Biblical Stewardship 2

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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December 6, 2011

00:00: Well, I'm glad we're here today in my class, we have been doing for the past six weeks or so, a course in Christian ethics.
00:10: Basically, ethics is the determining of what is right and what is wrong.
00:16: And what we said from the very beginning is ethics are not relative.
00:22: Morals are not relative, even though a lot of people think that they are.
00:26: People think that, well, what's right for me is right for me and what's right for you is right for you.
00:30: And that's sort of how a lot of people look at right and wrong today.
00:33: The problem with that is that the Bible gives us a very strict definition of what is right.
00:41: And what is always right is whatever God desires in any individual situation, whatever God's will is in any particular circumstance that we might be in.
00:54: So what we said is that when we're trying to find the answer to an ethical question, we should always be seeking to find what the entire Bible says about that subject, not one verse or one chapter, but we need to seek what the entire Bible says.
01:13: We need to seek to understand it and to obey it if we're really trying to live a Christian life, if we're really trying to live by what we would call Christian ethics.
01:25: How many of you have heard the phrase, and I'm sure most of you who have done any investment in politics, you've heard people say that in America we have a Judeo-Christian ethic.
01:38: How many of you have heard that phrase? Everybody's heard that.
01:42: Basically, what that phrase means is that we have an Old Testament and New Testament ethic.
01:47: That's all that when they say Judeo-Christian, they're saying that we look at both the Old Testament and the New Testament, because the Old Testament obviously was the word of God, which was written primarily specifically about and to the Jews.
02:00: And then the New Testament, of course, about and to the Christians.
02:03: So when someone uses the phrase Judeo-Christian ethic, they're simply just saying a biblical ethic.
02:08: That's it's it's it's sort of a way it's sort of a politically correct way of saying Bible ethics.
02:17: That's all it is.
02:18: And really, because Christians use the Old Testament.
02:25: As well as the New Testament, I think it's foolish to say Judeo-Christian.
02:30: We are just Christian, the Christians have Genesis through Revelation, Christianity is not just Matthew through Revelation.
02:38: So really, when somebody says Judeo-Christian, it's really just Christian ethics.
02:42: That's what people are trying to say.
02:44: That's what that's the key.
02:47: And what we have done is we've looked primarily so far at the subject of finances.
02:56: We did a couple of weeks on economics.
03:00: We talked about socialism, capitalism and biblical economics.
03:06: And then we have talked about stewardship.
03:09: We talked about not only economics as a macrocosm, meaning how it affects the world and then the nation.
03:17: But we've looked at economics as a microcosm, as in the church.
03:22: How is the church supposed to handle economics? The Bible says a very great deal about how much we are supposed to give, about how we are supposed to give the manner, amount, spirit in which we are to give.
03:38: And that's what we've been talking about the last few weeks.
03:41: Well, today is the final day on giving.
03:44: Next week, we're going to move into a different subject and we're going to do that until the end of the year.
03:49: But today we're going to finish up our subject on giving.
03:52: So far, we've looked at the amount of our giving.
03:58: And the thing that we said about amount of giving in regard to Christians, the New Testament does not have a demanded percentage of giving, even though a lot of people like to say that we are commanded to give a tithe.
04:16: We have talked for the last few weeks about how the New Testament nowhere says that a tithe is required to the church.
04:23: In the Old Testament, the tithe was a form of taxation which was used to support the theocratic government of Israel because Israel was a theocracy.
04:36: It was a God ruled nation and they didn't give 10 percent of their income.
04:41: They gave 23 percent, somewhere around that much, because they had two 10 percent tithes per year and another couple of givings that were amounted to about one and a half percent apiece.
04:52: So it ended up being about 23 percent per year.
04:55: So it wasn't just a 10 percent tithe.
04:59: But the Bible does tell us that there is something special about the first tenth.
05:05: We see from the very earliest acts of giving, from when Melchizedek was given an offering from Abraham, we see that he was given a tenth of the spoils of war.
05:16: So we see that there is something that is special about the tenth.
05:19: There's something special about giving our first and giving of a tenth.
