Discovering the Way IX, Christian Financial Stewardship

This is North Way tape number 548. This is the fifth tape in the series Discovering the Way by Pastor Jay Passivant of North Way Christian Community. This tape covers lesson number nine, Christian Stewardship. This recording was made on Wednesday, October 1st, 1986. What a topic to cover in 30 minutes. I have to, it would take me 30 minutes to undo everyone's misconceptions of Christian Financial Stewardship. I can say that we do have a number of really insightful, marvelous teaching tapes on this subject. We've gotten from other churches, and they're in our library, and we have a few of our own which are available in the library, tape library. I think you can probably get them tonight, if not on Sunday, certainly. See if this sounds familiar. The modern American is a person who drives a bank-financed car over a bond-financed highway on credit card gas to open a charge account at a department store, so he can fill his savings and loan-financed home with installment-purchased furniture. How many of you hear the Lord in that? Okay. Money and credit and dealing with finances is a very, very important and obvious fact of life for every single one of us. We are bombarded with messages that are designed to compel us to spend money we don't have. We are just constantly dealing with the drive to acquire more, and our society is built around the idea that the more you have, the more important that you are, and self-esteem enters into the whole thing, and if you don't have, you're not successful, and on and on it goes. But, beloved, God has a plan when it comes to finances, and I want you to know tonight that until you come to a conviction that God has a plan about finances, you're going to to wander around in the wilderness of trying to mix your best wisdom with the world's pressure and a little bit of the scripture and find yourself consistently under the attack of the enemy when it comes to finances. You've got to believe, number one, that God has a plan for your finances. You've got to know that when it comes to money, God is not indifferent, and he's not general and vague. He's got a plan. He's told us what he wants to do. His word is clear. He's convinced there's a way. Do you think God has more than one plan of salvation? I've heard people say, well, we're all going up the same mountain. We're just taking different trails. Well, when it comes to finances, a lot of people think that. Well, we're all trying to survive, and we're just taking different trails, and God is, you know, God just cares that you make it to the top of the mountain. Beloved, God has a path when it comes to that, and I know the beginning point of truly coming to terms with this is recognizing that. He cares just as much about your physical well-being as he does about your spirit. One of the fundamental reasons why people get all messed up when it comes to money is they dichotomize themselves, or beyond that, they even separate themselves into all kinds of different fractures. They see themselves as a spiritual being that God cares about, but not as a physical being with material needs that God cares about. Well, God answered that question. What did God say about physical things? What did he say about the little sparrow? He said he knew when one of them fell. He knew that they had needs, and he took care of them. So, forever put to rest the idea that God doesn't care or doesn't have a plan about your financial needs, your physical needs. He does. The issue is learning to tap into it in God's way, and I have to say to you, grievously, most Christians do not do that. The reason why most Christians live in some sort of tension ongoingly in finances is because they do not move into it from God's perspective, and that's a heavy statement. Because I'm talking to a lot of people tonight who have a good heart toward God. You know, you love God. But when it comes to finances, it's the most difficult thing to trust God with, next to your wife. It's difficult to trust God in finances. It's difficult, and we'll maybe touch on that a little bit later as to why. Now tonight, I'm only going to be able to highlight a few of the key things that I can... I almost don't want to do this, because so much is going to be unsaid that I know that you could justifiably argue that I left out the most important point. Like, giving is a grace, gift. In other words, you give out of grace. You give because God gives to you. I want to say that one because I don't want to forget it, because I know people feel like it can be too legalistic if you don't cover that. Or I could talk about prosperity. I said something about prosperity last November that I think was worth remembering. Remember what I defined prosperity as last November? Prosperity is defined as the ability to draw upon God's resources in every situation. That's prosperity. To draw on God's resources in every situation. When you're drawing from God, you always have enough. Poverty is measured not by what you don't have, but by where you're drawing from. Poverty is measured by your source of supply. It's a condition of being cut off from God's resources. You might be out of work tonight, but if you're drawing from God, you can live in prosperity. So those are two things I don't want to forget. I might forget a few others or not be able to cover them, but I want you just to tuck those away. And there is a tape from November 24th, 85 on that whole issue of prosperity and versus poverty in the Christian life. Now, in the outline, I begin by talking about Christian stewardship. What is a steward? Well, that's a term that we might hear but don't have a lot of familiarity with. How many of you have a steward in your situation? Not too many of us do. We kind of run our own things, as it were. What is a steward? Well, a steward, in the Greek terminology, oikonomos is a word for steward, which means keeper of the house. Now, the only illustration I could think of that most of you would be able to identify with is on this TV show Heart to Heart. Now, you all watch that, right? No, you don't watch that. Well, on the TV show Heart to Heart, some of you are being honest with me, I know a lot of you record that and watch it three times every day. They have an oikonomos named Max. Max is their housekeeper and their steward, the overseer of the things that happen in their house. Now, one interesting thing about Max that you'll note in the story in Heart to Heart is that he also has the benefit of everything they have. He drives in their Mercedes-Benz convertible. He lives in their huge multi-million dollar estate house. He goes all around the world when they go around the world. He's on the pleasure cruises and on the flights to Hawaii and all this. He's just in there with them, enjoying all that they have, but he's responsible to them. Well, you see, that's what a steward is. A steward is one who is charged with the oversight of another's possessions. A steward is one who is charged with the oversight of another's possessions, but enjoys them in the process. It's very important. You see, beloved, if you look at what you have as your own, you're in trouble because you're not holy enough to take what you own and give it over to God. Let me say that again. You're not spiritual enough to take what you own and give it to God. It begins by seeing that he owns it. When you see that that car that you've taken care of for the last five years and is quickly becoming a classic is God's car, then he's the owner of it, and he determines what's going to happen with it, and you obey and enjoy it until he speaks a word and tells you to do something else. That house that you've saved up for, that thing that you love to get your hands on, those are God's things. That's God's savings account. He owns it all. Now, this could be such a euphemism for many of you, but beloved, many people don't believe that. They act as though they're doing God a favor by giving a portion of their money every week in the offering. You say, well, Jay, this is a thought that I can hear you say, but in reality, I'm taking care of my finances. I'm working 10 hours a day, six days a week. I'm struggling to survive. If God owns everything, why doesn't he give me a little bit more so make it a little bit easier on me, right? If God owns everything, then why doesn't he divvy it out a little more evenly? It's no problem to him. But beloved, you know, God is very, very wise, and he knows what each of us can handle in order to remain soft-hearted toward him. And I know for a fact that one of the reasons why some of us don't prosper financially like we think we should is because it wouldn't be long before our hearts would get hard and prideful. And so God knows how much we can bear. And you know, I'm convinced that the godly person whose heart remains soft toward God, God is able just to pour abundance in their life. And the measure that they begin to give is the measure they begin to receive. And it begins to be a cycle that has no limit to it because of the grace of God. Now as a steward, let's look at Matthew 25 together. This is where this principle of stewardship comes out most clearly in the scriptures, at least one of the places. There's a lot of other ones. Matthew 25. Now there's a lot of different parables and so on that talk about resources, and here it talks about talents. Verse 14. And there the man is given all the possessions. Well, he's given talents, it's called here in this particular parable. Let's read it in verse 14. Again, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. There they are. Entrusted the property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, to another one talent. He's according to his ability. And then you know the story and really I won't take the time to read it. But as we go on through there, what is the key thing that God honors in this parable? What is it that he says that that servant is to be? Well, he's to be faithful. You see, a steward is faithful. And that is the number one characteristic of a steward. Faithfulness. That is true to their expectation. Consistently dependable. Faithful. That's what a steward is to be. And if you are not consistently faithful, consistently dependable, then you are not a good steward. A lot of us are, how many times have you been prompted by some sort of high impact impulse to give? And then it was another two months. You know, there's a lot of us that just something comes along and wow, I just think that's the greatest thing and I'm going to give a thousand bucks to that. And then for the next two months, there's just nothing happening. You see, well, that's not faithful stewardship, beloved. That's just being led just impulsively. And that kind of person ultimately is going to fall into some financial disarray. They're going to come into some sort of bombardment. And I know that there's a part of us that needs to be spirit-led in our giving and we'll talk about that. But faithfulness is consistent dependability to the prompting of God. And I'm going to give you now some of the basic building blocks of faithfulness in being a good steward. This is what the Word of God says. This is what I've learned in my own experience. And this is what we here at North Way are convinced will help each of us to be faithful stewards. All right, number one. The number one building block is the tithe. A tithe is defined literally in the Hebrew as a tenth. You don't tithe five percent, folks. You don't tithe twenty percent. You tithe ten percent. That's ten percent of your income. Now, one of the big arguments that immediately comes up in people's minds about tithing is, well, tithing is Old Testament. That's what they used to do back then. And Jesus came to set us free from the law. Now, interestingly, in my experience, I've never met anybody that's been giving more than ten percent in their liberality since they've been freed from the bondage of the old covenant, which I think is kind of interesting. In fact, if the old covenant required ten percent, then how much more would the new covenant require? So just be thankful that God said this is the basic building block if that's a problem for you. In the old covenant, but prior to it, God commanded the tithe. And I listed some scriptures there, but for time's sake, we can't turn to them. Genesis 14, Abraham encounters the high priest Melchizedek and gives him a tithe of all he possessed. And that is a picture long before the law, 400 years before the law was given to the Israelites. Abraham gave Melchizedek his tithe. Then later on, his grandson Jacob also gave a tithe. You can read about that also in the scriptures. Genesis 28, 22. Ten percent of your substance. Then, of course, all through the history of the Jewish people, the tithe was commanded. So ten percent became the norm, the basic level of giving. Now, there's others who argue about, well, there's also a ten percent of on top of that tithe which came periodically, ceremonially, and all these other things. And when you begin to really pick apart the Jewish culture, it was a fascinating thing. You see, I think I could substantiate fairly powerfully that about 30 percent of the Jewish income was given in tithes and offerings. Now, the difference is that we do not pay, or rather, they did not pay taxes as we pay taxes. And so they were supported governmentally through that extra giving. And when you start figuring it out, most of us are in that same basic ballpark, aren't we? In the 20, 25 percent tax category, or whatever it's going to be when everything gets worked out in the end here. But the tithe, now listen, this will help you. The tithe is your specific demonstration to God that you believe that he's the owner. Think of it that way. Your tithe is your specific demonstration to God that says, God, I believe that you're the owner of all things. You give God 10 percent, and that's your way of saying not just here, but here. Or here, God, you're the owner of all things. You say, well, I'd rather just tell him. I'd rather just let him know that. I mean, God, you're the owner of all things. I'm just the steward. But you see, the tithe is your expression to God. Lord, I believe it. I believe it to the point that I'm going to put my resource on the line. Now, beloved, here's the other part of that. The tithe is also God's guarantee to you that he'll take care of your needs. The tithe is God's guarantee to you that he'll take care of your needs. When I put my tithe in the offering box or in the collection plate, I am saying two things. I'm saying, number one, God, you're the owner of everything that I have. And God, I'm also totally trusting in your faithfulness to meet all my needs. In fact, Lord, I'm convinced that you'll never be indebted to me. I don't know. God owes no one anything. And boy, is that an enviable position, isn't it? He doesn't have a home mortgage. He doesn't have any backlog of expenses that he's trying to catch up on. God is in debt to no one. And in fact, God delights in blessing those who trust him in that way. And so I just want to, you say, well, where's some scripture on that? Well, look at Malachi, would you? Very quickly, turn to Matthew, bring Matthew back up a few pages to Malachi. First, no, the last book of the Old Testament. And look at chapter three. Look at this. Now, this is familiar again, but for some of you, it may not be something you've heard before. Verse eight, will a man rob God? The Lord says, yet you rob me, Malachi 3.8. But you ask, how do we rob you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse, the whole nation of you, because you are robbing me. Now look, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Where's the storehouse, beloved? All right. The storehouse was the place where the local food and grain was stored up as the community was needing. And so when they needed to eat, they went to the storehouse. And it's the place of local feeding. And I think I could substantiate that definitively if I had another 15 minutes tonight. And so I'm firmly convinced that our tithe belongs in the local church. You say, well, that's easy for you to say. You're the pastor here. Well, most people that I listen to carefully around this nation of parachurch ministries, including the 700 Club and Pat Robertson and Kenneth Copeland, all these other names that you could probably name, Jimmy Swagger and so on. Almost without fail, they'll endorse that concept. They believe it. Your tithe goes to the local church and your offerings, your increase goes to other ministries as the spirit leaves. Now look at this. You put your tithes in the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Beloved, if you don't tithe, then we can't pay the bills. Thank you. Okay, one amen there. Okay. So, 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 you will not have room enough for it. And I will prevent pests from devouring your crops and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit. I'm convinced that there is in us a lot of things that are happening in this matter of finances that don't happen instantaneously. Let me just share with you a couple reasons why I believe we don't receive from God in this matter of him providing for us. Okay. Number one, our problem generally is we are too impatient. We are too much in a hurry to see God's supply so that we end up destroying the very thing that we're looking for. Last July, how many of you remember on the Wednesday night when we brought the $4,000 up, as it were, and prayed over them and planted our seed of faith here at North Way? $4,000 and we knew that at that point in July that it was bad because people were away and and giving always goes down a little bit in the summertime just because of just that, you know, being out of town and out of mind and that kind of thing. And we knew the building, all these big things were coming due, the lighting bill and the carpeting bill and all these other things. We planted a $4,000 seed and I remember the you know, the shivers of fear that went down many people's backs as we did that. Well, glory to God, we sent the $4,000 out the door the next day virtually or within a few days or a week or so. We didn't have one of those determined. And you know what happened within the next few weeks? It got a lot worse. I mean it got bad enough that I watched where I walked when I came through the front doors in the office. Because I knew that if I got in the wrong way at the wrong time that if the financial reports were going out the door that you know hot things were happening at North Way. What are we going to do now? And you know invariably there was a few judgment prophecies coming and all those kinds of things that but we planted our seeds and the last thing you should ever do when you plant a seed before God in faith according to the prompting of the spirit is to start murmuring and testing. Murmuring and testing. Well, come on God. I planted my seed now show up here. What's the story? Now listen, you say oh, I'd never do that. Okay Okay Well, the Israelites did it and they did it over and over and over again. And they consistently defied God. And said I've had enough of this manna. Take me back to Egypt where I can eat the leeks and the onions. And they murmured and complained and in effect they just cut off the very blessing of God in their lives. Now there is always going to be a time and I shouldn't say always there may be a time sometimes there isn't when you'll plant a seed or when in faithfulness over months you'll be doing in obedience what God's called you to do to give your tithe and your finances won't be breaking through. I want you to know that I know what that's like sometimes. I know what it's like to be walking out that mailbox every day saying now's the day it's going to come in Lord. I'm looking for it today. And it doesn't come. And then everything in you wants to just turn around and say all right, this is it now. I planted my seed. And I told you what happens to most of us. What do we do? Well, we dig right down in there and we yank that seed up. And we ruin it. We literally ruin it. Beloved your faith your speaking what you're believing God to do is what brings that thing right up through the ground. And shoots that stalk up in the air and causes the seed to start falling. And the thing that's most difficult for us is just to wait on God and give him praise when it's still raining outside. Learn to give him praise in those times. Learn to delight in him. Learn to trust him. God will never fail. That's the number one thing that I believe we need to learn in our individual lives and even in our life as a church. Possibly the other thing is when it comes to giving we are prone to thinking about giving and investing in God and in the kingdom of God kind of after we've taken care of everything else. Afterwards. Turn to first Kings chapter 17. First Kings. That's way back there. All right, first Kings 17. Starting Samuel then you go into Kings and then Chronicles. All right. And there you find the story of the widow at Zarephath. And I don't have time to read the whole story. But here is a woman who is first Kings 17. You all there? Okay. First Kings 17. Elijah. Elijah the prophet encounters this lady, this woman and her son and he asks her for a drink of water and here's what she says. Verse 12. As surely as the Lord your