Church Covenant Part 2: Faithful Stewards

Started a brief series couple weeks ago on the church. Read the church covenant last Sunday in the Sunday morning service and preached a message on the first couple paragraphs of our church covenant. I would like to continue that this morning and finish up in the service with the third of three points this evening. From again our church covenant more importantly from God's word. We're going to start this morning by reading Acts chapter two and beginning in verse 44.

In Acts chapter two, we have the coming of the Holy Spirit and the first established church in Jerusalem. The salvation of 3,000 plus souls. Their baptism and then what that early church did and how it it functioned not in detail but an overview if you would like. A matter of fact, go back up to if you would to verse 41. It says there then they that gladly received his word that was the word of the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ were baptized and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls and they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

Now, look particularly this morning beginning in verse 44 and all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Dear heavenly father, thank you for this day that we can come together and worship you. We pray Lord that you would be honored and exalted in all that we say and do.

We pray that we as your church as members of your body would desire to serve you faithfully and to fulfill the responsibilities that are ours in Christ Jesus as your children and members of your family and members of this local church body. I pray Lord as we look into the scriptures you would give us clarity of thought and and direction today. Lord that you would give us understanding and help us to apply to our lives and to our thoughts the teaching Lord that you have for us here from your word today that we might be conformed more to the image of your son and that through the preaching of your word and the gospel, more souls would be saved in this place and around the world. In Jesus name, we do pray. Amen.

I wanted to read specifically beginning in verse 44 through verse 47 this morning. These verses to emphasize and what great personal sacrifice the members of the early church served the Lord and served one another. First of all, Rome. Rome which was the governing body of that the day in which they lived demanded money. Rome demanded obedience.

Sometimes Rome demanded service and even at times their lives. This was the Roman Empire that all of these people we read about here were living under the rule of. Also, being Jews and living in Israel, they lived under certain demands of Judaism in their nation which demanded also money and time and obedience of every Jew. The ruling body, the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem didn't exempt the Christians from having to fulfill all of their demands as well. So, these members of this first church had to deal with the demands of Rome.

They had to deal with the demands of Judaism and then finally, Christianity Christianity demanded nothing. Salvation is a what? Help me out. It's a gift. It demanded nothing per se but it needed everything and so these first church members shouldered the burden of the ministry, of the church, and of one another voluntarily, voluntarily.

You see, we don't live under law. We live under what? Help me out. Grace. But that doesn't mean that we do not have responsibilities to fulfill.

That does not mean that we owe the God who has saved us little. We owe him much. And that does not mean that the needs of the ministry and one another cease to exist. For they still do. And the early church discovered this very quickly.

They had to give to Caesar the things that were Caesar's. They were required by their fellow Jews to give to the things that were the Jews. But they also had responsibilities to Christ and to one another. These were not a matter of law. What the Bible is teaching is not communism.

What it is teaching is charity. And love. That was the responsibility that these early Christians took on voluntarily. If a church is to function successfully, God's people must be willing to support. The congregation with their time money talents, prayers and their hearts as we see these people doing in Jerusalem We are told in Luke chapter 14 to count the cost of discipleship.

There is a cost to following and serving Christ. Now, now, let me explain for a moment. I just said salvation is a what? Salvation is a gift. That means salvation costs you what?

Nothing. Salvation cost you nothing. Who did it cost? Everything cost something okay? Salvation cost you nothing but it had to cost somebody something Who did it cost?

It cost Jesus Christ It cost him his life on the cross of Calvary. It crossed him great anguish and suffering. To purchase for us eternal salvation. We he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way but the Lord has laid on him, that is Jesus, the iniquity of his soul. He bore that burden of sin, that suffering, that punishment, that penalty on the cross of Calvary so that he could offer us salvation, a free gift. You thought I was gonna fall there for a minute, did you?

A free gift to us if we will but recognize that we are sinners who have nothing to offer God but that Jesus Christ died in our place to offer to us eternal life. If we will put our faith and trust in him. Salvation is a free gift but when you are saved you become a child of who? Help me out Okay. You become a child of God.

As many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, children of God, even to them that believe on his name. So, when you believe on his name, you become a child of God. Now, do I expect my children in my household which for the moment is down to one because the other one's off at college. Do I expect the children in my household to fulfill certain responsibilities because they are my children? Answer, yes.

They have a few chores they're supposed to do and some other responsibilities they're supposed to fulfill. I don't expect that of other people's children. I expect that of whose children? My children because they're my children. You see.

