Stewardship with finances (part 1)

I appreciate each one that's come along tonight. I want to turn with you first of all to 1 Chronicles chapter 29. 1 Chronicles 29.

Tonight and tomorrow night we're going to be trying to look at the stewardship of our possessions and I still find this a very challenging aspect of it to look at. And I can't honestly say that I'm any more comfortable handling it now than I was when I first began to take up this subject. But I want to start with the all-important recognition that God is the true owner of everything we have.

In 1 Chronicles 29 the context is the preparation for the temple and King David spent the latter years of his reign accumulating tremendous wealth to build the temple. To me he's actually a great example for older Christians because King David had an ambition to build the house of God and God did not permit him to build it. God had his reasons.

David was a man of war. He had shed a lot of blood. He wasn't to be permitted to build the house of God.

But his son Solomon was going to be given that great privilege. Now David could have said, OK, I'll just go away and play. I'll take my retirement and I'll just enjoy myself.

He didn't sulk. He didn't act like he was set aside and no longer useful. He dedicated the last part of his reign to preparation for a house that he himself would not be able to build.

So in 1 Chronicles 29 we get some of the insight into the attitude of David. Verse 10, wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty.

For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee and thou reignest over all.

And in thine hand is power and might and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee.

For we are strangers before thee and sojourners, as were all our fathers. Our days on the earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding. O Lord, our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee in house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand and is all thine own.

I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness. This is a tremendous recognition that no matter who we are, no matter what place of authority and leadership that we have here on earth, we are managers, not the owners. And we are actually renters on earth.

No matter how much we own, we are just sojourners. We're only here temporarily. And I'm going to take you now to Luke chapter 16, where the Lord Jesus develops a little more of this principle.

And I would love to take the rest of the meeting to take up this passage, because there's so much in it. In fact, when I first started to think about and work in this concept of stewardship, Luke 16, the parable of the unjust steward, was really the beginning that triggered my thinking about it, an appreciation of the truth. The chapter starts out with an accusation.

There was a certain rich man that had a steward, and this steward was accused of squandering his master's goods. And if we would just stop to ask ourselves this question, is it possible that I have wasted what God has given me? Whether it is my possessions, whether it is my spiritual gifts, whether it is my relationships, whether it is the truth of God that has been committed to me and to you, have we been good stewards of what God has placed within our grasp, entrusted to us? And the principle is taught most clearly here that we are going to give account for what has been entrusted to us. Now, the Lord Jesus is drawing from the principle or concept of a steward, and this story has caused a lot of confusion, I think, in people's minds, because you wonder, how could this unjust steward be commended? Well, really, the whole point of the story is that this man, who was just about to get fired, he looked ahead, and he made use of what he had at his disposal.

Now, it happened to be his master's, and he no longer had true authority to handle it, but he did anyway. And he actually made his own retirement plan out of his master's wealth by making friends, by cutting down their bills, and giving them a real deal in the hope that they would let him stay with them for a while after he was out of a job. Sounds pretty crass.

And it's hard to imagine how anything commendable could come out of a story like this, but the Lord picks up that idea, and he actually then teaches us the concept of stewardship in this perspective. He wants us to know now how we can make use of what has been given to us for our highest blessing in the ages to come. That's the perspective that he teaches it to us.

In other words, God wants you to succeed. God wants to be able to honor you, and so he has entrusted into your hands something of his abilities, possessions, money, houses, cars, abilities, whatever it may be. He has entrusted it temporarily and as we are managers, according to our faithfulness, he will entrust to us the eternal things for the ages to come.

Now, if we could ever get that through our heads, we would think differently about everything in life. So the Lord is saying, then make to yourselves friends, in verse 9, of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when you fail, and that's not talking about when you blow it, but when your stewardship on earth is terminated, they, that is these friends that you have made, will be there to welcome you when you arrive in the presence of God. Have we ever grasped the reality of the connection between the now and the then? As we live our lives, we are impacting other people.

We are influencing other people. Do we really think about the reality that there are people that we may have influenced and helped into the kingdom of God? Or it may be fellow Christians that we have been a benefit and a blessing to. They're not going to forget.

This is what the point of it is. They're not going to forget in the kingdom what you were for them here. So that is the basic idea that he's teaching.

