Why Does the Preacher Talk So Much About Money?

Word has reached me yet again: “Clay talks about money too much in his sermons.”  I am sure other preachers face the same criticism.  Let me assure you, none of us went to seminary to become experts in money messages.   

I do know there are some preachers who go past what is reasonable.  Let the preacher find out someone in his congregation has won the lottery, and I promise you will have an eight-week series on giving.  Some churches give the preacher a percentage of the offering.  You better believe he is going to preach about stewardship at least once a month. 

Yes, I have seen the stories about TV evangelists who have private jets.  I have a private eight-year-old pickup truck.  Some of the brothers and sisters of TV fame do live in very nice homes.  They often say they were able to purchase their nice house not with the money the church paid them but with book contract money.  May God grant that my books sell like theirs. 

Most of the pastors I know are not overpaid but underpaid.  After four years of college and a couple of years of graduate work, they often work for salaries less than a starting teacher (and yes, I think teachers are underpaid, too).  The reality is the pastor’s salary is a small percentage of the overall church budget.  The money the church receives goes to pay other staff members, building upkeep, Bible Study supplies, and taking care of the poor.  No one explains this to you when you say you feel called to the ministry. 

My first church had a budget of about $42,000.  We had twenty-six people.  About half were kids and students.  That left thirteen to fifteen adults to carry the financial load.  We had no professionals, no rich people.  The church was a gathering of hardworking, blue-collar folks.  But they gave, and we did church.  I never preached on money once. 

In my second church, I should have preached on money more.  We had people who had means, but every Sunday was questionable about whether we hit our offering goal.  Heaven forbid that someone give up their Kentucky Basketball tickets so they could tithe.  My third church was constantly broke – and I mean, constantly.  Most people were retired.  I had to preach on giving, or I wouldn’t get paid. 

When the church I currently serve outgrew their building, I realized I would have to get comfortable preaching on giving.  It takes money to do ministry.  It takes sacrificial giving to bring vision to life.  I don’t know that I am good at motivating people to be generous, but I know some very generous people stepped up to share resources God placed in their hands.  Faithful givers keep stepping up and help our church do things for Jesus in our community and all over the world. 

But let me tell you the real reason your preacher preaches about money:  Jesus did.  Jesus talked most about life in the Kingdom, followed by salvation.  Money and Hell are the next two most frequent topics of his teaching. 

Jesus actually told us why it was so important to talk about money: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Your treasure (literally, “your stuff”) says a lot about what is most important to you.  Your allocation of your money is like soul blood pressure.  When you measure what you have against what you give, it tells a truth about your soul you may not want to hear.  You may drop a twenty in an offering plate and feel generous, but what does it say to you that an eighty-five-year-old woman gives ten percent of her Social Security check?   

A story with a riddle: When is $40 more than $400?  During the offering.  If the boss is pulling in $6,000 a week and he puts in $400 a week, he is giving about 6.6% of his income.  If his secretary is giving $40 out of her pre-tax income of $400 a week – well, you do the math.   She is giving 10%.  What does the boss’s giving say about his heart?  What does the secretary’s giving say about her heart?  More important is whose heart would you rather have? 

Maybe the reason the preacher preaches so much about money is he knows the church needs to pay its bills.  Or maybe the preacher is concerned about your heart.

What Story Do You Want to Them to Tell?

We bought a new care recently.  Actually, a new used car. 

When it came down to price, I presented the salesman with my research and my price.  He did the walk to the sales manager and came back with a figure.  I came up about as far as I could.  Still $250 apart.  He goes back to the sales manager.  Comes back and tells me with their price unchanged and the sales manager saying this is the best we can do.

I ask to see the sales manager.  He comes over.  I figure by this time, he should realize I have done my research, am a serious buyer and want to continue to negotiate.  We shake hands, have a few words about basketball, and then he tells me that is his best price.  I counter with my numbers and he doesn’t negotiate.  I ask to meet half way.  He doesn’t budge.  Then I say to him, “What story do you want us to tell about our experience.  I tell him we can tell a story of how they gave us a great car and really worked with us, or we can tell a story of how we got the car but had a negative buying experience.” I ask again, “What story do you want us to tell?” 

