I am blessed and hope you are too today. So far I have been sharing thoughts on stewardship. last time, we saw how we are stewards in every sense of the word. In God we live, move and have our being, utterly. he owns everything and it is by his grace to be alive and to be His stewards while we are here. It is important and a major blessing for us to recognize our position as stewards.
We are basically stewards of :
Through the tithe, we recognize and acknowledge that He owns all things and that whatever increase we get it is His, as we saw the last time. By returning tithe, it keeps at the forefront in our minds that God would have blessed with increase, and that he is the source of all blessings. Not because we are so business savvy, or because we are hard workers or anything which can tempt us to give credit to ourselves, but that God saw fit by His grace to bless.
You can be business savvy, or hardworking, intelligent, and any or all of these things and still not reap any fruit from your labour, as is written:
But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth...I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Deuteronomy 8:18; Ecclesiastes 9:11.
Ultimately, it is by God's blessing that we can have any increase to return tithe on, so it is a privilege and a blessing to be able to return what is His to Him in acknowledgment of this fact.
Time
[8] Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
[9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
[10] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
[11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11.
Just as the tithe is an acknowledgment that any increase we get from our labours, it is a blessing from God, likewise the Sabbath is an acknowledgment that time is also God's. To be alive is a blessing and it is by God's blessing that we are alive and thus able to have any time to use. In Him we live, move and our being indeed.
How we use that time is another question. We spend the best of our time on ourselves and things that we think are important and yet God deserves to be the first priority since he is the one who would have blessed us to be alive and thus have that time in the first place.
We spend more time at our jobs than with God and even family time suffers. God would have blessed us with that time, and yet we give Him leftovers if there are any of our time. The Sabbath he gave us to recognize Him and to remind us that if he is the creator of all things, He is the one who sustains us.
We find all our rest in Him as is written:
[28] Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
[29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
[30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30.
The Sabbath helps us to recognise that there are certain things we can not do for ourselves.
Symbol that God is our provider
God is our provider and it is by His will and blessing that we get our daily bread. It is not because you are so hardworking, because today you might have your job and the company might close tomorrow. Your business can do good today and fail tomorrow.
We work so hard at jobs or businesses or jobs God would have blessed us with, failing to recognize that he is the one who would have provided them. He has only asked for a special time set aside to spend with him, just as the tithe is a special portion to be returned to Him in acknowledgement of His blessing. But we are afraid to spend that time with him in fear of losing jobs, or business. Yet it is because of Him, that we would have a job or a business.
He has promised that if we put him first, he will give us all these things we seek and worry about. if we acknowledge him by spending the Sabbath with Him and hallowing it, we put Him first and testify that it is not because of a job that we live or sustain oursleves, it is by His grace and in Him we live move and have our being, as is written:
[31] Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
[32] (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
[33] But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
[34] Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:31-34.
He already knows that you have bills, and so on, but he has promised to take care of all these things, if you put Him first. By spending the Sabbath with Him when you could have been working, you acknowledge that ultimately he is the provider, it is not by you working during that Holy time, but that in him, you live, move and have your being. By not honoring and spending the Sabbath time with him out of fear of losing jobs, or less business since no work during that time, we say in other words that we are our own provider. That it is because of our hard work and by our strength that we sustain ourselves. By lack of faith we then trust in ourselves and yet:
[5] Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
[6] For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
[7] Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
[8] For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Jeremiah 17:5-8.
So honoring the Sabbath, which is a tithe of our time so to speak, we testify that God provides not we ourselves. We trust in His sustainance and that he has asked for one day to spend with him and return that time just as the tithe. it is a symbol of our trust and utter dependence upon God, whether we are jobless or not, have any business or not.
Symbol that we rest from our labors of sin
We are in bondage to sin and though we desire to do good, it seems impossible for us to do the good we desire to do, as is written:
[15] For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
[19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
[20] Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Romans 7:15, 19-20.
We have a sinful nature through which we are in bondage to the devil as is written:
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Romans 6:16.
...for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 2 peter 2:19.
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 2 Timothy 2:26.
That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? Isaiah 14:17.
We are the devil's captives and labour or work for him against our will through our sinful nature as is written:
[19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
[20] Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
[21] Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21.
It is from these works of the flesh, when we are laboring our captor the devil that Christ seeks to give us rest for our souls. Only by our resting in Christ can He set us free from this bondage and this is the rest for our souls that we testify to when we keep the Sabbath as is written:
[28] Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
[29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
[30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30.
Symbol that we rest in His works not ours to do the good we desire to do
We all do the wrong we don't desire to do and fail at doing the good we desire to do, as is written:
[15] For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
[19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
[20] Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Romans 7:15, 19-20.
Not only do we labor for the devil through the works of the flesh, or sin, but it is equally hard for us to labor and be fruitful in doing good. it is not natural for us, given our sinful nature to be selfless, and to put others first before oursleves and to love our neighbour as ourselves.
We are inclined through our sinful nature to be selfish, to put ourselves first and to be the centers of our worlds. That is why it is hard labor for us to do any good because we will be working to do something that is not natural for us to do, our attempts at this are failures. That is why we are not justified by works but by faith as it is written:
[3] For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
[4] Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
[5] But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Romans 4:3-5.
