Make it count #3

A.M. Sermon Northside Christian Church, North Albany

May 31, 2020 Make It Count … Stewardship of Resources

Introduction:

I wanted to start by expressing my thanks to Jamey for giving me the opportunity to preach today. I preached for over 40 years and this is a first for me … preaching without a congregation with me live! These are definitely unique and challenging times. Claudia and I deeply miss being with the Northside family in person and are praying that we will be able to be back together soon. We are also trusting that what we are doing in staying in relative isolation from each other is helping to curb the effect of the virus and save lives.

Claudia and I have been married for almost 45 years, but I still remember the early years of our marriage! We got married at the start of my final year of Bible College and lived in Joplin, Missouri for that school year. When I graduated we moved to a small town in Kansas … Hartford, which was 20 miles from the city of Emporia. I started preaching full time at Hartford Christian Church. In Joplin, Claudia worked at J.C. Penney’s and she was able to transfer to the Emporia store when we moved. Her job in Emporia and mine in Hartford meant we needed to buy a second car. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we found a good deal on a 1970 Dodge Dart. Actually, the front of the car was a Dodge Dart and the back of the car was a Plymouth Valiant. They were the same model of car, just a different name for the two divisions of Chrysler. The Dart had been in a wreck and pretty good mechanic and body man used the rear end of a Valiant to make the car whole again. It was a great little car and served us well for the years we had it.

At one point, we decided the car wasn’t running as good as it should and so I decided to give it a tune-up. I have to admit that I’m not a great mechanic and wouldn’t even try that today, but being cheap and poor, doing the work myself seemed like the thing to do at the time. I bought the parts I needed and had the tools that were required and did the work with the car sitting in our gravel drive-way. I only had one minor problem … when I was trying to install the new points and condenser, I dropped the little screw that held the condenser in place and it got lost in the gravel of the drive-way. I solved that problem when I realized the if I held the condenser with one hand … I could use the other hand to get the distributor cap nearly in place, then pull the hand off the condenser and it would stay in place as I installed the cap. It worked … and the car started and seemed to run fine.

That is, it ran fine until Claudia drove it into Emporia and had to go up some hills. Seems like the car didn’t run very well then. I didn’t know what was wrong … so I broke down and took it to Ron at his mechanic’s shop in Hartford. It only took Ron a couple of minutes to realize the problem … seems like the screw that holds the condenser down does more than just hold it in place … it provides the ground, too. Ron put in a new screw and the car worked just fine!

I learned a lesson in that process … if I had only followed the directions and realized all of them were important … then that whole process would have worked much better!

Last week, I was reading the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy in my devotional time and came across a verse in the 32nd chapter that reminded me of my difficulties with the tune-up … and my difficulties at other times in my life, too. Moses was giving his final speech to the people of Israel before turning over leadership to Joshua. He included these words in what he had to say, “These instructions are not mere words – they are your life.” (Deuteronomy 32:47)

The instructions God provided for the people of Israel in the Old Testament and the instructions He provides for us … are not arbitrary. God’s instructions are the key to how life works best. Following God’s instructions will make our lives better … in every area in which He provides instructions.

That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.” (John 10:10) I like the way Eugene Peterson paraphrased Jesus statement in The Message … “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”

We are in the midst of a four week sermon series that Jamey titled … Make It Count. Two weeks ago, Jamey talked about how to make our days count … last week, he talked about how to make our efforts count by storing up treasures in heaven … and today, I get the privilege of talking about how to make our money count.

Most of us are pretty good at counting our money … but a lot of us fall short in making our money count!

The key is to go back to the instructions about money given by the One who knows how to make every aspect of our lives work best.

Discussion:

So let’s begin by asking the fundamental question … What are God’s instructions about how to use our money to make it count? I discovered seven biblical instructions for how to use our money. Each of these instructions is critical to making our money count … not just for today, but for the long-term, and for eternity.

I. Principle number one … Take care of your own needs.

A. Each of us has the responsibility to figure out a way to support ourselves. Once grown, we aren’t to rely on our parents to keep taking care of us. We aren’t to become dependent on the government or on the generosity of others.

B. Certainly, in many of our lives there will be times when circumstances overtake us and we need some help from someone else … and that’s fine. In those times, we are to graciously receive help from others.

1. When Paul wrote the book of 2 Corinthians, it was during a season of struggle for the people who lived in Jerusalem and Paul was taking a collection among the churches he had started to provide for those needs.

2. In that context, Paul said, “Right now you have plenty and can help them. Then at some other time they can share with you when you need it. In this way, everyone’s needs will be met.” (2 Corinthians 8:14, NLT)

3. It is okay to rely on others when circumstances put us in need. In fact, it is more than okay, it is what God expects us to do. But the point is, that is not the general way life is to work. Certainly there are exceptions to the general rule for those who are disabled and unable to provide for themselves, but those exceptions do not negate the truth of the general principle.

