STEWARDSHIP
JUDGED ON STEWARDSHIP
Stewardship pertains to all areas of our lives. What are you doing with the:
Time
Talents
Treasure (money & resources)
that God has entrusted you with?
TREASURE:
FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP
It is God who enables us to generate wealth – our skills, health, opportunity, etc.
Deut 8:18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth…
Our money belongs to God; we are just stewards (managers).
A millionaire farmer named Muldoon lived alone in the Irish countryside except for a pet dog he’d had for a long time.
The dog finally died and Muldoon went to the Catholic parish priest, saying “Father, my dog is dead. Could you possibly be saying a Mass for the poor creature?”
Father Patrick told the farmer, “No, we can’t have services for an animal in the church”
“But I’ll tell you what, there’s a Protestant Church down the road. Now there’s no telling what they believe in - maybe they’ll do something for the animal?”
Muldoon said “I’ll go right now. By the way, do you think £20,000 is enough to donate for the service?”
Father Patrick replied, “Now why didn’t you tell me the dog was Catholic?”
CONDUCT
How Are We To Give?
1) SACRIFICIALLY
Luke 21:1-4 (NIV) As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.
He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.
“Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.
“All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
The woman gave two copper coins – what amounted to a fraction of a penny. This seems a trivial amount.
However, God viewed her trivial amount with more regard than the large offerings of the rich. Why?
By giving all she had, the woman showed utter devotion to God. She was willing to offer everything she possessed to show love to God. *
* https:// allaboutgod.com/ biblical-stewardship.htm
For God, tithing is not only about a percentage. Tithing has more to do with one’s heart during the act of giving then the actual amount given to God. *
It’s not how much you give that matters, but how much you keep.
“If you give what you do not need, it isn’t giving.” (Mother Teresa)
* Ibid.
We see the example of the Macedonian believers’ sacrificial giving.
They were not wealthy, yet they gave joyfully, with a selfless and sacrificial love for others.
2 Cor 8:1-3 (NIV) And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.
The sacrificial giving by Jesus serves as an example for us to follow, as we are called to imitate Christ in our own lives.
2 Cor 8:9 (NIV) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
This selfless act challenges the common values of the world, which often prioritize wealth, status, and self-preservation, by presenting a model of selfless giving and serving others.
2) ACCORDING TO YOUR MEANS
Deut 16:17) “They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.”
2 Cor 8:11-15 (NIV) Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.
At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.
Then there will be equality, as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.”
3) SHREWDLY
Luke 16:1-2 (NIV) “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.
So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you?
“Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
Luke 16:3-9 (NIV) “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg – I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’
Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.
For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.”
This perplexing parable appears at first glance to encourage dishonesty. But Jesus enjoins us to mimic the steward’s shrewdness, not his dishonesty. Jesus commends the man’s ability to use his present and temporary power and resources to make preparation for what was coming. *
Stewards are expected to realize the maximum possible return on the resources which the master has entrusted to their care.
E.g. Church dollars accomplish far more than television dollars. Robert Polk, director of the Cooperative Program Promotion for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, came to this conclusion after analyzing the 1986 expenditures of leading TV ministries as compared to the Southern Baptist Convention. **
* https:// bible.org ** https:// bible.org/ illustration/ church-dollars-vs-television-dollars
First, he studied how the $684 million given to six leading TV ministers was used. Beside paying for TV time, he discovered that the donations supported 4 schools, 1 hospital, 3 churches, 2 ministries to needy children, 1 ministry to others in need, and 1 home for unwed mothers. *
He then studied how the $635 million given to the Southern Baptists was spent. The contrast is startling! For the Baptist donations supported 52 children’s homes, 48 hospitals (including 23 overseas), 67 colleges and universities (enrolling over 200,000 students), and 33 nursing homes; it also supported 3,756 foreign missionaries, 3,637 missionaries in the USA, and ministries to students on 1,100 campuses. These funds also supported six seminaries (enrolling a fifth of this country’s seminarians), and the ACTS television network carried on cable in many cities. *
* Ibid.
4) FIRSTFRUITS
Firstfruits are the best part:
Num 18:26,29 (NIV) “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the LORD’s offering…
You must present as the LORD’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’”
Offering our firstfruits shows that we serve God not money.