05:24: And somebody asked me last week, well, how would you encourage a new believer? I would encourage a new believer to tithe, but I would not tell them that that amount is demanded or commanded in Scripture because I couldn't tell them that.
05:39: I would have to say that in the New Testament, it says we're to give according to what is placed in our hearts.
05:45: Would you let them know that all the young kids are missing, that I don't want them to get down there and wonder what's going on? I think Amy and George went that way with the young ones.
05:56: They're all going to meet out there.
05:58: We have sick other teachers, too.
05:59: We got a couple of people.
06:00: My wife is sick today.
06:01: She normally teaches out there.
06:03: So Nathan's meeting with the Bolts and their artisans are out today.
06:07: So we've got a lot of sick folks.
06:10: Actually, Adam's out of town.
06:11: He's camping with the Boy Scouts.
06:14: But anyhow, getting back.
06:16: So we understand when we talk about a mount, second Corinthians nine, seven says that we're give according to the dictates of our heart and to give joyfully.
06:26: For the Lord loves a cheerful giver.
06:27: We're not to give under compulsion that if we give under compulsion, then that's not a righteous gift.
06:35: If you give because you feel like you have to, that's not the spirit in which it's this way.
06:40: It's this way, Tim.
06:41: I'm sorry.
06:42: There's I know that's OK.
06:45: It's OK.
06:46: You go right out here and there's a little ramp.
06:50: So that that was the key in our amount.
06:53: And again, I'm reiterating for those of you who haven't been here.
06:57: And then we said the reason for our giving.
07:01: What is the reason for our giving to the church? And I broke it down like this.
07:05: I said we first we give to meet the needs of the brethren.
07:09: We give to meet the needs of the poor.
07:11: We give to meet the needs of Christian workers.
07:14: Yes, that is in the Bible.
07:15: People ask me sometimes if I feel bad about taking a paycheck.
07:18: No, I do not.
07:19: As the Bible says, I'm supposed to those who labor and preaching and teaching deserve to be paid for what they double what they're worth.
07:27: So I don't have a problem with taking a paycheck.
07:30: I do have a problem with people who fleece the flock.
07:32: And we talked about that last week.
07:33: There are pastors out there who are all about the money.
07:35: I think that's dangerous and it hurts the church.
07:37: But no, I don't mind taking a paycheck for for preaching the gospel, because that's what I've been called to do to make my living in this.
07:44: I have a problem with that.
07:45: The Bible says that's fine.
07:48: So, yes, that's part of and we said there's one thing the Bible doesn't talk about that we do have to address, and that's meeting the needs of the building because of the first century in the church.
07:57: I didn't have a building.
07:58: We do now, though.
07:59: But what do we say? Lastly, it's very important.
08:01: The building should never become an idol.
08:05: The building is a tool of ministry.
08:07: It is not the church.
08:09: The church is the people.
08:12: The building is simply a tool for ministry.
08:14: And if the building ever becomes an idol, then we need to readdress how we look at the building, how we look at the land, how we look at our property, because you know what? The land can go away.
08:24: The property can go away.
08:25: The the roof, the walls, everything can go away and the church would still exist because the church is the people.
08:31: It's not the building.
08:32: So so that's where everybody who was here, that's where we are.
08:36: Now we look at the final, the last part of giving, we say the manner of our giving, the manner of our giving, the manner of our giving.
08:52: The Bible describes four ways in which we are to practice our giving.
09:00: Number one, we are to give anonymously.
09:09: Anonymously, just so I spell it right.
09:14: I'll take the paper with me.
09:16: All right.
09:22: We are to give anonymously.
09:29: Everyone turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter six.
09:48: Excuse me.
09:51: And verse one, so if you get to Matthew six, you're in the right place.
09:59: Matthew chapter six and verse one.
10:05: Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.
10:13: For then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven.
10:17: Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others.
10:27: Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
10:33: 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 and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
10:50: Our giving should never be made to impress or to receive praise from other people.
10:59: I remember very clearly twice being told, and it's been years ago, none of no one who is here now said this to me.
11:08: But I remember years and years ago being told, you need to make the contributors happy in the church.
