MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX
A. I’m going to read 1 Timothy 6:17-19 this morning. And the subject of this sermon is "God’s economic plan." I’m not going to talk about the world’s economic plan because you hear about that every day.
You hear about the stock market & it’s ups & downs, the rising & falling prices of oil & the problems faced by the banks & S&L institutions. You’re well aware of the world’s economic plan or the lack of it.
B. I don’t want to talk about your economic plan, either, & I certainly would not be so presumptuous as to talk about my economic plan. Because if your economic plan is no better than mine then we both have reason to be concerned.
But I would like to talk about God’s economic plan. So let’s listen to what the Word of God has to say in 1 Timothy 6:17-19, for it is a passage that may explain God’s economic plan better than any other.
"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
"Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, & to be generous & willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." [1 Timothy 6:17-19]
C. One of the greatest mistakes, I think, that we make when we talk about money in the church is that we often do it in the context of a special appeal or in a crisis situation.
If I stand up & tell you that there are thousands of starving people who need our help & we’re going to take up an offering to send food - if that strikes your fancy - you’ll probably give & maybe even give sacrificially to help meet that need.
Or if I remind you that this is "Miracle Sunday" & we need your gift to help us build our new church building, & you feel that that’s a legitimate need, then you will give generously in response to that need, too.
And the result is that too often Christian people have been conditioned to think that the only time they really need to get serious about giving is when there is a need that appeals to their particular emotion. And some needs are just more appealing than others, aren’t they?
So we like to say, "Well, I gave to build the new church building," or "I gave to feed a hungry child." But to say, "I gave to pay the electric bill," or "I gave to buy some Sunday School books," is not very appealing. You see, our giving is oftentimes determined by the heart appeal of a particular need.
ILL. A few years ago some Christians were challenged to give for hotels & motels & a Christian amusement park. So they gave & gave sacrificially, only to find out later that much of the money was put into the pockets of the ones who appealed for their gifts.
ILL. And during the last two weeks we have watched with disgust Primetime Live’s expose of 3 TV preachers, & we say, "What a misuse, what an injustice that people professing to be Christians would be guilty of such deception."
D. But the problem actually starts with us, with people who don’t recognize that the teaching of Scripture is not to give to needs but to give to God.
And when that is done properly & scripturally, the problems that we have been hearing so much about will be avoided because God has a system of safeguards to prevent just such misuse of His funds.
And that system is housed in the local congregation, the Church. It is a system of checks & balances within the body of the church to make sure that His funds are not misused. That’s a part of God’s economic system.
PROP. So I want to talk about that this morning, about how God wants us to look at His system & how that affects us. There are 6 points to this sermon.
I. GOD OWNS ALL THE WEALTH IN THE WORLD
A. Point #1 is this - God owns all the wealth in the world. Psalms 24:1-2 says, "The earth is the Lord’s & the fullness thereof, the world & all they that dwell therein." Or as the NIV puts it, "All of the world is the Lord’s & everything that is in it."
ILL. Now if you went down to the Cameron County records & looked through the deeds of property, someplace along the way you would find that at 2301 Quail Trail there is a deed to a piece of property that has my wife’s name & my name on it. It says we are the owners of that piece of property.
But don’t you believe it. For if you read the fine print you’ll discover that piece of property has a rather large mortgage on it, & it says that only as long as Melvin & Ethel Newland keep up the payments on that property will they get to live in that house.
And it goes on to say that if we make all the payments on time, provided, of course, we have paid all the taxes & a hurricane hasn’t destroyed it or a fire burned it up, that when we are 78 the house will finally be ours. Meanwhile, we get to mow the lawn, patch the roof, & fix the leaky faucets.
B. However, the house will not be mine even when I’m 78, for it’s really just mine on loan from God. He is letting me live in it for a few years. He lets me breathe His air. He lets me drink His water. He lets me bask in His sunshine. He lets me enjoy the showers of blessing that come on a December day.
And the beautiful part of it is that God doesn’t send me a bill saying, "You have breathed 25 lbs. of air this week, so you owe me X number of dollars." And God never sends me a notice that my payment is overdue.
SUM. The point is, none of us could live even for a second on this planet if God didn’t abundantly share His wealth with us. In actuality, all we will ultimately have on this earth is a hole in the ground, 3’ by 6’ in size. And we won’t have it. It will have us. "The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world & all they that dwell therein."
II. GOD INTENDS FOR HIS WEALTH TO BE CIRCULATED
The 2nd point that needs to be made is this - God intends for His wealth to be circulated. This is a teaching in Scripture that seems very hard for us to understand. But the teaching is clear.
Even though God is all powerful & even though God owns everything, God cannot spend His silver & gold unless we give it back to Him. He gives it to us. He will not take it away from us. He gives it to us either to give or to hoard. And if we hoard it, God can’t use it.
God wants us to give it back so He can bless it & multiply it & use it over & over & over again. And He intends for the cycle to continue so that His wealth can be constantly circulated.
He says, "Trust me, I’ll take care of you. Don’t worry about the food you’re going to eat. Just trust me to provide for all your needs. My wealth is to be circulated."
ILL. Someone said that "A joy isn’t a joy until you share it. And love isn’t love until you give it away. A bell isn’t a bell until you ring it & a song isn’t a song until you sing it." And wealth isn’t wealth until you circulate it. And the real blessing comes when that wealth is circulated.
III. WE ARE ALL STEWARDS OF GOD’S WEALTH
A. The third point is this - we are stewards of God’s wealth. God provides it to us, & He says, "Here you are, you are all stewards." We don’t have a choice in that. We are all stewards.
By "steward" we simply mean that I’m a caretaker. I take care of the things that God gives me to use while I make my journey through this world.
Now here is where I do have a choice. I can be either a good steward or a bad steward. If I’m a bad steward then I hoard it. I keep it to myself. I become selfish with it. I interpret the right of use to be the certificate of ownership, & pretty soon I begin to think to myself, "It is mine. I worked for it. I earned it. I saved it. Therefore I can keep it or do with it whatever I want."
B. There are a couple of pertinent warnings in Scripture. Ecclesiastes 5:13 says, "I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner. . ."
And Romans 14:11-12 says, "`As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, `every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God."
We are like the people in the parable of the talents. God gives us something to use for a while, & then finally He comes back, like the master in the parable, & He says, "Now give me an accounting. What have you done with what I have given you to use during your time on the face of the earth?"
SUM. The day of judgment will be a day of accounting.
IV. I CAN APPROPRIATE GOD’S WEALTH BY GIVING
Principle #4 is this - I can appropriate God’s wealth by giving.
In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6, vs. 38, are some familiar words. You’ve heard these words of Jesus before. He says, "Give, & it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together & running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
Now there are three parts to that verse. First, there is a command. God says, "Give." God has the right to issue that command because it is all His anyway. So He issues the command.
But with the command, secondly, there is a promise. God says that when you give I’ll give it back to you. That’s the whole idea of circulation.
Thirdly, there’s a principle & here is the principle, "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Jesus is basically saying that with the same scoop you use God will scoop it back. So if you use a little scoop don’t expect to get a lot back. But if you use a big scoop God is going to give you a big scoop in return.
Paul said it this way, "What you sow is exactly what you reap." If you sow sparingly you reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully you reap bountifully.
So if I’m not receiving from God, then what is the problem? Either God is not keeping His promise, which is never true, or I have a giving problem, & that may be very true.
V. I MUST ACT MORE FROM FAITH THAN REASON
A. Now #5 is this - to determine how big my scoop ought to be, I must act more from faith than reason. Now that is hard for us to understand. The amount of my gift to God will be determined more by my faith than by reason.
When you read through Scripture you’ll find that most of the people who are singled out for giving great gifts to God would have never given the gifts if they had made their decision based on reason.
ILL. The widow would have never given her last two mites if she had acted strictly from reason.
ILL. The little boy would have never given his lunch to Jesus if he had been acting on reason. He would have said, "If I give this lunch away, there won’t be anything for me to eat." But since he acted on faith instead of reason he gave it, & the lunch fed not only him, but every body else, too. And all 5,000 were fed until they were satisfied.
ILL. If the Christians in Macedonia who are mentioned in 2 Corinthians 8, had acted only from reason they would never have given to help the poor Christians in Jerusalem. Paul says that they gave out of their poverty. If they had sat down & carefully calculated how much they had to give, they wouldn’t have given anything. But because they acted in faith, they were able to give & give generously.
You see, if you work strictly from reason, you add up your income & you subtract your expenses. And whatever is left over after you have given to yourself, you give to God. Whatever you can afford to give you give, which in most cases is nothing at all.
B. But if you act from faith that changes the whole perspective.
ILL. I have a preacher friend who says that every year he plays a game with God. He calls it "How about?" He’s not sure what God calls it. But he says he goes through this little game where he sits down & anticipates his income for the new year & he anticipates his expenses, & then he plans what he is going to give to God in that next year.
And he comes to God & says, "God, how about this?" And God says, "How about this?" Now he doesn’t mean that he hears voices from heaven. He just means that God usually pricks his conscience & says, "You are really a skinflint. That’s not near enough. How about this much?"
Then he says, "Well God, how about this much?" And he adjusts his figures a bit. And God says, "Well, how about this much?" And he plays this game "How about?" until finally he reaches agreement with God. And usually the agreement reached is much more than he ever intended to give.
He concludes by saying that he tells God there is no way he can do this. God says, "Just trust me, child, I’ll take care of you." And God always has.
C. Now acting on faith is important for two reasons:
1. #1, God knows the need. I don’t know the need. In fact I am leery of people telling us that they have just received a revelation from God & we must give to their cause or something drastic will happen in our lives.
I know that there is an overall need to evangelize the world for Jesus. I know that there is an overall need to go to all the peoples of the world & disciple them. I know that. But I don’t know what that means to this congregation. I know that we are not meeting the need whatever it might be.
2. Secondly, He knows how much of the need He wants to meet through me & that’s important. So in faith, rather than reason, I determine the amount that I am going to give to the overall ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ & I trust the Lord to make it all possible through me.
VI. GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER
Now finally, #6. God loves a cheerful giver. You already knew that.
In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul is talking about giving. He says, "Don’t give begrudgingly. Don’t give with a scowl on your face. Don’t give saying, `Well, I didn’t really want to but I will anyway.’"
But he said, "Give with a smile on your lips. Give with joy in your heart. Give cheerfully because God loves a cheerful giver."
ILL. A story appeared a few years ago (Jan. 7, 1986) in the Dallas Morning News. It’s the story of a 14-year-old girl named Donna Ashlock. Donna Ashlock lived in Patterson, CA. She was a bright girl, very popular in school, athletic in nature, with a charming personality.
But there was one thing wrong with Donna Ashlock. She had a very diseased heart. And the doctors decided that a heart transplant was the only thing that could save her life. And if there was no heart available to transplant she would probably die.
The story gets more involved. There was a 15-year-old boy by the name of Felipe Garza who fell head over heels in love with Donna Ashlock. He loved the way she looked. He loved the way she talked. For a long time he just sort of mooned & swooned every time she walked by.
But then one day he heard that she might die, & he told his parents that he wished that he could take his heart out & put it in Donna Ashlock so that she would live, even though it meant that he died.
The story goes on. One day Felipe Garza, the picture of health, had a blood vessel rupture in his brain, leaving him brain dead, but all of his organs healthy. In their grief his parents decided to give his organs away.
Among the organs that were donated was his heart, & it now beats inside the body of Donna Ashlock. His parents said, "He gave his heart to his girlfriend. I know that is what he wanted to do. The way we look at it he gave her his heart twice, & both times he really meant it."
CONCL. You & I stand amazed at that story. But the Bible contains a story greater than that. It says, "There is no greater love than if a man lay down his life for another." And that’s what Jesus has done. Our God is a giving God. He has given all to us, & He wants His people to learn how to be generous, too, & willing to share.
But first, we need to give ourselves to Him. So the invitation is extended to you in the name of Jesus, & it invites you to give yourself to the Lord & Master & Savior of us all. Will you come as we stand & as we sing?
