And this morning, we're going to look at stewardship of money. Drum roll, please, stewardship of money. I promised, it wasn't all a setup just for this, but there's no way we can do a series on Christian stewardship and not talk about money. If you don't have a piece of paper that says the stewardship of money study sheet, please get one. Raise your hand or they're in the back. fairly soon. So what I'm hoping to cover today, or this morning I should say, is giving, keeping, and living. Giving, keeping, and living. Most of it will be focused on giving. But we need to answer the question about keeping. How much do we get to keep? And then how should we live as Christian stewards? So let's begin with prayer. Gracious Father in heaven, we thank you for bringing us to this hour and giving us the privilege to study the Holy Scriptures. Lord, I pray that we would never take this for granted. You have entrusted the oracles of God with us and it is a great blessing and profound privilege. We pray that you'd draw our attention to yourself, that you would minister to us by your spirit, We pray for illumination as we study these things, and we pray that our hearts and our attitudes would be changed so that we would have kingdom values. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let me begin with a reading from 2 Corinthians, which we will be looking at. Yeah, 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Moreover. I promise that's not me. Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God. So we urge Titus that as he had begun so, he would also complete this grace in you as well. But as you abound in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. And thus far in the reading of the word. Let me do a little bit of review. We've established that stewardship or a steward is one who manages the belongings of others in accordance with the will of the owner. A steward is one who manages or administers someone else's household affairs. He or she is a trustee or an agent for the benefit of the owner. A steward is the one who does the work of stewardship. An owner is the person who holds title to a property or object. This is a legal definition. An owner is the legal possessor of something. With ownership comes rights and privileges. It is the owner that gets to determine ultimate purpose and use of what is owned. Ownership also gives the responsibility to care for the item that is owned. The responsibility would include putting the task of steward into the right hands. And we've established that the Lord is the owner. And he has entrusted us with great wealth to manage in his name. that's grounded in creation and redemption. The gospel reorders our stewardship from that which was centered on ourselves to that which is centered on the word and will of God. The stewardship of the gospel is probably our highest stewardship and informs all other areas of stewardship, our relationships, our money, our time, our gifts, so on and so forth. Christian stewardship begins with the understanding that all we have is the Lord's, Psalm 24, verse one. And Paul tells us we brought nothing into the world, and we will not take anything out of the world. Since all we have is God's, we're to use it according to his purposes. And God's purpose for us in our lives is expressed in our various vocations. We talked about callings in the home, in the church, in the world, if you will. An example, a father and mother You use their income to feed, clothe, and protect their children. All of us as citizens use part of our income to pay our taxes faithfully, whether you like it or not. Each vocation makes a claim on each part of our lives, including our income. It occurred to me as I was doing this study, there is the doctrine of first fruits, right, in the Old Testament. In our day and age, first fruit goes to who? Was that, yeah, Uncle Sam, yeah, first fruits. I don't know about you, but when pay period comes around, there's some missing that's already been given, not to God, but to those who wield the sword in his name. Besides the vocations that each of us have in our family, in our work and so forth, as citizens, we're also Christians and members of this congregation. This is stewardship in the church. How are we to use our income faithfully regarding that calling? To learn that, we always go back to the word of God, right? The Lord has graciously provided us with instructions so we don't have to figure these things out for ourself. So what I want to do again this morning is simply read some verses to you as we begin. And you know, there are just certain topics in life where if you just took out a concordance and looked up all the verses and read them, That would probably be sufficient. We always start with the verses. So let me read some verses to you about what the Bible says about faith and finances. Again, repeating Psalm 24, verse one. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. Deuteronomy 8, verses 17 through 18. You may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God, For it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. And so confirms his covenant which he swore to your forefathers as to this day. Hebrews 13 verse five. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Luke 16 verses 10 through 13. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6, verses 19 through 21. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, full stop, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, There your heart will be also. Malachi 3, verses 8 through 10. Will a man rob God? You rob me. 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. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. 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. Galatians 6 verse six. One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. So that means what? We provide for our pastors. Mark 12, verses 41 through 44. And he sat down opposite the treasury, he Jesus, and watched the people putting money into the offering box. That's interesting, right? Jesus is watching people make offerings. He's watching. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. 1 Corinthians 9 verses 13 through 14. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 1 Corinthians 16, verse two. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as each one of you may prosper. 2 Corinthians 8, verse seven. But just as you excel in everything, In faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in your love for us, see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Corinthians 9, verses six through eight. The point is this. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything, and may provide in abundance for every good work. In some ways, I think we could just stop now, pray, and have some coffee. I mean, it's fair. Yeah, let's take about five to 10 minutes. Look up the verses and jot down some thoughts about what they teach. Especially focus on questions two and three. Okay. Hopefully these verses are familiar. The thing about the Bible is no matter how many times I read it, I always learn something new. It's just phenomenal the way that works, right? There's so much packed into verses. And it's inexhaustible treasure. All right. So the point here is to say, what are some instructions the Bible gives us for giving? What key words did you identify in 2 Corinthians chapter nine? Jeff? Not reluctantly or under compulsion. God loves a cheerful giver. Good. And sufficiency. Another key word. God's provision is sufficient. Very good. Someone else? Jeremiah? Sparingly and bountifully. Sparingly and bountifully. Yeah. Good contrast. Others? Rebecca? Yes, I did. We don't have to worry about running out. A lot of us do. Someone else? Grace. Yes. The grace of God. Okay. And what about in his heart? Yeah. Interesting. From the heart and from the will of the person giving. He purposes in his heart to do this. Okay, 1 Corinthians 16, verses 1 through 2, Paul gives believers some principles to guide them. What guidelines are you able to glean from this passage? Don't be shy. Your contributions should be proportional to your God's blessing upon you. Good. Proportional giving. Someone else? This is very straightforward instruction. Put a sign and say it. Okay, put a sign, yeah. I was going to say, the text really talks to budgeting, planning ahead, being prepared and ready to give when it's time. Yeah, good. Anyone else? Peter, did you want to say something? Weekly, there you go. Where should the giving take place? Where do you bring it? You give it to God, but where do you take up the offering? Yes, that's right. Right here. Okay. Very good. So we can find at least five principles for new Testament giving. And you've mentioned them is to be voluntary and cheerful. There's not much more to say there. It's an act of the will. It should be done willingly. I heard Swindoll say one time that, um, if you can't give cheerfully, don't give it all. God doesn't want it. That's pretty stark, but it was a powerful point. It should be a joy to give as an act of the will and gratitude to the Lord. First fruits giving should be first fruits. The first fruits of our labor are giving is what we do on the first day of the week. before other expenses come due. Now, we can't do anything about the government taking the money. It's automatic. But in the way we think about our finances and our budgets, the first payment we make is the one we do on the first day of the week, right? Off the top, first fruits. Proportionally, as each one of you may prosper, giving is not to be an arbitrary set dollar amount, but rather, It is to be in accordance with how God has prospered us each week. Thus, each of us should consciously and intentionally determine to set a certain proportion aside to support the church, the work of the church. Now, some people will say proportionally means we all give 10%. That is not what proportionality is. It is not. In the world of mathematics and engineering, that's called normalization. We normalize everything so we can compare it. To give proportionally means the more I make, the more I give. All right? If I own a compact car with a 10-gallon tank, I pay $30 in gas to fill it, more or less. If I own some behemoth SUV, how big are those tanks? I don't know, 30 gallons? I pay 40. I pay $120. That's proportional. The bigger the tank, the more money it costs to fill it, the larger percentage it is of my income. We give as God has prospered. He who has much, much is expected. We all know, and we know the world knows, how to spend proportionately. Most people spend up to the level of their income. When I made $20,000, I was happy to have food on the table in a one-bedroom apartment. When I made $40,000, I