Financial Commandments (part 1)

Welcome to Worshiping the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. Today we're continuing Pastor Roberts' series, Beyond Blessed, with a message about the Ten Financial Commandments. And I'll tell you what, it's going to be a great one.

I'm your host, Patrick, and I'm here with my co-host, Jenae. Hello everybody. Well, you know, as Christians, we believe the Bible is our guidebook for life. It tells us how to find peace and love and joy, but it's also really practical. It tells us how to be married, how to raise children, and how to run a business. And it even tells us how to manage our finances.

You know, this message is so cool. Pastor Robert goes through some of the Ten Commandments and uses them to inform us about the ways we need to handle our finances so we can be blessed and bless others. I love this approach to financial wisdom.

So let's dive in with Pastor Robert now. You're going to love today because I'm actually going to go through what I call the Ten Financial Commandments. Now, because there are ten of them, I'm only going to cover about the first half of them, all right?

So I should cover five of them, and then in the next show, I'll do the other five. But what I did, too, when the Lord gave me these, I started writing these down. I realized, wow, these actually could line up with the actual Ten Commandments. So I'm going to line up each of these with the Ten Commandments so hopefully you could remember the Ten Financial Commandments, okay? And remember the commandments are not something we do to be saved.

We're saved by grace. But there's a principle behind each commandment that that principle brings life to us, and so we'll talk about that. All right, so here's the number one first. Here's the first financial commandment, and it's put God first. Put God first. Obviously, it lines up with the first commandment, Exodus 20, verse 3, you shall have no other gods before me. What God is saying is put me first. So in the very same way, and we've already talked about it in this series, we've talked about that we are to put God first. The first 10% belongs to God. We return it to God.

That's what we do. So there are all these illustrations in the Bible. When they went into the Promised Land, they were to give all of the silver and gold from Jericho because it was the first city. All these illustrations. When your sheep had a lamb, you were to give the firstborn lamb.

You were to give the first of your first foods. Let me just show you another example. You're just reading through the Bible.

When you see the principle of first, and you see this word first, and then you start seeing it in all these places, maybe you've never seen it before. So let me set this up. We're going to be in 1 Kings 17. There's a drought in the land, and Elijah is by a brook, and God is sending ravens to feed him, and then the brook dries up. And then he tells him to go to a certain city, and there's a widow there that's going to provide for him.

Here's where we pick it up. 1 Kings 17, verse 10. So he, that's Elijah, arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed, it's almost like, just like God said there would be, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink. And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand. So she said, as the Lord your God lives, I do not have any bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar. And see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said to her, do not fear.

Go and do as you have said, but, now watch this carefully, make me a small cake from it first, first, and bring it to me. And afterward, make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, the bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. And that drought lasted three years and six months.

Now, we think it was just a few months, probably about three to six months before he went to Zarephath. But for three more years, she had one meal left. But because she gave to God first, that lasted.

Just a little flour and a little oil in the jar lasted three years. It's a miracle. But look at the principle. When you put God first, there's the provision.

But I want to just tell you something that you may have never, ever thought of in your life. There's a drought in the land. God sends Elijah to this little city, small, small city in Israel, small city, to a widow. And he says, I'm going to provide for you because the brook has dried up.

And he's been doing ravens. Why didn't God send Elijah to a rich person? Could have been a rich widow in the land, could have been a rich business person. Why didn't he send Elijah to a widow that had one meal left? Okay. Oh, I hope you catch this.

This is so good. God did not send Elijah to the widow to provide for Elijah. He sent Elijah to the widow to provide for the widow. She was about to die.

She and her son are about to die. But Elijah said, but if you want to get in on the provision, the supernatural provision of God, there's an order. And that is you put God first. See, God did not need the widow to provide for Elijah. He had been sending ravens to bring Elijah food every day. In another place, an angel, it says Elijah was asleep and when he woke up, there was an angel there that made him a cake. I mean, that's the very first angel food cake.

That's the original right there. I'm just telling you, God did not need this woman to provide for Elijah. God wanted to provide for her. And here's the other thing. Now we're not just talking about financial provision. When we talk about a blessed life or a life beyond blessed, I'm not just talking about your money.

Please hear me. Not about your life. This woman had already lost her husband. She had one son left. If we kept reading, you know what we would have learned?

Some of you know this story. The son died. He died. He had some sort of a terminal disease. God looks down, sees this widow, sends Elijah to provide for her and when her son died, Elijah raised him from the dead.

Yeah, she had to put God first. I'm telling you, the whole reason God, I know so many people think, well, why does God need my money? He doesn't need your money.

He actually wants to bless you. And yet for some reason, we won't put him first. So that's number one.

Here's the second one. Don't worship material things. Don't worship material things. This goes along the second commandment.

Exodus 20 verse four. You shall not make for yourself a carved image. Don't have an idol. Here's what we got to say about that. Material things, sometimes we make idols out of them.

You want to know why? Because we put them in front of God. I know people who have skipped on their tithe to be able to buy something. That's an idol. That's an idol. And all of a sudden we're worshiping and saying, think about this.

Have you ever bought something and then regretted it? We do it all the time. That's what this is talking about. It's an idol. It's a material object that we put in front of our relationship with God because we don't even ask him. I remember one time this person was telling me about wanting to buy this new car. And so I said, have you prayed about it? And he said, really, I haven't. And I said, why? He said, because God might say no. Well, at least he was honest, you know. But what he was saying was, this has become an idol to me.

I'm going to do it anyway. So that's the second one. You're listening to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. To get a copy of this or any other messages in the Beyond Blessed series, check out our podcast at pastorrobert.com or call 833-933-WORD. You know, Patrick, I really loved what Pastor Robert said about how it looks like God was using the widow to provide for Elijah. But in actuality, Elijah was providing for the widow. And I'm so grateful for his insight into this passage as well. Because, you know, I really always thought this story was a little rough.

You know, I mean, this widow and her son are starving essentially. And then Elijah comes along and gives them another mouth to feed. But once again, this shows how good God is even in tough situations. Yeah, tough situations are really God's specialty. And when we put him first, he is all about turning hopeless situations into miraculous moments. Absolutely. Well, Pastor Robert has some more commandments to go through.

So let's jump back in. Here's the third one. Don't use God's name selfishly. Don't use God's name selfishly. This goes along with the third commandment. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Now, I do believe that this means we obviously should not use God's name as a curse word, obviously.

But I like to go back to the original language. Think about don't use God's name. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. What do you think about when you think about a vain person, a prideful person, or a selfish person, a person whose focus is on himself?

So here's what he's saying. Don't use God's name selfishly. So, again, we shouldn't use God's name as profanity.

Never, never, ever. I believe that the third commandment refers to this. But how many times do we use God's name in a selfish way? We have neighbors that are lost and on their way to hell, and we're praying for new outdoor furniture. And we're praying for a bigger house, not just because we need it, because we want to impress our friends because they've got a bigger house.

Selfish. I think people even use in Jesus' name like some sort of a magical incantation. If I just put these three words on the end of it, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, the Bible says I'll get whatever I ask if I just pray in Jesus' name. The only problem is when you're talking about the Bible, you have to take the whole Bible, and the Bible says very clearly if we pray according to God's will.

So that's what we're praying for. Here's number four. Be a good steward. Be a good steward. These are 10 financial commandments, 10 principles to live by financially. Be a good steward. And this goes along with the fourth commandment.

Now, you might not realize why at first, but you'll see. Exodus 20, verses 8 through 10. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Now, we're going to talk about stewardship, but listen. Six days you shall labor and do all your emails. Sorry, it said work. Sorry, I just thought I'd bring it up to modern times.

Do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall do no work. Okay, so why am I saying that this relates to stewardship?

This is stewarding your time. Do you realize people get more done if they'll rest one day a week? Companies who rest one day a week are more productive. The average fast food company in America makes a million dollars a year. The average.

Average, okay? And most of them are open 24 hours a day, but they're all open 7 days a week except for one. Chick-fil-A.

And they're not open 24 hours either. Average, average makes a million a month, a million a year. Chick-fil-A, five million a year. Five million dollars. Five times more because they rest one day a week.

Let me say another way. This is a little bit like tithing, okay? Resting one day a week is believing that God can do more in six days than you can in seven. And by the way, if you want to know how much God can do in six days, read Genesis 1 and then go out and look up at the stars and the ocean.

He can do a lot in six days. So the reason I say tithing is because tithing is believing that God can do more with 90% than you can with 100. So be a good steward. And let me give you these three things. All good stewards do these three things, and I've been studying this for over 35 years. All good stewards spend wisely. So when you do buy something, it needs to be a wise purchase. Spend wisely, save diligently, and give generously. Never met a good steward that doesn't do those three things.

Spend wisely, save diligently, and give generously. If you're just tuning in, you're listening to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. And like Pastor Robert's commentary on the two commandments in this section, you know, the commandment to not use God's name really resonated with me. I started thinking about how many times I've used the phrase, in Jesus' name, on selfish prayers, hoping it'll then come true. You know, I'm pretty sure we've all been there. You know, and as we've learned throughout this series, mankind is selfish. And especially nowadays, we like instant answers, instant results, really instant everything.

And we like it our way. So the draw to use the Lord's name as a stamp to try to get those things is very real. I definitely felt challenged to ask the Lord His will about what I'm desiring, especially financially, before praying. I feel like we all needed this reminder from Pastor Robert to pray in God's will, not our own.

Well, there's more from Pastor Robert, so let's continue now. And here's the fifth one, teach your children. Teach your children these financial principles of these financial commandments. This goes along, obviously, with—now let me make sure—yeah, this goes along, obviously, with the fifth commandment, Exodus 20, verse 12, honor your father and your mother. God is concerned about your family.

He puts it in the top ten. Now why would God want children to honor their parents? I don't know if you ever thought about that. Why?

You don't want to know why? Because they learn about God from their parents. They learn the precepts of God from their parents. They learn principles from their parents. That's what they learn. It's all through Scripture. God says, you shall teach your children these things. You shall tell your children about the Red Sea party. You teach your children.

Okay, think about this, though. We're talking about a financial commandment now. How many parents teach their children how to handle their finances? When my son, my oldest son, who's doing great now, but when he was newly married, about a year or two into it, he asked me to go to lunch one day. And I said, okay. We went to lunch and he was pretty upset about something, and I didn't know what it was. And finally he told me, he said, Dad, my finances are a mess. I'm messed up.

I'm upside down on some things. We put some stuff on credit card, and we hadn't been able to keep up, and I'm just messed up financially. And we have a stewardship department at our church that helps people with their finances. And so I said to him, well, have you gone through our stewardship classes? And I'll never forget, this is what my son said. He said, Dad, I can't tell people I messed up financially. He said, my dad's the blessed life guy.

I can't do that. And I said to him, son, the blessed life guy's messed up too. I said, as a matter of fact, there's only one human that didn't mess up, and his name is Jesus.

He's the only one. We all messed up. So what I realized was, I had taught my son financial principles, but in this area, I had not taught him, it's okay to ask for help. It's okay when you're messed up.

It's okay to ask for help. So we need to teach our children. And the way you handle your money will teach your children how to handle their money.

If you're always buying stuff on credit, if you're always barely making it. And here's the other thing. What about the stress in your home?

They pick up on that stress. What about the way you talk about money? What about saying things like, well, we can't do that because we just don't make enough money. We need to make more money. If we made more money, then maybe you could go, you know, where those kids are going to on vacation, but we don't make that much money. We're just teaching them that money is the answer. It's very, very important. This is a financial principle because it's going to be imparted to your children.

So let me tell you one more thing that happened. I preached on tithing one time at our church, and there was a single mother, and she decided for the first time to tithe. And she's not a bad person. People that don't tithe are not bad people. They just have never had a break through this area and it's difficult. And many times they've never been taught how to handle their finances, and they just don't know.

