I'm going to continue talking today about the matter of stewardship.
People hear that term, and they almost always think of money.
We don't want to disappoint anybody, so today we're going to talk about what you're thinking
about.
We're going to talk today about this aspect of stewardship, not that it's the only one,
it's not.
I hope you've seen already that stewardship is a much broader thought and teaching than
just money.
But today we are talking about that as we speak about the dollars and cents of finances.
A preacher went to visit a farmer.
He said to the farmer, if you had two farms, would you give one of them to the Lord?
The farmer bowed his head and said, oh, preacher, you know I would.
The preacher said, well, farmer, if you had $2,000, would you give $1,000 of that to the
Lord?
The farmer bowed his head again and said, preacher, of course, you know me, you know
I would.
The preacher said, well, if you had two pigs, just a minute, said the farmer, that's not
fair, you know I have two pigs.
Aren't we all that way?
Notice Jesus' words in Luke chapter 16.
Now he was also saying to the disciples, to the disciples, do you notice that?
There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and this steward was reported to him and squandering
his possessions.
And he called him and said to him, what is this I hear about you?
Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.
And the steward said to himself, what shall I do, since my master is taking away the stewardship
from me?
I am not strong enough to dig, I am ashamed to dig.
I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the stewardship, they will re-seize
me into their homes.
And he summoned each of one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first,
how much do you owe my master?
He said, a hundred measures of oil.
He said to him, take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty.
And he said to another, how much do you owe?
He said, a hundred measures of wheat.
And he said to him, take your bill and write eighty.
And his master praised the unrighteous steward, because he had acted shrewdly.
For the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of
light.
And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness,
that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.
And he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteousness, who will entrust
the true riches to you?
And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give
you that which is your own?
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or
else he will hold the one despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
Jesus is not telling us here that the steward was righteous.
In fact, Jesus called him unrighteous steward.
But the point of the parable is this.
The man acted shrewdly.
He used what he presently had to make provision for the future.
Jesus says that in that respect he is smarter than the sun's light, because he is taking
what he has now and realizes how it can impact the future for good.
And so he says, make use of the money of unrighteousness now so that they may receive you into eternal
dwellings, they being those who are impacted by your money.
What Jesus really is saying is use your money to minister to people that they may be one
to Christ, and when you get to heaven they will be there to welcome you in.
And he further says, if we don't know how to use money, then how can we expect that
God is going to entrust to us true riches?
In other words, spiritual responsibilities.
Every aspect of stewardship is a test of faithfulness, but as Irvin Lutzer put it,
our attitude toward money is an especially accurate barometer of our relationship to
the world.
God says a lot about money in the Bible.
Over 700 verses deal with that topic.
Did you know that 80% of the waking time of the average individual is spent thinking about,
talking about, or working for money?
80% of your day is your average individual.
The use of one's finances has a great bearing on his spiritual life and his fruitfulness.
Therefore, it's important that we talk about it this morning.
There are three statements that I want to make about finances.
We're going to limit ourselves to these statements.
I hope that you will follow along with me in your outline.
Statement number one, God wants you to have money.
Some of you don't believe that, but it's true.
That is part of God's plan for your life.
The four spiritual laws begin by saying God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.
This is part of God's plan to have money.
Some of you just took a new interest in the four spiritual laws, didn't you?
God wants you to have money, and God has given you the ability to earn money.
We begin by understanding that all money belongs to God.
In Haggai 2.8, the silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord.
And if you look at the context, he's talking about the silver and the gold of the nations of the world.
He's saying that Fort Knox belongs to him.
All of the silver, the gold, the resources of the nations are his, and he has committed them to men.
And God gives to us the ability to work to gain wealth.
By the way, when I talk about money and wealth today, I'm not saying that God wants everybody to be a millionaire.
I'm saying simply that God wants us to have money so that our needs are met and we have excess beyond that.
So when I talk about wealth and money, please understand it in that context.
