GUARDRAILS | WEEK 4
GUARDRAILS: MONEY MATTERS
INTRODUCTION
Guardrails keep vehicles from straying into dangerous or off-limit areas. We need personal guardrails so we don’t stray into areas of life that can harm us or the people we love. When it comes to our finances, it’s easy to cross the line into the danger zone. That’s why it’s essential to establish guardrails against greed.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Are you a saver or a spender?
In what ways have you benefited from that tendency?
In what ways has it created challenges for you?
How much do you value generosity toward those in need?
Based on your current finances, to what extent are you able to prioritize generosity toward others?
In what ways, if any, would you like your current level of generosity to change?
During the message, Pastor said, “You can be completely out of debt with money in the bank and have driven off the edge financially.”
Do you agree that you can be financially responsible but still have an unhealthy relationship with money? Why or why not?
Read Matthew 6:24.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
In what ways do you currently “serve money”?
How do you think that affects your relationship with God?
On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being, “I’d have to make a few changes” and 10 being, “It feels impossible,” how difficult would it be to reprioritize your finances from “live, save, give” to “give, save, live”?
Read Matthew 6:25-32
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
6. How much do you worry about money?
Does it ever help?
How does knowing your heavenly Father knows your needs affect your attitude about money and worry?
7. What is your best next step toward establishing a guardrail against greed by prioritizing giving?
What is one thing you can do this week to begin to take that step?
How can this group support you?
Read Matthew 6:33
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
8. Establish guardrails around greed.
The best way to avoid greed and irresponsibility is to give, save, and live . . . in that order.
9. Why is giving to the church important?
To begin, pick a percentage and give it first to a church you trust that is making a difference in your life and community.
10. According to the message, Why is giving to other charities before emergencies important?
That’s how you guard against greed.
That’s how to ensure you have money, but money doesn’t have you.