THE FORWARD WALK – PART FIVE
THE WALK OF TRUST
PROVERBS 3:5-10; MALACHI 3:10
Dr. Larry L. Thompson (2003)
INTRODUCTION
This month we are focusing our attention on the purpose of our church: A Church that understands the importance of THE FORWARD WALK. The forward walk is essential if we are to adequately prepare our hearts for our FORWARD BY FAITH campaign and for our commitment Sunday on June 1st just one month from now. If we are going to be a church that is know for their FORWARD WALK, then it requires that each of us to understand the biblical principle of the “WALK OF TRUST.” By trust I am referring to being good stewards of the resources that God has entrusted to each of us. First Baptist is a generous church, especially when you consider an article written by Paul Foy of the Associated Press dated 4-28-03 entitled, “CHARITY STUDY PLUGS SALT LAKE CITY AS GIVERS – FORT LAUDERDALE IS CHEAP!”
“Salt Lake City residents gave nearly 15% of their income to religious or charitable organizations while Miami-Fort Lauderdale gave 4.7% of their income to charities.”
While it does take money for a church to WALK FORWARD BY FAITH. The purpose of this message is not to raise money, but to help DEVELOP, EQUIP, and add SPIRITUALLY MATURITY to your walk with Christ. My job is not raising money, my responsibility is to equip the saints and to insure that we have growing mature believers; stewardship is a very important part of that spiritual growth.
Some of you don’t like to hear sermons on stewardship because you may be struggling financially, and you don’t want to feel guilty because you aren’t giving. I’m not here to lay a guilt trip on you and hurt you–I’m here today to help you. Have you ever considered that your financial problems may be caused by the fact you aren’t honoring God with the resources He has entrusted to your care?
Some of you say, “You don’t understand, I’m flat broke.” Perhaps you’re not sure so I have prepared a Top Ten list to know if you’re broke.
(Fitz, let’s do a Letterman top ten list feel with this)
THE TOP TEN WAYS TO KNOW YOU’RE BROKE
10. American Express calls and says: “Please leave home without it!”
9. You go to the food bank and they tell you you’re overdrawn
8. Long distance companies never call you to switch.
7. You’ve started washing your paper plates.
6. You clean under your sofa only because you hope to find change.
5. You consider a lottery ticket as your best investment.
4. You offer to wash camels in exchange for a pageant ticket.
3. You rob Peter…then turn around and rob Paul
2. You focus on the things money can’t buy…like your unpaid bills.
1. At Communion, you always ask for seconds!
If you are to join us in the forward walk as our church moves FORWARD BY FAITH then you must understand that Jesus gives you more than YEARS to your life: He gives LIFE to your years. True prosperity is not living in luxury; it’s when all your needs are being met and you are content and enjoy life. By that definition, some of the richest people on this planet don’t have prosperity–they have wealth, but not prosperity. The key to learning how to live well and prosper is found in Proverbs 3:5-10: “THE WALK OF TRUST!”
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; [6] in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. [7] Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. [8] This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. [9] Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; [10] then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
We will use the word T.R.U.S.T. as an acrostic to teach us how we can live well and prosper:
I. TAKE AN INVENTORY (3:5-6)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; [6] in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
During January, many retailers shut their doors to customers and spend time taking inventory. In other words, they examine and make a record of their assets. For a few moments, I’d like to ask you to shut your mind to any outside distractions and look within to see what is really inside your heart. Look at verse 5 again: Do you really trust God? Do you trust Him with all your heart, or is it more of a half-hearted dependence? Do you live life according to what God says in His Word or do you depend upon your own understanding? In other words before you make a decision to go FORWARD BY FAITH, do you have to have it all figured out for yourself? Do you acknowledge God in everything you do?
Now all of those ideas in verse five and six are spiritual in nature, look again: “Trust the Lord completely, acknowledge Him for direction.” These are difficult terms that are hard to sink your teeth into, it’s like trying to chew Cool-Whip. Do you want to see a practical way to know for sure if you’re trusting God? Look with me in verse nine. “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;” The best place to start your trust inventory is to look and see how you are handling your money and your possessions in relation to God?
If you are honoring God with what He has entrusted to you, then you have a good supply of trust. As you take this trust inventory, a good place to look would be at your cancelled checks for 2002, your monthly bank statements. Because according to this passage of God’s Word, how you use the resources He has provided for you is a key indicator of your spiritual trust level. Next:
II. RECOGNIZE GOD AS YOUR SOURCE (5-6)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; [6] in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
What’s going to happen in our American economy? Every time Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan opens his mouth, people hang onto every word, and the stock market reflects his statements. I can tell you exactly what’s going to happen in the stock market for the remainder of 2003–but keep it quiet because I don’t want to go down with Martha Stewart for giving you insider information: Here’s the tip: “The market this year will go up and it will go down, and then it will go up again and down again.”
