If I Could Tell You One Thing...Money (Matthew 6:24)

These were group-time lessons used for Cornerstone's Family Camp. The room was split into three groups. The speaker introduced the topic (Key Idea) the led the groups through a series of questions and then had them brainstorm actions. Each topic took 20 minutes.
Key Idea
Money acts as a spiritual thermometer, showing our priorities.

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. – Matthew 6:24

There can only be one “first place” in your life. There are no ties. There are no committees. There is either God or something else. And the many something-elses in our life are constantly jockeying to take down God as king of the mountain in our life.

Some of these other things are good things, like love or beauty or excitement. Others prey upon our fears of insignificance or insecurity. The way we use our money is often a symptom or thermometer of our spiritual condition, because it is used as a band-aid for our out-of-control fears and desires.

Jesus highlights one specific symptom: how much attention we pay to the gathering or preservation of money. Think about how much time you spend checking your 401K, your investments, your bank balance, or shifting around money from savings to checking or optimizing your taxes. Are you managing your money or is it managing you? Does it seem like it demanding more and more time and effort? If money is short, do you obsess? If it is plentiful, do you check on it like McScrooge? Those are symptoms that money is trying to claw its way to first place in your life.

Questions
These are questions you should ask yourself about this passage:

The word translated “Money” here was actually the name of a pagan god (mammon). How is money like a god? (see also Colossians 3:5)

What happens to people when they try to serve two masters? What are the symptoms?

How do you think God tests where our true loyalties lie?

Action
What is one practical thing you can do to lessen the hold of money on your life?

List one or two people who are most likely to notice the symptoms in your life.