Luke 16:13 (NIV) “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
“You cannot serve both God and Money.”
In Malachi, people are reprimanded for bringing their lame and sick animals as offerings to God.
Mal 1:8-9 (NIV) “When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong?
Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty. “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”…
This is in direct violation of the requirements
set forth in the Levitical law, where God commanded that the offerings brought to him
be unblemished and of the highest quality.
Lev 27:32-33 (NIV) The entire tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the LORD. He must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy
and cannot be redeemed.
“He who gives what he would as readily throw away, gives without generosity; for the essence of generosity is in self-sacrifice.” (Sir Henry Taylor)
Yet these people were offering the
leftover, defective animals that
had no value to them. This act
demonstrates a lack of respect for
God, as they were not giving him
the best of what they had.
Mal 1:13-14 (NIV) “… When you
bring injured, lame or diseased
animals and offer them as
sacrifices, should I accept them
from your hands?” says the Lord.
“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.
“For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.”
Contrast this with the way David gave to God. When he wanted to buy the threshing floor of Araunah to build an altar to sacrifice to God, Araunah offered to give it to him.
To which David replied, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” (2 Sam 24:18-24)
Firstfruits Vs Leftovers
Giving our firstfruits means giving our best to God.
Giving leftovers implies giving something that costs us a little – as an afterthought.
A crop's first fruit was the initial produce picked off the plant. No grain was to be harvested at all until the firstfruits offering was brought to the Lord (Lev 23:14).
It was precious and represented the best of the produce. In some cases, it may be the entire harvest. With all the potential catastrophes that may occur, there was no guarantee that more fruit would come after the first ones. Still, by faith, the first fruits were offered in honour to the Lord, and God promised a good main harvest.
Prov 3:9-10 (ESV) Honour the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.
Leftovers
Leftovers are such humble things,
We would not serve to a guest,
And yet we serve them to our Lord
Who deserves the very best.
We give to Him leftover time,
Stray minutes here and there.
Leftover cash we give to Him,
Such few coins as we can spare.
We give our youth unto the world,
To hatred, lust and strife;
Then in declining years we give
To him the remnant of our life.
5) IN SECRET
Matt 6:3 (NIV) But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.
Matt 6:2 (NIV) So when you give to
the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
The terrible thing about our acts of devotion is how easy they are to twist in order to put our faithfulness on display. Once we’ve made ourselves the object and focus of our generosity, we have undermined the act. *
* https:// pushpay.com/ blog/ 20-bible-verses-about-tithing/ #tithing-before-moses
6) NOT SELF-RIGHTEOUSLY
Luke 18:10-12 (NIV) “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
Luke 18:13-14 (NIV) “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God…”
7) NOT IN AN ATTEMPT TO BUY FAVOUR
Matt 5:23-24 (NIV) “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of
the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”
Some mistakenly think they can “atone” for their sins by giving to God. Sins are not atoned for by our offerings, how costly they might be. Jesus prescribes repentance and reconciliation as the only remedies.
8) MOTIVATED BY LOVE
2 Cor 8:6-8,24 (NIV) So we urged Titus… to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.
But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us —see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others…
Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.
1 Cor 13:3 (NIV) If I give all I possess to the poor … but have not love, I gain nothing.
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21)
Where is your heart?
2 Cor 9:1-3 (NIV) There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints.
For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be.
9) CHEERFULLY & ENTHUSIASTICALLY
In Malachi 1, God addresses the people's attitude towards the offerings they were bringing to him. In verse 13 the people say, “What a burden!’”
Instead of bringing offerings to God with a spirit of gratitude and joy, they regarded it as a wearisome duty and an unwanted task.
The Macedonians gave willingly.
2 Cor 8:4 (NIV) Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.
So did the Corinthians:
2 Cor 8:10 (NIV) … Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.
2 Cor 9:5 (NIV) So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
2 Cor 9:7 (NIV) Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
AUTHOR: Gavin Paynter
For more sermon downloads: https:// agfbrakpan.com
For more sermon downloads by Gavin Paynter: https:// agfbrakpan.com/ free-sermon-downloads-by-speaker/ Gavin%20Paynter
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