Pastor Elwin Ahu
January 16, 2011 - W1103

“Surrender it all…” as the song goes, we need to give it up to the cross. As we go through the New Year, there are things we need to give up to God. What do we put our energies into? We started this series of “One God…One Church” by going back to the basics. First, we stared with “Salvation.” What is it? Then, we continued the following week with “Spiritual Growth.” We talked about how to be spiritually fit and get some strengthening on the inside, so when we get hit by the crosswind we are prepared. Now, we are going to talk about “Investment Strategies.” It is about stewardship and investment strategies for God’s preferred future for us. This also is the most misperceived and misunderstood topic in the church, but it carries the greatest potential for God’s kingdom.  Pastor Elwin will give us some points that we could use in our daily decisions when it comes to investment strategies in God’s kingdom and our foundational stones for our lives.

First, let me get this straight, we are not going to talk about money.  Even though, we are going to talk about investment strategies, money is not the issue here. It is the most misunderstood topic. Most non-believers would say “It’s all about money. Your church always talks about money.” I once heard someone ask a preacher, “Preacher, talk about something else other than money. Talk about spiritual things.” Well, tithing or stewardship is spiritual. The topic is most challenging to many people.

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.'" (Mal. 3:10 NIV)

Secondly, at the same time, this is also the only place where God challenges us to test him.

God says test me on the tithes. Bring it all to the storehouse. Just wait and see what I will do. This topic is the most misunderstood not only now, but it goes back to the Old Testament. It is where it originates and where God lays it out for us.

Let us read what is up on the PowerPoint screen…in Leviticus 27:30, 32…

“Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. And for every tenth part of herd or flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.”

• Money's propensity to change us: for BETTER or for WORSE.

Thirdly, in the beginning of a marriage, couples are in this happy mode in their marriage not realizing what their vows said, “…for better or for worse, or richer or poorer!” So many couples that I have counseled always have money hit their marriages this way. We tend to think that money solves all our problems. Sixty-four percent of married couples argue about money. Fifty-four percent of divorces are due to money or finances. What happens when money gets into life’s equations?  Money changes all of us. We get into what I call the sarcasm of King Solomon. He sarcastically wrote, "A feast is made for laughter, wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything." (Eccl. 10:19 NIV) But remember …

1. Giving changes your HEART.
   
   

We are overload ourselves with stuff. Today we have so much of everything. One of the greatest growing businesses nowadays is self-storages. It was created to store our excesses. We equate having more as better. We tend to think that material things will make us happy. We are wrong. God has another reasoning …

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matt. 6:19-21)

Where is your treasure? Is it in your in a your new brand car, your money in the bank, your new home and your stuff? Let us look at what we have. We have the wrong concept of things in life.  God knows that giving…

·     Frees you from MATERIALISM.

Giving recalibrates our priorities. It prioritizes what is important in our lives. For example, giving makes us examine what we have in our storages, in our homes and what we have that we think make us successful or happy. Giving frees us from the sense of materialism in our lives.

Matthew 16:25-26…

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul.”

Yes, you can have all this stuff. But if you have a wrong reason or motive, you lose the purpose of life. We lose God’s kingdom’s purpose in our lives because we don’t understand kingdom principles. We tend to hold on to things. We need to give them up, so we don’t miss out.  Giving also …

Strengthens your FAITH.

And …

·     DEFINES the size of your God.

When we on hold onto things we define our faith and our God as small.  We need to let our God be our God. We need to decrease material possessions and increase God in our lives. Let Him be who is in our lives. We need to differentiate between our needs and wants. Because …

2. God will fill only what you're willing to EMPTY.

He can’t fill you with His Godliness if you hold on to yourself. There was a widow in the Old Testament that teaches us what it means to empty ourselves for God.

"So she went from him and shut the door ... and her sons ... were bringing the vessels to her and she poured. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, 'Bring me another vessel.' And he said to her, 'There is not one vessel more.' And the oil stopped." (2 Kin. 4:5-6)

"Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on." (Mark 12:43-44)

  She gave the last two copper coins she had.  She gave all and did not hold anything back or make excuses. Jesus told his disciples what a great example she was. How much do we want God to fill us? It depends on how much we want to empty ourselves.  Do you want to give ten percent? Empty ten percent and give.  Sometimes we love to connect the dots. We want to reason things out. We have to have an answer for everything. But we should instead just to do what God asks of us. It is between us and God. And then stand back and watch what miracle He will do with our effort. In the Old Testament, it is already mentioned to take off ten percent out from the top. He is working on your heart. I learned the tithing lesson before I came on staff. I had a hard time giving. As I wrote my checks, God was working on my heart and I was able to give. The more I wrote my checks, the easier it got.

Next fill in the next point…

3. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Prov. 3:5-6)

   God doesn’t need your money. When he created the heavens and the earth, whose charge card did he take? Not yours…how much did it cost? You don’t need to know. You want to ask what’s in it for you? You don’t need to ask. See what the old widow in the New Testament did…she gave her all.  Do we know what she got in exchange? No…it’s irrelevant. Something happened in her heart which was the most important change rather than what she gave.

   Finally, when we come to the Rock of all ages, we need to take with us a giving heart that is free from materialism, a strengthened faith, and a good definition of our God. We need also to remember that God will fill only what you're willing to empty. What happens to our heart is more important to God than what we give. After giving, just watch what God will do!

   Discussion Suggestions:

    

   1. What is the spiritual condition of your heart when it comes to your spiritual

   investments?

   2. What does the Bible say about stewardship or tithing?

   3. What is the difference between the worldview of stewardship or money and God’s

       view?

   4. Share any experiences of how you allowed God to change your view on stewardship.
   5. How does tithing recalibrate your life?