Who Is Your Master Series

I want you to Imagine for a moment that you're on a long road trip. You are driving through unfamiliar territory, and you know we are 2 distinct types of people when it comes to our petrol tank. With a show of hands when your petrol tank is half you already filling up. And who are those that when the light comes up, we going to let it shine, but for both groups?

Anxiety starts to creep in as you wonder if you will make it to the next petrol station. Suddenly, you see a sign indicating a rest stop just ahead. Relief washes over you as you pull in and refuel, knowing you have what you need to continue your journey.

Life often feels like that road trip, doesn’t it?

Share how you emptied the bakkie twice.

The same happens to us Especially when it comes to our finances. We face times when our resources are running low, and we wonder if we will have enough to make it through. Whether it is paying bills, managing debt, or saving for the future, we all experience moments of financial uncertainty and need. But just as the station provided the fuel needed for the journey, the Bible assures us that God is our perfect provider, meeting our financial needs at just the right time.

So today I want to look at the topic of giving. How God is our ultimate provider, we miss the point that God is even the provider of our finances that in God's image shapes our understanding and practice of giving. We will look at the foundation of being created in His image, see how God models perfect giving, and learn practical ways to reflect His generosity in our own lives. We will also look at the story of the Israelites in the wilderness to understand the dangers of taking matters into our own hands when we lack trust in God's provision.

You see there is this thing that the last thing that gets saved in the Christian life, is his wallet, and the logical reason is that money makes the world go round, but you see for us as Christians we are not created to hoard, to be greedy, and to constantly worrying about more. You see that Jesus himself knew that in our human nature, we will in our nature want more, and better and bigger.

Jesus says this in Matthew 6:24 (HCSB) No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and money.

Now the word money here is called mammon and. mammon treasure riches (where it is personified and opposed to God). Now there is an easy test for us to see what we value more. And that is how we get when we buy stuff or invest in an earthly kingdom. The test is this. How worried are you even though you have an alarm at home and insurance? How worried are you that someone would steal your stuff or drop your phone? Let us be honest.

We have insurance on insurance and then alarms and we still worry about it being stolen, so we install cameras in our houses to check via Wi-Fi if the house looks good in the morning. Yes, theft is real but what makes me worried is that we put so much emphasis on stuff and wealth that we forget what Jesus said that we can be a slave to money.

How much time do we spend worrying about finances, and how much time do we spend on God? 15 Do not love the world [of sin that opposes God and His precepts], nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:15

Let me give you an example of how generous God is. I will use an Old Testament example and a New Testament example. You should know by now that I love the stories and how it is relevant to us today. We see the story of the Israelites in Exodus 16 After the Israelites left Egypt, they found themselves in the wilderness without food. They began to grumble and doubt God's care. Despite witnessing God's miraculous deliverance from Egypt, they quickly forgot His faithfulness:

"The Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert, the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The Israelites said to them, 'If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.'" (Exodus 16:1-3)