In Deuteronomy 8.18, it says, The Lord gives you power to make wealth.
Now that was written to Israel, but it's a principle that's true of us and really of all men.
Proverbs 10.22, it is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich.
1 Timothy 6.17, God richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
God does not condemn money.
God does not condemn the making of money.
In fact, he gives the ability to make it.
Now there's some objections to this, I'm sure.
I can hear somebody say, well, that sounds like a capitalist pig.
Using his religion as an excuse, I think we should share in common like they did in the early church.
And that is a reference to what is said in Acts 2 and Acts 4 about something that took place, by the way, only in the Jerusalem church, as far as we know.
It was nowhere it says it had taken place. What did take place was very interesting.
It was not that everybody sold everything they had and put it in one pot.
That is not what the language says.
What it says there is that as needs arose, they were so filled with the Spirit of God and with love that those who had land would sell them and bring them money to the apostles and they would give to those who had needs.
They provided for the needs of one another. That's what it says there.
It was a voluntary thing.
I can hear somebody else say, oh, God doesn't want us to have money. Why, money brings temptation. Money is evil.
God doesn't say that. I think he should know.
God nowhere says that money is inherently evil.
In fact, if you consider it, some of God's greatest men of history were very wealthy men.
Abraham, his descendants inherited that.
Isaac, Jacob.
People talk about Jewish people having a knack for making money.
I think that may be true.
They certainly inherited a lot from their ancestors.
They seemed to have that natural ability, but there are others as well.
Consider Job.
Job was fabulously wealthy.
What about David?
Solomon.
All these men were extremely wealthy under the blessing of God.
Now there are certain biblical principles that are designed by God to help us to gain wealth.
There are three of them I want to talk about briefly.
These are principles that God has put in His words as to how you and I should gain wealth.
Principle number one, work.
Now there's a four-letter word for you.
Work.
In fact, back in the Garden of Eden, God said to Adam, by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.
In other words, from that point on, Adam, get the hell out.
You're going to work.
And it's going to provide for your needs.
Proverbs 14.23, in all labor there is profit.
In writing, the Thessalonian church, which had some freeloaders in it,
the apostle says, if any among you will not work, don't let him eat even.
The word is a basic principle by which men are to provide.
By the way, I think that is the fatal flaw in the welfare system.
Another aspect of that is that people need to have self-esteem and dignity, and work gives that to them.
The welfare system that we have designed in this country destroys their self-esteem, as well as their mission.
The basic principle is that of saving.
Proverbs 21.20.
The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets.
That's the living by paraphrase of that.
I don't often quote that paraphrase, but in the book of Proverbs, sometimes it's helpful to get a new insight into it.
The wise man saves for the future.
And the third principle of gaining wealth is that of planning carefully.
God says work, he says save, and he says plan carefully.
Proverbs 27.23 and 24 says, riches can disappear fast, so watch your business interests closely.
The writer in the latter part of Proverbs, Agur, says that we are to look at the ant, for example.
Small insect, that insect is very wise, because she plans carefully, and while it's summer, she gets food for the winter ahead.
We are to follow the wisdom of the ant.
Again, Proverbs 24 verses 3 and 4.
Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.
There are some people who have inherited great amounts of money, and who, because of carelessness, have wasted it all.
They have failed to follow this principle, to plan carefully.
One doesn't have to be wealthy either to fail to follow it.
It involves having a budget.
I think that's a part of the idea here.
At least knowing what priorities are.
You see, God wants you to provide for your needs, but he wants you to have more than what you need as well.
Now that margin above what you need and what he supplies will increase or decrease according to our faithfulness to the principles and according to what he sees we can handle.
But God wants us to have a margin to work with so that we can be free to give to meet others' needs as he directs.
That's why we have excess.
Not so that we can live luxuriously, but so that we can meet the needs of others.