Now that you have become a child of God, being a child of God, he being your father, do you have responsibilities? The answer, yes, you do. Salvation cost you nothing. It cost him everything but being a child of God and being obedient and serving the Lord is going to cost you something. There are responsibilities.

So in Luke chapter 14, we are told to count the cost of discipleship, of following, of serving Christ. Every worthwhile endeavor costs you something. College that I just mentioned where David is costs you something. It costs you time. It costs you effort.

It costs you money. Becoming an athlete. These athletes that play college and professional sports and some of them make tons of money, they just didn't wake up one day being this exceptional athlete. They had to put immense amount of time and effort into becoming the gold medal winner or the championship golfer. Okay.

Those things don't happen without there being a cost. Building a building, constructing a building doesn't come without great cost. If you're gonna build it you're gonna have to count the cost. What's it gonna cost me to build it? If you're gonna start a business it was going to cost you something.

It may in the end profit you greatly but it will also what? It will also cost you. Discipleship has a cost. Being a responsible child of God has a cost. Having a successful ministry as a congregation fulfilling the responsibilities God has given us as a church also comes with a what?

It comes with with a cost. First Corinthians chapter four verse two. We looked at it last week. We'll look at it again. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found what?

Faithful. What does that mean? Responsible? Faithful to fulfill task that he has been entrusted with. Faithful to oversee the thing that he has been entrusted with as as a steward.

Faithfulness and endurance are the keys to any long term endeavor which certainly describes the church. Last week, we both, we saw both in our church covenant and in the word of God, the meaning of the word body as it applies to church. We reviewed the importance of joining and participating in a local church and covenanting together as one body to serve the Lord Jesus Christ being of the same mind and purpose. Number two, we discovered last week the purpose of the church and its goal, the advancement and growth of the body us. Today, we are going to look look at at three three specific means of reaching that end of advancing and growing the body of Christ.

They can be placed under the head of the under the heading of stewardship. Of stewardship. I'm going to read from the church covenant this morning. Just a couple sentences here. The title, the third title down our church covenant says this, as Christian stewards, as Christian stewards, it says to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations.

We also engage to maintain family and secret devotions to religiously educate our children to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances. These all come though they're divided up under different headings they could all come under the one heading in our church covenant of Christian stewardship. Christian stewardship. It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. And we have a great stewardship that has been entrusted to us in the ministry and one another that God has given us.

A steward is one who has been granted the privilege of watching over or caring for something belonging to another. For instance, I have a little bit of money in a mutual fund. A few of you others of you may have money in something like that a four zero one ks or something that has a mutual fund in it. When I put my money in that mutual fund, I am entrusting the money that I have earned that God has provided me. I am entrusting the care of that money to whoever runs that what?

That mutual fund. They have become a steward of my money that I am entrusting them that hopefully under their stewardship that money will grow and not shrink. Okay? That is the purpose for which I have invested the money in the care of the steward. The church is Christ's body.

It's his body. He is the head. But we have been granted the joint privilege of being its stewards. This isn't my church. This isn't your church.

This is whose church. It's Christ's church. It's God's church. His body. His family.

That he has welcomed us into through salvation in his son. His family that he has brought together in this place to be a light and a testimony in a dark world for Jesus Christ. His family body that he has brought together here that we might minister to and encourage and assist one another in bringing glory to his name. It is his church but we have been entrusted to be stewards. This is a great and a wonderful responsibility.

But like any other responsibility it comes at a cost. As we looked in Acts chapter two, the establishment and care of the first church in Jerusalem came at great cost to those who belong to it. And they willingly rose to the occasion By God's grace and they took care of their congregation and they took care of their ministry. For the name of Jesus Christ. Wanna look at two different areas of stewardship this morning and we'll look at the third one in the service this evening.

The first, the first stewardship here we want to look at is by giving to provide for the temporal necessities and ministries of the church including helping those of its membership in need. We will call this stewardship of the local church. If you look again in verse 44, They that believe were together and had all things common sold their possessions and goods, parted them to all men as every man had need. Now, if you look and understand this in context, when it said, gave to every man as every man had need, It's not talking about every man in Jerusalem. Okay?

They're not trying to take care of every person impoverished in the city of Jerusalem. They can't do that. They have a government to help do that. They have Judaism that's trying to undertake that. They were collecting donations to help take care of one another.

To help take care of the needs of the church because the church had great spiritual needs which the apostles were taking care of and the preaching of the gospel and prayer and counseling from God's word. The church also had temporal needs and the people had temporal needs. People need to what? People need to eat. People need to be clothed.