But he makes this strong emphasis that money is actually the least of what he has given us. I wonder if that fits with our concept of what is important. Money is actually the least of the things he has bestowed upon us.

But it is an important test. It is a test of our faithfulness. And so tonight I'm going to emphasize the spiritual principles, the spiritual issues that are involved in the stewardship of our possessions.

And tomorrow night some practical help, hopefully, on handling money and our possessions. Verse 11. If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon or riches, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? You know, most of us are pretty possessive about our money, aren't we? If there's one thing we consider as being mine or ours, as a family, it's our money.

But he says it's something that's been entrusted to you. It's not really yours. It's another's.

It actually belongs to someone else. But it's entrusted to you in the hopes that you will use it faithfully for God. So that God can righteously give you, in his kingdom, what will be the true riches and what will be genuinely yours to possess forever and ever.

Those are powerful, powerful statements. And I hope we can think about and think through these ideas to recognize that he is trying to work for our benefit in bringing before us these realities of truth. Now, let's come down into the rest of the outline in relation to what are the purposes then for which he has given us money to start with or some means of revenue or income and the very first thing is to meet our own personal needs.

So the purposes of daily work, the work ethic, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I actually have so many references on this outline that it should take at least a couple of meetings just to read them and to even comment briefly so I'm not going to be able to deal with every one of them but at least to get the sense of what is involved. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. He talks about brotherly love in verse 9 and then in verse 11 he says and that you study to be quiet or that you ambitiously endeavor to be quiet, to do your own business, to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly or becomingly, suitably toward them that are without and that you may have lack of nothing. You notice there's a two-fold purpose here in us fulfilling the most basic of human responsibilities to take care of yourself.

That you may have a good testimony Sometimes we seem to have a strange disconnect between what we think of as spiritual and what is whatever, carnal, natural things relating to money, daily work. There was a problem in Thessalonica and it's touched on in the second epistle more strongly. For some reason, there were some believers there who had it in their heads that it really wasn't a spiritual thing to work.

Whatever it may be, whether it was because they thought the Lord was coming and there was no sense going out and finding a job. You know, I know even when I was growing up there was such a strong emphasis on the Lord's coming that it actually warped some of our thinking. That's a strong statement to make, I realize, but I remember when the old gospel hall that we met in was basically rotting into the ground and yet there were some of the assembly did not think it was a spiritual or wise or prudent thing at all to build another hall or to get another building because the Lord's going to come.

Why would you ever go up there and spend money on a hall when the Lord is coming? Well, they did finally buy a building that had been a store in the little town of Charlton. That was back in 1964. Now the Lord could have come, but it still would have been prudent to have acted responsibly to have a decent building.

So there are things that as long as God has left us here, we have to live in the realization that it could be terminated at any time. We could die or the Lord can come. That is perfectly true, but we are still responsible to act responsibly as if it may not be yet for a while and we are to fulfill responsible basic living.

First of all, of taking care of our own necessities, of being responsible to pay our own way. People are not generally very highly impressed if we are trying to preach to them about spiritual things and we're not responsible in the most basic things of life. So this really is very, very basic.

But then the next point is relating to providing for family needs, not only personal needs, but family needs. And in 1 Timothy 5, there are very strong exhortations again in that chapter for children to pay back their parents. Maybe you'd like to spend the rest of the night talking about that.

Being responsible for our own families. Taking care of them. Maybe I should just read at least one verse there.

Verse 8 says, but if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house or his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel or an unbeliever. And then when you come down to verse 16, he says, if any man or woman that believes have widows, let them relieve them and let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. So again, basic family responsibility.

And this is one passage that would just by incidentally referring to if any man or woman who is a believer has a widowed mother or a widowed grandmother, there should be a sense of responsibility. Now this is in the day when and in an area where there is no social security, there is no kind of government support of any kind. And so it was entirely left up to those who could provide support for those who are no longer able to take care of themselves.

And so obviously he intends for whether male or female, as an adult, as a mature person, capable of working, not only to provide for one's own needs, but even to have a responsibility towards family members who would be in need. Now, that's more or less present needs. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul makes a reference and the context is really spiritual interest and care for the assembly.

