R.C. Sproul: How to Be a Good Steward

I first learned of the spiritual issues associated with stewardship when my uncle took me to my first major league baseball game in 1947 the Pirates won five to two behind the pitching Fritz Austin Mueller edy remember him the opposing team scored two runs on solo home runs one by Hank sour the other by young Ted Kluszewski but on the way into Forbes Field on that occasion we were walking up the ramp and just as we turned the corner to go to our seats my uncle grabbed me by the arm and he said hold on to your wallet so I reached into my pocket and I grabbed hold of my wallet he says hold it tight I said ok so then we walked in and we sat down I'm still holding on to my wallet and I said Dunkel art can I let go of my wallet yet he said ok it's alright now you're safe and I said fine and I said what was that all about and he looked over he said see that man over there and I said yes he said with that funny collar turned around he pointed out to a priest he said anytime you see one of those guys just he's got a hold onto your wallet because that's all they ever want is your money so I was introduced the cynicism about financing the kingdom of God at a very early age but I course had no idea what that was about but having been a Christian now since 1957 I know that I am not alone and that it beats in the heart of every Christian too long for the day when we meet our Lord face to face and what we want to hear more than anything else from his lips when he looks at us to hear him say well done good and faithful servant I mean wouldn't it be awful to appear before the Lord and have him look at you and say poorly done that not crush us at the deepest part of our being well we all know that it says somewhere in the Bible that Jesus makes this comment well done thou good and faithful servant but where is that in the Bible where do we hear that statement for the first time I'll ask you to turn your attention to the Gospel of Matthew 2 chapter 25 beginning at verse 14 where we read Matthew's account of Jesus parable of the talents let's look at it together Matthew 25 verse 14 and following for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them to one he gave five talents to another two to another one each according to his own ability and immediately he went on a journey now then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents likewise he who had received two gained two more also but he had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lords money and after a long time the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them so that he would receive five talents came and brought five other talents saying Lord you delivered to me five talents and look I have gained five more talents besides them and his Lord said to him well done good and faithful servant you were faithful over a few things I will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your Lord and he also had received two talents came and said Lord you delivered to me two talents look I've gained two more talents beside them and his Lord said to him well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful over a few things and I will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your Lord then he who had received the one talent came and said lord I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown gathering we have not scattered seed I was afraid so I went and I hid your talent in the ground but look Lord there you have what is yours this Lord answered and said to him you wicked and lazy servant you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gathered what not scattered seed so you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest therefore take the talent from him and give to him who has ten talents would everyone who has more will be given and he will have abundance but from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away and cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth he has ears to hear the word of God let them hear it let's pray father in our God as we hear this parable from the lips of Jesus would you by the mercy and power of the Holy Ghost give us ears to hear it understanding to grasp its point and that the truth of it may pierce our souls change our lives for we ask it in Jesus name Amen this text that I've just read is a an embarrassment to everybody who thinks that the New Testament is a textbook for socialism or for communism when in fact the New Testament as well as the Old Testament is a manifesto for what I call stewardship capitalism the law of God is quick to protect private property from theft from covetousness and all the rest but more importantly when we come to the New Testament we see that our Lord and this is something that was often missed by us in the 21st century that our Lord is very much concerned with productivity on almost every page of the Gospels we hear Jesus talking to his disciples about the urgent call that he gives them to bear fruit that there may be a yield that there may be an increase of what he has planted in their lives and this is nowhere spelled out more clearly than this parable that Jesus gives now at the very beginning let me give you a definition of stewardship the word that we interpret by the English word stewardship in the Greek is the ward economy oh my word that has transliterated into English from that Greek word is the word economy it's based upon two words distinct words that are pressed together here where we have boycotts which is the Greek word for a house and the word nomás which is the word for law and eco no Meah has to do with the law or the rule of the home or the house a steward was one who was given the responsibility in the ancient world to manage the affairs of the owner of the house now it's that idea that was brought over into biblical truth into this parable and beyond for the responsibility of every citizen on this planet that understands that this is our father's world the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof that God owns everything in this created sphere everything that I have in my possession so to speak is owned by God he owns it all and yet he entrusts a portion of what he owns to his people and appoints them stewards but he holds them accountable and responsible to him with what we do with those things that he owns and he gives to us for a time in this world it's different from the United States federal government the federal government does not