AN ATTITUDE OF STEWARDSHIP, PART 1 (MT 6:19-24)

SERIES: ATTITUDES DISCIPLES REVEAL, PART 9

GCEFC: MARCH 8, 2009

INTRODUCTION

1. Last year, around this time, I did a short sermon series on stewardship. I said then that we would be addressing stewardship from the pulpit at least annually from that point on.

2. So this morning and next Sunday I’m following through on that commitment.

3. Stewardship is so basic to the life of a disciple, that my inclination would be to preach the same sermon on stewardship every single year. For 2 reasons.

4. First, because the principles and practices of biblical stewardship don’t change over time. The principles taught in the Word of God hold true today just as when they were written.

5. A second reason is because we tend to trip up more on the basics than anywhere else. We’ve seen a vivid picture of this truth over the past few months.

6. We’ve seen the brightest and most gifted economic minds of our time fail in some of the most fundamental financial principles. They should be embarrassed.

7. These are people who eat and sleep economics day after day, year after year. People that have college degrees in economics and business and finance and banking. They have hundreds of years of collective financial experience.

8. And yet they’ve brought our country and most of the world to the brink of financial disaster. In fact, for many it’s already a disaster.

9. But the failure is not due to some convoluted series of events that only the initiated can understand or could have predicted.

10. The failure came through the violation of basic principles that a typical student would have had down the first week of class.

a. They spent money they didn’t really have.

b. They presumed upon a future that was uncertain.

c. They made irresponsible loans to irresponsible borrowers.

d. They borrowed money assuming that markets would continue to go up.

e. They were greedy to the point of foolhardy speculation.

11. Had those in charge followed the basic principles of money management and basic laws of finance, our country would not be in the mess it’s in today.

12. Based upon the frequency he addressed them, stewardship and money were Jesus’ favorite topics. Most of the parables deal with stewardship and money management.

13. Jesus spoke more about money and stewardship than he did about prayer, love, or forgiveness. I suspect because he knew they would be great challenges for disciples.

14. In 6 verses from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we get an eternal perspective on money and wealth. An eternal perspective is the one we need.

15. So today and next Sunday we’re going to conclude our series on Attitudes Disciples Reveal. Not because we’ve explored every topic, we haven’t.

16. But there’s much more to cover in discipleship, so we must press on. In our series we’ve covered the attitudes of:

a. Humility

b. Thankfulness

c. Wonder

d. Teachability

e. Dependence

f. Optimism

g. We conclude today and next week with an attitude of stewardship.

17. And though there are many elements of stewardship we could focus on, most people struggle in 2 main areas—money and time.

18. Without a grip on these two, we’re headed for trouble. There are very few people who have figured out how to live without money. Even if it’s somebody else’s money.

19. But NO ONE has figured out how to live without time.

20. But we don’t have time this time to look at both, so at least for this stewardship series we’ll focus our attention on the stewardship of money.

A. IS WEALTH THE SIGN OF GOD’S BLESSING?

1. It was commonly believed in the Jewish mind that wealth was the unequivocal sign of God’s blessing. The sentiment was: Whom the Lord loveth, he maketh rich.

2. In fact, God had promised that he would prosper his people in the land if they walked in obedience to his word. And he promised to reduce them to poverty if they did not.

3. This was the declared arrangement between God and his covenant people in the land of promise. But this promise is not universal in application nor in time.

4. So in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he sets the record straight when it comes to material wealth. He gives us an eternal perspective on wealth that we often lack.

5. V19: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. He had to make this statement because it was exactly what people were doing.

6. Not only did people think that material wealth was a sign of God’s blessing, but the greater the wealth, the greater the blessing. So it seemed a worthy goal to accumulate as much as possible. You know: Whoever dies with the most toys wins.

7. But this was an earth-bound philosophy that was not to characterize Jesus’ disciples. So why should we NOT STORE UP TREASURES ON EARTH? He gives 3 reasons.

a. V19 still: where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

b. We don’t store up wealth in terms of clothing because clothing is subject to destruction. One example is what moths do to wool.

c. You may know that it’s not actually moths that eat wool, but moths in the larva stage. They eat the wool to sustain life before moving to the next stage.

d. But Jesus’ point is that clothing doesn’t last forever. It is either worn out with time, or gets eaten before its time.

e. Rust refers to the things more durable than clothing. But even possessions made out of metal can rust and deteriorate with time.

f. But what about those things that seemingly last forever—like gold and silver and precious stones?

g. They may last but they can be lost or stolen. The point is that all material possessions and wealth on earth are subject to loss—one way or another.

8. So Jesus contrasts the transitory nature of earthly wealth with the permanence of heavenly wealth—and encourages a change in investment strategy.

