Money Matters, Part 1

Money matters to God.

The Bible says in Psalm 24 one, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. So the first thing you want to understand is when it comes to stewardship it's because God is the owner. Hello and welcome to this Tuesday edition of Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor of Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California.

We're always glad to have you with us. Today we come to a subject that might make you a little nervous, money management, but let me put your mind at ease. God doesn't want something from you. He wants something for you. When he talks about money, it's designed to help you, to bless you, and that's why Pastor Paul is sharing it with you today. So stay with us now or visit pastorpaul.net to listen on demand. That's pastorpaul.net. With this Destined for Victory message, money matters.

Here's Pastor Paul. Your money, your time, and your talents, gifts, and abilities are really not yours. They are endowments from God, investments that he expects a return on. And so I have to do a stewardship series every now and again because we must understand that the master from Matthew 25, the parable of the talents, the master was getting ready to take a long journey, called his servants to him, gave them resources, said I'm going away but I'm coming back and I want you to give me a return on these when I come back.

Our master has gone away, but he is coming back. And he wants a return in all three areas, our money, our time management, and our gifts and abilities. So this series is designed to walk us through those areas and to make sure we are prepared to give our master an excellent return on his resources. So the first part of the series deals with money. Now for years, I was a very uncomfortable pastor preaching on money. I did it because it was in the book and he called me to preach the book and I can't pick the themes I like. And I did it for years, but I was always nervous, always uncomfortable when it came time to preach a series that included a part on financial stewardship because I know how people like to do.

People like to do things like, see there they go, they always talking about money. And growing up in the church, I've heard that kind of stuff all my life. And you not only hear it from church folk, but you certainly hear it when you sit in the barber shops and I'm sure you ladies, the beauty shops, but I've been in barber shops. I used to have enough hair to go to the barber shop. And I still go now and let them trim what's left and what have you.

And in barber shops, it's going to come up sooner or later. If somebody brings up church, money is coming up in the next couple of minutes. And so I've always had a kind of self-consciousness and so I used to preach stewardship series that included a financial part, but I would always be nervous. I'm here to proclaim to you, I'm over it now.

And here's, let me be very honest with you, here's why I'm over it. Of all the preachers that should not be self-conscious, I'm at the top of the list because you know our church doesn't coerce people where giving is concerned. We don't even pass the basket where you can see whether somebody dropped some minute or not. And I've done that as a pastor, I've done that since 2004.

Since 2004, that has been the practice in my former pastorate and now in this current pastorate where we have places where you can give your tithe and offering and we have a time in the service where we pray and mention it, but it is completely up to you whether you give. So when folk in the barbershop try to push up on me, talking about, oh, you one of them pastors, y'all pass the plate four or five times a service, don't you? I say, we pass the plate zero times. Now deal with that.

Zero times. I'm not pushing up on folk. I'm not making them feel guilty. They can give if they choose to give.

They can walk out if they choose to walk out. And so I backed a few folk up off of me. God, when he talks about money in his word, isn't trying to curse us, just the opposite, he's trying to bless us. And so I want you to hear him speak to us and do it with an open heart.

Because I'm no longer self-conscious about this. I'm excited about this because I'm trying to be used of God to get a blessing to you. And so open your heart and understand that God is doing something special. This is part of the great commission. When I preach series like this, it's nothing but fulfilling the great commission. The great commission is to go into the world, preach the gospel, the good news, baptize people, and then Jesus said, and teach them to observe everything I've commanded.

Teach them how to live the way I commanded them to live because that's the way God's going to get his blessings into their lives. Now here are the things I want to say. I've got a lot of ground to cover. Stick with me, take notes as we go, and the Lord's going to bless us and speak to us. When it comes to money, we're going to talk about four areas, but today we're going to talk about sowing generously.

Now here's what I need you to understand. Money matters to God. Money matters to God. The Bible says in Psalm 24 one, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. So the first thing you want to understand is when it comes to stewardship, it's because God is the owner. He owns us, everybody in the world belongs to him, the Bible says, and he owns everything in the world, including financial resources. Look at Haggai chapter 2 verse 8.

Haggai, some people pronounce it, chapter 2 verse 8. The silver is mine and the gold is mine declares the Lord Almighty. Now, many currencies are based on wealth such as silver and gold, and so when he says that, he's talking about all forms of currency, and he says they belong to me. So our money matters to God because it's really not our money, it's his.

Being an excellent steward of that money then is of the utmost importance. You're not living right if you're not giving right. You're not living right if you're not giving right. You may have never heard a preacher say that because typically when we talk about living right, we're trying to help people in the areas of getting our moral lives in order or getting our love life in order. If living right means I'm loving people correctly or especially my morals, I'm behaving outwardly, I'm behaving correctly, I'm here to tell you that's not all there is to living right. According to the scripture, if you're living right, it means not only are you letting God speak to areas of morality and speak to areas of how you love and treat people right, but you have to deal with being an excellent steward of God's resources. So what does giving right look like?