[19] And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
[20] He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
[21] And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
[22] And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
[23] Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
[24] But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
[25] Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Romans 4:19-25.
Abraham was justified by faith believing in God doing what seemed impossible. He was too old and Sarah was also. it would be nothing short of a miracle for him to have a son in his ripe old age. He believed that God would deliver on his promise, and thus was justified by faith and not works. There was absolutely nothing he could have done on his part to enable himself or Sarah to concieve.
Just as it was impossible for Him, it is impossible for us to be righteous, or to do the good we would like to do but keep failing at doing. Our will is naturally to sin, and we are the devil's captives slaving for him through the works of the flesh. It is impossible for us to stop sinning on our own because it is not natural for us. It is equally impossible for us to do good or be righteous on our own.
Only by resting in Christ, by faith, we cease from the labors of the flesh which is sin, and also from trying to earn righteousness through works.
Only by surrendering our will through carrying our crosses and following Him can we find rest from our souls. When we surrender our will, we allow His will to be done in our lives as is written:
[24] Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Matthew 16:24.
By denying ourselves, we allow His will work to work in our lives as is written:
[13] For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13.
By surrendering to His will, we cease from being the devil's subjects, laboring for him through sin and instead become Christ's subjects and allow His will to be done in our lives, and His will being:
[39] And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
[40] And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:39-40.
God's will is for us to be saved from this bondage to sin.
The Sabbath comemorates this rest for our souls. Rest from our efforts and worries in sustaining ourselves temporally, because He has already promised that if we rest in Him by trusting in His promise that if we put Him first, He will take care of our needs no matter what the circumstances.
The Sabbath comemorates rest from our labors to the devil through sin. Unless Christ sets us free, we will continue to be slaves to sin and be in bondage. By faith we rest in Christ from this labor as He sets us free from bondage.
The Sabbath commemorates also, our rest in Christ from trying to be righteous by works. It is not natural for us to do good, therefore only when we rest in Christ can He work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. It is unfruitful labor for us to try to earn righteousness by our works, and it is from this labor that He seeks to give us rest.
The Sabbath is a symbol of complete and utter dependence on God for everything. it is a symbol of our faith in a God we can not see. it is in essence a tithe of our time. By spending that time with Him, by faith we also testify to the world that in God we live, move and have our being. He is the source of all things, and only in Him do we find rest for our souls.
We conlclude next time, and God Bless.
We are basically stewards of :
- Anything God gives us to manage while we are here like wealth, etc
- Time
- Health
Through the tithe, we recognize and acknowledge that He owns all things and that whatever increase we get it is His, as we saw the last time. By returning tithe, it keeps at the forefront in our minds that God would have blessed with increase, and that he is the source of all blessings. Not because we are so business savvy, or because we are hard workers or anything which can tempt us to give credit to ourselves, but that God saw fit by His grace to bless.
You can be business savvy, or hardworking, intelligent, and any or all of these things and still not reap any fruit from your labour, as is written:
But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth...I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Deuteronomy 8:18; Ecclesiastes 9:11.
Ultimately, it is by God's blessing that we can have any increase to return tithe on, so it is a privilege and a blessing to be able to return what is His to Him in acknowledgment of this fact.
Time
[8] Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
[9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
[10] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
[11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11.
Just as the tithe is an acknowledgment that any increase we get from our labours, it is a blessing from God, likewise the Sabbath is an acknowledgment that time is also God's. To be alive is a blessing and it is by God's blessing that we are alive and thus able to have any time to use. In Him we live, move and our being indeed.
How we use that time is another question. We spend the best of our time on ourselves and things that we think are important and yet God deserves to be the first priority since he is the one who would have blessed us to be alive and thus have that time in the first place.
We spend more time at our jobs than with God and even family time suffers. God would have blessed us with that time, and yet we give Him leftovers if there are any of our time. The Sabbath he gave us to recognize Him and to remind us that if he is the creator of all things, He is the one who sustains us.
We find all our rest in Him as is written:
[28] Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
[29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
[30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30.
The Sabbath helps us to recognise that there are certain things we can not do for ourselves.
- He is the one who sustains us. No matter how hard we labor, God is the one who provides our daily bread.
- We are in bondage to sin, and our souls can only find rest in Him from the labors of sin.
- Though we have a desire to do good, it is impossible for us to do any good on our within ourselves except we rest in Him and he help us to do the good we desire to do
Symbol that God is our provider
God is our provider and it is by His will and blessing that we get our daily bread. It is not because you are so hardworking, because today you might have your job and the company might close tomorrow. Your business can do good today and fail tomorrow.
We work so hard at jobs or businesses or jobs God would have blessed us with, failing to recognize that he is the one who would have provided them. He has only asked for a special time set aside to spend with him, just as the tithe is a special portion to be returned to Him in acknowledgement of His blessing. But we are afraid to spend that time with him in fear of losing jobs, or business. Yet it is because of Him, that we would have a job or a business.
