Flourish - God's Plan

Intro

Welcome the audience and visiting guests.

Promote next Sunday’s big announcement.

Promote two services beginning on Mother’s Day. The Encounter (60 mins) and The Experience (FULL).

Now, each week we have anchored this series in John 10:10

John 10:10 NLT

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Today, I want us to talk about one of the most controversial subjects in our lives and church; money.

Money is something we all love, but no one wants to talk about it. We don’t talk about it with our spouses, our kids, and we definitely want no mention of it in church.

But, money is a good thing. In fact, it’s a God thing.

God wants you and I to have money. He wants us blessed.

What He doesn’t want, is for you and I to idolize money.

The bible never makes money a bad thing. Instead it focuses on our heart and handling of money.

Like in 1 Timothy 6:9-10 (NLT)

1 Timothy 6:9–10 NLT

But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

So, the bible is letting us know when our focus is the money, it will lead us in the wrong direction.

Our focus, instead, should be on learning what God wants us to do with it.

Now, to establish this, we must first establish God’s original intent for you and I when we entered the world.

We see in Genesis 1:26-30

Genesis 1:26–30 NLT

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

So in this passage of scripture we see God establish an order between man and Earth. And in that order, He gives us dominion, as we see in the KJV, or the ability to reign as we see here in the NLT.

The word flourish comes from the Greek word ὑπεραυξάνω hyperauxanō flourish; grow wonderfully; increase abundantly; increase above measure; to be so increased; become over-powerful; to increase greatly.

So if God wants me to have dominion, which means to have sovereignty or control; He has to also desire to see me flourish, or have life and life more abundantly. Because it is impossible to have dominion but not flourish.

For context, let’s navigate the scripture on giving. Now, most will only settle for Malachi 3:8 here, but let’s journey deeper in scripture.

In Numbers 18, we see God outline a process for the support of the priests and levites. In it, He offers instructions for how the offerings would be handled. Believe it or not, He was actually putting in place a method for the leaders to be cared for.

In it, He made the connection between what the people offered up ro Him, and subsequently the distribution of it to the priests and levites. We see this ratified in Hebrews 7

Hebrews 7 NLT

This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.” There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God. Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed. The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. In addition, we might even say that these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him. So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron? And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests. What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe. This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God. This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’ ” Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.

This chapter navigates so much for us.

We see tithing blatantly discussed in the New Testament.

It is also seen in Matthew 23:23

Matthew 23:23 NLT

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

We see that tithing was originally established under the law of Moses.

Collected by the priests.

Distributed to the kingdom, and used to care for the leaders.

We see the association of establishment of Jesus as the High Priest, further cementing the connection.

Now, I know the argument is often that tithing (or giving a 10th of what we bring in) was only an Old Testament concept, but that just isn’t true.

Tithing is both an Old and New Testament principle, and in fact, giving in the New Testament was MORE radical.

We see this in Acts 2:42-47

Acts 2:42–47 NLT

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Now, God tells us in 2 Corinthians 9:10

2 Corinthians 9:10 NLT

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

So God wants to produce a harvest of generosity in you!

He says, when I give you this seed, it’s my intent that this seed will teach you to be GENEROUS, because when you SEE the HARVEST, you will FULLY understand the SEED.

The problem is we don’t plan the seed, so we don’t see the harvest, and we begin to believe we MUST hold on to it rather than planting it.

Shortage mentality has been in existence for a LONG time.

Old Testament: Widow woman

New Testament: Parable of talents

So how should I execute God’s Plan for seed?

Recognize it’s meant for your growth, not simply consumption.

2 Corinthians 9:6 NLT

Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.

Trust that God has the ability to provide.

Philippians 4:19

Philippians 4:19 NLT

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Keep your heart pure at all times, and maintain the correct heart posture in giving.

2 Corinthians 9:7 NLT

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

Learn to release quickly.