Well, pastor, speak on because I want to make sure that I'm living right. So if that means giving right, tell me about it. What's the biblical standard for giving right?

Here's the answer. Generosity from a worshipful heart. How do I give right? I give generously and from a worshipful heart.

Why do I say that? Because you can give generously with the wrong motive and God's still not pleased, or you can give poorly, call it worship, and God's not pleased. I'm going to back all this up from the scriptures, by the way, so that if you leave this message fussing, you'll be fussing with God. You get mad, I'm just a mailman. You don't run attack your mailman because you don't like to mail. I'm the mailman.

Fuss with him. Look at the first mention of giving in the scripture and it'll show you and it's intended to show you that money matters to God. Genesis chapter four. Look at the first five verses. Adam made love to his wife Eve and she became pregnant, gave birth to Cain. She said, with the help of the Lord, I have brought forth a man. Verse two, later she gave birth to his brother Abel and Abel kept flocks and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. Now look at this next sentence. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering. Verse five says, but on Cain and his offering, God did not look with favor.

So Cain was very angry and his face was downcast. Just pause right there. You know the rest of that story. It's very tragic. We've had the second half of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Shepherd. We want to thank all of you who sustained Destined for Victory with your prayers and financial support, gifts that helped Pastor Paul share the gospel with a growing audience. Destined for Victory is a listener supported ministry and today your help is especially critical.

In our current climate with all its uncertainty, people are more willing to hear and respond to the gospel than they've ever been before. So as God leads, please perfectly consider making a gift to Destined for Victory today. You know, when you tithe, you're not giving God 10% of what belongs to you. You're keeping 90% of what belongs to him. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message.

Money Matters. Cain decides to address the fact that God disapproved of his offering by killing the guy who's offering God approved. Yeah, that takes care of it. But look at the difference between the two. In the course of time, when he got good and ready is what that means, Cain gave some of the fruit of the land as an offering. That's the way many of us give. I'm going to give the Lord something. Whereas Abel, look at the difference. Abel brought fat portions from the firstborn. He's trying to say something to God.

He's saying, whatever is first, what I do with that is a symbol of how I view the priorities in my life. And the first thing he does is takes the firstborn and offers fat portions to the Lord as an offering. God cares what we give. How Cain and Abel gave and how much they gave mattered to God. Therefore, it was a sign, as the law of first mention goes, it's a clear indication of what is to come that it matters to God.

The law of first mention in Scripture is very important because it's saying, here is a pace-setting moment and then look at how this plays out as we move through redemptive history and you'll see that this matters. And so God showed us the very first mention of giving in Scripture. He showed us, I don't accept just any old thing. That's what God said to us. I don't accept just any old thing. You've never said it, but when you hear people say, you know, church is always tripping over money.

They ought to be glad about whatever I give. You can't be more unbiblical than to say what you just said. Because first of all, it's really not about the church.

It's about the one the church serves and belongs to. And he cares what goes in the basket. He cares what comes through the mail.

He cares what's given online. They need to just be happy. Is God happy is the question. Not am I happy as the pastor. Is God happy? And so what they gave, how much they gave mattered to God.

Another statement I want you to jot down. This is one that a whole lot of folk fight, but I really don't care. Generous giving in God's kingdom begins with the tithe and increases from there. What is the tithe? The tithe is 10% of what God's given us. Now, we saw the law first mentioned. There wasn't tithing yet.

No one had yet practiced it. But after all, we're talking about the second generation of human beings mentioned in scripture. So it's no big deal that tithing wasn't mentioned right away. What is mentioned right away is casual, not particularly generous giving versus abundant giving. And God made it clear, I am pleased with the abundant giving from the right heart.

I'm displeased with this casual giving. Now we move on and we begin to see a practice as early as Genesis called tithing. So when you hear, if you've ever heard people object to tithing, the first thing they say is what? Tithing is under the law. We're not under the law. See, when they get good and ready, they pull out the law.

It's so convenient. They pull out the law when they want to make you give, but then they don't talk about the law any other time. I've heard all that kind of stuff, not from y'all, but from other Christians. So when somebody says tithing's under the law, that's why I don't tithe, they're showing me they're ignorant of truth. Tithing starts in Genesis. The law came hundreds of years later through Moses. Hundreds of years before Moses, Abraham didn't have a church or even a nation to give to corporately, so he gave to Melchizedek, who was a Christophany. Oh, I'm getting theological on y'all.

