Today on MoneyLife with Chuck Bentley
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Foundational Principles of God’s Economy
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Most people think of stewardship being related to tithing or a giving campaign at their church. That’s really an incorrect understanding of the term. Non-Christians think stewardships means taking care of the environment. That’s wrong too, and is not a Biblical view. The principles of God’s Economy start with God’s Lordship. God is the object of stewardship or the reason for stewardship. For a non-Christian, the object of stewardship is the Earth. The purpose of God’s Economy is to exalt God, to give Him your time, talent, and treasure. When God is Lord of your life, you’re in your proper role of being a steward for Him. A steward allows God to lead in how to make money, manage it, and use it. The ultimate outcome of living in God’s Economy is to be generous toward God and other people. Today, we want to look at principles that cause you to look at God as Lord, to live as a steward, and to give generously this year. I want you to understand how to be free from the snares of man’s economy and experience the joy, liberty, and peace of God’s Economy. There's not much hope in man’s economy. If you try to put your hope there, you will be frustrated, disappointed, and fearful. The first principle of God’s Economy is to see Him as Lord. God is the owner of everything, the world and you too. The purpose of stewardship is to serve God. God should be exalted as Lord. Let's look at the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. God is the landowner and he hires laborers or stewards to work in his vineyard, the world. He takes care of the needs of His stewards. The landowner went out and found idle laborers and put them to work in his vineyard. He kept doing that. When the work was done, he paid the workers starting with the last ones hired and gave them the same as the ones hired at he beginning of the day. We sometimes aren’t satisfied in serving God’s kingdom. We're concerned about other people getting more or our job being harder. God says we should be grateful for His provision, everyone is treated generously. He is sovereign and He is distributing resources the way He wants. Be thankful you are part of His kingdom. Find joy in His generosity towards you. Reset your attitude and thinking. God’s Economy is built on three foundational principles:
God is the Lord of all the Earth. He hires us to work in His vineyard. He takes care of our needs. He wants us to be content with His generosity to provide for us and give our lives a purpose, which is to serve Him. God wants to be the object of all your affections. How you earn a living, the way you manage the resources you have, and how you use them should all reflect your love for God. A steward submits to the will of his master; he lives to please the owner. The second principle of God's Economy is that after you understand His Lordship, you are to keep Him as your only master. Anything that interferes with that is an idol, a hindrance, a snare. If you take your eyes off God, you become discontented, envious of the things of the world, and you start to strive for them. You will become enslaved to the things of the world which is what happens with debt. God wants to use you, but you must be available. When you’re in debt, you’re not totally available to God and you have another master. You can’t have two masters. That’s why debt can be so destructive. When God is your only master, you can be a wholehearted and faithful steward. The third principle is that God wants us to carefully consider how to use what He has provided. God is the owner of the vineyard and we are His laborers. As His stewards, we have avoided debt so we could serve Him fully. God wants to demonstrate patience, wisdom, thoroughness, accuracy, excellence, thoughtfulness. He wants us to show others that when we follow His ways we don’t end up in the same traps as those who don’t know Him. We live out our life purpose by making decisions that support what God wants us to do. You will write your autobiography by the decisions you make, including money decisions. I hHope you’ve made a resolution to improve your finances this year. We want to help you achieve your financial goals for 2010 and we have many resources you can use. One goal everyone should have this year is to save more money. We should be internally motivated to prepare for the future. When you have a job and an income, those are days of abundance. You should set aside money for the times you don’t have a job or an income, times of famine. Don’t hoard to try to live above others. Save resources to have a witness of being generous to meet the needs of others and the opportunity to show the wisdom of God’s Economy and the foolishness of man’s economy. I believe 2010 will be another tough year for the economy, though it will be slowly recovering. You need to make wise decisions. Allow us to help you develop a spending plan and the self control to follow it. Let us help you save, pay down debt, increase your financial margin, increase your generosity and break free from the bondage of man’s economy. You can do that by choosing to live in God’s Economy. you can do that by recognizing He is Lord, that you are His faithful steward, and by making decisions that reflect His love and generosity to others. |
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Other Resources: |
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Today we’re going to review the foundational principles of God’s Economy. We're trying to move away from only talking about stewardship.