He has promised that if we put him first, he will give us all these things we seek and worry about. if we acknowledge him by spending the Sabbath with Him and hallowing it, we put Him first and testify that it is not because of a job that we live or sustain oursleves, it is by His grace and in Him we live move and have our being, as is written:
[31] Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
[32] (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
[33] But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
[34] Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:31-34.
He already knows that you have bills, and so on, but he has promised to take care of all these things, if you put Him first. By spending the Sabbath with Him when you could have been working, you acknowledge that ultimately he is the provider, it is not by you working during that Holy time, but that in him, you live, move and have your being. By not honoring and spending the Sabbath time with him out of fear of losing jobs, or less business since no work during that time, we say in other words that we are our own provider. That it is because of our hard work and by our strength that we sustain ourselves. By lack of faith we then trust in ourselves and yet:
[5] Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
[6] For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
[7] Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
[8] For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Jeremiah 17:5-8.
So honoring the Sabbath, which is a tithe of our time so to speak, we testify that God provides not we ourselves. We trust in His sustainance and that he has asked for one day to spend with him and return that time just as the tithe. it is a symbol of our trust and utter dependence upon God, whether we are jobless or not, have any business or not.
Symbol that we rest from our labors of sin
We are in bondage to sin and though we desire to do good, it seems impossible for us to do the good we desire to do, as is written:
[15] For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
[19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
[20] Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Romans 7:15, 19-20.
We have a sinful nature through which we are in bondage to the devil as is written:
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Romans 6:16.
...for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 2 peter 2:19.
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 2 Timothy 2:26.
That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? Isaiah 14:17.
We are the devil's captives and labour or work for him against our will through our sinful nature as is written:
[19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
[20] Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
[21] Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21.
It is from these works of the flesh, when we are laboring our captor the devil that Christ seeks to give us rest for our souls. Only by our resting in Christ can He set us free from this bondage and this is the rest for our souls that we testify to when we keep the Sabbath as is written:
[28] Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
[29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
[30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30.
Symbol that we rest in His works not ours to do the good we desire to do
We all do the wrong we don't desire to do and fail at doing the good we desire to do, as is written:
[15] For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
[19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
[20] Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Romans 7:15, 19-20.
Not only do we labor for the devil through the works of the flesh, or sin, but it is equally hard for us to labor and be fruitful in doing good. it is not natural for us, given our sinful nature to be selfless, and to put others first before oursleves and to love our neighbour as ourselves.
We are inclined through our sinful nature to be selfish, to put ourselves first and to be the centers of our worlds. That is why it is hard labor for us to do any good because we will be working to do something that is not natural for us to do, our attempts at this are failures. That is why we are not justified by works but by faith as it is written:
[3] For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
[4] Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
[5] But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Romans 4:3-5.
[19] And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
[20] He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
[21] And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
[22] And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
[23] Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
[24] But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
[25] Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Romans 4:19-25.
Abraham was justified by faith believing in God doing what seemed impossible. He was too old and Sarah was also. it would be nothing short of a miracle for him to have a son in his ripe old age. He believed that God would deliver on his promise, and thus was justified by faith and not works. There was absolutely nothing he could have done on his part to enable himself or Sarah to concieve.
Just as it was impossible for Him, it is impossible for us to be righteous, or to do the good we would like to do but keep failing at doing. Our will is naturally to sin, and we are the devil's captives slaving for him through the works of the flesh. It is impossible for us to stop sinning on our own because it is not natural for us. It is equally impossible for us to do good or be righteous on our own.
Only by resting in Christ, by faith, we cease from the labors of the flesh which is sin, and also from trying to earn righteousness through works.
Only by surrendering our will through carrying our crosses and following Him can we find rest from our souls. When we surrender our will, we allow His will to be done in our lives as is written:
[24] Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Matthew 16:24.
By denying ourselves, we allow His will work to work in our lives as is written:
[13] For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13.
By surrendering to His will, we cease from being the devil's subjects, laboring for him through sin and instead become Christ's subjects and allow His will to be done in our lives, and His will being:
[39] And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
[40] And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:39-40.
God's will is for us to be saved from this bondage to sin.
The Sabbath comemorates this rest for our souls. Rest from our efforts and worries in sustaining ourselves temporally, because He has already promised that if we rest in Him by trusting in His promise that if we put Him first, He will take care of our needs no matter what the circumstances.
The Sabbath comemorates rest from our labors to the devil through sin. Unless Christ sets us free, we will continue to be slaves to sin and be in bondage. By faith we rest in Christ from this labor as He sets us free from bondage.
The Sabbath commemorates also, our rest in Christ from trying to be righteous by works. It is not natural for us to do good, therefore only when we rest in Christ can He work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. It is unfruitful labor for us to try to earn righteousness by our works, and it is from this labor that He seeks to give us rest.
The Sabbath is a symbol of complete and utter dependence on God for everything. it is a symbol of our faith in a God we can not see. it is in essence a tithe of our time. By spending that time with Him, by faith we also testify to the world that in God we live, move and have our being. He is the source of all things, and only in Him do we find rest for our souls.
We conlclude next time, and God Bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment