Stewardship: Is It Really About The Money?

STEWARDSHIP: IS IT REALLY ABOUT THE MONEY?

MATTHEW 6: 19-24

SUNDAY OCTOBER 10, 2004

INTRODUCTION: Subject: Football...blonde version

Football analysis by a blonde...

A guy took his blonde girl friend to her first football game. They had great seats right behind their team’s bench... After the game, he asked her how she liked the experience. "Oh, I really liked it," she replied, "especially the tight pants and all the big muscles, but I just couldn’t understand why they were killing each other over 25 cents." Dumbfounded, her date asked, "What do you mean?" "Well, I saw them flip a coin and one team got it and then for the rest of the game, all they kept screaming was: ’Get the quarterback! Get the quarterback!" Hel-LLLO! It’s only 25 cents!

TRANSITION THOUGHT: HEL-LLOOO, IT’S ONLY TEN PERCENT!! But it seems we really have a battle when it comes to money! The number one cause for divorce is money! And to tell you the truth, it scares some preachers to death to bring up the subject. The only difference is that Jesus had no problem whatsoever discussing money and how we are to deal with it. The real issue for us and for those that Matthew was writing to is the reality that money is never the issue!! Jesus is teaching us that life, faith, and following HIM is a matter of the heart and not the wallet. If this is true, then why does Jesus talk more about money than any other subject in scripture? I guess we think life is about the Money!

THESIS SENTENCE: STEWARDSHIP IS NOT ABOUT OUR MONEY, IT IS ABOUT THE CONDITION OF OUR HEARTS!

I. MONEY IS A MATTER OF TREASURE VV. 19-21

A. TREASURE IS ABOUT VALUE: DEFINED: THAT WHICH COMMANDS THE ALLEGIANCE OF ONE’S HEART

B. TREASURE IS ABOUT ACCUMULATION: AQUIRED: WHAT WE POSSESS

C. TREASURE IS ABOUT DURABILITY: SUSTAINED: WHAT WILL LAST

D. TREASURE IS ABOUT LOCATION: PRESERVED: WHAT WILL LAST FOREVER

E. TREASURE IS A ABOUT THE HEART: REVEALED: WHO WE REALLY ARE/ THE NAKED TRUTH!

ILLUSTRATION: Ann Weems wrote: "It was a family treasure. That golden vase, the priceless vase that had belonged to my great-grandmother & my grandmother & now to my mother. The vase sat on the mantle, out of reach of little fingers. However, I managed to reach it. I climbed to reach it, & I broke it. I broke the family treasure.

"Then I began to cry in loud sobs that brought my mother running. I could hardly get it out. ’I broke the vase,’ I said. ’I broke the treasure.’

"A look of relief came over her face, & she said, ’Oh, I thought that you had been hurt.’ She hugged me, & made it very clear that I was her priceless treasure."

Contributed by: MELVIN NEWLAND

TRUTH: EARTHLY INVESTMENTS EVENTUALLY DISAPPREAR!

QUESTION: WHAT ARE WE BANKING ON?

II. MONEY IS A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE VV. 22-23

A. PERSPECTIVE IS ABOUT PROJECTION: THE LAMP

B. PERSPECTIVE IS ABOUT FOCUS: GOOD

1. SINGLE 2. GENEROUS 3. OPEN HEARTED 4. WARM

C. PERSPECTIVE IS ABOUT LACK OF FOCUS: BAD

1. POSSESSIVE 2. MISERLY 3. STINGY 4. GREEDY

D. PERSPECTIVE IS ABOUT EXTREMES: LIGHT VERSUS DARKNESS

1. WHOLE BODY IS LIGHT/ GENEROUS

2. HOW GREAT IS THE DARKNESS/ GREED

ILLUSTRATION: Some years ago, two TEENAGERS with a long history of CRIME and DELINQUENCY robbed a YMCA on the lowest East Side of New York City. On the way out they saw a young man at the TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD. They were FRIGHTENED and ASSUMED that the must be calling the POLICE. They seized and beat him SAVAGELY with BRASS KNUCKLES and a BLACK JACK. Thinking that he was DEAD, they HID him BEHIND a RADIATOR near the SWIMMING POOL and ESCAPED.

Later that evening, a woman who came to SWIM, was walking by the POOL. She SLIPPED in the man’s BLOOD, screamed, and then FOUND Donald Tippet’s BODY. He LIVED, but one EYE was so badly DAMAGED that it could not be SAVED. Meanwhile, the two TEENAGERS were APPREHENDED and brought to TRIAL. Their PAST RECORDS assured that BOTH would get LONG SENTENCES. However, Donald Tippet did an AMAZING thing—he REQUESTED that the JUDGE allow the two YOUNG MEN to be PAROLED to his CHARGE. He wanted to give them another CHANCE. He believed they could

CHANGE. One of the boys blew his OPPORTUNITY. He COMMITTED another CRIME, was CAUGHT, and to JAIL. The other boy, however, was RESPONSIVE to Tippet’s KINDNESS. He went to COLLEGE and then, eventually, to MEDICAL SCHOOL. He became one of our nation’s leading SURGEONS—an EYE SURGEON. A REPORTER, writing about Donald Tippet’s AMAZING STORY of FORGIVENESS, said of the SURGEON’S accomplishments: “I wonder if he ever PERFORMS one of those DELICATE EYE OPERATIONS without thinking of that NIGHT in the YMCA and the YOUNG MAN whose CONFIDENCE and FORGIVENESS changed his LIFE!” Contributed by: Fred Sigle