Whose Money is it Anyway?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
I am so excited to begin this new sermon series in Proverbs with you for 2026. Proverbs is an interesting book for a number of reasons:
First, it was written, in large part, by the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon
Second, it was written to King Solomon’s son...so much of the advice and instruction given in Proverbs directly relate to men, however, there is an application from the book of Proverbs to everyone who reads it.
Third, it is a very practical book about wisdom, and how to apply wisdom to our everyday lives.
Fourth, it is a different type of literature than many of the books we find in Scripture, so rather than tackling this book verse by verse, we will divide it up into SUBJECTS and the first subject that we are going to look at from the Book of Proverbs is the subject of MONEY.
Today we will ask and answer the question:
Whose Money is it Anyway?
Whose Money is it Anyway?
The answer to this question is FOUNDATIONAL! The answer to this question changes EVERYTHING. Once we acknowledge that GOD IS THE OWNER of every blessing we have, it will help us to understand it makes a difference in how we MANAGE the assets He has placed in our care.
So before we go any further, let’s ACKNOWLEDGE that God is the OWNER of it all!
Let me encourage you to open your Bible to the book of Proverbs. We will be getting there soon, but I want to also give you some other Scriptures that reiterate this important truth that we need to...
Acknowledge:
Acknowledge:
Acknowledge God is the Owner
Acknowledge God is the Owner
Let’s start with the OT book of 1 Chronicles and we find these words:
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
And You are exalted as head over all.
Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power and might;
In Your hand it is to make great
And to give strength to all.
“Now therefore, our God,
We thank You
And praise Your glorious name.
But who am I, and who are my people,
That we should be able to offer so willingly as this?
For all things come from You,
And of Your own we have given You.
Notice what we find in this brief Scripture:
Everything in heaven and earth belongs to God
He is exalted as “head over all”
Riches come from Him
All things come from Him
Everything we give back to Him came from Him to begin with!
Tony Evans uses the illustration of a small child coming to their parents and asking for money, which they turn around and use to buy a Christmas present for their parent.
They needed their parent to bless their parent. They wanted to give their parent something, but the very money they used to get their parent something came from their parent.
We do not give to God because He needs anything. We give BACK to God what He’s already given us!
Let’s think about another Scripture:
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
That’s pretty clear...the earth and everything that fills it belongs to the Lord!
Think about what the Lord said through the prophet Haggai in Haggai 2:8
‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts.
We also see this principle in the New Testament in James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
If YOU believe the Bible and what the Bible says, then you have to ACKNOWLEDGE that God owns it all!
But Proverbs tells us there is something else we need to ACKNOWLEDGE!
Proverbs 3 indicates that we need to...
Acknowledge We are the Steward
Acknowledge We are the Steward
A steward is simply a manager of that which belongs to another. Proverbs 3:9-10 tells us that we are to do this...
Honor the Lord with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine.
The NT indicates that we are not only stewards of the financial resources God blesses us with, but we are also stewards of all of God’s good gifts...
As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
We will take some time to discuss stewardship throughout this month, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it today, but suffice it to say in order to be a good steward we need to ASK some questions...
ASK?
ASK?
Who Has Top Priority with the Gifts He’s Entrusted Me With?
Who Has Top Priority with the Gifts He’s Entrusted Me With?
Think back to the wisdom that Solomon gave his son in...
Honor the Lord with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
We are to take the possessions that God has given to us and we are to use them to HONOR Him! The word honor in this context means to treat God as SIGNIFICANT...PRIORITIZING Him and His agenda above all else, rather than an afterthought. The opposite of this would be to treat God as frivolous.
The truth is SOMEONE or SOMETHING is being honored with our possessions...the question is, is it God?
Not only is God to be honored with our possessions, but also with our “firstfruits.” Akin says that “firstfruits” refer to our BEST, not our leftovers. Practically speaking God and His agenda should be at the top of our budget, not at the bottom. God has entrusted us with His resources, and He’s simply asked us to trust Him to continue to provide what we need.
God is to have TOP PRIORITY with our possessions and is to have the highest regard in our budget. He is to be honored with not only 10%, but He is to be honored with 100%
A second question we should ask is...
What is God’s Agenda for the Gifts He’s Entrusted Me With?
What is God’s Agenda for the Gifts He’s Entrusted Me With?
The Pursuit of His Glory
The Pursuit of His Glory
It’s interesting that the word “honor” in Proverbs 3:9 can also be translated “glory.” It’s the same word Moses used in Exodus 33:18
And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”
We are to use those resources, whatever they may be, to HONOR and GLORIFY the Lord, not trivialize Him and His existence.
