Stewardship

Alright, we are finishing up our series on / / Being a Living Sacrifice. Let’s recap a bit.

/ / God desires obedience more than sacrifice, which means the living part is more important than the death part.

But the living takes a willingness to listen. Let me ask you a question this morning.

Have you ever worked with someone that we might call a “know-it-all” ?

When you say you want to do something a certain way they try to one-up your idea.

When you give them advice, the response, instead of thank you, is “I know” or “I was just about to do that.”

This is one of the things we’re trying to teach our daughter, that she doesn’t need to defend or cover up for something she doesn’t know, but that humility goes a long way! Especially when we tell her to do something, and if she responds in some sort of way that is like, “Ya, I was just about to do that.” - “Well clearly, you weren’t.” So, I’ve started calling that out, “No you weren’t. And that’s ok. This is why I’m asking you to do this, or reminding you to do this. Let’s keep working on remembering to do the things that you’ve been asked to do.”

And at 9 years old that makes sense, right? There is grace for the learning process. Now, I hear it gets worse in the teen years… In fact, I know it does, because I remember being a teenager thinking my parents didn’t know a thing, and how often do I say now, “wow, they actually knew what they were talking about!”

At 9 years ok it’s understandable, but into our 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and beyond, because this knows no age limit, this is the sort of thing that should fade. The need to cover our own insecurities. And I get it. I have dealt with insecurities for years, and still do. I think most people do - to a certain degree in different areas of our lives. Or maybe what really happens is that you’re over something, but it’s always been a bit of a weakness, and it seems like that gets brought up. Ever have that? Where you don’t feel insecure, but yet you suddenly are faced with these situations that give you opportunity to be insecure, or offended, or angry, whatever it is that maybe you dealt with in the past. This is part of the spiritual climate we live in. Even though it might not be a constant struggle for you anymore, the bible tells us that satan is the accuser of the children of God. Revelation 12:10 talks about a dragon and calls it, / / The accuser of our brothers and sisters... the one who accuses them before God day and night.

Revelation is a whole book of this vision that John the Apostle has later in his life, and the Life Application Commentary says this, / / John saw a large red dragon, who was Satan. Satan was originally created for God’s glory. But Satan arrogantly rebelled against God because he desired to be like God instead of giving glory to God.

I’ve learned something through going to addiction recovery meetings, and working the twelve steps - because of the things we struggle with, we attempt to control our own lives, to the best of our ability anyways. Some call it trying to be the conductor of our own symphony, or the director of our own play. Listen to how the Big Book says it:

/ / Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show; is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet, the scenery and the rest of the players in his own way. If his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wished, the show would be great. Everybody, including himself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful… Our actor is self-centered - egocentric… Selfishness - self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles… So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves...

What’s all that mean? Well, this is the opposite of being a Living Sacrifice. It’s the idea that we can be our own god, direct our own play, that we know best. And it lacks humility.

Just like the Life Application describes Satans issue, his arrogance caused him to rebel, and that was the beginning of his fall.

Want to know the hardest part of addiction? Admitting you aren’t strong enough to beat it. With my own story of compulsive overeating and addiction to food the narrative has always been, You got yourself here, you have to get yourself out. Every gym, weight loss program, trainer, diet, etc… compels you to do the same exact thing. Have More Will Power.

So when I stepped into the world of Addiction Recovery and they said, and I quote, / / The first requirement is that we be convinced that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success. I wanted to leave, because that’s all we know. The drive to be better. The drive to do the right thing. The constant pressure to be something and do something worth noticing.

Same problem that revelation says Satan has. Arrogance. Arrogant by definition means to have an exaggerated sense of your own importance or abilities. Meaning, we think we can handle more than we can. We think we can do more than we are able. We think we can be our own director, our own god.

So Satan’s arrogance turns to rebellion. Which is what he’s been trying to get humanity to do since day one. He convinces Adam & Eve in the garden that the way to be like God is to eat the fruit that God told them they weren’t allowed to eat. Basically saying, it’s up to you! And what is one of the biggest issues we have as humans - we don’t like being told what to do!

And the great lie is that God punishes us, or as it’s worded in scripture sometimes, curses us, for doing wrong when the reality is that God’s greatest desire is that we would experience life, and the way he does that is instructs us how to live to obtain that life.

Deuteronomy 30:19, / / Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants may live!

Not two paths to choose from and God punishes us for choosing wrong, but a choice to make where God is giving us the cheat sheet to life. Think about it. If every exam you were allowed a cheat sheet. Every test, you had the answers. This is what the instruction of God is. This is what it means to be a Living Sacrifice. To continually give up our own way to choose a better way. Death to self so that we might truly live.

Paul says in Galatians 2:20-21, / / My old self has been crucified with Christ...

Has it, though? No, of course not, he’s still very much himself… But he continues. / / It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Living Sacrifice. I am very much alive but I CHOOSE to put to death my own desires and pleasures for the sake of the way of Jesus Christ.

I am now living in this earthly body, fully aware that I am very much alive, but doing so by trusting in the Son of God.

Do you know what that word trusting is? Let’s read the ESV translation of that scripture. / / I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by FAITH in the Son of God.

Trust in the NLT....Faith in the ESV.... / / pistis in the Greek. And we’ve looked at that word before. Not just a belief in the mind, but a faithful commitment to the teaching, example and way of Jesus Christ.

/ / This is being a living sacrifice - being so committed to the way of Christ that we continually choose to put to death our own way to follow his.

So, in closing out this series, today I want to talk about what we do with what we have. Because the reality is, / / it’s not all dying, it’s dying to live. It’s dying to our own desire so that we can live out God’s desire.

That means there are choices to make, choices about what to do with what we’ve got. The word for that is / / Stewardship.

The english definition for Stewardship is / / the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property.

Let’s start by looking at two verses of scripture, one from Peter and one from Paul.

Peter says this about Stewardship in 1 Peter 4:10 (ESV), / / As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:

And in Romans 12 Paul gives an encouragement about using what God has given us well. Paul actually talks quite a bit about what we call “spiritual gifts” used for “Christian ministry”, but Romans 12:6-13 really gives us an encouragement beyond that classification. / / In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophecy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them! Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

You’ll notice that both Peter & Paul are not just saying do well with what you’ve been given for YOU, but do well with what you’ve been given, as it pertains to serving the people around you. And Paul says specifically to do so with the church.

And tells other churches the same - he says in Galatians 6:10, / / Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone - especially to those in the family of faith.

So, this morning we’re going to look at three areas where we are meant to be good stewards. I was reading something this week and it was interesting, it said, / / Being a good steward starts with recognizing that you already are one.

Not saying that you’re already a good steward, but you’re already a steward, and how you act will determine if you are a good one.

Alright, so let’s get into this. The first area of stewardship I want to look at today is:

/ / 1. Time

We’ve talked about this a bit throughout this series. But the constant temptation is the think that we can “Make” time. “Oh ya, I need to make time to do that.” or we put things off until we have the “extra time”. The hard reality is this. We all have the same amount of time.

Ya know those people we see and say, “How are they doing all of that?” It’s not because they have more time. They are doing it with the same time we are. I said it last week, there’s no day that you’ll wake up and have a bonus day where there’s 26 hrs instead of 24.

Now, here’s the most difficult thing with time.

Although God can and does redeem our past, we don’t get time back. If I choose today to not do something I don’t get a redo of today.

That doesn’t mean I can’t do it tomorrow. That doesn’t mean I necessarily lose the opportunity to do whatever it is I wanted to do. And God can do more in any moment of time than we can. But as Paul says, as we are living in the flesh, I did lose the opportunity to do it today. There’s a saying, / / The best time to start was yesterday… the second best is today!

And you can adapt that to any and every scenario you can think of.

The best time to start the diet was yesterday, but today will work just fine.

The best time to start reading your bible was yesterday, but you can grab the Bible Reading Plan on your way out and start today!

The best time to pray, to hug your wife and kids, to make that decision to change your life, to get the help you need, to go see the doctor, to get tested, to apply for that new job, to ....whatever it is.... You’ve been thinking about it, you want to do it, you didn’t make the choice yesterday, but you still can today. And if we are meant to be good stewards then we have to learn to manage our time.

Psalm 90:12 says this, / / Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. The ESV says, / / So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

The brevity of life, means to count your days, but not just by number, but appoint or assign. Meaning - Make each day count. Be intentional about your time. Because today is valuable, important and necessary to accomplish all that God has for your life.

Teach us to value the time we have - it’s a key to gaining wisdom.

OK, so let’s just drill in to that for a second very practically.

/ / Time is a gift. And if we look to the encouragement of Peter and Paul, what are we meant to do with our gifts? Use them wisely for ourselves and those around us, especially the church. You are going to hear that a lot today. I am unashamedly advocating for the church. I think it’s the most important part of our lives. Community is necessary and it doesn’t just happen all on its own. You have to work at it, and to work through the challenges and to build together. No one sitting on the sidelines.

Practically what does that mean?

You won’t get today again, so Bible Reading Plan - I know I’ve said don’t make it legalistic, that is 100% true, but don’t make it less valuable because you’re not legalistic about it either. Remember, Paul says in Galatians 2, I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. Decide today you’re going to TAKE 15-20 minutes every day to read scripture. No more excuses.

Same with prayer. “I should take some time to pray and connect with God...” Yes, you should.

These things might not come natural to you. That’s the point. We are CHOOSING to die to self, or put aside our own desires, and live in Christ, or follow his desires, his will, his way.

Sunday morning Church - this is how Kelley and I grew up - Sunday is the most important day of the week. My parents never missed church, and that was instilled in us. Church is important. This time we are here together. You have to see it for what it is. Church is more than just a thing we do. It’s a connection point.

Sunday morning church is the thing we do because we are the community of believers. We put a bit of food and coffee out after service because sitting and enjoying a coffee together is just as important as this. This is how community works. If you come from a sports family, then the soccer field or baseball diamond, or hockey rink was your community connection point. People didn’t miss games. Or if it’s the dance culture, same thing. And that’s where a lot of people connect to hang out. Pizza after the game, or relationships develop and hang out outside of the event. But often times we have this saying, “Out of sight, out of mind”. And it’s just simply true, even though it’s also kind of tragic. But the reality is, if you aren’t showing up, then connection isn’t happening, and if connection isn’t happening, then relationship isn’t growing, and if relationship isn’t growing, then true and healthy community can’t happen.

This is why Kelley says if you notice someone isn’t here, call them, text them, tell them you miss them. And let me just say this, if I ever text you on a Sunday and you weren’t in church. Don’t feel guilty that you weren’t here, I’m texting you because I miss you, not just because we want more people in church. Do we want the community to grow? Of course, because the good news of the Gospel is for everyone and those who have not experienced the love and transformation and freedom that can only be found in Jesus, they need it. But you’ll never just be a number, not if you invest your time into community. I would suggest that those who feel like they are just a cog in the wheel, or a number in the system, so to speak, are those who have not truly invested. And it’s easy to say, “Well no one reached out to me.” I get it. But don't let that stop you from reaching out to someone else.

Twice this past week I had someone say to me, “I don’t want to take up your time.” And I thought, “But that’s what I’m here for.” That’s what we’re all here for. Each other. If we don’t have time for each other then we are missing one of the greatest parts of being a part of the body of Christ - the other members of the body!

Don’t wait for someone else to always chase you down. And please don’t fall into the lie that says, “Oh, they’re too busy.” And even worse than that lie, is the one that says, “Oh, we’re too busy.”

You might be busy, but decide that you won’t be too busy for the important things. And yes, this is about priorities.

I would say Kelley and I are homebodies, we don’t need to go out. We like being at home. We like quiet. But without fail, every time we do choose to do something, go out with friends, etc… we have an amazing time. We come home feeling connected and joyful.

And so even in that, and I’m always preaching to myself, but being a homebody is really just an excuse. And not that great of one either. So, I’m just throwing this out there. We love board games. I absolutely love playing cards. When my family gets together, once the dinner table is cleared the deck of cards come out. So, please, let me know and we can make that happen!

Time, time for yourself, time for God, time for your family, time for your community. And maybe you noticed, but this was much more than just being a good steward of our time, it’s being a good steward of our family, of our relationships, of our connection to God.

/ / 2. Work

Now, I am calling this work, but again, like time involved more than just time, this is more than just what you do from 9-5.

This is work, skill, talents & what we might call giftings.

Colossians 3:23 says, / / Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Notice how it doesn’t say, “When you enjoy your work...” “When you love your job...” “When you are getting along with your co-workers and your boss is kind to you...”

No, at WHATEVER you do! So, first things first, whatever we are doing, do it like we are doing it for the Lord. Being a good steward is managing how we handle what we do.

Now, all these things: work, skill, talent, gifting.... are really all very different things.

I think God gives all of us unique talents and gifts, both physically and spiritually.

Some people are just mentally gifted to do certain things. Some people are physically gifted to do certain things, whether that is physical labor, work, or art, music, dance. Some people just seem to have it for certain things, right?

And then there’s skill. I’ve talked about this before. I believe God has given both Kelley and I talent, or a gift, in music. But Kelley was WAY more disciplined than I was and took that God given talent and crafted her skill, to a point where she was sought after for that skill.

Perfect example. We are always amazed, Kaylee will go over to the piano and just be able to figure songs out. She can hear something, and figure it out. She has an “ear for it”, we would say. BUT, we are always encouraging her to actually practice, to give herself structure and discipline. To hone that talent into a great skill. Because talent alone only gets you so far. Dedication wins out every time. If you show up unprepared with talent, the person less talented but more dedicated is going to win out. And I would suggest that is in most things.

But ultimately, what we’re talking about here is what we do WITH what we’ve been given.

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 25:14-30. I love this story because of the words it uses.

/ / Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last...

Most translations don’t say bags of silver, they say, / / “talents”. A talent is a measurement of weight, so scripture is saying each were given a specific weighed out amount of money. The NLT makes it a bit more understandable by saying bags of silver. The NIV says bags of Gold. One translation puts it into dollars. But I like the word talents. Because Jesus isn’t really talking about money here, although we can learn a lot about money as well.

The next line gives us insight into why Jesus says these servants get different amounts. Reading from the ESV now. / / To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability...

As the story goes it says that the first one takes the 5 talents, or 5 bags of silver, and immediately gets to work, investing that money and earns 5 more bags of silver.

The second person, it says he went to work and earned two more. The last one though, he dug a hole, put the money in there and waited until the master returned. The master returns, asks how they did and they tell him, “I got 5 more.” And the master replies, “Well done, you’ve certainly proven yourself. I can now give you more responsibility.”

Second guy steps up, “I got 2 more!” again “Well done, you’ve been faithful with this small amount, you’ve shown me you can handle more!”

Then the last guy comes up. And he says, “So here’s the deal, I got afraid. I let fear get the best of me. I didn’t want to lose what you gave me. I didn’t want to mess up with it. I didn’t want to do it wrong… so, I just buried it. Didn’t do anything with it. But, I’ve still got it. Here you go.”

And Jesus, telling the story, says the master looks at him and says, “You wicked and lazy servant. If you would’ve put my money in the bank I would have at least earned interest.” Then he says, “Take the money from this lazy one, and give it to the one who did well.”

We have a saying, and it’s usually a negative one. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Now, I’m not talking about inequality or social standing. We have a lot of work to do in the area of lifting up those who need to be lifted up, in giving opportunities on even scales and advocating for those who need help. That is without question.

But, I want you to see what Jesus says in this story. He gives each of these servants an amount and it says, according to his ability.

Regardless of what you have received in your life. Maybe you feel like you’ve been given less. Maybe you feel like you got less of a shot, or someone else is more talented or more capable and if only you could do more....listen, according to his ability.

/ / It’s not about how much you have, it’s about what you do with what you have!

We all, regardless of talent, skill, gifting, or anything else, can give 100% in all we do with what we HAVE been given. And that is what Jesus is asking for. Let’s remove the money aspect. Ok, don’t think in terms of money for a second. Think in terms of talent.

What has God given you, and are you using it for His glory?

See, the servants were given talents and were responsible to give BACK what they had made with those talents. They were never their talents, it was always the masters to do with as he saw fit. So they come back having produced more, not for themselves, but for the glory of the king. And what does the King say, “You proved yourself, I can give you more of what I own.”

Except the third one. Why? Because he didn’t produce. He took the talent and didn’t use it.

Now, let’s just throw that sad part of the story aside for a moment. Don’t think about losing the talent. Don’t think, “oh, if I don’t use it God will take it away.” Let’s just simply look at what happens when you DO use it.

Regardless of the amount, which was given based on your ability, didn’t matter, the response was the same. The Master says the exact same thing to the man with 5 talents and the man with 2 talents. Same thing. “/ / Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”

It’s not about how much you produce, it’s about being good and faithful.

So, what has God given you and are you using it.

First, to the glory of God.

Second, to provide for your family.

Third, to enrich and bless your community.

That’s what Paul and Peter said, right? 1 Peter 4:10, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards.

Romans 12, Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them! which takes action. Love with genuine affection, honoring each other, not being lazy, but working hard, because when people are in need, you need to be ready to help, and eager to practice hospitality.

Are you using what God has given you to benefit the community?

Now, I want to say this. We are a small church at the moment. And it might not always seem like there are opportunities to give in this way. I want to do two things. First, to simply say that we, Kelley and I, are learning what this looks like and don’t always have the answer. If you’ve been waiting to be involved and you feel like, “When will they ask me to be involved.” Let me just encourage you, please, come talk to us. Don’t shy away, don’t let anything convince you that you are better off digging a hole and putting your talent in it. And don’t let the enemy, who is the accuser, say we don’t want it, or we won’t make room for you. We need your talent. We need what God has given you. And I don’t just mean in a ministry sense. Sure, yes, but whatever you have, let’s learn together how we can serve each other in this community. I don’t presume to know how that all works or looks, and I certainly haven’t always and won’t always do it right. But I think if we can grow and learn together, we can see something really incredible happen as we all choose to give of ourselves for the glory of God and the encouragement of our community. The other thing I would say is that as we learn we find where things fit. Sometimes there are seasons to things, sometimes we do certain things for a certain time. And so if you’re like, “I play the bagpipes” we might have to wait for a Scottish themed fall festival for that, I don’t know where else to put it. But that’s the point, we work together, learn together, grow together.

So, being a good steward in this area is:

/ / We are using our abilities, talents and gifts in all situations like we’re doing it directly for the Lord

/ / We are developing those abilities, talents and gifts to do them well

/ / We are using those abilities, talents and gifts, not just for ourselves, but to serve our community

/ / 3. Finances

Last one this morning in regards to being a good steward.

When Paul says in Romans 12, / / When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. part of that is financial. Yes, we know the person with the pickup gets asked to help move, and the person with IT experience gets asked for computer advice, and the person who works in the medical field gets asked the questions when our kids are sick… So some people can help in some areas more than others.

But we all have money. We all have the same opportunity to give. Both to individuals, and through the church. And we all are meant to be good stewards of what we’ve been given.

We can replay that story from Matthew 25 again and apply it to our handling of money. Are we faithful with what we’ve been given.

Again, we’re talking about stewardship, so I’m not just talking about giving. Money is something we all have, and it’s one of the least taught things in our society, how to handle it. And unfortunately we are up against a very big enemy in our finances. Money is connected to so much. People break down, worry, anxiety, stress, marriages break up, friends turn on each other, business partners accuse each other, family members lose trust in one another.... because of money. If Jesus said the enemy comes to steal kill and destroy, if he can mess up your finances, he’s well on his way to impacting your life in a very negative way.

Listen to this: Statistically speaking you see anywhere from / / 4,000 - 10,000 ads per day. In the US alone the retail industry spends more than 35 BILLION dollars in DIGITAL AD spending. And the top 10 industries: So that’s Retail, Financial Services, Consumer Goods & Products, Telecommunications, Computer and Electronics, Automotive, Healthcare & Pharma, Entertainment, Media and Travel / / spend a combined 157.7 Billion dollars in digital ad spending alone, in just the US.

That is a LOT of targeted destruction headed your way. Is it all that difficult to see why people are having money problems? Yes, we seem to be making less and things are costing more. Yes, there are legitimate problems. But it doesn’t take walking out on a limb too far to suggest that the system we are surrounded by does NOT have your financial interest at heart. It is after your money. And it doesn’t care if you’re left with nothing. It will take and take from you until you are dry.

Being a good steward. How do we do that? Well, it takes a different approach than what we’re used to, and sometimes it takes stepping out in faith.

First, I think we need to ask: What if the key to being “blessed” is not having more, but being content with what you do have. So that you’re not always wishing you were making more or had more, but that whatever you do have, you are happy, content and fulfilled. That instantly removes you from the rat race. And so then, if you made more you would be in a position to help those who need help.

If you learn to manage your finances then giving becomes easier. Let’s just be honest. When you don’t have much, / / giving anything is hard. When you feel like you’re constantly struggling, the pastor getting up on stage and saying we should be giving 10% of our income to the church feels like an insult and a cash grab. When you are always struggling and always feel like you’re barely getting ahead, you’ll feel like you’re drowning and any money going out the door will feel like robbery rather than opportunity.

And for a lot of people this doesn’t make sense, and for some because they have been hurt, or manipulated, or taken advantage of in the past, the concept of giving, and especially giving to the church, is a topic they just don’t want to even entertain - but I think that finances are one of those areas that God, just like the story Jesus tells, gives us something to use for His glory, to show faithfulness in good works, and to give back to him what is produced.

Malachi, a prophet in the Old Testament really gets on Israel’s case about giving. See, through the instructions God had laid out, he had given Israel a really simple map for making sure everything was looked after. Everything they received, crops, animals, money, they took 10% of that and brought it to the temple and that helped look after all of the people who were dedicated to the temple and to worship and ministry to God, it looked after the priests, it looked after the temple itself, and it also looked after those in need.

Problem, as always with Israel was that when they got instructions they would often stop following them, and in the case of Malachi he says it as strongly as they were robbing, or cheating God. And the people are like, “What are you talking about, how are we robbing God?” And Malachi says, “in tithes and offerings.” In being faithful to bring back a portion of what God has given you.

And he says, because of that you’ve been struggling with your finances because your priorities are messed up. The wording can be confusing for some people because he says they’ve been cursed, and so people think that God is in heaven actively cursing people that choose not to give. That’s not the case.

Remember - two roads, one that leads to life, one that leads to death, oh that you would choose life. Just like every other instruction that God gives us through scripture, they are to produce life, and when we don’t follow those instructions, it’s not that he’s actively cursing us, but that we are simply choosing the path that contradicts His instruction, and in my often used illustration of Kaylee and a pot of mac’n’cheese - if she doesn’t listen to me and touches the pot I told her not to, she will get burned. I didn’t curse her, I didn’t punish her for not listening - but not listening produced pain.

When I try to force control in my life and manage my finances and don’t give God honor and place and reverence for giving me what I have in the first place, I find my dollar doesn’t go as far as I need it to. But for some reason, when I choose to honor God with my finances, the thing that follows isn’t always an abundance of money, but it produces in me a blessing I can’t always explain.

Yes, sometimes it’s financial, but sometimes it’s just knowing it’s going to be alright.

Paul says he’s content with or without - Again, / / what if being #blessed isn’t about how much we have, but how we feel regardless of what we have!

Jesus said, don’t worry about tomorrow, your Father already knows what you need.

And so Malachi says this, after saying they’ve robbed God, he tells them how to fix it. Malachi 3:10-12, / / “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

I want you to note something here. God says two things. First, what the gift is for. Second, what this particular path leads to when you follow he instruction.

There’s four very different things that the gift is needed for.

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple.

/ / Structures - the storehouse and the temple need to be built and maintained

/ / Maintenance - someone has to look after these places, the property, the management of things

/ / Service - these aren’t ordinary structures, they house the ministry of God - there are tools and people, work involved

/ / Food - Let’s call this what people need - there is a practical outreach, outflow of needs being met within the community, by the community

This was such a practical system that God put in place to maintain and ensure there would always be enough for both the service and ministry to God, and also the needs of the people. And the design was simple, if everyone pitches in the same amount. Not the same amount in value, but according to their ability (sound familiar) then everything will be looked after. 10% is 10% regardless of how much you make. And I have learned in my own life that giving 10% when I wasn’t making much made it easier during the times I was making more, because it was already a learned and committed response.

So then what happens? God says he’s going to open up the windows of heaven over the lives of those who follow this instruction. Again, instruction that leads to life.

Blessing can be bit of a puzzle here. I think the greatest blessing is contentment. We know this is what Jesus meant when he gets into the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, through the beatitudes. He’s making sure people understand that blessing isn’t just financial, but it’s truly being happy and content, not based on what we have, but on WHO we have - Him.

But that doesn’t mean money is bad. It doesn’t mean financial gain is bad. Paul actually says in Romans 12 that if you have a gift of giving, then give generously. Some people are gifted to finances others, and that is an amazing gift. But we are all meant to give out of what God has given us. Mr Beast video - 1000 blind people see.

Now, regardless of whether you give 10% or not. Regardless of your take on that and what you read from scripture and how God has spoken to you in regards to faithfulness in finances. I want you to hear this and understand this, because this is our heart and our desire for this community. Remember, we keep saying it over and over again, healthy community. And healthy can not involve manipulation and greed. It’s not possible.

First, 2 Corinthians 9:8, 10-11 says, / / God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others… For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer…Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.

SO, first things first, God provides what we have. And if you have anything, and are willing to give honor to God with it, I believe he can replace it and provide more. That’s what scripture says.

So, from a financial perspective, being a good steward is:

/ / Thanking God for providing and honoring God with our finances

/ / Managing what we’ve been given well

/ / Learning to be Generous

And the last thing, closing with this thought. This is the healthy community part - Paul also says in 2 Corinthians 9:7, / / You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure.

What that means is simply this: Give out of your heart, not because of someone words. This is a heart matter. Stewardship is a heart matter. I follow Jesus because my heart has fallen in love with Him. Kelley and I tithe 10% of our entire income to this church because our hearts are in love with Jesus. Because our Hearts want to honor God.

/ / Let your heart get close to Jesus and stewardship will become an overflow of the love you have for him - whether that is time, work or finance.

And it’s a heart matter for this community as well. Do you believe in this community? Are you allowing your heart to connect, not just being here in body? Because when you allow your heart to connect to people, you give more. And I don’t just mean money, but I mean life. We do more for those we love. It’s just simple facts.

Stewardship starts with falling in love with God and falling in love with the people he’s put around you so that you can give of your time, efforts and finances out of your heart, not out of reluctance or pressure!