John the Carthaginian said that a Christian should always be free enough to respond to whatever God wants him to do at any moment.
We need to have a pillar mentality.
But so many of God's people are in financial bondage because they have not followed biblical principles.
And so there undoubtedly will be those today who will say, but I don't have enough money to meet my needs.
What's wrong?
If it's true that God wants me to have money, then why don't I have any?
Well, if that's the case, then there are four questions that need to be answered.
Question number one.
If I say I don't have enough money to meet my needs, do I really need more or do I just want more?
Do I really need more money?
If I'm obedient to God's word, he's promised to meet my needs.
Question number two.
Is God testing my faith?
That could be a part of it.
Is God right now putting me through a test that's going to expand my faith so I will learn to trust him for something so practical as this or that?
Of course, money needs you by.
You know what the greatest return to growing faith is these days?
A little plastic card about that wide, about that high.
Because it is man's short-cuts to God's lessons in faith.
Principle, or rather question number three.
Have I wasted what God has already provided?
That's possible.
I have a need now, perhaps the reason I have that need is because yesterday or last week, God provided and I wasted that.
Now I'm top-short.
Question number four.
Have I violated a biblical principle so that God will not provide for me right now?
What kinds of principles are we talking about?
Can we just be suggestive here, not completely thorough?
By the way, I would encourage you to go through the book of Proverbs and to underline or write down every verse that deals with some of the riches of poverty.
It will be one of the greatest studies you've ever done.
And then to categorize what it says there.
Here are some of the principles, though.
These are from Proverbs.
Principle of buying on impulse.
Are you an impulsive buyer?
I am.
I have to watch that.
I am a sucker for every salesman.
When I know a person is a salesman, I need to take one step back.
It's a good thing I'm not an Eskimo and need a refrigerator.
In Proverbs 13, it says, poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline.
If I break the principle of impulsive buying, then God may not provide for me.
Then the principle of fraud.
Wealth and pain by fraud dwindles, says Proverbs.
In other words, if I scheme and cheat in order to gain wealth, God is not going to provide for my needs.
And what I get by fraud is going to dwindle, and I will be impoverished.
Principle of laziness.
Do not love sleep lest you become poor.
Have I broken the principle of indulgence?
Proverbs 23, 21.
The heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty.
God provides for me and I live indulgently.
It's going to be shut off.
Principle of carelessness.
Proverbs 20, 19.
He who follows empty pursuits will have poverty and plenty.
In other words, if I am careless with what I do, and I'm following empty pursuits all around,
jumping from this and that, not planning, God's going to shut it off.
Until I learn to live by the principle that's involved in it.
So the first statement is this, that God wants you to have money.
And to have money in excess so that you can be used as His instrument to meet the needs of others.
Principle number two.
God wants you to think properly about money.
Or statement number two.
God wants you to think properly about money.
How does God want me to think about it?
Well, first of all, God does not want you to love money.
1 Timothy chapter 6, right?
I remember the first time I preached.
I had three messages I took to the Pope that evening.
He preached all three of them in ten minutes.
Some of you have been through that.
And one of the blessed points I made in the sermon was that money is the root of all evil.
And my pastor very kindly, gently got up after me and corrected my foolishness.
Because it does not say the Bible that money is the root of all evil.
What it does say though is that the love of money is the root of all evil.
That's the way you think about it, you see.
And 1 Timothy, I'm sure 1 Timothy is still in my Bible here if I can find it.
1 Timothy chapter 6.
Let's begin reading verse 6.
But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.
Boy, that's a great word.
We have brought nothing into the world so that we cannot take anything out of it either.
How well off we would be if we could just remember that verse.
Maybe we ought to memorize it.
And if we have food and covering with these, we shall be content.
As God already promised to meet our food needs, our clothing needs.
If we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of these things will be added to us.
So would that be content.
But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and smear,
and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil,
and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pain.
Those are powerful words.
There are three reasons why God tells us not to love money.