It's like they've never had driver's education and they're having wrecks all the time. No one ever taught them. So anyway, I taught about how to handle your money and taught about tithing. And so she decided, I'm tithing for the first time this week. I'm going to tithe. And so she comes to church and she had made $1,000 that week. And so the tithe's $100. And we don't pass the plate to our church.

We have offering boxes on the wall. And so at the end of the service, she sat down to write out the check for $100. And the Lord said to her, add $20 to it. Just like that, add $20. And she said, Lord, this is a stretch.

I mean, I may not, I don't even know if I'll be able to make it. I mean, I'm doing this by faith, but you're saying add $20. And here's what the Lord said to her. Well, the tithe, you're returning. The $20 you're giving. And I want you to experience the joy of giving, not just the joy of returning. So she writes the check for $120 and she puts it in our offering box.

She's walking to her car. And when I found out about this and told the church this story, but you have to understand something about the story. So when I'm telling the church, I said to the church, and there's a man in our church who gives away $100 bills when the Lord tells him to. Now I'm going to tell you kind of end of the story. I'm that man. Okay. Now I wasn't lying to our church because I am a man and I am in the church.

I just didn't want to bring me into the story because the story was about her. So I said, so this man, he's going to his car and he sees this lady walking across the parking lot and the Lord said, go give her $100 bill. Just like that. So this man walks over and when he's walking over, he pulls his wallet out and right beside the hundred was a 20. And the Lord said, give her the 22.

Give her the 20 also. And the man said, remember who the man is now. The man said, Lord, I don't give $20 bills.

I give $100 bills. And the Lord said, no, you obey. That's what you do. You obey.

You do what I tell you to do. So the man gives her $120. Now I want you to think about that. A guy who normally gives $100 bills, she writes it not for a hundred, but 120.

And the Lord says, give her 120. Okay. You'll never convince me in a million years that that was a coincidence.

That was God. Okay. So, but I tell the whole church this story, but I never put me in the story. I never tell them who it is. I just say, there's a man in the church.

Okay. So here's the, another really good part of this. I tell the church this, that day we're having all the kids over for lunch. My daughter had about a two year time where she walked away from the Lord, but she did it secretly. She still came to church, but she lived a double life. She had come back to the Lord. Our relationship was great now. She's, she actually speaks now.

She's wonderful mother of four, great godly woman. So she's sitting there listening to me tell this story. They come over for lunch and she says to me, daddy, can I talk to you for a minute? I said, sure. So we went in my office and she's crying and she said to me, you're the man, aren't you?

You're the man that gives 100 other bills, aren't you? And I said, well, why are you asking me this? She said, because when you started telling that story, I had all these memories of you going up to people like the server at our restaurant after we were going out to the car and talking to them and putting something in their hand.

And I have the memory of the guy on the side of the road with the sign, we'll work for food. And you going over and talking and we used to ask mom, what's dad doing? And mom would say, he's just sharing the love of God with him. And I always tell people about Jesus when I give them a hundred dollar bills, but I'd give him that. She said, I could see all growing up, see your children learn from you. She said, I remember all these times and she said, you're the man that gives a hundred dollar bills, aren't you?

And I said, yes, sugar, I am. And my daughter, you got to remember she had been away from the Lord and come back. My daughter said to me, I want to be like you, daddy.

I want to be like you. That's worth managing your finances in such a way that you can be generous. That story about Pastor Robert's daughter, Elaine, remembering the times that Pastor Robert gave was very moving. It made me think, what legacy do I want to leave for my children?

And what do I want them to grow up knowing and learning and experiencing? It's such a great point. Well, we hope you'll take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and really listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. To get a copy of any of the messages in this Beyond Blessed series, visit pastorrobert.com or call 833-933-WORD. So be sure to visit pastorrobert.com or call 833-933-WORD. You can also follow Pastor Robert on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We're so glad you've tuned in today. Next time we'll be listening to the final message in this Beyond Blessed series, where he'll finish out the Ten Financial Commitments. We hope you have a great week.