bought a nicer car. When I made $70,000 or $100,000, I bought a big house. When I made $200,000, I bought a much bigger house. I doubled the size. That's proportional spending. We're called to give proportionally. So as we make more money, we raise our standard of giving, not our standard of living. Faith, yes. to have this problem when I knew a doctor who told an employee who handled his finances how much to take off of every patient's bill, I mean that they paid, you know, so he could get proportionately. Yeah, sliding scale. He was trying to figure very carefully, but not grudgingly either, I don't think. You mean what he was charging patients? Did you hear what he said? He knew of a doctor who charge patients on a sliding scale, that he charged them what he understood their ability to pay would be. Is that what you're saying? Well, that's true, too. But what he was doing is taking a piece out at the beginning as it came in, not trying to figure it all together in the lump sum at the end of the month or something or end of the week. So you're saying there's a proportionality to it, an example. Most of us don't need to do that, but somebody might. I don't know. Okay, thank you. Another principle is to give faithfully. God graciously promises to give us all that we need for this body and life. I believe Rebecca mentioned that. Therefore, we give in faith, trusting that God will continue to provide for all of our needs, and he always has, as far as I can tell. I know he has for me. He will not always meet all of our wants, but he does meet some of them, because God is good, gracious, and lavish towards his children. And if we can trust the Lord with our eternal salvation, which we have, then it's kind of easy to trust him for our daily bread. And then I would say generously. The word abundance, abundance. He wants us to give an abundance to sow bountifully and to reap bountifully. Those are some principles. So the New Testament invites us, commands us I would say, instructs us to give each week in accordance with how we have prospered. And that's gonna raise a question in your mind in terms of percentage. As a man is determined in his heart, according to how God has prospered, to do it cheerfully, faithfully, generously, joyously. So here's some practical advice on how to follow these guidelines. First of all, receive God's gifts. We receive his gifts by attending worship to hear the word taught and preached, to receive his forgiveness. It happens every Sunday morning when the law is read and the gospel is declared. To partake of his body and blood in the Lord's table. for the benefit of our souls. To witness the baptisms, to see how God has worked in the lives of others and remind us of how he's worked in our lives and to call us to improve upon that. These are gifts. To bring us to repentance and set us on the right path once again. And also to realize that everything we have is God's gift to us. Freely we receive, freely we should give. Pray, go to the throne of grace and ask for strength to follow the Lord faithfully in this area of your life. Consider what the church does. The church is called to spread the good news about Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel to all who will hear it, to administer the sacraments to the faithful. And you are part of God's church on earth. You have a calling to participate in the Great Commission. It is your mission. It is the mission for the life of the world. We're here to preach the gospel, to support that preaching, to call the elect out of the world to the Lord. The church cannot complete its mission unless all members of the church, those who have benefited from the church's mission, faithfully support the work. Examine yourself. Consider the commands of God from the New Testament about supporting the work of the church, and examine your own giving. Are you giving of your first fruits, not from what's left over? Are you giving voluntarily and cheerfully, systematically and proportionally in a generous way? Are you relying on God's promise to provide for you? If not, repent and trust in God's provision. Again, he gave the life of his son on the cross to forgive you of your sins. He will not abandon you in your physical needs. We can trust him. And to decide on your proportion. You're now ready to consider what proportion of your income you will faithfully give, and maybe you need to increase it. So that brings the question, now what about tithing? Yes, what about tithing? Some of you are not gonna like this. And some of you might love it, I don't know. It is a debated topic. I would ask for opinions, but I just don't have enough time right now. Otherwise, I would just have a healthy debate, but it's six minutes past 10 o'clock in the morning. Who believes that the Lord commands tithing? We must tithe, if we don't tithe, we're robbing God and we're in sin. John, Jeremiah, Jephthah. Okay, many of you. I didn't raise my hand. He didn't raise his hand. Yeah, you didn't either. And who believes that tithing is an Old Testament practice carried over in terms of the general equity of the law that way to give just as we just read about in Second Corinthians. Yes, there you go. It is debated. It's a debated topic. It's a settled issue for most people. I'm going to cover it in summary form here. Okay. So this is from the PCA foundation. It's