believe that God is the owner of your property they believe they are are the owner of your property and that every year they meet in session and decide how much of their property they're gonna let you keep for the following year but that's not the way it is in the Bible God is the owner not the state and certainly not the individual but God entrusts these gifts to his people and these gifts are given with responsibility now one of the ironies of this particular tax is I've read it the New King James is it talks about balance and when we speak about talents in our language we're talking about abilities or skills or gifts that we have whereas in the context of this parable the talent describes not a gift or ability but it describes a monetary unit a form of currency which was a very wealthy form of currency so that five talents represent a significant amount of money so the parable on the surface at least is about money it's about capital it's about investment now the application of this goes beyond the realm of finances it goes and applies to all of those things all of the resources that God gives to us you know it's been said of managers in secular organizations or even in Christian organizations that the chief responsibility of senior management of companies is the allocation of resources because every organization every company every Church has limited resources you have limited money you have limited space you have live in its staff you have limited time and every time you spend the dollar here it's a dollar that you don't have to spend over here and so you're making decisions every day how you use your staff how you use your time how you use your space how you use your equipment how you use your money that's a question of stewardship that is to be guided by the wisdom of God and also by the law of God I mentioned the other night that a couple of weeks ago I was in California with Johnny Erickson tada and as we were talking she had just come out of a meeting and I'll say this this woman is unbelievable as a trooper never complains and just goes out there and gets the job done but she knows that I know what she goes through from time to time and so I leaned down and I said Johnny how's it going he said RC I had to get out of that meeting she said because I'm just really hurting right now I'm in a lot of pain and then of course she dismissed that she says but but how are you doing she says I'm praying about your health every day and I'm fine don't worry about me and I said but let me tell you something I've learned as a result of my health problems and my stroke but I said I would like to pass on to you she said what I said we took a cue from a secular book on business called from good to great in which one of the key points in in the secular world for businesses to grow is for their leaders not only to have to do lists but also to draw up to don't do this and I said that's been so liberating for me because when I had my issues and debilitation zai said the staff came to me and the board of Ligonier and they said RC we want to preserve you whatever gifts God has given you we want you to be as useful to the kingdom as you could possibly be we don't want you messing around with administration we don't want you fooling around with financial sheets and all that stuff we want you to restrict your work to teaching and preaching and let us take care of the rest and it's been wonderful for me to have a to don't do list I don't have to do that because I come back to this point the application of talents not only to money but the gifts and talents that we've already heard it at this conference every Christian has been gifted by God the Holy Spirit we don't all know what our gifts are but we do know from the New Testament that the Holy Spirit empowers every single one of us in the body of Christ with a gift and if you don't know what your gift is find out go to your pastor go to the people in your church have them help you discover what your gift is and then exercise it I don't know how many times I've been pulled to do this pull to do that you know torn here to learn there and it just keeps coming back to me but here you have let him who has the gift of teaching let him do what don't teach that's the stewardship I have that's what I'm supposed to do but sometimes what we do with the gifts that God gives us is we take that light we hide it under a bushel we take the gift of the money we dig a hole in the ground we want to be safe put it in the hole where nothing bad will happen to it we don't want to risk losing it a wicked and lazy servants jesus said to that crop where else remember now Jesus is describing an owner a Lord who goes away and when he goes away he leaves his worldly goods in the hands of his stores he says you look after these things while I'm gone when I come back there'll be an accounting and when the Lord came back the man that he gave five towns to he didn't want to get five talents back he said what I'm gonna fire talents turn them into ten I've been trading those five talents I've been very careful with them I've invested them and voila they're now ten and the Lord says good job well done thou good and faithful servant you've been faithful to me you've been faithful to the task that I gave to you and you worked according to your ability I gave you five talents because I knew you had the ability to turn it into ten I didn't give you two I gave two to this fellow over here because he doesn't have as many gifts as as you do how do you do milord I turned a 2 and a 4 great well done thou good and faithful servant you've been fruitful you've been wise no I'm I don't know how Jesus would handle this story if he visited America in the 21st century and if you allow me the right of pastoral speculation my guess is that our Lord if he addressed us today I would have a fourth person one person to get five talents and that person give two towns another person to give one town and the fourth person you know to give them a credit card and then they say let's see what you do with that I keep hearing almost weekly of reports coming to us that our nation is facing an epidemic of indebtedness credit card indebtedness where credit cards are a wonderful convenience so you don't have to carry your money around you have to carry two checkbook dollars stuff you can use the plastic and you defer payment to the end of the month period but oh this is like found money this is like free money I can just go and buy consume