Level Up - Stewardship
Notes
Transcript
Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.
So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine?
And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own?
PRAY FOR PREP KIDS GOING TO CAMP
We have all been given gifts and we are called to steward or manage the gifts we are given.
The things we are to manage can be natural or spiritual but regardless we are called to manage them well.
To Steward is to use something properly understanding it is owned by another.
It all belongs to God.
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Money
Money
All the resources belong to God. All the money is His, all the gold is His, all the silver is His, all the crypto is His, all the stocks are His. It all belongs to Him. But He gives us these resources to manage.
We must learn that money is a tool.
You might be expecting me to talk about giving and I am not going to talk about that right now. Right now I want us to focus on understanding the stewardship of money. This is something we are always growing in.
We are called to be wise with money. Do not love it, do not crave it, but be wise with it as a tool.
It does not matter how much you have, the question is what are you doing with it.
So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine?
Money is a testing ground for greater and more important things.
Learn to Manage Money Well
Learn to Manage Money Well
Three simple practices to mange money well.
Number 1: do not accumulate unnecessary debt.
The Gospels tell us that Jesus has redeemed all things that includes money. Living like there are no consequences for our actions is not going to help you in any area of life, especially in finances.
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.
When you have debt the debt owns you. You might have to work a job you don’t want. You can’t do what you want. You have to make that money to pay the one you owe.
I once had an employee whose car died. It was newish but he did not have a warrantee and the electrical system went crazy on him. It would not start. Sometimes it would not stop like the brakes would just give up. He ended up having to buy a new car and roll the balance into it. If you have ever done that then you know it is horrible. Anyway I told him as a friend I was sad for him, but as his boss I was happy because I knew he was not going anywhere.
Debt happens, the world is expensive. School costs are high. Cars break. Rent it high. House prices are high.
Debt can happen, but we do not have to make it worse.
My truck does not get good gas milage. But I can make it worse than it is by driving it aggressively.
Things are expensive and debt happens but we can make it worse. Stay away from predatory lending. Don’t borrow more than you can afford. Don’t take trips you cannot pay for.
We are called to be wise and sometimes, often times, that means saying no to something we want because we cannot afford it right now.
We must be careful to spread ourselves so thin that if something happens we end up in a horrible situation.
I was at Chick-fil-A the other day, talking to a man in line and he was telling me a story about a friend of his who was a multimillionaire and lost everything because he spread himself too thin.
Number 2: Submit purchases to the Lord
There is a beauty in submitting purchases before the Lord. Taking time to pray and ask God what He thinks of this purchase.
If He is Lord of all then He is Lord over our finances and asking God and submitting to His will when it comes to financial decisions is a good thing. If we are stewards of His resources then we should ask Him about purchases.
Number 3: don’t borrow money or take money from people who are not good.
In Genesis we see the story of Abram later renamed Abraham where the King of Sodom wanted to give him a reward and Abram said,
that I will not take a thread or sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so you can never say, ‘I made Abram rich.’
We have to be careful who we borrow from and who we get into business with because then their name is now attached to you.
If we do not honor God with the money we do have how can we expect He will trusts us with more.
Learn to be content
Learn to be content
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.
We as people are always looking for the next thing. The bigger house, the newer car, the newest streaming service, the nicer TV, the newest Nikes, the whatever. We are constantly bombarded with advertisements telling us that a new thing will make us happy.
I make jokes but honestly I want a Harley Road Glide. It is something I desire and I can probably afford the payments on a used one. But I have a motorcycle. There is nothing wrong with my bike. The battle is between contentment and want. It is a matter of self-control and contentment. One day I will get my bike but until then I will be content and continue to learn to be content with what I have.
We live in a FOMO world (fear of missioning out). We must learn to live in a happy with what I got world.
If we cannot learn to be content with what we have, there is nothing new we can gain to make us content.
Contentment is learned and practiced.
Contentment is not just about stuff. Learning to be content is just as much a spiritual exercise as it is a material one. In learning to be content with stuff we learn to press into Jesus.
Contentment with what we have is absolutely vital to our spiritual health.
Jerry Bridges
Contentment teaches us in the natural how to be content and rest in Jesus in all things.
Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.
Contentment teaches us in the natural how to be content and rest in Jesus in all things. It teaches us how to rest in the will of God when things do not go the way we want.
50 Cent says, “Get rich or die trying.”
Paul says, “I have learned to be content in all situations.”
Who would we rather emulate?
Contentment gives us the ability to rest. We are not obsessed with getting more. We are able to rest.
Work six days and rest for one. Contentment gives us the freedom to do this. We are not trying to always accumulate more.
There is a story about a man who worked all the time and when his friends told him he needed to take a break and get some rest he replied, “the devil never takes a day off so why would I?” His friends responded, “You need a better role model.”
Contentment leads to rest and some of us who are workaholics or serious doers need to learn to be content with what is done and learn to rest.
God’s got it.
When the leaders tried to press Jesus about taxes he told Peter,
“But, so we won’t offend them, go to the sea, cast in a fishhook, and take the first fish that you catch. When you open its mouth you’ll find a coin. Take it and give it to them for me and you.”
God’s got it. We have to learn to rest in His provision. We might not have all we want but we will have all we need. Our Father knows what we need. He has the provision, He has the ability, it is all His remember we just need to learn to listen and be obedient.
I have heard so many stories and seen it in my own life where I have been obsessing and God says, relax I have it.
Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.
But even the hairs of your head have all been counted.
So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Learn to manage your money well and learn to be content with what you have. God will provide what is needed. He might provide it in the form of a job or a second job, but He will provide.
Learn to Ask God for more:
Learn to Ask God for more:
We pray for His blessings and then use them wisely. It starts with learning to managing money well and then learning to be content. Then we can ask for more.
You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
The first two principals are in order for a reason. Manage money properly and learn to be content then ask for more. This is not a contradiction. We learn to be content before we ask for more because if He says no we do not despair. We are content with what we have. But we also understand He has more. We prove our trustworthiness and ask Him for blessing.
Jabez called out to the God of Israel, “If only you would bless me, extend my border, let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm, so that I will not experience pain.” And God granted his request.
So often I know of people who do not ask God for more not out of piety or holiness but out of a fear or because of a scarcity mindset.
Some fear God will say no, I don’t want to bother Him. God has more important things to do. Please understand He can do it all at the same time. He is big enough to handle the situation in the Middle East and your financial concerns.
We need to get rid of a faith in a little god and start calling on the name of the one who created the entire universe.
Same goes for the scarcity mindset. God lead the Israelites into a land flowing with Milk and Honey, do you think that well has run dry?
I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
God can make water come from a rock you think He can’t provide for your needs? You think He can’t bless you?
I am not making promises here and I am not telling you to name it and claim it. What I am saying is God is able. I would rather ask in faith and have God say no then be too scared to ask.
And I have promised you that I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.
So often we are looking at all the ites and God is trying to get us to looking at milk and honey.
I know God was making a promise to Israel here and not me but I know He is the same God and He is still able. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I know He is able.
Ask in faith and give Him a shot. Maybe He says no and that is ok, but maybe He says yes.
Learn to manage money well
Learn to be content
Learn to ask for more.
We learn all these things properly by learning to submit to Jesus.
I think we all have one area where we struggle the most here. One area that is harder and that is ok, pray and ask God where you lack.
If you don’t know Jesus, if you don’t have a relationship with the one who created it all then that is the best place to start.