C. The general biblical principle is that we are to work to provide for our own needs. You can hear that principle clearly in Paul’s instructions when he wrote to the church at Thessalonica, “While we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘Whoever does not work should not eat.’” (2 Thessalonians 3:10, NLT)

II. Principle number two … Take care of your family.

A. We go to another letter written by the Apostle Paul for this principle. When Paul wrote to his young protégé, Timothy, he provided this second general principle: “But those who won’t care for their own relatives, especially those living in the same household, have denied what we believe. Such people are worse than unbelievers.” (1 Timothy 5:8)

B. I’m not sure the language can get any stronger than the language Paul uses in this verse.

1. We are to start by caring for those who live in our household … our spouse, our children, and others who share our home.

2. We extend our responsibility to our broader family as there are needs and we have resources to meet those needs.

3. And if we refuse to meet the needs of our own family members, then Paul says we have denied what we believe. To refuse to meet the needs of our own family members contradicts any claim- we make to be following Jesus. He expects us … commands us … to provide for our own families.

III. Principle number three … Pay your taxes.

A. It was the last week of Jesus’ life and His opponents were throwing questions at Him in order to try to trap Him into saying something that would get Him in trouble either with the government or with the people.

1. The Pharisees started with flattering words to get Jesus to put down His guard … “Teacher, we know how honest you are. You teach about the way of God regardless of the consequences. You are impartial and don’t play favorites.” (Matthew 22:16, NLT)

2. Then they sprang their trap with this question … “Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?” (Matthew 22:17, NLT)

3. You and I would want to substitute our own government and hope that Jesus would say that taxes are of the devil and we are not bound by our faith to pay the taxes that government asks of us.

4. No such luck!

B. Instead, Jesus clearly states another general principle for how to use our money … Jesus replied to the Pharisees, “‘Show me the Roman coin used for the tax.’ When they handed him the coin, he asked, ‘Whose picture and title are stamped on it?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. ‘Well, then,’ he said, ‘give to Caesar what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God.’” (Matthew 22:19-21, NLT)

1. Pull out your own wallet and look at the currency it contains and you’ll find the same thing the Pharisees found about their coins. Our currency is government tender … authorized by the government.

2. Government has a legitimate place in our world. Our government has been authorized by God Himself. Paul told the Romans, “Obey the government, for God is the one who put it there. All governments have been placed in power by God.” (Romans 13:1)

3. Our government has a right to levy taxes and we have a responsibility to pay the taxes that are levied by those authorities.

IV. Principle number four … Save for future needs.

A. The book of Proverbs points to the example of the ant to illustrate the principle of saving money for future needs.

1. “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! Even though they have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.” (Proverbs 6:6-8, NLT)

2. For the ant, summer is the season when food is plentiful and easy to find. They eat what they need and put some of the abundance in storage so they have food for the winter when provisions are scarce.

B. For us, there are seasons when work is easy to find and plentiful and the provision for our needs is abundant.

1. Life works the way God intends if we don’t consume all that we gather in those seasons of abundance, and instead put some aside for seasons when provisions are scarcer.

2. Saving some during seasons of plenty provide for seasons of unemployment and for the season later in life when work is more difficult for us because of age and infirmity.

V. Principle number five … Spend for your enjoyment.

A. Perhaps this is a principle that you didn’t expect to hear … but it is a biblical principle for how to make our money count.

1. God wants us to enjoy that with which He has provided us.

2. Paul was telling Timothy what to teach to those who were wealthy and he included this statement … “Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” (1Timothy 6:17, NLT)

3. God wants us to enjoy the abundance He gives to us.

4. There is a place in the management of our money for doing things with it that are fun for us.

B. In fact, if you go back into the Old Testament and look at the various feasts and the sacrifices that were to be brought to God during those annual feasts, you will notice that a part of what those feasts were about was celebration and fun for God’s people.

1. The whole community of the people of Israel came together at Jerusalem.

2. They brought animals to sacrifice and wine and grain. Part of what they brought was given to the Lord as burnt offerings … part of what they brought was given to the priests to provide for them … but part of what they brought was shared by the whole community of those who came together to worship.

3. The people ate and drank together … they sang and they rejoiced … and they celebrated with great enjoyment.

4. That is what God wanted to them to do. And He wants us to do the same … celebrating and enjoying the abundance with which He has blessed us.

VI. Principle number six … Give to those in need.

A. God has a heart for those in need and God expects those who follow Him to have a heart for the needy, too. There is no clearer expression of this principle than the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 25.

1. The scene is of the final judgment … “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matthew 25:31-32, NLT)

2. To those on the right … to the sheep … to those who truly followed Jesus … He says, “‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” (Matthew 25:34-40, NLT)

3. Those on the left … the goats … those who did not really follow Jesus … are described in opposite ways … “‘For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me anything to drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me no clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ And he will answer, ‘I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’” (Matthew 25:42-45, NLT)

B. God has a heart for those in need … and one of the principles of making our money count that He teaches is that we will use our money to express our heart for the needy by meeting them in their need.