Reason number one, it will destroy our lives if we do.
We will pierce ourselves through with arrows of sorrow and pain.
We will be plunged into ruin and destruction,
and even run the risk of wandering from the faith if we love money.
It will ruin us.
The second reason why I should not love money is that it makes me useless to God.
In our text that we read earlier, Jesus said,
You cannot serve God and man.
In other words, money.
You cannot serve God and man.
Just believe that Jesus said it.
It makes me useless to God if I am going to love money.
And the third reason, it will leave me to compromise.
There are few things that will leave a person to compromise his principles as quickly as the love of money.
You see, everybody's got a price for it.
That's what they say.
If you have a price, the devil will find out what that price is, and he'll eat it.
I'll guarantee he will meet it.
I listened to a tape of John McArthur this last week,
and he told an illustration of this that gets the point across.
There was an author who attended a function in New York City, a banquet,
a beautiful sumptuous meal.
And this author, whoever he was, sat down beside a beautiful, beautiful lady.
And in the course of the evening, he leaned over to her,
and the author said to this beautiful woman, would you spend the night with me for $100,000?
She blushed and put her head down, stand with her words, and finally said yes.
He said, would you spend the night with me for $10?
She slammed her fork down.
I said, what do you think I am?
He said, we've already established that one is dependent on the price.
What's your price?
The love of money will make you compromise.
Whatever price you set, the devil will meet it, and you'll compromise.
So none say your price tag is the point where Matthew 6.23 starts operating.
You think of that.
How does God want me to think about money?
Well, secondly, He wants me to be aware of His nature.
First of all, it's deceitful.
In Mark 4.19, Jesus spoke about the deceitfulness of riches,
and He says that the deceitfulness of riches is that it will choke out the word in your life.
And there are people who have gone down the tubes spiritually because riches have deceived them.
And then riches are temporary.
Here in 1 Timothy, we see it said,
we are not to fix our hope on the uncertainty of riches.
Here's a great image of this, by the way, back in Proverbs.
Just turn back one minute.
Chapter 23.
I love this.
It's so true.
Proverbs 23, verses 4 and 5.
Do not weary yourselves to gain wealth.
Cease from your consideration of it.
In other words, don't make making of money your aim of life.
Verse 5.
When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
That's like the pulliades up there.
That little constellation up there in the heavens.
You can see it.
The minute you look at it, it's gone.
Money's like that.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings,
like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
You can just see a dolly bill,
sprouting wings and flying off into the sky.
Money's like that, isn't it?
It's uncertain. It's temporary.
And so we're wise if we are aware of its nature.
That's how God wants us to think about it.
To know that it's deceitful.
Don't get tripped up by it.
And it's temporary.
It's uncertain.
So don't fix your hope on it.
And thirdly, God says we're to make it our servant
instead of us being the servant of money.
That goes back to our text.
Where Jesus said,
Make to yourselves friends by the means of money,
so that they will welcome you into eternal habitations.
In other words, you, the wealth that God has given to you,
invested in people, that people may be saved,
so that someday when you arrive at the gates of heaven
there are going to be people there who will welcome you
because you were a part of the process that led them to salvation.
There are some of you that have given to missions for years and years,
and the only thing you've ever seen is flies
that missionaries have brought back.
Thank God for those.
You've never seen a single person in that country.
Someday in heaven I see them.
And they're going to say to you,
Welcome! I'm here because you invested wisely.
That's Jesus' point.
We're to make money, our servant.
Proper handling of finances is a key to spiritual fruit in one's life.
God will not entrust us with a ministry if we cannot handle money.
Statement number three.
God wants you to manage your financial stewardship well.
God wants you to have money.
God wants you to think about it properly.
And God wants you to manage that stewardship well.
How can we do that?
First, by recognizing that your primary responsibility is to God.
I don't fully agree with it, but it kind of gets the point across.
God is your first predator.
