Material/Financial Stewardship

Introduction: The Importance of Material Stewardship in Child Training

0:01 How not to foul up the training of your children. This is cassette number 37 in a series given by Pastor Albert N. Martin in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church on December 15, 1991. Now as I indicated last Lord's Day, it is my intention to conclude this present series of studies on the training of our children by the end of this calendar year.

0:30 And in these concluding lessons, I'm seeking to highlight aspects of the training of our children which are very vital, but which were not addressed in the previous lessons, the bulk of which were drawn from the book of Proverbs. Last Lord's Day, we took up two of these miscellaneous concerns. The headings that I gave you were as follows. Number one, do not deprive your children.

1:00 Of the manifold benefits of scripture, memorization, and catechetical instruction. And one thing I failed to note in recommending the newly published shorter catechism, a Baptist version by Simpson Publications, is that it has a very helpful, not only outline drawn up by Pastor Nichols, but an introduction by Pastor Waldron with some very practical suggestions born out of his own...

1:30 experience as a father of five children and also as a pastor, suggestions that I think you will find helpful in using both the children's catechism and the shorter catechism. So I exhorted you, do not deprive your children of the manifold benefits of scripture, memorization, and catechetical instruction. And secondly, do not fail to impart to your children a biblical view, of their bodily health. And I urge you, especially if you are a parent or one who anticipates being a parent someday, if you were not here for those exhortations, please obtain them, listen to them. I believe they touch very vital issues. Now today, we'll take up the third of what will be five of these miscellaneous areas of concern. And I'm stating it this way.

2:28 Do not fail to... impart to your children a biblical view of the stewardship of material things.

Defining 'Material Things' and 'Biblical Stewardship'

2:39 Do not fail to impart to your children a biblical view of the stewardship of material things. First of all, let me explain what I mean by the key words in this exhortation. The key words are obviously material things. And secondly, a...

2:59 biblical view of the stewardship of material things. Now when I use the word material things, I am using those words to identify anything which we or our children rightfully possess or legitimately use that is material in nature. Anything that we rightfully possess, this is my Bible, it is material in nature, it has bonded leather, cloth and pages and print, duly purchased, it is my possession, it is a material thing. This suit is my possession, a material thing, the jacket of which I am now conveniently shedding as part of the illustration. So anything that I rightfully possess or legitimately use, I am presently using this pulpit. It is not my personal possession. I am using this microphone.

4:02 I am using, it is not my personal possession. So when I speak of material things, I referring to anything that we rightfully possess or legitimately use, where I did go down and snatch the jacket from one of the brethren or from Mr. Davies and put it on without his consent, I might be using it, but not legitimately. were I to keep it, that would be called thievery. So when I speak of material things, this is what I'm talking about. Money, clothes, car, toys, furniture for you right now, the pew on which you sit, the hymn book which you just closed and placed in the hymn rack in front of you or those in the front row beneath you, these are material things. The bathrooms that you will use, most of you, 50 minutes from now, with its various appurtenances and with its paper towels and with its sinks and water, these are things that you will legitimately use as well as the clothing on your back, the car out in the parking lot, which are

5:16 things that you rightfully possess or jointly possess with a bank here or in some other place. So I hope you understand. I hope you understand what I mean by material things. I don't know how to make the definition more simple, more comprehensive, more practical. Now, when I say a biblical view of the stewardship of material things and exhort you, do not fail to impart to your children a biblical view of the stewardship of material things. What am I talking about? Well, according to my present light and my present life, I'm talking about the stewardship of material things, not the right thing. And I believe I am in good company in asserting these things.

Pillar 1: God's Ultimate Ownership of All Material Things

6:00 A biblical view is comprised of several major components of divine revelation. To be more specific, it is comprised of four basic components. Any view of material things, which I rightfully possess or legitimately use, which does not

6:24 build on these main components, is only a parable. It is only a parable for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of the Father, and for the sake of the Holy Spirit, and for These four pillars to change the imagery which does not rest down on these four foundation blocks is at best sub-biblical, it may even be anti-biblical. Let me give them to you quickly. Number one, all material things are ultimately and really the property of God himself.

6:51 All material things are ultimately and really the property of God himself. And I will just give several pivotal texts under each of these headings. Psalm 24, verses 1 and 2. The earth is Jehovah's, and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein.

