Alms-Giving: Stewardship

Last week we started looking at the invitation to walking out a Holy Lent through alms-giving, as loving or prioritizing money is perhaps the greatest challenge we face to living in the Kingdom of Heaven.

1 Timothy 6:6–12, 17-19 (NIV84) 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

 We worry about money at LEAST as much as we worry about other things in our life – and often more. Yet Jesus commanded us not to worry…

Luke 12:31-32 (NIV84) “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32 Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”

The Kingdom of God is whenever and wherever God is in charge, whenever and wherever he rules and reigns. So we set our focus on choosing to let him rule and reign in our wallets:

• Do what God says do financially
• Don’t do what God says not to do
• Value what God values

The first step is to make a decision to put money in it’s place. It’s a servant, a tool, and not the one in control. But how do that in a practical way?

Manager = steward

A steward is entrusted with someone else’s property. They are expected to know what’s entrusted to them, and account for it, and manage it wisely.

We are God’s stewards:

Genesis 1:28 (ESV)  And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

1 Corinthians 10:26 (NLT2) 26  For “the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.”

God watches what we do with money. He cares what we do with it.

Proverbs 19:17 (NLT)  If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord— and he will repay you!

Proverbs 3:9–10 (NLT) 9 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. 10 Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.

 James 5:1–4 (NLT) Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment. 4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Malachi 3:10 (NLT) 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

Proverbs 11:1 (NLT2) The LORD detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights.

1st principle of handling money: bring everything into the .

Ephesians 5:11, 13 (NIV) 11  Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible.

(Even kids know all the scary monsters disappear when you turn the light on.)

• Know what comes in, know what goes out
• If income < spending, you have some decisions to make:
  • Either your income
  • Or your spending
    • Prioritize those things you have to have to live: Food, Clothes, a place to live

Ecclesiastes 4:4–6 (NIV84) And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 5  The fool folds his hands and ruins himself. 6   Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.

That means: It’s better to have a little and live within your means than to be stressed all the time because you live your means.

1 Corinthians 4:2 (NLT) Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful.

Find some . That means don’t spend everything you earn; have some left over.

Proverbs 21:20 (NIV84) In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

2nd principle of handling money: Have a plan for the leftover/margin

1. pay off debt
2. save
3. give away

All are commanded by God.

Proverbs 21:5 (NLT) Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

1. Pay off debt

Proverbs 22:7 (ESV) The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

• Use your margin to pay over the
  • Make minimums on all your debt accounts, but throw the extra margin on the easiest to pay off.
  • When it’s paid off, throw ALL that extra into the next easiest, and so forth.

Why is it so important to pay off debt?

• The average American in 2021 is in $26,000 of debt between credit cards and car loan.
• A $20k car loan will cost you $29,421 over 5 years
• $6000 credit card debt, making the minimum payment, don’t charge any more: $22,493.56
  • Takes years, 5 months

Don’t be a slave.

Proverbs 6:5 (NLT) Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.

• Prioritize what it takes to live
• Then other bills
• Get out of debt!!!!

3rd principle of handling money: .

Joseph saved his family and all future Israelites by saving grain when it was plentiful.

Proverbs 6:6–8 (NLT)

6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.

Learn from their ways and become wise!

7 Though they have no prince

or governor or ruler to make them work,

8 they labor hard all summer,

gathering food for the winter.

When you have money set aside in savings, your stress level goes down. You sleep better.

Saving also allows you to bless future generations:

Proverbs 13:22a (ESV) A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.

But don’t trust in your money more than God, who says it’s wise to…

• Be good stewards of what is ultimately His
• To shine light on your finances
• To spend less than you have
• To get out of debt
• To save

• Where are you today in your finances?
  • Are you a good steward of God’s resources for you?
  • Do you need to look honestly at your situation so you can make some wise decisions?
  • Do you need to cut some spending out (or work harder) so you have some margin?
  • Are you a slave to debt, and it’s time to get out?
  • Are you free to save so you’ll be prepared for future problems and opportunities?

I invite you in the name of the church to the observance of a holy Lent:

• by self-examination and repentance;
• by prayer, fasting, and alms-giving;
• and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word

[Remember to email your notes to yourself to save them!]