IT ALL BELONGS TO YOU I Chronicles 29:10-19

Joint Heirs Adult Bible Fellowship Stewardship Lesson 1 January 14, 2018 Will Duke, Teacher IT ALL BELONGS TO YOU I Chronicles 29:10-19 In this lesson, we learn who owns everything and who doesn t. INTRODUCTION: Based on how often we use the first person singular and plural possessive pronouns every day my and our we sound like pretty rich people. We are rich, but not in worldly possessions. Everything we think we own is really on loan from the God who owns it all. Overview: o Near the end of his life, King David of Israel had realized almost all his dreams except one. He had wanted to build a temple for the God of his fathers, but God had blocked those plans. Because David was a man of bloodshed, he would not be allowed to build the temple, but his son Solomon would build it instead. So instead of building the temple, David took on the task of raising the money and resources necessary to build it. First Chronicles 29 gives the account of David s fundraising activities and they were hugely successful. Translated into modern equivalents, David succeeded in raising billions of dollars for the new temple. One of his last acts was to lead the people in a prayer which acknowledges that everything they had given for the building of the temple had come from God Himself. It is one of the most magnificent prayers in all of Scripture: Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You. For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow, and without hope. 1

O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own. I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things; and now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here to offer willingly to You. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the intent of the thoughts of the heart of Your people, and fix their heart toward You. And give my son Solomon a loyal heart to keep Your commandments and Your testimonies and Your statutes, to do all these things, and to build the temple for which I have made provision. (1 Ch. 29:10-19) o More than ever, it seems, money occupies center stage in the drama of human life. The state of the economy leads every newscast, and every individual feels that his fortunes in life are tied directly to the economic well-being of the nation. Remaining totally focused on money from the human perspective keeps us from considering the perspective of God. From David s experience and his prayer in I Chronicles 29 we can learn three things about God and three things about man which will create a more balanced perspective on money in our lives. I. THREE OBSERVATIONS ABOUT GOD Many people live their lives as if they own everything they have. In reality, God is the origin of everything; He owns everything; and He is over everything. A. God originated everything. 1. Genesis 1:1 ought to be enough information to substantiate this truth: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2. The Apostle John says it a different way: All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:3). 3. Acts 17:24 refers to God as the one who made the world and everything in it. 4. Acts 14:15 talks about the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. 2

5. And when you get to the end of the Bible, you find the 24 elders in heaven proclaiming God as the one who created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created (Revelation 4:11). 6. The Bible leaves no doubt about how everything in this world originated God created it. He created man and woman and every other living being on this planet. All the vegetation and all the inanimate matter as well came from the hand of God. 7. Probably no passage of Scripture summarizes it more beautifully than James, who said, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17). B. God owns everything. 1. Even apart from the clear revelation of Scripture, it would stand logically that, if God created everything, He owns everything. David points this out in his prayer to the Lord when he says, All that is in heaven and in earth is Yours (I Chronicles 29:11). God owns all the universe and everything in it. That s a hard concept for us to get our minds around, but it is true. He created it and He owns it. You and I may think we own the little postage-stamp sized plots of land on which we pay our mortgage every month... not true. The day we make our last payment and burn the mortgage, nothing has changed. God owns our house and the dirt it sits on. 2. In Genesis, God is referred to as the possessor of heaven and earth (14:19, 22), and the psalmist said the same thing in a different way: The earth is the Lord s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1). God told Israel they were just temporary dwellers in the Promised Land, real estate which actually belongs to Him: for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me (Leviticus 25:23). The psalmist Asaph quotes God as saying, For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are Mine (Psalm 50:10-11). God reminds us through Haggai that the silver and gold are His (Haggai 2:8), and through Ezekiel that all the souls in the world are His (Ezekiel 18:4). 3. When we become Christians, we become God s a second time. We are His first by the fact that He created us, and second by His purchase of us in the redemptive act of His Son. The New Testament presents us as belonging to the Lord more from the redemptive perspective than the creative, as Paul says in Romans 14:8: Whether we live or die, we are the Lord s. He says in I Corinthians 6:19-20 that, because we were bought with the price of Christ s blood, we are not our own, but God s. 3

4. Jack Taylor has said wisely, We must not allow our apparent freedom to use what is His to keep us from remembering that it is still His. God has not put up signs throughout creation identifying the mountains and meadows as His, but they are. The reason there is an historic tradition with Christianity of caring for the environment is because we recognize we are only stewards of that which is rightfully God s. 5. Back in the late 1800s a Presbyterian pastor by the name of Maltby Babcock wrote a wonderful hymn celebrating the ownership of all things by Almighty God. The hymn grew out of Babcock s habit of getting up every day and taking his morning walk. As he would leave his home he would turn to his family and say, Well, I m going out to see my Father s world. That phrase eventually found its way into the hymn he wrote, the first verse of which says, This is my Father s world, and to my listening ears All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres. This is my Father s world: I rest me in the thought Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; His hand the wonders wrought. C. God is over everything. 1. David s prayer gives us the third perspective on God as owner of all. In I Chronicles 29:11-12, we read that God is exalted as head over all and that He reigns over all. God created it, He owns it, and He presides over it all. It should be of great comfort to every believer to know that the One who has all the wealth also has all the power. That means God can do anything He desires to do. And since we know that God is love, we never have to fear His plans or His actions. 2. So, if God is the originator, owner, and overseer of all the universe, where do we fit in? Are men and women just pushed to the side in God s creation as if we don t have a part to play? We know that is not the case, but we probably are not as sure about exactly how we are to respond to God s role as originator, owner, and overseer of all things. II. THREE OBSERVATIONS ABOUT MAN Three obvious conclusions jump out at us as we read David s prayer in I Chronicles 29. A. Man doesn t own anything. 4

