Rich Toward God

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Ebendroth. You can write me, Mike, at nocompromiseradio .com.

Quite a few of you do. We've been getting a lot of people who want more than 10 books because you can order them through me and get 40 % off.

If you want to pay full Amazon, you can, but why not get them cheaper? You can mix and match. I think so far the big seller has been

Law Gospel, a primer. I'm working on sanctification, a primer, but it takes a while.

In the old days, I could stay up till two and did almost every night, working, working, working, working. Now it's 10 o 'clock at night,

I'm thinking I probably should go to bed. I don't know why I'm gonna go to bed because I'm gonna wake up three times in the middle of the night, but that's a different story.

We're going to look at a passage today that's very revealing. And for all of us, we struggle with covetousness, sometimes translated greed, wanting more than what we really need.

What's that old slogan? God will take care of your needs, not your greeds. And so we're gonna look at a passage today in the scriptures.

There are 10 ,000 people, 20 ,000, 30 ,000. We don't know how many, but there are thousands of people.

And can you imagine you finally get your way up to Jesus and you force your way to the front.

I went in 1983 to something called the Us Festival. It was in California, San Bernardino.

And it was like Woodstock, this huge outdoor festival with all these bands. I never had seen

David Bowie live before. And so I was by myself, 1983, and I forced my way to the very front stage, front row, center, middle, standing room only out in this huge outside deal and made it to the front, forcing my way to the front.

And matter of fact, I don't think Mario knows this, but there was a camera there and it took a picture, almost like a drone view, took a picture of David Bowie on stage with those 100 ,000 people there.

And you could see, I was there. I had my shirt rolled up, sleek because it was so hot, mustache.

And so I called my mom and I said, mom, I'm in Time Magazine. My picture's in Time Magazine.

And at the time I wasn't at the front center. I had kind of backed up a little bit. It was too hard to be in the front center.

So all that to say, you make it to the front and David Bowie says, do you have any questions for me?

I mean, what would you ask? Well, that's dumb because it's just David Bowie. How about you make your way through 20 ,000 people?

You get up to Jesus and you have one question you get to ask him. What would you ask him?

By the way, there was a man who got to the front and saw Jesus in the midst of 10, 20, 30 ,000 people.

And he didn't ask Jesus a question. He commanded Jesus. It's like dumb and dumber.

What are people thinking? But of course we know sin makes you crazy. Sin makes you like a lunatic.

The passage is Luke chapter 12. And there's a man who was in the crowd, verse 13.

And he said to Jesus, teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.

Probably he's got another brother or sister, probably a brother. And remember primogenitor means that the oldest son gets double.

So let's just say he's the second son. There's only two kids, two sons. Hey, Jesus, my brother's getting 66%.

I'm getting 34%. Can you divvy that out a little bit? Now, Jesus has called his disciples friends.

Do you think he said to this man, friend? Do you think he said, brother? He said in verse 14, man, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?

I didn't come for that reason. I'm thinking about eternal things. And you're not thinking about eternal things.

And Jesus said to them, now the disciples were there and everybody else who could hear it, beware, be on your guard against every form of greed.

That's what this man has. I wonder what that man was thinking. For not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of possessions.

Even if you own it all, even if you own everything, how much is enough? More. That's not what your life is about.

And then to drive the point home, Jesus tells a parable. The land of a rich man was very productive.

And he began reasoning to himself saying, what shall I do since I have nowhere to store my crops? Lots of eyes and lots of mice, by the way.

This is what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns, build large ones. And there I will store all my grain and all my goods.

I'll say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid out for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said to him, so first there's fool. I mean, excuse me, friend.

Now there's fool. Fool. I heard something outside and it made me distracted. Just between us girls.

So first it's friend, now it's fool. You fool, this very night your soul is required of you.

And now who will own what you have prepared? So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

And so Jesus gives this parable and you think, you know what? One day I'm going to die. One day I'm going to stand before God.

One day it's not going to matter that I had all this extra stuff. Now, is there anything wrong with being rich?

No. Is there anything wrong with money? No. True or false? Money is the root of all evil.

False. It's the love of money is the root of all evil, the Bible says. Abraham was rich.

Many rich people in the Bible, Job was rich. Guns don't kill people. The human heart does in the hands of a person, right?

Sex isn't bad, even though there are sexual sins, right? Sex is good. And in this particular case, money is just a thing.

