Stewardship pt 1 - Money and Stuff!
Hebrews 12:14-29
02/05/2010
Today we begin a series on the topic of stewardship. Stewardship is the concept of looking after something that has been entrusted to us but which belongs to someone else. As Christians we believe that everything was created by Christ and for Christ (Col
The Bible actually contains a huge quantity of practical teaching about this – far more than what we can cover over the next few weeks. What we are going to focus on is developing the right Christian attitudes that will prepare you to receive and follow God’s leading for you in your stewardship of money and stuff.
Having said that, I now want you to put money and stuff at the back of your minds for a while. The passage that we are studying has a much bigger focus, and once we have allowed God to speak to us through it, we’ll be able to start thinking about money and stuff in the right way.
Hebrews 12:14-29
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Remember that phrase! It is a key idea which we will come to understand better as we look at the rest of the passage.
This letter was written to Jews, who had a good understanding of the history of their people and what we now call the Old Testament. One of the things that God was doing as He inspired the writer of this letter was to help Jews understand how Jesus was the fulfillment of everything that happened up until His arrival. This letter helped Jewish Christians to understand how their former religion of Judaism carried over into their new faith of Christianity. It helped them understand what practices of Judaism – including the laws we read about in the Old Testament - were still relevant, which had changed and which had been made completely obsolete by Jesus.
Sometimes people get a bit confused in the area of managing money and stuff when it comes to the Old Testament laws that speak about this subject – especially the subject of “tithing”. Understanding the letter to the Hebrews is a big help when it comes to making a biblical decision about that issue.
However, the really important issue when it comes to Stewardship of Money and Stuff is not how the Old Testament principle of tithing carries over into Christianity, but this principle that “without holiness no-one will see the Lord”.
Doesn’t make sense to you yet? Don’t worry, it will! Let’s read on...
15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
We’re not going to study everything in this passage, just what’s relevant to our topic today. Let’s focus on Esau. You remember the story…
Esau was the firstborn son of Isaac. There was nothing he needed to do in order to earn his position, he had it by virtue of his birth. He had the blessing. He had the promise of wealth and authority.
But Esau was a man driven by his gut-level desires. He comes in one day after being out in the open country and he was famished. His brother Jacob has cooked some stew and Esau wants it, so Jacob offers it to him on the condition that Esau sell him the birthright – the position of being firstborn son.
Amazingly Esau accepts. I don’t know if that was out of stupidity or extreme cockiness that he didn’t think his father would give Jacob the blessing anyway, since Isaac loved Esau more.
But Jacob is successful in getting the blessing and position of firstborn son from Esau. Esau traded great wealth, status and authority as the head of a prosperous and powerful family, because he wanted some hot stew. He’d been given something of great and lasting value and he traded it for something insignificant and temporary, and we are told to not make that same mistake.
When Esau realized his error he tried to take back his decision, but it was too late. He’d had his fill of stew, but he would never inherit his father’s blessing and all that went along with it. It was tragic.
Keep that in mind as we continue in the passage…
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
One time at youth group we had a whole bunch of kids running around in the hall making a lot of noise and being silly, and there was some rough play and a risk of someone getting hurt so I needed to have everyone stop immediately and listen to instructions. I would normally have a whistle with me but I didn’t on this occasion so instead I let out an almighty yell “LISTEN”. It was so loud that I surprised myself, and you should have seen the wide eyes that turned toward me as the kids all froze in shock! After that I could speak in a normal voice and we went on to play some fun games and have a really great time.
The experience of the Israelites at Mt Sinai was a little like my almighty yell but on a much more impressive scale. The kids who heard my yell were surprised and shocked for a moment that soon passed. Those who heard God’s voice were absolutely terrified, and they begged Moses to be their go-between lest the voice of God should destroy them!
I want you to picture this scene as we hear it described from Exodus chapter 19…
16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, 19 and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
God calls Moses up the mountain, and then sends him back down to the people with some more instructions for them. Then God addresses the whole nation and gives them what we now call the ten commandments.
The nation of Israel has been in Egypt Egypt
Can you imagine hearing the voice of God as it thunders out from this mountain covered in smoke and darkness and trembling violently? “Awesome” doesn’t begin to describe it!
They are so overwhelmed that they send Moses back to be the messenger, the go-between between them and God. Moses stays up on the mountain for forty days and nights as God gives him the laws and instructions that the people need in order to follow God as His special people.
However before that happens there’s a really interesting event.
Read: Exodus 24
Remember our key idea – without holiness no-one will see the Lord.
Ever since Adam and Eve sinned against God there had been a barrier between humanity and God. Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden where they used to walk with God, and from then on people were not allowed to see Him.
But these 70-odd men got to see the Lord – why? Because as a nation they had promised to obey everything God has commanded them. They had set themselves apart as a group completely devoted to God – that’s what holiness means. They would stop sinning and live by God’s standards. They had made a covenant to do this – a covenant put into place through the sacrifice of 12 bulls and the sprinkling of the blood, the blood of the covenant.
