In this week’s kickoff sermon for our series, All You Can, Pastor Luke talks about earning all you can. This series is inspired by John Wesley. The reason why we talk about money is that the Bible talks about it often. We want to be good stewards and handle the money well that God has given us. We often say that we need more money in order to give as much money as possible to God’s purposes. We don’t actually need more money, but more wisdom! In Proverbs 2:3-4 and 3:13-14, the scriptures show us that wisdom is better and more important than money. Wealth in and of itself is not bad, but it can lead to problems if not accompanied by wisdom.
Wealth without wisdom is four things: a trap (1 Timothy 6:9); leads to unfruitfulness (Mark 4:19); can lead to greed (Ecclesiastes 5:10); and will become idolatry (1 Timothy 6:10). Again, wealth is not a sin, but wisdom plans for wealth as it has the end in mind. Wisdom also sees work as a calling and not a curse. We spend most of our waking hours working and most of us wrestle with the thought, "Am I operating in my calling? Is what I’m doing even have to do with my calling?" For Christians, work is no longer a curse, and our callings are much broader than we often realize. It was originally created, then corrupted by sin, redeemed by Jesus, and we are now empowered to make a difference in the world! How we redeem it is by reframing how we look at work with God’s vision. We are called to be faithful wherever he places us. A calling means that someone has called you to do something. How we work says a lot about who we are and what we stand for. Our identity isn’t tied to our jobs but to Jesus, which means our work (whatever it is) should be a display of our faith and, in turn, create fruitfulness (Proverbs 22:29)!