9. So rather than invest in what has a limited life expectancy, we should invest in what lasts forever—even into eternity.

10. Investments in the things of God will not wear out, rust out, or move out. They’re moth- proof, rust-proof, burglar-proof—they’re forever and therefore worthy of our focus and commitment and loyalty.

11. Then, in passing, which he later elaborates on, he says in V21: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

12. Jesus knows, as we know, that what we’ve invested ourselves in tends to capture our attention. Wherever we’ve stored up things is where our heart tends to be.

13. The problem is not so much that WE HAVE stored up possessions. The problem is that our stored up possessions HAVE US! It’s not what we own, but rather what OWNS US!

14. The point is not whether we need money or not. We all need some amount of money. It’s whether we give money its rightful place rather than its wrongful place.

15. Overly focusing on wealth and money can cause us to lose the greater and more important focus of life.

B. BAD EYES

1. The next 2 verses are not as easily interpreted as the previous 3. V23: The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.

2. There is a sense in which your eyes are kind of like lights to the body.

3. For example, close your eyes. When your eyes are closed, no light enters through them. So in a way, when you close your eyes, it’s kind of like shutting off the lights.

4. When you open your eyes, it’s as if the lights have been turned back on. When a person is blind, it’s as if the lights have been permanently shut off and can’t be turned back on.

5. If your eyes are good, it’s as if your whole body is full of light. Good eyes let in lots of light. This light really only matters to your brain, because the brain processes what your eyes allow to be seen.

6. Your hands and feet don’t care about the light your eyes let in because your hands and feet don’t process information this way.

7. That’s why a blind person is still able to assess their environment. They use other senses besides the sense of sight.

8. Jesus then contrasts the good eye with the bad eye. A good eye lets in light. A bad eye lets in little light or no light at all.

9. It’s as if he’s saying that just as good physical eyes let in plenty of light so you can process physical truth accurately. So good spiritual eyes let in plenty of spiritual light so you can process spiritual truth accurately.

10. The spiritual truth is the proper and godly place of money and wealth. If you look at money and wealth only through natural eyes, you will see them only in a natural way.

11. But if you look at money and wealth through spiritual eyes, you’ll see then in a spiritual way. The spiritual way is the way we should see it. But it’s neither natural nor is it easy.

C. THE DANGER OF THE WRONG ATTITUDE ABOUT MONEY AND WEALTH

1. In the final verse of the section, Jesus returns to his point in V21, that your heart will be where your treasure is. He’s talking about ultimate loyalty and commitment.

2. V24: No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.

3. First Jesus says that we are not to store up treasures for ourselves on earth. He doesn’t define storing up. So how do we know when we’ve moved to the point of storing up?

4. It’s about our attitude. You can be content when you have very little.

5. But you can be discontent and envious when you have a lot. How else can you explain someone like Bernard Madoff?

a. How much did he need to be content and stop stealing from clients? I know a dollar doesn’t buy what it used to—but I’d think $50 billion would be enough!

b. If you spent $1 million every single day, 365 days a year—it would take you 137 years to spend $50 billion.

c. But apparently $50 billion was insufficient for Bernie’s desires. You can be content with a little or a lot. You can be discontent with a little or a lot.

6. But Jesus makes a very important point in this last verse. His point is that in the end, we can only serve one God—not two.

7. The reason the word Money is capitalized is because it may have referred to a pagan god. The god known as Mamonas or Mammon—the god of money.

8. How does one end up serving the god of money? In 2 ways Jesus has just outlined.

a. First, it can happen when we don’t realize that money and wealth are transitory and limited to this earthly life only.

b. So he begins by reminding us that material wealth is only temporary. It can be lost during your life, or it will be left behind at the end of your life. It’s temporary.

c. Second, he warns us that in our approach to money and wealth we can be deceived. We can see it through distorted light or no light at all.

d. We can think we’re walking in light, when actually we’re surrounded by darkness. If you see with distorted spiritual vision, you can expect to be deceived.

9. So be on your guard, he tells us. Realize that both the true God and the money god are jealous gods.

10. They aren’t presented as bosses or employers, but as slave owners. Slavery involved full ownership by one person only, and fulltime service was to be rendered to that one owner.

11. You could not serve two slave-owners. Nor can you serve two Gods. Single loyalty is demanded and expected.

12. And there’s probably no greater threat to full commitment to God than our attitude about stewardship. The right attitude is a true mark of a true disciple.

13. Money can be an enormously effective tool in God’s service. Or it can become a cruel and self-centered master that deceives and distorts.

14. Before we can grasp and appreciate the practical applications of stewardship, we must grasp the proper biblical and eternal perspective of money in our lives as disciples.

15. Hopefully now we grasp it. So next week we’ll be ready for some practical applications of stewardship as disciples.