I preached a message on the stewardship of treasures on Sunday from Genesis 12-14. I focused on lessons that can be learned from the life of Abraham regarding this very important subject. When it comes to a discussion of money in the church people tend to tighten up. The subject is often addressed in churches by two extremes. In some churches, there is an inordinate amount of time given to the subject of money and it might lead one to think that is their primary issue of concern, and there is an overemphasis on it. In other churches, there seems to be a fear of discussing the subject so as not to offend anyone.
There are over 2000 verses in the Bible that deal with stewardship and accountability for the use of money. It is an important subject from God’s perspective because it reflects your heart and devotion to God.
Money and material things are not evil, they are a blessing from God. All of our money belongs to God and not just the portion that we give. Satisfaction cannot be found in the things of this world, it can only be found in God. Your Christian testimony is impacted by what kind of manager, or steward you are. If you live for yourself, and spend and hoard on yourself it speaks volumes about your heart.
A faithful steward will 1) Trust God with all of life- The basis for this is that God can be trusted. If you are not a faithful steward you are saying by your actions that you do not trust God to provide for your needs and you can do a better job of it. If you are going to be a faithful steward, it has to start by surrendering yourself to God. The reason such a small percentage of people are faithful with their finances, is because such a small percentage of people are truly surrendered to God, and trusting God with their lives. Stewardship is a heart issue. The only people who get upset when stewardship is addressed, are the people who are unfaithful and the Spirit of God uses it to bring conviction on their lives.
A faithful steward will 2) Take control of their God given resources in a God honoring way. The stewardship of treasures is very important. Your ownership of them is a direct result of God’s favor and blessing, and not your personal achievements. You have to think like a pilgrim and not a settler as you take control of your resources. Our citizenship is in Heaven and Jesus tells us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal, for where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. You have to trust God as the Giver and not get caught up in the gift. God wants you to rely on Him, and to seek His blessings. Your faith in God will provide the proper motivation for you to utilize your resources appropriately and in the best way to glorify God.
A faithful steward will 3)Tithe as a starting point in their worship in giving. For the Christian, we understand that giving begins with God. His supernatural expression of giving was in the sacrifice of His only begotten Son that we might receive forgiveness for our sins, become children of God and enjoy abundant and eternal life. God continually gives of Himself to us. He instructs us to give back to Him in our tithes and offerings. A tithe is literally a tenth of the increase. The tithe is the starting point for your worship in giving through the local church. Some try to argue that because we are under grace and not under the law that Christians are not obligated to tithe. I agree, in principle. However, if you want to go down that path, let’s take it a step further. I believe we are called to a much higher standard. The tithe is simply a baseline starting point. Jesus said in Matthew 10:8 Freely you have received, freely give! For the most part, I have found through the years that people who argue that point are trying to get around faithful giving and figure out how to hold back from God. People who have a giving heart ask how much they can give not how little they can decently get by with giving. An offering is anything above the tithe.
Give cheerfully and with a willing heart. Give proportionately and sacrificially. Know that you absolutely cannot out give God. God tells us to test Him in this area. Jesus gave. He gave in feeding the multitudes. He gave in healing the sick. He gave in teaching His disciples. He gave in compassion for the poor. He gave by offering rest for the weary. He gave ultimately by giving His life on the cross as payment for the penalty of my sins.
I want to be like Jesus. I want to be a giver. What about you?
Seth Polk
Stewardship of Treasures
Baptism at Cross Lanes Baptist Church
Sunday, February 17th was a blessed day to be in the house of the Lord at Cross Lanes Baptist Church. There were 530 people who gathered for worship and we witnessed five people (four adults and one student) go through the baptismal waters. The presence of the Spirit of God was evident.
A person is saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) when they turn from their sins and receive Jesus by faith. The first step of obedience following salvation is believer's baptism. It is a public profession of faith, it follows the example set by Jesus at the outset of His public ministry, and it is an important part of becoming a member of the local church.
I was personally moved Sunday and reminded once again why we do what we do. We passionately love and serve God who has rescued us from sin and hell, and we want other people to enjoy the privilege of being forgiven by God and having an eternal relationship with Him through His Son Jesus!
Praise the Lord! Let's keep the baptismal water stirring and trust that God is going to continue to work in our midst, for His glory and for the advancement of His kingdom!
Stewardship of Talents
We continued our emphasis on Life Stewardship at CLBC on Sunday by focusing on the Stewardship of Talents as it relates specifically to spiritual gifts. As the Word of God so clearly directs in Romans 12:1-8, there is a clear connection between surrendering to God and serving in His kingdom. We are to surrender, in presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. We are to serve Him with our spiritual gifts as outlined in vv3-8.
A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability, sovereignly given by God through the Holy Spirit, to every believer individually at salvation, enabling the believer to perform a vital function in the body of Christ, for the glory of God.
Every believer has at least one primary spiritual gift and I believe we also have secondary gifts that we are to use and be good stewards of. To use our gifts we need to: 1)Have a proper view of ourselves- in terms of viewing ourselves with humble attitudes, and we are to utilize those gifts because of the grace of God and according to the measure of faith given to us by God. 2) We need to understand the body of Christ and see how God's church operates in the local place with a group of people called out by Christ to advance God's kingdom agenda. Just as every part of the human body has a purpose, so does every part of the local church body. The church is more than an organization, it is a living organism.We are called out by God, to be consecrated to God, committed to one another, and called to reach the world for Christ! 3) We need to use what God has given to us. There are lists of spiritual gifts in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and I Peter 4.