7:18 For he hath founded the... Upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.

7:25 The earth is the Lord's, and all that fills it up, including my jacket, this pulpit, your car, all things which constitute the fullness of the earth as it exists, in all of its natural resources, in all of its manufactured commodities that are the product of those natural resources, The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, for he is its creator, and there is no thing that is not a created thing. There is nothing which simply became a thing by itself. It became a thing because God created it, or the materials out of which that thing has been manufactured or constructed, as man has fulfilled the... ...stewardship of subduing the earth and exercising dominion.

8:27 Another text in 1 Corinthians 10, 26, or I should say a quotation of Psalm 24, to show that I'm not stretching the meaning of it, for there may be someone sitting there and saying, Well, Pastor, isn't that pressing that text a little bit too much? No, because the Holy Ghost has used this text in the most interesting context in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 10, and verse...

8:51 verse 26, in the midst of Paul's treatment of the subject of whether or not believers have liberty to eat meat that was offered to an idol in an idol's temple without himself partaking in idol worship, a question of Christian liberty and expediency, he says in verse 23, all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no man seek his own good, but each his neighbor's good. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that is, whatever is sold in the bargain meat shack outside the idol temple, meat that had been offered to an idol, meat that had been taken from an animal that a few days before had grazed upon a hillside that was being fattened up in someone's pen, he says, whatever is sold in the shambles, eat. Asking no question for conscience sake for, and he quotes from Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. That hunk of meat that came to the shambles by way of being offered upon an idol's altar, having previously grazed on a hillside or been fattened up in someone's pen, that is the Lord's possession. Therefore, buy it and eat it with thanks to God because it's his anyway.

10:20 See the connection. Strange way Paul uses the text, but in so doing shows that what I've pressed into Psalm 24 is not unwarranted, but is based upon apostolic precedent. We could turn to Psalm 50, another pivotal text, Psalm 50. And here the psalmist declares in remonstrating with sinning Israelites who think that if they go on up to the temple and kill an animal and offer it to God, then everything will be all right. And God is telling them, look, I want something more than mere ritual service. Verse nine, I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he goats out of your folds for every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild beast of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee for the world is mine.

11:24 And the fullness thereof. Now, if that does not convince you that the meaning I've assigned to Psalm 24 is valid, the witness from the New Testament, the witness from this Psalm itself, then I don't know how to persuade you with the word of God. And there's a beautiful example of David's recognition of this. We won't take time to turn to it when after all the materials have been gathered to be stored up for the construction of the temple under the days of Solomon.

11:54 And David dedicates them all to God. In the prayer recorded in first Chronicles 29, 14, David says, we have, but given to thee that which is buying He

Pillar 2: God Entrusts Material Things for Our Use and Care

12:24 you that which is your own. In other words, God's stamp of ownership was upon every material thing that was given back to God. So a biblical view of the stewardship of material things must start with our being convinced and then seeking to impart to our children this perspective and hopefully by the Holy Spirit it will become a personal conviction that all material things are ultimately and really the property of God himself. But then secondly, a biblical view of the stewardship of material things will involve putting this next block in place. God entrusts some of these material things for us to use, administer, and to care for. Care for them. God entrusts some of these material things to us to use, to administer, and to care for them. In 1st Timothy 3, 4, 3b, and 4, where the things spoken of here are different kinds of meats and drinks, and you have people who are teaching a doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is, the doctrine of pagan asceticism, that is,

13:49 The way to a holy life was to deny the pleasures of the marital bed, and therefore of marriage itself, and also to live a, if not a strict vegetarian diet, a very limited diet, and this would make you more holy. Paul says, no, no, no, no, that's not true, and here is the reason why. We have 1 Timothy 3b. These are things which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth.

14:24 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer. When God sovereignly places some of his things in our hands to use, for our enjoyment, for our nourishment, they are to be recognized for what they are. God's created things entrusted to us for our use. 1 Timothy 6.17.

15:01 He's writing to Timothy, giving him directions how to exhort those who have more than the things necessary for what we would call a subsistence existence. Having food. In raiment, God says, let us bear with, be content. If in the area of contentment with what we have, God so blesses our labor, or blesses others, and they are disposed to bestow the fruit of their blessing upon us, so that we have more than a mere subsistence existence, and accumulate enough to be called wealthy, what are we to do?

