Christian stewardship is a vital but often neglected subject, encompassing all aspects of life that belong to God. The sermon emphasizes that believers are merely stewards of what God has entrusted to them, urging a generous and systematic approach to giving. Drawing on biblical examples and principles, including the Old Testament tithe and New Testament teachings on cheerful giving, the message highlights that God's work, done in God's way, will always be supported. Ultimately, trusting God with our resources, as demonstrated by various testimonies, leads to His provision and abundant blessing.
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You're going to close early. Then you can go shuffleboard, swim, fish, sun, sleep, whatever you want to do. Like that's going to be a good day for all of them. I've been preaching the gospel now for about almost forty years. And in that time, I never heard but two messages on the subject I'd like to talk about this morning. I hope it's just a coincidence. I hope that this subject hadn't been neglected that much.
I'd like to talk about Christian stewardship. The Bible has a lot to say about it, but it's a very neglected subject, especially among some of the people that meet in a simple fashion, as we do. I think that one of the reasons for that, and you know there's a reason for everything. One of the reasons for that is the lot of the Lord's servants, some very capable and able men, are fearful that they'll be misunderstood. Well, now, just because you're afraid you might be misunderstood, there's no reason to neglect a very, very important subject.
I frankly think that the Scriptures are reasonably clear about this, and there should be no cause for misunderstanding. And when you think of stewardship, of course, you think not only of means or money, but you think of anything and all that we have. Body, health, life, energy, time, possessions, homes, houses, whatever. And the Bible makes it very clear, at least to me, it does, and I believe it would to you.
that all that we have belongs to God, and that we are simply stewards of what He has entrusted to our care. So let's look in the book at the best place to look when you want to find what God says about a subject. I'd like to say this. I have a friend in California. I hadn't seen him in many years. I hope to see him again in late July. He's going to be speaking at a CBMC conference that I will be attending.
And quite a number of years ago now, in his home assembly in Oakland, California, Yes, he says George Amadine, that's right. George Amadine gave two messages on Christian stewardship or Christian giving or what should a Christian do with his funds or his money and so forth and so on, which belongs to the Lord, of course. And within six months, the regular normal offerings in that testimony had doubled. Now, Brother Willie, I don't believe that the offerings at Park of the Palms will double in six months as a result of this message.
It may not see any difference. It may be less. If I looked over the list of things that Brother Willie sent me that had been ministered upon this winter, I didn't see that, and I thought I needed to study it myself, and it's been a blessing of me to review it and study it, and so I'd like to share it with you this morning. Now, there are a number of scriptures that we could turn to. Perhaps the most familiar from a church age viewpoint is First Corinthians We have the word collection here. Now, you know the difference in a collection and an offering, don't you? You heard about the little boy that was grabbing the good pieces of chicken that was left on the table to take to his dog Rova.
But unfortunately, just before he was out the door, his mother caught him and said, Johnny, you put that good chicken back on the table. You take this wing and this neck and this bone here and this bone and this piece of skin, give that to Rova. So he got out to the backyard and he said, Here over, here over. I was hoping to bring you an offering, but I just had to settle for a collection of the leftovers. But I really believe that when Paul was using whatever Greek word he used for collection here, that I really believe that he really meant to say, I'm offering of what you have to the Lord.
Now concerning the collection for the saints, And I would say this, in all honesty and fairness, that one of the concerns in the early church concerning giving of means was in order that the poor saints might be helped and maintained and supported. Because, you see, they didn't have any great missionary programs and big building programs and educational programs such as churches and even some assemblers have today, back in the days of fall. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also, on the first day of every week, let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.
Another verse that I feel constrained to just call your attention to in the beginning is, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew six thirty-three. And then, of course, Romans twelve, one and two. Romans twelve, one and two. Most of us know it by heart. In the New American Standard it reads, I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. Now concerning giving and concerning fellowship with the Lord's work and in the Lord's work and in the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, You remember a couple of days ago when we brought the message on why the world has not been evangelized, I call to your attention that one of the reasons was because in many places, in many parts of the world, in many areas of the world, the servants of the Lord who are laboring there have frankly, actually, honestly, not had the funds they needed to do the job adequately.
I know of a young man, a pioneer man. in a pioneer field some several years ago, not a long time ago, but a few years ago. And he was using the radio very effectively to preach the gospel and to acquaint people in that area with the testimony that he was seeking to build up in the name of the Lord Jesus. And he frankly had to give up this very good spot on the radio, frankly, honestly, because he did not have the funds coming in to pay the radio bill. I know of another servant of the Lord. If I were to call his name, every one of you here would know of him.