In the book of Malachi, chapter three, Malachi speaks as God's voice,
and he tells them that they have robbed God.
And the people in shock say, Where have we robbed God?
And he responds, in your tithes and your offerings.
Now tithing is not an issue with me.
Some people will agree with me on this,
but personally I don't believe that tithing is God's standard in this age.
The concept that tithing is 10% is God's and 90% is mine is unbiblical.
100% is God's.
The idea that the Jews gave 10% and were free of responsibility is a misconception also.
There were two annual tithes, and then there was another tithe,
and it's required every three years.
An average doubt about 23% every year went to the temple.
Some people feel they give God a dog and then God a favor.
Some people say your other things they give a tithe have done their job for God.
My friend is much more personalized with that.
It's much more personal.
How much should we give is between you and God?
Someone has said perhaps we should follow the example of Zacchaeus.
After he got saved he became 50% immediately taller.
Zacchaeus is wealthy enough to do that.
And there are some people who are wealthy enough that they can give 50% of their income every month to the Lord
and still live well.
How are we to give?
What is the pattern that God wants us to follow in this age?
Every time that tithing could have been mentioned as God's standard for this age,
it's not in the New Testament.
It's not mentioned in the New Testament, but only in passing in reference to the law.
I realize it happened before the law.
What I'm simply saying is that in this age, every time that God could have established
hiding as the set 10% figure, he doesn't do that.
Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 16 for part of the answers to how we should give.
By the way, I believe we should give to the church.
I'm not saying that because we need money.
That's just God's plan.
I have a terrific sermon on storehouse hiding.
Some of you will know what that concept is all about.
I've told that a way.
I know I haven't really, so I'm going to file, but I don't intend to preach it again.
I don't believe that anymore.
I don't believe that the local church is God's storehouse in this age,
but I do believe it is God's plan for us to give to the church and the ministry that way.
Then I believe that we also want to give to others as God directs us.
We ought not to be too concerned about whether it's tax deductible.
Because frankly, I think the day will come in our nation when our giving to the church
will not be tax deductible anymore, and that they may be closer to the same.
That should not really be the issue.
We should simply give as the Spirit of God prompts us to give, irrespective of other things.
Here in 1 Corinthians 16, it says in verse 2, regarding the collection that we get together,
on the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and say,
as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come, says the apostle.
So here are some standards.
Here's part of the pattern.
He says, first of all, that our giving should be regular and systematic.
It's not to be haphazard.
The idea seems to be that as they met together on the first day of the week for fellowship,
as God prospered them the last week, they were to lay aside in store some of that
for the collection that was coming up when Paul would come.
So it was a systematic way of doing it.
Some people that means every week, you're paid every week,
some people means every two weeks, some people once a month,
or some salesman's commission, whatever comes in.
The point is, systematically as I'm prospered, I am set aside.
It's a regular thing in my life.
It's my first priority in my financial stewardship.
And then notice he says to each one of you, he does not say those of you who are wealthy,
those of you who own land, those who have gold jewelry.
He says each one of you should participate in this.
It's to be universal as well as individual.
And then he says, as he may prosper.
In other words, it is to be proportionate giving.
Part of our stewardship enrichment campaign has on it not equal gifts, but equal sacrifice.
You see, that's the point.
Equal gifts will say, I give $100 and everybody else gives $100.
But equal sacrifice says, I give as God prospers me.
And that widow may give two mites, whereas I may give $2,000
and somebody else may give $20,000.
It's equal sacrifice for all of us because we're giving proportionately.
You see that?
And it's not an automatic 10% that I mop out and say, well, there's God.
This is mine.
But it's simply getting before God and saying, Lord, this is all yours.
How much do you want me to keep to live on?
Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and see something else.
2 Corinthians 9, 7.
I'll back up to verse 6 because there's an important principle.
He says, Now this I say he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly,
and he who sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Simple law of agriculture as well as giving.
