OWNERSHIP VERSUS STEWARDSHIP:
HOW DO YOU VIEW THE WORLD?
(Selected Passages in Haggai & Malachi)
- OWNERSHIP: When I focus on __________________, there’s never _________________. (Haggai 1:1-11)
- STEWARDSHIP: When I trust God _______________, He blesses me _______________. (Malachi 3:6-12)
“God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated, and unfed millions. The evidence that many professing Christians have been deceived by this doctrine is how little they give and how much they own. God has prospered them. And by an almost irresistible law of consumer culture (baptized by a doctrine of health, wealth, and prosperity) they have bought bigger (and more) houses, newer (and more) cars, fancier (and more) clothes, better (and more) meat, and all manner of trinkets and gadgets and containers and devices and equipment to make life more fun.”
(John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist)
“[T]ithing isn’t something I do to clear my conscience so I can do whatever I want with the 90 percent–it also belongs to God! I must seek his direction and permission for whatever I do with the full amount. I may discover that God has different ideas than I do.”
(Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity)
“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things;
I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
(Matthew 25:23)