I know of one occasion where he was called to the Midwest. Don't ask me where they fit. I'm not going to tell you. In fact, I don't even know the name of the town anyway. It's not important. He was called to the Midwest to hold a series of meetings. And for reasons that I did not know, for some reason they gave him some fellowship. But before he got home, he had to borrow money to buy gifts so that he could get on home. Now, there's some practical reasons sometimes for things like this. One is, in some places, Some of the Lord's people are frankly unaware, if they've never traveled much, they're unaware of how expensive it is to travel.
Today, for example, it costs fifteen or sixteen or seventeen cents depending upon what type of vehicle you're riding in. If you're riding in one of these midget cars, well, naturally it's going to be a lot less than a wood if you're riding a big one. Fifteen or sixteen cents to travel in a lodger car. If you're traveling by bus... Of course, it'd be much less, probably eight cents. If you're traveling by train, it'd probably be around nine cents. Of course, if you go by plane, which of course saves a lot of time, time-wise, it's much cheaper sometimes to fly, if it's a long distance, it would run up considerably more than that. From I. Yes, I'm sorry. Thank you, brother, for calling that to our attention.
All right. And I know a number of the young people who have expressed to me a fear, well, brother, for you, I frankly am a little hesitant to go into what we call full-time work, because I know of numbers of the Lord's servants that, frankly, have not been adequately supported, and they haven't actually had the funds they needed to do the job the way they needed to do them. And it's hard to do the job without tools. I'm not talking about... your personal needs now. I'm talking about tools that the servant of the Lord needs, such as radio openings and such as printing presses and such as vehicles to take the gospel out through the outlying areas and things like that.
Now, what does the Bible teach about this? Now, I want to say something. Don't form any opinions now about whether you agree with what I'm going to say until the end of the message. Will you do that? because you're not going to like some of the things I'm going to infer to in a few moments. But you just hold that opinion until the end, because by the time we get around to the end, I think you're going to agree with me. All right? Now, there's a common teaching in the church today among believers. Well, one thing about it, we can give just what we want to because we're not under the law, you know. We don't have to tithe. It's very common.
And, of course, In one sense, that's true. But this is not a legitimate reason for not tithing. I'll tell you why. You see, the tithe was instituted long before we had a law, if that's going to be your excuse. We have examples. of the tithe being given by Abraham to Melchizedek. I had these marked and turned down, but I'm not going to because I think most of you are familiar with it. I am going to give you the references, though. This is in Genesis, fourteen, twenty. That's the first mention of the tithe. We read again of the tithe being given by Jacob in Genesis twenty-eighth, verses twenty-nine, I mean verses nineteen, twenty-one, and twenty-two.
And remember once again, this was before the law was given. And then we have recorded the actual giving of the tithe when the law was instituted in Leviticus twenty-seven, thirty-one, thirty-two. So we see that the law was given, or when the law was given, the tithe which was already in practice was incorporated into the law. Later on in the Scriptures, we read that the tithe was used in Numbers eighteen, twenty-five and twenty-six to support the priestly family in the Old Testament. Now, if you start at the times that these things begin to happen and come up until the New Testament days, if you make a study of the history of God's people, you will find that in times of coldness, and lethargy and idolatry, when they got away from the Lord, when they began to neglect the spiritual lives which God had taught them to live, one of the first things they began to omit was the giving and the keeping and the laying aside of
the tithes. Now I think there's a spiritual truth there, that when people are cold and indifferent towards the fangs of the Lord, one of the first things they do is begin to cut off the support of the work of the Lord. On the other hand, in times of real spiritual blessing, when God is really doing a work and people's hearts are being touched and changed, you'll find that the funds are coming in. One of the things that I like about some of the works and ministries that God has raised up in this country, on the radio especially, is that you have never heard them mention money one time.
I like that. Someone has said, and I don't know who said it, but it's good, and I like it, and I believe it, and I believe it's true. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's support or God's funds. Well, I might as well tell you, the two ministers I'm thinking about right now, and if any of you know of any exceptions, you come up and tell me. But I don't ever remember hearing Theodore Elf on Back to the Bible or anyone on the radio Bible class ever asking people to send in money to keep them on the air. If I'm wrong, somebody come up and tell me, I'll quit saying that. But until somebody tells me I'm wrong, I'm going to keep on saying it because this is one of the things which has been a real blessing to me down through the years.
