1/26/14 EQUIPPING TO SERVE

A Faithful and Growing Steward

    As we continue to talk about Christian stewardship, let me start out with a question.  What about the concept of “living within your means”, even if it will determine that you don’t have all the fun stuff others have?  Does that sound unamerican?  After all, we live in a prosperous nation and credit is very easy to get.
    Do you think you could survive financially if in the past nine years you had earned $300,000,000?  You say, are you crazy?  Of course I could make it. I would be amazingly wealthy.  But, boxer Mike Tyson made that much, and yet he had to file for bankruptcy.  This points out an important part of stewardship: It’s not how much you make, it’s how you manage it for God.
    I like the Swiss watchmaker’s slogan I heard.  Known for their luxury watches, Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe has also become well-known for its clever advertising slogan: “You never actually own a Patek Philippe; you merely take care of it for the next generation.”  That is a great picture of stewardship. We don’t own things, we are taking care of them for God.
Colossians 3:17, 23 NKJV
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
23And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
    Do EVERYTHING for the Lord.  Do it all the Lord’s way.
    Review: A Steward – a trustee, control or manager, but not an owner.  A steward manages for the benefit of someone else.
    From Biblical times:  A steward was in charge of a household and was accountable to the owner, who made final decisions. The steward was expected to be faithful in working and overseeing the household, all that had been entrusted to him.
    Some background to the word:  Steward, From oikos, “house,” and nemo, “to arrange”.
    The importance of using the gifts given by the Lord for the strengthening and encouragement of fellow believers.
1 Peter 4:10 NKJV
As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
    A definition of stewardship to use for study: “The Sum total of all my attitudes toward God”.
    A true steward must have a good attitude, or he/she won’t be able to be faithful to the responsibilities of stewardship.
***Total:  add up all the parts of your life, and attitudes.
***My Attitudes:  Dictionary says, attitude:  A bodily posture showing or meant to show a mental state, emotion, or mood.  A manner of acting, feeling, or thinking that shows one’s disposition, opinion, etc.  This is how you really feel on the inside.  How you think, feel about things.
***Towards God:  He receives of our attitudes.  God sees your heart.  Is it open, receptive, tender to Him?  or hard, rebellious?
    Stewardship is the Christian way of life, the Christian law of living.  God has given us all so much:  Talents, abilities, intelligence, capabilities, ability to create wealth and there is so much that we all can accomplish.  All the things we claim as assets, are really God’s investments in us.
    Regarding our abilities – People confuse assets and liabilities.  IE, put $100 in a bank saving account, it is a liability to the bank.  We expect a return with interest.  God’s investment in us is a liability for us towards God.  We expect a return from the bank, God expects a return from us.  WE must USE what He has given, develop our skills, productivity.
-----WHAT GOD EXPECTS!!
    A quick review from last week, we read this passage.
1 Corinthians 4:2 NIV
2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
    A steward is required to be faithful, reliable & dependable.  Don’t be a quitter.  We can all be faithful.
    One of the big investments God makes in us is giving us material resources.  We must handle them well.  Stewardship includes what we think of and how we handle material wealth.
    Keys to Handling Money
    Being a Godly steward of material wealth comes from a Godly perspective  regarding money. Money is a servant to utilize, not a god to serve. Your motives in acquiring and using money are key factors.
    Let’s read and review a few passages from Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 NIV
10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. 11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 NIV
18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. 20 He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.
    Last week we talked about the concept of what we should do, and yet we wonder if we really can do it.  Will we make it if we obey?  We recognized that those who obey God will make it.
    The Bible teaches us about tithing.  This is a central part of stewardship, of recognizing ownership and rightly handling the money we have in our control.
    One of the authors that many of us read during the time of our capital campaign was E. M. Clark.  He has passed away now.  I knew him as a president of North Central.
From: The Key To Blessing by E.M. Clark
THE PROMISED BLESSINGS
    In the beginning I paid the tithe first because it belonged to God, a debt I owed to Him.  I could not pay Him for all He has done for me.  But I could at least try to show my appreciation for what He has done for me by obeying Him in paying what He says I owe Him and paying it where He says to pay it.
    It’s also important to examine one specific part of our obligation.  God said to bring “all the tithe into the storehouse”.  As I look back at this now I notice the promises and benefits God made to him who brought “all the tithe”.  Some people pay part of the tithe or say, “I’ll start paying my tithe when I can afford it”.  That’s not what God is telling us to do. Our blessings start by being obedient.
    As saints we have too often been focused only on our tithing duty, which is very important, and yet we have not been taught that we are also supposed to claim His promised blessings.  That was exactly where I found myself as a early Christian. They said very little about what God did for the tither for paying his tithe where it was supposed to be paid.
    But fortunately for all of us, God sees things differently.  His plan works differently.  Our offerings are investments in the kingdom of God and have always been treated as such.  God is responsive when we obey Him.  And He has a plan which is designed to pour out His blessings upon us. This is the part too few of us appreciate and claim.
(P. 11-12)
    God has amazing blessings and benefits for His children as they obey Him.  Remember what Isaiah said (Isaiah 55:8-11).  God’s thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways God’s ways.
    Let’s build on understanding stewardship:  ownership.
    *****OWNERSHIP is often a heathen game people play.  I own it, and the big issue is that you can’t use it.  The proper Christian attitude is that God owns everything I have.  Think: CONTROL.  If you want to use it, you have to ask me.
    *****Understand that God is sovereign.
Sovereign: above or superior to all others, chief, greatest, supreme.  Supreme in power, rank, or authority, holding the position of ruler, reigning.
    The sovereign looks to no other source for authority or determining what is right or wrong.
    *****We live in God’s world and need to learn to do everything His way.
    That leads us to a very basic problem we regularly deal with:  We live in a pagan society.  I’m not talking pagan in that people burn animal sacrifices to some god.  Pagan philosophy impacts our whole society.
    *****The pagan idea of property is that it belongs to us.  The name of the game is ownership, posses, control, dominate, exploit.  In this pagan concept people act like pseudo-gods.
    *****So, what does Pseudo mean?
Pseudo:  Sham, false, spurious, pretend, counterfeit.  Our world rejects God’s ways.  If I own it, you have to ask ME to use it.  I control you.
    *****These definitions, this foundation leads us to the issue of the tithe and the Law of First Things.
    Define the tithe – 2 Identifying Marks:
1.  Always first.
2.  Always 10% of increase (before deductions).
    The tithe is the acknowledgment that all we have belongs to God.  He is God and He is in control.  It acknowledges the sovereignty of God.  The tithe is a means by which God’s ownership is established.  Unrestricted use clouds ownership.  IE. Friends or roommates who are always borrowing things.  Soon it feels like yours.
Law of the First Things
    God always gets the first. Tithe paid first before other things.
Exodus 23:19 NIV
Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.
Proverbs 3:9-10 NIV
9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
    The city of Jericho was the first city conquered by Israel in the promised land, It belonged to God.
Joshua 6:17 NIV
The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.
    They were specifically warned not to take anything from the city, it belonged to God.  They got in trouble when one man disobeyed.
The Storehouse Principle of the Tithe
Malachi 3:8-12 NIV
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.
    This passage includes blessings as well as curses.
    What are the blessings? Provision in God’s house.  This is God’s divine way to provide for the local church.  The needs will be met and we won’t have to resort to guilt, pressure, gimmicks, manipulation, raffles, candy sales, etc. to provide for the local church.  God says that He will make it enough.  It will work because it is God’s way.  God promises blessings as well as rebuking the devourer.
    The storehouse: The local church – where you regularly attend.  Tithe where you are fed, have fellowship and receive ministry. This is where you turn to in times of trouble and blessing.  Tithe to your storehouse (God’s clearing house) – undesignated, it belongs to God.
    These verses include some challenging and frightening statements.  They are also some statements of blessing.
    “Will a man rob God?”  Who of us would think of sticking a gun in God’s face and stealing from Him?  Yet, that’s what God says happens.
    Important fact about tithe:  while it is not primarily a money making project, it IS God’s revealed way to support the church.  When all of God’s people tithe, the church is relieved of all the gimmicks used to coax money in to the treasury.  Tithe, not gimmick, is God’s way.
DISCUSSION
What if everyone who claims Christianity brought the tithe to their local church regularly?
Where do offerings come in?  Missions, etc.
Is there a specific income level a person has to reach before God expects the tithe?
Can you identify specific struggles people have that keep them from tithing?
Is this whole topic of stewardship and tithing simply a money raising scheme?
            If Americans who identify with the historically Christian church had given 10% to their churches in 2008, rather than the 2.43% given, there would have been an additional $172 billion available for work through the church.
http://emptytomb.com/potential.html