The Art of Giving

Let's pray.

Our gracious Heavenly Father, this morning as we come into Your presence, we come with a

of our dependency upon You, with a thankfulness that You have made Your will and Your wisdom

clear in the Scriptures, and that You have given to Your children the Holy Spirit who

indwells every believer and is actively at work transforming the heart and mind of the

believer to be more like Christ.

And this morning as we take up the matter of our faithfulness and stewardship and practical

instruction from the Scriptures, we are thankful that You who abide in heaven care about this

matter and are interested with the heart that we bring to this subject and interested in

our faithful submission to Your authority.

I ask for the enabling of the Spirit of God.

I ask for the faithful prayers of the people of God.

And I ask that You are the one that is exalted in what we do as we take the Scripture in hand

and explain it plainly and clearly.

To Christ be glory.

Amen.

I have to tell you that it was a distinct blessing for me to sit last week right over there and

listen to Pastor Scheer, our senior pastor elect, preach his first sermon on stewardship here.

I liked it.

I really did.

I took pleasure in listening to him handle Scriptures.

I've enjoyed listening to him preach.

I remember three, four years ago, Pastor Saul, who has been a gospel companion to me throughout

the ministry here, or most of it, he said,

Pastor, it will be very hard for a man to succeed here if you don't enjoy listening to him preach.

And I don't ever intend to bother anybody with that, but I've got to tell you,

I enjoyed listening to our pastor elect handle the Scriptures and preach on stewardship.

By the way, I do think that that is a basic thing that a person who is a shepherd of God's people should teach on.

I've got to tell you, this will probably be the last message I preach on stewardship here.

The reason being is that Pastor Scheer, you don't know this, but he's already more or less,

fair to say, in charge of our preaching schedule, right?

Yeah.

He's divided up John a lot differently than I would have done.

I would have been on this subject for another three years, but we're going to get it done.

He's whacking it off in mega chunks, and I am biting the bullet and trying to chew it and get it together.

Next week, you'll see me preach on far more verses than I ever imagined.

But when I say that it will be my last stewardship sermon, there is no sorrow in that.

There's joy.

Not that I have any hesitancy on preaching on the subject of stewardship.

But I think it is entirely appropriate that God's people, as they pray and look to the future,

anticipate God bringing Pastor Scheer to be the principal agent of the Word here in our fellowship.

And I look forward with ambition to him being the one that continues to teach you lessons on the subject of your giving.

And I have to tell you that knowing in advance that this will probably be my last sermon on stewardship,

guess what it was like to prepare to say the last time, the last things that need to be said.

Very hard.

And I made it easier on myself in part by having him go first, and then he kind of coached me a little bit.

And so, now don't blame him on what I say, but I do want you to understand that this has been thought through together as a collaborative effort.

Now, I want you to listen because there's something here at the very beginning that's pretty important.

Your stewardship is nothing other than a demonstration of what you really think about God.

Let me say it slowly.

Your stewardship is nothing other than a reflection of what you think about God.

An illustration of that would be in 2 Samuel chapter 24, and I want you to go there just for a moment.

2 Samuel 24 · chapter mention

And I'm going to kind of press the story together because it's not my primary text.

But it is a proof, and listen, listen, everybody.

When a pastor says something, at the heart of what he says should be a Bible truth.

We agreed?

I have opinions about how hot curry should be, but there's not a Bible text on that.

Do you follow me?

But when I stand up here and I speak as a messenger of the Lord of hosts,

there should be a Bible passage that corroborates the statement.

And so when I say that your giving is a reflection of what you think about God,

it's fair to say, and here's a passage that informs our thinking.

2 Samuel chapter 24, we have David who numbered the people,

2 Samuel 24 · chapter mention

and God gave David choice A, choice B, choice C.

And the choice that he actually decided upon as a punishment for his disobedience was a plague.

It came upon the nation of Israel, and after a period of time, God says, that's enough.