God lives, she replied, I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I'm gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. You ever feel like that's just about where you are? Don't say that was dinner tonight, Scott. No, don't say that. We may eat it and die? No. This is the last bit that we have. That's how bad it is. Now, beloved, here's a principle. I hope you see it. Elijah said to her, don't be afraid. That's just strike fear out of your mind. Go home and do as you've said, but first, first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord God of Israel says. The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain in the land. And beloved, learn the principle that it's the first fruits that we give to the Lord. It isn't what you have after you've paid Duquesne Light and West Penn Power or Westview Water or Bell Telephone. Give first to the Lord. I heard Malcolm McGregor this week. They were doing an impact series on Channel 40, and I hope some of you got to see that. Quite a gifted man in this area of finances, and he was saying that he's even worked out arrangements with Consumer Credit, which is, I guess, a nonprofit organization nationally that helps people in debt to get out of debt, that with Christians who come in with a conviction, they'll even, in that budget to restore them in their credit and in their finances, will allow them to give their first 10% to the house of the Lord. I mean, that's how convinced they are that it's right and that Malcolm McGregor and his counseling and these people will even go along with that if you give it as a conviction. Give the first 10% and then out of that the Lord will bless the rest. And I found, and how about you, that if I give God my first 10%, the other 90% just seems to go a lot longer. It just seems to have a lot more impact. It doesn't mean that you don't have to stretch and you don't have to. It just means that you can trust God with a clear conscience. Now, I'm out of time, and I'm not even sure if I ought to open this subject about the other part beyond tithing, except to say this. The whole other realm of stewardship and giving that I refer to in here has to do with what I'll call investing in the kingdom. This would be under Roman numeral three and so on. Investing in the kingdom. Let me just say one little thing about this. All giving, including your tithe, but beyond your tithe especially, should be seen as an investment and not as a reduction. Now, hear me well in this, because I'm going to rattle a few cages right now. Giving, in our minds, immediately registers someone else has more, I have less. Right? If I'm going to give you five dollars, Larry, that's five less I'll have and five more you'll have. And so when we say giving to God, we're thinking, well, we have less and someone else, in this case the work of God, has more. But beloved of God, dear church, this word says over and over and over again that what you give you will receive, and not only will you receive what you gave, you'll receive more in any area. And this principle works if it's friendship, if it's compliments, if it's love, if it's forgiveness, if it's money. Whatever you give, God returns in kind and in measure. If you give a little, you'll get back a little. If you give a lot, you'll give back, get back a lot. And here's what's going to rattle your cage. I am convinced that Jesus appealed to the innate self-interest of that statement to motivate the people that followed him to do so. In other words, in other words, the preeminent motive to do anything in this life is love. And when we are flowing in agape love, we would have the power to give with no thought of what we would have in return, right? If we're flowing in agape love, Larry, that five dollars just doesn't mean anything. All I care about is your blessing. That's the love of God, isn't it? It gives and gives and gives. But beloved, as we are growing in the sanctification of God, the Lord also knows that in us is that struggle to survive, that struggle to trust. And so he says, even if you can't give out of love, learn to give out of the fact that it will benefit you. It will benefit you. And so I say to you tonight, even if you can't say with the purest of motives that love is what's causing you to give, say it from the motive of God. I know I can learn to trust you and you're going to take care of me. This is why Jesus so many times appealed to self-interest in this matter of finances and giving. When he talks about what we call the golden rule, what was he really saying? He was saying do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Why? So that your life would be benefited. But we get real spiritual and we say, well, that's not very good. I mean, but see Jesus did that. He said whoever leaves houses and mothers and fields and all the rest, for my sake and the gospel, will get back in this How does he say? He'll get back houses, mothers, fields, and all the rest with personal, wait a minute. I'm getting mixed up. Okay. In this life, okay. And in the, and in He says in eternal life first and in this life with persecution, is that right? I can always turn there and read it. That might help things out a whole lot, huh? I'm getting all these helpful commentaries that are confusing me. Let me see if I can put my finger on that real quickly. Mark 10. I tell you the truth, Jesus replied. No one who has left homes or brothers or sisters or mothers or father or children or fields for me in the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields and with them persecutions. Thank you. And in the age to come eternal life. You see, he's saying, disciples, it's going to come in this life and in the age to come in abundance. Well, all of this is just to say and to reiterate learn the principles of investing in the kingdom of God. All right. Learn that God, learn that God is really searching for those of us who will trust him with our finances, for those of us who will believe that God is the divine counselor of financial affairs that never fails. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. Let's stand up together. We're not going to have time to finish the second lesson, but I want to ask, have you asked a question or two about this? So I'll reach down and give an offering now. No, I'm just kidding. I saw the groans coming. The joy of the Lord is quickly lifting from the house here and praise God. Why don't you turn around back there and speak a blessing to Jeff on the video camera, all the work they've done. Praise the Lord, Jeff. Wave to him. How's your chance? Okay. Okay, and over here to John, he's changing film or something. Okay, wave to John. There we go. Praise the Lord. All right. Okay, you can be seated. I have time for one or two questions. I don't really, but I'm going to take the time. And by the way, November 7th and 8th, why don't you write that date down somewhere where you won't forget it? We are having this is exciting. We're having a man who lives here in Pittsburgh, but is beginning to develop a national ministry in this area of financial stewardship from a Christian point of view by the name of Andre Weisbrot. And Andre is friends with a number of people here in the church, and I met with him. And we talked about this possibility for some time. He's going to come here Friday evening, November the 7th and Saturday morning or morning and afternoon of the 8th and give a rather thorough perspective of Christian financial stewardship, give us a lot of practical counsel. And this guy is very practical on specifics of how to handle money, wise investing, biblical investments. He's going to talk about insurance, things like that. A lot of things that we don't have the opportunity to be that specific about here. And we'll have handouts and things about that, but just keep that in mind. November 7th and 8th, Friday and Saturday. Questions that you might have real quickly. Okay, she said that she heard a teaching that if you're in debt, you have a lot of debt, when you get your paycheck, that's not really yours, it's theirs. And you shouldn't pay the tithe, you should pay them off. My answer to that is they're right. It's not really yours. It's his. Okay. And so I'd still pay his first. It's his. If you don't pay him first, then you're going to stay in that debt most likely. And as I pointed out to you, the interesting thing is that even consumer credit, which is not a spiritual or not a religious organization, will endorse that practice if you go in with that conviction. They'll let you do that. So I would say that the wisest thing you could possibly do would be to give the Lord his 10% first and then out of the abundance of that, trust in God to increase your input or to cut your expenses down. And beloved, God cuts your expenses in so many ways. You know that? Watch God work. I'm going to tell one right here. I have to tell this one, Kent, okay? My wife's car is getting a little up in age. We just turned 90,000 miles. It's my wife's now, it used to be ours. The I noticed some months ago the transmission was starting to get sluggish and you know, I took authority over it and stuff, but that didn't work and it just wasn't shifting very smoothly. I finally, it was getting bad, you know, it would stick. It wasn't shifting and I said, well, it's going to be bad. I called Kent Adams here who's in the business of fixing cars and so on and told him this story. And he gave me a whole list of details of things that we're going to have to do and most likely this and by all sounds of it, it looked pretty bad. So he started those things in motion. Well, at the last minute, literally the day before I was supposed to take care of Kent, I checked one other thing out. I ran into Chuck Dorn who comes here to North Way and Chuck works at an Oldsmobile place. I told him what was happening. He said, well, let me just look at it real quick. So I stopped over there on Monday and some time off that I had and I had him check it and Kent had told me that Amco would have charged me $650 or so for a new transmission, at least. Kent was able to do it for substantially less than that by, you know, just some of the connections that he has in his business and so on, more like $350 or so. Needless to say, neither one of those were joy bells in my life right now, right? And so I took the car in and, you know, this is so neat. I said it to the place over there at North Park Holds. They said, no, don't do anything until you call me. Because the last thing I wanted was like, well, we go and we put a new transmission in for you. That's great. And they called me back a few hours later and said, your car's ready. I said, what? You know, what did they do? They j