What, Pastor? A Christophany is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. There are a couple of places in the scripture where Jesus showed up on earth before he was born of the Virgin Mary. And the first place we see is through Melchizedek, because the Bible says he had no roots, no generational roots.

What does that mean? That means that's somebody who wasn't born. There's only one who was never born, and that's God himself. And so Abram, not having anybody else to offer sacrifices to, he offers them to God through Melchizedek. Now, the first time you see tithing is Abraham, and that happened to be in Genesis 14, 20, if you want to check it out later. But I want you to go to Genesis 28 right now. Go to Genesis 28 and look with me at some verses. Early in the morning, Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head, set it as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. Then, watch this, Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I'm taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's household, then the Lord will be my God, and this stone that I've set up as a pillar will be God's house, and all that you give me, I will give you a tenth.

Who is this? This is Jacob. This is Abraham's grandson. We're in the book of beginnings, the book of Genesis. Very early in redemptive history, in other words, you see Jacob saying, Lord, if you give me two things, food to eat, clothes to wear, he said, I'm going to bless you by giving a tenth of everything you give to me. Tithing. Then when you move over into the law, the tithing that already began hundreds of years before Moses ever showed up, it simply continues.

Let me just give you one example of many I could give you in the law. Deuteronomy chapter 12 verses 10 and 11. But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name, there you are to bring everything I command you. Your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes, 10%, and special gifts and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. So there you see tithes and offerings and throughout the law, you will see the mention of tithes and offerings. In other words, tithing is the beginning of our generosity toward the kingdom of God.

It is the beginning, and then from there, there are various other offerings. It still happens in the New Testament church today. If we will practice this, tithing is the beginning, what we bring to the storehouse, the ministry where we are fed, where we are part of what God is doing, and that ministry, if it's healthy, it is not only internal, it not only blesses the people and serves its immediate people, but it reaches out and blesses the world in various ways. And so you bring your tithes as the beginning, and there are various other offerings.

Now the other offerings were burnt offerings, sacrifices, special gifts. In our day, it's more like beyond the tithe, I want to make funds available to bless other ministries. Maybe there's a radio ministry that blesses your life supplements what you get in your church.

Oh, something like Destined for Victory. And then there are missionaries. There are other Christian organizations that are doing great work, and you may want to sow into them. Or there's a building campaign your church is doing so it can build a house.

Those are the supplemental offerings of our day. And so the principle is the tithe is the beginning of my generosity. I bring that to my home, church, my storehouse, and then I make available other funds as the Lord so blesses me.

Malachi chapter three, verses eight through 10. Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, how do we rob you?

And God answers in tithes and offerings. Imagine God calling you a robber. A robber. Do you know the difference between a robber and a thief? A thief sneaks and breaks in and steals something. That's a thief. A robber will bust up on you.

Come on now. Keep your heart open. God's trying to get his word into your heart so he can bless you. Tripping, calling me a robber. God said, you ran up on me, stuck me up, and said, I'm taking your tithes, and I'm taking your offering. Imagine sticking up God who gave you everything in the first place. He said here in Malachi three, you robbed me in tithes and offerings. Verse nine, you're under a curse the whole nation of you because you are robbing me. Imagine cursing yourself. Here you think you're getting away with something by not giving generously from a worshipful heart and you're cursing yourself. And listen, we don't want to admit it, but you can't get help until you admit what's wrong. Some of us are experiencing what we're experiencing.

The holes in our purses are the direct result of reaping the harvest we've sown. He said, you're cursed with a curse because of what you're doing. So he says, he always gives a solution. God never admonishes us without giving us the remedy. He says, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty. See if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven, pour you out so much blessing you will not have room enough to receive. Now here's the thing I've learned in decades and decades of being a pastor. I've learned every now and then somebody will try tithing for six weeks and say the floodgates have them open and I'm going back. When he said test me, he didn't say put me on 30 day trial. That's equipment you buy online 30 days you get it back or on TV as seen on TV.

30 days return the unused portion. God didn't say that. He said, become a tither. Don't try tithing.

Become a generous giver. And he said, watch that I will do it. We said it at the top of today's broadcast, but it's worth hearing again. When God talks about money, it's not because he needs something from us.

It's because he wants something for us. Honor him with your tithes and offerings and he promises to bless you beyond all you can imagine. Thanks so much for joining us for Pastor Paul Shepherd's message Money Matters. This and all of our recent messages can be accessed anytime on demand at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net.

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You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. Well, if you think tithing is going to stretch your wallet, wait until you see what comes next. Here's Pastor Paul.

So, the Bible is clear. God loves generosity from a worshipful heart. And tithing as a pattern clearly shows us that that's the baseline, that's the beginning of this generosity from a worshipful heart.

And it increases from there. That's tomorrow when Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message, Money Matters. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are Destined for Victory.