This week, Pastor Josh makes a pivot in our Fall series. After having talked about our values as a church for the last six weeks, we now shift to talk about the virtues we must embody if we are to reach Seattle. This week, we talk about the wealth of Seattle and biblical generosity.
KEY IDEAS:
- Money is not just an object. It is a key representative of what we really believe. We each have an economic belief system.
- The economic belief system of Seattle centers around selfish achievement or selfish altruism.
- For the Christian, our idea of money revolves around how it can tell the story of the Gospel through our generosity.
COMMUNITY GROUP QUESTIONS:
- Part of what influences our view of money is how we were raised. In your childhood, did you have mostly negative or positive experiences with money? How has that affected you today?
- One way our city gets money wrong is through selfish amassing, thinking our money buys us entitlement. We have toys, trips, and Teslas. How is that tempting for you? Why is such selfishness so tempting?
- For the Christian, money is seen as yet another tool to demonstrate the lavish and generous grace we’ve received in Christ. How have you experienced the act of generosity? Do you have any stories of receiving a generous gift? What response did that evoke?
- Our generosity tells the core of the Gospel: though we were impoverished by our sin, Jesus took on our poverty and gave us his rich righteousness. Are you feeling rich in righteousness today? If not, what’s causing that unbelief?