It's not even really anything. I mean, how do we figure out like gold is the standard? But all that to say, you want to be rich toward God, not rich toward man.

And if you have all this excess and you're greedy and you're covetous, you're not thinking about, you know what?

Like Augustine said, you know what would have been a good storehouse for a lot of this man's extra stuff?

How about the bellies of the poor? That would have been a good place to store all this extra grain.

You could be feeding poor people. And so what does it mean to be rich toward God and pleasing toward God?

It's certainly, you could sum it up with loving God and loving neighbor, the two great commandments.

Reminds me of Beverly Shea, who used to sing that song, I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.

I don't even know the name of that song. Probably I'd rather have Jesus as the name of it. 1

Timothy 6, instruct them to do good, be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.

Same language here, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of what is life indeed.

So today on No Compromise Radio, we're going to talk about being rich toward God. Are you rich toward God?

Now, if you say, of course I am because I'm a Christian and I'm in Christ and I'm united with Christ and I'm an heir and I'm a co -heir with Christ.

I'm adopted, I'm a son, I'm a daughter. He's given me the Holy Spirit. I have promises of heaven.

I am rich toward God. And that's really what we're after is for you to be rich toward God in that way. But in this show,

I want to talk about Christians being rich toward God. I don't usually talk about giving, but when

I'm preaching through the passages, I have to talk about it, right?

If hell came up in the scriptures, I would talk about it even though I know this world doesn't want to hear about hell.

So why wouldn't I talk about giving? Well, one of the reasons I don't like to talk about giving is because I don't want people to think

I'm after their money, right? It's back to these old Benny Hinn type of guys. Send Jesus your money, here's my address.

It's like, no. The way to be rich toward God is, of course, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But after that, I want to talk about giving, sacrificial giving, investing in eternity.

And I want to do it through one percentage. And here's what I mean by that. If you met somebody and they're a new

Christian and they said, I know I'm supposed to be giving. They pass a plate around or you can Venmo these days or whatever.

How much am I supposed to give? What's the percentage to give? And of course, there's lots of different percentages.

And if you're smart, you would say, well, Israel, they were God's country, a nation.

And they had things that were kind of taxes and then giving. And if you add it all up, it could be between 24 and 26 % that they would end up giving.

But we're not really under Israel's system and we are in a different country and we're not Israel in that sense, as a nation, geopolitical thing.

So what I think you should give is 10%. 10 % is a tithe.

And so you give 10%. Matter of fact, people will then ask, do I give that gross? Do I give that off net?

How do I work through all that? But 10 % is at least sacrificial. 10 % is, do you know what?

It hurts. It's a sacrifice because if you make 50 grand a year and now you give five away off gross pay to the local church that is to Jesus, that's sacrificial.

And so people want to know the number and that seems to be the number. But I've got a different number for you today that if you can get rid of, see if you can get rid of.

I looked down and saw something else. If you can get rid of the 10 % in your mind and think of this number, it will unlock everything.

Now, Mario's looking at me right now because he wants to know the number. And I want you to be thinking the same thing because I got to try to keep your attention.

What's the number? Did you know that 15 % of everything that Jesus said was related to covetousness, greed, money, or what you own?

I mean, it was a big deal for him. One man said, Jesus had 38 parables and 16 deal with money.

That's quite a bit, 16 out of 38. Another man said, the

Bible has 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, but over 2000 verses on dealing with money and possessions because we're to be stewards.

So the number that if you can get in your mind will unlock your checkbook, unlock your

Venmo, unlock your PayPal, unlock your, what are the other things that they use now?

Chime, Apple Pay, and the number is simple.

It's 100%. That's the number, 100%.

If you realize that number and the implications of that number, then giving 10%, then giving sacrificial, 8%, 14%, whatever number you and your wife decide, you're going to think, oh, this is so much easier.

And here's where I'm going as I look at 2 Corinthians chapter eight. Here's where I'm going. That if you've been bought with a price, and as you know,

Christian, you have been, and that ransom price is the death of the son, the

Lord Jesus, the one in whom the father is well -pleased. And you realize the gravity of what your sin cost and what redemption entailed.

You will say, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Listen to 2

Corinthians chapter eight. We want you to know, verse one, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.

And when he says grace here, he's talking about money, an unmerited favor in terms of finances.

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.

