or allowed that to happen so that I would wake up to how fragile my income was.  But through that difficult time, God was able to bring Himself glory because I finally submitted to the reality that what we have is not ours, and that we do not have complete control over our finances.  And if it is not ours, what sense does it make to cling to it like an unrepentant child?  When Jesus was with Satan in the desert in Luke 4, he warned the enemy not to test God by mocking him and twisting scripture.  That is exactly what I was doing by using Proverbs as an excuse to put my giving on hold.  However, in Malachi, God urges us with our giving to put him to the test: "'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'" (Malachi 3:10).  If we believe all that the Bible says about relationships, caring for those in need, or our salvation, why would we not believe God in this?  I urge you, brothers and sisters, to test God in this.  Bring to God what is His.  Do it first, before all other things.  And do it joyfully, knowing that your treasure will not be seen on this side of eternity, but that what awaits for us is far greater than anything we could attain here on Earth.

(Ryan is a Tallahassee native that is called, not employed, at North Florida Financial Corporation.  He is engaged to be married to Morgan Frick on November 10, and has been an owner at City Church since 2010 where he serves on the First Impressions team.  He enjoys hunting, fishing, writing, cooking, and volunteers as the president of the local chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation.)