Turn the Key.
Tonight we are starting a new series on Stewardship. Stewardship is kind of one of those ‘church’ words that we don’t use outside this building too much. Anyone know what it means?
I like definitions. Webster’s says stewardship is “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care”
God’s Word challenges us to be good stewards. Everything we have is ours at the blessing of God. That may be a new thought for you, but God literally has placed every good thing in your life. Your home, your family, your finances, your friends, your school, even your body are all gifts on loan from God. You need to treat them as such.
Considering that all you have is at the grace of God keeps perspective in your life, lends you towards thanksgiving, and stewardship. You realize that you need to be responsible with these gifts that God has given you.
Tonight we’ll be unpacking a great set of scriptures, taken from Psalm 37:21-26
21 The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
22 those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed.
23 The LORD makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
24 though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
25 I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
26 They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be a blessing.
So what can we learn about stewardship from these verses?
First off, the wicked borrow and do not repay. Borrowing and not repaying is not a trait of the godly. It’s important to repay whatever you owe. Really, it’s best if you just never borrow to begin with, you’ll save yourself a lot of heart ache and stress. Pastor Rob and I have tried to live by this because we didn’t early in our marriage and it was PAINFUL! Since we started living by the principle of not borrowing, it has been a very big blessing to us. It’s also an awesome opportunity for God to show Himself faithful in our lives when we refuse to use credit to solve our own financial responsibilities.
A cool example of that was last summer. I was having some tooth pain and went to the dentist and found out I needed two crowns, like immediately. Crowns are extremely expensive; about $1400 a piece by the time they are seated an all. We did not have that kind of extra money. I told the appointment lady that I needed to go home, talk to Rob about it and pray with him about it. She handed me a credit application and encouraged me to fill it out. I stood my ground, said I’d call back with an answer in a week.
The week passed. Rob and I prayed and believed and asked you guys to pray to. By the time came that I needed to make the appointment, God had provided all the money we needed, without borrowing a penny. We paid cash for the crowns, and got a discount because of it. See, God is faithful! We depended on Him to provide, rather than rushing to solve it on our own. And He did, and now I have this cool sermon illustration and two shiny, paid-for crowns!
The opposite of borrowing and not paying back is what the righteous do, giving generously! God has really been challenging Pastor Rob and I in this area of our life. So much so that I have found myself looking for opportunities to bless others. It’s fun!
One time, when we were first married, we had some friends that were really struggling financially. They were in Bible college, had three kids, and had just hit a hard time. We decided to buy them some groceries. So we went to the store and picked out kid friendly foods and then snuck down the back alley behind their house, quick unloaded the groceries on the back porch, rang the bell and drove off as fast as we could. To this day they have no idea where those groceries came from. It was such a fun thing to do! Way better than tp-ing or forking someone’s yard! Although, that is fun too!
The scripture goes on to say that the Lord makes firm the steps of those who delight in Him. This has been our experience as well. As we grow in our walk with God, the firmer our steps are. The closer we live to His biblical principles for our life and especially finances, the less frightening our finances have been. We still depend on Him completely, but there’s no fear. We have a legacy of His provision in our lives, meaning we can look back over the past almost 14 years and see all the ways He has taken care of us. Trust is firmly planted because He has been faithful all those years.
The next portion of that verse says “though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him in His right hand.” This is so true. Rob and I have tripped up in our finances. Lots of times. We’ve messed up, we’ve stumbled. But God is faithful, and He is our restorer. He has allowed us to learn from our mistakes and to learn to trust Him more and more. And He’s even gone so far as to allow us to teach others from our experiences, which is so much how the Lord works. He’ll allow you to go through things to grow your character, and to enable you for the ministry of others.
The last part of this verse describes how the writer is a very old man, but has never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging for bread. Instead the righteous give freely, and their children are a blessing.
God provides. Miraculously and faithfully. And we can give to others out of the trust that God is going to continue to provide. Remember how I said PR and I were really working on this area of giving more freely? Since we’ve been doing that, God has blessed us both so incredibly. I seriously could write a list of all the ways He has rained down physical blessing in our life in the past few years, but what would be harder to articulate is all the ways that He has emotionally, relationally and spiritually blessed us. Meaning, He’s healed hurts, given us vision and favor, allowed us relationship with people, provided understanding and wisdom.. All of these things that we aren’t capable of on our own, He has poured out on our lives. We are truly blessed in ways I don’t even know how to express, but I know it’s a direct result of being generous.
I know Pastor Rob says it all the time on Sunday mornings when he receives the offering, but you cannot outgive God. It is the one thing in scripture that God tells us to ‘test Him’ in. Malachi 3:11
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
When we are faithful to God to give our tithe (ten percent of our income) He will bless you. Not just financial blessing, but every kind of blessing you can imagine. Giving unlocks God’s blessing in your life. This verse talks about floodgates. If you aren’t familiar with floodgates, they are giant door-type walls that control water in a river, specifically to maintain a specific flow or water stage. When you ‘open the floodgate’ all the pent up water comes rushing out. I see giving, specifically tithing, as the key that turns the lock on the floodgate, allowing it to rush God’s blessing all over your life. So much that you ‘won’t have room enough to store it’.
What do you do when you run out of room to store things?
It’s an opportunity to start giving things away. So picture this with me. God has all this blessing, literally just ready to pour out all over your life, so much so that you won’t be able to help and give it away to others. He’s just waiting for you to tithe, to give, so that He can respond by opening the flood gates. It’s a pretty awesome image, isn’t it?
The other aspect of giving is that giving allows the church to move forward in it’s mission. We all understand that we are part of the Great Commission; going and telling all the world about Jesus. And hopefully, each of you are doing your part in the going and telling in your school and home, with your family and friends. But Jesus called us to tell all the world. Now how can you and I in San Antonio obey that call? If you can’t physically go, you can SEND. Giving is one of the ways we send. By giving, we empower the church to do the work. By giving to missionaries, they can tell the world. And our church, ct|church, supports 33 international missionaries, as well as about 15 home (or United States) missionaries or missionary organizations. See, you may not be able to go to Africa or Cambodia or Thailand to tell someone that Jesus died for them, but your dollar can go to fund the missionary who will.
The truth is giving is how church works. Realistically, it’s a reflection of how God works. He loved us so much that He ‘GAVE’ His one and only son to us. When you love, you give. You and I are called to love and called to give.
You know in your heart if you are being faithful to give to God, and to others. You know what you are supposed to do. Lately God has been pressing on my heart, asking me, is there anything I have that I’m not willing to give? God has given me everything that I have. There should be nothing that you are unwilling to part with for His glory. Because the truth is, it’s just stuff. It’s just money. You can’t take it with you. We talked about death last week. None of this temporal stuff goes with you to the next phase. We need to remember that as we deal with money and things. We worship God, not money or things. Let’s remember that our relationship with God and others are the only things worth hanging on to in this life. Loosen your grip on the other things and let God bless you for your trust and faithfulness in him. Start giving generously, start tithing. Turn the key to open that floodgate in your life, and then stand back and enjoy the outpouring.
(lay the keys on the altar, have students come up and take a key and pray as a symbol of being willing to give whatever they have to God)
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