It’s All His Anyway

Pastor Darryl Bentley

Midland SDA Church

April 25, 2009

 

Homiletical Idea: To demonstrate that everything in the earth belongs to God.  That includes our money, time, and talents.  Since everything belongs to God we have an obligation to give or return to Him whatever He asks for as it relates to these three areas.  If we fail to do this then we are essentially robbing God of what He has asked of us.

 

Bubble Gum

            Growing up I had some favorite things that I liked to do.  One of them was going to the store with my grandparents.  I especially liked going with my grand paw.  Almost every time I went to the store with him I was able to walk out with a Pepsi and some candy: almost every time. 

I can recall back to when I was about 6 or 7 years old.  I went to town with my grand paw and he decided to stop by a store.  Of course I expected that we would follow the same pattern that we usually did in that I would get a drink and some candy.  I do not recall why, but this time I was allowed to get a drink but no candy.  I became upset and saddened.  Granted, I really did not have a good reason to be upset, but I got that way anyhow.  Well, I decided to take things into my own hands in a literal way.  When my grand paw was not looking at me I reached out and took a piece of apple flavored bubble gum from one of the little boxes that have individually wrapped pieces in it.  I took it and slipped it into my pocket and we left the store without paying for that gum.

Once we got to the vehicle I reached into my pocket and took out the gum and just before I could get it opened I was spotted with the gum.  My grand paw looked at me and asked me where I got the gum.  At first I lied to him and told him that I found it in the parking lot.  He quickly said that I had to throw it away so I then told him that it was not the parking lot but rather the floor of the store.  Changing my story proved to be my ruin.  He kept questioning me until I confessed to having taken the gum from the box.  He was pretty angry to discover that I had stolen that piece of gum.  He made me go with him back into the store and I had to give the clerk the 5 cents for the gum and apologize to them for stealing it.  I hated doing that.  I felt so embarrassed. The worst part of the entire ordeal was that I knew that I had let my grand paw down.  He had always been so proud of me and in that moment he was disappointed.  I hated that feeling of having let him down.

 

Disappointing the Father

            Just like me in that story, too many of us disappoint our heavenly Father.  We let Him down in a major way.  The truth is that we do more than let Him down.  For far too many people it can be said of us that we steal from God.

            Today I want us to consider the fact that the earth belongs to God and everything that is in it.  We saw this clearly when we heard our Scripture reading this morning from Psalm 24. We do not own anything; rather we have been called to be stewards or mangers for God.  The concept is very similar to the concept of a business.  If you and I work for a company then the company is the one that owns everything.  When we work for the company we are simply there to manage things for the owners.  We do not have the right to do as we please.  We have to work within the guidelines of what the owners ask us to do.  It is very similar with our relationship with God.  Since the entire earth is His and everything in it.

 

Unpacking a Bit

            Today I will be taking a little different approach than I normally do.  Typically we look at a one passage and pull in some supporting references.  Today we are going to look at the teaching of stewardship from a broader view of the Bible.  Today we are going to take line upon line and precept upon precept and allow the Bible to build some principles for us. 

 

Principle #1: Rulers of the Earth

            First, let us address the idea that God has called us to be stewards of the earth.  Turn with me to Genesis 1 where we will look at verses 26-28.  We can see clearly from this passage that God intended mankind to watch over and to take care of this earth that He created.  That was God’s plan from the very beginning.

Of course the Genesis account shows us clearly that God created the earth and all that is in it.  Being the creator gives Him the right to then place whomever He chooses in charge of looking after His things.

We see much the same pattern in our patent law today.  The one who creates a particular something belongs to that person.  They then have the rights to market it or sell it as they see fit.  There are court battles that rage over these types of issues and the law is designed to protect the rights of the one who created the item or idea in question.

How much more should the God of the universe be allowed to have say over what He has created? It only makes sense that God has say over that which is His.  So our first principle that we identify today is that God wants us to take responsibility and properly look over the things which He has placed within our care.

 

Principle #2: God’s Work First

            As we move forward in our discussion today we come to another principle in the Bible.  We will see that God wants us to set certain priorities as it relates to the management of things for Him.  The first priority is that God’s house be taken care of. Turn with me to the book of Haggai.  It is here that we will look at the first chapter and glance over a few verses.

**Read Haggai 1:3-ff**

            It is here that we read about what the Lord said through the prophet Haggai.  Haggai was raised up because the leadership among those released from Babylonian exile was not doing their job.  They were sent to rebuild the temple of the Lord and they met some resistance.  So instead of fighting to get their job done, they just rolled over and began doing whatever they wanted.  While God’s house lay in an incomplete state, they had built for themselves paneled houses; “paneled houses” is another of saying that they had nice homes.  It took quite a bit back in those days to fashion wood in such a way as to be able to use it to cover walls.  Most walls were simply mud stucco. To have wood-paneled walls was a way of saying they were living in a posh home.

            In the meantime God’s house lay undone.  The work had ceased for about 16 years.  Can you imagine?  For 16 years they just let it go.  They left God’s house undone and they suffered a withdrawal of God’s blessing from them too.  It is apparent that they were suffering a drought.  Their crops all but failed and the prosperity that God longed to give them was withheld because they failed to do what God required.

            Friends, I am here to tell you today that if you fail to do what God requires then you too will rob yourself of the blessings that He longs to give you.  We will unpack this more in a little while as it relates to us as individuals, but here we can clearly see that God will withhold His blessings on His people corporately if they fail to be about their Father’s business. 

            Fortunately for Zerubbabel and his people, they repented of their ways and got back on track.  We see this in vss. 12 and 13. If we walk according to God’s plan then He will be with us too, Amen?

 

Principle #3: Robbing God and the Windows of Heaven

            We have discussed that God’s work must be taken care of first before our personal needs are attended to.  But how is God’s work taken care of?  It is accomplished through tithes and offerings.  I know that the world in which we live today has many troubles both financial and otherwise.  But we will each be fools if we think to pass through this time of crisis and economic downturn victorious without God’s help.  It simply will not happen.  God Himself makes it very clear that in order for us to find financial success we must get and remain faithful to God.

**Read Malachi 3:8-12**

            We can see clearly that God wants us to be faithful in returning our tithes and offerings.  He wants us to return only a portion to Him.  He does not ask for everything we have when it comes to money.  He only wants a portion to see if we are willing to put Him first.  He has a reserved portion in the amount of 10% of all our increase.  That means that we are to take God’s part right off the top.  The thing about 10% is that it is equal among believers.  God asks the same percentage from all believers.  The wealthy do not have to pay a higher percentage like they do when it comes to taxes.  God’s system is fair and weighs equally upon His people.  God only wants that reserved portion and whatever we feel inclined to give by way of offerings. 

            Yes, the text also speaks of offerings.  He said you have robbed me in tithes and offerings.  The great thing about offerings is that God leaves that part up to us.  He wants us to pay our tithe because that is God’s regardless, but then He asks that we search our hearts and see what else we can give beyond that.  I have known some people who give 10% tithe and then give 10% in offerings.  That was what they decided to do and God blessed them immensely.  Others use a lower percentage.  Whatever you decide to do for your offerings I would encourage you to use a percentage so that your giving is systematic.  When you give in a systematic way then it helps you to plan returning God’s portion and supporting His work into your budget.  If you do not have a family budget then you need to get one.  We have to be responsible with our money.

 

 

 

Principle #4: Beyond Money

            The Bible teaches us that the Lord is not only interested in our money, but God is also very interested in our time.  I mentioned to you earlier that God has a reserved portion when it comes to our money.  The same is true when it comes to our time.  Now most of you would agree that God expects us to come to worship Him on the Sabbath.  That is evidenced by your presence here today.

            Our teaching today is centered on stewardship so we are not going to take a full look at the Sabbath, but just by way of review we will look briefly at Exodus 20:8-10.

            This is just reminder for us today that God is also intimately interested in how we spend our time.  He cares so much about time that He made a special appointment with us at the end of each week.  The Lord wants us to commune with Him and to come away feeling refreshed and invigorated to face another week.  Not only are we refreshed when we take the time to worship God on His Sabbath, but He too is refreshed by having His people come and worship Him.  We see this in Exodus 31:17.   It is not that God is tired and in need of resting.  It is the fact that He created us to worship Him, and when we take the time to give back to Him that which He desires it serves to bless His heart and bring about a sense of refreshing the He desires.

            Apart from the Sabbath God also desires that we spend our time in the pursuit of wholesome things.  He wishes for us to invest our time dwelling on items that will bring about the development of Christ-like character.  Paul makes this clear in Philippians 4:8 where we are told to dwell on whatever is true, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute. It is only when our minds are fixed on the things that turn our thoughts to Christ that we can begin to separate ourselves from being enslaved to the world.  Yes, we have to work and go to school and take care of a million other tasks, but that does not mean that we can’t take the time to often turn our thoughts toward heaven so that our lives are filled with the thoughts of heavenly things.

 

Principle #5: Talents on Loan from God

            So far we have looked at two aspects of stewardship.  We have considered money and time.  There is also another aspect of our lives that God expects us to use for His glory and that area is our talents.  Just a few weeks back we took the time to look at how God longs to partner with us and to equip us to do the work of taking the gospel to all the world.  We looked at the parable of the talents from Matthew 25 and we learned that the Lord gave talents to each one according to his own abilities.  We also saw that God expected each one to then take the talents and invest them and trade with them. 

In other words, when God equips He has the expectation built into His equipping that you and I will then put those talents to work for Him.  We learned from the last slave that if we do not use our talents then they will be taken away altogether.

It is prudent for us to ask the question, “Why does God give us talents?”  He gives us talents because He wants us equipped to take the gospel to a world that is desperate need of a savior.  That is why God also give us the Holy Spirit who then equips us with gifts above the talents.  We will not take the time to look at it today, but I want to encourage you all to read the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 12.  It is there that Paul talks at length about how God give us what we need through the Holy Spirit.  Each one may have different gifts, but they all work together to allow the body of Christ to function properly.  There are various gifts given because we all do not need to fill the same role.  We need to have all roles filled in order for the body to function in a complete and holistic way.

We will not find ourselves filled with God’s Spirit if we are not willing to get out and do something for Christ.

 

Wrap-up & Appeal

            I pray that as we have spent some time looking at these principles today that each of you has a renewed sense of what the Lord expects of you.  God does not desire that life be burdensome and miserable.  It is actually quite the contrary.  Jesus told us in John 10:10 that He came to give us life and that we might have it more abundantly.  It is my prayer today that each of us will adopt these principles into our lives and may it never be said of this church family that we have robbed God of our time, talents or money.

            How many of you would like to covenant with me to honor God by paying an honest tithe, wisely using our time, and investing our talents in such a way that God can partner with us in spreading the gospel?