15:40 Verse 17 of 1 Timothy 6. Charge them that are rich. In this present world, that they be not high-minded, because it's God who's entrusted these things to them, nor have their hopes set on the uncertainty of riches, for the scripture says riches can take wings and fly away, but on God who, notice, giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Set your hope on the God who has given these things, and given them, not that you should make a god of them, or make a god of yourself, because you have them.

16:18 But he doesn't say that you should not enjoy them. No, he has given us all things to enjoy. And this is what he says the richer to do, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on the life which is life indeed. Hear the rich are encouraged.

16:46 They are encouraged to enjoy the fruit of their riches, not in an idolatrous way, not in a prideful way, and not in a selfish way, but they are to use these things not only to meet the needs of others, ready to distribute, but also to secure the validity of their own profession. For if a man sees his brother have need, and shuts up the bowels of his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Paul says, In this way the rich lay hold of the life which is life indeed. A wealthy man with a narrow heart is a pattern of life, is an unconverted man, according to this passage.

17:26 He'll go to hell, because he shows he has an idolatrous attachment to his things, that they may lay hold of the life which is life indeed. It's part of the fruit of true repentance in a wealthy man. Not that he distributed all his wealth and get rid of it and have a mere subsistence existence. No, that's not taught in the Bible.

17:50 And all of the cults and the rest that try to do that show themselves to be patently unbiblical. But a person who has a biblical view of the stewardship of material things will recognize this is entrusted to me. And that's where the concept of stewardship comes in. And I want you to turn to two passages in the Gospels to see the concept of stewardship under this second heading of a biblical view of the stewardship, stewardship of material things.

18:20 All material things are ultimately and really the property of God. Number two, God entrusts some of these material things for us to use, administer, and care for them. Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25 and verse 14.

18:38 Matthew 25 and verse 14. For it is as when a man going into another country called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And then we have the account of how he gave to one five talents, to another two, to another one, each according to his several ability, and he went on his journey. But the point I want you to see is that he gave them his own goods.

19:08 Whatever they had and whatever the talents mean, they were not matters that inherently and ultimately belonged to the stewards. They belonged ultimately to the master. In this passage to the Lord himself. A similar concept is seen in Luke 16 verses 1 and 2.

19:30 Luke 16 verses 1 and 2. And he said also unto the disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he was wasting his goods. You see, the steward had the rich man's goods. And he called him, that is the wealthy man, and said unto him, What is this that I hear of thee?

19:55 Render thee account of thy stewardship, for thou canst be no longer steward. The steward owned the goods. He merely entrusted them. I'm sorry, the rich man owned the goods.

20:10 The steward was merely entrusted with those goods to use them according to the will of the master. Now, in seeking to impart to our children a biblical view of the stewardship of material things, we must not only start with that fundamental building block that ultimately all material things are the property of God himself, but secondly that God entrusts some of these material things for us to use, to administer, and to care for them. And this is just a cursory overview. We could start right in Genesis with the original creation.

20:52 The world is created by God. It belongs to him. But now he entrusted to Adam and Eve and says, Subdue the earth. And you are to work out as stewards your responsibilities in this world.

Pillar 3: Accountability for Our Stewardship

21:07 Third building block. God will call us to give an account of how we managed our stewardship of his things. God will call us to give an account of how we managed our stewardship of his things. We go back now to these two passages to which we made reference.

21:29 We established the concept of stewardship at the beginning, but notice in each of them there is a day of reckoning between the rightful owner and the steward to whom these things were entrusted. Matthew 25, 19. Now after a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and maketh a reckoning with them. The Lord of these servants comes and makes a reckoning.

22:03 And then you know the account of that reckoning. Likewise in Luke chapter 16 and verse 2. It was the rich man who called his steward and said, What is this that I hear of you? Render an account of your stewardship.

22:20 And in imparting to our children a biblical concept of the stewardship of material things, we must underscore that without any choice of their own and without seeking their consent, God will call them along with us to give an account of how we managed our stewardship of his things. And then the fourth building block. And this is so crucial in the training of our children as well as the educating of our own consciences. God reckons our treatment of material things as an index of our true relationship to the valuable non-material things. God reckons our treatment of material things as an index of our true relationship to the more valuable non-material things. You say, where do you find that? Luke chapter 16 verses 10 to 12.

