Overcoming Finances
Overcoming • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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part 2 - stewardship 3 talents and treasure
Tithing
where’s your heart stewardship or treasure (especially the parts on generosity)
generosity
Overcoming Burnout- Stewardship 2 Time and talents
stress soloution
sabbath and daily office
Intro
1. The Borrowed Vehicle Illustration (Simple and Relatable)
1. The Borrowed Vehicle Illustration (Simple and Relatable)
Bring a set of car keys.
Ask:
"If I loaned you my truck for six months, would you return it with less gas, bald tires, and a dent in the side?"
Most people would say no.
Continue:
"Why? Because it isn't yours. You're managing it for someone else."
Then connect it:
"The talents in Jesus' parable weren't owned by the servants. They were entrusted to them. The same is true of our time, abilities, finances, opportunities, relationships, and spiritual gifts. Stewardship begins when we realize we're managers, not owners."
Big idea: Everything belongs to God; we are managers.
2. The Seed Packet Illustration (Visual Prop)
2. The Seed Packet Illustration (Visual Prop)
Hold up a packet of seeds.
Ask:
"What is the safest thing I could do with these seeds?"
Answer:
"Put them in a drawer."
Then:
"What is the most useless thing I could do with these seeds? Put them in a drawer."
The third servant did exactly that. He preserved what was entrusted to him, but he produced nothing with it.
A seed fulfills its purpose only when it is planted, risked, and cultivated.
Big idea: Faithful stewardship requires action, not merely preservation.
Stewardship
“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.
“To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.
“Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.
“In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.
“But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
“The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
“Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.
‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’
“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.
‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
“Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Coins
A steward in the ancient world was a person who was given the responsibility and authority to rule over the affairs of the household.
For example, the patriarch Joseph became a steward over Potiphar’s household:
he managed everything in the household and was given the authority to rule over the house (Gen. 39:1–6a).
In that role, he was responsible to manage the household well; he was not to waste the resources of the family but to make wise decisions.
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.
The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.
Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand.
So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge.
It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field.
Yet, the role of the steward was not something that just happened to emerge in the Greek system of management,
nor was it something invented by the Egyptians in the time of Joseph.
The steward’s role derives from the principle of stewardship,
which is rooted in the creation of mankind.
Look at the foundations for stewardship found in the early chapters of Genesis. In Genesis 1:26–28, we read:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Too often associated merely with money,
stewardship is something one can also apply to time, talent, and treasure.
But stewardship isn't just about being a good manager of our schedules, our skills, and our stuff.
The discipline of biblical stewardship calls us to use all these things in the way the Lord wants
- to employ them for His glory.
Glorifying the Lord means, quite literally, to "make Him look good, to honor and exalt Him."
We do this by overseeing what He has entrusted to our care with His best interest in mind.
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Overcoming Finances
1. God owns everything; we own nothing.
1. God owns everything; we own nothing.
The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains,
The world, and those who dwell in it.
For He has founded it upon the seas
And established it upon the rivers.
“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Stewardship is the care and management of else’s stuff.
And while we often speak of things as "ours,"
the reality is that all that we have and all we are belongs to somebody else - God.
As the Apostle Paul put it, (1 Corinthians 4:7) "What do you have that you did not receive?"
What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
“But I’m the one that worked hard to get where I am today.
I am the one that earned this money and saved it and spent it wisely and accumulated my wealth and the possessions that I have.”
“Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’
“But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
(17) Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.'
So it is from God that we have received our lives and everything in them for which we are responsible.
Temporarily - until God requires them from us
- we are stewards of these gifts.
Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service, you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already.
– C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
God Owns Everything
God Provides
2. God Provides
2. God Provides
When we act responsibly as overseers, God provides for every need.
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.
Nothing delights the heart of a master as much as a steward who acts responsibly.
5. The Birthday Gift Illustration (Strong Emotional Connection)
5. The Birthday Gift Illustration (Strong Emotional Connection)
Tell a story:
Imagine spending months saving for a special gift for your child.
They open it, say thanks, and put it in the closet for the next five years.
You wouldn't be angry because it got worn out from use.
You'd be disappointed because it was never used at all.
Then connect:
"The master wasn't upset because the servants used his resources. He was upset because one servant never used them."
Big idea: God's gifts are meant to be employed, not hidden.
——
Faithfulness to the master's best interest is the single most important requirement of a steward.
As with every steward, faithfulness has its rewards. God promises that those who are faithful in their stewardship will have every need met and every godly desire satisfied
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
1 God Owns
2 God Provides
3 God Knows
3. God Knows
3. God Knows
3. We are accountable to God
So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
A steward is one who manages the possessions of another.
We are all stewards of the resources, abilities and opportunities that God has entrusted to our care,
and one day each one of us will be called to give an account for how we have managed what the Master has given us.
This is taught by the Parable of the Talents.
Like the servants in the Parable of the Talents,
we will be called to give an account of how we have administered everything we have been given,
including our time, money, abilities, information, wisdom, relationships, and authority.
We will all give account to the rightful owner as to how well we managed the things he has entrusted to us.
1. God Owns
2. God Provides
3. God Knows
4. God Rewards
4. God Rewards
4. God Rewards
4. We will receive a reward
In Colossians 3:23-24 Paul writes:
Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
The Bible shows us in the parables of the Kingdom that faithful stewards who do the master’s will with the master’s resources can expect to be rewarded incompletely in this life, but fully in the next.
We all should long to hear the master say what he exclaims in Matthew 25:21
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!
CLOSE
The gospel is infinitely more than a ticket to Heaven.
It is a message that changes not only a person's destination in eternity,
but also a person's heart and mind here and now.
The gospel transforms more than a person's relationship to God.
It also transforms a person's relationship to everything else.
For example, after the greedy Zacchaeus was converted,
he said to Jesus, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much" (Luke 19:8
Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”
).
Today as then, the gospel of Jesus Christ turns lovers of money into lovers of God.
That's why one of the most reliable evidences of conversion
is when a person begins looking for ways to use time, talent, and treasure in service to the gospel.
This testifies to the value we places on the gospel,
that they treasure the God of the gospel above all.
Tithing Time
If time is money, then tithe your time
168 hours in a week
ten percent would be 16 hours
many people tithe their income after tax,
so if you subtract the hours of sleep in a week
it comes out to about 12 hours a week to give to God and His church
sunday service- 2.5 hours
wed nights- 2.5 hours
5 hours
community meal- 2 hours (11.30-1.30)
come for prayer on Sunday mornings (9am)- 1hr
3 hrs
still four hours short
35 minutes every day praying and reading your bible covers the rest of that time with a minute to spare
Or if one of those options don’t match your schedule, volunteer to come clean on Fridays,
Gleaners,
Maybe just ask me what needs done
—-I have an hour I want to volunteer for the church on Thursday at 2pm. What could I do? What would be helpful?
———
Stewardship expresses our obedience regarding the administration of everything God has placed under our control.
Make Room