He says, “I hope you will tell the story of how you got a haggle free price.”  He goes on to elaborate about how they don’t haggle over prices.  Something in my mind is puzzled, because we have been haggling for the past 15 minutes.  He actually says, “If you were at CarMax, they wouldn’t haggle with you at all.”  My comeback before I can stop myself: “I’m not at Car Max.  I’m here.”

The sales manager starts to get combative.  I make no response.  My wise wife expresses her feelings, “We are trying to work with you, but we do not feel you are working with us.  Is that worth $250 to you?” 

The sales manager unhappily comes down a $100 and we take the deal.  His last words, “For $100, I’ll buy your endorsement.”

Love the car, hated the car buying experience. 

What does this have to do with your organization? 

How many people today profess to love God and hate the church?

Focus on this:  What story do you want people to tell when they leave your church?  The sales manager never got in tune with the story I wanted to tell: I got a bargain.  He was so tuned into to his own narrative (the haggle free price) he missed what the customer really wanted.

What story do you want people to tell? "Everyone was so friendly!"  "Nobody spoke to me."  "The preacher felt like he was talking to me, not yelling at me."  "I felt like was five years old again, in my Grandma's church."  What story do you want people to tell?

When people walk away from your church, you want them to feel like they matter to God and that church is a place of grace.  Everything we do should be geared toward people experiencing what we say we believe.  The environment we create by our behavior shows that we love as Jesus loves us.

Isn’t that what every one really wants?  Isn’t that the real story – the Good News?

When Do You Talk About Tragic Events at Church?

When I opened up Facebook Sunday morning, every pastor I know was posting about the events in Charlottesville, Virginia.  As the day progressed, I heard of pastors redoing sermons, speaking directly to their congregations.  So did I.

How do you know when to talk about tragic events at church?  After all, every week brings a new tragedy.  If we address them all, we run the risk of “tragic event fatigue.”  Which events really merit addressing? 

These five questions may be useful:

1. Is everyone talking about this?  Tragedies in Pakistan are horrible, but they may not impact many in your community.  On the other hand, if you serve a church in the South, race is a cultural legacy you have to face.   A violent incident in a nearby state that involved race had to be addressed, or I would have looked clueless.
2. Is a gospel issue involved?  The national press tends to lump the alt-right movement in with the Evangelical political movement.  Churches like the one I serve are seen as evangelical.  So I need to help our people understand what it means to follow Jesus- and what it doesn’t mean.  In this case, Jesus does not condone racism.
3. Is God opening a door through this event for me to challenge people?  In the case of Charlottesville, I saw a chance to ask people to: 1. Pray corporately for our nation; 2. Learn again the hard work of praying for our enemies.  I invited people to pray for the driver of the car that crashed into the crowd, James Alex Fields; 3. Remember our church is agent for change in our community.  We bring change when we love one another; and, 4. Show sensitivity to others from different racial backgrounds in our church.
4. If a person far from God is present in worship, is he or she expecting someone to address or acknowledge what has happened?  If the answer to this “yes,” you have to address it.  You may not need to change your sermon.   You might deal with it in a prayer.  You might change up one point in the message.  You might modify your response opportunity.
5. Is this celebrity news?  If the answer is “yes,” be careful.  I remember the Sunday after Princess Diana died.  Everyone was talking about it.  There wasn’t really a gospel issue (except whether or not she was a child of God, but that’s not for me to say).  I couldn’t really see any discipleship challenge to put before people, however.  Would a lost person want me to address it?  Doubtful.  They probably didn’t come to church to catch the latest news about the Princess (although I know some church members who missed church that morning to watch the news).  The bottom line:  I didn’t address it.  Celebrity news should not control the Sunday agenda.  If I served in England, however, my response would have been different.

There are more good questions, but these five are a start.  Remember the most important thing is to pray for God’s guidance.  If you don’t feel a peace about addressing it, don’t.