VII. Principle number seven … Give to advance God’s Kingdom.

A. There is nothing dearer to God’s heart than the advance of His Kingdom … seeing people come into a relationship with Jesus through faith and seeing people grow and mature in the faith they have embraced.

1. God gave His most precious gift to initiate His Kingdom … “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NLT)

2. And God instructs us to use the resources with which He has blessed us to advance His Kingdom. We are to give our time … give our talents … and give our money for that purpose.

B. We are to give to advance God’s Kingdom with generosity.

1. Giving generously means giving proportionately … the more we have, the more we give.

a. For the Old Testament people of Israel that principle was wrapped up in the law of the tithe … every Jewish person gave at least 10% of everything they made to the Lord.

b. But the principle of proportionate giving … the principle of the tithe did not initiate with the Law given through Moses … the tithe predates the Law by over 600 years seen when Abraham gave 10% to the priest Melchizedek after rescuing Lot and the people of Sodom. (Genesis 14:20)

c. In my own life, I have given at least 10% of my income to the advance of God’s Kingdom since I was 20 years old … for 47 years and counting. When I was first out of college and making $150 a week preaching at the small church in Kansas, I was giving $15 a week to the church … and as my income has grown, so has the amount I have given. And I’ve seen God abundantly provide for me and my family as we have faithfully followed this principle of making our money count for things that matter.

2. Giving generously means giving with priority.

a. That simply means that giving to advance God’s Kingdom always comes first.

b. It isn’t what comes last if there is anything left. It is what comes first before anything else.

c. Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things (food, clothing and shelter) will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

i. If you want God to bless your life … put Him first in your life.

ii. If you want God to bless your family … put Him first in your family.

iii. If you want God to bless your marriage … put Him first in your marriage.

iv. If you want God to bless your career … put Him first in your career.

v. If you want God to bless your finances … put Him first in your finances.

3. Giving generously means giving sacrificially.

a. I really like the story of King David from 1 Chronicles.

b. At God’s instruction, David was looking for a place to make a sacrifice to the Lord and God told him to build an altar on the threshing floor of a man named Araunah.

c. David went to Araunah to ask if he could buy the threshing floor from him and Araunah graciously replied, “Take it, my lord, and use it as you wish.” (1 Chronicles 21:23, NLT) In fact, Araunah offered more than just the place, he also offered to provide the wood for the fire and grain for a grain offering.

d. And David responded to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying what it is worth. I cannot take what is yours and give it to the LORD. I will not offer a burnt offering that has cost me nothing!” (1 Chronicles 21:24, NLT)

e. Giving to advance God’s Kingdom will always require a sacrifice … it will always cost us something. In fact, someone put it this way, “If it doesn’t cost, it doesn’t count!”

Conclusion:

There is a key question we all should consider … Are any of God’s instructions for making our money count things we either are doing at all or aren’t doing in the ways we should be doing them?

· Are you putting too much emphasis on taking care of your own needs … or not enough emphasis?

· Are you meeting the needs of your family to the best of your ability? Not all their wants … none of us can do that … but their needs?

· Are you appropriately paying your taxes? Do you do it grudgingly … or because it pleases the Lord?

· Are you adequately saving for future needs?

· Are you spending some of your money on things you simply enjoy? Do you feel guilty for doing that … or are you gratefully experiencing God’s blessings on your life?

· Are you genuinely concerned about the poor in the way God is … and are you demonstrating your concern by helping to provide for their needs?

· Are you prioritizing the importance of advancing God’s Kingdom by generously, willingly and joyfully giving to His church?

It’s pretty easy for us to count our money … it’s more challenging to make it count! The only way we truly make our money count is by following God’s instructions. When we do … Jesus promises to take care of our needs … and that we’ll experience more and better life than we ever dreamed of.

May 31, 2020

Make It Count!

God’s ____________________ are the key to how life works best. (Deuteronomy 32:47; John 10:20)

Most of us are pretty good at counting our ______________ … but a lot of us fall short in making our _______________ count!

God’s instructions about how to use our money to make it _______________.

1. Take care of your ____________________. (2 Corinthians 8:14; 2 Thessalonians 3:10)

2. Take care of your ___________________. (1 Timothy 5:8)

3. Pay your ____________________. (Matthew 22:16-17)

4. ____________________ for future needs. (Proverbs 6:6-8)

5. Spend for your ____________________. (1 Timothy 6:17)

6. Give to those in ____________________. (Matthew 25:31-45)

7. Give to advance ______________________________.

a. Giving generously means giving ____________________. (Genesis 14:20)

b. Giving generously means giving with ____________________. (Matthew 6:33)

c. Giving generously means giving ____________________. (1 Chronicles 21:23-24)