1. The first conclusion is that if God owns everything we don t own anything there can t be two owners of anything! When we pay off our car loan or house loan, the property isn t ours; it s still God s. David captures this in verse 14: For all things come from You, and of your own we have given You. We often hear today, You can t take it with you, which is a paraphrase of Paul s words to Timothy in I Timothy 6:7: For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. You ll never see a hearse with a U-Haul trailer behind it. 2. It is difficult for some people to come to grips with this concept. They may have worked hard all their lives to get what they have, and the idea that, after all that work, it is not really theirs is not a welcome thought. That is certainly how the world thinks, and this creeping materialism makes its way into our thinking as well if we are not careful. People think once they have tithed 10 percent to God that the other 90 percent belongs to them and they can do whatever they wish with it. But all of it is His, not just 10 percent. 3. Deuteronomy 8:18 brings into proper perspective the source of our wealth: It is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Not only is what we have not ours, the ability to acquire what we have is not ours either. But don t start feeling like you re flat broke. In a moment, you ll see that you are richer than you ever imagined. B. Man gets what he has from God. 1. Now, if God owns it all, we have to ask, How do we get anything at all? The answer is that He makes us stewards of His creation during the 75-80 years we are on this earth. He owns it, but we are responsible for it; we manage it on His behalf. A steward, as you have already learned, is someone who manages the assets or affairs of another. In this case, the assets are God s, and we manage them in a way that is consistent with His affairs (His plans and purposes) on this earth. When our lifetime is over, that which we have been managing for Him is passed to another usually our children and family, but often part of it passes to other organizations or individuals. So we manage it while we re alive, and then someone else takes over when we re gone. 2. David says that both riches and honor come from God (verse 12), and repeats again the fact that all things come from Him (verse 14). Paul says that faithfulness is what is required of stewards (I Corinthians 4:2) and that is certainly true of those of us who are God s stewards. What that 5

means to us is that we must be faithful in managing everything we have our house, our car, our property, our salary, our investments. Everything we have belongs to God; stewards must be faithful. We are stewards; therefore we must be faithful in our use of these possessions. We don t want to stand before the Lord someday and have to answer for why or how we squandered that which He put into our hands. I have seen many people become Christians at mid-life and do a remarkable job of re-ordering how they manage their possessions. But I have also seen some Christians who have not been faithful as stewards. But all of us will one day answer to Him for how we have managed what He has given us. C. Only what we give back to God will last forever. 1. The only things that will last forever in our lives are those things we give back to God from what He has given us. God is eternal, right? Therefore, whatever we give back to Him will last for as long as He does which is forever and ever! It s true that we can t take it with us when we die, but if we have turned it over to God, then we have turned it into an investment for eternity. As we give money and possessions back to God, He keeps it in circulation dispensing it back to others to be used for His kingdom (eternal) purposes. 2. There are only two eternal things in this world human souls and the Word of God. Every human being who has ever lived will live in his or her soul forever. Christians will live in the presence of God forever, and non-christians will live apart from the presence of God forever. When we use our finances and property in this life we ought to ask, What does this purchase or activity or investment have to do with souls or with the Word of God? 3. Martin Luther said, I have had many things in my hands, and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in the hands of God, I still possess. When we give the currency of this life to God, He transforms it into the currency of His kingdom, which are saved souls and the ministry of the Word. 4. Are you comfortable with God being the originator, owner, and overseer of everything in your life? Are you comfortable with not owning anything, with simply being a steward of His possessions? If so, pause right now and recommit yourself to a lifetime of investing for eternity that which He has provided. APPLICATION: Read I Chronicles 21:18-28. 6

a. What was David directed to do by the angel of the Lord? (verse 18) b. What offer did David make to Araunah the Jebusite, the owner? (verse 22) c. Since David was king of a mighty nation, what could David have done to secure the site for the altar? d. What did Araunah offer? (verse 23) e. In light of David s prominence, what do you think Araunah s motivation was? f. Why did David insist on paying Araunah the full price for the threshing floor? (verse 24) g. What do his actions say to you about being willing to use resources for God s glory? h. Many people would think the Lord was providing something for free and take Araunah s offer. Why didn t David? i. What did David plan on building on the site of Araunah s threshing floor? (see 22:1) j. Regardless of Araunah s motives, what do you see in his actions worth emulating? (21:23) k. Both David and Araunah were willing to sacrifice their personal wealth. How much sacrifice is involved in giving in the church today that you are aware of? l. When was the last time you sacrificed in your giving to the Lord? Read I Chronicles 22:1-10; 28:3. a. What had been in David s heart to do for God? (verse 7) b. Why was he unable to accomplish what he wanted to do? (verse 8; I Kings 5:3) c. Who would build the house (the temple) for the Lord instead of David? (I Chronicles 22:10) d. How did David s role shift? (22:14) e. A talent weighed 75 pounds. Figure up how many pounds of gold and silver David provided (22:14). 7

f. At 16 ounces to the pound, figure up how many ounces of gold and silver David provided. g. What is your impression of the amount of money that was raised to build the temple compared to the struggles many churches have today to raise money for buildings to meet in? Beyond the amounts already mentioned, what more did David provide from his personal treasure? (I Chronicles 29:1-5; figure the modem dollar amounts as above) a. Now read David s prayer again in I Chronicles 29:10-19. Knowing how much David contributed, and encouraged others to contribute (29:6-9), how do you evaluate his prayer in light of his actions? b. To what extent did David s understanding of who owns everything contribute to his willingness to release it all for God s use? c. To what extent should stewardship affect Christians decisions about the distribution of their estates when they die? Should money be left only for kingdom purposes? Should there be assets left at the end of life that have not already been disbursed in kingdom use? Where do you draw the line? 8