Total Trust

Prov. 3:5-10

Welcome to Stewardship Days here at Mountain View Baptist Church. Today, tonight, and next weekend both morning and evening will be four messages on Family Stewardship. Thank you for attending.

This four part series is entitled: Stewarding Our Family.

What is stewardship? Most confuse stewardship with money; although, it does have a part to do with money, it more than just money. Christian family stewardship is the faithful management of God-given time, talent, and treasure, viewing resources as entrusted , not owned. It involves intentional, cheerful, and sometimes sacrificial giving to support God’s kingdom.

In the verses we just read, God shows us a foundational truth regarding stewardship: trust. Trust is the firm belief in the reliability of someone or something. Trust is the bottom line, root cause of our lack of fruitfulness and vibrancy in this life. We want our families to thrive which will only come as we learn to trust God with our resources.

There are some things we can trust and then there are others things we cannot trust. They are not reliable. Years ago, I had a 1978 Ford Granada automobile. It was a beautiful car in its day, but it was the most unreliable car ever. It left me stranded many times but it was only thing I could afford as a teenager. Cars can be untrustworthy, people can be untrustworthy, and our government can be untrustworthy; but God is not untrustworthy. We can trust Him one hundred percent.

For some reason, we can trust God for our salvation, our home in heaven, and our eternal destiny; however, we often struggle with trusting God for things in this life. You might say, how do I know that? Because recent financial giving to churches in America, found that last year, only 11% of Christians gave to God. 89% of Christians could trust God for their salvation and eternity, but could not trust God with their financial provision. I suppose they trust themselves rather than trusted God.

There are three lessons God gives in this passage.

Lesson 1. . .

God wants complete trust

To want all that God wants, always to want it, for all occasions and without reservations, this is the kingdom of God which is all within.

François Fénelon

God says we are trust Him with all our heart. This means not a half-hearted trust when it comes to stewardship. It is not partial trust but complete.

The Bible reminds us 1 Timothy 6:6–7 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”

Everything we have, all of our provisions, physically, financially, spiritually, and emotionally has come from God. When we have our heart upon God, we can trust Him completely because He is reliable. He is able to continue providing your needs.

4806 We must repudiate this great, modern wave of seeking God for his benefits. The sovereign God wants to be loved for himself and honored for himself, but that is only part of what he wants. The other part is that he wants us to know that when we have him, we have everything—we have all the rest.

A. W. Tozer

Our temptation is to trust only in ourselves. We can justify our reasons for not trusting God. We have missed the mark, the Bible teaching if we lean unto our own understanding.

Isaiah 55:8–9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.”

The starting point for giving as a Christian family is the basic truth that everything we have is a gift from God. We brought nothing into this world and we take nothing out. In gratitude for God’s generosity, we dedicate a portion of these God-given gifts to furthering God’s kingdom. We give our time, our talent, and our treasure to God.

Time: we not only should attend the services of our church, because we are commanded to attend Heb. 10:25 but also we have guests that come to these services so we can minister unto them.

Talent means there is something you can give and do for God. While we appreciate our teachers, there are other talents you can use for service. It might be children’s ministries, organization, maybe office work, technology and sound booth, maybe you are really good at social media or bus driver or painting, or door repairs.

Treasure refers to giving to God. If we truly believe that God gives us all that we have, we can trust Him to give v. 9 all of our substance to God. Some Christians give to God like they are paupers. They are not going to come to a building banquet to give to God, because they can’t or won’t, so they don’t have the time. This is where you miss out on trusting God.

Lesson 2. . .

Giving to God is trust

When you give to God, it is truth and not loss. Whether it is time or talent or treasure, it is trusting God. Giving demonstrates our dependence on God rather than ourselves or our money. We are saying, God not only has provided but will provide for us.

The greatest spiritual growth step is to learn to give to God. You never lose when you give to Him. Jesus says it this way, Matthew 6:19–21 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

We are told in Proverbs we are to relinquish control of our own understanding and reject our urge to solely on our own logic or financial calculations. When you acknowledge God’s ownership in all your ways and you acknowledge His authority over your entire life, then giving to God is simply trust.

This is where the song: I surrender all comes into our life. Have you surrendered all, not partially? Does God own your time? Is He in charge of your bank account?

The perhaps overused story of the farmer who accepted Christ in a country church in South Carolina. It came time for him to be baptized as every Christian should baptized after they have accepted Christ. He came to baptism service in his usual bib overalls. Just before he got into the water, he took his wallet out of his pocket to keep from getting wet. Then he went into the water to get baptized and he said, wait. The pastor wasn’t sure what was going on. The man went back to get his wallet and put back into his pocket. What was that about? The farmer said, not only should I get baptized but also my money. I want to God to have it all.

There is an interesting story of David when he had sinned in numbering the people. God sent a plague as a punishment on the people. It was a huge disaster for Israel where 70,000 men died. David went to a threshing floor on Mt. Moriah to offer a sacrifice to God. When Ornan, the owner of the threshing floor, saw the king coming he said 1 Chronicles 21:23 “And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.”

Ornan was willing to give it all. Could it be because we have not managed what God has given to us, we have placed ourselves in a situation where we are struggling to give to God. Can you trust Him?

Can we give to God our time? You might think you don’t have more time to give to God. A valuable lesson here is that when we give God our time, we are not losing. We are actually gaining because our dependence goes from thinking it is all on us, when according to these verses, it is all on God.

Solomon, says Honor God with the firstfruits. While the tithe is the floor, it is the beginning, it should not be the end of our giving. This act of giving the first and the best is a physical demonstration of trust that God will continue to provide for the rest of your needs.

Wise and proper management of our life when it comes to time, talent, and treasure is that which honors God. Sometimes people will tell me they are struggling financially. My first question, are you tithing? If you are not tithing, you will struggle financially. I am not sure why, but if you sit down and budget without giving God the tithe, you won’t have the money to give to God. However, if you budget your money, putting God first, you will have more than enough. The numbers may not add up, but it is the way God provides. Giving is trust, not loss. As we depend on God, He shows us His marvelous provision.

It is right that we should tithe because it is God’s work, but it does not really cost us anything—it does not bring us to the point of sacrificial giving.7

A. W. Tozer

(See also Charity; Generosity; Kindness; Tithing) Are you giving God what is right, or what is left?

Anonymous

Lesson 3. . .

Trusting God brings His blessing

Remember these are proverbs and not promises. This means that the individual proverb must applied within the context of the whole book of Proverbs.

God will give a blessing to those we live and obey God as He has designed Scripture. A person cannot have a life that honors God by neglecting trust in God. When we trust in God, He will give us physical and financial blessing according to His will.

God is saying you will not go without when you give to Him your time, your talent, and your treasure.

Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment. Trust in your friends and they will die and leave you. Trust in money and you may have it taken away from you. Trust in reputation and some slanderous tongues will blast it. But trust in God and you are never to be confounded in time or in eternity.

Dwight Lyman Moody (Evangelist)

When you trust in God completely, not partially is when you can begin to Fortify your Family.

God may be speaking to a Father, who needs to lead out in this matter of trust. Can you trust God? It really gets down to the root of the reason we don’t give to God.

What about it mothers? Are you trusting God completely? Or are you holding back on God?

God wants us to trust Him and we will see Him work mightily. The building banquet is coming up on Friday March 6 at 6:30 at the BVCC. Will you commit to come to that evening to give time and out of your treasure to see God do something miraculous? The land you are standing on here, the building you are sitting in, and the chairs you are enjoying are here because God laid it on members of this church to give for others in the future. Will you be a part of giving for others and trusting God for His provision?