Every member cannot perform every function, but every member can perform the function God has given to them. Use what God has given to you! Be careful not to focus on the gifts, focus instead on the glory of God and He will help you apply the gifts appropriately!
A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability, sovereignly given by God through the Holy Spirit, to every believer individually at salvation, enabling the believer to perform a vital function in the body of Christ, for the glory of God.
Every believer has at least one primary spiritual gift and I believe we also have secondary gifts that we are to use and be good stewards of. To use our gifts we need to: 1)Have a proper view of ourselves- in terms of viewing ourselves with humble attitudes, and we are to utilize those gifts because of the grace of God and according to the measure of faith given to us by God. 2) We need to understand the body of Christ and see how God's church operates in the local place with a group of people called out by Christ to advance God's kingdom agenda. Just as every part of the human body has a purpose, so does every part of the local church body. The church is more than an organization, it is a living organism.We are called out by God, to be consecrated to God, committed to one another, and called to reach the world for Christ! 3) We need to use what God has given to us. There are lists of spiritual gifts in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and I Peter 4.
Every member cannot perform every function, but every member can perform the function God has given to them. Use what God has given to you! Be careful not to focus on the gifts, focus instead on the glory of God and He will help you apply the gifts appropriately!
Stewardship of Time
On Sunday, I began a three week emphasis on Life Stewardship and preached from Ephesians 5:15-17. We will be considering the stewardship of time, talents, and treasures. A steward is a person who manages or oversees someone else's property. Everything we have belongs to God. God owns everything, we own nothing, God needs nothing. God is the Master and we are the stewards utilizing His resources and we will all one day stand accountable for our use of them. The Bible says that God requires of the steward that he be found faithful.
A.W. Tozer said, "Time is a resource that is nonrenewable and nontransferable. You cannot store it up, slow it up, hold it up, divide it up, or give it up. You can't hoard it up or save it for a rainy day- when it is lost it is unrecoverable. When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection."
Modern society is fast paced and absolutely full of activity. Most of us go, go, and go and then aren't sure where we have been. This type of schedule is not conducive to spiritual health and growth. We are even guilty of it in the church when we demand more and more of people that may or may not be adding to their spiritual health and growth, but it certainly adds to their schedule.
Perhaps we need to take a deep breath, pause, and consider the life and ministry of Jesus. He came to this earth to accomplish the most important task in all of history- the redemption of man. He was busy and in demand by thousands of people at a time. Yet one thing stands out to me in this regard concerning Jesus- He never seemed to be rushed! He never seemed to be in a hurry. He always had time for God the Father. He always had time for prayer. He made time for people as He looked on them with compassion.
Do what is necessary in your life to simplify your life and get back to the basics. You always have time for God. The question is, are you making the most of that time? You always should make time for people, to minister to them in the name of Jesus. Don't allow the clutter of this life to keep you away from what is truly significant! Be a good steward of your time. Life is but a vapor you know . . .
The Unifying Power of the Lord's Table
On Sunday, February 3rd, we observed the Lord's Table in the morning worship services of CLBC ( I Corinthians 11:23-26). It is always a spiritual time when we observe one of the two ordinances that Christ scripturally commanded us to, the other being believer's baptism. The bread represents the body of Jesus. The cup represents the blood of Jesus. The body and the blood were willingly given, central to God's eternal plan, for the remission of sins.
The Lord's Table has past, present, and future components. It is a look back to the past at the ultimate sacrifice that was made on the cross. We remember the love of God that sent His only Son to die a cruel death that we deserved. It is a look at the present because we are to search our hearts under the direction of the Holy Spirit and approach the Lord's Table carefully and with repentant, pure hearts. It is a look to the future because we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes, and our prayer is, "even so, come Lord Jesus!"
The Lord's Table has a powerful unifying effect when observed biblically. In it, we celebrate our common bond in Christ. It is the blood of Jesus that makes us part of the family of God eternally. The focus is on Christ and His glory. In Revelation 3:14 Jesus describes Himself as the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God. As the Beginning of the Creation of God Christ is the Source of all things. Without Him nothing was made that was made. As the Faithful and True Witness He is the One who completely satisfied the Law of God, was sinless, and took our sins upon Himself. He can utter nothing but truth and everything that He has said is true. Jesus said in John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. As the Amen, He is the final absolute. He will bring all things together in God's Kingdom as the Judge and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Let us look to Jesus "the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). When our focus is on Jesus, everything else fades in comparison!
The Lord's Table has past, present, and future components. It is a look back to the past at the ultimate sacrifice that was made on the cross. We remember the love of God that sent His only Son to die a cruel death that we deserved. It is a look at the present because we are to search our hearts under the direction of the Holy Spirit and approach the Lord's Table carefully and with repentant, pure hearts. It is a look to the future because we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes, and our prayer is, "even so, come Lord Jesus!"
The Lord's Table has a powerful unifying effect when observed biblically. In it, we celebrate our common bond in Christ. It is the blood of Jesus that makes us part of the family of God eternally. The focus is on Christ and His glory. In Revelation 3:14 Jesus describes Himself as the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God. As the Beginning of the Creation of God Christ is the Source of all things. Without Him nothing was made that was made. As the Faithful and True Witness He is the One who completely satisfied the Law of God, was sinless, and took our sins upon Himself. He can utter nothing but truth and everything that He has said is true. Jesus said in John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. As the Amen, He is the final absolute. He will bring all things together in God's Kingdom as the Judge and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Let us look to Jesus "the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). When our focus is on Jesus, everything else fades in comparison!
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