And then he says, Let each one of you do just as he has purposed in his heart,
not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
A person can be as faithful, tithing, and grudge every penny that he can.
Or feel the compulsion to give out of guilt.
And my friend, God is not pleased when we give out of guilt.
One of the principles we see here is that God wants us to give joyfully.
If I give because I feel coerced, or my arm is twisted, or I feel guilty if I don't,
or God is going to send some plague upon my family, we might as well not give it.
God is not pleased with that.
God wants us to give joyfully, cheerfully.
God wants us to break out in laughter as a real thought, as a man of joy of giving.
He says we also should give purposefully.
In other words, I am to purpose in my heart how much I should give.
Not because somebody says I should give them too much,
but because as I pray and God speaks to me, I purpose before him that I want to give this amount.
And finally I'm to give sacrificially.
We've suggested that already.
Look back at 2 Corinthians 8.3.
The apostle, as he talks to the Corinthians, points back to what the Macedonians have done before them,
to use them as an example.
And he says, I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability,
they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participating in the support of the saints.
When was the last time you heard a person beg to have the offering plate on the front?
Usher, stop, stop.
Send the plate down this way, please.
That's what the Corinthians were doing.
They begged to have it part.
Paul was saying, hey folks, folks, you're giving it up.
No, Paul, please, let us give.
He says they gave what they were able to give and they gave beyond that.
Sacrifice.
You know, the real point at the judgment seat of Christ when we are examined for our financial stewardship
may not be how much we've given, but how much we've kept for you for ourselves.
That may be the middle test.
I'm also to recognize that God wants me to give to whom I know and to whom I can trust.
Folks, there are a lot of charlatans around these days.
There are people who are making merchandise as people of God.
You turn on some Christian radio programs or television stations,
and if you have any sense of what the Word of God teaches, you get sick, you're stung with some programs.
I mean, you literally get nauseated.
I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Some Christian television programs make an unbelievable route out of your life.
Making merchandise of God's people.
When you give a gift, know to whom you give that gift and that they are trustworthy.
If you don't know it, then you write to them.
You ask for a financial statement.
You write to references they may give and find out about that organization.
I could name for you this morning a man who teaches false doctrine on the radio cast for years.
If Christians would shut off their support to him, he would be out of business in a month.
But there are Christians who don't know what they're giving to,
but they're impressed with his elegance and with his voice and they're just caught up with his nice words
and they give and the man goes on teaching his heresy.
We'll give account for that kind of waste.
John Carthage said in the tape I listened to, and I like this,
giving is not God's way of raising money.
It's God's way of raising children.
Isn't that powerful?
I'm recognized too my responsibility for my family.
God says if I don't provide for my family, I'm worse than an unbeliever.
And I have a responsibility for the poor.
I do not believe the church is going to take the welfare program of our nation,
but I do believe that we have a primary responsibility for the poor among us, those who have needs.
And as we can give to the poor in our community,
and at the same time bring spiritual truth to them,
then that too can be a legitimate ministry.
We need to be careful of the social gospel,
which says that doing bad is giving them the gospel.
It's not.
But we have a responsibility to the poor.
Someone has said if you won't give me five minutes, you won't give me an hour.
If you won't give me a nickel, you won't give me a dollar.
If you won't give me a pocketbook, you won't give me your life.
Does God have your life?
Of the Macedonians, the Paulists of Paul said this,
they first gave themselves to the Lord.
That's the point.
Are you the Lord's? Are you saved?
If saved, are you living obediently?
Are you following God's plan in your life?
Are you practicing the principles that we've talked about this morning?
Will you?
Heavenly Father, may we be not only hearers but doers of the Word.
If there are some of us who have broken principles in the past
and find ourselves today in bondage,
I pray that you will give us a counselor
that we may have understanding of how to get out of financial bondage
and to get to the place of good stewardship.
Thank you for what the Word teaches us.
And may we now be able to respond as we ought.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen.