WEBVTT
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You ready for the word?
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Turn your Bibles to the book of Proverbs, chapter 3.
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Proverbs chapter 3.
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And verses 9 and 10.
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I hear pages turning.
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Somewhere around the middle of your Bible.
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Proverbs chapter 3.
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If you've reached Ecclesiastes, you've gone too far.
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If you're in the Psalms, go a little further.
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The Word of God says this honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, then your bonds will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
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I want to teach you today about the biblical principle of tithing.
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Amen.
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And the reason I want to teach this to you is twofold.
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Two reasons.
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If we can bring up uh that graphic that we have, this chart.
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So this is uh a graph that plots the last uh, what is it, eight months or so, starting back in January of this year.
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And there's two lines on this chart that plot our growth in terms of what's happening here on Sundays and our giving.
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And as you can see, it started already with a little bit of a gap, but then as our growth has done its thing, which praise God for that, um our giving has done its thing.
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Sermon concluded.
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Okay.
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So so this uh white line that represents a growth of 19% since January.
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We've grown on Sundays by 19%, which is amazing.
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Yeah.
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You can clap for that.
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It really is amazing.
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God has been so faithful.
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And our it doesn't look like it, but our giving has grown by 1%.
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And so this is reason number one that I want to talk about this today.
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And reason number two is this that this gap right here between those two lines, we call that a sanctification gap.
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That's what that is.
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That's a discipleship gap.
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Ideally, those lines would be neck and neck with one another, because ideally, every Christian would have a deep, gospel-rooted revelation of returning the first portion of their income to the Lord by tithing to their local church.
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But those lines are not neck and neck with one another, and that's for various reasons.
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Some of us feel a lot of fear around trusting God with money.
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Some of us derive a deep sense of security from having as much money as we can possibly hold on to.
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Some of us are just skeptical about giving to churches.
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And others of us have either never been taught what the scriptures say about giving, or we just haven't been taught very well.
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Thank God my primary gift is teaching, so I'm here to help.
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Now I'm happy to meet you in any one of those places today, any one of those reasons.
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But I also want to lead you from those places.
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Because what that graph shows more than anything is that we have an opportunity for discipleship.
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That's all this is.
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We all need to be discipled in this area so that our hearts are more deeply formed, coming into alignment with the Word of God, with the gospel, and into an alignment with a Christian attitude towards money.
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Discipleship is exactly what helped me grow in this area.
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When I was 18 years old, I belonged to a very small church that was just getting off the ground.
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And when you're part of a church, at that stage, there is very little hiding that you can do.
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It's always obvious when you're not present or when you're disengaged in some way, and that's not just true in a physical sense, that's also true in a financial sense.
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In a growing church, it's easy to think that your presence and your contribution won't be missed.
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Although, as that graph just showed us, the problem is that everybody starts to think that, and the results speak for themselves.
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But in a very small startup church, it should be obvious that you need to be contributing.
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But at the time I was 18, I was a bit clueless, and I just kind of thought I could skate by, contributing how I felt like it.
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To be honest with you, I thought that when I showed up to a meeting, that alone warranted a trophy.
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And one of the ways that my heart posture manifested was in the fact that I wasn't contributing at all financially to the church.
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Not only was I not giving God a tenth of my income, which is what the word tithe means, I wasn't even giving him a cent.
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Well, this carried on until my mom learned about it.
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And that was not something that she was going to let escape her attention.
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I will never forget the day when my mom called me and asked me straight up, Jake, are you tithing?
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And the question caught me by surprise because I wasn't trying to be stingy.
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I wasn't trying to be rebellious.
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I hadn't even noticed that I was neglecting something so basic.
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And so I wasn't expecting the conversation, but I answered her honestly, no mom, I'm not.
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And then my mom proceeded to instruct me that I needed to begin tithing.
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She taught me that this was the right way to honor God with my income.
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It was the right way to support the church, and it was the right foundation for stewarding the little money that I was earning at my very unpredictable sales job.
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So you know what I did?
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I obeyed.
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That week, at the age of 18, I began tithing.
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That is, I began apportioning the first 10% of every paycheck and returning it to God by tithing it to his church.
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A couple of years later, when Nicole and I were preparing to get married, one of the things that we talked about in our premarital counseling was finances and budgeting.
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And so we submitted our budget to the older couple who were counseling us.
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And the first line item on our budget, before our rent, before any bill, the first line item was our tithe, which also happened to be the first thing that they looked for on our budget.
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So we passed a test that day.
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Praise God.
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And together as a married couple, we have returned to God the first 10% of our income every time we've been paid for the last 17 years.
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And as our income has grown, so has our tithe.
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Because the heart behind the tithe is that you give in proportion to what you have received.
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And the very cool part is that as that number has grown, so has our faith.
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The financial scenarios that used to frighten us no longer frighten us very much.
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In fact, 10% to God soon began to feel too easy, and it became a floor for us to build upon.
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So for the most part, unless it's a particularly trying season, which we still sometimes have, we have to make sure that we're going beyond 10% to even feel like we're sacrificing.
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Which is the point.
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Sacrifice is the aim.
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Because what we're really talking about today is a form of worship.
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And worship can never be devoid of sacrifice.
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I was reflecting this week back upon that conversation that I had with my mom as an 18-year-old.
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And the thing that I realized is that I knew at the time what the Bible teaches about tithes and offerings and stewarding your money, trusting God with your money.
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And I had given money to God through the church many times growing up.
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And so I asked myself this week, why did I stop doing that when I was 18?
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And the answer I realized was because at that point in my life, it's the first time tithing would have felt like a sacrifice.
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I was out of the house, I was responsible for my own needs, money was tight.
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So the first thing that I cut, without giving it much thought, was bringing God a tithe.
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But what I was really doing was trying to relieve myself of financial pressure by withholding worship and trusting in my own wisdom rather than trusting in the wisdom of God.
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But I can tell you, all of these years later, that trusting in God's wisdom is infinitely better.
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See, over the last 17 years, Nicole and I, we have faced plenty of financial challenges.
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There have been times of plenty, and there have been times that have been incredibly tight.
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But on the whole, our life has reflected exactly what the book of Proverbs claims.
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We have had far more than enough.
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We've been able to own three different homes in Los Angeles, including the one that we live in currently.
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And more importantly, our marriage is full of love.
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Our children love the Lord, they love his church.
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Looking over at my son worshiping Jesus on Wednesday night, blessed our heart beyond measure.
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Our families' values reflect God's priorities.
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We experience God's peace.
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We experience God's prosperity.
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And our home is not just a house, it's a home.
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And it's constantly filled with love and laughter and sometimes tears as the overflow of the kingdom friendships that we have received through God's grace.
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I do not regret entrusting one cent into God's hands.
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Trusting God is always wise.
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Not trusting him is the actual foolish thing.
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And that reality of wisdom versus foolishness, that's where I want to ground our teaching today.
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Which of course takes us to the book of Proverbs because Proverbs is the Bible's premier book of wisdom.
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And so I just want to simply call today's message wise people tithe.
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There are many biblical reasons to tithe, but the bullseye that I want to hit today is that tithing is simply wise.
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See, so often the Christian dialogue around tithing revolves around questions like this.
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As a Christian, am I required to tithe?
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Or maybe questions like, does the gospel mean that I no longer have to tithe?
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But I think that these are entirely the wrong questions.
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And I think that they reflect the wrong heart.
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I think a much better question is what is the wisest thing that I can do with the money that I earn?
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Because God has a very clear answer to that question.
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And while there are many secondarily wise things you can do with your money, which Proverbs also speaks to, there is only one primary wise thing that we can do, which is to trust God with money by returning to him the first portion of everything we earn.
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Trusting God with money is wise, and it leads to a much more beautiful life.
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See, my conviction for a long time has been this, and I think that the book of Proverbs and the whole biblical witness agrees with this, that everything God asks from me is tied to what he wants for me.
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Everything God wants from you is tied to what he actually wants for you.
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And so what I want to do is I want to dive into Proverbs 3.
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I want to show you how that works, especially at the end in relation to money.
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Go back to Proverbs 3 and verse 1.
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It says, This, my son, do not forget my teaching.
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Everyone say teaching, but keep my commands, say commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.
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Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
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So the first thing that I want you to notice is that these verses are framed as a father speaking to his son.
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And that's because Proverbs is designed, this was the purpose of the book, it is designed to teach young people how to live wisely.
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It's like a parent sitting down their child and teaching them, hey, here's how the good life actually works.
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So a good summary of wisdom, what Proverbs means by wisdom, is that wisdom is the skill of living well in God's world, God's way.
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It's the skill of learning to live well in God's world by living God's way.
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Pay attention to that word, skill.
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That means that this is not innate.
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You are not born with this.
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You learn this.
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This is something you develop.
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Wisdom, pay attention, this is very important.
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Wisdom is developing the character, it's developing the competency to master life within God's moral order.
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Right?
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So wisdom goes deeper than what am I required to do?
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No, wisdom seeks out the right way to live in light of who God is and how he has created this world to function.
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That's why Proverbs says at the very start that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right?
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Acknowledging who God is as almighty creator and as gracious sustainer, that's where wisdom begins.
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You see, Proverbs is not just a human father's helpful tips.
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Ultimately, the father that Proverbs 3 instructs us to obey is our heavenly father.
