21st February 2025
The best thing
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (NIVUK)
Over the years there have been many songs about money. Abba’s Money, Money, Money, included the lines: Always sunny
In the rich man’s world
All the things I could do
If I had a little money.
In the song Money from Cabaret is the line:
A mark, a yen, a buck, or a pound
Is all that makes the world go around
The Beatles famously sang in Money (That’s What I Want) the lines:
The best things in life are free
But you can keep them for the birds and bees
Now give me money (that’s what I want).
You have probably heard the accusation that churches only want money and don’t care about people. It is certainly true that some churches and ministries have been guilty of financial abuse, placing an undue emphasis on acquiring more and more money. It’s also true that churches need money to survive and that it is the responsibility of members, as good financial stewards, to supply those needs as they are able, and as they have been blessed (2 Corinthians 9:7). But money is not to be the centre of a church’s preaching: the gospel isn’t ‘money, money, money’, or ‘money makes the world go round’, nor should the Christian church give the impression that ‘money is what we want’.
The Beatles were right when they wrote ‘The best things in life are free’ because the best thing we could ever have is God’s grace, freely given to us through Jesus Christ. This ‘best thing’ should be the centre of our preaching, as Paul said, ‘For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.’ (1 Corinthians 2:2).
The Christian church must concentrate on preaching the things ‘of first importance’ (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). When it does, people will come to faith and will cheerfully give to support the work of the church in spreading the gospel around the world so that others can have the same experience.
As Bonhoeffer astutely observed, ‘grace is free, but it is not cheap’.1 It comes to us at great cost to God: the suffering and death of God’s Son. When we realise this, we are rich indeed.
Prayer
Loving Father, thank you for the free gift of grace through which we receive forgiveness and reconciliation with you. Help us to treasure this above all else. In Jesus’s name, Amen
1 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
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Study by: Barry Robinson About the author: |
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Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA
Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm
Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church