But he just incidentally refers to this concept in verse 14, 2 Corinthians 12 and 14, and there's been an issue between Paul and the assembly. It's hard to know really what triggered it, what caused it. But in certain places where Paul went to preach, even after the assembly was established and there were believers there, he did not receive support from them.

Same thing happened in Thessalonica, where he seemed to be aware of this, perhaps this tendency of people to not want to work. In Corinth, I'm not sure what the problem was, but he insists on this, that he had not taken anything from them and now that he had opened his mouth, he would never take anything from them. He would rather die than be proven wrong on that.

And so he is saying here, this is the third time I'm ready to come to you and I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours but you. And then he makes this interesting statement, for the children not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

And I suppose there's probably many parents who can say amen to that. In their family experience, sometimes the more that we have given to some of our children, the less they have appreciated us. It's a strange thing to happen.

But he is recognizing this principle as he alludes to it. No, it's not normal for the children to be worried about taking care of their parents. It's the parents who are to be thinking ahead and planning ahead and preparing for the future of their children.

So that is a true, normal, proper attitude. Taking care of present needs, thinking ahead to future needs in preparation for life. Let's go back to Proverbs 6, where we have a lesson from the industrious ant.

That's not your relative, that's a little critter. Proverbs 6 and 6. Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her meat in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that travels, and thy want as an armed man.

Now, all I'm doing in referring to this is to show that even a tiny little creature like an ant, who has no one, there is no organized structure among the ants, that you can detect at least, and that's what this seems to imply, yet they work diligently to provide for the winter needs. Gather up food, store it away. And so this again is just recognizing the concept that it is expected of us to think ahead and prepare for more than just this moment.

The unfortunate thing in the culture that we are in is that somehow there is a sense of entitlement for the present. Where we expect the government, or we expect our parents, or we expect somebody else to worry about our future, and we're busy spending everything we've got for the present. There's been a loss of reality, of recognition that every year is not going to be the same.

We can't expect life just to go smoothly right through and always get better. There's going to be good times, and there's going to be hard times. There are going to be things take place where we're going to have needs.

And so there is the sense of necessity of laying up in store in preparation for future need as well. Now, just a comment about the normal will of God, the role of husband as the primary provider, and the role of the wife as the homemaker. In 1 Timothy 5, and Titus chapter 2, both of those passages refer to the woman in the home, and in a position of responsibility and authority.

Now, I'm just going to make a comment that it's important to notice the context that surrounds both of those passages. Some of the teaching that we have heard and possibly emphasized ourselves was maybe a little bit unbalanced in this, in that there was this idea that the woman should never be working at all outside of the home. Keepers at home.

Titus chapter 2. The context is warning against idleness, warning against slothfulness, laziness. That's the context of Crete. It's the same context in 1 Timothy chapter 5. So it's not there a warning against some woman being too ambitious and despising motherhood, but rather someone who is irresponsible in the primary area of life that God has called her to, which is marriage and family responsibilities.

Having said that, it is also clear right from Genesis chapter 3, when God apportioned out the roles of Adam and Eve, even under the curse, in the more difficult circumstances of life. To Adam, he says, in the sweat of your brow, you're going to till the field. And to Eve, he spoke about, in sorrow, she would conceive and bring forth children, and so on.

So there is that basic division of labor that is intimated in the Scriptures. And again, we have a lot of pressure and challenge today in our culture to be able to cope, to live responsibly, to fulfill all of the areas of our stewardship before God. But the one thing I would say is this, because of the extreme materialism of our age, we are in danger of substituting success financially for success in the family.

Let's keep the priority in our own hearts and not let ourselves get enmeshed in a financial mess and obligation I'll be getting into that more tomorrow night that creates a lot of tension and pressure on the family. Now, social assistance programs, I'm not going to make much comment about that either except to say that for Christians especially, we need to be careful to have integrity. Social assistance programs are designed to help people in need.

They're not meant to be an easy way out, to be irresponsible. So if there's a true need, that's perfectly legitimate. But it should never be that a believer would make use of something like that to avoid being a responsible citizen.

That's all I will say about that. Now, giving to God and then giving to others. Again, there's so many verses here.

I'm really just going to draw attention to the range of giving that is emphasized in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. There's quite an extended passage that deals with the right of the laborer. And that's in relation to the preaching of the gospel. And even though Paul himself, as I mentioned, had not made use of his right to be supported by the Christians at Corinth, yet he insists upon it being a legitimate right.