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And so notice then back in verse 1 that the Father is not merely offering advice to the Son.
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Proverbs is not advice.
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True wisdom does not come with suggestions, it comes with instruction.
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Thus, the Father is giving teaching and commands.
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He's not giving you food for thought and some things to consider.
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There is a right way to live and there is a wrong way to live.
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It is very clear.
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That's how wisdom works all throughout the Bible.
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But in that, understand that wisdom is not burdensome.
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In fact, the teaching and the commands are described in the very next verse, verse 2, as his love and faithfulness.
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So Proverbs adheres to the rules of Hebrew poetry, and Hebrew poetry features this literary device called parallelism.
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And the way that parallelism works is that the second line advances the meaning of the first line.
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Okay?
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So here we would see that love and faithfulness actually corresponds with and advances the meaning of teaching and commands.
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Which is really powerful because that proves what I just said to you that everything God asked from you is tied to what he wants for you.
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His teaching and commands are actually an expression of his love and his faithfulness.
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What does that mean?
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It means that if you obey his instruction, you will experience profound reward.
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That's what the pastor said.
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The Father's teaching and commands will prolong your life many years, will bring you peace and prosperity, you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
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That almost sounds a little bit too good to be true, doesn't it?
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Which is kind of how Proverbs works itself out.
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And this would be a good place to pause.
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These seemingly too good to be true promises are a good place to pause and ask, what exactly is a proverb?
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Is it a promise?
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Or is it something else?
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In one sense, Proverbs are promising certain things.
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But they are general big picture promises.
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If wisdom is learning to live God's way in God's world, then the promise of Proverbs is that if I do that, generally speaking, my life will flourish.
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If I submit to Yahweh as creator, as ruler, if I live in reverential fear of him, if I take responsibility for the life he's given me, and I commit to growing in character and competency, if I live humbly for the sake of his glory, then generally speaking, my life will flourish.
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Wisdom means living well, and living well leads to a life well lived.
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It's foolish to think that I can live my way and master life in God's world.
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No, I have to live God's way.
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And if I do that, the the promise of Proverbs is that generally speaking, things will go really well for me.
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Now, some people start to get a little bit uncomfortable when you associate Proverbs with promises.
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They prefer to describe them as principles.
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And in one sense, that caution is warranted because the book of Proverbs is not advertising life with God to be like an ATM machine.
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But in another sense, to call these principles kind of risks taking the personal covenantal nature out of them.
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Proverbs is not inviting you to like abide by some laws of the universe so that you can get good things in return.
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This is not impersonal.
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This is about walking intimately with God and experiencing his faithfulness.
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So I actually think promise is a pretty good word because it's much more relational, but the key is that you have to zoom out and look at the whole picture that Proverbs is painting because it promises some tough things too.
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It says that the righteous may fall seven times, but he gets back up again.
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So that verse captures exactly what I'm talking about.
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Proverbs makes room for the righteous man falling down.
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But it takes the view that in the end he will be found standing.
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In other words, Proverbs does not overpromise blessing and ignore the reality of hardship.
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It just zooms out and looks at the big picture.
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It's not inviting you into life hacks, it's not inviting you into quick fixes, it's inviting you down the path to abundant life, and that path is paved with faithfulness to God's commands.
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And the claim is that on the whole, life will be far more rewarding if you live God's way.
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And better better still, even when the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper.
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The promise is that our ultimate reward is eternal life, and that is a vindication that outlasts even death itself.
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So these promises are not false advertising.
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Please do not read past them.
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Take them seriously.
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If you cling to the instruction and commandments of God, then on the whole, your life will be more peaceful, more prosperous, and more relationally rich.
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The Hebrew word that drives all of that is the word shalom.
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And shalom is it's translated as peace, but it's so much more than the absence of conflict.
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It's so much more than a full bank account.
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Shalom is God's intended state of perfect beauty.
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It's God's garden temple.
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It's the good world functioning as it should.
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So the idea is that even in a world that's been corrupted by sin, you can still experience God's shalom by obeying his instruction.
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Wisdom produces an enduring life even when the circumstances seem impossible.
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So the first question for us then is Am I embracing wisdom or am I avoiding wisdom?
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And the next stanza helps us to answer that.
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Look at verses five and six.
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Say this first word with me.
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It says, say it again, it says, Yeah, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
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In all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight.
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So this shows us what living wisely actually looks like.
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It's fundamentally about trust.
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Trust in God is the thing you need to keep living wisely when the ways of the world seem to make more sense.
00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:23.240
Wisdom will mean that you don't lean on what makes sense from a worldly perspective.
00:19:23.559 --> 00:19:23.880
Right?
00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:27.960
And that's true whether you're talking about money or any other area of life.
00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:31.640
The fruit of wisdom comes from trusting in God with all of your heart.
00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:34.039
In Hebrew thought, the heart included your whole being.
00:19:34.120 --> 00:19:38.680
It's the center of the person's emotional, intellectual, religious, and moral activity.
00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:42.120
So trusting in God with all of our hearts means that we trust him entirely.
00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:46.279
It means that we trust him exclusively, and it means that we trust him exhaustively.
00:19:46.519 --> 00:19:50.440
If the way of wisdom were like an ATM machine, then you wouldn't need trust.
00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:53.480
You'd just put in the card, punch in the passcode, and get the reward.
00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:54.680
But that's not wisdom.
00:19:54.839 --> 00:20:00.039
A life of wisdom is fundamentally about walking intimately with God, and therefore trust is everything.
00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:04.759
We are trusting in him that if we live his way, our lives will be far more beautiful.
00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:08.839
To do something other than that is to live in violation with the truth.
00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:12.120
The truth is that God is the creator and the sustainer of this world.
00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:17.480
But if I don't live according to the wisdom of the creator and sustainer, then I am in violation of the truth.
00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:21.559
It is to act irrationally and to be governed by my urges and my fears.
00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:27.720
It's to live in accordance with the thimble of my knowledge rather than living in accordance with the vast ocean of God's knowledge.
00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:41.319
And Proverbs actually says that the person who lives that way, the phrase that it uses, the person who thinks they are wise in their own eyes, that person is even worse off than a fool because they have God's wisdom right in front of them and they still bet on themselves.
00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:51.640
And I'd say this like so lovingly and so humbly, but this is just true, that's exactly how many of you are living in relation to money.
00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:59.240
If we are honest, that is usually what withholding money from God looks like.
00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:04.839
It's quietly trusting our own financial management over God's instruction.
00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:09.160
That's what 18-year-old me was doing.
00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:17.400
But the wise, they trust the Lord to uphold his covenant faithfulness as they live his way.
00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:22.440
Bruce Waltke is the leading scholar on the book of Proverbs.
00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:36.440
He says it like this the wise, they are confident that as they fulfill their obligations, he, Yahweh, God, will uphold his in his own time and in his own way, even when the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:52.200
So at the heart of this wise way of living is the choice to know God intimately, even in hardship, rather than to hardly know him at all, because you pursued the easiest possible life.
00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:57.720
And I put easiest in scare quotes there because actually living our own way doesn't actually lead to an easy life.
00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:03.160
You will never get to know God by pursuing what you think is easy.
00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:08.680
You will only get to know God at the intersection of faithful love and sacrifice.
00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:09.640
It's called a cross.
00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:13.240
That's where God waits to be known by you.
00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:22.120
In fact, that phrase, in all your ways, submit to him, in the Hebrew can be translated, in all your ways, desire his presence.
00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:28.200
Living wisely means stewarding every part of your life in a way that invites God in.
00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:33.559
And the promise is that as he Enters those parts of your life, he protects them.
00:22:34.120 --> 00:22:34.920
What does that say?
00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:36.839
He makes your paths straight.
00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:39.480
Is that up and to the right all the time?
00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:40.039
No.
00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:43.559
He uses the surprises for your well-being.
00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:48.039
He uses the sudden twists and turns to still get you to the right place.
00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:56.519
Our problem is that we underestimate what God does in difficulty and we overestimate what God does during times of ease.
00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:04.839
So we pursue easy thinking that that's the best, but it's actually the difficult moments that are far more valuable to our formation where we learn to lean upon God more.
00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:05.160
Right?
00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:06.519
Just think about the Exodus story.
00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:10.440
I don't know if you've ever traced Israel's path as God led them out of Egypt.
00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:12.680
It's a completely ridiculous path.
00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:15.079
It is not the fastest way out of Egypt.
00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:15.559
Okay?
00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:24.279
There are way more efficient ways to get out of Egypt than the path that God led them, but he leads them the way that he does because he wants to show them this power as he parts the Red Sea.
00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:30.200
I love the way one preacher summarized it, is that sometimes the shortest distance between two places is a zigzag.
00:23:32.120 --> 00:23:36.359
That's what it means when it says that God makes our paths straight as we trust him.
00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:40.200
Practically speaking, God does not guarantee us an easy life.
00:23:40.680 --> 00:23:49.799
He guarantees that if we trust him and delight in him, he will get us to the very best destination and he will use the route to mold us into the image of Christ along the way.
00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:55.319
That's why wisdom requires trust, and it proves to be far more fruitful in the long run.
00:23:55.880 --> 00:23:57.960
Which brings us to the final part of our text today.
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Look at verses 9 and 10.
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This is all connected.
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Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, then your bonds will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:09.640
This is wisdom and its outcome.
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What does trusting God look like in relation to money?
00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:15.480
It looks like honoring Him with it.
00:24:16.680 --> 00:24:21.400
Honoring God with our money is the wisest money move we can make.
00:24:22.120 --> 00:24:25.400
That word honor means to weigh heavily.
00:24:26.120 --> 00:24:34.519
So we give weight to the fact that God is our creator, that God is our sustainer, by honoring him with our wealth.
00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:36.599
How do I honor God with my wealth?
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Remember Hebrew parallelism, the second phrase clarifies and advances the first phrase.
00:24:42.039 --> 00:24:45.640
So the way you honor God with your wealth is right there in the second line.
00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:51.480
It's by returning to him the first fruits of all your crops.
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Not some of your crops.
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Not when you reach a particular threshold of backstock in your crops.
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No, no, no.
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From all your crops, you take the first part and you return it to him.
00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:09.640
That word first in Hebrew is the is the word reshit.
00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:11.799
It's the same word in Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning.
00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:12.920
It means beginning.
00:25:13.640 --> 00:25:22.440
And when you trace that notion of resheet of first fruits across the Old Testament, it doesn't just mean first in quantity, it also means first in quality.
00:25:23.240 --> 00:25:29.720
So the scripture would say you bring God the best of all your increase, or you bring God the finest of all your increase.
00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:32.440
And where you brought it is you brought it to God's house.
00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:37.720
So the Proverb is not talking about bringing God your first fruits by donating to your favorite charity.
00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:43.319
This is a summary here in these couple of verses.
00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:47.880
This is a summary of the entire sacrificial system of worship in God's house.
00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:51.240
And that sacrificial system of worship insured three things.
00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:53.880
Number one, the ministers of God's house were well supplied.
00:25:54.039 --> 00:25:57.079
Number two, the needy among God's people were well supplied.
00:25:57.240 --> 00:26:02.839
And number three, the resources that were required for the tabernacle and temple to function were well supplied.
00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:09.720
And the New Testament, unsurprisingly, carries all three of those over into the relationship between the Christian and their local church.
00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:10.359
Why?
00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:12.759
Because wisdom has not changed.
00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:17.319
We may be in a new covenant, but wisdom has not changed.
00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:34.120
Proverbs says that wisdom was there at the foundations of the world, which is symbolic of the fact that there is a right way to live, not just today, not just a thousand years ago, not just a thousand years from now.
00:26:34.279 --> 00:26:40.440
No, there is a right way to live that is grounded in God's very order that He's given to the universe.
00:26:40.599 --> 00:26:43.400
There is still a right way and a wrong way to live.
00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:48.440
We are still to honor God by bringing him the first fruits of all of our increase.
00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:53.400
I think there's a very good biblical warrant for starting it at 10% as a foundation.
00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:57.240
The Israelites were actually required to go well beyond that.
00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:01.319
And honestly, above and beyond seems to be the Apostle Paul's encouragement.
00:27:01.559 --> 00:27:06.519
Like he just says in 2 Corinthians 9, 6 listen to how proverbial this sounds, by the way.
00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:10.440
Like he's talking about an offering, but then he pauses to give a proverb.
00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:13.079
He says, remember this, this is just true all the time.
00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:17.160
Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
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Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:26.039
So the question is not how much am I required to give.
00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:30.279
The question is how much can I honor God with what I've received?
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How much weight can I concretely communicate to him that he has in my life with this act of bringing him the first?
00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:39.160
Because that's living wisely.
00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:41.240
That's how God says that you honor him with your income.
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You take the first portion and you return it to him.
00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:44.839
Because what does that communicate?
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It says, God, you provided this for me.
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It says, You're my sustainer.
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The ground isn't my sustainer.
00:27:50.279 --> 00:27:51.880
My employer isn't my sustainer.
00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:54.680
My gifts and my talents aren't my sustainer.
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Friends, your gifts and talents that you have today could be gone tomorrow.
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No, no, no.
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You are my sustainer.
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You provided this.
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And you can provide more.
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So what is wise then is to take the first portion of my income and return it to God.
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Not begrudgingly, but gratefully.
00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:19.559
As the whole chapter teaches, remember the context, with the incense of trust, with the incense of devotion, with the incense of love.
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Because if it's not with love, then it's not my best.
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If it's not with trust, then it's not my best.
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But with love and trust, I bring him my first and my best.
00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:33.559
Before I take the seed out of the crops and sow it back into the ground so I can grow more.
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Before I invest back into my business or back into the market, before I make another purchase, before I go out to lunch, before I pay for all of those subscriptions that I'm so convinced that I need, I give God the first portion.
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That's how you honor him.
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That's how you actually indicate the weight that he holds in your life as your provider.
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That's what wisdom does.
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Not every now and then, not in fits and starts, not just when you think you aren't going to feel the impact of it because you have a surplus.
00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:01.960
No, every time you receive, you return.
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In fact, when the father starts out this chapter by telling the son to keep these commands in his heart, what that entails is the fact that is that the son would have these committed to memory.
00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:18.759
So every time he earned an income, every time he brought in the harvest, guess what will be rattling around in his head?
00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:22.680
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all of your crop.
00:29:24.120 --> 00:29:32.359
So the question is, son, daughter of the Lord, is that the first thought rattling around in your mind?
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When you get paid.
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And if it's not, then you're selling yourself short on the blessing of living wisely.
00:29:48.120 --> 00:29:51.720
You see, money's value by itself is incredibly limited.
00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:59.480
Again, to quote Bruce Walkie: money can build a house, can't build a home.
00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:03.880
Money can put food on the table, can't put fellowship around it.
00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:11.079
However, wisdom gives both material well-being and spiritual life.
00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:18.120
So you can go the way of the world, and you can consider everyone and everything but God when you get paid.
00:30:18.359 --> 00:30:21.640
And you may have material wealth in this life.
00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:23.720
But it will not be enduring.
00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:26.839
There will be no eternal reward attached to it.
00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:39.480
But if you go the way of God, you can have enduring material wealth and much more importantly, the wealth of being a citizen in the kingdom of God, where you actually experience the benefits of belonging.
00:30:39.799 --> 00:30:46.120
Where your wealth goes to the work of the gospel and you experience the joy of God's family.
00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:51.240
The way that Proverbs says it is that your barns will be filled with plenty.
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Just let this, I don't know what else to call it, except a promise.
00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:57.319
Let this promise come into your heart.
00:30:57.559 --> 00:31:01.799
Your barns will be filled with plenty, your vats will brim over with new wine.
00:31:02.120 --> 00:31:05.319
And that's not about greed, that's not about hoarding.
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That's about having an overflowing life that blesses the community around you.
00:31:09.960 --> 00:31:12.920
And the English translation really doesn't do the imagery justice.
00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:17.000
First of all, grain and wine, those two words together, that's what's called a merism.
00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:22.519
A merism is when two words work together to communicate something bigger than just what those words represent.
00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:25.960
So, like for example, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
00:31:26.120 --> 00:31:29.319
Okay, well, that's that's about more than just God creating the sky and the land.
00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:31.480
That's about God creating everything.
00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:33.960
Grain and wine is a merism, it's it's like that.
00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:37.960
It's not just that he's gonna give you bread and and really nice Merlot.
00:31:39.880 --> 00:31:43.400
No, this is about how he's gonna provide for everything that you need.
00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:52.359
Uh new wine is so amazing because he doesn't just provide meagerly, he provides generously.
00:31:52.759 --> 00:32:00.279
New wine, according to one scholar, represents the juice that comes from the grape as a result of its own weight.
00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:06.920
Like the grape is so heavy with juice that it's it's dripping before it's even pressed.
00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:13.480
Normally the grapes would go into a press, which then channeled into pools, into vats, and those caught the juice.
00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:21.960
So the imagery here is that the result of honoring God with our wealth is that the pools will be filled to the brim with grape juice before the grapes have even been pressed.
00:32:22.599 --> 00:32:24.440
That is an image of God's grace.
00:32:24.759 --> 00:32:27.799
You will find, by the way, that generosity is God's signature.
00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:35.559
This is an image of God's loving kindness, generously providing for those who trust in him and who concretely honor him in the area of finances.
00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:36.279
And guess what?
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:38.839
None of the biblical authors shy away from this reality.
00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:39.480
None of them.
00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:45.559
Moses says in Deuteronomy 28:8, the Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to.
00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:48.519
The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
00:32:48.680 --> 00:33:00.039
The writer of 2 Chronicles says it like this As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the first fruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil, and honey, and all that the fields produced.
00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:02.920
They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything.
00:33:03.079 --> 00:33:05.640
Notice the connection here between firstfruits and tithe.
00:33:05.799 --> 00:33:15.160
The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks, and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the Lord their God, and they piled them in heaps.
00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:19.000
They began doing this in the third month, and they finished in the seventh month.
00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:20.920
Those months were the months of harvest.
00:33:21.160 --> 00:33:24.359
So every single thing they harvested, they brought a tithe on.
00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:45.559
When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw the heaps, Hezekiah is the king, they praised the Lord, they blessed his people, Israel, and Hezekiah asked the priests and the Levites and Azariah the chief priest, since the people uh began to bring their contributions to the temple of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare because the Lord has blessed his people, and this great amount, this is actually the leftover.
00:33:45.720 --> 00:33:48.279
Before you showed up, these heaps were even bigger.
00:33:48.519 --> 00:33:53.799
The prophet Malachi says it like this: bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.
00:33:53.960 --> 00:34:01.960
Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will be no more room enough to store it.
00:34:02.120 --> 00:34:06.279
The Apostle Paul says it like this in Philippians 4 Not that I desire your gifts.
00:34:06.440 --> 00:34:09.319
What I desire is that more be credited to your account.
00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:10.759
I have received full payment.
00:34:10.920 --> 00:34:11.639
I have more than enough.
00:34:11.719 --> 00:34:12.759
I'm amply supplied.
00:34:12.839 --> 00:34:16.359
And now that I've received the the uh from Epaphroditus, the gifts you sent.
00:34:16.440 --> 00:34:18.359
The church in Philippi had given Paul an offering.
00:34:18.519 --> 00:34:19.639
Here's how he describes them.
00:34:19.799 --> 00:34:21.000
They're a fragrant offering.
00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:22.039
You didn't just give it to me.
00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:24.759
No, it's an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
00:34:24.839 --> 00:34:31.079
And here's what God's gonna do: my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
00:34:31.239 --> 00:34:42.599
The same reality traverses the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the new covenant, because honoring God with your wealth by returning to him the first and the best is just wise living.
00:34:42.839 --> 00:34:44.359
Yes, there are times of lack.
00:34:44.519 --> 00:34:45.879
Yes, the righteous will fall.
00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:47.799
Yes, sometimes we will still suffer.
00:34:47.959 --> 00:34:52.759
Yes, there will be times when we pray along with the psalmist, God, have you forgotten me?
00:34:52.919 --> 00:35:03.879
But the call to trust is a call to be a Proverbs people in a Psalms world, to have our feet planted in the wisdom of the Proverbs, even when we experience the suffering of the Psalms.
00:35:05.079 --> 00:35:10.919
And the promise is that that kind of enduring trust is what produces an enduring life.
00:35:11.239 --> 00:35:13.479
A life that advances God's kingdom?
00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:14.359
Yes.
00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:19.799
A life with more than enough so that you can be a blessing to others, yes.
00:35:20.599 --> 00:35:28.199
But most of all, a life that gets to know the God who is actually behind all of the good things that you own.
00:35:29.639 --> 00:35:32.919
Full barns, full bank accounts can't love you back.
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:38.519
But God can, and God does.
00:35:38.919 --> 00:35:42.199
In fact, God doesn't just love you back, he loves you first.
00:35:42.759 --> 00:35:44.679
And that's the whole point of the chapter.
00:35:44.839 --> 00:35:48.119
Honoring God doesn't just fill your barns.
00:35:48.359 --> 00:35:50.279
Barns are the gift, but they're not the reward.
00:35:50.839 --> 00:35:59.639
Honoring God draws you deeper into the heart of the God who loves you and gave himself for you and blesses you and provides for you and sustains you.
00:35:59.959 --> 00:36:01.239
He is the reward.
00:36:01.879 --> 00:36:06.599
Therefore, honoring him the way that he teaches is the way that we should live.
00:36:07.799 --> 00:36:10.119
So here's my ultra call today.
00:36:10.679 --> 00:36:12.919
Begin tithing.
00:36:15.239 --> 00:36:18.599
It's the wisest thing you can do with the money that you earn.
00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:24.119
And it has everything to do with what God wants to do for you as you live his way in his world.
00:36:24.359 --> 00:36:26.679
So, what that means is that I want you to begin a pattern.
00:36:26.839 --> 00:36:27.879
Everyone say pattern.
00:36:28.279 --> 00:36:32.039
Yes, I'm not looking for you to do something lavish right now that you can't repeat.
00:36:32.519 --> 00:36:35.719
I'm looking for you to enter into a pattern that you can sustain.
00:36:36.199 --> 00:36:40.839
I want you to begin a pattern of returning to God the first and the best portion of your income.
00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:44.359
If you can start that today, then I would like you to do that.
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:48.599
If not, then I would like you to start with the next paycheck you receive.
00:36:48.759 --> 00:36:51.159
Put that giving graphic back up for us.
00:36:51.479 --> 00:36:53.159
We need to see it again.
00:36:53.559 --> 00:36:55.479
The only way, you guys got it?
00:36:55.639 --> 00:36:56.599
Go back, go back, go back.
00:36:56.759 --> 00:36:57.399
Okay, there it is.
00:36:57.559 --> 00:37:02.359
The only way to close a discipleship gap is with obedience.
00:37:02.839 --> 00:37:04.839
This is an obedience gap.
00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:07.639
That's all that it is.
00:37:08.439 --> 00:37:17.559
Obedience to our heavenly Father's teaching and commands, obedience to the wisdom of honoring him with our wealth by consistently bringing him the first.
00:37:17.959 --> 00:37:22.599
So I'm asking you, take the first 10% and apportion it to the Lord by bringing it into his house.
00:37:22.839 --> 00:37:25.079
Others of you, you've been doing that for years.
00:37:25.319 --> 00:37:26.839
It's like it's set on auto.
00:37:26.919 --> 00:37:28.199
You don't even think about it.
00:37:28.679 --> 00:37:30.759
It stopped being sacrifice.
00:37:31.239 --> 00:37:35.559
And so I'm gonna call you to ask God, help me to go further.
00:37:35.799 --> 00:37:37.239
Help me to give more.
00:37:37.719 --> 00:37:40.039
Because again, it's just a baseline.
00:37:40.519 --> 00:37:45.559
Whoever sows sparingly reaps sparingly, but whoever sows generously reaps generously.
00:37:45.799 --> 00:37:49.399
And by doing this, we will be stepping into a lifelong pattern of worship.
00:37:49.559 --> 00:37:55.639
Like it'd be so great if I could stand up here next Sunday, and that like that was like wouldn't that be awesome?
00:37:57.479 --> 00:38:04.279
As we all collectively step into a pattern of worshiping God sacrificially and saying to him, every time we're paid, God, you are my provider.
00:38:04.519 --> 00:38:10.199
Because the pattern is the path, and it's the path that actually leads us to genuinely abundant life.
00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:17.799
So I'll say it to you one more time honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.
00:38:17.959 --> 00:38:20.279
Other translations say all your increase.
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:26.519
And your barns will be overflowing, your vats will be brimming with new ones.
00:38:27.399 --> 00:38:29.559
So let's give.
00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:32.280
You ready for the word?
00:00:32.839 --> 00:00:35.640
Turn your Bibles to the book of Proverbs, chapter 3.
00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:37.719
Proverbs chapter 3.
00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:43.719
And verses 9 and 10.
00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:48.039
I hear pages turning.
00:00:49.319 --> 00:00:50.920
Somewhere around the middle of your Bible.
00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:52.519
Proverbs chapter 3.
00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:56.280
If you've reached Ecclesiastes, you've gone too far.
00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.159
If you're in the Psalms, go a little further.
00:01:01.879 --> 00:01:13.959
The Word of God says this honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, then your bonds will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
00:01:14.439 --> 00:01:17.640
I want to teach you today about the biblical principle of tithing.
00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:20.840
Amen.
00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:25.159
And the reason I want to teach this to you is twofold.
00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:25.719
Two reasons.
00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:28.840
If we can bring up uh that graphic that we have, this chart.
00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:38.039
So this is uh a graph that plots the last uh, what is it, eight months or so, starting back in January of this year.
00:01:38.119 --> 00:01:45.799
And there's two lines on this chart that plot our growth in terms of what's happening here on Sundays and our giving.
00:01:46.039 --> 00:01:56.839
And as you can see, it started already with a little bit of a gap, but then as our growth has done its thing, which praise God for that, um our giving has done its thing.
00:01:59.559 --> 00:02:00.679
Sermon concluded.
00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:01.239
Okay.
00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:07.399
So so this uh white line that represents a growth of 19% since January.
00:02:07.479 --> 00:02:10.199
We've grown on Sundays by 19%, which is amazing.
00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:10.840
Yeah.
00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:12.039
You can clap for that.
00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:13.159
It really is amazing.
00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:14.520
God has been so faithful.
00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:19.879
And our it doesn't look like it, but our giving has grown by 1%.
00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:24.360
And so this is reason number one that I want to talk about this today.
00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:30.680
And reason number two is this that this gap right here between those two lines, we call that a sanctification gap.
00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:33.560
That's what that is.
00:02:33.800 --> 00:02:36.280
That's a discipleship gap.
00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:50.200
Ideally, those lines would be neck and neck with one another, because ideally, every Christian would have a deep, gospel-rooted revelation of returning the first portion of their income to the Lord by tithing to their local church.
00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:54.600
But those lines are not neck and neck with one another, and that's for various reasons.
00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:58.439
Some of us feel a lot of fear around trusting God with money.
00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:04.760
Some of us derive a deep sense of security from having as much money as we can possibly hold on to.
00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:07.960
Some of us are just skeptical about giving to churches.
00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:14.840
And others of us have either never been taught what the scriptures say about giving, or we just haven't been taught very well.
00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:18.600
Thank God my primary gift is teaching, so I'm here to help.
00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:24.439
Now I'm happy to meet you in any one of those places today, any one of those reasons.
00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:28.120
But I also want to lead you from those places.
00:03:28.600 --> 00:03:32.920
Because what that graph shows more than anything is that we have an opportunity for discipleship.
00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:33.879
That's all this is.
00:03:34.040 --> 00:03:45.800
We all need to be discipled in this area so that our hearts are more deeply formed, coming into alignment with the Word of God, with the gospel, and into an alignment with a Christian attitude towards money.
00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:50.920
Discipleship is exactly what helped me grow in this area.
00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:57.000
When I was 18 years old, I belonged to a very small church that was just getting off the ground.
00:03:57.159 --> 00:04:02.520
And when you're part of a church, at that stage, there is very little hiding that you can do.
00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:11.640
It's always obvious when you're not present or when you're disengaged in some way, and that's not just true in a physical sense, that's also true in a financial sense.
00:04:12.040 --> 00:04:16.759
In a growing church, it's easy to think that your presence and your contribution won't be missed.
00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:24.279
Although, as that graph just showed us, the problem is that everybody starts to think that, and the results speak for themselves.
00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:29.959
But in a very small startup church, it should be obvious that you need to be contributing.
00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:35.159
But at the time I was 18, I was a bit clueless, and I just kind of thought I could skate by, contributing how I felt like it.
00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:39.319
To be honest with you, I thought that when I showed up to a meeting, that alone warranted a trophy.
00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:48.120
And one of the ways that my heart posture manifested was in the fact that I wasn't contributing at all financially to the church.
00:04:48.280 --> 00:04:53.960
Not only was I not giving God a tenth of my income, which is what the word tithe means, I wasn't even giving him a cent.
00:04:54.680 --> 00:04:58.199
Well, this carried on until my mom learned about it.
00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:02.120
And that was not something that she was going to let escape her attention.
00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:07.560
I will never forget the day when my mom called me and asked me straight up, Jake, are you tithing?
00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:11.800
And the question caught me by surprise because I wasn't trying to be stingy.
00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:14.280
I wasn't trying to be rebellious.
00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:18.600
I hadn't even noticed that I was neglecting something so basic.
00:05:18.840 --> 00:05:22.920
And so I wasn't expecting the conversation, but I answered her honestly, no mom, I'm not.
00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:27.160
And then my mom proceeded to instruct me that I needed to begin tithing.
00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:30.759
She taught me that this was the right way to honor God with my income.
00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:38.920
It was the right way to support the church, and it was the right foundation for stewarding the little money that I was earning at my very unpredictable sales job.
00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:40.600
So you know what I did?
00:05:41.079 --> 00:05:42.439
I obeyed.
00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:45.639
That week, at the age of 18, I began tithing.
00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:53.000
That is, I began apportioning the first 10% of every paycheck and returning it to God by tithing it to his church.
00:05:53.400 --> 00:06:01.720
A couple of years later, when Nicole and I were preparing to get married, one of the things that we talked about in our premarital counseling was finances and budgeting.
00:06:01.960 --> 00:06:06.439
And so we submitted our budget to the older couple who were counseling us.
00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:15.400
And the first line item on our budget, before our rent, before any bill, the first line item was our tithe, which also happened to be the first thing that they looked for on our budget.
00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:17.400
So we passed a test that day.
00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:18.600
Praise God.
00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:27.079
And together as a married couple, we have returned to God the first 10% of our income every time we've been paid for the last 17 years.
00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:30.920
And as our income has grown, so has our tithe.
00:06:31.400 --> 00:06:37.240
Because the heart behind the tithe is that you give in proportion to what you have received.
00:06:37.960 --> 00:06:42.280
And the very cool part is that as that number has grown, so has our faith.
00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:47.800
The financial scenarios that used to frighten us no longer frighten us very much.
00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:55.800
In fact, 10% to God soon began to feel too easy, and it became a floor for us to build upon.
00:06:56.519 --> 00:07:06.920
So for the most part, unless it's a particularly trying season, which we still sometimes have, we have to make sure that we're going beyond 10% to even feel like we're sacrificing.
00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:09.400
Which is the point.
00:07:10.519 --> 00:07:12.600
Sacrifice is the aim.
00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:16.360
Because what we're really talking about today is a form of worship.
00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:20.199
And worship can never be devoid of sacrifice.
00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:26.120
I was reflecting this week back upon that conversation that I had with my mom as an 18-year-old.
00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:35.000
And the thing that I realized is that I knew at the time what the Bible teaches about tithes and offerings and stewarding your money, trusting God with your money.
00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:39.639
And I had given money to God through the church many times growing up.
00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:44.439
And so I asked myself this week, why did I stop doing that when I was 18?
00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:52.280
And the answer I realized was because at that point in my life, it's the first time tithing would have felt like a sacrifice.
00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:57.960
I was out of the house, I was responsible for my own needs, money was tight.
00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:02.680
So the first thing that I cut, without giving it much thought, was bringing God a tithe.
00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:13.879
But what I was really doing was trying to relieve myself of financial pressure by withholding worship and trusting in my own wisdom rather than trusting in the wisdom of God.
00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:21.720
But I can tell you, all of these years later, that trusting in God's wisdom is infinitely better.
00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:27.400
See, over the last 17 years, Nicole and I, we have faced plenty of financial challenges.
00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:31.639
There have been times of plenty, and there have been times that have been incredibly tight.
00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:36.840
But on the whole, our life has reflected exactly what the book of Proverbs claims.
00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:39.960
We have had far more than enough.
00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:45.720
We've been able to own three different homes in Los Angeles, including the one that we live in currently.
00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:48.679
And more importantly, our marriage is full of love.
00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:51.559
Our children love the Lord, they love his church.
00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:57.159
Looking over at my son worshiping Jesus on Wednesday night, blessed our heart beyond measure.
00:08:57.399 --> 00:08:59.879
Our families' values reflect God's priorities.
00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:01.319
We experience God's peace.
00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:03.159
We experience God's prosperity.
00:09:03.320 --> 00:09:07.159
And our home is not just a house, it's a home.
00:09:07.560 --> 00:09:16.360
And it's constantly filled with love and laughter and sometimes tears as the overflow of the kingdom friendships that we have received through God's grace.
00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:20.039
I do not regret entrusting one cent into God's hands.
00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:22.759
Trusting God is always wise.
00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:25.799
Not trusting him is the actual foolish thing.
00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.960
And that reality of wisdom versus foolishness, that's where I want to ground our teaching today.
00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:37.399
Which of course takes us to the book of Proverbs because Proverbs is the Bible's premier book of wisdom.
00:09:37.560 --> 00:09:42.200
And so I just want to simply call today's message wise people tithe.
00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:51.000
There are many biblical reasons to tithe, but the bullseye that I want to hit today is that tithing is simply wise.
00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:56.120
See, so often the Christian dialogue around tithing revolves around questions like this.
00:09:56.360 --> 00:09:59.799
As a Christian, am I required to tithe?
00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:05.879
Or maybe questions like, does the gospel mean that I no longer have to tithe?
00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:09.000
But I think that these are entirely the wrong questions.
00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:11.480
And I think that they reflect the wrong heart.
00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:18.120
I think a much better question is what is the wisest thing that I can do with the money that I earn?
00:10:19.720 --> 00:10:23.240
Because God has a very clear answer to that question.
00:10:23.399 --> 00:10:37.639
And while there are many secondarily wise things you can do with your money, which Proverbs also speaks to, there is only one primary wise thing that we can do, which is to trust God with money by returning to him the first portion of everything we earn.
00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:42.440
Trusting God with money is wise, and it leads to a much more beautiful life.
00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:55.480
See, my conviction for a long time has been this, and I think that the book of Proverbs and the whole biblical witness agrees with this, that everything God asks from me is tied to what he wants for me.
00:10:56.519 --> 00:11:01.000
Everything God wants from you is tied to what he actually wants for you.
00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:03.480
And so what I want to do is I want to dive into Proverbs 3.
00:11:03.560 --> 00:11:06.919
I want to show you how that works, especially at the end in relation to money.
00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:09.480
Go back to Proverbs 3 and verse 1.
00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:12.759
It says, This, my son, do not forget my teaching.
00:11:12.919 --> 00:11:22.120
Everyone say teaching, but keep my commands, say commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.
00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:31.080
Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:37.480
So the first thing that I want you to notice is that these verses are framed as a father speaking to his son.
00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:45.960
And that's because Proverbs is designed, this was the purpose of the book, it is designed to teach young people how to live wisely.
00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:53.080
It's like a parent sitting down their child and teaching them, hey, here's how the good life actually works.
00:11:53.960 --> 00:12:04.279
So a good summary of wisdom, what Proverbs means by wisdom, is that wisdom is the skill of living well in God's world, God's way.
00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:09.240
It's the skill of learning to live well in God's world by living God's way.
00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:11.000
Pay attention to that word, skill.
00:12:11.159 --> 00:12:13.159
That means that this is not innate.
00:12:13.960 --> 00:12:15.639
You are not born with this.
00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:17.080
You learn this.
00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:18.600
This is something you develop.
00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:21.159
Wisdom, pay attention, this is very important.
00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:30.759
Wisdom is developing the character, it's developing the competency to master life within God's moral order.
00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:31.639
Right?
00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:35.399
So wisdom goes deeper than what am I required to do?
00:12:36.680 --> 00:12:43.960
No, wisdom seeks out the right way to live in light of who God is and how he has created this world to function.
00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:49.799
That's why Proverbs says at the very start that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right?
00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:56.919
Acknowledging who God is as almighty creator and as gracious sustainer, that's where wisdom begins.
00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:00.840
You see, Proverbs is not just a human father's helpful tips.
00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:05.879
Ultimately, the father that Proverbs 3 instructs us to obey is our heavenly father.
00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:11.159
And so notice then back in verse 1 that the Father is not merely offering advice to the Son.
00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:14.519
Proverbs is not advice.
00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:21.480
True wisdom does not come with suggestions, it comes with instruction.
00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:24.759
Thus, the Father is giving teaching and commands.
00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:27.720
He's not giving you food for thought and some things to consider.
00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:33.639
There is a right way to live and there is a wrong way to live.
00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:34.840
It is very clear.
00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.159
That's how wisdom works all throughout the Bible.
00:13:37.320 --> 00:13:40.919
But in that, understand that wisdom is not burdensome.
00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:48.120
In fact, the teaching and the commands are described in the very next verse, verse 2, as his love and faithfulness.
00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:57.560
So Proverbs adheres to the rules of Hebrew poetry, and Hebrew poetry features this literary device called parallelism.
00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:05.080
And the way that parallelism works is that the second line advances the meaning of the first line.
00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:05.639
Okay?
00:14:06.039 --> 00:14:14.680
So here we would see that love and faithfulness actually corresponds with and advances the meaning of teaching and commands.
00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:22.759
Which is really powerful because that proves what I just said to you that everything God asked from you is tied to what he wants for you.
00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:27.560
His teaching and commands are actually an expression of his love and his faithfulness.
00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:28.919
What does that mean?
00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:33.399
It means that if you obey his instruction, you will experience profound reward.
00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:35.879
That's what the pastor said.
00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:47.159
The Father's teaching and commands will prolong your life many years, will bring you peace and prosperity, you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:50.440
That almost sounds a little bit too good to be true, doesn't it?
00:14:51.560 --> 00:14:54.919
Which is kind of how Proverbs works itself out.
00:14:55.399 --> 00:14:57.000
And this would be a good place to pause.
00:14:57.080 --> 00:15:02.600
These seemingly too good to be true promises are a good place to pause and ask, what exactly is a proverb?
00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:04.600
Is it a promise?
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:06.759
Or is it something else?
00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:11.159
In one sense, Proverbs are promising certain things.
00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:14.600
But they are general big picture promises.
00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:26.680
If wisdom is learning to live God's way in God's world, then the promise of Proverbs is that if I do that, generally speaking, my life will flourish.
00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:46.840
If I submit to Yahweh as creator, as ruler, if I live in reverential fear of him, if I take responsibility for the life he's given me, and I commit to growing in character and competency, if I live humbly for the sake of his glory, then generally speaking, my life will flourish.
00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:52.279
Wisdom means living well, and living well leads to a life well lived.
00:15:55.799 --> 00:16:01.560
It's foolish to think that I can live my way and master life in God's world.
00:16:02.519 --> 00:16:03.960
No, I have to live God's way.
00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:10.919
And if I do that, the the promise of Proverbs is that generally speaking, things will go really well for me.
00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:16.440
Now, some people start to get a little bit uncomfortable when you associate Proverbs with promises.
00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:19.399
They prefer to describe them as principles.
00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:27.159
And in one sense, that caution is warranted because the book of Proverbs is not advertising life with God to be like an ATM machine.
00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:34.680
But in another sense, to call these principles kind of risks taking the personal covenantal nature out of them.
00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:42.440
Proverbs is not inviting you to like abide by some laws of the universe so that you can get good things in return.
00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:44.360
This is not impersonal.
00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:49.159
This is about walking intimately with God and experiencing his faithfulness.
00:16:50.039 --> 00:16:59.480
So I actually think promise is a pretty good word because it's much more relational, but the key is that you have to zoom out and look at the whole picture that Proverbs is painting because it promises some tough things too.
00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:06.039
It says that the righteous may fall seven times, but he gets back up again.
00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:09.319
So that verse captures exactly what I'm talking about.
00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:13.000
Proverbs makes room for the righteous man falling down.
00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:17.159
But it takes the view that in the end he will be found standing.
00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:23.159
In other words, Proverbs does not overpromise blessing and ignore the reality of hardship.
00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:25.480
It just zooms out and looks at the big picture.
00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:34.599
It's not inviting you into life hacks, it's not inviting you into quick fixes, it's inviting you down the path to abundant life, and that path is paved with faithfulness to God's commands.
00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:39.960
And the claim is that on the whole, life will be far more rewarding if you live God's way.
00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:44.519
And better better still, even when the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper.
00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:49.960
The promise is that our ultimate reward is eternal life, and that is a vindication that outlasts even death itself.
00:17:50.120 --> 00:17:51.960
So these promises are not false advertising.
00:17:52.120 --> 00:17:53.240
Please do not read past them.
00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:54.200
Take them seriously.
00:17:54.359 --> 00:18:01.319
If you cling to the instruction and commandments of God, then on the whole, your life will be more peaceful, more prosperous, and more relationally rich.
00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:05.000
The Hebrew word that drives all of that is the word shalom.
00:18:05.400 --> 00:18:10.680
And shalom is it's translated as peace, but it's so much more than the absence of conflict.
00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:13.240
It's so much more than a full bank account.
00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:17.000
Shalom is God's intended state of perfect beauty.
00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:19.240
It's God's garden temple.
00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:22.120
It's the good world functioning as it should.
00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:30.680
So the idea is that even in a world that's been corrupted by sin, you can still experience God's shalom by obeying his instruction.
00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:37.079
Wisdom produces an enduring life even when the circumstances seem impossible.
00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:44.599
So the first question for us then is Am I embracing wisdom or am I avoiding wisdom?
00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:47.240
And the next stanza helps us to answer that.
00:18:47.319 --> 00:18:48.680
Look at verses five and six.
00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:51.240
Say this first word with me.
00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:58.279
It says, say it again, it says, Yeah, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
00:18:58.359 --> 00:19:01.880
In all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight.
00:19:02.120 --> 00:19:06.440
So this shows us what living wisely actually looks like.
00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:09.079
It's fundamentally about trust.
00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:17.319
Trust in God is the thing you need to keep living wisely when the ways of the world seem to make more sense.
00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:23.240
Wisdom will mean that you don't lean on what makes sense from a worldly perspective.
00:19:23.559 --> 00:19:23.880
Right?
00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:27.960
And that's true whether you're talking about money or any other area of life.
00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:31.640
The fruit of wisdom comes from trusting in God with all of your heart.
00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:34.039
In Hebrew thought, the heart included your whole being.
00:19:34.120 --> 00:19:38.680
It's the center of the person's emotional, intellectual, religious, and moral activity.
00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:42.120
So trusting in God with all of our hearts means that we trust him entirely.
00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:46.279
It means that we trust him exclusively, and it means that we trust him exhaustively.
00:19:46.519 --> 00:19:50.440
If the way of wisdom were like an ATM machine, then you wouldn't need trust.
00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:53.480
You'd just put in the card, punch in the passcode, and get the reward.
00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:54.680
But that's not wisdom.
00:19:54.839 --> 00:20:00.039
A life of wisdom is fundamentally about walking intimately with God, and therefore trust is everything.
00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:04.759
We are trusting in him that if we live his way, our lives will be far more beautiful.
00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:08.839
To do something other than that is to live in violation with the truth.
00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:12.120
The truth is that God is the creator and the sustainer of this world.
00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:17.480
But if I don't live according to the wisdom of the creator and sustainer, then I am in violation of the truth.
00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:21.559
It is to act irrationally and to be governed by my urges and my fears.
00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:27.720
It's to live in accordance with the thimble of my knowledge rather than living in accordance with the vast ocean of God's knowledge.
00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:41.319
And Proverbs actually says that the person who lives that way, the phrase that it uses, the person who thinks they are wise in their own eyes, that person is even worse off than a fool because they have God's wisdom right in front of them and they still bet on themselves.
00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:51.640
And I'd say this like so lovingly and so humbly, but this is just true, that's exactly how many of you are living in relation to money.
00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:59.240
If we are honest, that is usually what withholding money from God looks like.
00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:04.839
It's quietly trusting our own financial management over God's instruction.
00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:09.160
That's what 18-year-old me was doing.
00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:17.400
But the wise, they trust the Lord to uphold his covenant faithfulness as they live his way.
00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:22.440
Bruce Waltke is the leading scholar on the book of Proverbs.
00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:36.440
He says it like this the wise, they are confident that as they fulfill their obligations, he, Yahweh, God, will uphold his in his own time and in his own way, even when the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:52.200
So at the heart of this wise way of living is the choice to know God intimately, even in hardship, rather than to hardly know him at all, because you pursued the easiest possible life.
00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:57.720
And I put easiest in scare quotes there because actually living our own way doesn't actually lead to an easy life.
00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:03.160
You will never get to know God by pursuing what you think is easy.
00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:08.680
You will only get to know God at the intersection of faithful love and sacrifice.
00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:09.640
It's called a cross.
00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:13.240
That's where God waits to be known by you.
00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:22.120
In fact, that phrase, in all your ways, submit to him, in the Hebrew can be translated, in all your ways, desire his presence.
00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:28.200
Living wisely means stewarding every part of your life in a way that invites God in.
00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:33.559
And the promise is that as he Enters those parts of your life, he protects them.
00:22:34.120 --> 00:22:34.920
What does that say?
00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:36.839
He makes your paths straight.
00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:39.480
Is that up and to the right all the time?
00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:40.039
No.
00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:43.559
He uses the surprises for your well-being.
00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:48.039
He uses the sudden twists and turns to still get you to the right place.
00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:56.519
Our problem is that we underestimate what God does in difficulty and we overestimate what God does during times of ease.
00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:04.839
So we pursue easy thinking that that's the best, but it's actually the difficult moments that are far more valuable to our formation where we learn to lean upon God more.
00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:05.160
Right?
00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:06.519
Just think about the Exodus story.
00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:10.440
I don't know if you've ever traced Israel's path as God led them out of Egypt.
00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:12.680
It's a completely ridiculous path.
00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:15.079
It is not the fastest way out of Egypt.
00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:15.559
Okay?
00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:24.279
There are way more efficient ways to get out of Egypt than the path that God led them, but he leads them the way that he does because he wants to show them this power as he parts the Red Sea.
00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:30.200
I love the way one preacher summarized it, is that sometimes the shortest distance between two places is a zigzag.
00:23:32.120 --> 00:23:36.359
That's what it means when it says that God makes our paths straight as we trust him.
00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:40.200
Practically speaking, God does not guarantee us an easy life.
00:23:40.680 --> 00:23:49.799
He guarantees that if we trust him and delight in him, he will get us to the very best destination and he will use the route to mold us into the image of Christ along the way.
00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:55.319
That's why wisdom requires trust, and it proves to be far more fruitful in the long run.
00:23:55.880 --> 00:23:57.960
Which brings us to the final part of our text today.
00:23:58.039 --> 00:23:59.240
Look at verses 9 and 10.
00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:00.680
This is all connected.
00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:08.120
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, then your bonds will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:09.640
This is wisdom and its outcome.
00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:12.680
What does trusting God look like in relation to money?
00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:15.480
It looks like honoring Him with it.
00:24:16.680 --> 00:24:21.400
Honoring God with our money is the wisest money move we can make.
00:24:22.120 --> 00:24:25.400
That word honor means to weigh heavily.
00:24:26.120 --> 00:24:34.519
So we give weight to the fact that God is our creator, that God is our sustainer, by honoring him with our wealth.
00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:36.599
How do I honor God with my wealth?
00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:41.720
Remember Hebrew parallelism, the second phrase clarifies and advances the first phrase.
00:24:42.039 --> 00:24:45.640
So the way you honor God with your wealth is right there in the second line.
00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:51.480
It's by returning to him the first fruits of all your crops.
00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:54.599
Not some of your crops.
00:24:55.079 --> 00:24:59.880
Not when you reach a particular threshold of backstock in your crops.
00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:00.519
No, no, no.
00:25:00.759 --> 00:25:05.160
From all your crops, you take the first part and you return it to him.
00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:09.640
That word first in Hebrew is the is the word reshit.
00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:11.799
It's the same word in Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning.
00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:12.920
It means beginning.
00:25:13.640 --> 00:25:22.440
And when you trace that notion of resheet of first fruits across the Old Testament, it doesn't just mean first in quantity, it also means first in quality.
00:25:23.240 --> 00:25:29.720
So the scripture would say you bring God the best of all your increase, or you bring God the finest of all your increase.
00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:32.440
And where you brought it is you brought it to God's house.
00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:37.720
So the Proverb is not talking about bringing God your first fruits by donating to your favorite charity.
00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:43.319
This is a summary here in these couple of verses.
00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:47.880
This is a summary of the entire sacrificial system of worship in God's house.
00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:51.240
And that sacrificial system of worship insured three things.
00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:53.880
Number one, the ministers of God's house were well supplied.
00:25:54.039 --> 00:25:57.079
Number two, the needy among God's people were well supplied.
00:25:57.240 --> 00:26:02.839
And number three, the resources that were required for the tabernacle and temple to function were well supplied.
00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:09.720
And the New Testament, unsurprisingly, carries all three of those over into the relationship between the Christian and their local church.
00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:10.359
Why?
00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:12.759
Because wisdom has not changed.
00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:17.319
We may be in a new covenant, but wisdom has not changed.
00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:34.120
Proverbs says that wisdom was there at the foundations of the world, which is symbolic of the fact that there is a right way to live, not just today, not just a thousand years ago, not just a thousand years from now.
00:26:34.279 --> 00:26:40.440
No, there is a right way to live that is grounded in God's very order that He's given to the universe.
00:26:40.599 --> 00:26:43.400
There is still a right way and a wrong way to live.
00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:48.440
We are still to honor God by bringing him the first fruits of all of our increase.
00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:53.400
I think there's a very good biblical warrant for starting it at 10% as a foundation.
00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:57.240
The Israelites were actually required to go well beyond that.
00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:01.319
And honestly, above and beyond seems to be the Apostle Paul's encouragement.
00:27:01.559 --> 00:27:06.519
Like he just says in 2 Corinthians 9, 6 listen to how proverbial this sounds, by the way.
00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:10.440
Like he's talking about an offering, but then he pauses to give a proverb.
00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:13.079
He says, remember this, this is just true all the time.
00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:17.160
Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
00:27:18.200 --> 00:27:21.880
Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:26.039
So the question is not how much am I required to give.
00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:30.279
The question is how much can I honor God with what I've received?
00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:37.720
How much weight can I concretely communicate to him that he has in my life with this act of bringing him the first?
00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:39.160
Because that's living wisely.
00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:41.240
That's how God says that you honor him with your income.
00:27:41.400 --> 00:27:43.400
You take the first portion and you return it to him.
00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:44.839
Because what does that communicate?
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:47.000
It says, God, you provided this for me.
00:27:47.319 --> 00:27:48.759
It says, You're my sustainer.
00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:50.120
The ground isn't my sustainer.
00:27:50.279 --> 00:27:51.880
My employer isn't my sustainer.
00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:54.680
My gifts and my talents aren't my sustainer.
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:57.960
Friends, your gifts and talents that you have today could be gone tomorrow.
00:28:00.039 --> 00:28:00.759
No, no, no.
00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:01.960
You are my sustainer.
00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:03.400
You provided this.
00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:05.559
And you can provide more.
00:28:05.960 --> 00:28:10.039
So what is wise then is to take the first portion of my income and return it to God.
00:28:10.200 --> 00:28:12.279
Not begrudgingly, but gratefully.
00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:19.559
As the whole chapter teaches, remember the context, with the incense of trust, with the incense of devotion, with the incense of love.
00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:22.120
Because if it's not with love, then it's not my best.
00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:25.880
If it's not with trust, then it's not my best.
00:28:26.120 --> 00:28:29.319
But with love and trust, I bring him my first and my best.
00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:33.559
Before I take the seed out of the crops and sow it back into the ground so I can grow more.
00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:44.759
Before I invest back into my business or back into the market, before I make another purchase, before I go out to lunch, before I pay for all of those subscriptions that I'm so convinced that I need, I give God the first portion.
00:28:44.839 --> 00:28:46.120
That's how you honor him.
00:28:46.680 --> 00:28:51.160
That's how you actually indicate the weight that he holds in your life as your provider.
00:28:51.319 --> 00:28:52.440
That's what wisdom does.
00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:59.079
Not every now and then, not in fits and starts, not just when you think you aren't going to feel the impact of it because you have a surplus.
00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:01.960
No, every time you receive, you return.
00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:11.559
In fact, when the father starts out this chapter by telling the son to keep these commands in his heart, what that entails is the fact that is that the son would have these committed to memory.
00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:18.759
So every time he earned an income, every time he brought in the harvest, guess what will be rattling around in his head?
00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:22.680
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all of your crop.
00:29:24.120 --> 00:29:32.359
So the question is, son, daughter of the Lord, is that the first thought rattling around in your mind?
00:29:34.120 --> 00:29:35.400
When you get paid.
00:29:42.120 --> 00:29:47.000
And if it's not, then you're selling yourself short on the blessing of living wisely.
00:29:48.120 --> 00:29:51.720
You see, money's value by itself is incredibly limited.
00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:59.480
Again, to quote Bruce Walkie: money can build a house, can't build a home.
00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:03.880
Money can put food on the table, can't put fellowship around it.
00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:11.079
However, wisdom gives both material well-being and spiritual life.
00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:18.120
So you can go the way of the world, and you can consider everyone and everything but God when you get paid.
00:30:18.359 --> 00:30:21.640
And you may have material wealth in this life.
00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:23.720
But it will not be enduring.
00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:26.839
There will be no eternal reward attached to it.
00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:39.480
But if you go the way of God, you can have enduring material wealth and much more importantly, the wealth of being a citizen in the kingdom of God, where you actually experience the benefits of belonging.
00:30:39.799 --> 00:30:46.120
Where your wealth goes to the work of the gospel and you experience the joy of God's family.
00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:51.240
The way that Proverbs says it is that your barns will be filled with plenty.
00:30:51.400 --> 00:30:54.759
Just let this, I don't know what else to call it, except a promise.
00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:57.319
Let this promise come into your heart.
00:30:57.559 --> 00:31:01.799
Your barns will be filled with plenty, your vats will brim over with new wine.
00:31:02.120 --> 00:31:05.319
And that's not about greed, that's not about hoarding.
00:31:05.559 --> 00:31:09.319
That's about having an overflowing life that blesses the community around you.
00:31:09.960 --> 00:31:12.920
And the English translation really doesn't do the imagery justice.
00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:17.000
First of all, grain and wine, those two words together, that's what's called a merism.
00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:22.519
A merism is when two words work together to communicate something bigger than just what those words represent.
00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:25.960
So, like for example, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
00:31:26.120 --> 00:31:29.319
Okay, well, that's that's about more than just God creating the sky and the land.
00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:31.480
That's about God creating everything.
00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:33.960
Grain and wine is a merism, it's it's like that.
00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:37.960
It's not just that he's gonna give you bread and and really nice Merlot.
00:31:39.880 --> 00:31:43.400
No, this is about how he's gonna provide for everything that you need.
00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:52.359
Uh new wine is so amazing because he doesn't just provide meagerly, he provides generously.
00:31:52.759 --> 00:32:00.279
New wine, according to one scholar, represents the juice that comes from the grape as a result of its own weight.
00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:06.920
Like the grape is so heavy with juice that it's it's dripping before it's even pressed.
00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:13.480
Normally the grapes would go into a press, which then channeled into pools, into vats, and those caught the juice.
00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:21.960
So the imagery here is that the result of honoring God with our wealth is that the pools will be filled to the brim with grape juice before the grapes have even been pressed.
00:32:22.599 --> 00:32:24.440
That is an image of God's grace.
00:32:24.759 --> 00:32:27.799
You will find, by the way, that generosity is God's signature.
00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:35.559
This is an image of God's loving kindness, generously providing for those who trust in him and who concretely honor him in the area of finances.
00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:36.279
And guess what?
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:38.839
None of the biblical authors shy away from this reality.
00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:39.480
None of them.
00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:45.559
Moses says in Deuteronomy 28:8, the Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to.
00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:48.519
The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
00:32:48.680 --> 00:33:00.039
The writer of 2 Chronicles says it like this As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the first fruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil, and honey, and all that the fields produced.
00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:02.920
They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything.
00:33:03.079 --> 00:33:05.640
Notice the connection here between firstfruits and tithe.
00:33:05.799 --> 00:33:15.160
The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks, and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the Lord their God, and they piled them in heaps.
00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:19.000
They began doing this in the third month, and they finished in the seventh month.
00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:20.920
Those months were the months of harvest.
00:33:21.160 --> 00:33:24.359
So every single thing they harvested, they brought a tithe on.
00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:45.559
When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw the heaps, Hezekiah is the king, they praised the Lord, they blessed his people, Israel, and Hezekiah asked the priests and the Levites and Azariah the chief priest, since the people uh began to bring their contributions to the temple of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare because the Lord has blessed his people, and this great amount, this is actually the leftover.
00:33:45.720 --> 00:33:48.279
Before you showed up, these heaps were even bigger.
00:33:48.519 --> 00:33:53.799
The prophet Malachi says it like this: bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.
00:33:53.960 --> 00:34:01.960
Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will be no more room enough to store it.
00:34:02.120 --> 00:34:06.279
The Apostle Paul says it like this in Philippians 4 Not that I desire your gifts.
00:34:06.440 --> 00:34:09.319
What I desire is that more be credited to your account.
00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:10.759
I have received full payment.
00:34:10.920 --> 00:34:11.639
I have more than enough.
00:34:11.719 --> 00:34:12.759
I'm amply supplied.
00:34:12.839 --> 00:34:16.359
And now that I've received the the uh from Epaphroditus, the gifts you sent.
00:34:16.440 --> 00:34:18.359
The church in Philippi had given Paul an offering.
00:34:18.519 --> 00:34:19.639
Here's how he describes them.
00:34:19.799 --> 00:34:21.000
They're a fragrant offering.
00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:22.039
You didn't just give it to me.
00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:24.759
No, it's an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
00:34:24.839 --> 00:34:31.079
And here's what God's gonna do: my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
00:34:31.239 --> 00:34:42.599
The same reality traverses the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the new covenant, because honoring God with your wealth by returning to him the first and the best is just wise living.
00:34:42.839 --> 00:34:44.359
Yes, there are times of lack.
00:34:44.519 --> 00:34:45.879
Yes, the righteous will fall.
00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:47.799
Yes, sometimes we will still suffer.
00:34:47.959 --> 00:34:52.759
Yes, there will be times when we pray along with the psalmist, God, have you forgotten me?
00:34:52.919 --> 00:35:03.879
But the call to trust is a call to be a Proverbs people in a Psalms world, to have our feet planted in the wisdom of the Proverbs, even when we experience the suffering of the Psalms.
00:35:05.079 --> 00:35:10.919
And the promise is that that kind of enduring trust is what produces an enduring life.
00:35:11.239 --> 00:35:13.479
A life that advances God's kingdom?
00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:14.359
Yes.
00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:19.799
A life with more than enough so that you can be a blessing to others, yes.
00:35:20.599 --> 00:35:28.199
But most of all, a life that gets to know the God who is actually behind all of the good things that you own.
00:35:29.639 --> 00:35:32.919
Full barns, full bank accounts can't love you back.
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:38.519
But God can, and God does.
00:35:38.919 --> 00:35:42.199
In fact, God doesn't just love you back, he loves you first.
00:35:42.759 --> 00:35:44.679
And that's the whole point of the chapter.
00:35:44.839 --> 00:35:48.119
Honoring God doesn't just fill your barns.
00:35:48.359 --> 00:35:50.279
Barns are the gift, but they're not the reward.
00:35:50.839 --> 00:35:59.639
Honoring God draws you deeper into the heart of the God who loves you and gave himself for you and blesses you and provides for you and sustains you.
00:35:59.959 --> 00:36:01.239
He is the reward.
00:36:01.879 --> 00:36:06.599
Therefore, honoring him the way that he teaches is the way that we should live.
00:36:07.799 --> 00:36:10.119
So here's my ultra call today.
00:36:10.679 --> 00:36:12.919
Begin tithing.
00:36:15.239 --> 00:36:18.599
It's the wisest thing you can do with the money that you earn.
00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:24.119
And it has everything to do with what God wants to do for you as you live his way in his world.
00:36:24.359 --> 00:36:26.679
So, what that means is that I want you to begin a pattern.
00:36:26.839 --> 00:36:27.879
Everyone say pattern.
00:36:28.279 --> 00:36:32.039
Yes, I'm not looking for you to do something lavish right now that you can't repeat.
00:36:32.519 --> 00:36:35.719
I'm looking for you to enter into a pattern that you can sustain.
00:36:36.199 --> 00:36:40.839
I want you to begin a pattern of returning to God the first and the best portion of your income.
00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:44.359
If you can start that today, then I would like you to do that.
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:48.599
If not, then I would like you to start with the next paycheck you receive.
00:36:48.759 --> 00:36:51.159
Put that giving graphic back up for us.
00:36:51.479 --> 00:36:53.159
We need to see it again.
00:36:53.559 --> 00:36:55.479
The only way, you guys got it?
00:36:55.639 --> 00:36:56.599
Go back, go back, go back.
00:36:56.759 --> 00:36:57.399
Okay, there it is.
00:36:57.559 --> 00:37:02.359
The only way to close a discipleship gap is with obedience.
00:37:02.839 --> 00:37:04.839
This is an obedience gap.
00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:07.639
That's all that it is.
00:37:08.439 --> 00:37:17.559
Obedience to our heavenly Father's teaching and commands, obedience to the wisdom of honoring him with our wealth by consistently bringing him the first.
00:37:17.959 --> 00:37:22.599
So I'm asking you, take the first 10% and apportion it to the Lord by bringing it into his house.
00:37:22.839 --> 00:37:25.079
Others of you, you've been doing that for years.
00:37:25.319 --> 00:37:26.839
It's like it's set on auto.
00:37:26.919 --> 00:37:28.199
You don't even think about it.
00:37:28.679 --> 00:37:30.759
It stopped being sacrifice.
00:37:31.239 --> 00:37:35.559
And so I'm gonna call you to ask God, help me to go further.
00:37:35.799 --> 00:37:37.239
Help me to give more.
00:37:37.719 --> 00:37:40.039
Because again, it's just a baseline.
00:37:40.519 --> 00:37:45.559
Whoever sows sparingly reaps sparingly, but whoever sows generously reaps generously.
00:37:45.799 --> 00:37:49.399
And by doing this, we will be stepping into a lifelong pattern of worship.
00:37:49.559 --> 00:37:55.639
Like it'd be so great if I could stand up here next Sunday, and that like that was like wouldn't that be awesome?
00:37:57.479 --> 00:38:04.279
As we all collectively step into a pattern of worshiping God sacrificially and saying to him, every time we're paid, God, you are my provider.
00:38:04.519 --> 00:38:10.199
Because the pattern is the path, and it's the path that actually leads us to genuinely abundant life.
00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:17.799
So I'll say it to you one more time honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.
00:38:17.959 --> 00:38:20.279
Other translations say all your increase.
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:26.519
And your barns will be overflowing, your vats will be brimming with new ones.
00:38:27.399 --> 00:38:29.559
So let's give.