Listen, for they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord.

How do you give? This is interesting. Begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.

And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the

Lord, 100%, and then by the will of God to us. That's the key right there.

They gave themselves first to the Lord. I'm yours,

Lord. I'm your steward. You've given me mind and hands and a body to figure out how to make money.

And so therefore, what I make is because of you. If you have smart business acumen, it's because the

Lord gave you that. If you know how to make money because you know how to fold sheet metal and you're an

HVAC guy, it's because the Lord gave you that. The Lord gave you the ability to make money, to yes, take care of your family.

It's important because unbelievers, you know, you're worse than an unbeliever if you don't do that, because your unbelieving friend, he actually goes to work and does two jobs to pay for his family.

Nothing wrong with working hard. Nothing wrong with paying bills. Nothing wrong with setting aside money for retirement.

Nothing wrong with trying to pay off your mortgage early. There's nothing wrong with any of that. What's wrong is covetousness.

What's wrong is tight -fistedness, saying, this is my money. If you say to yourself, everything

I own is the Lord's, 100%. Friends, it's so much easier.

Let me give you a couple examples. Your van breaks down, your car breaks down.

Well, got to fix it. 500, 800, that little yellow light goes on, check engine light, little death, death.

That's called the money. That's called the money light, by the way. My car friends call it the money light.

You're like, what am I going to do? I didn't have the money stashed for that. It cost 500, it cost 800.

I got to buy a new car, all this stuff. But if you think, Lord, I'll never forget when

John MacArthur said this. He said, his kids were young, had a van, it broke down. And he said, Lord, you're really going to have to help me because your van's broken.

You're going to have to figure out how to get it fixed. Like, okay. They gave themselves first to the

Lord. Because once the Lord has you, Romans chapter 12, verse one and following, right?

It's, you're not conformed to this world anymore. You're a living sacrifice. It's you, all of you.

And the Lord owns you. Then he owns your money. He owns your wife, your children, your steward.

You want to be a faithful steward, but it's like, boy, my children are a gift to the Lord. My ability to make money is a gift to the

Lord. And so then when the Lord says, I'd like you to give me some money for gospel ministry, but I'm not here on earth because I'm at the right hand of the father.

So give to a local church instead. Then you go, okay, that makes it so easy. Then you're not saying to yourself, you know,

I don't like the way these leaders are spending money. They're spending money on a septic tank. I'm not giving to that.

I'm not spending money on salaries. They don't get paid enough. They get paid too much. I'm not paying for that.

I'm not paying for janitor stuff. I'm not paying for toilet paper. You know, these elders, they buy toilet paper with the money that comes from the offering here.

I'm not doing that. Friends, this is so easy. I do this four times a year,

April 15th, June 15th, September 15th, and January 15th. When I have to pay money to the

IRS, I say to myself, Jesus told me to pay money to the

IRS. That is, give to Caesar what Caesars. And I'm to give to the government. So instead of me paying in pennies, instead of me writing internal, infernal revenue service, instead of me getting all mad.

I mean, if you know how much I just sent in on April 15th to pay for my quarterly taxes and my tax for last year, it was a big number.

But you know what? Jesus told me to do it. And by the way, I've been bought with a price.

And so I wanna glorify God with my body. And so then

I just pay. I just think to God be the glory. This is because Jesus told me to do it.

And then I don't have to worry about it. Well, what's the government gonna do? And where are they gonna spend money on abortion? And that and the other.

I'm told to pay, I pay. So I get the privilege of having a reward in heaven by giving money now to Jesus through the local church.

So when I write a check, Bethlehem Bible Church, I think Jesus told me to do it.

And it's as if I'm giving this to Jesus. Think about what St. Clair Ferguson would say.

When you sing, imagine you're holding the hymnal with Jesus. And so how would you sing?

You're like, Jesus, you didn't give me a good enough voice to sing. You wouldn't say that. You'd go, you know what?

Jesus is singing. Actually Hebrews 2 talks about Jesus singing in the congregation. You're like, hey,

I'm gonna sing loudly with Jesus. I'm holding the hymnal with Jesus. It bugs me to no end.

There's people here at the church that don't sing. And like, well, I know why your kids don't sing because you husband don't sing.

You're like, well, my voice. Well, then sit in the front row with me. At least nobody in front of me can hear me sing, right?

So if Jesus took a plate, the offering plate, and walked past you, would that change the way you give?

Think, well, I'm supposed to be sacrificial in my giving. 2 Corinthians goes on to say, it's supposed to be planned giving.

It's supposed to be cheerful giving. What I just go, you know what? I don't really have money anymore.

Good news is I have no money in my pocket. So when poor people ask for money, I say, I don't have any cash on me.

Probably some of them take Venmo as far as I know. But you're like, well, I don't have a fiver to throw in or a 20.

I'm wondering if Jesus went like this, put some money in the plate. I wonder what you do.

And that's exactly what you are doing. He's just not standing here, but you're giving to the Lord Jesus for the gospel ministry to go forward.

And since Jesus owns you, since you can't take it with you, since you want to store up and be rich toward God, you, dear listener, along with me, need to be sacrificial in giving.

You can't out give the Lord. Got one person after a next, after one, after another, after another here at church that would come and tell you, do you know what?

I didn't think I could afford to give sacrificially. And then I thought, I'm gonna trust the

Lord and His promises and I'm going to give anyway. And the Lord has blessed ever since. Listen to what 2

Corinthians 8, 9 says. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake,

He became poor, so that by His poverty, you might be rich.

He's not talking about money. He's talking about the glories of the eternal Son and now the humbling submission of the incarnation.

That's what He's talking about. That for your sake, He became poor. When you have a hard time giving, relate your money to Jesus.

That is to say, think about Jesus rightly. Think about what you would have to pay, what sin debt you'd have to pay and how it was paid for you.

Think about how you merited His wrath and Jesus absorbed that wrath in your place.

Think about Jesus on the cross. Was He giving Himself 10 % to the

Father? In His life, was He giving Himself to the Father 25 %? I think you would have to say about Jesus, He gave

Himself fully, not half, but people say, well, it's 110%.

Well, there's no such thing, so let's just go with 100, 100%. He didn't tie

Himself on the cross, it was 100%. And so I want you to know that your life is a gift from God.

Your spiritual life is a gift from God. Your eternal life that's promised you is a gift from God. Forgiveness has been a gift of God.

Justification is a gift of God. Sanctification, future glorification, and the list goes on and on and on and on.

And so then you need to say to yourself, you know what? Then it's easy for me to be sacrificial in my giving.

I'm not asking you to give to No Compromise Radio. I'm asking you to give to Jesus through your local church.

You should be part of a local church and with plan giving, cheerful giving. You know, that's the wild thing to me.

I first got saved and some of the things in my life, I obeyed right away to God be the glory.

I quit swearing. I quit having any vestige of racism that was there in my heart.

And I knew, okay, somebody said, Mike, you ought to give 10%, you have to tithe.

Okay, but I wasn't even part of a church yet. So I would listen to the radio and I would send off a check to Chuck Swindoll, Insight for Living.

Send out a check to Charles Stanley because they seem to be teaching the Bible and I'm supposed to give.

I don't know who to give to. So I'm just writing a check. And you know what's so interesting? I would think that before I got saved, that I was a cheapskate, that I was a tightwad, that I would value money too much, that I would think, okay, how can

I gain more? What can I do? Then when the Lord saved me, it's like Luther.

He said, how many slits do you have in your hand? One, two, three, four. Why four? So people and money can just go through them pretty fast.

Just like, can't just grab hold of it. You're like, this is your money, Lord. Everything I own is yours.

The salary that I make, it's yours. And therefore you've told me to provide for family, food and clothing.

I need to buy that and shelter and everything else. And then you told me to give sacrificially. Once I went to a church in Los Angeles and they had the offering and the offering plate went by.

By the way, not many people have offering plates anymore. They just say, go online or Tithely or Venmo or whatever.

And I went there and they had the offering and I didn't give anything because I give to the local church, right?

And so if there's above and beyond, you wanna help support a missionary here, they're fine, but it's to the church that I attend.

And then they said, by the way, after the baptisms, we have to have a special offering for the pastor.

The pastor has got some needs. And so you were to walk up to the pastor in the front of the church,

Mario, and the pastor's got a bucket, like a big Lowe's kind of bucket.

I think it was orange, looked like a Halloween bucket. And you were to put in a special offering for the pastor's needs while the pastor held the

Halloween bucket. I'm like, what in the world is going on? Now, the way that should have worked is one of the elders should have got up and said, by the way, the pastor's really hurting.