And he says in verse 6, Or I only and Barnabas have not we power or authority to forebear working? Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who plants a vineyard and eats not of the fruit thereof? Or who feeds a flock and eats not of the milk of the flock? And so he goes down through the chapter and emphasizes that appointed right by the Lord that those who serve in the full-time service would be provided for in that service. In Galatians chapter 6, there's a more specific reference to responsibility towards teachers of the word. Philippians chapter 4, that reference is I would use it as assembly responsibility and fellowship to the missionary, and I'm not by that implying only those who go to a foreign land, but those who may have been at one time there among the assembly but are now going to further regions.

The assembly at Philippi had a very close partnership with the Apostle Paul, and he was appreciating that in Philippians chapter 4, that even after he had left there and had gone into Thessalonica, he comments on the fact that they were the only church that communicated with him as concerning giving and receiving. And so they had been faithful to him in caring for him in other areas of the vineyard. And then 1 Timothy 5, verse 17 and 18 is one which is not so commonly taught among us, and yet it is very clear that those who are shepherds are also worthy to be supported.

Now, generally speaking, probably in this country as well as where I am in Canada, we don't think of that because most of the brethren who do the overseeing in assemblies are either working for themselves, or they're employed, or they're retired, and they are supporting their own needs. But I have heard of certain assemblies which are quite large, some maybe 300 in fellowship, some 600 in fellowship, or a thousand in fellowship. Wouldn't you like to see some of those? And in some of those assemblies there are brethren who have devoted themselves full time to shepherding the flock.

And this passage in 1 Timothy 5 is teaching very clearly that those who labor in the teaching, in the shepherding, are to be provided for. And so the principle in all of this is that God's work is worthy to be supported. It's a partnership with God and His servants in whatever aspect.

Similarly, in 3 John 5 verses 5 to 8, let's just return to that one. 3 John verses 5 to 8. The apostle is appreciating this man named Gaius, and he says, verse 5, Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers which have borne witness of thy charity before the church or thy love, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, that's literally worthy of God, thou shalt do well, because that for His name's sake they went forth taking nothing of or from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.

One thing I will say is that in the Lord's work among the assemblies among whom we work and labor, this has been a very precious reality, and something that commends itself even to the unsaved when they finally figure out that you're not there for their money. I remember when Murray Pratt and I went up to Kapuskasing, there were many, many strange stories went around. They were sure that we were that we were setting up a cult, and that there were all kinds of stories, that the people had to hand over all their property to us, and they had to, just every kind of story you could possibly imagine.

And but eventually the obvious truth became known in the community that and these new converts were able to bear witness that those men who came among them never asked for a dime, never ever had an offering in the gospel meeting. We take that for granted. It's actually quite unusual.

And that's very, very important, that those who come to hear the gospel are being preached to without any expectation that they're going to be having to hand over money for what they're listening to. And so this is a principle which still works today. And so he is saying here that this principle is of importance that the testimony of the gospel, of the grace of God, would never be contaminated with that slur that religion is a racket.

Sometimes when I listen to radio programs or I've watched somebody on TV who is some kind of an evangelist and about half of the program is taken up with begging for funds, it makes me appreciate so much how we practice this aspect of the work of God. Another thing that it does do as a protection for the integrity of those of us who preach is that we know before we start we're never going to get rich doing this. If we're in this for the money, we might as well give up now.

Because it doesn't matter how many people are coming out, it doesn't increase the purse. It's not like these campaigns where they get thousands of people to come and then they rake in the thousands of dollars through the campaign and so on. So there are many aspects that protect the integrity of the gospel, of the grace of God.

Now, the second page has giving to others, a social conscience, and really there's, again, many many aspects to notice and to look at. It's interesting that we actually do have an example in the New Testament of a fundraising campaign, believe it or not. A public a need made publicly known of famine, of distress in Judea.

And Paul took particular pleasure in encouraging Gentile assemblies to gather together diligently over the period of a year to prepare to help their Jewish counterparts. And the reason why he had such zeal about this was that he was keen that there would be an appreciation of the grace of God at work among both Jew and Gentile, bringing them together, and these Gentile converts who would be loving their Jewish brethren and caring for them in their time of need. And so he had no qualms about making that need known, while at the same time, and maybe even because of that, insisting that he himself not receive anything from what was being gathered together.

