What does Tribe teach about worry about finances?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on finances starts not with budgets or generosity campaigns but with the heart. Brian Hunter pointed out that Jesus talks about finances more in the gospels than he talks about hell, because Jesus understands that where our money goes and where our affections actually live are the same question. The whole sweep of Matthew 6, from treasure stored on earth or in heaven through the familiar verses about worry over food and clothing and landing on seeking the kingdom first, is one connected argument. Those anti-worry verses get printed on coffee mugs in isolation, but read together they all trace back to money and trust. Brian was clear: Jesus was not offering anxiety management. He was pressing on where we actually place our trust.
Brian built the teaching around three things giving is connected to: love, trust, and giving Jesus something to work with. On love, he went to Luke 7, where Jesus tells the woman who anointed His feet that her many sins have been forgiven, so she has shown much love, and that a person forgiven little shows only a little love. The point, Brian said, is not that some people actually have fewer sins. The Pharisees in that room had built a false moral accounting system that told them they were basically fine, and that system produced very little love. The corrective is that all of us are no different from that woman in terms of what we owe. What changes love is the awareness of how much has been forgiven. As Brian put it, "Giving reflects our heart and is a practical way of expressing our love for Jesus."
On trust, Brian pressed on the gap many people carry between believing in Jesus in theory and actually trusting Him with their finances. Giving, he said, trains the heart to trust Jesus with every aspect of life, not just the parts that feel spiritual. And on giving Jesus something to work with, he drew from the feeding of the five thousand in John 6: five loaves and two fish became twelve baskets of leftovers. The invitation is to put something real in Jesus's hands and watch what He does with it. Brian named it plainly: "There's a difference between belief and trust," and finances are one of the clearest places where that difference shows up.
Taught from Matthew 6:19-34 · Luke 7:47 · John 6:5-13 · Romans 3:23 · James 2:10
“There's a difference between belief and trust.”
From Three Aspects of Tithing
The passage taught · Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
4 Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- July 14, 2025 Three Aspects of Tithing Brian Hunter walks through Matthew 6 and Luke 7 to show why giving reflects love and trust in God, not just a church budget line.
- July 13, 2025 Love, Trust, and Something to Work With Brian Hunter explores tithing as an act of love and trust, drawing from Matthew 6 and John 6 to show how giving reflects the heart and invites God to act.