11:16: You need to know who's contributing and you need to make them.
11:18: No, they said just specifically, you need to make the contributors happy.
11:23: And here's my answer to that.
11:24: I said, I don't know who contributes what, so I don't know who I'm supposed to be making happy.
11:31: I can assume all day long, but I have found in the past that those who I assume are the best givers oftentimes are not.
11:41: I don't know.
11:42: There's only two people that know who gives what it's the treasurer and the assistant treasurer.
11:46: Those positions are important, responsible positions, which is why we put people in them who are trustworthy so that they are the only ones who know who gives what.
11:56: And they don't tell anybody because it's not anybody else's business who gives what.
12:01: And quite honestly, I don't want to know.
12:05: I don't.
12:06: I would I would prefer that to be between you and the Lord and leave it at that.
12:12: And again, it goes back to this text, you give with the idea that you want my praise or you give with the idea that you want some say so in the church or you give because you want whatever, then you've received your reward.
12:28: If you wanted praise and you get it, that's your reward.
12:31: If you wanted to say so and you get it, then you've got your reward.
12:34: If you wanted some kind of clout and you get it, then you've received your reward.
12:40: You see, and I have asked people who have me ask this question, and I think I want to address it now, people have said, well, we do have tithing envelopes, we have giving envelopes that keep up with our giving.
12:53: Should we not do that? Should everything just be thrown into the pot and nobody know who gives what? Well, again, part of stewardship, part of good stewardship is knowing what we give and trying to give our best and our and part of the way I find out at the end of the day is that we have to give our best.
13:08: The year if I if I've done what I feel God has called me to do is at the end of the year, the treasurer's give me a report of what I've given.
13:16: I don't use that to go around and say, hey, you see my report? It's awesome.
13:20: Right.
13:21: You know, I don't do that because that would be horrible if I wanted Florence's praise for what I gave.
13:26: I'd be showing Florence my checkbook.
13:27: You know, I don't want that.
13:29: What I use that for is to self-evaluate.
13:33: I use it.
13:35: Well, and there's also the taxes.
13:38: If you if you use it for your tax, you know, the government requires that we have a record of what we give in charity.
13:46: That's fine.
13:47: We were supposed to obey the government.
13:48: So that's part of the record as well as keeping understanding what we give to the government.
13:53: But first and foremost, for me, it's a record of my own accountability.
13:59: It lets me know what I've given.
14:01: Well, could I do that with my checkbook? Yeah, but I don't always give with checks.
14:05: Sometimes I give with cash.
14:06: Sometimes I give in other ways.
14:08: And the checkbook isn't always the way able to do that.
14:12: So I don't have a problem with us giving in envelopes or anything like that, because, again, we're not motivated by the desire for praise.
14:20: At least we shouldn't be.
14:23: That's the key to this passage.
14:24: When we give, we need to give anonymously without trying to have something that will let us land in the trap of spiritual pride.
14:38: Secondly, we give anonymously.
14:41: The second thing we give sacrificially, we give sacrificially.
14:58: Who is the most celebrated giver in the Bible? OK, yes.
15:05: Why was the widow the most celebrated giver in the Bible? Was she the was she the one who gave the most? She was, in a sense.
15:18: Let me let me rephrase.
15:19: Did she give the greatest monetary value? Obviously not.
15:26: She didn't give she didn't give plates of gold to the temple.
15:30: She did not give, you know, statues of bronze to the temple.
15:34: She gave two pennies in effect.
15:38: What's that? Yes, but in that two that two pennies, she gave everything that she had.
15:47: And Jesus made the point to say to everyone, she has given the greatest gift of all because everyone else gave out of what they could spare.
15:59: Remember, Jesus pointed out, he said, all of you gave out of what you could spare of your wealth.
16:05: But she being destitute has given all that she had and that's her gift, though.
16:13: In the in the view of the world would be very small in the view of God, she gave everything.
16:21: And as such, her blessing was above and beyond what we could ever understand.
16:27: Again, that reason why is because it was a sacrificial gift.
16:34: This is our example in giving not only to give proportionately to our income.
