Engage in Stewardship
Notes
Transcript
A Call to Recognize Divine Ownership
A Call to Recognize Divine Ownership
Psalm 24
Psalm 24
Summary: Psalm 24 emphasizes the sovereignty of God as the Creator and Owner of all things, highlighting His holiness and the requirements for worship and standing before Him.
Application: This sermon can help Christians reflect on their possessions and lives, recognizing that everything we have is a stewardship from God. It encourages a deeper commitment to living in a way that honors His ownership and influences our relationship with material goods and community service.
Teaching: The sermon teaches that God is sovereign over creation and that our lives should reflect acknowledgment of His ownership through our actions and worship. It emphasizes the importance of being pure in heart and intentions as we navigate the world.
How this passage could point to Christ: In Psalm 24, we see a foreshadowing of Christ as the King of Glory who ultimately fulfills the requirement of holiness for us through His sacrifice, enabling us to enter into God's presence.
Big Idea: Recognizing God's ownership over all creation transforms our perspective on possessions, leading to a life of stewardship and purity.
Welcome to Stewardship Days here at Mountain View Baptist Church! We are delighted to have you in attendance and want to encourage you today. If you are a first time guest, will you please stop by our welcome center so we can connect with you? It would be our honor.
When I grew up in our family Dairy Queen business, my dad taught me valuable lessons on how to manage the business affairs. This meant I needed to realize the equipment, the employees, the building, and the conducting of business belonged to my dad. While it did have an impact on me indirectly, it was my responsibility to manage the affairs of dad’s business.
The principles of management and good choices means we are to manage the resources and opportunities God gives us . It starts with us recognizing the owner of our resources. God directs our understanding in this passage on how to manage His resources. There are three qualities of believers who recognize His ownership.
Quality 1. . .
Quality 1. . .
1. Acknowledge the Owner
1. Acknowledge the Owner
Psalm 24:1-2
The passage opens with a clear statement on ownership over all things. God wants us to recognize that He is the owner of all things. While that seems super general, let us drill down to specifics. What does God own in our lives? He owns our health, our mental capacity, our ability to work, to drive, He owns our gifts and talents, He owns our energy and our physical ability. He owns our finances, our time, our homes, our vehicles, our jobs, our children, our weather, our surroundings in which we live. He owns the church and we are given the responsibility to manage its affairs. All these things are given to us by God’s gracious hand to manage for His glory.
Moses Exodus 4:11–12 “And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”
Be Worshipful We Are Stewards Who Enjoy His Goodness in Creation (vv. 1–2)
The earth is God’s, everything on it and in it is God’s, and all the people on the earth are God’s, made in His image and accountable to Him
When I preach on a subject like tithing which I will deal with next week, people have said to me, why do I have to give “my” money to God. This is where the acknowledgement comes into these verses. There is nothing that God has allowed to have that is not His. It is not I am giving something that is mine to God, it is I am returning what is already owned by God.
Today, Christian we must acknowledge that God is the owner and He has all authority over how we manage (use) His resources. The resources God has given to us is entrusted with our wise management of its use. God gives us these resource with His directions attached in the Bible on how to manage them. The problem is when we see these things as ours rather than see them as God’s resources. The struggle comes into our lives when the advertisers of the world says it is your money and you need to get all you can get. The Bible says the opposite. The Bible says it is God’s money and we are to manage His money His way. Have you ever done a personal study on managing God’s resources?
It is not enough that we acknowledge God’s infinite resources; we must believe also that he is infinitely generous to bestow them.
A. W. Tozer
God not only owns all things but He created all things. The world and mankind was created by God v. 2. His power is above all power and He has all divine authority as the creator.
There was a powerful king whose palace was made of exquisite gold. People would come from all over the world to view his palace and palace grounds. He hired a gardener who would keep his flowers and the grounds in mint condition. The gardener planted all types of beautiful flowers and took ownership for their development and growth. There was one particular rose that stood out. It was admired by many who would pass by the garden of the king. The gardener was invited to enter the local flower contest show to display his master piece. Excitement was growing in his heart and the day came for the flower show. He went down to the garden to cut the flower and take to the show; however, when he arrived at the flower, it was gone. His beautiful, magnificent rose had been cut. He found out the king had cut the flower for his personal use. When the gardener questioned the king, the king reminded him that this flower was his to use as he chose.
God wants us to acknowledge that He is the owner and He has authority to choose to use what He owns.
Job says Job 1:21
And said,
Naked came I out of my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return thither:
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He is calling for full self-disclosure in God’s presence. By expressing our specific requests to God, we “acknowledge our total dependence upon God.”
G. Walter Hansen
Next Sunday March 2, we will shift up our prayer meeting with an individual prayer time for God’s provision for the parking lot. We will have the entire church facility opened at 9:15 AM so you can come a little early and either pray alone or with your family. You can find a corner or maybe a place on where the parking lot will be built and seek God for His provision. Ask God for Him to show you what He would have you to give at the banquet. Good stewards acknowledge God’s ownership over all their resources. We brought nothing here when we came and we take nothing out.
Quality 2. . .
2. Approach the Owner
2. Approach the Owner
Psalm 24:3-4
Here God is calling us to approach Him in worship. We approach God through His Son Jesus Christ. No many can go to heaven in his own righteousness because we are sinners. Our righteousness the Bible says is like “filthy rags.”
We can only approach God through the holiness of Jesus Christ who died for us on the cross. I Tim. 2:5-6
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
It is His payment for our sin on the cross. It is His righteousness that makes it possible for us to approach Him and every time we pray we come into God’s presence through Jesus Christ as our mediator. We are to approach Him with a clean heart. This transformation can lead to genuine worship and a lifestyle that honors God’s ownership.
The only way we enter God’s presence is through the merits of Jesus Christ, which means we must repent of our sins and put our faith in HIm. He is the only One who qualifies us to enter the Father’s presence.
A good steward recognizes that his life is not his anymore. He died to himself when he accepted Christ. I Cor. 6:20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Our heart will want to glorify God by recognizing Him as the owner of our lives. We have no lease on our life. Just as we learned last week when the Laodicean area edged God out of their lives, He sent an earthquake to destroy the area in 60AD. God reminds us when we fail to acknowledge His ownership, God could choose to take away things away from us that hinder us from acknowledging Him.
When we recognize God’s authority and ownership, we will consult Him on how we use His resources. This is why a daily approach to God is critical because we forget how to manage our time and our finances.
Quality 3 . . .
3. Surrender to the Owner.
3. Surrender to the Owner.
Psalm 24:7-10
There are five times the Bible mentions the King of glory-this is Jesus Christ. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords according to Revelation. He is not to be compared alongside other “supposed” Saviors. He is the one, the only Savior.
Maybe explore the imagery of welcoming the King of Glory as a metaphor for inviting Christ into our lives. These verses highlight his majesty and strength, compelling believers to open their hearts to His reign.
In ancient times when a person would come in contact with a king, they would bow or fall prostrate before them. They would yield to their authority by a visible surrender. Surrender begins at salvation where we surrender our life to Jesus. We surrender our self righteousness and our will to His will. If you are here today and have accepted Christ as your Savior, will you yield to Him today? Will you call upon Jesus to be your personal Savior? Acts 16:31
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
If you are a Christian, God has richly blessed you. He has provided not only your spiritual needs but also your physical and financial needs. Have you surrendered back to God all that is HIs? One Sunday an old farmer went to church and heard the gospel. God captured his heart and he accepted Christ as his Savior. The farmer wanted to be baptized that day also so he told the pastor he was ready to be baptized. The baptistery was ready and the pastor guided the farmer to the top of the stairs. The farmer took off the watch and took his wallet and valuables out of his pocket. He got into the water and immediately stopped the pastor. He went back to the top of the steps to grab his wallet. He put it into his pocket and said now I am ready. I don’t want to be physically baptized without being financially baptized. Now that is surrender.
Everything you own, you should surrender it to the owner today. The job you have was given to you by God, the children, the spouse, the home, the giftedness of life, all should be surrendered to you. There might be a Christian here who has not surrendered all to the Lord. Will you surrender it all today?