And God said, I want David to go and offer a sacrifice at a particular place.

There in verse 18,

And Gad came that day to David and said to him,

Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite.

So David went up at Gad's word as the Lord commanded.

And he goes to offer a sacrifice, and when he gets there, by the way,

generally when you bring a sacrifice, what did you need to bring along with the sacrifice?

You needed to bring wood.

If you're going to make a sacrifice, you had to have a sacrifice.

You had to have wood.

David goes to the threshing floor of Arunah, and when he gets there,

he has neither sacrifice nor the fuel, the wood with which to make the sacrifice.

And to abbreviate the story, Arunah offers to David his oxen,

and he offers the implements of threshing, the wood that was used in threshing the grain.

And he says, Listen, you can have it for free.

David says, No, no.

Look at verse 24.

I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.

The point that I make as we look at this passage is that what we think about God reflects in our giving.

Here, David, instead of taking something someone else gave to him as a means of offering,

he decided, I want, because of who I know my God to be,

I want this to have an effect upon me and be a reflection of my own heart and giving.

And so when we come to the matter of stewardship,

one of the things that I want you to think through very carefully is this,

is your giving is a reflection of what you think about God.

With that said, I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16.

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 16.

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

And as we are making our way to that,

I want to tell you that stewardship is not one of those topics that kind of is high on the radar screen for a pastor.

It's not like most pastors at least sit in their office rubbing their hands thinking,

Wow, if there's anything, I really get cold chills about preaching about its giving.

I love doing that.

Actually, I like it.

And I'll tell you why.

Because I am interested in the spiritual well-being and growth of God's people.

And if God has a hold of your heart, He also has a hold of your wallet.

Does that make sense?

He's got a hold of your heart.

He has a hold of your wallet.

And there's no shame in bringing the matter to you from the Scriptures

because the Bible has a lot to say about our giving.

And when we really think about our giving,

I want you to understand that the way we handle money really sends a clear signal of where we are

and where we take our directions from.

Do you understand that point?

The Word of God should be the thing that informs the behavior of the believer.

And so when we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 16,

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

we find Paul towards the end of his letter to the church at Corinth, the first one,

he has some very explicit statements about the matter of giving.

Let me read just the verse 2, 1 and 2 here to you.

Now concerning the collection for the saints,

as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.

On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside

and store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come.

Now as we look at this passage,

I want you to recognize the first point I would make about the matter of biblical giving

is that it is part of body life.

It is part of body life.

I want you to think about that just for a moment.

And recognize that when you are listening to a sermon,

one of the things that you should be able to determine very soon

is where the authority comes in terms of the preaching.

What is it relying upon to make its points?

When a pastor is engaged in expositional preaching,

you should be able to follow along in the Bible and figure out,

oh, I see where that came from.

There is the passage, and that's the way the passage instructs

what is being said and frames it.

So as we look at this passage, and I use it as an illustration to prove the point

that that exposition of Scripture draws from the Scripture itself,

you look here at the words in verse 1, it says,

Now concerning the collection for the saints,

as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.

Here is Paul saying something to the church in Corinth,

and he says, listen, I have something to say to you about collecting for the saints.

And the words that he is engaged in are applicable or are of value to the church.

I wonder whether or not you think of yourself as part of a larger entity,

or you just think about, well, Maranatha is a place I show up at.

I mean, it doesn't make any difference where I show up at.

It's just I show up.

No.

In the thinking of the Scriptures and in the economy of God,

he puts us together into family units.

How many of you know your family unit?

Okay?

How many shearers are there?

Am I right?

There are...

Help me out.

I lost track.

There's so many.

Eight of us!

There we go.

Okay?

Actually, I happen to know that there are six Kenoyers,

and there are 13 grandchildren, right?

Yes!

You know, it's like, they're good.

We know our family unit,

and we are in a lasting relationship with that family unit.

Am I right or wrong?

How many of you admit that there are people in your family unit that every now and then kind of are a challenge?

