The Owner of it All
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: I’m going to start off this morning with some statistics. How these statistics are created, I don’t exactly know. But there are people with jobs who collect information and then take that information and smush it around to provide other people numbers to crunch to help them decide how to do what they do for their jobs. Anyway here goes.
Do you know:
There are 2,700 billionaires worldwide. And that list is growing.
There are 58 million millionaires worldwide. In 2024 the US added 1,000 millionaires to that list every day. This list represents 1.5% of the adult population of the world.
There are 1.7 billion people in the world who have no bank account. That means they have no savings and live from pay check to pay check or day to day.
In the US 27% of adults have no savings. They can’t even cover an emergency of $1,000 dollars. 32% have no retirement savings.
Some of that is rather shocking. There are many reasons why American adults are in this situation. It’s expensive to live in the U.S, for many they have a large debt, no budget, no financial goals and one big one in this country is lifestyle choices. Have you ever heard of keeping up with the Jones’. The idea of having all the best and newest stuff.
Even though all of this is going on the US is the highest per capita giving country. This country gives 550 billion to charity each year and 392 billion of that is by individuals. But what about churches. What does giving to churches look like? Well all the numbers say $100 billion dollars is given to churches annually in this country. Which works out to every church giver gives between $1,144 - 3,432 per year. That kind of works out to be $17 per week or $884 per year as a tithe of 10%. But other studies show only 4.35% of church givers tithe 10% of their income.
That’s a lot to handle, and I’m sure if you go looking for the same information you would probably find something else. But what’s the point to all this?
Well, This nation gives a lot. But not everyone gives, nor do those who give give the same amount. Some tithe, some give a little, some give more than a tithe and some give a lot more. A lot of it depends on how much people make, but it can also depend on the attitude about the money. It’s all a matter of attitude. If the giver believes their hard work earned the money and they get to keep it and do what they want with it then the percentage given will be lower. But if the giver believes that they own nothing and it all belongs to someone else, God in this case, then giving is probably higher.
Our passage for today points to the owner of it all. But before I read it let’s look at a quick video. (tithing donuts)
7 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God.
8 “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9 “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds.
10 “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.
11 “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
12 “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
13 “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats?
14 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High;
15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”
Transitional Sentence: According to our passage God owns it all, and we are His stewards.
So what is Stewardship
What is it?
Steward - The trusted manager of a household, palace, or large estate.
There are two important words here. Trusted and manager......
Trust - Reliance on and confidence in a person.
Manager - an administrator, to rule over.
So, a steward manages or looks after another’s property. For this discussion it is God’s property. So we are going to define Stewardship as -
STEWARDSHIP Responsibility to manage all the resources of life for the glory of God, acknowledging God as provider.
b. Stewardship isn’t just tithing to the church or giving an offering to the church. Yes giving to the church is part of being a trustworthy steward. But Stewardship is watching over everything, all the resources of life for the glory of God, because God is the owner of it all.
How many of you think that money is the only resource you have in your life? If you have money how do you get it? Is that means of acquiring the money a resource? Is the means to get to that means of acquiring that money a resource? Yes the resources can pile up quickly. Another way to look at this is that you have money, you get the money from a job and you have a car to get to that work to make the money. If you don’t look after the car well it breaks down, now you have no way to get to work to make the money. Everything we have is a resource that is provided by God.
Can you think of anything in your life that wasn’t provided by God or that can’t be used for His glory?
c. What do we have as resources to steward over?
i. money - The easiest resource to talk about is our money. Not just our money, but all the material possessions that we have. The money buys the stuff and helps to take care of it. Wealth is an easy one because the Bible talks about it so many times. One good verse about wealth is Matthew 6:24
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
The stuff draws us away from God. God owns it, but we use it or it uses us. An owner would say “it belongs to me,” a steward would say “it belongs to God.”
ii. Time - Time is another resource we have to use for the glory of God. Do you know that there are 86,400 seconds in a day, 1,440 minutes in a day, 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day. How many of those seconds do you use to glorify God? Some need to be used for sleep, but how many are used for personal gain or are wasted because we simply don’t know how to use them for God’s glory. I know I misuse to many of my seconds.
iii. Talents - We all have a talent or two and gifts provided by the Holy Spirit. Maybe you are crafty and like to make cards, photo albums, crochet or knit, paint, draw, woodwork, write stories or poems, sing and play an instrument or maybe you just like to be outside gardening. When God told Moses to go to Pharaoh Moses said he couldn’t do it. But God asked Moses what he had in his hand. Well he had a stick in his hand. What are you going to do with that stick Moses? So what do you have in your hand? A guitar? A paintbrush? A crochet needle? Let God use it.
iv. Health - We all have a body. They all work in the same way, relatively anyway. Have you every thought of your health as a resource that belongs to God for you to use to glorify Him? If you haven’t why not?
Have you heard of Joni Eareckson Tada? Do you know her story? (add her story!) Would she have glorified God the way she did if she hadn’t become a quadriplegic? Her health was the driving factor in helping others who have disabilities. What’s going on with your health that can encourage you to do something for someone else to give glory to God?
So, there are some of the resources we have that we can use to glorify God. Now the question is why do we need to think this way?
We need to think this way because
2. God is the owner of it all - whether you believe it or not. Psalm 50:10-12 says:
10 “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.
11 “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
12 “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
In these three verses there are multiple statements about what God owns. “Every beast of the forest” - that covers all the wild animals. How many beasts do you think are in the forests? Google couldn’t tell me. It got all confused. There’s a lot.
“The cattle on a thousand hills.” That’s a lot of hills. Depending upon the size of those hills that is a lot of cattle too. The point is God would have no shortage of cattle.
“He knows every bird of the mountains.” Once again this is a lot. Especially since He knows them all. Matthew 10:29 says:
29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
Last but not least, verse 12 says: “For the world is mine, and all it contains.” He owns it all. If we believe we own anything then we are struggling against God. We come into the world with nothing, I will say amen to that. I was there when my children came into the world, all they had was some hair on their heads. And then, we will leave the world with nothing. Everything we have stays behind. We don’t even get to keep the gold in our teeth, the titanium in our knees and hips or the ink in our skin. All we take with us is spiritual.
In the psalm God says these things about His ownership as a reminder to the people because He was testifying against them. He was testifying against the state of their hearts. Their lack of thankfulness, generosity and humility. Even still it says:
a. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices.” The Levitical law prescribes five main types of sacrifices: burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. These offerings are the core of the Israelite worship and are meant to facilitate atonement for sin and maintenance of a relationship with God. Each has specific requirements regarding what was sacrificed and how it was done.
The word reprove can also be translated as rebuke. So God is not speaking harshly to the Israelites for their sacrifices or out right rejecting their sacrifices. God is still accepting them but He sees the condition of their hearts. He knows that they are not being given freely and lovingly but grudgingly and with contempt.
b. The next bit says “And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.” He knows all the appropriate offerings are being made. But knowing the condition of the heart of each man He knows how each offering was selected and made. He knows there is not true repentance and humility in the hearts of those presenting the sacrifices. He knows they are only going through the motions. They do it because they are supposed to do it. They don’t do it because they love God, but because they have to. Nobody wants to be on God’s bad side but I won’t give up what is mine to God. I need it. It’s mine, my precious.
Is that what happens in the church today. Are offerings made because of some expectation placed on attenders from either the leadership or those who give the offerings? Or is it a heart thing? It’s mine and I need it so I’ll give a bit once in a while. Anybody got some donuts?
And then comes the big news.
c. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds.” This is the where the big reveal begins. God isn’t going to forceable remove anyone’s young bull or goat from it’s place of life. He isn’t like the worldly governments that forcible take what they want to pay the taxes. You’ve heard the saying there are two things you can’t avoid in this life, death and taxes. Well that’s not the way of it with God. He wants each of His children to give freely from what they have.
