THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO YOUR CHECK BOOK
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: PRAY BEFORE EATING
1. Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served. When little Logan received his plate, he started eating right away.
2. "Logan, wait until we say our prayer," his mother reminded him. "I don't have to," the little boy replied.
3. "Of course you do," his mother insisted, "we say a prayer before eating at our house."
4. "That's at our house," Logan explained, "but this is Grandma's house and she knows how to cook."
B. TEXT & THESIS
1. We can talk about what God means to our lives all we want, but the real proof is found in Jesus’ Lordship over our finances.
2. The Rich Young Ruler kept all the commandments, but walked away from Jesus when the Lord asked him to give his money away for God.
3. I want to unveil to you 7 principles that can set you free from greed. Title: “The Gospel According to Your Check book.”
I. PRIN. #1: GOD’S RIGHTFUL OWNERSHIP
A. SCRIPTURES
“The earth is the LORD‘S, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it…the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.” Ps. 24:1; Lev.25:23
B. ULTIMATELY, GOD GAVE US OUR WEALTH
1. Our cars, houses, bank accounts, etc., don’t belong to us, but to God. He’s let you have them. “But Pastor! I’ve worked for years to earn these things. Aren’t they rightly mine?”
2. Who caused you to be born in the USA? Who gave you the opportunities you got? You could have been born in Ethiopia in poverty and been illiterate all your life.
3. God didn’t give your assets solely for your own enjoyment. He has other purposes – so that you can be a blessing to others!
4. “God…gives you the ability to produce wealth” Deut. 8:18.
II. PRIN. #2: PURPOSE YOU HAVE POSSESSIONS
A. WE’RE STEWARDS OF WHAT WE HAVE
1. “minister…to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Pet. 4:10
2. Steward – “One employed to oversee resources or people in a large estate.”
3. “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” 1 Cor. 4:2. Purpose? To bless you/ church/ world.
4. Often when we think of Stewardship, we only think of money. BUT giving money is merely part of stewardship. It is also our time and talents.
B. ATTITUDE IS ALL-IMPORTANT
1. Stewardship is about having the HEART OF STEWARDSHIP. In other words, good stewardship is a matter of ATTITUDE that stands behind your giving and your service. It’s not what you give or what you do for God, it’s WHY you do it.
2. The Pharisee’s prayers and/or giving weren’t acceptable to God (Parable of the Publican & Pharisee who went to the Temple to pray, Lk. 18:14) because they were done with hypocrisy.
3. If you give money/ resources to God – wrong attitude… we’re not being good stewards. If we do ministry (serve the church) with the wrong attitude… we’re not being good stewards.
C. HOW ARE WE TO GIVE?
1. JOYOUSLY—“The Lord loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Cor. 9:7.
a. A mother wanted to teach her daughter a moral lesson. She gave the little girl a quarter and a dollar for church.
b. “Put whichever one you want in the collection plate and keep the other for yourself,” she told the girl. When they were coming out of church, the mother asked her daughter which amount she had given.
c. “Well,” said the little girl, “I was going to give the dollar, but just before the collection the man in the pulpit said that we should all be cheerful givers. I knew I’d be a lot more cheerful if I gave the quarter, so I did.”
2. LIBERALLY— If you must err, err on the side of generosity.
3. AS TO THE LORD, NOT MEN— It doesn’t matter if you don’t like something about the person at the top. You be faithful to God, and they will give an account for what they do.
4. SACRIFICIALLY— God doesn’t want us to stop with comfortable giving.
III. PRIN. #3: PROPORTIONATE PARTICIPATION
A. EVERYONE “OWES” THE TITHE
1. " 'A tithe (tenth) of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.”Lev. 27:30.
2. Proverbs 3:9-10, "Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."
3. All are called to give the same %, minimum.
B. WHERE DO YOU PAY YOUR TITHE?
1. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.” Mal. 3:10.
2. The CHURCH is the “storehouse.” I’m glad for all the auxiliary ministries – outreaches, missions, etc., but they are not to receive tithes.
3. The Church is the foundation upon which all other ministries are built. If the local church fails, the other ministries that were developed by the church will also cease to flourish.
4. “THE PURPOSE OF TITHING IS TO TEACH YOU ALWAYS TO PUT GOD FIRST IN YOUR LIVES.” Deut. 14:23, Living Bible.
C. THE HISTORY OF TITHING
1. ABEL – brought the firstfruits of flock; Cain of field.
2. ABRAHAM – paid tithes to Melchizedek.
3. JACOB – at Bethel, became a tither.
4. MOSES & ISRAELITES – instituted in the Law.
5. LORD JESUS – He was dealing with a nation that tithed.
D. CONFIRMED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
1. Jesus told the scribes, “For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” Mt. 23:23
2. EARLY CHURCH: The apostles were tithers.
a. In 1st Corinthians Chapter 16, Paul directs: “Now about the collection for God’s people. Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income.”
b. In two New Testament accounts, Christians gave beyond the 10 percent and gave all that they had.
3. CONTEMPORARY CHURCH – tithing is universally taught in Bible-believing churches.
IV. PRIN. #4: HURDLE TO ENLARGED TRUST
A. TITHING IS A TEST
1. Jesus’ conclusion in the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Lk. 16:1 ff.): “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” LK.16:11.
2. Tithing causes you to trust that God will supply your needs.
B. REASONS FOR TITHING? “ENLARGEMENT OF TRUST”
1. She replied, "I don't have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil… Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 1Kgs 17:13.
2. This was Elijah with the widow of Zarephath. The amazing and request was that God wanted His portion FIRST; she was to trust Him for the rest. In the natural this seems crazy; but do we really trust Him or not?
3. Once you’ve fully surrendered to God, it won’t be a big deal. If it’s a big deal, you probably haven’t fully surrendered to God!
4. When Emperor Constantine (Rome) became a Christian, he commanded his legions of soldiers to convert and be baptized. One army, thinking they would have to become peace lovers, held their fighting arms out of the water when they were baptized, so they could still fight with them.
5. This is very much like many Christians who get baptized, except for their wallets, which they refuse to let God have.
V. PRIN. #5: LAW OF MIRACULOUS MULTIPLICATION
A. GOD IS NOT LIMITED TO OUR RESOURCES
1. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’” 1 Kgs. 17:14
2. 5 LOAVES & 2 FISH FED THOUSANDS!
3. It’s a trap to hold on to possessions. God can remove them any time He gets ready and He can replace them any time He gets ready.
B. SOME THINGS WE SHOULDN’T SAY:
1. “I CAN’T AFFORD TO TITHE.” The TRUTH – you can’t afford not to. You will NEVER out-give God.
2. “IF I HAD MORE, I WOULD.” The Truth – Bible says he who is faithful in little will also be faithful in much. People who don’t tithe $1 will never tithe $10,000. It’s just as hard or harder to tithe on lot of money! Don’t let that be an excuse.
VI. PRIN. #6: PROMISE OF GUARANTEED RETURN
A.SCRIPTURE: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” 2 Cor. 9:6
B. GREAT GIVERS
HENRY CROWELL QUAKER OATS 70%
MR. PROCTOR IVORY SOAP >10%
WILLIAM COLGATE COLGATE 100%
A.A. HYDE MENTHOLATUM MILLIONS
WALLACE JOHNSON HOLIDAY >10%
J.L. KRAFT KRAFT CORP. 25%
STANLEY TAM STATES SMELT/REFIN. 60%
MR. WELCH WELCH’S GRAPE MAIN PUR.
JOHN TEMPLETON TEMP. FOUND. 15 BILL
HOWARD E. BUTT H.E.B. 20-90%
C. MORE EXAMPLES:
1. Robert A. Laidlaw, the New Zealand businessman and famous author, started giving money to the church at the age of 18.
His salary was $3 a week.
2. Later he promised God he would give 10 percent and would continually increase the amount as his income increased. At 25 years of age, Laidlaw increased his tithing to 50 percent! That’s right! He gave 50 percent of all his earnings back to God.
3. Nearly 50 years later he reflected, “In spiritual communion and in material things, God has blessed me a hundredfold, and has graciously entrusted to me a stewardship far beyond my expectations when, as a lad of 18, I started to give God a definite portion of my wages.”
4. As Bill Hybels once said, “The tithe is a wonderful goal but a terrible place to stop.”
VII. PRIN. #7: TRUTH OF RIGHTEOUS REWARD
A. THE GREAT REWARD TO TITHERS
1. “ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts. Mal. 3:11.
2. “I will…open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” Mal. 3:10.
3. By not tithing, we actually cause a type of curse to consume our money. Haggai 1:6 describes it as putting your money in “bags with holes in them” so that, without you knowing it, your resources are bleeding away.
4. On the other hand, Malachi tells us that obedience in this area opens the windows of heaven to us. God’s resources are fully made available to us.
B. MISTAKE OF THINKING YOU MUST HOLD ON
1. There was a wealthy family who had a fortune in artwork around their large home. One of the most expensive pieces was a beautiful vase from the time of Alexander the Great.
2. This family had an only child, a two year old toddler boy. One day they heard the little guy screaming. He had his hand stuck in the priceless Grecian vase.
3. They tried everything to get his arm out, but with no success. Finally the father took a hammer, and broke the vase to get the boys hand out.
4. What was the reason the boy’s hand was stuck in the vase? They opened his fist to find a paltry penny he had found in the bottom.
5. Grasping a penny, he lost something far more precious. That is what we do when we fail to trust God with the tithe.
CONCLUSION:
A. IN HEAVEN: A MANSION OR A SHACK?
1. Sigmund Freud’s favorite story was about a sailor who was shipwrecked on a South sea island. He was honored by the natives, who hoisted him to their shoulders, carried to their village, and set on a royal throne.
2. He learned that it was their custom that once a year, they proclaimed one man to be king, king for a year. Because they had never seen anyone like the sailor on their island before, they chose to give the honor to him.
3. However, the sailor soon learned that there was one catch. After his year-long reign was over, he would be banished to a deserted island, where he would be left to starve to death.
4. It occurred to him, however, that he was king, at least for one year. So he ordered carpenters to build boats, farmer s to plant fruit trees and crops, and stone masons to build a palace, all on the deserted island.
5. When his kingship was over, he was banished, but not to a deserted island. He was sent to live out the rest of his days on an island paradise.
6. "Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves." - Matthew 6:19-20 (NLT).
B. THE CALL: Salvation & Surrender of Our Finances