But they're your family.

We are in a family of believers in Maranatha,

and being part of the body of Christ means that you're linked together into a unit that God has ordained

and put together for His glory.

And so I want you to recognize that here is Paul writing to the church,

and he is speaking to the church as an entity, not as individuals,

but he is speaking to the church as a larger gathering of people

that are fit together for the significant purposes of the gospel.

I want you to recognize here is Paul writing under the instruction of the Holy Spirit,

and as he writes these words,

they end up being authoritative to us as Bible believers.

Verse, the reason behind a believer's actions should always be a passage of Scripture.

Why am I doing what I'm doing?

How many of you go to work on an occasion,

don't feel like it's the best thing to do and the most enjoyable thing of the moment?

How many of you had that happen?

And you think about Walt Disney, you know, and you think about the little song,

Hi-ho, hi-ho, and you're thinking, that doesn't cut it.

But then you think to yourself, hold it,

the Scriptures tell me that I am to be a conscientious, hard-working individual,

and that the way I work should bring glory to Christ.

So our behavior as a believer should really rise out of biblical truth.

An illustration of that would be this.

In the past, we prayed for President Obama.

I prayed for him on a regular basis.

Now I pray for a different president.

I pray for President Trump.

And I will tell you, I don't think either of the men are less deserving or less needy of their prayer,

of the matter of prayer.

They both equally need prayer from godly people.

And it ought to be one of the things that you are engaged on in a regular basis.

Why?

Because the Scriptures command you to pray for those who are in authority over you.

And if you have any question about it, you go to 1 Timothy 2, verse 1 and 2,

1 Timothy 2:1

or you could go to 1 Peter 2, verse 17.

1 Peter 2:17

We are to pray and to honor those that God puts over us.

Another illustration of the fact that our behavior is informed or instructed by the Scripture

would be that when we drive into the parking lot,

how many of you have noticed that as a general rule,

the parking spaces very, very close to the door are generally reserved and not taken?

Does anybody know why that is?

We do not have handicap signs right out here by the main entrance

because once you put a handicap sign there,

you permanently lock it down for that use and nobody can park in it.

And when someone drives in here Monday and drives in here Tuesday,

there's no need for it.

But on Sunday morning, why are those parking slots open?

Does anybody know?

Leviticus chapter 17 says that you are to rise up and stand before the hoary head.

Leviticus 17 · chapter mention

Hoary head means great.

The Bible tells us that we are to give respect and honor to those who are elderly,

and so near parking places are for older people.

The Bible tells us that.

Now, the point that I'm making here is that when we, as God's people,

look for instruction on the matter of giving,

it's appropriate for us to seek out counsel from the Scriptures themselves.

And I say that because we live in a day and age where there are lots of voices crying out

for the subject of giving,

and we have a tendency not to pay attention to what the Bible actually has to say on the matter.

Here.

The believer's first giving should flow through the body God has linked them to.

I'll say that slowly and let you think about it.

The believer's first giving, I didn't say only, first giving,

should flow through the body that God has linked them to.

And I say this on the basis of the following passages.

That's not going to be an exhaustive string of the passages,

but one case would be Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

Does anybody know what happened in Acts chapter 5?

Acts 5 · chapter mention

It was one of the early consequences to poor stewardship.

Ananias and Sapphira brought their giving to the feet of the apostles,

and they lied about it, and what was the consequence?

They died.

In Acts chapter 6, we find that there was another problem in the matter of stewardship,

Acts 6 · chapter mention

and we see that the illustration that you can glean from this

is that giving flowed through the church

and was distributed by the leadership of the church to meet the needs.

2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 6 through 12,

2 Thessalonians 3:6–12

we find that the early church had developed quite a habit in the matter of benevolence,

so much so that it became kind of, it became,

how many of you know what I mean when I use the word entitlement?

Do you know people that have kind of an entitlement mentality?

Early church had problems with entitlement

because people would show up for the church dinner,

but they wouldn't go out to work.

They wouldn't do anything constructive.

And do you know what Paul said to them?

Does anybody know?

He said, if a man won't work, neither should he eat.

And I can tell you over the years,

Pastor Saul probably remember this,

we on a regular basis have people who call here and say,

listen, I need help with my rent,

or I need help with my air conditioning,

not in January, but you know,

I need help, I need help, I need help.

My standard statement to them is,

I'm glad you called.

We would be glad to help you

if you show up here and work for us for four hours.

We'll pay you.

Guess what happens to takers for that benevolence?

Does anybody want to guess?

We don't have many takers,

but the Bible says if a man is unwilling to work,

neither should he eat.

The early church was the conduit

for the matter of benevolence

in the early New Testament era.

In 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 3 through 16,

1 Timothy 5:3–16

we find extended teaching by the apostle

on the matter of how families are to care for their own.

And it is interesting when you read that passage

that before the church is burdened with caring

for a situation,

the family should be burdened first.

Everybody said what?

That was one of the most enthusiastic amens

I've heard in a long, long line.

It just blew me away.

That was a Baptist amen to be amended in heaven.

Oh, well, I know.

I understand.

Don't go there, Tim.

It's all right.

Okay, so here is Paul saying to the church,

hey guys, before you step in as a congregation

to help in a needy situation,

you need to light family members up

to step into the deal.

And on more than one occasion,

I've had people come to me and say,

Pastor, the church is not doing this

and not doing that.

And I, I'm really sorry to hear that.

Let me get on that.

What they don't know is that by the instruction

of the Word of God,

I'm obligated to call family members and say,

you may not know this, but...

And when I explain that to the individuals

who are commiserating about something being done,

they decide, oh, maybe we ought to help.

The Bible has a lot to say about the matter of giving

through the local church.

2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

Philippians 4.

And I could work my way through other passages

where it becomes very clear

that the believer's giving

is to flow through the body

that Christ has linked them to.

I'm not saying that the local church

should be the only place that I give,

but it's to be the first.

Let me put it this way.

The local church is God's plan A.

Do you understand that?

I want you to fix that in your mind.

The local church is God's plan A.

When Jesus said,

I will build my church,

He was thinking of the body of believers

that would form in every local place

and would gather under the teaching of the Word of God

and be actively ministering one to another

and one to the community around them

for the testimony and glory of Christ.

When Luke wrote in Acts,

and the Lord added daily to their number

those that are being saved,

that word daily to their number

is talking about the local church.

And in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 22 and 23,

Ephesians 1:22

and I want you to look at that passage

because it is so profound.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 22 and 23.

Ephesians 1:22

In verse 22, he says this,

And he put all things under his feet

and gave him his head over all things to the church.

Now, what is the church?

Which is his body,

the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Listen to me.

The church is significant far beyond the thinking

of many people today who profess to be believers.

The church is God's primary agent in this age.

And one of the things that needs to be framed

clearly in people's thinking

is that the local church has preeminence

and is significant.

It's so easy today to bypass the local church completely.

And the pattern shows up

in all different kinds of illustrations.

I'll give you a couple practical illustrations.

I remember when a young man

who grew up in our church here,

I'll mention him.

How's that?

Rollin Moeller.

Pastor, where is it?

Pennsylvania?

New Jersey?

Pennsylvania?

Where is it?

Virginia.

Thank you.

Rollin called me one day,

and he was just a little animated.

He was fired up

because he had had two missionaries,

one from Awana

and the other from Word of Life,

who had gone out from his church

to go to their training

for being future missionaries.

Rollin was stirred.

Rollin, if you're listening to this,

I'm talking about you.

Okay.

Hi, Rollin.

He was pretty agitated.

I said, what's bothering you?

He says, I can't believe it.

People are going to Word of Life,

and they're going to Awana,

and they're learning how to raise funds,

and they're not at all instructed

to call local churches.

Did anybody know that I was a little irritated

or kind of fired up?

I can't understand that.

Rollin was upset.

He was a young man,

and I said, back off.

You can't fight city hall,

something like that,

really important, significant.

Do you know why that's happening?

Do you know why?

It is the normal protocol

for people to ask individuals

rather than local churches

to raise money.

Of all the missionaries

that I have had the privilege

of working with,

there's only one that stands

at the other end of the fence.

It's Tom Wolfe.

Tom Wolfe said to me,

I will not ask individuals.

Only one.

Do I think it's wrong

to ask individuals?

No.

But I think it is wrong

to not ask churches.

Do I think it is wrong

for people to go on missions trips

without involving the local church

in any way, shape, or form?

I'm beginning to wonder

if that's wrong.

Why?

What does it say

about the local church

when you don't even bring them

into the circle

and ask them for an endorsement?

I have people going

on missions trips

and nobody has ever asked me

as a pastor,

so what is this person like?

Huh?

J.D. Greer

says this.

And by the way,

J.D. Greer is not the only person

I could recite on this,

but here we go.

J.D. Greer said,

I don't believe Christians

should give only

to the local church,

but I do believe

that Christians should give first

to the local church.

Your local church

should not be the only place you give,

but it should be the first.

And by the way,

I'm reminded of that little passage

where Paul says this in Galatians.

He says,

Do good to all.

How many of you know

the remainder of the verse?

Can you help me?

Particularly to those

who are of the household of faith.

God wants me

to be a benevolent person.

He wants my neighborhood

to know me

as a benevolent person.

He wants people

to enjoy the generosity

of my heart.

The first place

that that should be experienced

should be in my home.

The second place

should be in the body of Christ

and then around the circle

outside of that.

Well, we look at the issue

and I've got to say

that I took a little more time

on the matter of giving

to the local church

than I intended,

but it's my last time.

And it is far more important

and if you're sitting here

and your fur is going up,

you ask yourself the question,

What does the Bible say?

Will you do that for me?

What does the Bible say?

You can be irritated at me

because I don't have

the right tone of voice

or because I'm 68,

but at the end of the question

is this,

is what does the Bible say?

Okay.

Now, let's come to another

little thing.

Your giving should be planned.

It should be directed

through the local church.

It should be planned.

And you look there

at verse 2,

on the first day of every week.

I'm not going to belabor the point,

but the issue here

is that the statement

on the first day of every week

kind of presumes

that people had a pattern of giving.

How many of you do better

with patterns?

patterns.

I mean, you know,

when I feel like it,

maybe.

I don't know.

No.

I mean, I really rely heavily

on patterns.

In fact, I found myself

kind of reviewing

some of my patterns

the other day.

I had backed up.

Do you know where

I'm going with this one?

I had backed up

without showing

adequate attention

to all of my mirrors.

And I came about

a micro inch

from hitting somebody else's car.

And after that,

it's like,

oh,

Tim,

remember

driver's ed?

How many of you

remember driver's ed?

Check.

First thing you do

when you get in.

If you want to fail

your driver's ed examination,

when you get into the car

and the other guy

belts himself in,

what's the first thing

you should do?

Adjust your mirrors.

I mean,

go overboard

with that thing.

I mean,

he thinks you're

paying attention.

So here I am,

and I'm saying to myself

a little litany.

It's like,

look both ways.

Look.

I'm at the point

where I pray now.

Lord,

help me be careful

as I drive.

Okay?

Routine.

Plan.

Have a pattern.

And here we have

God giving instruction

to the saints.

He says,

at the first day

of every week.

Now,

the implication

behind that

is that the people

in the church

of Corinth

as a general rule

got paid on a daily basis,

but they gathered

once a week

in the congregation.

And so when they gathered,

they brought

the proportion

that God had blessed them with

and they brought it in

on a regular basis.

There are some of you here

that are paid

every other week.

There are some of you

that are paid

bonuses

at periodic times.

And as God

blesses and prospers you,

it's appropriate

during that time frame

to then respond proportionally

as God has blessed you.

Let me bring you

to another point.

Not only are we

to give on a planned basis,

what we're to give

personally.

Each of you,

Paul is giving instruction

that every individual

in the local congregation

was to give.

That instruction

was to all

who had received

something through the week.

Look forward a little bit

and it says here,

as he has prospered.

So who is expected

to be a regular giver

in the congregation

of God's people?

All those who are making

some kind of income.

That's who God

is speaking to.

You are involved

in earning a living

and you receive something

as a result

of your labor.

As that award

or that payment

is made,

a portion of that

is to go back

to the Lord

on a regular basis.

I do want you

to understand

that your giving

is to be of your own

free will

and it is not

to be manipulated

or coerced.

Your giving

is personal

and it is not

something that is

to be manipulated

or coerced.

I am reminded

of what we read

in the book of Exodus.

Towards the end

of the book of Exodus

when the offering

was taken up

for building

the tabernacle,

it said that God

wanted the giving

to come from

all whose hearts

were made willing.

I don't know

what you give.

I have never

ever paid attention

to what people

in this congregation

give.

If you want to see

Tim Knoyer

get just a little

irritated

when he is around

fellow pastors,

just let that

fellow pastor

talk about someone

in his congregation

that is a faithful

tither.

That is like nails

on the chalkboard

to me.

Do you follow me?

Because I don't

look at you

in that context.

You are not graded

according to your stewardship.

I don't know

what it is.

I want you to give

freely.

I want you to give

because it is a reflection

of what you think

about God.

End of discussion.

And I will preach

my heart out out here

to see that you love God

because I know this,

when there's room

in the heart,

there's room in the

wallet.

You guys awake today?

The last little word

that I was hoping for

was if there's room

in the heart,

there's room in the

wallet.

This thing right back

here.

Okay?

So I'm going to

preach my heart out

that you are faithful

in your stewardship

because you love God.

Now there's another

thing.

You're giving us

to be proportionate.

Proportionate.

Everybody gets

wrapped up in how much?

Well here we go

with statistics.

statistics.

The average person

in America gives

less than 4%.

Okay?

Very interesting

little statistic

and some of you

are Googling me

already.

It doesn't bother me

in the least.

Those who are not

overly wealthy

give far more

than those that are

proportionally.

That was not

God's plan.

As God

prospers you

the intention

that God has

in giving you

that prosperity

is not that you

just up your

standard of living

but that you

up your standard

of generosity.

And what Paul

means when he

says the statement

that he makes

there in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 16:2

chapter 16

verse 2

as he may

prosper

the indication

is this

is that

proportionate

to your

prosperity

is to be

the generosity

of your heart.

So I want

to encourage you

as God

prospers you

to grow

in giving

more

than in

spending

more.

Make that a

point.