That was the point of reminding everyone that He owns it all. That is the reminder we each need to keep before us as we collect our pay checks, our pensions and our eggs from the hen house. It’s all His. The giving of the stuff isn’t the point. It’s the condition of the heart as we give that matters. Ultimately He wants our hearts. If He wanted the stuff He could simply take it. The stuff can disappear as quickly as a fire can eat it, a natural disaster can destroy it or the stock market can crash. Then where are you?
After all of this, Asaph, the author of the Psalm tells us some things to do to:
3. Steward over God’s stuff.
a. First - make a sacrifice of Thanksgiving. Leviticus 22:29 says:
29 “When you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.
A sacrifice of Thanksgiving is a free will offering. It is not required to atone for sin or to take care of any other issue that makes one unclean. Sometimes people are just thankful for something going on in their life. All of those other sacrifices don’t take this into consideration. So God made a way through the law to deal with times like this. A sacrifice of thanksgiving or free will offering was made. This is an offering that was given from the heart. It was freely given. Joyfully given. That was the Old Testament version.
The New Testament church giving should be freely from the heart. In the Old Testament the law prescribed what to give, when to give it and how to give it. Can you feel their frustration? Constantly having to make a sacrifice to deal with sin, a blemish on your skin or natural bodily functions that make one unclean and unable to be in the presence of God and His people. No wonder they grew cold and uncaring about the rigid rules of the routine.
The OT system of law and sacrifice demanded how much to give, what to give, when to give, why to give and how to give. But the NT flips that over on it’s head. The NT leaves it up to the heart of the giver. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 says:
6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
The process of sowing is a matter of giving away. When you sow seeds you throw them on the ground with the expectation of reaping a harvest. In this particular case the seeds are the things that God has given us to steward over. When we use them we are sowing seeds. With money it is the easiest thing to see the effect of the sowing. The idea is that sowing abundantly is to give abundantly so that there will be abundant reaping. That’s all well and good but the important part isn’t how much you give but the state of your heart when you give it. God loves a cheerful giver. He doesn’t want a 10% tithe out of you if you are going to be cranky and ugly about it. He wants you to purpose in your heart how much you will give. That means He wants you to pray about it and then listen to the Holy Spirit as He directs you about how much to give. And then do it cheerfully. Even if it’s up to half of your kingdom. After all Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all that he had, give away all the proceeds and then follow Him. Wow - do that joyfully? The rich young ruler couldn’t do it, do you think you could?
So what’s next? Well our passage says “And pay your vows to the Most High.”
b. Well that brings up a question - what’s a vow?
A vow is a promise to perform certain things for, or bring certain offerings to, God, in return for certain benefits which were hoped for at His hand. The making of vows is not regarded as a religious duty, but the fulfilling of a vow was considered as a sacred and binding duty and was not to be lightly made.
One of the roughest vows to read about is found in the book of Judges in chapter 11. Judges 11:30-31 says:
30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand,
31 then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
That’s a vow. “If you God - then I will.” If You God will give them into my hand then I will give to you. The first thing - really. Was he expecting a goat to walk out his front door to meet him? Maybe he was hoping it would be his mother-in-law.
That’s a vow. It’s a promise with a condition. Well that’s not always true. There doesn’t always have to have a condition tied to it. Sometimes people just want to be serious about the promise.
I made a vow one time. When I did I was completely serious and truthful about what I said. I guess I was about 7. We lived in Colorado Springs Colorado. Next door lived my best friend, David. We were only about a month apart in age. We did everything together. When it came time for me to move we made a vow. We would be blood brothers. We did the whole ceremony. We cut our fingers and mixed our blood together. Brothers forever. Now - I don’t even know if he is alive. Funny thing is I wouldn’t even be able to find him if I wanted to - I never knew his family name, he was just David. That’s a vow that can be left behind. But vows made to God - keep them. It’s expected.
How many atheists have gone to war and come home believers? If you get me out of this God - I will follow you the rest of my days. Those are called Foxhole conversions. That’s a vow that needs to be kept. That’s a vow to God.
