WEBVTT 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:13.919 Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:19.359 You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.120 Thank you for listening. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:24.239 I thought we'd have a little fun this morning before we get started. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:26.640 How many of y'all love Monopoly? 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:29.839 How many of y'all have gotten in a fight? 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:31.280 No, we're good. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.479 Unless you want to get in a fight right now and illustrate that. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:37.439 How many of y'all got in a fight over Monopoly? 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:38.560 There you go. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:39.200 I got it. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:49.439 I was uh I went and got when I was getting my new uh copy of Monopoly, the lady checking me out said, Oh my goodness, your house is gonna be loud. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:51.759 I said, Yeah, probably so. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:56.719 She said, That probably caused my first divorce, how we played Monopoly together. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:00:59.119 It was pretty funny to hear her talk about that. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.320 Monopoly is an icon in American life. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:13.359 It's become so ubiquitous that we even do things like we go to the bookstores up in Fayetteville and we get hog opoly with all of the things, right? 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:18.480 And so it is it is so famous, everybody knows all about it. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:22.000 I mean, we know, just call out some of the properties. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:23.280 Just call them out. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:25.280 Look at that. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:25.760 Here you go. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:27.760 See, everybody knows Monopoly, right? 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:29.439 And so you go through that board. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:33.920 Monopoly uh actually is the second iteration of this. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:44.480 It was invented by 19, it was invented in 1903 by a lady uh who uh was a disciple of a socialist economist. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:55.280 And it actually, the property uh sort of nature of it, it was designed to teach children how terrible capitalist landlords are. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:57.439 Now, can you imagine that? 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:03.280 And now we're screaming at each other over, you gotta pay my rent, you landed on my parkplace, or whatever, right? 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:04.879 And so you know what it is. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:09.599 You go around the board, you roll your dice, and you have a little token that's your icon. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:12.080 Now I'm a classic guy, okay? 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:20.240 So if I'm playing Monopoly, uh I'm looking for the race car, or I'm looking for the top hat because I want to have a little style. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:21.520 You know what I'm saying? 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:24.400 But younger generations have ruined the game. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:31.759 Did you know that they took the flat iron out and they replaced it with a dumb cat? 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:36.639 I had no idea. 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:39.520 They had a vote on Facebook. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:47.599 Now, see, social media is deteriorating society to such an extent, we're even ruining the tokens and monopoly, right? 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:49.280 And so you know how it rolls. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:50.800 You roll your dice, right? 00:02:50.960 --> 00:03:06.560 And you take your uh, and you I'll be the top hat today for some style, and you go through and you land on a property, and of course, if the Lord is blessing my dice, I land on Tennessee Avenue, which is the first one that I always want to buy. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:13.199 And you buy your property, you start out with a certain amount of money, and you receive some monopoly money when you came in, right? 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:16.000 You get that money, and everybody's counting their money. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:20.960 And the way we played in my house was you put your stacks of money under the edge of the board. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:24.879 Now, if you didn't play in your house, you can come over, Janet, and I'll teach you how to play. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:25.360 Okay? 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:29.759 And so you're always looking at each body's board, see how much money they got. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:31.759 You're being competitive and all that. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.840 It stirs such a competitive nature in us. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:54.400 When the lady invented the first game to try to show how terrible landlords are, immediately everybody, it stirred that basic sort of greed and competition, and they immediately started changing the game, and they changed in different cities in different ways. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:03.840 And then there was a guy in New York, and he decided I know how to fix this game, and he turned it into what we see with the blocks and all that. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:22.720 He was making it at home, he was selling it himself, he later sold the rights of that to uh to a toy company, and as you would imagine, there have been uh uh copyright and all of that kind of infringement lawsuits, almost the entire existence of Monopoly, because the whole point is to get money, right? 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:23.759 Is to win. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:25.279 The whole point is to win. 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:34.800 And you go around and you get your properties, and then you end up doing things like free parking and get money, or you end up in jail and all that sort of stuff, and we're playing Monopoly. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:35.839 It's awesome. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:41.839 Now, the average runtime on a game of Monopoly is about four days, isn't it? 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:43.759 I mean, nobody ever wins. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:44.959 You finally just give up. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:51.120 Somebody's got enough piles of cash that nobody else can catch up, and you eventually just give up, right? 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:54.959 And in our house, boy, we we play Combat Uno. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:59.439 We play uh Intense Monopoly when our kids were young. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:00.959 Man, you just gotta win. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:04.720 And there's something in this game that just grabs you, doesn't it? 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.000 And you just gotta win. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:07.279 I mean, you gotta win. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:11.199 And you get your piles of money, and sometimes you'll even do this. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:14.480 Now, come on, I know you have. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:15.920 You know you have, right? 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:18.399 And so here we go, we get that money. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:23.839 It taps into something in us that relates to our culture. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:32.000 That's one reason it's become such an icon, is because it actually, life sort of functions like this, right? 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.759 I'm looking for opportunities, stuff costs me money. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:54.959 I run into, you know, I gotta pay maintenance on this thing, or whatever card you pull out when you pull out these things, and you know, there is stuff that gets in the way, and money comes out of that, and there's a greed element to us, and man, I gotta get another property, and everybody wants boardwalk because you can bury everybody else with boardwalk, right? 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:56.000 It's awesome. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:03.839 And so we just got this thing going, and it's intense, and you feel that pull, and and it taps into something at life that we're doing. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.240 We want to win in our jobs and have a house and a car, and we're doing all that. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:13.680 I mean, it just really, it's amazing how it captured American culture. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:18.720 It exploded in the 30s in the Great Depression and moving forward. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:37.680 It tapped into something where people wanted to win that way, and then when the economy turned and it was great, and then you had the baby boom and the explosion, and everybody's playing these games and it's popular, and we're in a time where our economy was flourishing and everybody was buying houses and all of that, and man, it just fit in our psyche. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:40.319 Everybody knows how to play Monopoly. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:44.800 There's even an online app version of Monopoly now. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:58.480 I went to Target the other day and I counted six different versions of Monopoly, and that doesn't even include stuff like Powder Puff Girls and Hogopoly and all of that sort of stuff. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:09.279 Now, I wanted to bring the Star Wars version because everything is cooler with Star Wars, but I just didn't want to stress you out too much. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.800 I didn't want to cause envy that we have that cool game, right? 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:21.360 So here we go, we're playing all this, but here's the lesson that we should be learning from Monopoly. 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:23.920 Here's the lesson that should come out of this. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:37.279 Now we learn about things like investing, and we learn about property and rent, we learn about competition, we learn about the flow of money as it goes back and forth across the board and for people and how investments make a difference and all of that. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:42.560 We learn about risk, we learn about being conservative and when to do all that and all that. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:48.959 But here's the most important lesson that we should learn from Monopoly. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:57.120 You know, games, when they began, were designed to teach life lessons to children. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:06.480 They were designed to reinforce those lessons, which is why in that culture that woman invented the game, the first permutation of it, in that way. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:33.519 But as we play these games, we do learn and we redo rehearse these things, and the most important thing that we have to learn from this game is not purchasing real estate, not having more houses and hotels, it's not stockpiling money. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:42.320 Most important lesson that we learn in this game is when the game is over. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:25.840 When life is over, whatever we've accumulated, it does not go with us. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:29.919 It all just goes back into a box. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:38.960 As we go into our faith forward time over the next three weeks, this is a time for us that I believe is not a money time. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:40.879 It's a spiritual time. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:45.600 It's a time when we learn lessons like this. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:51.679 See, giving is not something that we do so we can build this or do that. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:54.720 This is not fundraising, it's not all that sort of stuff. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:10:09.360 Giving is a spiritual discipline that is taught by Jesus that directly impacts our relationship with the Lord and how we view him in spiritual matters. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:17.600 And as we go over the next three weeks, what I want to do is unpack sort of a basic theology of money and stewardship for us. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:24.799 Now, what will happen is for the next three weeks, we'll be studying this anchor passage of Matthew chapter 6. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:27.759 So turn with me in your Bibles there to Matthew chapter 6. 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:33.759 And I want to let you know that this is going to be the theme over the next few weeks. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:36.240 Investing in eternity. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.120 Investment in eternity. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:11:01.279 Because things here in life may go back in the box, but the investments that we make in heaven, the investments that we make as we are serving the Lord, Jesus is going to teach us that we are literally making an investment in heaven that lasts forever. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:02.559 Forever. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:08.720 And so this first week, what I want to start off with is just a basic theology of money and giving. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:12.639 What is it, and why does the Bible have us do that? 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:18.080 So you hear in Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 19, I want you to read with me. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:21.120 Now, here's what I want you to get the context of this. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:26.159 This is, uh most scholars often refer to this as the greatest sermon ever preached. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:28.879 It's Jesus preaching, he's unpacking life. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:56.159 And in this message, what he's doing is he is trying to grab an understanding of the human heart and the plan of the gospel that God has to draw us to understand our sin, recognize that Jesus came to be our Savior and to forgive our sins by paying the price for them on the cross and to call us to a faith walk with Him through the person of Jesus. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:58.159 And so here's what he says. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:08.399 He opens up this passage of Scripture, and here he is in chapter 5 and chapter 6, he begins with the most basic of spiritual disciplines. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:18.639 He starts with the beatitudes that teach us what our heart is and what our heart needs to respond to the Lord. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:25.039 And then he goes into the basic disciplines of the Christian life that help us respond to the Lord. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:27.600 And he starts with prayer and fasting. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:36.320 So when you start reading about this money right here, it literally is in the context with prayer and fasting. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:43.279 You can't get a more basic level of spiritual discipline and walk than prayer and fasting. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:52.399 I'm grateful for Jared and his message last week and calling us to fast this week as a church, and I hope that you met with the Lord and you heard him meet with that. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:57.039 And I've been praying over God's response to us fasting as a church. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:08.879 In the very same context of prayer and fasting, Jesus now goes into money because money is a spiritual matter that relates directly to our relationship with the Lord. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:12.080 Look what Jesus says, beginning in verse 19. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:21.519 Do not collect for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rusts destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:25.679 In other words, stuff that goes back in the box. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:30.399 But collect for yourselves. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:35.360 Now, this is an imperative command if you look at the language and grammar of this. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:43.360 Collect for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:48.240 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:59.840 And then he gives us this illustration to understand what our perspective, our spiritual perspective of God is as it's revealed through how we handle our finances. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:02.559 The eye is the lamp of the body. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:06.799 If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:09.519 And that eye illustration is what is your focus? 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:11.360 What is are you looking on? 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:15.919 Where your treasure is, the eye, what are you treasuring? 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:18.320 What are you focused on, or what are you pursuing? 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:19.919 The eye is the lamp of the body. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.240 If the eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:26.399 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:30.639 So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness? 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:32.559 And then he brings the point home. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:36.159 No one can be a slave of two masters. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:43.039 You'll either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:49.200 You cannot be slaves of God and of money. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:56.159 I mean, he puts it squarely in our relationship with the Lord, and it is a spiritual discipline in our lives. 00:14:56.399 --> 00:15:05.759 He says, This is why I tell you, verse 25, don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:09.120 Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:10.480 Look at the birds of the sky. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:16.159 They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:21.200 Aren't you worth more than they are? 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:26.559 Can you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:28.879 And why do you worry about clothes? 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:32.000 Learn how the wild flowers of the field grow. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.080 They don't labor or spin thread. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:40.000 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:48.720 If that's how God closes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you? 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:52.480 And then he challenges them. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:54.480 You have little faith. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:02.320 If you're worrying about those things, if you're depending on money to provide those things and not in the Lord, he says, Listen, that is a lack of faith. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:09.600 So verse 31, he says, So don't worry, saying, What will we eat, what will we drink, what will we wear? 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:15.919 For these, the idolaters, eagerly seek all these things. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:23.679 In other words, people who have decided that money or things or whatever are their God and not God Himself. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:26.559 Where your treasure is, your heart will be also. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:34.960 They have set their hearts, and he calls them idolaters, because the very first commandment is this love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:49.679 And if you love anything else that reduces the amount of love and treasure that you have for the person of God, then that becomes an idol and it becomes sin because it reduces our love and worship of Him as God. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:54.639 Your Father knows you need these things. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:56.799 Now, here's what's awesome in this. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:12.400 God does all of that. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:16.240 And then he comes and he says, Don't even worry about it. 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:21.039 I mean, it's kind of amazing when you put those two things together. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:30.319 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:34.240 Don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:38.079 Each day has enough trouble of its own. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:40.640 And so Jesus teaches us there about money. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:45.599 So let's define a few terms so that we know what we're talking about with them, okay? 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:51.279 First is, I think it's good to go back and set a base definition of what money is. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:18:00.000 Money is a medium of exchange with an accepted measure of value that is used to purchase goods and services. 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:01.599 That's all it is. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:03.440 It's just a thing. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:06.640 It's like a hammer or a screwdriver or a toaster. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:10.079 It's like a tire or whatever. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:11.680 It's just a thing. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:18.799 It is just a way that we assign value to something so that we can buy goods and services. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:21.599 So it is just a medium for us. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:24.559 Which is why it's such a good spiritual thermometer. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:32.720 And Jesus uses it and talks about it so much because he understands it's not about the money, it's about what I'm doing with it. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:40.319 If it is the medium of exchange, then what I am pursuing, I am getting that to do that with. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:45.920 If I want to build wealth, then I am using money as a medium of exchange to do that. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:19:00.559 If I want cars and I want houses and I want cool clothes or I want whatever, then I am capturing that money and I am expending it, I am exchanging it for those things, and it is revealing what my desires are. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:05.279 Where your treasure is, your heart will be also. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:07.359 You can't serve God and money. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:13.039 It is just reflecting what our priorities and desires are. 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:14.319 Nothing wrong with money. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:15.839 Praise the Lord for money. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:19.920 I knew a guy used to say all the time, God's everywhere, go where the money is. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:23.680 But it's just a thing. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:27.920 But the thing reflects by what we do with it. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:31.599 Now in church life, we talk, we use this term, tithe. 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:33.759 What is a tithe? 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:40.319 It is a gift that is calculated as one-tenth of the value of income or property. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:42.480 That's all a tithe means. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:47.920 In the Old Testament, they tithed and they would tithe on a tenth of the value of their property. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:54.559 They would tithe on a tenth of the value of the crops and livestock that grew that year, income. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:56.720 It simply means one-tenth. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:58.880 It's just one-tenth of value. 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:01.680 So we use that term tithe. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:04.880 And then we use the term offering in church. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.480 This is an offering that we're going to be taking on our Faith Forward deal. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:10.799 And it is just a free will gift. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.680 There's no dollar amount attached to it. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:16.480 There's no, you gotta give this much or whatever. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:19.599 A free will gift made of one's own volition and choice. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:27.680 You pick, you pray about it, you determine what it is, and you give it as an honor to the Lord and as an act of worship. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:29.519 That's what an offering is. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:35.279 So in the Old Testament, the tithe actually predated the law. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:38.319 There are multiple stories in the book of Genesis. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:50.160 There are stories in the book of Job, which is actually, scholars tell, the oldest book of Scripture, where they are giving tithes to the Lord to honor him and worship him. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:56.880 Abram wins a great victory, and he goes to a high priest of the Lord, and he gives him a tithe. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:12.240 Jacob, as he works through what his life is going to look like with the Lord, and as he reaches this arrangement where he acknowledges that God is God and he is going to provide for him and Jacob is going to serve him, he commits a tenth of all that he will make to the end of his life. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:17.920 That's long before the twelve tribes of Israel and the law shows up and all of that. 00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:27.119 Then when you get into the law, there's the tithe and all of that, but there are also offerings, and those are offerings that just people give because they just love the Lord, they want to worship, and they give. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:29.200 And you see those all throughout Scripture. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:33.440 So it's important to know what those things are and to define those as we go. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:45.200 Now, as you look at this passage of Scripture from Jesus, he teaches us four principles that are taught all throughout Scripture that relate to giving to the Lord. 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:48.079 And I'm going to use that term this week giving. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:53.039 Next week, I'm going to spend a little bit more time on unpacking what a tithe is and an offering is. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:59.759 But right now, in just whatever nomenclature you give giving, we're going to talk about what biblical giving is. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:07.039 And I want to show you these four principles and then show you how throughout Scripture these four principles are always the foundation of giving. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:19.119 And that's why Jesus says, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, because heaven is where God is, that's where Jesus is, that's where our future is for all of eternity. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:29.359 Leading up to Easter, we talked about hell, we talked about heaven, and then on Easter we talked about the resurrection, and how as believers we should be living in light of the resurrection and what that means for us. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:37.839 That's why Colossians chapter 3 says, set your mind on things above where Jesus is in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:48.319 And Jesus is saying, what you do is you build up for yourselves, invest in eternity, collect for yourselves treasures in heaven. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:53.920 Now here's what he also says: collect for yourselves treasures in heaven. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:54.960 Did you catch that? 00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:56.400 That's what Jesus says. 00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:59.039 He knows we're collectors going to collect something. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:04.640 So he says, don't collect here, because that's just gonna all go back in the box in some form or fashion. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:08.319 But if you will collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, what does that mean? 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:30.960 That means that when I'm investing by giving to the Lord, honoring him with what I have, what I earn, what he provides, however you want to say that, what I am literally doing is making an investment in eternity that will be credited to me as obedience, and it will last forever. 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:39.839 In Philippians chapter 4, Paul is thanking the church and Philippi for investing in him as a church planner and providing for his needs. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:45.599 And he literally says in chapter 4, I want to thank you for your giving to me as a missionary. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:58.559 Not that I want your money, but I want you to have accounted to your accounts in eternity credit for investing in the gospel. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:01.759 He literally says that in chapter 4 of Philippians. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:03.119 And so that's what we're doing. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:10.480 We are investing there, being obedient in a way that God rewards for eternity the investments that we're making for Him. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:13.440 Now, these are the four principles or motivations for that. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:25.039 First of all, you are giving a gift that you give, whether it's an offering or what's your tithes on a weekly basis, is given to God as an act of worship because he is Almighty God. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:27.920 He is God and we are not. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:41.680 He is the creator, he is the sovereign God of the universe, and as a result, he deserves to be honored, he demands to be honored, and he is God and we are not, and we are to worship him as God. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:50.319 Another principle that's in giving, that we give to God as a recognition that as creator, he also owns all things. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:56.000 Scripture says the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:03.920 It is all his, and so anything that we have in our lives, we have because he provided it to us. 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:13.119 And when we are giving to him, not only are we surrendering him as God, but we are saying thank you for your provision for us. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:15.440 Jesus describes that provision. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:18.480 Why are you worried about your clothes and your food and all of that? 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:26.240 God loves you and he's your heavenly father and he knows what you need, and if you will seek him, he will bless you and provide. 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:36.160 Next two Sovereign God, provider of what we have, we give in obedience to the command to participate in his purposes. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:39.359 Jesus says, Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:40.720 What does that mean for us? 00:25:40.880 --> 00:26:09.440 That means when I invest in missions, when I invest in the mission of the church, when I am meeting the needs of people in our community that create open doors to have the gospel, when we build a building that allows us to have more people, or we go out to chaffe and we plant a church to reach more people, or whatever it is, all the things that we do, when we give to that, we are saying to the Lord, I know that you have called me to be a part of the advance of the gospel, and I am being a servant to that, and I am being obedient to the gospel. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:11.839 And that's what happens when we give. 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:19.200 And then finally we give because God promises to provide for and bless those who honor Him with their wealth. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:24.559 Proverbs chapter 3, verse 9 says this. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:38.480 Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest, then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:44.880 Now we're not trying to teach, and we'll talk about that some more as we go through this study, that prosperity gospel and all of that. 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:45.759 We're not doing that. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:51.200 God is not a slot machine, he's not a CD that you put it in and you get a return on investment. 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:52.400 That's not what he's teaching. 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:56.720 But Jesus makes it clear to us that God loves us and he loves us deeply. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:00.880 And that's why he uses that illustration of look, the fields are beautiful. 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:05.440 When you see a field of flowers, you literally stop and look at it. 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:08.480 Because it's so beautiful. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:20.319 And if God arrayed the flowers with that kind of beauty and he loves you more, he loves you so much that Jesus died for your sins on the cross, don't you think he's going to take care of you? 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:23.519 Malachi 3.10 says this. 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:30.960 He has just challenged the children of Israel about stealing from him by not providing what he demands as God. 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:32.640 First principle, he is God. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:38.000 And he literally says, Why are you robbing me from my tithes and offerings? 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:44.319 And then he says this bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:49.759 In other words, he has purposes and he's using us to meet his purposes. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:53.119 Bring all the tithes in the storehouse that there may be meat in my house. 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:57.920 And prove me now or test me now in this, says the Lord of hosts. 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:03.359 If I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing to you, that you don't even have room to receive it. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:09.119 You cannot step away from the truth that God loves us and provides. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:11.200 He provides in a lot of ways. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:13.119 He provides in all kinds of different ways. 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:15.200 My wife and I have figured this out. 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:22.720 We have been tithing our entire married life and giving offerings on top of the tithe because we believe in the tithe. 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:30.480 And so we give our tithes every two weeks or whatever it is, and then we give offerings like the Faith Forward offering when we move forward. 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:31.680 And here's what we've learned. 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:40.240 We'll get a check in the mail, or we'll get a distribution from an insurance policy, or we'll get something, and it always comes in. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:47.279 And we have learned now that when that check comes in, put in the bank because something bad's about to happen. 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:51.680 But praise the Lord, God sent us the money before it happened. 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:54.319 And we have learned that God provides. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:55.759 There's so many ways God provides. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:58.960 Now let me go back and unpack these just a little bit for us as we go. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:00.880 Let's look at that first principle. 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:05.440 Giving is an act of worship, acknowledging God is Almighty God. 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:14.880 So when you come and you bring your faith-forward offering, when you bring your tithes during the week, here's what happens: you are saying you are God. 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:20.960 You are the God of our church, you're the God of our family, you're the God of a checkbook, you're the God of my heart. 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:22.559 Look at what Jesus says. 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:24.880 He makes it very clear in this. 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:29.519 I am challenging your perspective in life. 