Transcript & Slides: Whose Money Is It?

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Whose Money Is It?
By David Feddes

We're entering a new area of total fitness: financial fitness. And the first question we're going to deal with is, whose money is it?

As we think about total fitness, there's a lot of different dimensions. I'll just remind you of seven that we're considering: the spiritual and the physical, the financial, intellectual, emotional, relational, and vocational. All of these are aspects of living life as Jesus called us to live it—to the full and according to God's wisdom.

As we get into the topic of financial fitness, just a couple of proverbs from the Bible to keep us oriented: “The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings them trouble” (Proverbs 15:6). “A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 28:20). Do you see some irony in that? People who are righteous get great treasure; they are richly blessed. And yet people whose main objective in life is to get income and to get rich are not richly blessed. So financial fitness is not just a matter of having lots and lots of money and being able to congratulate yourself on how rich you are. Financial fitness is related to the other elements of fitness, especially spiritual fitness.

So although knowing God does help you in your financial life very often, if your main goal is to use God to get rich, you've made a huge mistake. As we look at financial fitness, five areas we're going to deal with in different talks are these: whose money is it, making good money, money and marriage, dealing with debt, and financial planning—looking ahead to the future and getting your finances in order.

Who owns the money that you have? That's where we're going to start. Who owns the cash in your wallet? Who owns your paycheck or your business income? Who owns your bank account? Who owns the equity in your house and car? Who owns the stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other investments in your portfolio? Who owns all this?

You might say, "Well, that's obvious. It's mine. Of course it's my cash, my paycheck, my bank account, my house, my car, my portfolio. If it's in my possession or under my name, it's obviously mine." Well, not so fast. What if someone else is the real owner and you have things only to manage them for him? It makes a huge difference who really owns the money that you're handling. If the money belongs to you and to you alone, then you can do with it whatever you like. But if the money is really someone else's and you're only managing it, then you have to handle the money the way the real owner wants, and you have to answer to the real owner for how you manage his money.

The truth about money is this: you don't own a single penny. I don't own a single penny. Nobody on earth owns a penny. So whose money is it? It's God's money—every penny of it. Whatever money we have is ours to manage, not to own. We must handle money God's way, and we'll answer to God for the way we deal with his property.

Does that sound good to you? Do you like the thought of treating your money as not really yours but God's? Maybe not. You might prefer to have God stay out of your finances. But like it or not, there's really no such thing as your finances. There's only God's finances, which he allows you to handle for a while.

This might not appeal to you at first, but treating your money as God's money turns out to be a privilege and a joy. It honors God and it blesses you enormously. Handling money God's way is one of the vital signs of a healthy relationship to God. Jesus Christ has a great deal to say about money, and so does the rest of the Bible. The Lord says things about money and marriage, about dealing with debt, about spending and investing, and many other things.

But the most basic thing to deal with—the first thing to settle in your mind—is the question of who is the real owner of the money and all the other property that you have. Actually, there's something that's even more basic than that. The most basic question of all is not who owns the money or property, but who owns you.

There's a story about a missionary who was talking about the Lord Jesus Christ to the chief of a tribe. As they were talking, the chief offered the missionary various gifts—horses, blankets, clothes, jewelry. The missionary said to the chief, "Chief, my God does not want your horses and your blankets and your clothes and your jewelry. He wants you." And the chief smiled and said, "You have a very wise God, for if he gets me, he gets my horses and my blankets and my jewelry." Well, that's the truth of the matter. If God gets us, he gets everything else that is ours as well.

So even more basic than who owns our money is who owns us. Who owns you? Well, God owns you, and for at least three major reasons. The first is creation: God made you, and as the one who gives you existence and who gives you being, he has the right of ownership over you.

Another reason is that God chose you—election. The Bible says to the people of Israel that God chose you as his treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6). The Bible says in the New Testament that God chose believers before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). God made a choice to single his people out from all the rest. He owns the whole world, but his chosen are his in a very special way.

Another reason God owns us is redemption. God not only made you and chose you—God bought you. He bought you with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:18–19).

God owns you. One of the great summaries of the Bible is the Heidelberg Catechism, and the very first question of the Heidelberg Catechism is this: What is your only comfort in life and death? And the answer is: That I am not my own but belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. That is our greatest comfort—that we're not our own, but that God owns us by creation, by election, and by redemption.

If you reject God's claim of ownership and want to be your own person without answering to the Lord, you might think it'll bring you more freedom. But it will cause all sorts of worries and problems for you, and if nothing changes, it'll eventually land you in hell. If you choose to spend your life without God, you're going to spend eternity without God.

But if you accept God's claim of ownership, if you put yourself and everything you have in his hands, you'll be blessed. When God owns you, your problems are his problem, your cares are his concern, and he'll guide you and help you flourish in this life and for eternity.

The key to financial freedom is realizing that all your money is God's. And the key to spiritual freedom and comfort is knowing that you're not your own but belong to Jesus Christ as his treasured possession. Belonging to the Lord is a splendid spiritual relationship. But being spiritual doesn't just mean having dreamy good feelings. The spiritual is practical. The spiritual affects all areas of life, including the financial.

If you belong to God, so does all the money and property you have. And if you accept God as the owner of your money, you won't just think it or say it—you'll show it in what you actually do with God's money. In fact, the very first item in a biblical budget is your tithe.

Now what is a tithe? A tithe is a part of your income that you set aside to give directly back to God's church and mission. You make it your number one financial priority, before you even think about paying for taxes, for food, for clothes, transportation, or housing.

In the Bible, the tithe was usually 10% of your income. Taking that 10% off the top and giving it right back to God was a way to acknowledge that your entire income came from God, and that all of it was still his. That 10% you gave was just the firstfruits of it. If you were a farmer, as a lot of people in the Bible were, you gave God the first 10% of your crop—often called the firstfruits—before you stored any of it to meet your own needs or to sell to others.

When your other needs are met and you still have plenty to spare, you may choose to give well beyond the 10% figure to the Lord's work and to people in need. But that first 10% comes even before you address your various needs.

Giving your firstfruits—your tithe—is an act of commitment, of thanksgiving, and of faith. It's an act of commitment because when you give 10%, it's actually a sign of commitment to use the other 90% for God as well. You might not be giving it to a different organization—you may be spending it to clothe your children or to feed your family or other good causes—but you're using it all for God's purposes. So that 10% is a sign of commitment.

It's also a sign of thanks. It's appreciation that God provides for you very generously. God provides more than enough. When you give 10%, you're saying, "God, you're so generous. I can live on 90% of what you give me."

And tithing off the top is also an act of faith. It's a sign that you're trusting in God's future provision rather than just hoarding and piling up as much as you possibly can. You're saying, "Lord, I trust that you're giving me more than enough for today, and you're going to provide for me tomorrow and the next day and the next day as well. So I don't have to keep it all back for myself. I can give to you, and I know that you're going to provide for me in the future even if I'm not hogging it all for myself."

So tithing off the top is a sign of commitment, it's a sign of thanks, it's a sign of faith. Now if that's what tithing means, then what does it mean not to tithe? It means lack of commitment—you don't honor God as the master of your money. It means lack of thanksgiving—you're not thanking God for what he's given you. It means lack of faith—you're not showing trust that God will provide all you need and much more, even if you let go of 10%.

If you give nothing, or if your giving comes from your spare change instead of making the tithe your number one financial priority, then you have a spiritual problem. The tithe is the cream off the top of your income, not whatever happens to be left at the bottom of the barrel. If you're in tune with God, give him the firstfruits, not the leftovers.

Now when I talk about tithing, you might get suspicious of my motives—and I don't blame you. Some ministries talk about God's claim on your money as part of urging you to make big donations to that particular ministry. But I'm not a fundraiser. Give your tithe to a good local church. Give your tithe to other ministries that honor God, and you'll be richly blessed in your giving, even if you never give a penny for any ministry that I happen to be involved with. My goal here is not to raise funds for myself or for my ministry, but to raise your relationship with God to a higher level. I want God to be honored and you to be blessed as you tithe and as you recognize the Lord as the owner of all that you have.

I want to spare you from the experience of a married couple that I knew. Their finances were tight. Both of them had jobs, but they couldn't get ahead. They felt that they couldn't afford to give any significant amount to God. That year, they gave only $20 to their church. Meanwhile, they spent more than that every month on cable TV. When they got a tax refund in the mail, they immediately spent it all on a new electronic gadget that they didn't really need.

When I heard from this same couple years later, their finances had not improved. They were still buying on impulse. They still weren't able to save money, and they still weren't giving much to God. Injuries at work, car troubles, other unexpected expenses, and tensions in their marriage strained their finances further and made life hard for them. Worst of all, they felt hollow and aimless in relation to God. Eventually, their marriage collapsed and ended in divorce.

I'm not eager to judge this couple, but I wonder how many of their troubles came because they didn't honor God as the master of their marriage and as the owner of their money. If they had started tithing years ago, one blessing would have been learning to manage the other 90% of God's money more wisely. Another blessing would have been a fuller, deeper sense of being God's friends and partners. By not tithing, they robbed God—and they robbed themselves of God's blessing.