But after hearing God’s voice and even seeing His glory…. the sacred cow!! They go and break the very first two commandments God gave them! (Read Exodus 32 if you don't know the story).
Did God know that was going to happen? Of course He did! Then why did He let those leaders see Him, if He knew they were not going to keep their promises to be holy?
The answer is found in the blood of the covenant. God knew that despite their best intentions and strongest agreements, despite His clear laws, people would keep on sinning. The sprinkling of the blood was a sign pointing forward to the fact that God Himself would have to come into this world as one of us in order to take the penalty for our sins and win the victory on our behalf over sin. We could not make ourselves holy, He would have to do it for us. Over a thousand years later Jesus did exactly that, and that’s what we read about in the next section of Hebrews 12…
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Remember Mt Sinai – pretty awesome spectacle, but the whole “we promise to be holy” thing never worked out! Mt Zion is a completely different scene. It’s not the physical place being talked about hear but a heavenly one – the city of God
So picture these two contrasting mountains – one which is terrifying and which represents an agreement by which people can be right with God – they can be holy – by obeying all of God’s commands. The other mountain is the site of a heavenly city where there is joyful celebration of the fact that people can be made right with God by accepting His forgiveness, earned for us through the death of Jesus Christ for our sins. We no longer have to obey God’s commands in order to be holy, rather we obey God’s commands because we have been made holy. And because we have been made holy we get to see and know God.
We’ve come to the church of the firstborn – those who have received the blessing not because we earned it but because we’ve been born into it – we’ve been given new life in Jesus.
But let’s remember Esau, who was a firstborn who traded his inheritance for insignificant, short term rewards. It’s not likely that any of us would consider a hot stew to be more important than being part of God’s heavenly kingdom, but is it possible that there are other types of insignificant, temporary things that become more important to us than what is truly valuable and eternal? Is it possible that our priorities could get similarly out of whack? Listen to this warning…
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”[1]
This section talks of judgement. Even though the Israelites saw the awesome spectacle and heard the booming voice of God, they turned away from Him time and time again. The result for them was judgement. People died because of disobedience.
Our God is still a consuming fire. He still burns against evil and will destroy it in all it’s forms, but He is holding off that judgement for the sake of those who will turn to Him and receive forgiveness before it is too late. He doesn’t want anyone to end up like Esau who had to live with the consequences of his foolish decision. He doesn’t want anyone to be so wrapped up in the insignificant, temporary stuff of this life that they trade in their inheritance in the next life. But eventually judgement will come and we must be ready.
In the meantime, since we are receiving an eternal kingdom let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. This is where we come back to the issue of stewardship. The Bible teaches us that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). He has given us everything we need for this life and the next, and He has given us instructions on what we are to do with what He has given us.
What will your attitude be toward the money and stuff that God has entrusted to you? Are you thankful for what you have been given or are you envious of those who have more? Are you worshipping God reverently in how you use what you have been given, or is your money and stuff set aside for your own purposes?
Without holiness no-one will see the Lord. Holiness is to be completely set aside for Him for His exclusive use. Does the word “Holy” fit with your attitude, you lifestyle and your stuff?
Of course we fall short of that standard, and through Jesus we have forgiveness and restoration. But if you want to see and know God in your everyday life – to really experience life as a follower of Christ – holiness is the standard. This is how Jesus said it in Matthew 6:24
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Have you set yourself apart to serve God, or are you serving money and stuff (which is really just serving your own selfish desires)?
There’s a heart attitude that needs to be examined here.
Jesus came across a guy once who seemed keen to be right with God. But Jesus recognised that there was something of even greater importance to this man – his wealth. When Jesus challenged him to give up his wealth in order to follow him the man went away sad – he could not bring himself to do it. How about you? Does Jesus have the right to command anything of you, even to take away all of your money and stuff? Until the answer is “Yes”, you are not worshipping God acceptably with reverence and awe, but you have become an idolator.
Conclusion
As I mentioned at the start of the message, there are so many great passages in the Bible that give us practical instruction about how to honour God with the money and stuff He has entrusted to us.
The danger is that we will treat those passages as rules which - just like the Israelites – we will fail to obey and then we just carry around a sense of guilt and the area of money and stuff is one that we sort of leave God out of.
What I hope you have the chance to do today is remind yourself of the big picture. Remind yourself of who and what you really live for. Remind yourself who has given you everything you have, and why He has done so.
I hate the fact that as Christians we often say we live for eternity yet in many cases our personal budgets don’t show a lot of difference between us and those who live for what is temporary. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? I wonder if you were to sit and go through your financial habits today what God would say to you? That’s a challenge I hope you take up.
Let me close with the words of Jesus, from Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
This is the kingdom that cannot be shaken that we read about in Hebrews. Is that where your heart is today? Is that where you have come to: the Heavenly city and the church of the firstborn in eternal celebration of what Jesus has done for us? I hope so.
[1]All Scriptures from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids
