Money - Part 1
A few Sundays back one of the men in our church came up to me after
the service, and said to me “Pastor Clay, I always pray for you when you start
talking about money, because I know some people get really uncomfortable about
that topic.”
Its true: Many people are uncomfortable when it comes to money and
the church. The fact that I’m going to teach on money for the next three weeks
is possibly making some of you uncomfortable right now! I'd even be willing to bet someone didn't
come to church today because I'm teaching on money ...some of you might not
come back next week!
So... I’m just glad we could just put that on the table! Some of you
may be uncomfortable, and that’s OK – there are a lot of uncomfortable topics
in the bible! However, just because something is uncomfortable doesn't mean we
should ignore it. Ignoring something doesn't make it go away, it simply leaves
us in ignorance about that topic.
Interesting Fact: In the bible there are approximately 500
verses that speak to prayer (must be pretty important), 500 verses that speak
to faith, but there are over 2000 verses in the bible that speak to the subject
of money and possessions. Jesus talked
about money in 16 of the 38 parables.
Clearly, from the bible's standpoint, God wants us to understand His
principles concerning money and possessions.
What I hope to do the next three Sundays is to help align your
perspective about money and possessions, so that they align with Gods word says
about the money, possessions, and their relationship to our walk in Christ.
Perspective is
important. For example, when I was younger, I knew what was right and wrong,
but I had a wrong perspective about sin; I had the perspective that sin was bad
because God just didn’t want me having any fun! Therefore, I had no incentive
to do right! But after sinning for a
while, I discovered that sin is bad because it really is bad for you! Sin causes all kinds of problems in your
life! Once my perspective was aligned
with the truth, not sinning was much easier!
1.
When we talk about money, there is a very common
perspective that many people have: “I
don't have enough of it!” (JD Rockefeller "just a little more")
a.
Here's a truth: The perspective of having a lack
of funds in a persons’ life isn't really about money, but is actually an
indicator of that person’s spiritual health.
b.
The issue is not how much money I have; the issue
is “Am I managing the money I have in
accordance with God’s principles?”
2.
You see, how we utilize money is an indicator of
our faith & our priorities.
a.
Money is an important resource in all of our
lives.
b.
We need it to live. We use it to buy stuff that we need, and
stuff that we want.
c.
How we spend money reveals what is truly
important to us. (Alcoholic on the street)
d.
That’s why it’s important for us to understand that
God has principles for how money is to be utilized,
e.
and if we'll align ourselves with those
principles, we can live our lives in the blessing of God.
3.
We'll cover some of those principles in our
three sessions:
a.
Firstborn and Firstfruit
b.
Curses vs Blessings
c.
Ownership vs Stewardship
Principle of
Firstborn
4.
The principle of firstborn is found throughout
the bible:
a.
Adam was the firstborn man, given dominion over
all the earth to be God’s steward, to be the image-bearer of God.
b.
The first offering made to the Lord was a
firstborn; Abel brought best of the firstborn lambs from his flock.
Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn
lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift. Gen 4:4
Israel was God’s firstborn nation, as God
instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh:
Then you will tell him (Pharaoh), ‘This is what the
Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son.’
Ex 4:22
Later in Exodus God gave this principle to the
Israelites to practice:
"Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever
opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is
Mine." Ex 13:1-2
5.
I want you to note that God is making a
declarative statement; "The firstborn belongs to me".
a.
In fact, sixteen times God makes this statement
in Exodus:
b.
Every firstborn was to be sacrificed or
redeemed.
c.
Each time an animal delivered its firstborn, it
was to be sacrificed to the Lord.
d.
If it were born unclean (with a spot or
blemish), then it was to be redeemed, or bought back.
And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall redeem
it according to your valuation, and shall add one-fifth to it; or if it is not
redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation. Lev 27:27
6.
This principle was true for man as well, as the
firstborn sons of Israel were to be set apart for service in the House of God;
they were to be the priests!
a.
Later on, after the golden calf incident, God
set apart the Levites for His service (and also re-affirmed the principle of
the firstborn):
"Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from
among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb
among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, because all
the firstborn are Mine. Num 3:12-13
7.
Why is this important? Two Reasons:
a.
FIRST, God promised the Israelites that if they
would obey Him, He would bless them:
"Then it shall come to pass, because you listen
to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with
you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. And He will love
you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb
and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase
of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, Deut 7:12-13
b.
In other words, if you will put me FIRST – then
I will bless you!
8.
SECOND:
This is a picture of our redemption in Christ:
a.
Think about it - because Adam sinned, sin
entered into the race of man, from that point on, every human that was born,
was born with a defect, a sin nature, we were born 'unclean'.
b.
Therefore, we need to be redeemed.
9.
What did God do?
The same thing He told the Israelites to do:
a.
God redeemed us to Himself by the sacrifice of
the perfect, spotless, firstborn Lamb/Son of God.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
over all creation. Col 1:15
b.
Jesus was God's 'firstborn", His only
begotten Son.
10. It’s
important that we understand - God gave to us first, while we were yet sinners;
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom 5:8
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made
sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Rom 5:19
11. God
gave us something that we could never put a price on, never afford; His
firstborn Son, Jesus Christ.
a.
So if you think about it - this principle isn't
based on "we do all the giving", but in reality God gave to us first.
12. Firstborn
- acknowledging that God gave to us first, we acknowledge it by giving back to
God our first.
The Principle of
Firstfruits
13. Having
noted that, there is a parallel principle that ties into the principle of the
firstborn, and that is the principle of the firstruits.
The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall
bring into the house of the LORD your God. Ex 23:19
And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of
the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord.
Lev 27:30
14. These
scriptures tells us two things:
a.
First:
Whatever comes into your hand, whether by a crop that is harvested, or a
paycheck that is harvested, the firstfruit (tithe - one tenth) belongs to God.
b.
Second, we are to bring this firstfruit/tithe
into the house of the Lord.
First Things First
15. God
doesn't tell us "give what’s left over". He says’ clearly to bring to Him the first.
a.
When an animal gave birth, that first offspring
belonged to the Lord.
b.
When the crops were harvested, the first part of
that harvest belonged to the Lord.
16. How
does this apply to us? When an increase
(paycheck, investment income, profit from sale of an asset) comes into our
hand, the FIRST PART belongs to God.
a.
Question - When we sit down and write our bills,
what is first bill? (usually the biggest!)
b.
God is saying: The first check we write should
be our tithe to the Lord.
17. This
may sound somewhat legalistic, some of you are thinking right now “what does it
matter?”
a.
But trust me, this has meaning. What
we do first is a statement about what is most important to us.
18. Let’s
just be honest, as a people we are naturally selfish.
a.
Think about it, when the paycheck comes, our
mind goes to the things we want or need to buy.
b.
Bills, clothes, car payment... We hope at the end there is something left so
we can splurge a little, maybe take the wife out for dinner.
c.
Isn’t it interesting that our first thought is
usually not "Awesome! I got paid, now I get to give to the Lord!"
19. Guess
what, God knows how we are. So God, in
His infinite wisdom, tells me that when I get paid, when something comes into
my hand, I need to sit down and give the firstfruit to Him first,
a.
Because that works to establish a pattern in my
life where I am thinking "Praise the Lord, I can give to the Lord! Thank
you for your provision Lord!"
b.
When we give to the Lord first, it says
"Lord I trust you."
Faith Before
Feelings
20. How
many times have we run out of money before we run out of bills, and you have to
figure out what we pay now, and what we pay later?
a.
When we are in this situation, it’s easy to skip
giving God the tithe (we certainly can't let our cable TV get shut off!).
b.
Our feelings are telling us "I have bills
to pay! I have stuff I need!".
c.
We feel bound by our bills.
21. Now
let me give an honest but uncomfortable truth: “that could be an indication that person have set their living expenses
to the point that they consume what rightfully belongs to God”
a.
(If that's where you are, sign up for our
Financial Peace fellowship!)
b.
What it says
is "God, at this point, these bills are a higher priority to me than you
are."
c.
In other words, it requires an activation of our
faith to give the tithe first.
22. You
see, faith is being obedient to God when we cannot see the outcome.
a.
Faith is recognizing that it may require the
supernatural hand of God to meet my needs.
b.
Giving the tithe first says "God, I am
going to be obedient to you, and trust you for the rest."
c.
Trust me: you want the supernatural hand of God
working in your finances, because God can do more with 90% than you or I can do
with 100%.
23. Now,
I know that some of y'all are thinking “back in the bible days” it was easier…
It wasn't! Those animals and crops were
their livelihood: No animals, no crops, you don’t eat!
a.
Consider their position: The first animal was to
be given to God; what if no more animals were born?
b.
The first of the crop was to be given to God;
what if no more crops came?
c.
God told Abraham to give his firstborn son, and
at Abraham's age, it was a physical certainty that there would be no more
children!
d.
When we give to God first, we are saying to God
"I trust you".
24. Here
is the bottom line: Do you think He will
let you down?
a.
In my own experience, the answer to that
question is unequivocal - NO!
b.
God will always come through! Why?
Because it is His promise!
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there
may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I
will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing
that there will not be room enough to receive it. Mal 3:10
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’
or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things
the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things
shall be added to you. Matt 6:31-33
c.
When we give the tithe first it says "I believe you God" (remember the bible
says
Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous
because of his faith. Romans 4:3
25. Now
we also need to recognize that we have an enemy, Satan, who doesn’t want you to
trust God.
a.
