back to index2020-01-19 Is He Worthy of Our Finances?
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probably before most of you came to our church, 00:00:24.240 |
so that's why you've probably never seen me here. 00:00:27.240 |
It's back many years ago, before we even had two services, 00:00:40.240 |
so when our church transitioned to NASB, I pulled it out. 00:00:44.240 |
And as I was preparing this pulpit today, this morning, 00:01:05.240 |
at least in terms of our church was very different, 00:01:09.240 |
probably just like this section right here, back then. 00:01:14.240 |
and this pulpit has been faithfully preaching God's word 00:01:18.240 |
for decades now, and I've been a beneficiary of that, 00:01:28.240 |
that the word of God has been faithfully preached 00:01:37.240 |
probably a thousand sermons, thinking through that. 00:01:52.240 |
and the signing of that covenant by our members. 00:02:07.240 |
So I get the privilege of getting to the very, 00:02:26.240 |
"in accordance with Christ's lordship over my life." 00:02:34.240 |
"in accordance with Christ's lordship over my life." 00:02:46.240 |
Finances permeates every day, most days of our life, 00:02:53.240 |
Maybe we eat out, maybe we're spending, paying bills. 00:03:04.240 |
or evaluating your thinking about finances and money 00:03:10.240 |
So unfortunately, we have heard in the church 00:03:20.240 |
we've heard the news over the years of theft, 00:03:42.240 |
And those are things that we should be intentional about 00:03:52.240 |
or the elder that handles our financials for our church, 00:03:56.240 |
and for the most part, I'm very encouraged by our members 00:04:04.240 |
Not just because you signed a covenant to say, 00:04:11.240 |
but there's intentionality for the most part. 00:04:20.240 |
the idea of giving for God's kingdom and for his church, right? 00:04:34.240 |
then that was the spirit convicting you to give more, right? 00:04:38.240 |
It's not me trying to milk you for that, okay? 00:04:43.240 |
So what does the Bible say about money, right? 00:04:51.240 |
Overwhelmed with how much the Bible talks about finances 00:05:01.240 |
But I'm gonna try to touch upon some major points. 00:05:05.240 |
So if you flip the next slide, just the Gospels, okay? 00:05:18.240 |
One out of three are talking about finances and money. 00:05:23.240 |
The hidden treasure, parable of the pearl of great price, 00:05:29.240 |
And you should kind of have an idea what these are about, right? 00:05:33.240 |
The talents, easy one, the prodigal son and money, right? 00:05:49.240 |
So there's many more, and that's just the Gospels, right? 00:05:55.240 |
Money issues and money teaching is not ambiguous in Scripture. 00:06:06.240 |
the idea of what are the most sensitive areas of discussion 00:06:12.240 |
What are the things that people say don't talk about 00:06:19.240 |
The three things not to discuss in polite company. 00:06:33.240 |
So I get two of three that I get to talk about. 00:06:40.240 |
But we're not going to talk about politics, right? 00:06:42.240 |
If you want to talk to me offline or away from the pulpit, 00:06:46.240 |
I'll be happy to discuss those things with you. 00:06:48.240 |
But I get to touch upon this sensitive issue of don't talk about this 00:06:53.240 |
Money, religion, politics, all of these things. 00:06:59.240 |
I'm going to give it up front as our pastors have been doing. 00:07:05.240 |
Number two, obligation versus free will, the idea of lordship. 00:07:10.240 |
And then the practical, the rubber meets the road. 00:07:15.240 |
So as I was speaking to our pastors and Pastor Mark and I had a discussion, 00:07:26.240 |
We both agree that there's so much material out there to try to get a topic addressed. 00:07:33.240 |
It's a lot easier sometimes to have a passage and dive into expository 00:07:39.240 |
kind of exposition on that passage because you have a place to go. 00:07:43.240 |
You can look at the passage through all angles. 00:07:48.240 |
So what I said was, "Well, okay, I'm going to do this. 00:07:55.240 |
It gives us a platform, at least for me, to jump off of. 00:08:02.240 |
I commit to tithing and giving financially in accordance with Christ's lordship 00:08:13.240 |
And built into that statement is the idea of motivation. 00:08:19.240 |
So when we think about tithe, the Greek word is "masar," tenth. 00:08:28.240 |
The dictionary definition of tithe is the tenth part of agricultural produce 00:08:34.240 |
or personal income set apart as an offering to God or for works of mercy 00:08:40.240 |
or the same amount regarded as an obligation or tax for the support of the church, 00:08:49.240 |
So when we put this into the covenant, well aware that the New Testament 00:08:54.240 |
doesn't necessarily address tithe as the word, right? 00:09:05.240 |
So when we think as we go through the Old Testament, 00:09:08.240 |
as we see that the tithe is ultimately a bare minimum of what the Old Testament 00:09:16.240 |
So what I wanted to do is kind of a brief case study through the Old Testament 00:09:22.240 |
For those of you who were here during Leviticus study, 00:09:26.240 |
we're going to touch upon some of the things you probably already learned. 00:09:28.240 |
But if you turn to Deuteronomy 12, 4 through 7, 00:09:34.240 |
it's up there for your reading if you don't have your Bible 00:09:51.240 |
he's talking about the comparison between idol worshipers and other nations. 00:09:55.240 |
So it picks up in verse 4, "You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God. 00:10:01.240 |
But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose 00:10:04.240 |
from all your tribes to establish his name there for his dwelling. 00:10:11.240 |
There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, 00:10:15.240 |
the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, 00:10:19.240 |
and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 00:10:22.240 |
There also you and your household shall eat before the Lord your God 00:10:25.240 |
and rejoice in all your understandings in which the Lord your God has blessed you." 00:10:31.240 |
So there was this requirement as they approached God, 00:10:43.240 |
Pretty much every gathering of the people of God, right? 00:10:47.240 |
The festivals, the feasts, the announcements, 00:10:56.240 |
Something, you can't come empty-handed, right? 00:10:59.240 |
So you bring an animal, some grain, a drink offering. 00:11:05.240 |
The point is you don't come empty-handed before the Lord 00:11:12.240 |
So what typical sacrifice dominated the Old Testament system? 00:11:16.240 |
I found this chart or this graphic, the five offerings. 00:11:21.240 |
It's kind of a lot of there, a lot of things to read, 00:11:30.240 |
The burnt offerings, sin offering, guilt or trespass, 00:11:37.240 |
But I want to kind of focus on the blood atoning offerings, 00:11:44.240 |
That was a gateway into appeasing God, right? 00:11:52.240 |
And then we see the Thanksgiving and meal and picnic type of offerings, right? 00:11:56.240 |
Where people would give out of Thanksgiving and appreciation, 00:11:59.240 |
they would sit down with their families and have a meal together. 00:12:03.240 |
So how does this principle apply to us today? 00:12:07.240 |
So the most important sacrifice has been done, accomplished for us, right? 00:12:16.240 |
"For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, 00:12:18.240 |
holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners 00:12:23.240 |
Who does not need daily like those high priests to offer up sacrifices, 00:12:28.240 |
first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people?" 00:12:32.240 |
Because this he did once for all when he offered up himself. 00:12:37.240 |
And for those of you who are going through the first John memory, 00:12:43.240 |
there's 100 people in our church going through this. 00:12:47.240 |
But Chapter 2, he's atoning sacrifice for our sins, 00:12:51.240 |
but not only for ours, but also for the whole world. 00:13:03.240 |
So we're not required to bring an offering of an animal to shed blood 00:13:07.240 |
and all that, like the Old Testament believers, right? 00:13:10.240 |
But we have the privilege of bringing offerings of appreciation and thanksgiving. 00:13:21.240 |
But we have the privilege to still come and bring offerings of appreciation and thanksgiving. 00:13:32.240 |
That sacrifice and offering that we bring now is ourself. 00:13:37.240 |
That's what this Scripture teaches, right, in Romans 12, 1 and 2. 00:13:41.240 |
In light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul expounds for 11 chapters, 00:13:47.240 |
Chapter 12, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, 00:13:51.240 |
to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, 00:14:02.240 |
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind 00:14:05.240 |
so that you may prove what the will of God is, 00:14:09.240 |
that which is good and acceptable and perfect." 00:14:13.240 |
So the question is, what kind of offering sacrifice do you bring? 00:14:19.240 |
What does presenting your bodies a living sacrifice mean when it comes to finances? 00:14:28.240 |
So the obligation versus free will, the lordship side of this. 00:14:37.240 |
Romans 12 talks about that. It's your whole life. 00:14:42.240 |
Namely, as we think through the financial side of things, it's time and money, right? 00:14:50.240 |
Pastor Nate last week touched upon this idea of do not forsake the meeting together 00:14:57.240 |
and looking out for one another as he went through the one another's, right? 00:15:01.240 |
All these aspects of looking out for the interests of others in time, right? 00:15:06.240 |
That's where we can rubber meet the road in terms of how to apply that covenant. 00:15:13.240 |
As well in this aspect, we need to think of the resources and the finances side of things. 00:15:19.240 |
So let's kind of look through what we studied in Philippians chapter 4, verses 15 and 17. 00:15:26.240 |
"You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel after I left Macedonia, 00:15:33.240 |
no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone. 00:15:38.240 |
For even in Thessalonica, you sent a gift more than once for my needs. 00:15:44.240 |
Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account." 00:15:51.240 |
So giving allows us to profit an increase to our account. 00:15:58.240 |
In other words, we are the beneficiaries as we participate in giving, in participation of gospel ministry and work. 00:16:08.240 |
Acts 20, our brother Peter read that, "In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work, 00:16:15.240 |
we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said. 00:16:24.240 |
The NIV talks about partnership and partnering, participation in the gospel. 00:16:29.240 |
So another thought came to my mind, "Are you gospel-centered?" 00:16:36.240 |
So when I say gospel-centered, maybe you're thinking of other things. 00:16:41.240 |
Maybe gospel-centered isn't the normal kind of thought process of financial or resources. 00:16:47.240 |
Maybe it brings some baggage because there's a lot of things that gospel-centeredness brought about 00:16:58.240 |
Is your aim in your life for gospel purposes? 00:17:03.240 |
Does gospel-centeredness mean that the gospel is the goal? Of course it does. 00:17:09.240 |
So we talk about vision number one, right, at our church. 00:17:12.240 |
We want to give God-centered worship, not man-centered. 00:17:18.240 |
Looking at everything through the prism of God, right? 00:17:22.240 |
So when you think about God, what is God-centered about? 00:17:38.240 |
If we're going to use that term to identify ourselves with that we want to be gospel-centered, 00:17:44.240 |
we want to be God-centered. Everything has to go through that prism. 00:17:54.240 |
Philippians chapter 1, 3 through 5 says, "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 00:18:00.240 |
always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, 00:18:04.240 |
in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now." 00:18:10.240 |
For context, Paul is using the Philippians as a model in Macedonia to encourage the Corinthians. 00:18:22.240 |
If you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8, he's referencing the Philippians. 00:18:27.240 |
"Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 00:18:35.240 |
that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. 00:18:43.240 |
For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, 00:18:48.240 |
they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation," 00:18:55.240 |
again that word, "in the support of the saints. 00:18:58.240 |
And this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God." 00:19:07.240 |
So when we think about finances and resources, often we're thinking of investments, 00:19:15.240 |
property investments, cash, credit cards, retirement planning, 401ks, mutual funds, index funds, Roth IRAs. 00:19:27.240 |
But how does that relate to covenant number one, where Pastor Mark went through, 00:19:34.240 |
"I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." 00:19:43.240 |
So when we think through the idea of practical illustrations, I want to give you one. 00:19:50.240 |
God was gracious to give me one in practical life. 00:19:55.240 |
So a few weeks back, as I was thinking through this, I was kind of living life, right? 00:20:06.240 |
I left my house. I had two of my kids, CJ and Corbin, I think, with me. 00:20:14.240 |
So I left the house, and unfortunately, I left my wallet at home. 00:20:20.240 |
So as I'm driving, as I'm getting on the freeway, I'm like, "Oh no, I left my wallet at home." 00:20:26.240 |
Not a big deal in my mind, because Costco, you could do everything through your phone. 00:20:30.240 |
So I wasn't going to turn back to get my wallet. 00:20:35.240 |
My second son, whose name is Corbin, he says, in response to my comment, "I left my wallet at home," 00:20:43.240 |
he's like, "Appa," which means "Daddy" in Korean, "money is very important." 00:20:52.240 |
And I'm driving, and I heard that, and I was like, "Yeah, it is. It is important." 00:20:57.240 |
I chuckled about it, but as I'm thinking about financials and what I'm going to address with the church, 00:21:03.240 |
I was like, "That's so true. Money is very important." 00:21:08.240 |
The Bible talks so much about money and our attitudes towards it. 00:21:15.240 |
Oh, and by the way, Corbin, if you don't know what Corbin means, it means "offering devoted to God." 00:21:23.240 |
So interesting, and it didn't come from my first son, CJ, but Corbin. 00:21:35.240 |
So that thought came to me, more and more, the importance of money in light of Scripture. 00:21:45.240 |
These verses and these parables, we can sit down and go through all of them. 00:22:01.240 |
Is it the mindset of the definition of tithe, right? 00:22:14.240 |
Is that the mindset we should have in terms of church? 00:22:17.240 |
That I have to give because they're going to go after me then. 00:22:21.240 |
Not the civil government, but the church government's going to go after me. 00:22:29.240 |
Don't view giving to the church as a tax that you would pay your property taxes or income taxes. 00:22:43.240 |
It's for the gospel to go forth and move forward. 00:22:47.240 |
Don't think I got to pay the minimum, as less as possible, to not get into trouble. 00:22:59.240 |
2 Corinthians 9, 6 says, "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, 00:23:07.240 |
and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." 00:23:12.240 |
Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart. 00:23:18.240 |
Not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 00:23:26.240 |
We've heard offering prayers about desiring to be, having an attitude of cheerfulness. 00:23:38.240 |
When we think of generosity, what does that mean? 00:23:48.240 |
How much do you spend time thinking about money? 00:23:59.240 |
But for the most part, I think a lot of us do spend some time thinking about money. 00:24:07.240 |
I have this I want to save up for, or this college fund I got to think about my kids over. 00:24:18.240 |
Remember we talked about the rubber meets the road time and money? 00:24:23.240 |
How much of that time is spent thinking about your finances? 00:24:28.240 |
When you think about finances or investing or investments, do you think about eternity? 00:24:39.240 |
Is eternity coming to mind in the context of your thinking about how to handle your money? 00:24:48.240 |
And to be fair, this is an encouragement and challenge to me as well. 00:24:54.240 |
To think in aspects of how I spend my money, how is that benefiting the gospel enterprise? 00:25:04.240 |
How are you using that money for the furtherance of God's kingdom? 00:25:08.240 |
One thing is we talk about, if you know anything about finances and financial planners and these people in finance, 00:25:15.240 |
they will say, "Are you investing in your future?" 00:25:20.240 |
You've heard that phrase, "Are you investing in your future?" 00:25:25.240 |
Are you thinking the long, I have it written down here, the long-term future? 00:25:42.240 |
He says in verse 19, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 00:25:52.240 |
but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 00:26:02.240 |
For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be." 00:26:07.240 |
So I found this quote from one of my favorite pastors, Pastor John Piper. 00:26:17.240 |
"My take on tithing in America is that it's a middle-class way of robbing God. 00:26:24.240 |
Tithing to the church and spending the rest on your family is not a Christian goal. 00:26:31.240 |
The real issue is how shall we use God's trust fund, namely, all we have for his glory? 00:26:38.240 |
In a world with so much misery, what lifestyle should we call our people to live? 00:26:48.240 |
So I kind of stopped there and thought about what example am I setting? 00:26:53.240 |
I thought of the phrase, "Put your money where your mouth is." 00:26:59.240 |
I also thought, when the non-believers hear about you tithing, it's 10% of your income, right? 00:27:14.240 |
What is the reaction of the world when they say, "You give 10% of your money to the church?" 00:27:26.240 |
So what percentage is appropriate for a believer in Christ who has received everything? 00:27:34.240 |
This idea of comfort in finance, this idea of comfort in general, 00:27:43.240 |
We like to say Orange County Christianity, right? 00:27:49.240 |
It's the idea of this push for our whole culture to push for areas of our lives 00:27:54.240 |
that make it easier, whether that be comfort of automation, self-driving cars, efficiencies. 00:28:05.240 |
So in those aspects of comfort, how should we view our finances? 00:28:11.240 |
The phrase, "You should have enough to take care of you for the rest of your life." 00:28:17.240 |
Is that how God views how to handle the money he's given to you and us as stewards? 00:28:25.240 |
"Oh, you should take care of yourself for the rest of your life." 00:28:28.240 |
And then you could start thinking about others. 00:28:32.240 |
So many of us are frugal and track every cent of money that we have. 00:28:43.240 |
So why are we so particular about every single cent? 00:28:48.240 |
Because, as Corbin Jentz said, money is very important. 00:28:54.240 |
I titled this sermon, "Is He Worthy of Your Finances?" 00:29:12.240 |
This idea of how do we spend our finances for gospel ministry. 00:29:20.240 |
I thought about Paul's example of he's using the Philippians as a prime example of their participating. 00:29:28.240 |
And he thanks them for financials because it's moving the gospel forward. 00:29:35.240 |
It just so happens, as I was thinking through that, what is going on now? 00:29:42.240 |
We have a team in India, and many of us in our church, I think it's 51. 00:29:51.240 |
51 India pastors are supported by our church. 00:30:04.240 |
We're supporting them so they can free themselves for gospel ministry. 00:30:11.240 |
Think about what we hear from our brothers and sisters in India. 00:30:17.240 |
They're literally on the front lines of gospel enterprise. 00:30:21.240 |
They walk into villages where they don't know anything about Jesus. 00:30:36.240 |
Brothers and sisters, we are participating in that. 00:30:40.240 |
We are giving our resources for the funding of gospel ministry. 00:30:45.240 |
So when you view giving to the church, when you view giving to gospel enterprise, you're on the team. 00:30:54.240 |
I thought about the idea of, you know, we pay money to go see sports. 00:30:59.240 |
I remember Pastor Peter just talking about Kobe and his sports. 00:31:03.240 |
And I thought about this, that we participate in this team because we pay money to support it, right? 00:31:14.240 |
When we put our finances for gospel ministry, especially with these India pastors, it's kind of like an analogy of World War II. 00:31:25.240 |
I don't know how much history you guys read or whatnot. 00:31:29.240 |
World War II is pretty far removed from us now. 00:31:32.240 |
But when World War II was happening, America's attitude was we have to ration to support the effort of fighting this evil. 00:31:57.240 |
But the attitude should be when we're giving our finances, remember I talked about gospel-centeredness. 00:32:06.240 |
The aim of our money to be given to the Lord's work is for that purpose. 00:32:13.240 |
That we move and think through our finances when we oftentimes think only about, "Okay, what am I going to do with my money?" 00:32:28.240 |
And I'm not saying here to not pay your bills and live out on the street. 00:32:36.240 |
The point is the self-evaluation and hard attitude of how you view this money that God has given to you as stewards. 00:32:47.240 |
So the goal of this topical message and this covenant is to commit to the idea of gospel enterprise. 00:33:01.240 |
So when we think about specific ways to participate in the gospel through the money. 00:33:19.240 |
This idea, everything, all of these other things should be run and filtered through the church. 00:33:36.240 |
We are the body of Christ in the description of the church. 00:33:42.240 |
So the priority of finances should first and foremost go to the church for gospel enterprise. 00:34:02.240 |
As I was thinking through this again, this idea of not to be prideful or confident or anything like that. 00:34:11.240 |
But there's a sense of immense gratefulness that we even have this relationship where we can participate and pray for 00:34:22.240 |
and hear these crazy testimonies coming out of India for the furtherance and pushing of God's kingdom. 00:34:30.240 |
And if you don't know, there's a lot of fruit being born through that. 00:34:34.240 |
I don't think we get to disseminate as so much information, but people are coming to Christ by the work of these Indian pastors. 00:34:44.240 |
And hopefully the continued support as our teams out there. 00:34:51.240 |
Pastor Peter Chung spent many years in compassion. 00:34:55.240 |
It's the support of the local church that we're doing. 00:34:58.240 |
We're supporting the local church for the furtherance of taking care of these kids for gospel ministry. 00:35:11.240 |
What better way to bring them into your home and saturate them with the gospel? 00:35:21.240 |
I am the beneficiary of when I was a younger Christian, I listened to a lot of radio sermons. 00:35:29.240 |
I spent a lot of time in a car like eight hours a day, and I filled my mind with these radio programs of sermons. 00:35:51.240 |
So this idea of finances, it permeates every day of our life. 00:35:58.240 |
And the covenant says I commit to tithing and giving financially. 00:36:05.240 |
But I want to encourage our church, that is in the Old Testament, that was the bare minimum. 00:36:12.240 |
I want you and us to think about the percentages. 00:36:16.240 |
If you want to think about percentages, what percentage is appropriate for gospel ministry? 00:36:23.240 |
If I left the idea of Romans chapter 12 verse 1, offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing, 00:36:30.240 |
and left it at that and said, how are you going to handle the fleshing out of what God says when he says give everything you have? 00:36:38.240 |
How does that apply to my finances for your offering before God? 00:36:44.240 |
We can think through time, how much time can I spend giving to God? 00:36:51.240 |
How much can I think about how much money I'm going to give? 00:36:57.240 |
Again, I want to reiterate, this isn't a desire to milk our church. 00:37:05.240 |
This is a desire for evaluating and self-examining how I view the spending of my money. 00:37:14.240 |
And we all agree and understand that it's not my money. 00:37:19.240 |
How are we using that for gospel ministry and gospel purposes? 00:37:23.240 |
And that's the encouragement that we sign, in accordance with the Lordship of Christ over our life. 00:37:37.240 |
A lot of people were like, I have my checkbook today. 00:37:44.240 |
Bring your checks and put it in the offering. 00:37:49.240 |
I mean, it really hit home for me as I was reflecting and thinking, I have that same attitude sometimes. 00:37:56.240 |
Well, what am I going to spend my money on to benefit me or my family? 00:38:01.240 |
Should that be the number one thought process? 00:38:07.240 |
If we are gospel-centered people, we need to start integrating that rubber-meets-the-road kind of attitude about money into everything that we do. 00:38:18.240 |
And it's not just about money, it's about our time, everything. 00:38:21.240 |
So, I just got the privilege of dealing with this sensitive topic about money.