Category: Scripture

Matthew 6

Giving to the Needy

6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The Lord’s Prayer

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

  “Our Father in heaven,
  hallowed be your name.¹
10   Your kingdom come,
  your will be done,²
    on earth as it is in heaven.
11   Give us this day our daily bread,³
12   and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13   And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.⁴

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Fasting

16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Lay Up Treasures in Heaven

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust⁵ destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.⁶

Do Not Be Anxious

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?⁷ 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Footnotes

[1] 6:9 Or Let your name be kept holy, or Let your name be treated with reverence

[2] 6:10 Or Let your kingdom come, let your will be done

[3] 6:11 Or our bread for tomorrow

[4] 6:13 Or the evil one; some manuscripts add For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen

[5] 6:19 Or worm; also verse 20

[6] 6:24 Greek mammon, a Semitic word for money or possessions

[7] 6:27 Or a single cubit to his stature; a cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

(ESV)

:19-21

1 Chronicles 29:13-17

13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.¹ 16 O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.

Footnotes

[1] 29:15 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew hope, or prospect

(ESV)

Going Deeper

Spiritual Disciplines- Stewardship (12-3-16)

For His Glory

The Holy Bible is clear: there is only one God.  You and I are not him.

It tells us that God created everything that exists. Therefore, everything that exists belongs to him.

The Bible is also clear to tell us that the ultimate reason why everything exists is for his eternal glory!

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!

So, we exist for God’s GLORY!

The problem is: like the first created man and woman, we have chosen to love ourselves more than God and we want our lives to go the way we want and not the way God wants.

So, IN SIN, we made our lives about OUR GLORY!

Because of our SIN, our aim is to want to have things our way!

What we fail to realize is:   DOING IT “OUR” WAY IS OUR SIN!

We fail to accept that what we deserve for our SIN, our betrayal, our idolatry… is DEATH.

Even though we deserve death, even though our actions clearly make us enemies of God, in his infinite mercy, GOD promised that he would come to us to redeem his people.

The great hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God has fulfilled his promise to redeem his people.

2 Cor. 5:21 says, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

PRAISE GOD FOREVER AND EVER because He commissioned his blameless son to the cross that we deserved so that we could be given the eternal satisfying life with God that only Jesus deserves.

Because of what Jesus has done, we have NEW LIFE IN CHRIST!
Not only are our sins paid for by Jesus’ death, but our life’s motivations are restored to live for GOD above all else!

The gospel is not God blessing us so we can glorify ourselves.

The gospel is God blessing us so HE can be glorified by our new lives in Christ!

Without this understanding, any talk we have today about stewardship will be a weight on your shoulders…a duty to perform…a rule to follow…a religious practice to keep up with.

Without Christ, we will not manage our lives for God’s glory, but for our own.

Stewardship is all about your RESPONSE to the gospel in your life. 

That is why I have to start with the gospel today or else stewardship is impossible.

Definition:

The spiritual discipline of stewardship is our privileged opportunity to be faithful managers of God’s provisions for God’s glory!

God has called his redeemed people to respond to the gospel and his ongoing provisions with faithful stewardship.

What we have is all from him!  Not ourselves…

1 Chronicles 29:14  Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.

God has called us to steward his stuff in this time on earth for his purposes.

What is his stuff?

My life is his!   My family is his.   My money is his.  My time is his. My skills are his.

Romans 1:6 says basically that: THE HEART OF CHISTIANITY is to BELONG to Jesus!

We belong to him for his glory!

1 Cor. 6:19-20 You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your life.

What are we called to do with all this?

Hebrews 13:12-16 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

So, let me ask you today:   How are you doing?

Is your life your privileged reality of being a faithful manager of God’s provisions for God’s GLORY?

One of the best ways to check yourself in this is to start at the beginning:

Is it your privilege to joyfully, regularly and generously manage your schedule, your skills, and your stuff for God’s GLORY?

1 Timothy 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

As redeemed children of God, our joy and our hope is not in our stuff, but in GOD!

“…but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

If our hope is in God and our joy is in Christ and our clear understanding is that everything we have is his and is to be used for his glory and his purposes then…we will be good stewards of what he has entrusted to us in this short time for his eternal purposes.

Stewardship is about management.  We are not just talking about people who try to give what they can when they can.

We are talking about people who purposefully, intentionally, faithfully, generously MANAGE the provisions God gives them.

God has called his Redeemed people to respond to the gospel and his ongoing provisions with faithful stewardship.

So, I need to ask you today:

1. Are you even in a position to manage God’s resources for His GLORY?
   – You will not and you cannot do this without Christ as your Savior!

Without Christ, stewardship for God’s glory is impossible.  You will inevitably make it about you and not him.  It must start by Jesus’ power transforming your heart and motives.

1. If you are saved, how are you doing?

Is your life your privileged reality of being a faithful manager of God’s provisions for God’s GLORY?

One of the best ways to check yourself in this is to start at the beginning:

Is it your privilege to joyfully, regularly and generously manage your schedule, your skills, and your stuff for God’s GLORY?

Let’s break this down.   First, it is…

1. OUR PRIVILEGE!

The heart of God’s steward starts with a heart of gratitude or unworthiness!

For those who say, but I have worked hard to earn what I own and to master the skills I have:

Deuteronomy 8:17-18 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…

&

1 Corinthians 4:7 ⁷What makes you better than anyone else?   What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own?

Realize, God has not just entrusted you with everything you own, but everything you are- your skills, the number of days you will live. They are a GIFT FROM GOD!     à WE ARE PRIVILEGED to be ENTRUSTED with HIS provisions!

What I have found is many Christians don’t see it as their privilege to be a good STEWARD because they don’t see their schedule, their skills, and their stuff as God’s, but instead believe it is theirs!

2. HIS STUFF

1 Chron. 29:13-17    “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! [14] But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you have already given us! [15] We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a shadow, gone so soon without a trace.  [16] “O Lord our God, even these materials that we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name come from you! It all belongs to you! [17] I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. You know I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously.

My heart for us is to be like the people David is speaking of in this passage.

They understood everything they had was from GOD.

They understood it was not theirs… it was God’s.

Because they understood these things, they stewarded these resources for His glory and not their own.

Let me illustrate with this:

If I were to entrust to you my checkbook to manage for me- to spend my money, pay my bills, manage it for my good….

over time, you might begin to get used to spending my money and eventually begin to think it is yours!

If my 8-year-old daughter, Natalie, decides to make me a card or buy me a gift, whose money does she spend?

Whose stationary and pen did she use?    Whose paycheck was cashed to buy that thing?   Mine!  Her dad’s.

Do you see that all you are… all you have is God’s?

And when we really begin to get this. we begin to understand the amazing undeniable privilege it is to BE HIS and it changes how we manage our time, our talent, and our treasures.

It helps me begin to realize I am not building my kingdom, I am building His kingdom for his GLORY!

3. HIS GLORY

We were created for HIS GLORY.   We were bought with a high price for HIS GLORY.

We have been entrusted with what we have for HIS GLORY!

We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Therefore, we can joyously, regularly, and generously live an OPEN-HANDED life.

When we understand that we are transient, that this world is not our home or our goal or our prize and we don’t clutch the things of this world like this is all there is going to be, then we live at a level of fullness that the world will not understand. But in doing so we get to escape the traps of the temporary.

1 Peter 4:10-11 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.¹¹   If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:10   For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God has created us and gifted us for a work he has set before us.  So, are we using this life he has entrusted to us and the gifts he has entrusted to us to be stewarded for His glory and others’ good?

Think about the different areas of your life:

• your relationships
• your chores around the house
• your hobbies
• your job
• your marriage and kids
• your volunteering at church or serving in the community

So, how are you doing?

How are you doing at managing the time God entrusts to you?

How are you doing at managing the skills God entrusts to you?

How are you doing at managing the resources God entrusts to you?

While this study is super simple, it is so critical that we do business with it.  We should not waste one moment of this privileged life God has entrusted to us to be faithful managers of God’s provisions for God’s glory!

To Him be the glory now and forever.

By His grace and for His glory,

-Shepherd

Soldiers for Jesus MC

Luke 12:42-46

42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant¹ whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.

Footnotes

[1] 12:43 Or bondservant; also verses 45, 46, 47

(ESV)

Matthew 25:14-30

The Parable of the Talents

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants¹ and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents,² to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.³ You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Footnotes

[1] 25:14 Or bondservants; also verse 19

[2] 25:15 A talent was a monetary unit worth about twenty years’ wages for a laborer

[3] 25:21 Or bondservant; also verses 23, 26, 30

(ESV)