now pay later where the key to responsible stewardship is delayed gratification it has always been and it always will be the good steward invests for growth that for the future and doesn't just spend it all now who does spend it all now in the Bible Jesus has another parable for that a young man goes to his father who's wealthy and he said dad I know that someday down the road I'm going to inherit a vast fortune from you but what good is it going to be to me if I get it when I'm 70 I need it now please let me have my inheritance early father said son if that's what you want here it is with this young man do first thing he does is he goes to a far country where he's anonymous he's the college kids that goes to Daytona Beach where his mother and father can't see what he's doing and he blows it all wine women and song riotous living a lazy and wicked son so wasteful is he with the things that he's been entrusted to by his father that he ends up living with pigs completely bankrupt and enslaved until God makes him alive and awake brings him to consciousness comes to and he said wait a minute what am I doing in the Pigpen I will arise and go to my father and I'll say to my father treat me as one of the howard hands treat me as a slave just let me come home you know the story father sees him coming runs down the road falls upon his neck and kisses him my son who was dead is now alive he who was lost as found kill the fatted calf but that story is the story of a young man who wastes his father's inheritance it's a story of among other things a terrible stewardship his father gave a credit card said go have fun I don't know how many Christians are slaves the monthly interest payments on their credit card and their paying use aureus rates of interest twenty twenty two percent I have one very close friend print to me who will Oh $25,000 on her credit card and she makes $25,000 a year it would take her whole annual salary just to pay off her current balance on her credit card there's something wrong with this picture folks that's bad stewardship well issue of stewardship it's very important to the god of scripture in the last book of the Bible we have a very scary teaching about it in the book of the Prophet Malachi in the third chapter of the verse 6 we read these words for I am the Lord I do not change therefore you are not consumed o sons of Jacob yet from the days of your father's you've gone away from my ordinances and haven't kept them returned to me and I'll return to you says the Lord of Hosts but you say in what way shall we return no where have we offended you God asks the question will a man Rob God will a man Rob God the answer should be heavens now that's unthinkable it's bad enough that one person would steal from another person or from steal from a company or from a near insurance or from the government or anywhere else but the steal from God who would stoop so low as to commit robbery against the Lord God God said yet you have robbed me but you say well how we robbed you we don't get it we didn't climb up into heaven and steal the golden candlesticks have we robbed you you know what the answer is in tithes and offerings you are cursed with a curse God says for you've robbed me even this whole nation has robbed me therefore bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house try me now in this says the Lord of Hosts if I will not open for you the windows of heaven pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it and I will rebuke the Devourer for your sake so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground nor shall a vine failed a beer fruit for you in the field says the Lord of hosts but if you want me to give you fruit you got to stop robbing and put me to the test I've seen two polls in the last 10 years that were taken among professing evangelicals people identified themselves as born-again Christians in the polls this question was raised are you at either do tithe of your goods to the work of Christ the first poll I saw said that those who answered that question in the affirmative numbered four percent I don't put a lot of stock in a lot of these polls because I don't know how they frame the questions and so on but I was astonished when I write ask a four percent if that poll is true and I don't know that it is but if it is what would that tell you that 96 percent of professing Christians in our country systematically day-in day-out weekend way out we got robbed God now more recent poll was more sanguine in that poll it indicated that 20% of people who described themselves as born-again evangelical Christians tithe and if that one's accurate then the number of thieves in the house of God has been reduced now to a mere 80 percent eighty percent ninety six percent either way can there be any greater scandal among the people of God than this in dealing with this question of tithing there are some myths that prevail lots of myths that are prevalent in our churches and in our culture about tithing I'm just going to take the time to mention four of them and when I'm finished with that God willing I'm going to mention five benefits of tithing but first the myths the first myth is that the principle of the tithe is an Old Testament law that has nothing to do with us living in the scope of the New Testament those poor pitiful Hebrews were required of God to pay 10% to God out of their increase on an annual basis but thanks be to God we've been liberated from the law we're no longer under law were under grace so we don't have to do that anymore be careful when you think like that because though the tithe belongs to the economy of the Old Testament theocracy and as part of that which was imposed upon the people of God under the Old Covenant don't ever forget that in the New Testament we are told over and over and over again that the New Covenant is a greater covenant it's a better covenant it's a superior covenant to the Old Covenant and the benefits of the new covenant are greater than they were in the Old Covenant and let me tell you what that means that means the responsibilities given to us as the people of God are greater now than they ever were in the Old Testament I remember in one church I started one time they had a national promotion coming out of it in denominational headquarters and they were saying though this year we're going to say to our people take a step towards tithing I said I'm not gonna do that I'm not gonna stand on the pulpit and tell our people take a step