| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility” Our Bible verse for today: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.” Luke 12:48 (CSB) Our thought for today: “With the blessings comes responsibility” This morning we will continue our thinking from yesterday about the personal responsibility God has given us to be good stewards of the money, possessions, and resources He has entrusted us with. We ended our discussion yesterday with the question, “What does it look like to faithfully practice the stewardship principles taught in the Bible, while living a normal life in middle-class America?” For most of us reading this we do in fact live in middle-class America and not in a remote village in the Amazon Jungle, or in a poor town in rural Mexico, or on a farm in the mountains of China. Therefore, our standard of living is different and a different level of resources are required in order to live in this society as opposed to some other. God knows that, and He doesn’t expect us to live in middle-class America as if we were living on a small farm in a distant province in China. Christians are to live in a manner that’s consistent with and appropriate to the place God has put us. But with that said, there are Biblical stewardship principles that do apply. On the one hand, we do not need to feel guilty about or apologize for the blessings God has allowed us to have. On the other hand, we do need to recognize that with the blessings comes responsibility. God hasn’t allowed us to have all that we have just so we can spend it all on ourselves. He has blessed us so we can in-turn be a blessing to others. And the more He has blessed us with, the more He expects us to bless others. Jesus taught that in Luke 12:48, and there are numerous other passages throughout both the Old and New Testaments which teach the same thing. (We’ll look at some of them tomorrow). Our lesson for today is that the more you have the more God expects you to do with it. The giving that matters most to God is sacrificial giving – giving that we feel. However, the more you have the harder it is to do that. If you have ten million dollars and you give away a million, that’s a very generous thing, but you still have nine million. If you have ten thousand dollars and you give away a thousand, that’s more of a sacrifice for you than was the much larger gift from the millionaire. The Bible doesn’t teach against wealth. Some of the most prominent figures in the Bible were wealthy, including Abraham, David, Barnabas, and some of the women who followed and supported the ministry of Jesus. But the Bible does caution against the dangerous allure of wealth, and it does teach that the more you have, the more God expects you to do with it. Is it okay to have a nice vehicle, or to live in a big home, or to spend money on a luxury vacation? Maybe. If you’re being a faithful and generous giver to the kingdom-building work of God first, if you are a sacrificial giver who regularly blesses others in need, and if after doing so you can still afford a few extra nice things for yourself, good for you. I see nothing in Scripture that teaches otherwise. More about this tomorrow. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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