Pillar 4: Material Stewardship as an Index of Spiritual Relationship

23:30 He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. And he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much. There's a general moral and ethical principle. Your character is revealed in the little things.

23:54 A man who works in a bank may refuse to embezzle $10,000 for many, many motives. To save face, to keep out of jail, to save disgracing his family. But if he finds a dollar bill on the floor after everyone's gone and he's honest with that dollar bill, he shows his true character. There there's no one but the eye of God upon him.

24:22 And there's a loose piece of cash. Now his true character is known. No one's seeing him. No one's there.

24:30 He's all alone. He that is unrighteous in the little, he would be unrighteous with $10,000 if he could do it and get away with it. And it's what he does with the loose dollar bill that shows what he would do with the $10,000 if these other motives were not there to hedge him up. That's the principle that Jesus is articulating.

24:51 He that is faithful in a very little is faithful in much. He that is unrighteous in little is unrighteous in much. If therefore...

25:00 Now he's going to make a specific application of it. If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon...

25:08 And in the context, what is the unrighteous mammon? It's money and things. Who will commit to your trust the true riches which are heavenly, eternal, spiritual things? And if you've not been faithful in that which is another's, that is the things that belong to God, that he gives and loans to us to use, to care for, who will give you that which is your own?

25:40 That is the gift of eternal life that will be yours forever and ever. Folks, this text ought to shake some of you right down to your shoe tops. Because if it teaches anything, it teaches that God reckons our treatment of material things as an index of our true relationship to the more valuable non-material things. I could quote a number of commentators to show that this is not a bizarre conclusion, that I've drawn from the text.

26:17 Suffice it to quote from only one well-known, often quoted among us here, William Hendrickson. Commenting on this passage, he writes, The parallelism, the unrighteous mammon, equals someone else's property. The true riches equals your own. The meaning then is this.

26:36 If you've not been trustworthy in the use of material wealth, which after all is not really yours, but belongs to God, who will entrust to you the true heavenly riches of your own possession, the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world? What is stressed here, therefore, is that what we fondly call our money, our house, our bonds, our stocks, our bank certificates, our cars, our clothes, our dresser drawers, our rugs, our furniture, etc., etc., is not really our own.

27:16 It is a trust handed to us to use in such a manner that God can be pleased. Nabal, you remember that churlish man in the Old Testament who said, Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my sharers and give it to this renegade character called David and his men? 1 Samuel 25, 11. He forgot this.

27:43 So did the rich fool recorded in Luke 12. So thou hast much goods laid up for many years. My goods, I'll do with them what I choose. God called him a fool.

27:56 To be sure, he wisely had an eye for the future, so far so good, but only for his earthly future. The believer's rule is expressed beautifully by Paul in these words, We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is not seen, for what is seen is temporary, and what is not seen is everlasting. And God says how you treat the temporary as an index of where you really are with the eternal. You see that?

28:24 I'm not hearing a lot of amens, but do you see that in the passage? I'm not saying, do you like to see it there? Do you wish it were not there, but do you see it's there? He that is faithful in little, in the context the little, his material things is truly faithful in the non-material, in the spiritual.

28:50 He that is unrighteous in the material will prove himself to be an unrighteous man in the things that really count. Now, my exhortation is do not fail to impart to your children this biblical view of the stewardship of material things. Now, I'm not saying that unless you have sat down and laid out those four things and you do it once a week, I'm not saying that, but I have to teach somehow and I've got to give you one, two, three, four. And in my understanding of the word of God and according to my temperament in teaching it, I find it helpful to think in terms of those four foundational building blocks.

How to Impart a Biblical View: Parental Example

29:31 And however you come at them, do not fail to impart to your children this biblical view of material things as a stewardship from God. Now, the next great question is having answered the question, what is the biblical view? How, by what means, should we seek to impart this biblical view of the stewardship of material things? Well, my answer falls into two very simple categories and they follow the lines of Ephesians 6 and verse 4.

30:12 First of all, by a consistent pattern of parental example, in relationship to the stewardship of your things. By a consistent, I didn't say perfect, but by a consistent pattern of parental example in relationship to the stewardship of your material things. Matthew 10.25 is the divine statement of pedagogy.