16:38: We've talked about giving proportionately.
16:40: We've talked about giving as we have been blessed, but we also are to give sacrificially, putting the needs of others before the needs of ourselves.
16:51: I've often asked myself this question and I've encouraged people to ask yourselves this question.
16:56: Does your giving cost you anything? And somebody might say, well, yeah, it cost me what I give.
17:06: Now, what I mean is, do you ever sacrifice to ensure that you give up? Well, but I understand where you're coming from.
17:21: And, yeah, I would I would I understand where you're going with that.
17:25: I'm just asking the question, first of all, have has anyone in here ever, ever made the decision to give to the church? And at the same time had made the decision that I'm going to make, I'm not going to do something.
17:38: I'm not going to take a trip or I'm not going to buy the new car or I'm not going to buy that dinner or I'm not going to go out and buy my child this toy.
17:46: Instead, I'm going to give to the church.
17:48: Have you ever sacrificed anything? That's a big question.
17:53: It's something that I often have them all in my mind and roll in my mind, because that's an important question.
17:57: Have you ever done that? Have you only given out of your abundance? Have you ever given in any other way, sacrificially? And again, one of the most difficult things I ever talk about is giving, because I certainly do not want to be accounted with men like Frederick Price and Benny Hinn and all the rest of these money grubbing hypocrites.
18:22: I have no problem calling them by that name.
18:30: OK, how many people do you think didn't give anything to their church? How many people do you think they call themselves Christians? According to Barna Research, how many people do you think gave nothing to their churches last year? According to Barna Research, how many you think gave nothing? One out of every six.
19:14: According to Barna Research, those who call themselves Christians, one in six people gave nothing to the church last year.
19:24: One, two, three, four, five, six.
19:26: It's you.
19:27: One, two.
19:27: I certainly was a joke.
19:33: But you see what I'm saying? You look around, there's a lot of people in this room, one out of every six.
19:39: And again, we may be the anomaly.
19:45: But you look around the world and you know I was kidding, right? OK.
19:53: Absolutely.
19:54: And I don't.
19:54: So that's what's great.
19:56: I don't know.
19:57: Yes, ma'am.
20:07: I agree.
20:08: I agree.
20:08: So I looked up another statistic.
20:10: How many how many Christians, how many Christians that were surveyed, do you believe actually gave 10 percent or more? Because these are people who are giving.
20:24: The other way was, yeah, you could say, well, there's a lot of people call themselves Christian, not Christian.
20:28: I understand that.
20:29: So I wanted to look at both sides.
20:31: Only one in six of people who call themselves one in six made nothing.
20:35: How many people gave 10 percent or more? Up four percent.
20:49: Four percent of people, four percent of people, that's four out of 100.
20:59: That's less than that's less than one in 20.
21:04: Less than one in 20 gave more than a tenth, a tenth or more.
21:10: And one out of every six who call themselves Christian gave nothing.
21:15: So when we talk about giving sacrificially, I think first, are we giving are we giving according to how we've been prospered? That's what we talked about in class.
21:25: What does it mean? Are we giving at all? And then are we giving sacrificially? It really hits us hard sometimes.
21:32: It makes us have to really examine ourselves.
21:34: It's not fun to do.
21:35: It just so happens you guys ended up in my class today.
21:38: I didn't do this on purpose.
21:40: It just so happens the majority of the church is here to hear this.
21:45: God is interesting in that direction.
21:47: And now it's a fun one.
21:51: Number three, we are to give cheerfully.
21:59: We're to give anonymously.
22:02: Nobody's supposed to know what we give.
22:03: It's supposed to be between us and we're supposed to give sacrificially.
22:06: We're supposed to give all that we can.
22:08: And even if it requires that we give up something and then we are to give cheerfully, the Lord loves a cheerful giver.
22:16: I love that passage again.
22:18: Second Corinthians nine, seven.
22:22: One of the most interesting texts, if you want to open up your Bible again to Second Corinthians eight, before you get to Second Corinthians nine, seven, go to Second Corinthians eight.
22:36: Yes, sir.