If you're not tithing off the top, you might find out that your income is leaking out the bottom. And I'm not just making this up. The Bible speaks of that when it talks to people about their giving. The prophet Haggai spoke to God's people who were spending a lot on their own homes and nothing on rebuilding the temple of the Lord. The prophet said:

"Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it... You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away," declares the Lord Almighty. "Why? Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house" (Haggai 1:5–6, 9).

What a picture! Even if you have money pouring in, it can pour back out as though you have holes in your pockets or your purse. Your food doesn't really nourish you. Your clothes don't really make you comfortable. You plant big investments, but harvest small returns. That's what happens when you think only of yourself and ignore God as the owner of everything. God may let your finances drain away. Or else he may let your money and luxury increase, but not let you feel happy with it and contented with it. You can't rob God without robbing yourself.

The prophet Malachi said:

"Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, "How are we to return?" "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me." But you ask, "How do we rob you?" "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 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 you will not have room enough for it" (Malachi 3:7–10).

Would you like God to flood you with blessings? Would you like to be free of financial worries and have more than enough for body and soul? Then don't try to rob God by claiming his money as your own. Test God. Find out if he really means what he says. Hand yourself and your financial affairs over to him and see what happens.

Answer the question, "Whose money is it?" by saying, "It's your money, Lord." And don't just say it with your voice. Say it with your tithe—giving God the first and the best part of what is already his.

Now here's a question: does God need our gifts? And the short answer is no. God does not need our gifts. The Bible says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). God says, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine” (Haggai 2:8). It's all God's already. He's not in desperate need of what we can hand over to him.

Now this is quite a different view than what many of the pagan religions held. The pagan gods created humanity to take care of the gods and to work for them and to provide them with things they needed. The pagan gods needed offerings. God doesn't need offerings. But God enjoys getting gifts from his children because those gifts show our love—even though the gifts are paid for by his own wealth.

I'm a father, and I like getting gifts on my birthday from my children or on Father’s Day. Those are nice gifts. But you know what? When my younger children would give me gifts, I knew whose money was paying for those gifts. They were buying me gifts with my own money. I wasn't gaining anything that I couldn't have just bought myself, and yet I enjoyed getting the gifts because they were expressions of love, and they wanted to get something for Dad. It's something like that with our Lord. He enjoys getting gifts from us, and it's paid for by his own wealth.

If you could give God 300 tons of gold, 600 tons of silver, plus piles of precious gems, you wouldn't be giving God anything that wasn't already his. In fact, when King David was gathering materials for his son Solomon to build the temple of the Lord, David and the other leading officials really did give 300 tons of gold, 600 tons of silver, and many priceless jewels. They didn’t give reluctantly—they gave freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord, says the Bible.

And what did David pray when he offered this vast wealth to the Lord? David said, “Everything in heaven and earth is yours. Wealth and honor come from you... Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. O Lord our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your holy name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you” (1 Chronicles 29:11–14).

Now the fact that everything belongs to God already is encouraging for this reason—and the fact that God doesn’t need our gifts is encouraging for this reason: the size of the gift is not the main thing that matters. It’s not that God says, “Oh, I needed that money so, so, so badly—and somebody gave a million, and somebody else only gave a little bit—man, I like that million-dollar gift way better.”

There’s a story of what Jesus saw in the temple one day. He was watching various people put money into the temple treasury, and he saw many wealthy people put lots of money in. Then he saw a poor widow drop in a couple of copper coins that were worth hardly anything. And Jesus said, “You see what that widow gave? Her gift is greater than what all of the rich guys gave, because what she gave was all she had, and what they gave was just a little bit extra” (Mark 12:41–44).

And so, a kid who earns a bit of money cutting lawns during the week and drops a dollar into the collection plate may be giving more than someone who writes out a very large check. And that’s the wonderful truth of the fact that God doesn’t really need our money, but our money is an expression of our love to him.

Sometimes people can give vast sums, and God has enabled them to make lots of money—that’s wonderful. The Bible encourages the wealthy to be generous in love and good deeds and with their gifts (1 Timothy 6:17–18). But if you’re not one of those people who’s great at making lots and lots of money and you say, “What’s the point of me giving? I mean, a thousand people like me could give and they couldn’t match one of those multimillionaires”—yeah, but that’s not the point. God loves the gifts of a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7), and he measures what happens from the heart.

Jesus liked that lady’s gift best. And he liked it because the rich gave the money they could easily spare, while the widow gave all she had at the time. That’s how much she loved and trusted God. Jesus is more interested in what our giving shows about our love for God than in the actual size of our gift. He dearly wants our hearts. He doesn’t desperately need our money.

In Old Testament times, one part of worship was bringing animal sacrifices. Sometimes people were tempted to think that God somehow needed these animals from them—that they were doing him a big favor in bringing sacrifices and food for God, and that God was in their debt. To such people, God said, “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens. For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all that is in it” (Psalm 50:9–12).

So why give to the one who already owns everything? Let’s summarize it. We give to demonstrate and deepen our commitment, our thankfulness, and our faith. We do it to bring our Father pleasure. Even though he doesn’t need it, he enjoys receiving our gifts. We give to honor him as the owner of all that we have. And we give because we can use finances to strengthen our walk with God—not to pull us away from God.

That’s so important. The Bible reminds us that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10), and money can get a hold on your heart and it can pull you away from God. But if you realize that it is God’s money, and you’re using it to serve God and to bless other people, then your finances—instead of being something that pull you away from God—are part of what strengthens your walk with God and draws you closer to him.

So those are important reasons to give to the one who already owns it all. Using God’s money for God’s glory is a wonderful way of expressing what’s in your heart. Tithing is one part of handling money God’s way, and I hope you’re convinced of that fact.

But let me add a caution: even if you tithe, it doesn't guarantee that you honor God as the owner of all your money, and it doesn't necessarily mean that your heart is in tune with God. It's possible to give large sums of money with wrong motives.

In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were a religious group that tried to earn God's approval by keeping religious regulations perfectly. They weren't motivated by trust and love for God or by justice and mercy toward other people. They were self-righteous legalists. Jesus didn't have much good to say about the Pharisees, but he did say one good thing about them: they tithed. Jesus said, “You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill, and cumin. But you’ve neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former” (Matthew 23:23).

So you should have paid attention to these big matters without neglecting the tithing. You were right to tithe, but you should have been doing the more important things as well. They were so strict about tithing, so insistent on giving exactly one tenth, that they went through even the smallest items such as spices in the cupboard to make sure God got paid his tenth. But while they were counting spices, they were neglecting things that were far more important to God: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Their hearts were out of tune with God.

This didn't mean they should stop tithing, said Jesus. Tithing was good. But they needed to give their hearts to God and grow in heartfelt concern for other people.

The Bible shows us what real, grace-filled giving is all about, especially in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Those are two of the great chapters in the Bible about giving. The apostle speaks of some people who were especially generous, and he says, “They gave themselves first to the Lord” (2 Corinthians 8:5). That's the key. Who’s the real owner—not just of the money, but of you? The answer was, they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then they got around to giving the money as well.

So the apostle says, “See that you also excel in this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7). And why should we excel in grace? The biggest reason is this: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:7–8).

There's this wonderful circle of grace—the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who left his riches to give all for us, and then this giving to the Lord cheerfully, and it makes grace abound. And God provides for you, and then you in turn can abound in every good work. Because God continues to bless you, you continue to bless others, they rejoice in God, and there’s this wonderful circle of grace.

As you give, you want to be wise in doing so, and you want to do it right. Giving should be God-centered. Focus on God’s grace and God’s glory, not just on impressing people. That’s an important one. Jesus said, “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven... When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets... Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:1–4).

God's not that fond of people putting their names on big projects that they've given money for. They've got their reward—people have noticed, the name is etched there—but there's no more reward from their Father in heaven, because they gave to make an impression. They gave to get their name on something. Give in a God-centered way, not to impress other people. That means most of the time, give secretly and anonymously.

And give generously—gladly give to bless others, not to get something back from them. Jesus spoke of giving dinners for people who are in need, who can’t pay you back, instead of just inviting people to business lunches who can pay you back and you're going to get what you want out of the deal (Luke 14:12–14). Generosity is giving without trying to get something from somebody else.

And then give wisely. Be wise. Budget the amounts and the timing of your gifts. The Bible says, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income” (1 Corinthians 16:2). So there's a planned aspect to giving where you're budgeting how much you're going to give. You've got a time for your giving, and it’s not just happening haphazardly. That’s part of being wise in your giving.

Also, pay careful attention to the ministries and organizations and churches that you give for. Require transparency so you know what's going on. Require integrity, where it's honest and above board. You want transparency and integrity from organizations you support. And that means you do need to be cautious about some popular fundraising techniques. Sometimes they'll say, "Oh, we're facing a terrible budget shortage, and if you just kick in this amount of money, it will save the day." Or they'll say, "Oh, there's a special project that just came up, and we need $5,000 for that—we hope that you'll pay for it."