He’ll tell you lies: “you cant afford to tithe,”
“you'll go broke if you tithe”
b.
Consider his motive: Satan does not want the
Kingdom of God funded!
c.
What does our country do if we want to stop Iran
from building nukes? We hit them where
it hurts – the pocketbook!
d.
Satan wants to hinder the kingdom of God - one
way is through financial attack.
26. So
when Satan comes at you and puts the thought in your mind "you're going to
go broke if you tithe", you can respond:
a.
"No I won't, because God promises me that
if I am obedient to Him, He will bless me, and He will even rebuke you for my
sake!”
b.
In other words, to practice the principle of
firstfruits, we act on faith, not on feelings!
The House of God
27. The
second thing God says is: "bring your firstfruits into the house of the
Lord, your God."
a.
Notice He doesn't say "give your firstfruits
to whomever you feel led."
b.
That means we don't give our tithe to a TV
ministry, or to a missionary, or to some other organization as our
"tithe". (Dennis example)
c.
That’s what’s called a “freewill offering” –
giving to a ministry, or a person,
over and above the tithe.
28. Now
don't get me wrong, giving to worthwhile ministries and supporting missionaries
is very important,
a.
But we are not to take away from our giving to
the house of the Lord in order to do so.
Chest of Joash
29. We've
all heard Christian say "I gave to so-and-so ministry (or person) as my
tithe."
a.
That might seem OK, because it’s “all for God” –
but it’s not.
b.
Think about it; would you send part of your
mortgage payment to another bill?
Probably not!
30. Example: Recently we did some renovations (Spring
Spruce Up) to the church, much needed.
We took up a “freewill offering” – base on 2 Chron 24,
a.
The temple needed repairs, and king Joash put
out a chest to take up a collection for the repairs to the house of God.
b.
We did the same thing: But what if someone said “I want to help, so
instead of my tithe this month, I’ll give to the renovation project.”
31. Again,
apply that to you own household budget.
Say you’re planning to build a deck, for $1000, and you’re saving $100
per month to do it.
a.
Your employer decides to take $1000 from your
pay, and buy building materials and have them delivered to your house.
b.
Great – except now you can’t pay your house
payment.
32. Same
in the house of God – money that is diverted from the tithe hurts the house of
God, because it hits budget.
33. Thankfully,
God does not foreclose on us (!), but we should heed the point: The firstfruits belong to God, and it belongs
in His house!
a.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:
What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer
plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What
shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the
milk? Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same
thing? For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from
eating as it treads out the grain.” Was God thinking only about oxen when he
said this? Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so
that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a
share of the harvest. 1 Cor 9:7-11 (NLT)
34. The
house of God is the place that we go for spiritual feeding.
a.
It is where we turn when we are having
difficulties. It is where we turn when
we have a need.
b.
But even more, the house of God is a place where
we come together as a spiritual family and worship the Lord!
c.
And guess what, giving the tithe is a form of
worship. It's a matter of the heart:
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not
grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Cor 9:7
35. That’s
why we take up the offering during worship:
We didn't think “oh people will be more generous when the lights are
low” – NO!
a.
It’s because we recognize that our giving to the
Lord is a matter of worship
b.
We recognize that what we do with something as
important as money, speaks volumes about where our heart is.
36. Guys
think about when you first met your wife – you were dating – she was the world
to you!
a.
And guess what: Anything she wanted, you would
get it! If you had to sell something,
“man if she wants it, I’m gonna get it for her!”
b.
Why? Because – she had your heart.
37. When
God has our heart, we’ll gladly, cheerfully, give our firstfruits to Him.
a.
Our giving to the Lord will become an act of
worship, acknowledging God as our redeemer - He redeemed you and I from an
eternity in hell!
b.
Acknowledging Him as our provider, the source of
all that we have.
c.
And trusting that He will fulfill His promise to
us, that He will...
(the rest of the verse) And God is able to make all
grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things,
may have an abundance for every good work.
2 Cor 9:8
38. Challenge
you today, do you love God? Do you trust Him? Do you want His blessings on you
life? Then step out in faith and give the first fruit to Him.
a.
God has some amazing things planned for CCW -
but it takes money to fund the vision.
b.
God's provision to fund the vision is the
firstfruit of His people, we get the privilege of partnering with God to change
the world,
c.
And store up treasures in heaven.
Copyright © 2013 Clay Ritter. This data file is the sole property of Clay Ritter. It may be copied in its entirety or in part for personal use, or teaching, freely without charge. Please include a citation to this website. This data file may not be copied in part, edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of Clay Ritter. Requests for permission should be made in writing and addressed to Pastor Clay Ritter, c/o Calvary Chapel of Wilmington, 2831 Carolina Beach Rd, Wilmington NC, 28412, or via email to office@calvaryofwilmington.org.
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