22:50: Well, part of what I talked about over the last couple of weeks is budgeting.
22:56: And I do believe, like in my family, we budget for the year giving so that we give a check once a month.
23:04: That's how we give.
23:06: And that way we budget for what I'm going to make because my salary is set at the beginning of the year.
23:10: I know what I'm going to get.
23:12: Anything else that's extra, I give extra based on what I give.
23:16: But generally, my salary is basically the same throughout the year.
23:23: The answer to the question is, huh? It's OK.
23:26: It's OK to budget.
23:27: It's prudent to budget.
23:29: Proverbs teaches us to do that, to to be wise in how we handle our money.
23:33: So you're right.
23:33: So you're not giving and then your kids are not eating.
23:38: Obviously, you wouldn't want that to happen.
23:42: Yeah.
23:42: Yeah, I think I think giving sacrificially and giving till it hurts might be a little might be a little different.
23:48: I think sacrificially indicates that sometimes, I mean, I could use that money.
23:53: I could use that money to go on, you know, take my kids on a trip.
23:56: I could use that money to get them a little something extra for Christmas.
23:59: I could use that money to get them.
24:00: I could use that money to have a new suit, you know, but I'm going to wear the old shirt and give to the church.
24:06: You know, it's easy to say what I would.
24:08: And I know that it is a true statement that God can do more with our 90 percent than we can do with 100 percent.
24:14: That's true.
24:15: So, I mean, it's I think in giving like Ms.
24:17: Hoffman said, we won't if we are faithful to God, he is obviously faithful to us and meeting our needs.
24:22: So that's not not even an issue.
24:24: So, yeah, I think that when we budget for the Lord, that we are we are prudent and steadfast and are giving.
24:31: I think that he ensures that we are we have what we need.
24:34: So, yeah, I think that that's all part of it.
24:40: Yes.
24:58: Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
24:59: If if we see a need that is going unmet, I think that that would be prudent.
25:05: Yes.
25:06: Some people are giving all that they can at this point.
25:08: And I'm not going to stand in front of them and say, you're not you're not fulfilling the will of God for your life because you're not giving all you can, because some people are.
25:17: But I'll straight up say I believe there are some people that don't.
25:21: I don't know who they are, though, and I'm not going to walk around and say you are you're not you are you're not because I don't know who is and who isn't.
25:27: But again, that's between them and the Lord.
25:30: But I do think there is self-evaluation that's needed throughout the whole of Christendom.
25:36: And of course, we are part of that.
25:38: So we all have to self-evaluate.
25:44: Yes.
25:46: And it is a low budget.
25:49: But anyway, go ahead.
26:02: You're saying you're going to support.
26:11: Yes.
26:12: No, that's what I do.
26:22: I don't I don't get a check every month, every week.
26:25: I get a check every two weeks.
26:26: And we just we decided a long time ago once a month was easier for us.
26:31: It's like a it's I hate to say this, but it's like a bill.
26:34: You know, you when you sit down to do your monthly bills, that's part of our first check.
26:39: Boom, we give.
26:41: And that's a monthly decision that we we've we've made.
26:45: We made it years ago.
26:47: This is how we're going to do it.
26:51: Every once in a while, we'll have to break it into twos because whatever reason, the money is not where it should be at that time.
26:57: But generally, it's once a month for us.
27:04: Well, there is a biblical passage that says and we talked about this.
27:07: It talks about storing up.
27:09: But Paul is talking specifically about a situation where he's saying store up something at the first of every week so that when I come, you won't have to do a big fundraiser.
27:21: You will have already raised the money that I need to do the work that I need to do.
27:25: That was for a specific time.
27:27: And there are some people who take that and say, well, I should be giving every week again.
27:31: I certainly I don't think that it's necessary for me to take my one check and break it into four checks.
27:39: I don't think the church has to have it that way.
27:48: Well, again, it's part it's part of it to me.
27:50: It's part of budgeting.
27:51: It's part of being wise.
27:52: Management.
28:01: And that and that's another thing, you know, I've had people tell me you should put your money in the plate so everybody sees you as the pastor giving.