I thought very highly of these ministries and I find that I like to listen to them a lot better because I know that my God must really be in that work because they haven't had to beg people to support the ministry that they're in. Now another verse that we should call to our attention is here. in Romans, the book of Romans, chapter eight, verse three, and verse four. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did sin in his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin.
As an offering for sin. Now, Christ came not to destroy the law, but to do what? But to fulfill the law. Now, if we break down what we've been reading now from some of these scriptures, what would we find that Christians ought to do? The Apostle gives us an instruction right here in Corinthians, First Corinthians chapter sixteen. Now let me ask you something. What do we have that the people under the law didn't have? We have grace. We have the Word of God. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have enlightenment through the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit that the people under the law never, never had.
And if the people were expected under the law to give a minimum of ten percent, don't you think that ten percent could be the bare minimum that we could ever think that we should give back to the Lord? Because after all, doesn't everything that we have belong to the Lord? Well, certainly. We have received so much more than the Jews ever received. How would we ever be happy by giving back to God that which is his already, as little as one-tenth? In Luke's Gospel, chapter twelve, verse forty-eight, for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required.
And then, of course, we read First Corinthians, the first verse. It is of major importance that every Christian realize that all that he has belongs to the Lord. And I've already mentioned that in the introduction. Everything that we have, whether it's an automobile, whether it's a house, whether it is... our material possessions, whatever it is, they all belong to the Lord. And mind what a difference it makes when we come to the place where we recognize that Jesus Christ is Lord and that that belongs to Him, and anything that we're using, He is just allowing us by His grace to use which is already His. We read, or rather you quoted, Romans twelve.
I beseech ye therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your body as a what? A living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable unto God, which is, I like this, your reasonable service. And so what does the Holy Spirit tell us to do through the lips of the Apostle Paul? He says something very, very simply. Very simply, he tells us. that we are to give, and we are to give regularly, but that we are to give proportionately according as God has prospered us.
Systematically, not haphazardly. I have here in my notes that things that are important are done systematically. All right, so here's a young couple. And the young man, we'll say, is an engineer. And he gets paid about a thousand dollars a month. And so he takes a minimum of one tenth out of the one thousand, and he lays it aside. He might put it in a special account.
I know of numbers of the Lord's people that have special accounts. They call it the Lord's Tithe. Well, they have a special name for it. Some people put it into what they call a nonprofit corporation. And as the need arises, they take out of that account or out of that box, out of that bag or whatever it is, and when they go to worship the Lord, They take funds out of that account or that box or whatever it is, and that is where they get the funds that they put into the offering on the Lord's Day. Some missionary comes along, perhaps, and the Lord touches their heart. They go and they get what they're going to give out of the Lord's portion.
Because, you see, it's the Lord's money to begin with. Now, suppose this person gets... renumerated or gets paid only once a month. Does he just go ahead and take the tenth and on the first Sunday in the month of whenever it is he gets it, he puts it all in? No. Because you see, giving is a part of worship. And so he needs some of the Lord's money for the first Sunday, the second Sunday, the third Sunday, the fourth Sunday, and if it's a fifth Sunday, the fifth Sunday. And so he doesn't give it all one Sunday, that'd be stupid. We send a brother to you. Why would it be stupid? Because since giving is a part of worship, you are leaving out a part of worship.
And so you divide it up, and you give it proportionately. I have some friends, and I've noticed it. You can't help but notice it sometimes if you're sitting right across the aisle in front of you, or you're right behind them, and the offering basket comes by the second, third, and fourth Sunday, and they just... I feel sorry for them. Because, frankly, I think it's a poor testimony to their children. I think people don't know. What's the score? See? Is he not giving any to the Lord's work? And I know that's not true. I believe he never has really understood the significance of, according as God hath prospered you, let him lay by in store.
That's what it means. Lay it aside. Put it in my account. Put it aside somewhere. Put it up. And lest I might forget it, let me suggest this. And I know that I was never as careful about this as I should have been, and that is teaching boys and girls children to give systematically. I think it's a good idea when... People begin to work and make their own money. If they're not already in the habit of giving regularly to the Lord, then we encourage them. Now, with your very, very first paycheck, it would suddenly be good if you could take some of that money, if you remember it's the Lord's, and lay it aside, and then when you have opportunity to give something to the Lord's work, to give a portion of that into the funds of the treasury, of the local assembly, of the local church, of whatever it is, that you're serving the Lord through.
