This is going to sound bad. I mean, it’s going to sound like I’m bragging, and I promise I am not. Here it goes. Since I accepted Christ in April 1995, I have not had trouble giving God my money so that His work can be done. Allow me to explain. Before I got saved, I never had any money. Growing up, my mom and dad always gave me and my two brothers what we needed but we never had what other kids had. We were not dirt poor, but we were surely not well-off either.
I remember at the beginning of every school year my mom would take us to Martin’s Department Store and max out her credit card to buy us new school shoes and clothes. She would spend the next year paying that card off. Never really having anything growing up and not having anything when I got saved helped me to understand that God has given me everything I have today. Therefore, I owe Him big time! He gave me His son. He gave me His salvation. He gave me His Spirit. He gave me His word. He gave me my church family. He gave me my physical family. I could go on and on because He has given me everything. I owe Him everything because He has given me everything I have.
My mom taught me how to provide for my family. She taught me not to trust in money. She taught me that a person’s worth was not defined by how much or how little anyone had, and that money can’t buy you love. But she didn’t teach me to tithe or give to the mission, even though she was saved and had us in church every time the doors were open. Honestly, my parents taught me very little about money other than, “We don’t have any,” and how to spend it. Today, I believe that biblical financial stewardship principles are very valuable. I want to share with you four of these principles that have helped me stay focused on stewardship as it deals with finances.
1. Jesus above all things
Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
These verses encompass all of life for every living thing, so they apply to our finances. Jesus created me. He is my existence. He is the ruler of my family. He deserves to be first in everything, even my finances.
Once I got saved, I was able to hold down a job. Jesus saved me from alcohol and drug addiction. He gave me a new life. He told me that “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Co 5:17). And boy were they. I started getting paid when I showed up to work and that allowed me to have some money. I went to church and they explained clearly that tithing and giving to the mission was not only biblical but a way to keep Jesus first in my life. I just believed what they showed me in the Bible, and I started living it. Then I got discipled and learned even more about being a good steward.
Fast forward 27 years and I still believe that Jesus deserves first place in my life and putting Him first over my finances is one good way of living what I believe. I’m a simple guy. It’s just simple to me that Jesus deserves for me to make Him first over all my life, because He is. Now, I do struggle with other areas of my life when it comes to making Jesus first. But I came from nothing. Jesus is the only something I have and ever will have. He deserves first place in everything. Give Him what He rightly deserves.
2. Understand the difference between a want and a need
Many times, people get in financial trouble because they give in to their wants. We have all been there. Let’s face it, we can get financially strapped even by buying good things or things that are not inherently bad. But if we get out of balance, it may hinder our faithfulness to the most important thing, which is Jesus first. My wife, Cyndi, and I had to learn this principle early on in our marriage.
Cyndi and I had been married less than a year. We moved into our new house together and were so elated. It was a rental two-bedroom with a decent size yard. We loved it. Right after we got married, a friend at church gave me a riding lawn mower because all I had was a push mower. The mower was used and not very new, but a blessing for sure. After mowing with it a couple of times, I felt the need to get a new mower. I needed one with a wider deck, better steering, one that cut more evenly, and was more comfortable than this hand me down. I don’t think I have to go into the love between a man and his lawn (insert Tim Allen grunts here). So, I did what any southern man would do to love his lawn: I went to Home Depot, picked out MY mower, signed up for a credit card, got approved, and got MY mower home to love on MY lawn! I made one complete pass in the yard and the Holy Spirit convicted me so bad I got sick to my stomach. I have since asked the Lord why He couldn’t have just made me sick before I went into Home Depot, but I digress.
I immediately got off the mower, went in and told my wife I was leaving to take the mower back. I took it back to Home Depot and told them they had to take it back. I wish you could have seen the look on the lady’s face when she asked me the reason for the return and I told her, “God told me to bring it back.” Why did he? Well, I failed to mention to you that my new wife was out of work while I was making $7.50/hour and going to school full-time. I was failing in my new leadership role by leading my family into debt over something I wanted but didn’t need. Needless to say, I cut a lot of grass with that used mower that God gave me.
Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
When Jesus is my everything, He is all I NEED. He has taught me the difference between a want and a need. Some people call it living within your means. But even if I have the money for something, I ask myself if I need it. There is one NEED which is the greatest NEED in all the world, and that is people hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I NEED to be investing in that. That causes me to prioritize where I spend and where I give so that I don’t get out of balance. When I stay balanced, I find myself able to invest in the greatest NEED in the world.
3. Sacrifice finances for the mission
This really speaks to our heart attitude toward money. We all know 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” We also know Luke 12:34: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
This principle — sacrificing your finances — may sound like it’s about the money. But it really is about your heart, just as these two verses speak of. When my heart is right towards my finances, it allows me to stay focused on the main thing, which is the great NEED of principle two. Sacrificing for the mission helps me keep my heart in check.
2 Corinthians 8:1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; 2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. 3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; 4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
There is so much to be covered in this text that space will not allow. I want to point out a couple of things. Though they were poor, they were rich because of their joy in giving to Paul. They went beyond their power and were willing to give to Paul’s ministry. They gave through prayer as well as their finances, and this brought them into fellowship with Paul’s missionary team and the believers he was ministering to. But most importantly, as we see in verse 5, the first thing they gave was not prayer or finances. The first thing they gave was themselves to the Lord.
To sum it up, my giving reveals much more about how much God has of my heart than how much money God gets from my pocket. God has made me new. He has given me everything. I want to demonstrate my love for Him, and sacrificing for the mission allows me to assess my heart. Staying faithful in supporting the work of the Lord financially helps me keep my heart right.
4. Understand the reward
Allow me to start by saying my motive for being faithful with my finances is not to gain anything from God. I understand I already have everything in Jesus Christ. I also understand that even if I don’t have the financial prosperity of this world, I have “the riches of the glory of His inheritance” (Eph 1:18). So, I don’t give to get. I do believe that if that is your motive for staying financially faithful, beware. You are heading for a downfall. With that said, I understand that God has promised a reward for my faithfulness.
Philippians 4:15 Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. 16 For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. 17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. 18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. 19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
What an awesome reward in this life to have from God. Who doesn’t want all their needs to be met according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus? It’s important to know that the promise of verse 19 only comes from the obedience mentioned in verses 15-16. For me, the key is verse 18. When God honors the promise of verse 19, I know it is because of verse 18. It is because I have blessed Him. It is because I have offered to Him something that has been “a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.” I don’t give financially to get. I give financially to give!
I want my life to be a blessing to the blesser. There is nothing more I want from this life than this life to be wellpleasing to the giver of life. Am I thankful that He rewards? Absolutely! But I am more thankful that He noticed my gift, my sacrifice, and it was wellpleasing to Him. Praise the Lord that he has helped me do a couple of things right in staying faithful with the finances He has allowed me to steward. He has been faithful to me. He has honored His word. He has nothing to prove, but I do. And I want to.
Jesus is above all things, and that includes my finances. If I am going to position myself to be obedient to Him, I have to understand the difference between a need and a want. Sacrificing for the mission says more about me than it does about what I give. The mission is the real need in the world today, and God rewards those who make the sacrifice for it. He goes as far as to promise it. The motive is to please Him. I have learned that I can trust God with my finances. I know that you can trust Him, too.
Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Randy Copeland is the senior pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Moulton, AL.