If you want to learn how to TRUST GOD AND WALK FORWARD BY FAITH then you need to get into God’s economy. It’s going in only one direction! Here is the key principle of God’s Economy:
GOD IS THE SOURCE OF ALL YOUR WEALTH
It’s not your job, nor your investments, nor even the fact that some of you got your money the old fashioned way–you inherited it! But these things are not your true source of wealth, God is. Some of you disagree with me because you think you trained, and worked, and slaved and you earned everything you possess. Who do you think gave you the ability to work and earn? Here’s the bottom line about your bottom line: Deut. 8:16-18
“He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. [17] You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." [18] But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.”
Your income is a lot like the manna of the Old Testament. When Moses was leading the Israelites, there was no food in the desert so every morning except the Sabbath when the Jews woke up there was manna on the ground. The Bible says manna was round and white and sweet: it was sort of like Frosted Flakes. And when you don’t have food, you know what they say about manna flakes…they’re GRRReat!
God provided it and all they had to do was to go out and collect it. But they could only collect enough for that very day, if they tried to hoard it and store it–it spoiled. Every financial resource you have is like that. The New Testament says, James 1:17
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Now imagine you were there in the wilderness eating supper with your Jewish family and your Mamma brings manna soup to the table, followed by manna casserole, and bamanna puddin’ for dessert. You might comment, “Mmmmmm, Mamma, this is good–where did you get it?” What if Mamma said, “Oh, son I whipped it up myself!” Wrong, it didn’t come from Mamma it came down from God as a gift. But listen to what we say about our income, or houses, our 401Ks? “I made this myself; I built this myself?"
Deuteronomy 8 clearly explains that God provided manna for two reasons:
(1) To HUMBLE them–they couldn’t brag about creating it
(2) To TEST them–to see if they would acknowledge God was the source.
Two questions: Are you humbled? Are you passing God’s test?
III. USE YOUR INCOME TO HONOR GOD [3:9]
“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.”
How do you honor God with your income? First, you acknowledge He is your source, and then you give Him your first fruits. Of course, when this was written, grain, grapes, wine and livestock were traded just like we use money. When a farmer harvested his crop, he would give 10% of his produce to the priests at the Temple. He would give the first and the best. Whenever you hear the word “tithe,” it means one-tenth or 10%. Sometimes a person will say, “I tithe 5% of my income to the Lord.” That’s a misuse of the word–it means exactly 10%. Tithe means 10% like “quarter” means 25% or “half” means 50%. However, Biblical tithing is more than giving God 10%–it means WALK OF TRUST by giving God the first 10%. The Bible says, “Honor the Lord with your first fruits”–not your leftovers.
Illustration: Paul Harvey – Frozen Turkey Question
Paul Harvey tells the true story that illustrates the tendency we have to give God our leftovers. The Butterball Turkey Company set up a consumer hotline to answer questions. One woman called to ask about cooking a turkey she had kept in her freezer for 23 years. The operator told her it might be safe if the freezer had been kept below zero degrees the entire time. But the operator warned the woman that, even if it were safe, the flavor had probably deteriorated, and she wouldn’t recommend eating it. The caller replied, “That’s exactly what we thought. We’ll just go ahead and give it to the church.”
God deserves first our TRUST and our TREASURE–not our old TURKEYS. Tithing is the starting point for Biblical stewardship. A lot of people don’t tithe because they give God the leftovers instead of the first fruits. If you wait to until after you pay the power bill, the gas bill, or the house payment before you give to God–it will be very hard for you to tithe–you’re using leftovers!
Through the years, we’ve made a commitment to make sure the first check Cynthia prints on our computer each month is the one to First Baptist Church. When you understand the WALK OF TRUST then you know the tithe is acknowledging God with the first fruits then we honor Him with our offering or sacrificial gift.
IV. SHOW YOUR LOVE TO GOD BY GIVING TO HIM
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
We don’t give to God because He commands us to, although He does command it. We give to God to show we love Him. We Trust HIM. When you LOVE and TRUST you always give. The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave ...” You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
Love is always expensive. When you love someone you don’t stop to ask how much it’s going to cost.
Illustration: Love for Cynthia…
Thirty years ago when I was a college student, I set my eyes on Cynthia. I remember when she agreed to go out on a date with me. I spared no expense. That afternoon I washed my 1963 Starchief Pontiac and filled the radiator full. The thermostat was broken and I had to stop and add water to the radiator about every hour. I drove the route from her house to the world famous restaurant in Oklahoma City, “Across the Street” before I ever picked her up so I could work out the route to drive to insure I didn’t have to ever use reverse…My car only knew one direction. (That is where the original FORWARD BY FAITH came from when people rode with me) I went to the store and bought a new shirt to wear. Do you remember those sleeveless muscle shirts? Well, it WASN’T one of those. I picked her up and I was really trying to impress her on our date so, I even ordered for her. I chose the most expensive thing on the menu, Bacon Bar-b-que Burger with Cheese. I didn’t care that it cost $3.95–I was in love. The next week I took her to a movie, “Wait Until Dark?” The scary ones are good because they’ll grab you and hold on. If that theater had offered reserved seats, I’d have bought a ticket to sit in the most expensive seat. After the movie, we stopped to add water to the radiator, and I took her to a fancy place for dessert: Braum’s Ice Cream. I mean, I could have gone to at the Rancho Village drug store where we got ice cream for a nickel a scoop and a dime for two scoops. But BRAUMS was new, the top of the line–.50 cents a scoop. “Nothin’s too good for my baby.” Did I mind? Not at all–I was in love and I was going first-class all the way that night. I took her home (by the way, students, I never kissed my wife until after we were married. Of course, before we got married she wasn’t my wife) I didn’t just kiss her–I really kissed her. I’ll never forget that date. She was my first real love and I can honestly say I never thought about the cost then and thirty years later I still don’t think about the cost…she is worth more than I could possibly give her.
In the past, I’ve said, “When you fall in love with Jesus, you’ll just sacrificially give automatically.” I’m ready to retract that statement, because there are some of you who really love Jesus and you aren’t giving to Him. Listen: Some people will tell you, “dedicate your heart to the Lord and the offerings will follow; but our Lord put it the other way around. He said in Matthew 6:21:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
When your TREASURE is dedicated, your HEART will be dedicated. Your heart will follow where you put your treasure–so invest your money where you want your heart to be!
Let’s review. Take an Inventory; Recognize that God is Your Source; Use your Income to Honor God; and Show your Love by Giving to God. The final dynamic in the FORWARD WALK OF TRUST is:
V. TEST GOD’S PROMISE FOR YOUR LIFE
In Malachi 3:10 God’s gives us His promise.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
He promises if you will honor Him with your wealth by giving your tithe as first fruits, He will make “you’ll have all you need plus a little more.” I believe when the Bible speaks, God speaks, why to you think they call this GOD’S WORD? And I believe God cannot lie. But there are some of you who are scratching your heads wondering if God can live up to that kind of promise. I got good news for you; God understands your skepticism, so He has issued you an invitation to test this promise. However, the testing begins with TRUSTING! In the last book of the Old Testament, God says through the prophet Malachi: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food [ministry] in my house [local church]. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops ...” Malachi 3:10-11.
God promises that if you will be faithful to honor Him with the whole tithe, He will pour out so many blessings on you that you’ll run out of room to contain all of them! He may also bless you by preventing things in your life that devour your resources. God tests us plenty of times; however, this is the only place in the Bible where God invites us to TEST Him. I’ve often said, you can’t take God’s Will for a test drive like your buying a new car, but in the area of tithing, God says, “Go ahead, take her for a spin–here are the keys–take it home and drive it for awhile and see if you like it.”
ILLUSTRATION: DOLLAR BILL
I want to use a dollar bill to illustrate a misconception about tithing. If you had a one-dollar bill, then a tithe would be ten cents. Some people think the tithe belongs to the Lord and the 90% belongs to us, pretty good deal, huh? Actually 100% of it belongs to God and we tithe to acknowledge that it all belongs to Him. We are allowed to manage it for Him, and we must be wise stewards. I counsel young couples to start out their lives following the 10-10-80 financial strategy. Give God 10% save 10% and learn to live on the other 80%. Some of you are reluctant to tithe because you are having a hard time paying your bills on your 100%, you don’t have 10% to spare. Let me explain God’s math for you. Here’s a formula you’ll never see taught in a human math class. In God’s economy 100% minus 10% given to God is greater than 100%. In other words, you will find the 90% left over will buy more and go further than the 100% if you don’t tithe. That drives ungodly accountants crazy. You probably don’t understand that, and that is understandable because verse 5 says we shouldn’t lean on our own understanding. But you will never know formula is true until you test God’s promise! I can look into your faces today and I can know that many of you have discovered the joy of tithing, and some of you haven’t yet discovered it. Some of you look at peace and assured of the truth, and others of you look like you just ate a bowl of chili rode a Tilt-a-whirl! This is really not a message on tithing; it’s a message on trusting.