There's some

of you

sitting out

here this

morning

that are

at an

early stage

in your

life

you still

have those

school bills

hanging over

your head

and you're

living in

an apartment

you're maybe

even living

with your

parents

or who

knows

but you're

thinking to

yourself

oh I

don't know

how I'll

ever be

able to

give more

I've got to

tell you

the day

will come

you conscientiously

serve God

in the place

that he has

put you

he's going

to prosper

you

he's going

to bring

you up

and as

he

prospers

you

the thing

that should

increase

is your

proportion

of giving

let me

say one

other thing

people ask

me about

tithing

and

and I've

got to

tell you

that tithing

predates

the Old

Testament

law

Abraham

tithed

I think

in the New

Testament

the standard

exceeds the

matter of

tithing

and I am

not here

remember I

don't pay

attention to

who tithes

and who

doesn't

right

but I

got to

tell you

Judith

and I

will tell

you without

hesitation

that as

we have

grown in

the Lord

our joy

in giving

has amplified

itself

we find

pleasure

in it

does

anybody

wonder why

I preach

about giving

right here

in January

I'll tell

you why

because right

now is when

there are

people out

in the

lobby that

are handing

out what

does anybody

know what

they're handing

out

pastor

Saul

what are

you handing

out

pardon

giving

statements

and the

reason we

hand out

giving

statements

in January

is does

anybody

have an

idea why

we do

that

because

between

now and

April 15th

Brian when do

people have

taxes that need

to be done

who yes

and see what

happens is there

is this

juxtaposition

that's a big

what it means

is there's a

blending of

the giving

statement that

you get from

the church

with your

tax statement

and and we

want you to

have an

opportunity

to kind of

evaluate

hey how

am I

doing

fair

right

nod your

heads

yes

preach it

preach it

you know

get on it

I need to be

convicted of

that

okay

one more

point I'll

let you

go

as you

look at

this passage

I want

you to

understand that

this is

prescriptive

what I mean

by that

is God

is giving

explicit

instructions

to believers

who know

him

it's for

every

believer

your

stewardship

your

faithful

giving

to the

Lord

is part

of a

normal

Christian

life

and it

is an

indicator

of where

you are

in your

journey

if you

are sitting

here this

morning and

stewardship is

something that

as you listen

to it you're

thinking can

he stop

soon

I got to

tell you it

may be that

you don't

know him

or it may

be that you've

lost your

first love

or it may

be that you

have been

sucked into

the swamp

of covetousness

and I got to

tell you it's

hard to get

out of there

without giving

but let me

say one other

thing

this passage

is only

prescriptive

for those

who are

believers

the scripture

makes no

call on the

unbeliever

to be faithful

in stewardship

and if you're

here this

morning listening

to the preaching

of the word of

God

that has to

do particularly

with the matter

of faithfulness

and giving

and you're

sitting there

and don't

know the

Lord Jesus

yet I got to

tell you the

first interest

that I have

and the first

interest that

Christ has is

not in your

wallet

his desire is

that you would

come to

recognize the

dark bankruptcy

of your own

soul and to

recognize that

the day of

accounting is

coming when you

will stand

before a

holy God

and he

will judge

you for

your sin

and because

of that fact

of judgment

coming someday

he sent

Jesus Christ

into the

world to be

your savior

I love what

it says

talk about

giving

2nd Corinthians

it says

this

though he

were rich

yet he

was made

poor

for your

sakes

Paul takes

two chapters

in 2nd

Corinthians

to hammer

the subject

of giving

and at the

center of his

argument

is Christ

who was

willing

to die

for your

sins

he was

willing to

give it all

for you

and if

you're sitting

here this

morning and

you do not

know Christ

I gotta tell

you let

the matter

of stewardship

and giving

kind of go

away to the

side and think

about this

where do I

stand in my

relationship with

the Lord Jesus

Christ

don't walk

out of here

if you don't

know Christ

thinking that

the primary

focus of this

message and

its application

to you is the

matter of your

wallet it's your

heart Christ

Jesus came

to save you

let's pray

Father God

this morning

as we take

up this

subject of

stewardship

we are

thankful that

your word

speaks clearly

to believers

and gives

practical

instructions

and Father

we ask that

you would

help us to

be formed

in our

thinking and

to be convicted

by the

authority of

your word

and to

trust your

wisdom rather

than our

own

I pray for

those who

are in our

congregation

this morning

that are

believers that

know Christ

but the

truth of the

matter is

is their

stewardship is

frail and

undeveloped that

this morning

they would walk

out of here

saying God

you being my

helper this is

going to be

something that

changes this

year

I pray for

those that are

here that don't

know Christ

that this

morning your

spirit would

bring them to

conviction to

see the

bankruptcy of

their soul and

to recognize

there is no

salvation apart

from the Lord

Jesus

that they would

cry out and

confess their

sins and believe

in Christ alone

we ask this in

Jesus name

amen

you