Holistic Stewardship
Text: Various
9/7/03 FFWB Louisville
Introduction:
A College student had the following message on his dorm answering machine:
“Hi! This is Fred. If it’s the phone company, I sent the money. If it’s Mom or Dad, please send money. If it’s the financial office, you didn’t loan me enough money. If it’s my girlfriend, leave a message-- and don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of money.”
That is a pretty good description of the way too many Christians treat stewardship. I have no money, except for those things I want to have money for. I understand that there are people that honestly have trouble making the ends meet from month to month and I am not talking about those who fit into that group. I’m talking about people who can find the money to buy what they really want to buy when they want to buy it, but don’t consider stewardship important enough to worry about.
Proposition:
Stewardship is important, because it directly relates to our relationship with God.
I said this last week and on Wednesday night and will say it now – A person who does not practice good stewardship, of their time and talent and money, can not have a wonderful and strong relationship to God. I’m not saying their not Christians, I know many people who I sincerely believe are Christians, but are also poor stewards. What I am saying is that those Christians will never be really mature, strong and close to God. Harsh words, but true none the less.
I want us to start viewing stewardship in a holistic way. I want us to comprehend the way it relates to impacts our entire
Christian lives. I don’t think most Christians have a well-rounded view of stewardship. That is mainly to blamed on pastors who avoid the uncomfortable topic. These are not fun messages to preach and the danger of being labeled as one of those preachers who only care about money is very real. As a result many preachers on talk about money rarely and briefly.
I. Good stewardship is important, because it an act of worship.
a. Gen. 28:16-22
16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
b. II Cor. 9:12
For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
Both passages connect the act of giving to God with the worship of God.
After attending church with his father one Sunday morning, before he climbing into bed that night a little boy kneeled and prayer, “Dear God, we had a great time at church today, but I wish you had been there. (from Illustrations for preaching ed. Michael Green)
In don’t think the problem is that God didn’t show up; the real problem is that we don’t show up. We may be here in body, but not with a worshipful heart. That is especially true when it come to the offering.
We tend to treat the offering as a necessary evil. We have to pass the plate in church—that’s just part of going to church. We ought to the offering as a vital part of our worship! Giving to God during the offering is a very real, concrete way that we can show our love for God and our humility. It is an acknowledgment that God owns everything we have and we gladly give it back to Him and His kingdom. The offering is a time for worship! It is not time to take a restroom break, get a drink or tell the person next to you a joke. We should be focused on God as much or more during that time as we are through any other part of the worship service.
TRANS: That we worship God through our giving springs from the fact that we are obedient to God in our giving.
II. Good stewardship is important, because it obeys God
“Many people give a tenth to the Lord—A tenth of what they ought to give.” –Anonymous
I was surprised to find out from a recent poll that only 1/3 of Christians who attend church believe that the Bible teaches us to tithe and only 1/5 of non Christians think the Bible teaches it. Two out of every three adults thought the Bible offered some suggestions about giving, but leaves the final choice up to us.
Well, lets take a look shall we:
I can almost hear someone object, “Yes, but that is just in the Old Testament. Jesus and Paul never tells us to tithe.” I am forced to concede that you are right and they did not. So, lets see what Jesus did say.
Mark 12:41-44
The rich men give loads of money. I guarantee you they gave at least ten percent. Most were show offs and probably gave more than the required 10%, yet it is not they whom Jesus commends for obedience, but the widow who gave 100%. She gave less then them, only a couple of pennies, but she gave all she had. Jesus does not remove the tithe, far from it, he goes even further to suggest that we should give sacrificially. Ten percent is the starting point, but if we have more we should give more. That is the New Testament teaching.
20000 a year
10% - = 38 per week
5% - = 19 per week
2% = 8 per week
Malachi uses very harsh language when he talks about people robbing God. I would hesitate to say that to you this morning, but who am I to disagree with God’s prophet.
The master we will not obey – we do not really love.
Saturday I spent a big chuck of my afternoon in traffic school. I got pulled over twice, both times within a quarter mile of my house. The first time I discovered where Slaughter Elementary School was located when I got pulled over and fined in a school zone. The second time I was on Jeannine and so close to home I could see my driveway. I was going 45 in a 25. I wasn’t intentionally speeding either time. I didn’t get in my car and say, “I wonder how fast I can go without getting caught!” I just wasn’t paying attention. Regardless of why I was speeding I was speeding and neither of those two officers seemed at all interested in the “why”? My speeding was evidence of my lack of respect for the law. I believe in following the law and I believe we ought to obey the speed limits, but I wasn’t –not then. My actions said that I didn’t really think the speed limit was that important. I have since asked the Lord to forgive my disregard for the law. When we don’t tithe we show complete disrespect for God and His law. My disregard for man law cost me a couple hundred dollars and a day in traffic school, I dare not think what cost disregard for God’s law will bring.
TRANS: So stewardship is an expression of worship and obedience, but also of trust.
III. Good stewardship is important, because it trusts God.
God doesn’t NEED anything we have. He would rather work through us, but He can also work in spite of us. God created all that we have in the first place. Yet, He trusts us to take care of a little part of it for Him. We then get to show our trust in God by giving back to Him.
There is a wonderful story recorded in I Kings 17:7-16 which illustrates exactly what I am talking about. The widow of Zarephath provided food for the prophet Elijah out the very last she had for herself.
When I was a toddler, I am told, I had a bad habit of playing with electrical sockets. Apparently we had one fan in particular that was old and the covering for the plug was partly gone leaving the prongs more exposed than they should have been. Well, my mother had yelled at me and spanked me to try and brake the habit, but nothing worked. So my Dad, being slightly loony, decided to let me get shocked. He stood there while I grabbed the exposed metal of the plug and pushed into the socket. You can guess what happened – I got shocked a good one and that was the last time I tried to plug anything in for years. Caleb likes to plug things in too and my Father suggested I should use his shocking method of discipline. When he suggested it I said, “Oh, so the voltage of a electrical socket is not enough to kill then?” To which he replied, “Yea, a lot of people have been killed on 110 volts!”
The fact that he should have been charged with criminal negligence aside, I learned my lesson –don’t trust those sockets, because they will bite you! Throughout my life I have learned those types of negative lessons. Get hurt a time or two and trust is lost. Yet, I have never been shocked by God. He has never let me down, not even a single time.
2 Corinthians 4
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2 Corinthians 1:10
Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
Do you trust Him? Or do you expect Him to ultimately only hurt you? The time of tithe and offering is our opportunity to prove our trust. “Lord I give this to you and trust you to care of me and do great things with what I give.”
I have heard so many people say, “I just can’t afford to tithe and I think God understands that.” I’m sure that He does understand. He understands that you don’t really believe He is able to take care of you. You think you need the money, because it will do what God can’t. If we trust Him with our souls and eternity why not with dinner?
TRANS: Lastly, our giving shows that we put God first.
IV. Good Stewardship is important, because puts God first
We talked about giving God the leftovers last week, so I won’t rehash all of that now. I will say that the popular notion “me first” is completely unbiblical. God has always asked for our very best. It was the very best of the flock that was to be sacrificed; it was to be without spot or blimish. God get the very best that we have, not whatever second rate things we can scrape together. But you know what? God gives us His best right back. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The sacrifice of God to us was without spot or blemish. Christ was perfect in every way, yet He died for our salvation. How can we then turn around and give God our second best? How can we offer Him our second best service and smallest chunk of time and only the few dollars we have left at the end of the night?
Conclusion:
Introduce pledge cards for this year and explain and challenge the congregation about them