ILLUSTRATION: MR. RICH WILL MAKE UP THE DIFFERENCE!
What if I told you about a man in our church who came to talk to him about tithing. We’ll call him Bob. Bob was really troubled because he wanted to tithe but because of all his bills, he just felt like he couldn’t afford it. I informed Bob I had good news, I then mentioned a multi-millionaire in the church, we’ll call him RICH, and said, “Bob, don’t worry. You know that RICH has millions. He told me to tell anyone like you who wanted to try to tithe that he would help them. If you start tithing and you come up short of money at the end of the month, just let RICH know and he’ll gladly make up your shortfall. Now, would you be obedient in your giving with that kind of arrangement?” Bob was smiling, and he said, “Well, if Mr. RICH is willing to make up my shortfall, sure, pastor! I will start biblically giving this week!”
Obviously, I just made that up about RICH paying Bob’s bills. But let me show you something amazing: you say you’d be willing to tithe because you trust a man who has a few millions, but you aren’t willing to put the same kind of trust in your Heavenly Father who owns the universe? The Same FATHER that GAVE HIS SON’S LIFE SO YOU COULD HAVE ETERNAL LIFE?”
The Key Question is not “Can I afford to sacrificially give,” but, “Can I trust God?” You’ve got to answer that for yourself. If you say, “Yes” then the next question is simply: Will I now begin to trust God?
CONCLUSION:
Dr. Shadrack Meshack Lockeridge one of greatest black preachers America. In 1976 he preached a sermon on trusting God…This is a portion of sermon
“God is greater than all the superlative statements of supremacy ever shared. No far reaching telescope can bring into focus the shoreline of his unlimited supply. No deep digging dredge can discover the depth of His determination to deliver you–You can trust Him!
He doesn’t need me and He doesn’t need you. He stands alone on the solitary pinnacle of His omnipotence. He is enduringly strong; and He is entirely sincere; He is eternally steadfast; and He is impartially merciful. He is unparalleled and unprecedented; He is unique and unescapable. He is the cornerstone of all civilization; He is the central doctrine of all truthology–He is God’s Son, our Savior and you can trust Him!
He can meet all your needs and He can do it simultaneously. He gives you hope when you’re hopeless; Help when you’re helpless; peace when you’re in pain; strength when you struggle; rest when you’re restless; and courage when you cry. He sees and He sympathizes; He guards and He guides. He heals the sick; cleanses the leper; sets the captives free; and forgives sinners. I’m telling you, Church, you can trust Him!
He is the key to knowledge; the wellspring of wisdom; the doorway of deliverance; and He’s the pathway of peace. He’s the roadway to righteousness; the highway to holiness; and He’s the gateway to glory–and you can trust Him!
He’s the master of the masters; the captain of the conquerors, the head of the heroes and the leader of the legislators. He’s the governor of governors, the prince of the princes, He’s the Lord of all Lords and He’s the king of all Kings and you CAN trust Him.
I wish I could describe Him to you–but He’s indescribable, He’s irresistible, He’s irreplaceable, He’s indisputable, He’s invincible! His Word is all you need, and His love never ends. His grace is sufficient and His mercy never fails; His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I tell you, you can’t outlive Him and you can’t live without Him. Pilate couldn’t stop Him; Herod couldn’t kill Him; death couldn’t handle Him; and, praise God, the grave couldn’t hold Him! He’s alive forevermore and forevermore you can trust Him!
Now take a moment and look at your CrossPoints outline. I’m not going to ask you to turn this in, it’s between you and God only. It says: Because I want First Baptist to be a church that walks FORWARD BY FAITH; and because I realize trust is the single most important element in a relationship with God, I will demonstrate my trust in God by being obedient to Him in the area of my systematic and sacrificial giving.” The answer is either YES or NO.
I know God can be trusted. If Malachi 3:10 is not true, then how do we know John 3:16 is true? I believe both of them are true! So if you are ready to live well and prosper then here’s your chance to trust in the Lord with all your heart. Take the FORWARD WALK…THE WALK OF TRUST…FORWARD BY FAITH