And this is a very, very simple, but a very, very practical way to give of that which God has entrusted to our care. Second Corinthians eight, nine says this, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Second Corinthians, nine seven, sheds even more light on him. Every man, according as he has purposed in his heart, so let him give, not drudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.
God not only loves a cheerful giver, but he will bless the man who gives freely to the work of the Lord. He says that if we sow sparingly, we'll reap sparingly. And I remember once, and I doubt if I've ever told this, in fact, I hadn't thought about this in years. We'll plant in cotton. See, my daddy was cotton farmer. Now, I don't know whether you've ever planted cotton or not. And you see, if you... plant a lot of cotton seeds, your supply in the cotton planter that you're having to hold up there, you know, is a new quotient.
The planter is a lot heavier, longer, because, and you're going to have to refill it more often. You understand? If you got it real open and a lot of cotton seed are going down, you're going to have to refill it practically about every fourth or fifth row. That's a lot of work. So you see, if you go there and you take a pair of pliers and you loosen it and you put that little lever under there up a little and tighten it, not nearly as many seed come out and you don't have to fill it in there as often. And I never shall forget how my dad, what he said and what he did. When he came out there about ten days or two weeks after we planted that cotton and he said, what in the world has happened?
He said, I set that cotton planter just the way I wanted it. And says, it looks like only half of the cotton is up. Well, that's the way it was. Because I got a pair of pliers, and I loosened that little lever there, and I pushed the little lever up, and it didn't plant near as much cotton, but I sure didn't have to fill it near as often. And so, since we didn't plant as many seed in the ground, we didn't get near as many cotton plants coming up. And that's just the way it is. If you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. And if you sow bountifully, you'll reap aboundifully.
Now that's very, very simple and very homely, I know. But that's just the way it is. You see, you get out what you put in. I remember hearing an illustration. I've forgotten where I heard it. And how long it was many years ago, I know that. But a young man went with his father somewhere to preach. He was kind of on a circuit, you know. And very, very small crowds. Very, very few people there. And it seems as though... when they gave the preacher his honorarium or whatever it was they gave him when he was ready to leave, that he got back just about what he had put in.
See? And the young man remarked on the way home, perhaps maybe the father had something to say about it. He says, well, father, if you'd have put more in, you'd have gotten more out. In Philippians chapter four, And some of you think I'm going to read the nineteenth verse. Well, I am going to read the nineteenth verse, but I'm going to read the seventeenth verse first. Not that I seek the gift itself, he says, Paul, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.
But I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I am ample supplied. Having received from Epaphroditus, what you have sent, a fragrant aroma and acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." In another place, he says, maybe it's in the King James even in this verse, he tells The Philippians said, One reason he appreciates funds which they send his way is because it would cause fruit to abound to their account.
I remember hearing a man in St. Petersburg say many years ago, he was just there for the winner. I don't even remember his name. It doesn't matter. God knows who he is. But God had blessed him abundantly in years past. And he said, Brother Few, and we were just, I think we were visiting a Harry Welch's home. We were around the table having what you people call tea. And he said, Well, Brother Few, I found out a long time ago that God's shovel is always bigger than my shovel. And then one of the most striking testimonies that I heard about giving to the Lord's word was from Brother Lydden Sheridan, who many of you know and appreciate, and if you know him, you love him.
But Lydden Sheridan, I didn't hear this message, but I heard about it, and I asked him about it, and he told me this. He said, for many years, shockingly, frankly, I had a hard time making ends meet. He said, I really had a rough time. says whether I was working and getting a salary or whether I was just out depending upon the Lord just to fly my knees. He said for a number of the years I had a real rough hard time getting by. He said during those years I was always very very skimpy with what I gave the Lord. And then he says finally the Lord impressed upon me that if I would trust him just to fly my knees.
and go ahead and give liberally to His work that He was able to take care of my needs. And He says, since the day that I began to operate on that premise, that I've never had one iota of a need. And so I think it's a wonderful thing when God's people can learn that you can trust the Lord. You can trust the Lord not just for this and this and this, but for everything. And so because the Lord has led me to mention this today, sometime today I'd like you to read the thirty-seventh Psalm. The Lord's helping us tonight, I'd like for us to study that wonderful thirty-seventh Psalm.
And we're going to especially talk about trusting the Lord tonight. Shall we pray? Father...