Stewardship (2of 4)

Our text says, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” EVERYONE here today is a steward. That is, everyone here has been entrusted by God with certain things. We have...

• Been entrusted with the gospel.

• Been entrusted with talents. (Some more than others.)

• Been entrusted with time.

• All been entrusted with money. (Some more than others.)

Today we want to deal with being a good steward of the money God has entrusted to us.

Illus: When a particular church was setting their proposed budget for the year they asked the members to fill out pledge cards as to how much the church could expect to receive from them in the coming year. The church received a nice letter...it went like this.

“Dear Pastor,

In reply to your request to make a pledge, I wish to inform you that the condition of my bank account has made it impossible to give. My shattered financial condition is due to federal laws, state laws, city laws, brother-in-laws, and outlaws.

I am required to get a business license, dog license, and marriage license. I also contribute to every charity and organization which the genius of man is capable of bringing to life, including the Red Cross, purple cross, and the double cross.

For my own safety I must carry life insurance, property insurance, liability insurance, auto insurance, and now, earthquake insurance. As a result of all this, I try to give an inexhaustible supply of money for every known need, desire, and hope of the human race, and when I don’t, I am either talked about, held up, or robbed. Now pastor, had not the unexpected happened, I could not have enclosed a check with this letter. The dog who has come to my door begging for his bit every day just had pups in my kitchen. I sold them and here’s your share.”

We all know the demands that are placed on what money we have to work with each week.

Because money is something hard to acquire, we all think twice before we let go of what we have.

Illus: When it comes to money, most of us are like the man that loved money very much. He was walking home one night. A robber stepped out from a bush and stuck a gun in his face and said, “Your money or your life!” There was a long silence and finally the robber impatiently said again, “Your money or your life!” The man said, “All right! All right! I am thinking!”

Let us think about how we can be good stewards of God’s money. Let us first look at...

I. GOD’S PLAN OF TITHING.

There are those who believe that God’s plan of tithing has run its course. That is, there are those who believe this is something that applies to the Old Testament period and does not apply to the New Testament church.

Those who think this need our prayers. For at least TWO reasons:

(1) They are ignorant of the scriptures.

(2) Satan is using their ignorance to rob them of one of their greatest blessings.

It is very easy to prove that God’s plan of tithing was to continue into the church age. We see in Matthew 23, that the scribes and Pharisees believed in tithing.

Look what Jesus said in Matthew 23:23. We read, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin...” The Lord was saying that they tithed on every little thing.

Illus: If a woman grew plants that produced condiments like mint, anise, and cummin they would tithe off of those small plants. They meticulously tithed off of every thing in their lives.

However, though they tithed there were many other things they should have been equally concerned about that they were not concerned about at all.

Look at the rest of what He said when He addressed them about these things - “...these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone...” Regarding tithing, the Lord told these who were His contemporaries - “...these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

Every child of God OUGHT TO TITHE! Notice Malachi 3:10. We read, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse...”

LOOK AT THE WORD “BRING.” WHAT DOES IT MEAN? History tells us most families of that day relied on farming to make a living. These people did not work in factories as many do today.

Illus: With their own two hands the farmers would:

• Clear the land.

• Plow the land.

• Plant the seeds.

• Irrigate the crops.

• Cultivate and pull weeds.

• Fertilize the plants.

• Harvest the crop.

When they brought in the harvest their tables would be full of food.