God chooses to bless people through all kinds of means. Usually these resources come through the conduit of hard work. But we all know people, who for one reason or another are either not able to work, or are going through a difficult patch in life. God Sometimes chooses to use us to be the middle man in the chain of blessing.
As a Conduit to Bless OTHERS
As a Conduit to Bless OTHERS
Notice what God says now in...
The one who gives to the poor
will not be in need,
but one who turns his eyes away
will receive many curses.
Kindness to the poor is a loan to the Lord,
and he will give a reward to the lender.
Just let that Scripture settle in for a moment.
Biblical generosity never leads to poverty!
A third question we need to ask is WHY?
Why is Appropriate Stewardship a Big Deal?
Why is Appropriate Stewardship a Big Deal?
The first reason appropriate stewardship is a big deal is because...
It Reveals our Heart
It Reveals our Heart
Jesus said:
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Stewardship also...
Has Eternal Ramifications
Has Eternal Ramifications
In the same passage on the Sermon on the Mount notice the context of what Jesus was saying about our treasures...
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
How in the world can we transfer our treasures into Heaven? It has everything to do with where our HEART IS! If our heart is focused on the here and now, that’s where our treasure will be. If our heart is focused on the things we can hold in our hands, that’s where our treasure will be. However, if our hearts are focused on the eternal that’s where our treasure will be.
I love what
Stu Weber said:
There is no permanence in this world. You cannot take your treasure with you into the next world, but you can send it on ahead through kingdom-oriented stewardship.
So we’ve ACKNOWLEDGED God as the OWNER of it all.
We’ve ACKNOWLEDGED that we are the STEWARD of God’s resources.
We’ve ASKED the right questions about God’s priorities, and God’s agenda, and we’ve explored why stewardship is a big deal...
Now it is time to...
ACT
ACT
Test God by Giving
Test God by Giving
Take a look at...
Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the Lord of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.
In the OT God commanded a tithe. A tithe is 10% of one’s income that was to be given back to the Lord’s work. In Malachi, one of the symptoms of spiritual regression is that the people were “robbing God.” They were withholding what God had told them to give.
So God challenges them TO PUT HIM TO THE TEST!
No where else, that I’m aware of in Scripture, does God invite His people to TEST Him!
Not only should we give but we should...
Give Cheerfully
Give Cheerfully
Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.
Tony Evans said:
...one of the ways you know you are growing in your faith is when you give with a glad heart in response to the goodness of God.
God does not want you to give reluctantly.
God does not want you to give because someone is twisting your arm.
God wants you to give CHEERFULLY, WILLINGLY, because you understand God owns it all and you are simply His manager! He wants you to give CHEERFULLY because you understand that God chooses to use YOUR generosity to make a Kingdom impact.
Wiersbe said:
Certainly God can bless a gift that is given out of a sense of duty, but God cannot bless the giver unless his heart is right.
Today we’ve learned that we need to
ACKNOWLEDGE who owns it all
ASK Him how we should use His resources
and ACT upon what He has shown us
Closing Illustration
I want you to think about today’s message as a CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. Maybe God has struck a nerve in your heart about how you view your finances, your investments, your debt, your generosity.
The lights on a car’s dashboard indicate something is happening under the hood. You can take a piece of electrical tape and cover it up, or you can take it in and get it diagnosed.
The same is true with the stewardship of God’s resources. We can ignore the light to our own peril, or we can take out the OWNER’s MANUAL (the Bible), figure out what is wrong and get it fixed!
Solving this issue doesn’t start with our checking or savings account. IT STARTS WITH OUR HEART.
For some of us in this room our “CHECK ENGINE LIGHT” when it comes to finances and stewardship is glowing. There have been many times in my life when it was GLOWING.
The question is WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT. Some of you are going to take a piece of electrical tape and cover it up. Some of you are going to “let it shine, let it shine.” But some of you are going to take out the “OWNER’S MANUAL”, get the issue DIAGNOSED and address the issue.
Will you today sincerely as the Lord to help you and say, “GOD, I WANT THE FINANCES YOU HAVE BLESSED ME WITH, THE RESOURCES THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME to stop being a source of stress, and debate, and waste, but rather I confess and ACKNOWLEDGE it’s all yours anyway and I want to start using it for YOUR glory to FULFILL YOUR mission for me and my family.
FIRST ASK YOURSELF, “HAVE I GIVEN MY HEART TO CHRIST?” You’ll never be comfortable acknowledging God with your resources until you first of all give Him your heart in
SALVATION
BAPTISM
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