Well, sometimes when I hear that an organization needs this money in a hurry or else it’s just not going to happen, I think to myself, don't they know how to plan? Don't they keep any money in reserve? A well-run, well-planned organization will always try to be ready if there's new opportunities that arise. So don’t give just in response to panic appeals or things that try to press your emotional buttons. Be wise in your giving.

So be God-centered, be generous, be wise. “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9–10). Honor God, and let God worry about your wealth.

When you're managing God's money, you're responsible to honor God with all your money, not just the money you give to church, missions, and charity. Remember what we said: you're giving 10%, but really the other 90% is God's money as well. So every time you're making a financial decision, make it in tune with God and ask for his wisdom.

Here's some good news: if you see your money as God's money, then your money problems become God's problems too. You see, if it's his, then it's his problem. That doesn't mean that you just get to be stupid and then wait for God to clean up your mess—although God often does that. But the very fact that it's God's money means that, okay God, I've got these struggles, I've got these problems, I've got these challenges. I'm putting them in your hands. Give me wisdom, but also give your power and blessing to overcome those challenges.

And here's another piece of excellent news: if you accept that God owns everything of yours, it will turn out that you own everything of God's. Let that sink in. If you accept that God owns everything of yours, it turns out that you own everything of God's. I'm not making this up. Here's what the Bible says: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). What does he give? All things. “All things are yours... and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's” (1 Corinthians 3:21–23).

So we ask, whose money is it? And we’ve got to say, it's all God's. And when we do that, God says, "Yes, and everything that I have—it's all yours."

Do you believe that the Lord has given you himself and all that is his? If so, then give him yourself and all that is yours. You may have some financial problems you want to solve, or financial opportunities you want to pursue. But first things first. Before dealing with any particular financial issue or problem, first trust God and become his partner. God has given everything to you—not only material riches, but also eternal riches in Christ. By faith, accept everything God has, and by faith, hand over to God everything that you have.

 

Whose Money Is It?
By David Feddes
Slide Contents

Total Fitness

• Spiritual
• Physical
• Financial
• Intellectual
• Emotional
• Relational
• Vocational

Financial fitness

The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings them trouble.

A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished. (Proverbs 15:6; 28:20)

Financial Fitness

• Whose money is it?
• Making good money
• Money and marriage
• Dealing with debt
• Financial planning

Who owns you?

• Creation: God made you
• Election: God chose you
• Redemption: God bought you

Tithing off the top

• Commitment: 10% shows commitment to use the other 90% for God.
• Thanks: appreciation that God provides more than enough. I live on 90%.
• Faith: trusting God’s future provision, rather than hoarding as much as I can.

Purse with Holes

Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes but are not warm. You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it. (Haggai 1:5-6).

“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why? Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.” (Haggai 1:9)

Robbing God

“Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.

“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.”

“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 thrown open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (Malachi 3:8-10).

Does God need our gifts?

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)

The silver is mine, and the gold is mine. (Haggai 2:8)

• Pagan gods need offerings; God doesn’t.
• Our Father enjoys getting gifts from His children that show our love—even though the gifts are paid by His own wealth.

All comes from God

Everything in heaven and earth is yours… Wealth and honor come from you… Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand… O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. (1 Chronicles 29:12-14) 

The world is mine!

I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. (Psalm 50:9-12)

Why give to the one
who already owns all?

• To demonstrate and deepen commitment, thankfulness, and faith
• To bring your Father pleasure
• To honor him as the owner of all you have
• To use finances to strengthen your walk with God, not pull you away from God

Graceless giving

You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. (Matthew 23:23)

Grace-filled giving

They gave themselves first to the Lord… see that you also excel in this grace of giving…For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (1 Corinthians 8:5-9)

Circle of grace

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

Godly giving

• God-centered: Focus on God’s grace and glory, not on impressing people.
• Generous: Gladly give to bless others, not to get something from them.
• Wise: Budget the amounts and timing of your gifts, and require transparency and integrity from organizations you support.

Honor the Lord
with your wealth

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. (Proverb 3:9-10)

Managing God’s money

• You are responsible to honor God with all your money, not just with money you give to church, missions, and charity.
• If you see your money as God’s, your money problems become God’s too.
• If you accept that God owns everything of yours, it turns out that you own everything of God’s!

All things are yours

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

For all things are yours ... and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. (1 Corinthians 3:21,23)