a, it's a, I don't know if it's a blog or an article. I just found it there. And the title is tithing. Is tithing a Christian obligation? He says, in the PCA, you can read perspectives from pastors like William Barclay, Ligon Duncan, Kevin DeYoung. Interestingly, Ligon Duncan and Kevin DeYoung do not teach tithing as a moral obligation. I was surprised by that, if I correctly read them. Outside of the PCA, you can find viewpoints from John Piper, Thomas Schreiner, Southern Baptist scholar, John MacArthur, who says all Christian giving is voluntary. And then you can read insights from previous generations like Charles Spurgeon, who I will quote in length to settle the debate for us, John Owen and other church and early church fathers. The case for tithing as a continuing obligation goes something like this. And it is probably the strongest case for it. It is the precedent of the Old Testament practice of tithing is the standard practice among the people of God. The precedent of the Old Testament practice of tithing as a standard practice among the people of God carries over today by good and necessary consequence. Follow? The people of God have always done this. There's evidence in the Old Testament. Abraham, Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek. Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Therefore we should continue to tithe. That's the argument far as I can tell. Hmm. Well, I said summarily. That is basically the argument, John. That is it. And then we have the Levitical tithe in the Old Testament law, right? And then Jesus condemns the Pharisees for neglecting the weightier matters of the law in tithing. That's in Matthew 23 and Luke 11. And then again in Luke 18. When Jesus describes the Pharisee boasting about his practice of fasting and tithing, he doesn't denigrate the practice. He said continue to do that. Familiar with that passage? Don't neglect the weightier matters of the law, but continue to tithe, and I think he says cumin, and I forget the other one. Anise and cumin, right? So Jesus commends tithing. Don't neglect it, yeah. So though the practice of tithing was connected to the Mosaic Law, there is a good argument to be made that it fits as one of the aspects of the general equity that's required according to the Westminster Confession, Chapter 19. In this case, the church is the people of God under a new and better covenant are obliged to continue that practice. That's a summary form of the argument. The case against tithing as a continuing Christian obligation, first, The only percentage of giving Jesus ever explicitly commended was 100%. I read that verse. The widow's might. She gave more than everyone else. She gave a penny. Everyone else gave out of their wealth. It is assumed that when people argue against tithing, that they're doing so because they don't want to part with their money. May that never be the case. That's not my position. I actually think the new covenant believers call to a higher standard. Second, the clearest command around giving in the New Testament comes from the Apostle Paul when he commands each Christian to give as he has decided in his heart. Paul goes on to warn about giving under a sense of compulsion. It would seem that this section would have been an obvious place for Paul to reiterate the tithe. He doesn't do so. There are several places in the New Testament where Paul could say, you're supposed to tithe, and he never does it. He never does it. Third, the Westminster Standards are silent on the practice of tithing. It doesn't seem to have been obvious or at least unanimous among its authors that the practice of tithing was a morally binding practice throughout all space and time. You go to the section on the worship of God, not a word about it, not a word. I think there's historical reasons for that. Who supported the church? Who supported the church? It was the government, I think, that supported by taxation, it seems to me. But there's no word about it. It's not because they weren't familiar with tithing, right? Read the Director of Worship for the OPC, the section on giving. No tithing. Tithing is not mentioned. That's the argument against the continuing practice of tithing as a moral obligation. So how should pastors preach and elders teach on this matter? We could say 10% is certainly a helpful and healthful biblical benchmark for giving. We can recommend it. We cannot command it and discipline over it. So let me read from Spurgeon. Now Spurgeon, in the biographies I read, was a Neo-Puritan, heavily influenced by Puritan literature. He cut his teeth on the Puritans, I think reading, and his grandfather, I can't remember the whole story, but reading Library of Puritan literature in the family home. And this is not gonna settle it. If you believe in tithing, you should tithe. And you should give more than to tithe. You should make offerings. If you don't believe in tithing, you should give, and you should give generously, and it should look like a tithe. It shouldn't be skimping. We've already established that. So quoting from Spurgeon, it is also noteworthy that with regard to Christian liberality, there are no rules laid down in the word of God. I remember hearing somebody say, I should like to know exactly what I ought to give. Yes, dear friend, no doubt you would. But you are not under a system similar to that by which the Jews were obliged to pay tithes to the priests. If there were any such rule laid down in the gospel, it would destroy the beauty of spontaneous giving. and take away all the bloom from the fruit of your liberality. There is no law to tell me what I should give my father on his birthday. There is no rule laid down in any law book to decide what present a husband should make to his wife, nor what token of affection we should bestow upon others whom we love. No, the gift must be a free one, or it has lost all its sweetness. Yet this absence of law and rule does not mean that you are therefore to give less than the Jews did, but rather that you shall give more. Because if I rightly understand what is implied in the term Christian liberality, it is to be according to the example of Christ himself. Our text really gives the Christian law of liberality. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. That is to say, we should give as we love. You know how much our Lord Jesus Christ loved by knowing how much he gave. He gave himself for us because he loved us with all the force and energy of his nature. Why did that woman break the alabaster box and pour the precious ointment upon Christ's head when it might have been sold for much, the money given to the poor? or when she might have kept her ointment for herself. She gave much because she loved much. I commend to you that rule. Give as you love and measure your love by your gift. Further, for this also seems to be the teaching of the text. Give till you feel it. For the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was proved by the fact that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. He gave till he felt it. gave till he knew that he was giving all that he had. And I do verily believe that the great sweetness of giving to God begins when we feel the pinch, when we have to deny ourselves in order that we may give. Then it is that there is the true spirit of Christian liberality. Our Lord Jesus Christ gets from a good many people what they would not dare to keep back from him. and what they can readily enough part with. It is sometimes about as much as their shoestrings cost them in a year. Certainly not as much as they spend upon the smallest of their many luxuries. Yet the most of them consider that they have done all that they should when such insignificant offerings have been laid at their Lord's feet. But dear friends, I hope that it will be your rule both to give as you love and to give to you feel it. And next we should in some sense give all. For that is the meaning of the text. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. He emptied himself. He gave all that he had. And we as Christians are bound to confess that we belong to Christ. And that all we possess is to be used by us as stewards under him, not reckoning anything to be our own, but gladly admitting that he has entrusted it all to us to be used prudently and wisely and discreetly for his glory. Oh, that we all came up to that standard. Then should we have the great pattern and model of Christian liberality reproduced in ourselves, far more largely than it is at the present time. That's where we're gonna leave it. I think it's very compelling. I challenge you by those words, okay? So who or what should we support with our giving? Like I said, the ministry and mission of the church. The ministry of mercy. The diakal offering is a good place to start. How about those who the Lord brings to cross your path that have an obvious need? Feel free to dig in and meet it. It's one of the good works he's ordained in advance for you to do. And we don't have time for this, it's probably a whole nother series, but the Bible has an awful lot to say about the care of those in need, about the care of the poor. It's everywhere, it's everywhere. When Paul said his farewell to the Ephesians, he said, I did not covet your gold or silver, but I worked with my own hands to give to those who were in need. For the Lord has said it is better to give than to receive. When he met with the pillars of the church in Galatians, in the book of Galatians, it's recorded, he met with James and Peter. At the end of his description of that meeting, he says, the one thing they told me to do was to remember the poor, which I was very eager to do. So that's giving. Now I have to step it up. Now we're going really fast. What about keeping? What about keeping? How much may we safely keep? Well, Luther is quoted as saying, humanity is like a drunkard who falls off his horse to the right, gets back on, and then falls to the left. Satan doesn't care which side of the horse we fall off of as long as we don't stay in the saddle. So what we want to do is get in the saddle about what we keep and how we live. The one side would be asceticism, the practice of strict self-denial. I only purchase and use the most essential basics of the material world. It's rooted in dualism, platonic dualism, which teaches that The spiritual world is good and the physical world is bad. We're to avoid physical pleasures and conveniences in order to avoid sin. So the body's bad, the spirit is good. And the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2 verses 20 through 23 says this is foolishness. Let me read that. Colossians chapter two, verses 20 through 23. Thank you. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. There was a monk who was proud of the fact that he prayed 500 times a day, and he became very sad and downtrodden when he learned another monk prayed 700 times a day. Doesn't help in the indulgence of the flesh. On the other side, so you get up out of asceticism, and then you fall into the side of materialism. Materialism teaches that physical matter is the only, or a fundamental reality, All can be explained as manifestations of matter. All that matters is matter. The highest value or objectives lie in material well-being and in the advance of material progress. A preoccupation with material rather than spiritual things is appropriate. It places the wrong price tag on the things of the world and the things of God. Gets them exactly the opposite. And what did Jesus say? That a man's life is not measured in the abundance of his possessions. One of the lusts of the flesh is greed, covetousness, a desire for more. We have to avoid asceticism and materialism. I believe the biblical balance is found in 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy chapter six. Beginning in verse six. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So godliness, an equation, a biblical equation. Godliness plus contentment equals great gain. Godliness is God-likeness, it's piety, it's devotion to God. It's an assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, perseverance to the end. Godliness, first. Contentment, commentaries say it's an interesting word, a soul sufficiency that does not depend on material circumstances. It's being satisfied with food and clothing, according to the verse. If we have food and clothing, We'll be content. Every time someone in my family asks for a new pair of shoes, I say, well, I don't know. The Jews wore the same sandals for 40 years. Why can't you? That's a joke. That's a joke. But you get the point. God said, I provided you for 40 years. Your sandals never wore out. One pair in 40 years. And you ate manna every day, every meal, every week for 40 years. What are you complaining about? Be satisfied with food and clothing. Let's look at verses 17 through 19. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. Note that God gives us richly all things to enjoy. It's true. But not as the object of trust and a point of pride. If we have more, it doesn't make us better. It means God's calling us to give more. True riches are found in performing good works and sharing what God has provided for us to manage in his name. Note the emphasis on good works, and it's in support of the gospel now, right? We're to be rich in good works. Jesus says he bought a people for himself that they might be zealous for good works. We are God's masterpiece created unto good works, which he has prepared in advance for us to walk in them, we're to walk in good works. and were to make an eternal investment, storing up a foundation unto eternal life, storing up treasures in heaven. And it brings us back to the unjust steward, in a way. Remember, he was commended by the Lord because he knew he was losing his stewardship. gets into contractual agreements with all those who owe something to the master. And by doing that, he invests in his future so he has a place to go because he cannot work with his hands and he's ashamed or embarrassed to beg. And Jesus says that the children of the world can teach us something. They know how to invest for a future return. They just invest in the wrong things. Where to invest in the kingdom, where to invest in eternal rewards. So, what do we get to keep? as much as you want to invest in heaven. How much do you get to keep? Well, how much do you, what kind of return do you want, right? If we're investing in heaven, we'll be keeping less, but we'll be gaining more. Give as much as you want to reap beyond the grave. Keep for yourself whatever you do not want to see again in any form after your eyelids close for the last time. He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. He who sows abundantly will reap abundantly. You say, well, I know, but what do I get to keep? Keep whatever you truly need to support your callings. God's gifts of life, time, talent, possessions, and skills are realized as blessings when used to sustain us in our callings. And I do believe taking care of your family, right? Taking care of your health. giving to others, supporting the church, paying your taxes, working in the world, offering a hand, offering a smile, a greeting. It goes on and on, but this is all investing in heaven. But beyond that, these gifts can become cursed when exclusively abused for our own selfish designs. Christians should not hoard money. Christians should not live in opulence. Christians should never fail to give generously. But the good news is that the Lord does provide not only for our needs, but also our wants. He gives us a lot. So we are to keep enough to take care of our basic needs, some wants, without holding back from supporting higher kingdom causes. We should not keep so much that we become proud, independent, distracted from our purposes as Christian stewards, or taking on an ownership mentality as though it all really belongs to me. That's what you get to keep. It's a modest lifestyle, but it's a rich lifestyle. I don't feel deprived. I'm not rich, but I am by, truth is I'm rich by, when you compare American Christians or Western Christians to the rest of the world. We're extremely wealthy. And the Lord has prospered my home beyond what it takes to meet basic needs in Greenville, South Carolina. And it's very convicting. When I went through this study, it's very convicting. It's not because we buy a lot of stuff. I won't get into too much personal confession. That's not where I'm challenged. My challenge is in another place in terms of how I view money and what I do with it. It's not terrible, I'm not sinning left and right, but it has more to do with where I put trust, right? Am I giving enough? That's what I'm saying. Lord, am I giving enough? I've asked myself, am I giving enough? How then shall we live? As stewards trusted by God with a great many resources to be managed according to his will. I would recommend that we adopt a strategic lifestyle with a kingdom focus. It could look like this, purposing to live on a certain amount of money each year, right? Allowing room for discretionary spending, some reasonable savings, and then giving the rest away in service to our prophet, priest, and king. And so the Old Testament model, don't beat the vineyard till all the grapes are out. Leave some there for those in need. Don't plow the fields all the way to the corners, but round them off. So there's something available to those in need. How about don't spend all of your income, but settle for something less and use that abundance as the edges of the field. Cut circular from the corners and leave that surplus for giving as God brings you opportunity to do so. That's the lesson. Any concerns, any questions, any thoughts? Yes, John. We're out of time. Well, I've got a lot. I'll just say one thing. In my long life, I have known many ministers of the gospel, including two brother-in-laws. I don't know one minister who would disagree And if everyone in their congregation tithed cheerfully, joyfully, tithe. I don't mean that tithing is something as you sort of think it will sound ugly. It's not ugly. It's something you do joyfully. But if everyone in their congregation tithed, they'd be overflowing with income to build new buildings or send more missionaries and do more of the work that the Lord has called us to do. That's just one thing I would say. OK, good. Thank you. I don't think tithing is ugly. I just don't believe it's a moral obligation. You can disagree. I knew you would. And I have a quote from Spurgeon that says exactly the opposite. I knew. I knew. When I prepared this lesson, I knew John wasn't going to like this. I did. I knew it. I heard your voice in my ears. Mr. Ellis. Yes. Have you read Dr. Dabney's article, Christian Economics? I have not. You're teaching exactly what he was teaching. I'm in good company. And Thomas Peck deals with an awesome article on tithing. Very good, thank you. So I'm in line with Dabney and Peck, and I didn't know it. I will tell you that we're out of time, but anyone else, anything you really feel the need to say? Just to say that it's not either war or tithing versus the perspective of human Yeah, I would never stop anyone from tithing. And I do believe that if we're not giving, we're stealing. We're stealing from God. Anyone else? Yeah. With respect to first fruits and taxes. What helped me in my conscience in deciding these things is render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, render unto God that which is God's. I also considered that there is a gross income, a taxable income, and a net income, and they're not the same thing. And first fruits, as a principle, would be on gross income. And that is how I decided that I would do my tithing, my giving, is based upon gross income, not taxable income, which is after your retirement contributions, which is setting aside and building up a storehouse for things on earth, not in heaven. OK, good. Thank you. All right. Last thing I'll say about it. I have the floor. I did a quick back of the napkin calculation. And I'm not saying this to help you be satisfied in your giving. But by my calculations, quick back of the napkin calculation, this is a tithing congregation. I simply took our total revenue for last year, I divided by the number of households and said, that tells me what probably the average income is for each house. And it's pretty high. And it feels like we're a tithing congregation. But remember what Augustine said. That's the start. That's the start of the end. If you want to hold to tithing as a Christian, let that be the floor, not the end. Let's pray. I'm going to pray a steward's prayer here. Oh, Lord God, you alone are the source of every gift, of the vast array of our universe and of the mystery of each human life. We praise you and we thank you for your great power and your tender, faithful love. Everything we are and everything we have is your gift. And after having created us, you have given us into the keeping of your son, Jesus Christ. Fill our hearts with Christ's truth and our hearts with his love, that in his spirit we may be bonded together into a community of faith, a covenant family, a caring people. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we commit ourselves to be good stewards of the gifts entrusted to us, to share our time, our talent, and our material gifts as an outward sign of the treasure we hold in Jesus. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.