His daughter's had surgery and we need to pay some bills. Would you mind having a special offering for the pastor?

Okay, fine. But putting it in that bucket, I thought, there's no way

I'm getting up there putting one cent in there for that guy. This guy's a scoundrel. But you know what?

If it was Jesus, I'm not saying you should give to that guy, but how do you give money now?

Do you give sacrificially? And you say, well, I do, it's 5%. I do, but I just throw in money here and there.

Just, I just want you to rethink that. I want you to rethink that and say, how could I be giving to God 3 % and call it sacrificial?

Listen to what 2nd Philippians 4 .18 says. But I have received everything in full and have abundance. I'm amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well -pleasing to God.

Paul's like, you know what? I received this gift, but you gave it to God ultimately. But the Lord used it for me for not the lights, not the trash, not the septic, but for gospel ministry.

R. Ken Hughes said, God can have our money and not have our hearts, but he cannot have our hearts without having our money.

That's so true. I often, in my discipleship groups, go around the room,

I start, I tell the men ahead of time we're doing this so they have one week to get ready. And I say,

I didn't look at pornography this week. Around we go. And here's my memory verse.

And then I would say it. I wonder if we'd ever go around the room and say, how's your giving?

Randy Alcorn said that. I thought, wow. It's increasingly common for Christians to ask one another the tough questions.

How's your marriage? Have you been spending time in the word? How are you doing in terms of sexual purity?

Have you been evangelizing? And here's what Randy Alcorn said in the

Treasure Principle. But how often do we ask, how much are you giving to the

Lord? Getting kind of quiet in here, Mario. I knew one church, and I'm not advocating this, but I knew one church where the elders said, we're going to look to see how much each person gives.

Because if they're not giving anything, it's a spiritual problem. And we should know that to help minister to them. Now, Bethlehem Bible Church, I don't see who gives anything.

We have a guy named John here, and he knows that at the end of the year, he'll send you everything. And he's the only one that knows.

And he knows he's not supposed to say anything about it. I'm sure it's a burden on him because he would know, oh, who gives?

And then who doesn't give? Who's got nice cars and don't give, et cetera. Now they may give just cash only, that's fine.

But I don't know. And I don't want to be tempted to go, you know what, Mario is a sacrificial giver, and he calls me up at midnight and needs help.

I'll go help him. But old Jim over here, he doesn't give at all. He needs help. I'm not going to go help him.

The dude doesn't give. So I want to be careful there. But the text is for certain in Matthew 6, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

And so just thinking about this whole idea, I'm not trying to get you to give to No Compromise Radio. If out of the abundance, and you already give 10 % to the local church and all that other stuff, and you want to give, wonderful.

But I want you to just work through the key percentage when it comes to giving. And if that key percentage is 100, that makes it so much easier to just write the check to God be the glory.

I'm going to have to trust you, Lord, to take care of me. Because this is a sacrifice.

This is something that left to myself, I would hold on to. But you made me, you redeemed me. And you've told me, do you know what?

Hold loosely to your money. Because if you're just a tightwad, it means you're worshiping money, you're covetous. You're running to Jesus saying, by the way,

I've got an issue here. My issue is not inheritance, eternal life. My issue is not how to have my sins forgiven.

My issue is not how do I have these relationships restored on earth. It's I need more money. Jesus, help me.

Are you like other rabbis and you deal with these kinds of court cases? Help me. Matthew 6, do not lay up for yourselves,

Jesus said, treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Think about your life. When you're younger, you're like, hey, I'm in this small little room in my parents' house and I moved to a studio apartment.

Then you move to a one bedroom. Then you get a two bedroom. Then all of a sudden you moved into this house.

You got 1 ,100 square foot house and you got to add on because the kids are bigger. And then the kids move out and then you downsize.

Then you downsize again. Then you get a townhouse. And before you know it, you could be living in a tiny little room in an assisted living place with nothing in that room that you can call your own except a

Bible. That's it. So hold your money loosely.

Fred Allen said, I don't want to own anything that won't fit into my coffin. That's pretty good.

Proverbs 27, riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations. One comedian said,

I heard money talks, but all it says to me is goodbye. But when you give the money to the Lord, eternal investment.

So are you a sacrificial giver? Do you want to be? Why don't you ask the Lord to help you sacrifice and give you.