Now, I'm not going to go into the rest of them here. You can look these up at your leisure. I want to get to the last part under spiritual issues, because these are very, very important in thinking about stewardship over possessions.

Let's go to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. There's an important link made here between what we call materialism and covetousness.

Luke chapter 12 and verse 13. And one of the company said unto him, Master, or Teacher, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you.

And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. And then he immediately speaks a parable unto them about the ground of a certain rich man, the rich farmer. The thing that strikes me when I look at this passage is simply this.

There is no indication in this passage of there being any kind of fraud or any kind of illegal dealings. And yet the Lord uses the word covetousness. In fact, he almost equates occupation with things with covetousness.

Notice how he puts it. Verse 15. He said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.

Now I personally find this area very, very difficult to judge. Both in my own heart and certainly in reference to any other believer, I basically don't bother trying because I don't know why people buy what they do, own what they do, invest in what they do. It's not in my prerogative to judge.

Usually when we deal with covetousness as an assembly matter, it's usually involving some kind of fraud or illegal activity of some kind. I'm not putting it in that context here. I'm just thinking about what it means in my heart and in your heart in reference to things and covetousness.

Basically, I would put it this way, that materialism and what do we even mean by materialism? Basically, it's being occupied with things. Do you always have to buy one more thing? Do you know what makes contentment? There's so much interplay in these different terms that are used here that I'm going to have to just work them all together here to get through it. What is covetousness? Covetousness is craving for more.

Our whole economy is basically built on this principle of making you dissatisfied with what you've got and replacing it with something a little bit newer, a little bit shinier. This world wants you to be discontented. It's kind of a dead end.

The Lord is warning here, he says this, beware of covetousness because a man's life does not consist in the abundance of what he possesses. What is this telling us? If you are letting material things become the object of your interest and desire and fulfillment, you're actually wasting your time. Life is not found there.

It might be a good thing for us to start making some little signs hanging up over our most prized possessions. Life is not found here. This is not life.

The reason I put so much emphasis on previous nights on relationships is that basically we were made for relationships. That's where we find true satisfaction and fulfillment. And of course, the Lord himself, the ultimate relationship.

We are to love people and use things. Not love things and use people. But it's not any easier for me than it is for anyone else.

I don't know if we can ever say we're totally free from this tendency to get caught up in things. We always think if we just get this next thing, then we'll be content. We'll be happy.

We'll be satisfied. It doesn't happen. Or it's very transitory.

And so Ephesians 5 and 5 uses very, very strong language. He warns about immorality and then he also adds in Ephesians 5 and 5 For this you know, that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Now we should, when we read something like that, that should really shock us.

Would we ever want to think that we could be idolatrous? What is he getting at? Well basically what he means is this. An idol is something that is a rival to God. An idol is providing or we are looking to something to provide what God has promised to provide.

And basically I'll put it to you this way. Whatever you love most and whatever you trust the most that is God to you. And I should really just go because the second and third one on love and faith links with this.

Let's go to Matthew chapter 6. Because here we have it brought out both to those who would be wealthy and those who are otherwise. In verse 19, Matthew 6 and 19 and the first one is the issue of love. The love and loyalty of your heart.

When he says lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust does corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also. And then he goes on to say very strongly verse 24 you can't serve two masters and he says you cannot serve God and riches. So basically he's saying this.

If you have been blessed with an abundance you have more than you need to live on. Would you have any idea if you're in that category or not? When you have the opportunity to be able to lay up treasures to buy things just for the sake of having them not because you need them. This is what he's getting at.

But it's the idea of things becoming treasured to us. They're occupying our heart. There's always a fine line.

God gives us many things to enjoy. First Timothy 6 says he gives us richly all things to enjoy. So God is not a killjoy.

He does give us richly things to enjoy but he doesn't want our hearts captured by them. He wants our heart. And when something else replaces our interest, our desire and God is no longer first in our hearts it's become an idol.

The end of the chapter from verse 25 down is the opposite side of the coin. Where you have people who are anxious, worried about how they're going to get enough to eat, how they're going to get enough for clothing, how they're going to get enough to live on and so on. And his emphasis here is don't let yourself be overcome by anxiety over it.

Down in verse 31 he says, therefore take no anxious thought is a sense saying what shall we eat, what shall we drink wherewithal shall we be clothed for after all these things do the Gentiles seek. And here's the answer, for your heavenly father knows that you have need of all these things but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. So on one hand there is the issue of the love and loyalty of my heart and nothing else would become so important to me, a treasure to me so that God is being pushed out.

But here now is my trust in the love of his heart. In the love of my father's heart. And again it is possible for money to rule our lives whether we have it or whether we don't.

That's a sad reality. And so the Lord wants us to love him and trust him. So you see the spiritual issues that are raised in connection to our possessions are actually very significant issues in our relationship to God.

Now let's just hit the idea of contentment a little bit. In 1st Timothy chapter 6 there's mention made to godliness and contentment being great gain and then Hebrews 13 let's just read Hebrews 13 maybe verse 5 let your conversation or your behavior be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. You know contentment is quite a blessing.

What is contentment? Contentment is actually being free from the control of things. Of not having to get something because I have a craving for it. This is not talking about getting something because you need it for your well-being.

For your needs. Something that you are craving for your personal satisfaction and desires. Contentment is of most value when it is added to godliness.

What is godliness? Well godliness is being controlled by what god is. So here you have this important equation. If I am conscious of god if he is first in my life and I am controlled by what he is and I am free from the control of everything around me that the apostle says is great gain.

Godliness with contentment is great gain. Great blessing. Great advancement.

You know it's sad but true that discontentment or covetousness can keep a rich man poor while contentment can make a poor man rich. And you actually can't become a rich person until you've found contentment. That's why it's so important.

No matter how much you are able to achieve this world will always have something more for you to chase. Remember Solomon in Ecclesiastes? After all that he had accomplished all that he had achieved all that he had amassed sitting in a palace of gold everything gold he said it's futile. Chasing the wind because he had given his heart to try to find life there.

Think of the contrast with the apostle Paul in a prison cell a dungeon not sure if he's going to live or die and he says to me to live is Christ to die is gain he had found where true life is. And so that's one of the great challenges that we face today in relation to the whole material realm. As someone has well said it's not how much you own that is the issue it's how much it owns you.

Who or what really owns you possesses you, controls you determines what you pursue. As the Lord Jesus said you cannot serve God and riches. Now the last point that was related to that is also found in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and that's the idea, the problem of pride.

This is another one of the unfortunate side effects that is possible is that we can use money or possessions to make ourselves seem significant. To seem successful. To look important.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who when they see somebody else has bought this nice new car it's not very long before they're out getting one just like it or a little better. That's the old problem. And you know that the same thing is true whether you're in Africa whether you're in the Middle East, whether you're in South America or North America.

Whatever the status is economically, the same issues are being played out everywhere you go. So may God help us to challenge our own hearts and to learn how to put money in its place as a stewardship of God. Shall we pray? Our Father we would commit ourselves to Thee recognizing that Thy Word cuts very deeply into our lives and at times we find it very difficult to assess our own state of mind and heart in relation to material things.

Help us to find that balance of appreciating what Thou hast given us of being diligent in our work and endeavoring to be successful of being productive and useful to help others to further Thy work as well as providing for our own needs. But to recognize that there are dangers in this area as every area of life that we can be drawn into a love for either money directly or what it can give us and our hearts can be captured away from Thyself. We cry to Thee that Thou might keep our hearts and restore our hearts to that priority of seeking Thee above all things.

Being able to be content in the circumstances of life and to not become envious of others who may have achieved more than we have. Help us to appreciate Thy hand in our circumstances and to be able to say with the Apostle that I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. We cry to Thee we would acknowledge that we have not achieved this but we would seek that we might become more suited to be useful to Thee and to handle what Thou hast given to us with a consciousness of our stewardship.

So we commit ourselves tonight into Thy hand in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Let's sing together 443 Savior Thy dying love Thou gavest me Nor should I ought withhold my Lord from Thee In love my soul would bow My heart fulfill its vow Some offering bring Thee now something for Thee.

Kindly remember the meetings continuing each night till Friday night. 443 Savior Thy dying love Thou gavest me Nor should I ought withhold