28:16: And I've heard people, not you guys, but people have told me that you should put your money in the plate so everybody sees you do it first.
28:23: And I said, I don't care who sees me give.
28:25: If you don't think I'm giving, go talk to the treasurer.
28:27: And if she won't tell you, come tell me.
28:29: I'm not going to tell you how much I give, but I'm not going to lie to you either.
28:32: I'm not doing it to impress you.
28:34: I'm not doing it to win your favor.
28:36: Huh? Yeah.
28:40: Yeah.
28:42: You know, there are some churches now that don't even use offering plates anymore.
28:47: Many churches now simply have a box that is in the back of the church and they ask that you contribute on your way out.
28:55: Yeah.
28:55: Yeah.
28:56: You can you can you can pay a lot of churches, a lot of churches.
29:02: And let me let me let me just put this out there.
29:04: A lot of churches have started taking electronic debit for for funds because I'm telling you something, I don't have any cash in my wallet.
29:18: And laughing about why don't you laugh at my Superman? Why? I was excited to get this wallet, don't you? This is my real wallet and it is empty.
29:31: Huh? Yeah.
29:39: If we break it up, you know, you and it's when I get that money.
29:54: Again, if that's if that's the what is budgeted, if that's what you need to do, I don't think I don't think there's wrong with either way.
30:00: I don't think it's I don't think there's a necessity in doing one.
30:03: I see money being passed around.
30:04: We have I have I inspired an offering already.
30:10: This is a good lesson.
30:16: Oh, no, no, no.
30:18: I have I you know what I do.
30:21: You know, I keep in my wallet.
30:22: I keep a blank check so that I could if I have an emergency, I can write a check or something.
30:29: I know that sounds silly.
30:30: I do.
30:31: I do normally have ten dollars for emergency.
30:35: My wallet.
30:36: You know why I don't have my emergency ten? I usually keep ten dollars for a minute.
30:40: You know, I don't have it.
30:41: My wife went to a yard sale yesterday morning.
30:44: That's why I don't have my mercy.
30:46: Ten dollars.
30:47: Our next door neighbor had a yard sale and my wife said, you got any cash? And she's not feeling well, but yard sale gets her up.
30:57: She said, you got any cash? I said, well, give my mercy ten dollars.
31:00: She got my ten dollars.
31:01: She went next door and she ended up paying with a check because she spent more than ten dollars, but she kept my ten.
31:06: I need to call her.
31:11: She got it, didn't she? All right.
31:14: Last, lastly, lastly.
31:17: Oh, I didn't read this text in Second Corinthians is real important.
31:20: Second Corinthians eight verses one through five.
31:25: Paul is writing.
31:26: He says, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
31:40: For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.
31:52: And this not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
31:59: The key, the key word I see there is the word begging.
32:02: You see, they didn't have a lot, but they wanted so much to give.
32:07: They had a desire and they gave cheerfully.
32:10: That's again, going back to the third thing.
32:11: We're to get you.
32:12: We don't want to do that.
32:14: You know, if we if we're sitting there with our hand as we see the offering plate going back on, you know, kind of, you know, you know, you're holding on to it with a tight grip.
32:23: Just let the offering plate go past.
32:27: You know, it's it's we're to give.
32:32: We don't want to do it just like anything.
32:34: People say, why should we do good works as Christians? Because we're supposed to want to.
32:38: If God has changed our heart, we're supposed to want to do good things.
32:41: We're supposed to want to live a righteous life and we're supposed to want to be generous.
32:46: The right thing to do.
32:47: The right thing to do.
32:48: Why do you do it? Because it's right.
32:49: By the way, that's the answer to Christian ethics.
32:53: Do the right thing because it's the right thing to do.
32:56: We talked about that a few weeks ago, sometimes it's just that simple.
33:00: Just do the right thing because people say, why do that? Because it's the right thing to do.
33:09: It would be wonderful.
33:11: I finally we are to give voluntarily, voluntarily.
33:21: So the manner of our giving anonymously, sacrificially, cheerfully and voluntarily.
33:25: That goes back to second Corinthians nine, seven, where it says we are not to give under compulsion.