30:42 It is enough that the pupil be as his teacher, the servant as his master. Not merely think as the teacher, but be as the teacher. That's why Paul could say in Philippians 4.9, the things you have both seen and heard and learned of me do, and the God of peace shall be with you.

31:07 Titus 2.7, in all things showing thyself a cupos, a type, a pattern of good works. That's the mandate of God. You've heard it said so often, what you do, speak so loud, I can't hear a word that you say.

31:27 And likewise with our children, if we are to impart a biblical view of the stewardship of material things, we must begin long before we can begin to conceptualize in words these things. Our own example will be making an impression upon our children. And what do I mean specifically? That your children go up in a home where it's unmistakably clear that God gets His portion first.

32:01 In fat times and lean times. Periods of great economic prosperity and in periods of economic pinch, not rob God of His time. In this household, God gets His portion off the top. He's already laid claim to it.

32:22 It's non-negotiable. If your kids aren't brought up in a home like that, how can you teach them and make it stick that everything is God's when there is a portion of that which He's entrusted to you from which He claims a specific amount regularly. That's why in Malachi, the refusal to give the tithe is called robbing God. Because you're taking that over which God has placed His claim.

32:50 Will a man rob God? They say, where in have we robbed God? We never were carried up in a chariot to heaven and cut off a chunk of gold from the throne of God. We never stole from God.

33:01 And then He tells them, you've robbed Him and withholding your tithes from Him. When you go to spend at the market, you mothers, your children do not see you indulging in impulse spending and certainly not blackmail spending. Okay, dear. What you're telling them is if they squeal loud enough and embarrass you enough, they can get what they want of certain things.

33:33 That's a manipulative wife in the making. That's right. Or the father who takes his son and his weaknesses, gadgets for his car. And there's nothing budgeted for gadgets this month.

33:50 And he happens to drift into the automotive section at Kmart. And he sees a little thing here and the son looks up and says, Daddy, do you need that? He said, well, I don't know. I said, all right.

33:59 But he sees him take it anyway. He's raising a son who'll be an irresponsive spendthrift when he becomes a man. Your example. Oh, you say, Pastor, you're ridiculous.

34:12 No, I'm not ridiculous. What you do will speak so loud they won't hear a word of what you say. No impulse spending. No blackmail spending.

34:26 The way you treat your car. Do you give it oil changes regularly? And if possible, you buy the oil at a sale price and do it yourself? Not only to be a good steward of the care of your car, but the use of your money and also training your son and maybe your daughter as well, that they can be good stewards in this way.

34:50 What about waxing it a couple of times a year so that it maintains more of its value when you turn it in? That's a stewardship. That car is not yours. The Lord's.

35:03 And he's loaned it to you. Do you keep it as though at any time he could come and you would be his chauffeur to drive him somewhere? Would you want to say, Lord, here's your car. Look at it.

35:16 Through sheer laziness and neglect, the finish is dull. The interior is a mess. It smells of baby puke and the floors are all covered with mud. But Lord, I just forgot to take care of your property.

35:33 If you knew the Lord Jesus when you step out of heaven once every three months for a drive in your car and you really knew it belonged to him, would it make any difference how you kept it? You say, Pastor, you're being ridiculous. No, I'm not being ridiculous. It is his.

35:47 It's only loaned to you. Well, you say you can make a God of your car. Yes, you can. Yes, you can.

35:54 You can polish it once a week because it's your God and you're going to spend time spending energy. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the kind of care that will keep it in reasonable, optimum value and appearance. What about your furniture?

36:13 Kids see you come in, shoes on, put your feet up on the couch. What you're saying is this thing doesn't matter. Are you careful to treat your furniture in such a way your kids are getting a message that this is a stewardship? The furniture is made to sit on, not to be a gymnasium, not to be a snack bar.

36:35 Your rugs, do you come in without wiping your feet clean? Traips over the rugs with muddy feet? What you're saying is just a rug, we can get rid of it when we want to. Ah yeah, but you see the difference between caring for that rug and not caring for that rug may mean instead of replacing it in 10 to 15 years you might have to replace it in five and what you pay for those new rugs could be the difference between having enough money to put a kid in Christian school and not.

37:01 And I wonder the economic pinch that some of you feel. I wonder how much of it is the accumulated pinch of poor stewardship. Of poor stewardship in the little things. What about your clothes?

37:13 Do you regard them as a loan from God and treat them accordingly? You men who sweat like I do, do you air them out so that the lining doesn't rot and you get optimum use out of them? Do you have them pressed and alternate their use so you get longer use out of them? You say, Buster, you're serious.

37:35 You bet I'm serious. I don't believe that, Jack. It's mine. It's my master's.

37:41 And he's looking for a way to sell it to me. And when it gets time to fold it up and throw it away, I want to be able to say, Lord, as a steward, I do it with conscience. When the collars of my shirts get so frayed or so picked that they're no longer presentable and I've got to retire them, there's a bit of sadness. Not only that, I've got to spend money for a shirt.

38:03 And I'm losing a long-time friend that spent a lot of time with me on my back and around my neck. But it's the realization, again, it's a stewardship. A stewardship. Your property.

38:18 The property of others when borrowed. Are you setting the example that if you borrow someone's van to use it, you bring it back cleaner and more full of gas than it was when you borrowed it? Or do you take it back full of the remnants of your moving job and with the needle halfway down from where it was when you got it? What a terrible message you're sending to your children.

38:44 And don't you think that they won't catch it? All of your actions, all of mine, should reflect our keen sense of the stewardship of money and things. That we are careful in the preservation of the things entrusted to us. And yet, at the same time, we are benevolent and sharing and given to hospitality.

39:09 No, our furniture is not to sit there like showroom stuff for decades, unused. We welcome people in to sit upon our furniture, but we don't welcome one man to put his feet up with his shoes on a pillow and we'll rebuke him if he doesn't have the sense not to do it. And we don't welcome anybody's kids to come in our home and jump on our furniture. That's not because we've got expensive furniture.

39:37 It's J.C. Penney's bargain furniture. We don't treat it any different than when we first furnished our home with $25 for our living room set from, it was like a Salvation Army type outlet in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, just over the railroad tracks in the poor part of town.

39:55 And we blessed God when we bought, we were able to get a hold over stuff out of date, you know, one of those things, some of you see it in pictures, you can't remember, but were popular back in the, in the 40s, overstuffed in ugly colors. But for $25, we got two chairs and a couch and we blessed God for that bargain and then we got a bargain set of slipcovers. And our kids would no more dare to get up and stand on that furniture than they would in some wealthy man's house in Upper Manclair. It wasn't the worth of the thing, it was the concept of stewardship.

40:34 That's the issue! That's the issue! And if you are not faithful in the stewardship of that thread bare, second, third hand piece of furniture, why should God entrust you with anything else? And I thank God for that.

40:49 I thank God for that. God, I was brought up what would now be considered, not just borderline poor. They'd have been clamoring for my father to get on the food stamps program but he had too much sense of dignity and we never felt poor. We went around with patched clothes and thread bare rugs but I tell you we were taught to treat those thread bare rugs with dignity.

41:14 And yes, the couches need to be reupholstered but we were taught to treat the thread bare couch of something that belonged to God and was merely loaned to us. Remember, I'm a child of the Depression and the Second World War and a large family. You didn't go asking for nickels. There were no nickels to ask for.

41:38 But how I blessed God through the example of my parents. Will your children rise up and call you blessed? Break the horrible cycle of the throwaway generation that you were a part of and stay by the grace of God by the grace of God? No!

How to Impart a Biblical View: Parental Nurture (Word and Deed)

41:57 My children will see an example a consistent parental example of a Biblical concept of the stewardship of material things. But then secondly not only must you impart this by a consistent pattern of parental example but by a consistent pattern of parental nurture by word and deed concerning material Pattern of parental nurture by word and deed. Ephesians 6, 4. Nurture them in chastening, deed, and admonition, word.

42:36 Now let me break it down into those two basic categories of money and things in the remaining 10 to 11 minutes that we have. With regard to money, teach them such texts as Proverbs 3, 9. We are told to honor the Lord with our substance and the first fruits of all of our increase. The way we teach our children in a concrete, non-theoretical way that all that they may have put into their hands as their possession or as that which they can legitimately use, that it all ultimately belongs to God, is that whatever is...

43:21 The increase they receive that is their possession, whether by a cash gift on a birthday, whether it is by money earned in little chores, whatever it is, however it comes, it says, honor the Lord with the first fruits of all thine increase. And when someone gives your child a $5 bill to the birthday, I had to get out of my thinking when a dollar was big stuff and even a quarter. And so I'll say...

43:52 When a $5 bill, first question you should ask your child is now, how are we going to get 50 cents out of that to put in our little tithe bank?

44:04 50 cents of that, God's already claimed for himself. You have $4.50 for yourself.

44:12 Proverbs 3, 9. Deuteronomy 8 and 8, verse 18, where God says, It is the Lord that gives you power to get wealth. As money is given and earned, God gets his...

44:25 Portion. Secondly, some should be saved with a view to some specific thing that the child may legitimately desire. And you must teach the child that legitimate desires are different from covetousness. He or she may be getting to the place where it's legitimate that they should desire to go out of a little tricycle into a two-wheel bike.

44:50 And rather than just go out and buy it for them, you want to teach them the worth and the way of obtaining things that are... Legitimate.

44:57 That you must be willing to exercise discipline over your nickels and dimes so that there'll be dollars to buy the things you desire. And so you teach them a pattern of saving. How you do this, I don't legislate. That's between you and your children and the Lord to work out the details.

45:17 But teach them this matter of saving. One of our men had a practice that whatever his kids earned in their paperwork...

45:26 Or by collecting papers and selling them back before we had a recycling process... They had to give a third to Dad.

45:34 Because they were living under the home. And as far as they knew, that was sort of a preview of the days when they would be independent and working and yet living at home when they'd pay room and board.

45:47 Now what they didn't know is Dad was taking every cent of that and putting it in a special savings account in their name. And when they came of age, they had all of that given back to them and they learned an idle lesson. The little bit that went in here and there along the way with interest. And this was what was bequeathed to them.

46:05 And their own came back with interest and return. Now that's just a suggestion. I'm not legislating but I'm saying be creative as a parent in seeking to teach a biblical concept of the stewardship of money by word. Get them to memorize the text which speaks of the responsibility of the Lord getting His...

46:28 portion of being prudent and of saving. And then with regard to things, don't allow the abuse of clothing and furniture. Teach your children very early, and I don't understand the parents in this congregation who seem to fail to grasp this. In your home or in anyone else's home, it's not that the knick-knack on the coffee table is an expensive item. It may be replaced for a dollar and a half, but the issue is it's someone else's property. And little sweetie junior or juniorette has no right to go and take and touch and play with property not his own. You've got to teach that. Part of the stewardship of things is recognizing the right of property in others.

47:20 It's woven right into the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not steal, and no one should have to run around and garner everything from three feet and downward. The Ten Commandments are the right to do that, and it's the right to do that in your own home. And I've heard that said to me by members in this church, and I'm thankful I don't think of any particular kids. I can honestly say if I would make an attempt, I probably could, but I'm deliberately making no effort to, and no one's name is before me. But I've had people here say, Pastor, I'd love to have such and such a family over. But I've seen them in other people's home. They just touch everything.

47:58 They take everything. And someone may have something to do with it. But I've heard that said to me by members in this church. It's something that on the market's only worth two dollars. But in terms of it being a precious expression of the memory of a loved one who's gone, it's invaluable. It's irreplaceable. You must instruct your children to be thoughtful and considerate, as you would that others do unto you. Matthew 7, 12. Even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets.

48:28 And this is why you must enforce the proper care. Because they shall get an offering of their things, that is, their clothing, is not junk to be thrown on the floor. It is a commodity loaned to them from the Lord, and they are to treat it as such. Therefore, when they're not wearing it, it's either to be folded and placed back in an appropriate draw, hung up in a closet, placed in a hamper. But when you allow them to throw it on the floor, you're cultivating a disposition to despise the things that God has given.

49:03 That's what you're doing. I can remember so vividly, and I've deliberately steered away from a lot of anecdotal things, but this is embedded in my mind. Being reared borderline poor, and having parents who wanted to teach us the principles of economic responsibility before God. I can remember I was somewhere probably 11 years, maybe 12 years old, and I need a new pair of shoes.

49:30 And my dad said, son, things are so tight, this would have been probably in the midst,

49:38 just after the end of the war. Born in 34. So it was probably just after the war, and things were still tight for a couple of years before everything got turned around in terms of war production. And Tomatan was the place where we'd buy my shoes there in Stanford, Connecticut.

49:54 And he said, son, you're going to have to earn half of the money for your next pair of shoes. Well, I earned it cutting grass and however, and I'll never forget when I went down, and half of my sweat went in that $8 that I paid for those Tomatan shoes. You want to know something? You know who had to shine his shoes on the block and in the school from there on in?

50:19 Albert Ed. My sweat and blood was in that leather. Every day I shined those shoes. You could see your face in them.

50:28 If I scuffed them, man, I worked on that scuff. Why? I had some of my blood in it. There was a sense of stewardship being, you know, you know, you know, you know, I could no more think of going out and playing football and just, quote, forget to take off my good shoes and put on my sneakers.

50:46 Man, that had some of my blood in it. But I see some of you parents allowing your kids with their Sunday shoes to scrape them along concrete and all the rest, and it doesn't even enter their heads. That's your fault. You have got to impart to them those shoes are not theirs.

51:02 They belong to God. He's loaned them to them that they might get, that they might get their optimum use out of them for the purpose for which he loaned them to them to be their dress shoes, not their play shoes. It's amazing how there's a great connection between the brain and the backside and the foot. A few spankings for shoes that get muddy and scuff for failing to remember that they were dress shoes and Sunday shoes and school shoes and not play shoes.

51:31 It's amazing how quickly they'll remember the distinction and do what is necessary. Likewise, with the kids toys teach them to treat them as a gift from God so that when they outgrow them, some other children might enjoy it and then not have them direct during the brief time they use inculcating your children treat these toys properly and your younger brothers and sisters will be able to enjoy them. And when they're done, perhaps some other children who are smaller in the church family, this is how you teach a spirit of generosity and thinking about. Someone else other than yourself.

52:12 It doesn't just happen to your people. It must be programmed in by consistent patterns of parental nurture by word and by deed.

Concluding Exhortation: The Stakes of Stewardship

52:25 In my concluding exhortation, I want to make an appeal to your parents to think of the issues at stake, your own personal accountability to God, the accountability of your children, the accountability and patterns of behavior, behavior, behavior of future wives and mothers, future providers, future church members. I did a little calculating here. If proper care of a couch can make it last 10 years, whereas careless use will wear it out in five.

53:00 That means there's a five year period there where that $500 that you spend for the new couch might have been working for something else. In the interest of God's kingdom.

53:17 And when you start figuring it out in terms of what it would do where it's saved or invested, the numbers begin to be staggering. When you think of the cumulative ability of this church in the future generation to give largely to the work of God, it won't be primarily because God probably saves a bunch of wealthy people because that's not his way of working. Not many mighty, not many. No one.

53:42 God have chosen the. Poor of this world to be rich in faith. And as long as this church reflects the patterns of God's ordinary electing purposes, the wealthy person will only be the exceptional. And my experience has been for the most part, most wealthy people aren't exceedingly generous.

53:59 That's been my experience for the most part. God's work gets done by the careful stewardship of us. Ordinary folks.

54:11 Now, if that's going to be true of the next generation, who is going to lay the foundation? For that you or it won't be done. That's why it's so critical. Therefore, I plead, I exhort, I admonish you do not fail to impart to your children a biblical view of the stewardship of material things.

Prayer of Confession and Supplication

54:34 May the Lord help us and may he give us grace in the strength of Christ to work out the implications of this exhortation in the days to come. Let us pray. Our Father, we confess to you that on many occasions we have been wicked and irresponsible, slothful and prodigal stewards. We have wasted that which is your own.

55:06 We have not carefully kept that which is your own. We have not properly preserved for the use of others that which is your own. And we thank you that our Lord, Jesus died to forgive us even of such sins. And we pray that as his blood cleanses us from such sins, so his spirit would fill us, enabling us personally to imbibe and work out more and more of biblical view of the stewardship of material things.

55:42 And then in the same strength of the spirit to impart that view to our children, by example and by precept. Oh, God, help us in a throwaway, materialistic, covetous, grasping generation. Will you not help us to be an island of careful stewardship, of large hearted, open handed benevolence? Gracious God, hear us and answer us.

56:15 For Jesus sake we plead. Amen. Amen. Amen.

56:25 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

56:29 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

56:33 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

56:37 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

56:41 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

56:45 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

56:49 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.