towards tithing don't steal as much from God this year as you did last year I said I'm going to change it and say take a step from tithing the starting point is the tithe and really it's not a big deal in one sense the Pharisees of Jesus land base that again and again you know scribes and Pharisees hypocrites totally committed to mission and evangelism over land and sea to make one convert but once you made them you make them twice the child of Hell then you are yourselves because I'll give you this much your tithers you tithe your mint and your cumin scrupulous leaves the Pharisee found a dime on the sidewalk it put an extra penny in the plate kept close accounts want to make absolutely sure that he didn't Rob God and these things you ought to have done Jesus says but you've emitted the weight of your matters of the law justice and mercy and so obviously our Lord did not include tithing in the weightier matters of the law and so we breathe a sigh of relief well I'm glad that's not a weighty thing because I guess God's not going to be too upset if I cheat him this way at the same time back here in the parables if you can't be faithful in the little things how can you expect God to trust you in the big things you realize that tithing is one of the easiest Christian practices there is to do it's simple second myth I hear this one all the time the myth is what I call the storehouse myth you've heard it it's a favorite myth that preachers proclaimed saying that the storehouse of the New Testament is the local church not a word in the scripture to support that when a Malachi and God through Malachi tells the people to bring their gifts into the storehouse it was at a time when Israel had a central sanctuary and the whole tribe of Levites and the subdivisions of koa fights and all the rest were entrusted with the cultic leadership that is with church duties they were the ministers the priests and so on but also their task was for the education of the people and God did not leave the salaries of the ministers and the educators up to the marketplace because he knew in a fallen world there would not be much value attached to ministers and the teachers so he made a provision for that I'm going to hold everybody responsible give 10% of their increase and put it into the central sanctuary and there it will be distributed to the ministers and to the teachers now the pastor says I want all the tithe in the local church don't you be supporting the seminary that produces your ministers don't you be using part you can do that if you want to but don't include it as part of your tithe don't support the Christian school don't produce it for support the Christian college don't support the Christian seminary don't produce produce any of the Christian education and of course in our day and age the two lowest paid professional people in our midst are ministers number one they're the lowest two teachers educators hardest people to raise money for in this world and you know why ministers and teachers of the lowest paid professional people in America because 80 to 96 percent of American Christians don't tithe if you want to make it all go to the local church on the basis of Malachi let me suggest this to you if we're gonna have a central distribution place and you want to apply that principle and here's where the myth is exposed we would have to have one central place in America where every Christian sends their tithes and their offerings and their gifts and then that central receiving place Dahl's it out to the Baptist's to the Lutheran's to the Presbyterians to the seminaries to the Christian schools do you want that pastors no third myth it's had a lot of credence in our day is the prosperity gospel myth the health and wealth gospel God always wants every Christian to be wealthy doesn't he say here put me to the test that I won't open the heavens and pour out my blessings upon you and God does say that and God does bless us every good and perfect gift comes from his hand but with the Apostle Paul we not only have to learn how to abound but we also have to learn how to be abased and there's this myth that it's God's will that every Christian be rolling in money no it isn't providentially God's will for every Christian is that we be responsible stewards with what he does give us I was playing golfing in Texas several years ago with a friend of mine who brought his brother along and his brother had been listening to these prosperity preachers and the name it and claim it you name it and you claim it and God will give it to you we played the first nine holes of golf and my friend's brother was having a terrible day on the golf course his score was atrocious after nine holes and so when we walked to the 10th tee he took his pencil he wrote three lines under his score for the front nine and I said what's that he says I'm turning the corner starting right now I'm gonna start playing well some cool gets up the 10th tee hooks his tee shot out-of-bounds tees it up again hits a ball in the garbage hacks it out of the weeds into a fairway bunker never loses cool next shots a ground ball you know he's we hadn't it like he's playing hockey hitting it sideways he knocks it in this in a trap next to the green finally knocks it on the green for putz for a 13 never loose is cool and he picks the ball up out of the hole finding looked at me and he smiled he said well are see so much for name it and claim it probably the worst myth that is associated with tithing in our day this one I hear all the time when I talk about tithing to professing Christians here's the myth the reason I don't tithe is because I can't afford it now I'm sure there are many people in this room not only heard that but they've said it shame on the poorest person in the room here today is living at a higher standard of living than 99% of the people who have ever lived on the face of this earth you're living at a higher standard of living that Kings enjoyed a hundred years ago so blessed have we been by the hand of God what you mean when you say I don't tithe because I can't afford it is I look at that and I say wait a minute I don't want to be like a delta airline pilot and get a 10% reduction in my income I can't afford that I've got bills to pay mortgages to pay off people come to me and say I've got a mortgage and if I'm going to pay my mortgage there's no way I can pay I said fine sell your house whatever it takes but stop robbing gone let me talk briefly about five benefits and I will be brief okay one of the marvelous things about the tithe is the freedom it gets from the politicization of economics you know we're a nation divided against itself where the politics of envy have torn this nation apart rich against poor poor against rich one class against another class and part of the reason for that is that because economics have been politicized in this country that's where Alex the Alexis de Tocqueville said as soon as people figure out that they can vote a tax on somebody else that they're not voting on themselves this experiment will be in trouble but that's the way elections are run now they if you vote for me I'll take money from him and from him and from him and give it to you and you won't have to pay hey that's a good deal it's evil it's legal theft and we do it every day in the United States with our system but God's system is the original flat tax not everybody gives the same amount in Israel if a man made a hundred thousand dollars a year he had to give $10,000 to the church if a man made a hundred dollars a year he gave ten dollars and Jesus talks about the widow who makes hardly anything but she comes with the Widow's mite because her responsibility now it's a steward of the things God does bestow upon her it's exactly the same as the rich man's percentage-wise now this is something that goes wrong in our churches today you know in our churches people who give big bucks to the church or to your ministries tend to have power in the church they ought not to have and let me put you in a little secret in my experience I have found out that there are precious few wealthy people who tithe they may give a gift of fifty thousand dollars and you look at that and you say wow that is incredible except at this last year their increase was a million dollars and they gave us fifty thousand and we're all happy but they stole another 50 from God but if they give the big gift relatively speaking we're all applauding thank you for your generosity so it's not just middle class people or poor people upper-class people this whole group are involved in stealing from God but it's nice that you can get free from the politics of empty because you know like somebody asks the other day how can you owned to this and to of that and own more than you need and somebody asked me that I said because I tithe and then some and I look like I'm square in the face let's see you want take me on look at my checkbook I'll show you where my treasure is I just can't outgive God and it's nice when he prospers you I have fun we've the base we've been a base but was also abundant and we've had to learn both ways but one of the things that the tithe frees you of is that if you are doing your duty before God you don't have to listen to all that stuff now you're free to enjoy the benefits and the prosperity that God has given you without walking wrong whether guilty conscience you know when I was a little kid my mother used to say to me when I didn't finish my food you got to eat that food she's just thinking of starving Armenians and I say I never had the sense to look at her and safe name one is there anybody in this room has ever seen anybody starve to death because if you have God have mercy on your soul there's no way a Christian can stand and watch somebody else starve to death but it's wonderful that God gives the same responsibility to you to you to you to you to you proportionately then we're all in this together that that is the second benefit which is the marvelous equity of the tithe it's not equal because some people give a lot more than others but it is just it is equitable it is fair we're all in the same boat with the same responsibilities third benefit and this is important this whole business of stewardship capitals and we read about in the parable is that would Jesus bless these people who took the talents and increase them by trading by investing them and he rebuked the one who put it in the back buried it in the grounds that he should have put it in a bank and at least got some interest in today's economy as they get what get 1% but the principle of not consuming everything God gives you now but deferring your gratification for future time for your children and all of that so you invest and you're called to invest wisely and Prudential I've done that all my life and then I watch the ticker tape Dow dropped 70 points today sometimes I try to figure out how much that cost me but I don't really and I'll sit down and figure it out but when you invest in the kingdom of God there aren't any bears lurking in the woods the kingdom of God has never experienced a recession the kingdom of God has never experienced a depression the kingdom of God has never experienced a bear market because the one who manages the funds in the kingdom of God is God and there is no greater investment under the Sun than to invest in the kingdom beloved if you want a sure investment store up for yourself treasures in heaven invest in the kingdom of Christ and watch it happen finally I just put together three and four or finally number five when you tithe if you tithe from the heart you honor God you worship Him you say God you are worthy of my time you are worthy of my gifts you are worthy of whatever finances you've put in my hands I can't think of a more worthy place to put my money but in the hands of Jesus and in the kingdom of God did you know what but it says you know it you've heard it a thousand times the Lord loves what kind of a giver a cheerful Giver not the one who he has to bring kicking and screaming against their will into the storehouse and say give me my money back no you know what the Lord he loves it when his people can't wait to invest in him and in his kingdom stewardship and giving our means of grace and they are a tremendous incentive for your spiritual growth anybody who robs God has a hard time growing in His grace let's pray father thank you for every good and perfect gift that you've entrusted to us forgive us for the way we have neglected we've buried we've hidden we've held back those wonderful things that you have given father I pray for an awakening in our day in the churches and in the hearts of Christians who will trust you with their tithes and with their offerings we ask it in Jesus sake amen

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

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Length: 51min 30sec (3090 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 09 2015