33:32: All of the giving to the church is voluntary giving.
33:35: No one stands above us, forcing our offerings into the plate.
33:39: No one is twisting our arms or should be twisting our arms or seeking our bank account numbers so that they can go and take the money out themselves.
33:47: Even though I have seen some churches that do that, there was a guy, a pastor.
33:54: He was preaching and he had I never seen this before.
33:57: I had a lot of hubris that he would do this.
34:00: He had a big screen behind him.
34:02: You know, like we have the two projectors and there's two TVs where he had a gigantic screen and on that screen he had a picture of a check and he had he had a PowerPoint presentation.
34:13: This is in the sermon.
34:16: He said, this is your routing number and it lit up and they said, this is your account number and it lit up.
34:26: And now what you need to do is you need to take that piece of paper out of the chair in front of you and you need to write your routing number down.
34:33: You need to write your account number down.
34:36: You need to write your amount you're going to give and you drop that in the offering plate so that the church can automatically debit your account.
34:51: Again, you know, some of us may say, well, that's rather convenient.
34:59: And there is convenience there.
35:03: But at the same time, I've always thought that was the most interesting sermon I've ever seen preached.
35:09: Because he was straight up what he was about.
35:11: He was about the money.
35:14: Now, the New Testament teaches us that we don't give under compulsion, but we are supposed to give generously and sacrificially with cheerfulness in our hearts.
35:30: And the question I would ask everyone to prayerfully consider is, does that describe your giving? Are you generous and sacrificial with your gifts to the Lord? And are you at the same time cheerful? And I will end with the illustration.
35:49: I know we're out of time, but I want to end with the illustration.
35:52: There was a father.
35:55: His son had done something good in school.
35:58: He had gotten a good grade.
36:00: So his father wanted to reward the son.
36:02: So in rewarding the son, he said, I'll take anywhere.
36:06: Let's see, what would you like to eat? I'll let you pick today.
36:09: And the son said, I really, really want McDonald's French fries.
36:13: So the father said, OK.
36:16: So they loaded up in the car and they immediately went to have McDonald's French fries.
36:20: And he bought a big super sized thing of French fries and he put it on the tray.
36:25: And they both went to the table and sat down with their little vial of ketchup that they give you.
36:30: And they sat down to eat.
36:32: And the boy was just eating it up, you know, just really enjoying his French fry feast that he was having.
36:39: And the father leaned over and went to get one.
36:45: And the boy said, mine.
36:48: And he grabbed it and put his arms around mine.
36:54: And the father had all these emotions come into his mind.
36:58: And like most of you, greedy, you know, you think that you think that's pretty greedy.
37:03: And another emotion that comes in is like, let me know that that father could go and buy all the French fries that he wants.
37:09: Doesn't he know that the father was the one who was responsible for giving him the French fry in the first place? And doesn't he realize that father six foot two, 200 pounds? He could take that French fry if he wanted it.
37:22: And we laugh.
37:23: But then, you know, the analogy is what God is the one who's given us everything that we have.
37:28: God is the one who has ensured that we have what we need.
37:32: And God is the one who could take it if he wanted it.
37:36: But instead, he has called us to be stewards.
37:42: Do we put our hands around everything we have and say, mine, mine? Or do we hold everything with an open hand, seeking that God does with it what he wills? That's an important question for stewardship and one that I'll leave you with.
38:04: Father, God, thank you for this time of study.
38:06: Thank you for this lesson.
38:08: And I pray, Lord, that we have sought what your word has to say on this important subject over the last four weeks, five weeks or that we've been looking at giving and stewardship and economics.
38:20: And I pray, Lord, as we step into the next area of ethics and Lord, we begin looking at some other issues like lying and issues of marriage and divorce and things like that.
38:33: Lord, I just pray that you would open up our hearts to what the Bible says so that we would be always seeking.
38:41: Not just what we think, Lord, for our thoughts are so so much vanity, but Lord God, that we would be seeking.
38:50: To know and understand and obey what the Bible says in Jesus name.
38:58: Amen.
38:59: Lord bless you.