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:38.079 When he talks about eternity and investing in eternity and collecting for yourselves treasures there, he says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:39.039 Literally. 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:50.240 If you are investing in heaven, if you are investing in the ministry of the church, if you are acknowledging that God is God and you are giving because you worship him, then your heart is a heart of worship. 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:54.559 If you are not, then where is your heart focused? 00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:58.319 This is a common argument in church. 00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:05.680 Well, Pastor, do you believe that tithing is an Old Testament thing, or do you believe that tithing is something that New Testament Christians are supposed to do? 00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:10.000 Well, here's the biggest thing I've learned, having grown up in church my entire life. 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:14.480 Here's the biggest thing I've learned, having been a pastor for more than 20 plus years. 00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:23.920 Every time somebody asks me that, for the most part, they are trying to find a way to give less to the Lord. 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:33.759 And I understand some people love those esoteric arguments in Scripture and all of that. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:43.680 But most of the time, what somebody's trying to do is they're trying to say, I'm going to check the box and I'm going to get it as small as I can get it to get there. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:48.160 And giving all throughout Scripture is exactly the opposite of that. 00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:54.640 God is God, and I am not, and I am going to surrender my life to Him, and that means every aspect of my life, including that. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:56.720 You just take a quick survey through Scripture. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:30:58.079 You take the Garden of Eden. 00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:14.240 In the Garden of Eden, God provided everything, and he told Adam, listen, you can eat of all these trees, and it is lavish, and it is beautiful, and you're going to go work and farm, and it's going to be fruitful and multiply, and it's only going to keep getting better, but there is one tree that you are not allowed to eat from. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:22.240 I'm going to set this rule because I'm going to make you make a choice to love me and honor me as the creator God. 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:33.839 And so in the Garden of Eden, we are faced with that choice, and we are required to make the choice to choose to worship God or to choose to want to do things our way for us. 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:42.960 And then as that unpacks all the way through Scripture, God never backs away from the requirement that He demands us to make a choice. 00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:45.039 You are God and I am not. 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:01.440 So here you can have it back. 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:02.880 And he says, No, sir. 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:12.400 I made an oath to the God of the universe, and he is God, and you will accept this. 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:21.279 When they you get into Jewish law and they codify the tithe, listen what it says in Leviticus chapter 27. 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:27.119 I just want to read this to you because it's just profound when you hear it from Scripture. 00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:32.079 He is explaining all the different giving and all the different offering and all that sort of stuff. 00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:39.359 And scholars calculate that really Jewish people were giving at least 30% of their income when you put all the offerings and the tithes and all of that. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:42.079 But listen to what he says at the end when he describes it. 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:54.000 Every tenth, this is the tithe that we would think of as a tithe, every tenth of the land's produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees belongs to the Lord. 00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:56.799 It is holy to the Lord. 00:32:57.119 --> 00:33:01.920 So what he says is, you don't even have a hundred percent, and then you give 10% to the Lord. 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:05.440 He literally says, you only have 90%. 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:09.359 The first 10% is automatically God's. 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:15.519 And then listen to what he says. 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:26.480 Every tenth animal from the herd or the flock which passes under the shepherd's rod will be holy to the Lord. 00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:40.160 You are not to inspect the animal to determine if it is even, bad, or good, and you are not to make a substitution for that animal. 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:44.000 They cannot be redeemed. 00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:52.240 So you're a shepherd or you're a cattle herder, and they come by, and here they come, and you think, that is my prize bull, number one in line. 00:33:52.960 --> 00:34:00.240 And you think, man, that's gonna hurt me, and I'm not gonna be able to give as much in the future as I would give now because that bull is supposed to make all that. 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:01.279 God says, I don't care. 00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:03.200 The first one through the gate is mine. 00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:11.280 You don't even get to look at it because there is no temptation whatsoever that you are gonna walk away from what is mine because I am God and is holy to me. 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:18.880 You get to the New Testament when Jesus teaches, and he says, Listen, you cannot serve God and man. 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:20.800 This is an act of submission. 00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:22.320 You cannot serve God in money. 00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:24.480 Where your treasures, your heart will be also. 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:28.559 He says, Listen, our heart, when we treasure something, it's like a compass. 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:30.079 A compass does two things. 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:34.880 It tells me where I am right now, and a compass also tells me where to go. 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:48.159 And he says, what you are doing with your money when you are choosing to invest in eternity and you are giving that to the Lord and you are seeking righteousness in that part of your life, it is reflecting whether you are honoring God as God or not. 00:34:48.480 --> 00:35:03.840 You get to the book of Acts, and you get in the beginning of Acts, and what happens is all these people get saved, the gospel is unpacked, the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit's moving, they're preaching the gospel, thousands of people are getting saved, and they were doing the disciplines that Jesus describes here. 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:11.039 They were eating together, they were praying together, they were fasting together, they were studying the word of God together, and what else does it include in the list? 00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:17.519 They literally took everything they had, they sold it, and they put it in a big pot, and all the people in the church lived out of all that. 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:28.559 In fact, it tells us a story that sets up for church about a man named Barnabas who sells a piece of land, and he brings the land and he gives the entire proceeds to the Lord. 00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:36.639 And then there he gets praise for that and encouraged for that, and there's a model for that, and so there's another family, a couple, and they go, hey, let's do the same thing. 00:35:36.719 --> 00:35:45.920 So they sell a piece of land, and let's say they sell it for$1,000, and they come to the church and they go, hey, man, we sold this piece of land for$800, and here's the$800. 00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:50.159 And nobody would know the difference, but God knows. 00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:57.360 And the Bible says that God literally struck them dead for lying to the Holy Spirit. 00:35:57.679 --> 00:35:58.320 Why? 00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:10.239 Because this first motivation and principle is that I'm giving myself to the Lord, and he is God, and I am not, and when I give, it is literally an act of worship where I'm acknowledging him as God. 00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:13.360 You get to 2 Corinthians chapter 8, chapter 9. 00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:17.679 They're taking a huge offering for the church that's struggling back in Jerusalem around the world. 00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:23.440 And the Bible says that one church in the middle of a bad economy came to Paul and he said, Listen, we want to give anyway. 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:29.599 And the Bible says they gave themselves to the Lord, and then they participated. 00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:40.880 He is God, and when we give, we give motivated by He is God, and I am not, and I am honoring Him as Almighty God. 00:36:41.599 --> 00:36:43.280 Principle number two, you see the same thing. 00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:44.960 Let's unpack that one a little bit. 00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:49.440 Giving is an act of worship, acknowledging God as your provider. 00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:51.440 Again, Jesus makes it very clear. 00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:54.960 What he says is, why are we worrying about those things? 00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:56.400 It is a lack of faith. 00:36:56.480 --> 00:36:58.239 It is a lack of trust in him. 00:36:58.639 --> 00:37:17.760 And so you have to have faith that the person of God loves you, you have to have faith in the plan of God that he loves you, you have to have faith that heaven is real and eternity, and I am giving to that because that's where my treasure is, and I've acknowledged him as God, and I am stepping out in faith to trust that God is going to provide. 00:37:17.920 --> 00:37:20.880 And that's why he says, Why are you worrying about these things? 00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:25.679 You can't make yourself taller, you can't make yourself skinnier, you can't make yourself smarter. 00:37:25.840 --> 00:37:28.320 Now, my mom is a worrier by nature. 00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:33.039 My dad firmly believed that mom thought she could change the world by worrying. 00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:40.159 In fact, he used to say all the time, if your mom doesn't know what to worry about, then she worries about what she doesn't know that she should be worrying about. 00:37:40.400 --> 00:37:40.800 Right? 00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:42.719 And some people just have that personality. 00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:50.159 But what he's saying is, listen, we are to, we are to invest faith that God provides and trusts him. 00:37:50.639 --> 00:38:01.840 Again, in Philippians, what the Bible says is that is that Paul grapples with the church and he tells the church, listen, I have learned whatever state I'm in to be content. 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:06.559 I can have a lot, I can have a little, it doesn't matter because I'm trusting in the Lord. 00:38:06.880 --> 00:38:13.199 But thank you for giving, because you are learning a spiritual lesson. 00:38:13.440 --> 00:38:25.519 And as Jesus said, you are investing in eternity, you are laying up for treasures in heaven, and I want that to go to your account and you to hear the Lord say, Well done, good and faithful servant. 00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:35.760 And he says, Listen, and then he says, My God will supply all your needs through his riches in glory. 00:38:36.880 --> 00:38:40.239 You see, we learn to trust him when we're giving. 00:38:40.480 --> 00:38:48.320 When you make that commitment to give, or you make a pledge, or you decide, man, I'm not giving enough and I'm going to tithe more, and I begin to step into that and step out in faith. 00:38:48.639 --> 00:38:52.079 God wants us to understand, you can trust me with that. 00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:56.079 That's why that scripture I quoted in Malachi 3.10. 00:38:56.239 --> 00:39:00.159 Listen, God doesn't ever say, test me. 00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:02.800 But right there he says, test me. 00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:16.559