People need shelter. All these were needs that they had and since these Christians had embraced Jesus, how do you think their fellow Jews were dealing with them? Who rejected Jesus? How how do you think their fellow Jews were treating them? They were treat not treating them well.

They had cut them off. From the help of the synagogue. Where the Jews gathered their family so to speak. And so all of that response, all of that need fell upon the shoulders of the what? Of the early church in Jerusalem.

And they all did what they could Some obviously could do much more than others to try to help meet the needs of their congregation. The Bible actually has a lot to say about money and giving. Primarily because the love of money is the root of what? All sorts of evil. First Timothy six ten.

If God does not have your pocketbook, then it is doubtful that God has your heart. You know, say, pastor, that's quite a jump. Well, let me mention some scriptures. Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through or steal.

For where your, what's the next word? Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also. If your treasure, if that which you value most highly is money, is fame, is power, is popularity, is the things of the world. If that is what you treasure most then where is your heart?

Your heart is in the things of the world. The things that are passing away. Jesus said, treasure that which is eternal. Treasure that which is not passing away. Make that the most important thing in your life.

For where your treasure is is going to tell you where your heart is. Matthew 16 verse 24. Same Matthew six verse 24. Same chapter. Jesus said, no man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon. Now, what's mammon? Money You must choose which to serve Now, you have to have money to provide for your needs It is a necessity but is it what you live for? Is it what you serve? Is it your purpose in life?

The amassing of money. For many of the Jews in Jesus's day, it was. And Jesus said, you have to choose. Are you going to serve the idol? Money?

Are you going to choose to serve God Remember there was this this this young man that came to Jesus and he said, Lord Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? There's something I'm missing. I don't know what it is. Please fill me in. Jesus said, well, have you kept all the commandments?

Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. I've kept the commandments. Well, obviously, he didn't quite understand because he hadn't kept all the commandments but he thought he had and Jesus said, okay, well, here you go. Go sell everything you have and give the proceeds to the poor and come follow me.

And the Bible says, the man walked away what? Sad and despondent because he had great goods. Now, is Jesus teaching that the way to salvation is to sell everything you have and give it to the poor or give it to the church or or give it to a missionary? No. It's not what the Bible's teaching.

Not at all. What Jesus is teaching is this, this man had broken the first commandment. Thou shalt have no other what? Gods before me. There was a god before the true and living God.

An idol. That idol was money. And he was not willing. To let go. To embrace that which was of greater value.

Jesus Christ. For some people, it's money. For some people, it's pleasure. For some people, it's pride for some people. It's fame.

That keeps them from Jesus The thing that they are not willing to let go of To embrace Jesus Christ. For the rich, young ruler, it was his money. For any endeavor, business, or ministry to function in this world, it unfortunately requires money. It did then. Guess what?

It does now. In the Old Testament, a tithe of money or crops was taken up like a tax for the ministry of the temple. That is the priests and Levites and the supplies that they required. This was a matter of law. It was required.

It was taken up as a matter of law. Today we're not under the law of Moses. We're not under law but we're under grace. A law written in our hearts. We do not live under the laws of a theocracy.

We live in a democracy so to speak and so the tithe, the tenth is no longer required as a matter of law. Though unfortunately, your taxes are. But the tithe is no matter, no longer a matter of law. However, that by no means exempts us from providing for the spiritual and temperate needs of the church. The tithe was established as an appropriate means of giving long before the law of Moses.

Did you know that? The tithe was established as an appropriate means of giving before the law of Moses. Genesis chapter 14, Abraham took a bunch of men, went to battle, won a great battle. In doing so he gained a great amount of spoils it calls it, a great amount of money and goods. He brought back with him from the battle.

On the way back from the battle he met Melchizedek, the king and priest of Salem and he took a tenth of all the spoils that he had gained and he gave it to Melchizedek, God's priest there. He gave a tenth. That was before the law. Not only do we have the example of Abraham, we have the example of Jacob in Genesis twenty eight twenty two and this stone, Jacob writes, which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give thee what? A tenth unto thee.

Now is it required in the New Testament that we give a tithe? Is it required? Is it a matter of law? The answer is no. It isn't.

Can't find it. Not gonna find it in the New Testament that we're required as a matter of law to give a tenth. Does that mean that we shouldn't give it? Because we're not required to. Now you know the answer to that.

Though Jesus did not specifically speak about the tithe, he did other areas of the law and when he did he did not compel his disciples to shun it or to live by its letter but according to its spirit which as a matter of conscience demands usually more rather than what? Help me out. Less. As a matter of conscience demands more. And not less.

I don't believe we're commanded to keep the Sabbath, the Saturday Sabbath as the Jews were in their day. They gave one day to God. How many days should you give to God? Seven. Because they all belong to who?

They all belong to him. We're not to give God just a tenth. In reality, we're to give God how much? Everything. Now, I didn't say the church, okay?

And I didn't say your neighbor or the missionary. But really, everything we have. Belongs to God and should be used as God would have us to use it. Our money, our time, our talents. Not as a matter of law but as a matter of grace.

So, the early Christians as we saw in Acts two carried on that spirit in their giving. They gave as needed to fulfill the needs of the ministry even to the extent of some selling land and others commodities to reach that goal. Not by law but grace. Not of compulsion but of a willing heart. They gave cheerfully because they loved one another and the Lord.

Their giving demonstrated their heart. It demonstrated where their heart was. And their heart was with the Lord and with one another and it cost them. Second Corinthians nine seven. Notice there, it says, every man according as he purposeth in his heart so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, as he is led in his heart by God, so let him give. Not as you are led in your heart by me. No. Not as you are led in your heart by your friend or what somebody else is doing. But as God leads, give.

Not grudgingly, oh yeah I'll give it but oh I don't want to. Or of necessity, well it's my duty for God loveth a cheerful giver. Where your treasure is, there will your what? Your heart be also. This stewardship made demands not only on their wallets but also upon their time and their effort.

Stewardship of the church does not end with your wallet. It took time. It took effort on the part of the early church Christians to do the work of the ministry. It took time for them to disperse the goods to the people in the church that had need. It took time for them to minister to one another in spiritual things.

It took time and it took energy as they went from house to house to pray and to worship with one another. The stewardship of the church just it doesn't just end with your wallet. That is just a small part of the stewardship of this ministry and congregation that God has given to us. Secondly, this morning, we must give in both time and money for the spread of the what? Specifically for the spread of the gospel and the salvation of lost souls which both bring God glory.

We have the stewardship of the church and that's really each other. We also have the stewardship of the gospel. Not only have we been entrusted to one another, the gospel has been entrusted also to us. Jesus went back to heaven and Jesus said, you shall be my what? My witnesses.

Jerusalem, Judea, and all and all Judea and Samaritan unto the uttermost part of the earth. God entrusted them and consequently who? Us. With the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will spend some more time in this during our missions conference.

I put it in the bulletin this morning, April sixth and seventh. So, I'm not going to spend a great deal of time explaining it this morning. But just to say a few comments before we close. Starting with the great commission Matthew two thousand eight hundred nineteen and twenty. Go you.

Therefore, who who is Christ talking to? He's talking to the disciples. He's talking to the church. He says, go you therefore and teach or make disciples, make converts from all nations, Christians. Then, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost and then teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

This is the great, we call the great commission given to the church. To preach the gospel, to evangelize the lost, to reach out to a lost and dying world with the gospel of Jesus Christ that God has entrusted to us and then to see them become members of the church and be baptized in obedience to Christ and then teach and disciple and assist them in growing in their Christian lives so they can turn around and not only bring glory to God but also reproduce themselves in bringing others to Christ so that the body of Christ, the church, and the family of God grows. This is God's commission to us. We must practice personal evangelism. This is stated in our covenant under the heading seeking the lost.

To seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances. That is not just the responsibility of the what? Pastor. That is not just the responsibility of the missionary. That is the responsibility of every child of God and of every member of the church to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances.

Am I the pastor going to meet all of your kindred? Your relatives. The answer, no. I'll I'll not gonna have the opportunity to minister to hardly any of your kindred but you will. Am I going to meet everybody you work with?

Every neighbor that you have? Is is that likely to happen? No. But you have that opportunity It is not just my responsibility and it is my responsibility but it is also yours To personally evangelize by handing out tracks, by talking to people about Jesus Christ, by inviting them like on friend day to church and any Sunday. Hey, late.

You don't have to wait for friend day to bring a friend who needs Jesus. We must practice personal evangelism. We must not forget to be on the lookout for opportunities to share the gospel. I had an opportunity last night. I didn't have as good of opportunity as I would like to have had but I did have the opportunity to plant a seed.

You see, a young fellow came to my door. He was selling solar panels and he wanted to sell us solar panels for our roof. And we decided hey we'll check it out and at least hear him out. So we invited him in and he sat at our table for nearly an hour. And he explained all the benefits of solar energy and solar panels.

As it turns out his numbers and our numbers didn't match up quite right. And so we didn't buy solar panels at least not yet. But what I did have an opportunity to do was while we were sitting there waiting for something to come back over his iPad to try to talk to him a little bit about the Lord and a little bit about what it means to be a Christian. Unfortunately, he wasn't real open to the opportunity but I had a captive audience. If he wanted to sell me he had to wait for that information to come back so he was kind of stuck.

And so I did get to talk to him a little bit and try to explain that his way of getting to heaven which was being good to his neighbor was not the way you get to heaven. It is the way Christians are supposed to act but you don't become a Christian by doing good to your neighbor. You become a Christian through having a relationship with God through faith in Christ. I had an opportunity. Have you had an opportunity this week?

Have to be a preacher to have opportunities, do you? And what I explained to him, any Christian could have explained. I didn't have time to take him through the Romans Road unfortunately and he didn't seem all that interested but I did have the opportunity to plant a seed and who knows where the Holy Spirit might take it from there. Look for opportunities to be an evangelist and to share the gospel. This often starts with building relationships, bridges to the heart of a lost person who needs Christ.

It takes time. Don't give up. Be patient with your neighbor. Be patient with your coworker. Sometimes, it takes years.

And also start with handing out a track. Please take the rest of em. We'll add some more to the table back there. However, we are commanded not only to go to Jerusalem or our neighbors but also to go to the whole world with the gospel message. We can either do that by leaving our homeland and going yourself or by giving to help somebody else go.

And supporting them with your prayers. You must choose or you need to choose one of these options or mix the two together. If you're going to if we're going to fulfill this command up here as a church. People around the world need Jesus We support 11 missionaries as a church that are taking the gospel to them. They are extensions of our congregation.

They are part of our church and they are out taking the gospel to Mexico and they're taking it to Peru and they're taking it to China and they're taking it all different places around the world that we can't go but we can support them with our prayers and we can support them with a piece of our finances that God has blessed us with so they can go. And fulfill God's great command and as such, we are part of that and are fulfilling this part of the ministry that God has called us to but it does come at a what? It does come at a cost because these missionaries need support in order to go. Though some of the early missionaries such as Paul never requested money, they often received it, Could not even begin to fulfill their calling apart from the hospitality of others. It wasn't so much necessarily the money that people sent them.

It was the night stay they gave them in their house overnight during their journey and the supper that they fed them that enabled them to continue the ministry God had called them to. We believe the best way to fulfill this part of God's plan is through the local church as seen in scripture in Paul's case. He was sent by a local church in Antioch. He reported back to that local church at the end of each one of his journeys. He received gifts from local churches like the church at Philippi and he collected free will offerings from local churches to support the struggling church in Jerusalem.

And so we have what we call faith promise missions. We don't require our members to give to anything. You can come here for fifty years and not give a dime. And you know something? I will probably never know that you didn't give a dime.

I don't have those records. My desire is to minister to you. It doesn't matter whether you give a dime or you give thousands of dimes. You're going to get the same care from this pastor. It isn't required that you give.

Not of me. But as God leads and his people need. As God has blessed us, let us give. Give of our money, give of our time, give of our talents, give of our energy, to help make this ministry for Jesus Christ, his body. More successful in fulfilling the responsibilities that God has given us.

To the praise and to the glory of Jesus Christ who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light and have made us part of his body in Christ Jesus. In conclusion this morning, I I would like to ask this question, are you part of his body? Now, not specifically, are you part of this body? Though if you've been coming here and you want to serve the Lord here, we would love for you to to join our congregation to covenant together with us to fulfill the ministry God has called us to and and if you want to do that, please come see me. But my concern mainly this morning is this, are you part of God's family?

Because I'm not asking you to go out and win other people to Christ If you don't belong to him. I'm not asking you this morning to give of your time and your money and your talents and servants to Christ. If you've not accepted his gift of everlasting life. What I'm asking you this morning, what I'm pleading with you as is one of my responsibilities and the great desire of my heart is for you to come at the invitation this morning. I'll meet you down here and I'll show you from God's word how you can be saved and have eternal life and be forgiven of all your sins.

For that is my greatest desire and God's awesome. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord. For Jesus Christ, our savior, thank you for the privilege of being part of your church and your ministry here at this place. We pray Lord that as we leave this place, we would carry these thoughts with us that your spirit would remind us of them so that we might be better stewards of the church and of the gospel and Lord, I pray if there be one here that's never trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior that as we give this hymn of invitation this morning, they would come.