Martin Luther: Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.

“Thou shalt have not other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3

“The simple meaning of this commandment is, You shall worship me alone as your God. What do these words mean and how are they to be understood? What is it to have a god, or what is God?

Answer: A god is that to which we look for all good and where we resort for help in every time of need; to have a god is simply to trust and believe in one with our whole heart. As I have often said, the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and confidence are right, then likewise your God is the true God. On the other hand, if your confidence is false, if it is wrong, then you have not the true God. For the two, faith and God, have inevitable connection. Now, I say, whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.”

Martin Luther in Luther’s Large Catechism: God’s Call to Repentance, Faith and Prayer trans. John Nicholas Lenker (Minneapolis: Luther Press, 1908) 44.

The father welcomed his wayward child,
a sign of God’s generosity and love.
May we be generous toward others,
willing to forgive past sins
and to welcome others as God welcomes us.
Lord hear us.

God of love,
You have reconciled us to yourself
and made us your children.
Listen to our prayers
and grant what we need
through Christ our Lord. Amen

Hugh McGinlay Prayers of the Faithful: For Sundays, Feasts, and Seasons (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2006) 29.

“The most disturbing thing about the fact that greed is idolatry is that hardly anybody owns up to being a worshiper. Imagine the response of disbelief in the local church if it were revealed that the vast majority of its members were secretly worshipping other gods. Yet if our analysis of the religion of money is right, the unthinkable may not be so far from the truth.

The most convincing evidence that greed is idolatry concerns the answer to a simple question: what do idolaters do with their idols which believers are meant to do with God? The answer is that they offer their idols love, trust and obedience. In each case that is exactly what the greedy do with their money.” (cf. Eph 5:5; Col 3:5)

Brian Rosner in Beyond Greed (Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2004) 52-53.

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person. Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18

“John describes the selfish believer of whom three things are true. First…John describes a person with an adequate though perhaps not lavish physical livelihood.

Second, this believer sees a fellow believer in need. Similar language in other NT texts reveals this was a frequent issue in the early church: some “had need” in the Jerusalem congregation (Acts 2:44; 4:35); Paul labored to supply the “needs” of himself and his coworkers (20:34); Paul commanded that “the needs of the saints” be met via sharing (Rom 12:13; cf. Eph 4:28; Tit 3:14). Such activity requires not only industry and economy but also willingness to give. In the scenario that 1 John 3:17 envisions, the former may have been present, but the latter was not.

Third, this believer with means “is callous” toward the one in need…To “close” this faculty is to be hardened, whether through indifference or brazen heartlessness…

First John 3:18 concludes with a terse exhortation to match confession with tangible action.”

Robert W. Yarbrough, 1-3 John BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008) 203-204.

“The ostentatious performance of religious acts in order to win approbation is not at all the same thing as a life of conspicuous goodness lived in the public arena so that people cannot help but be impressed.” (Cf. Matthew 5:16; 6:1-4; 1 Tim 5:25).

R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007) 177.

Lord, grant us simplicity of faith
And a generosity of service
That gives without counting cost
A life overflowing with Grace
Poured out from the One
Who gave everything
That we might show
The power of love
To a broken world
And share the truth
From a living Word
Lord, grant us simplicity of faith
And a yearning to share it

John Birch, The Little Worship Leader’s Helper (Thanksgiving Press, 2010) 26.

Pillar One: Provide intentional, systematic, year-round, whole-life stewardship education.

Pillar Two: Provide an annual stewardship commitment process for mission and ministry.

Pillar Three: Provide a regular financial management course for all members.

Pillar Four: Provide a Lifetime Plan for Giving for all members.

Pillar Five: Provide “over and above” opportunities for extending ministry.

Wayne J. Knolhoff, Director of Stewardship – Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in StewardCAST, July 2012, 1-2.

“Christian stewardship is the free and joyous activity of the child of God and God’s family, the church, in managing all of life and life’s resources for God’s purposes.”

Lutheran Church Missouri Synod official stewardship statement in Biblical Stewardship Principles (adopted at 1998 convention).

“According to the New Testament, greed qualifies as one of the most serious of sins. The earliest Christians were told not just to avoid greed, but to watch out for it (Luke 12:15), to flee from it (1 Tim 6:10-11) or to kill it (Col 3:5). Greed is described in most unflattering terms. It is “a root of all kinds of evils” (1 Tim 6:10), one of the twelve things which come out of individuals and defile them (Mark 7:20-22), and evidence of a darkened understanding or a depraved mind (Eph 4:18-19; Rom 1:28-29). Worst of all, greed is said to be a form of idolatry. Jesus went so far as to tell a parable which is directed specifically against greed, in which God chastises the protagonist with the word, “Fool!” (Luke 12:16-20). Furthermore, greed is thought to lead to other sins, including theft, pride and sexual immorality.”

Brian Rosner in Beyond Greed (Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2004) 23.

“It doesn’t matter how much you have. What matters is how much you are willing to give from what you have…The key to giving is remembering Who gives you what you have.” (Cf. Mark 12:41-44)

Dan L. White in God’s Plan for Economic Freedom (Los Angeles: WND Books, 2009) 31-32.