Crazy thing about vows is that they are a thing of the OT. In the NT Jesus refers to vows only to condemn the abuse of them. Matthew 5:33 says:
33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’
Jesus condemned them because many vows went unfulfilled or because of how the vow was made. I swear by the Holy Temple that I will - If God will. It happens everyday in court rooms all over this country - I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help me God. What happens when they don’t tell the truth? This vow says that they will only tell the truth if God helps them do it. What if that person doesn’t even believe in God? This is what Jesus spoke against. Don’t make a vow you have no intention of keeping. We should be trust worthy enough to speak the truth without a vow. Matthew 5:37 says:
37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.
Just say yes and mean it or no and mean it.
The next action the psalmist recommends is to:
c. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble” Well that’s interesting. So what do you think the day of trouble is? In this context it is a time of distress — an oppressive state of physical, mental, social, or economic adversity. Does this sound normal to any of you? Perhaps many of you experience a day of trouble on a regular basis. Your physical state is constantly causing distress. Perhaps your economic situation is constantly distressing. Not yet, but soon enough all those who believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will experience social distress when the true children of God will be persecuted for their faith.
So what do we do about it? Well it says to call upon Me. The Me in this case is God. It’s time to humble yourself. What? Me be humble? How many of you like to ask for help when you need it? How many of you would rather struggle along in your distress rather than ask for help? Humility is, well hard. I don’t want to humble myself. I’m no weakling, I don’t need a crutch to get along. I can do it on my own.
The great thing here is that it says “I will rescue you.” Being rescued sounds like a good thing to me. Have you ever been in a situation when you really needed rescuing? There are so many things in this life that we could need rescuing from. Life is hard. Call upon the name of the Lord, humble yourself, let the creator of the universe work for you.
A story about being rescued… Two boats and a helicopter - The point don’t have a predetermined idea about how God will rescue you when you call upon His name.
Is that the end of the story? You have been rescued from your day of trouble, now what?
d. The last line says “and you will honor Me.” The righteous will honor God. Honor is a - Concept of worth especially resulting in high public esteem, fame, and glory.
If He rescues you from your troubles don’t keep it to yourself. It doesn’t matter what the situation is; honor God with the outcome. Give Him the glory and do it publicly. Any time we give God the glory for a situation in our lives we are lifting up His name and not our own. We are putting Him first and accepting that He is first. One way to give honor and glory to God is with our words, another is with our actions.
If we jump down to verse 23 we see that “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me.” Our actions follow the desires of our hearts. Hard selfish hearts will keep a tight fisted grasp on what God has given; because that heart will forget from where the blessings have come. But a heart that truly wishes to honor God will remember from where the blessings have come and will give back to God a portion of what has been given as a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
A sacrifice that is not required but is given freely. A sacrifice above and beyond what is normal, required or expected.
Exit: There are a lot of people in the world who have a lot of material wealth, 2,700 billionaires. Some of them may know where that material wealth really came from but most probably believe that it was their own hard work that provided it. They believe it came from their own hard work because they don’t believe in or accept that everything belongs to God. Because they don’t know God they believe that wealth will save them in the day of trouble. But it won’t.
But for those who know where their material wealth came from, for those who know that everything belongs to God, they know that the material wealth won’t save them in the day of trouble. Those who know where their material wealth comes from are less likely to have a great deal of material wealth because they will use it in some way to honor and glorify God.
Stashing away material wealth is not wrong, but not acknowledging who provided that material wealth is wrong. God, owns every beast of the forest, the cattle on a thousand hills, every bird in the mountains and the world is His and all it contains.
A core value of the Christian and Missionary Alliance is: Everything we have belongs to God. We are His stewards.
So the mission: Remember that stick in your hand, find a way to use for God’s glory, and remember where your resources and material wealth comes from, remember to give some back to Him, as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. It a can be 10% tithe or whatever you purpose in your heart. But do it cheerfully, because God loves a cheerful giver.
Pray:
