Before going to Europe on business, a man drives his Rolls-Royce to a downtown New York City bank and asks for an immediate loan of $5,000. The loan officer, taken aback, requests collateral! “Well then, here are the keys to my Rolls-Royce,” the man says. The loan officer promptly has the car driven into the bank’s underground garage parking for safe keeping and gives the man the $5,000.
Two weeks later, the man walks through the bank’s doors and asks to settle up his loan and get his car back. “That will be $5,000 in principal, and $15.40 in interest,” the loan officer says. The man writes out a check and starts to walk away. “Wait, sir,” the loan officer says. “While you were gone I discovered that you are a millionaire. Why in the world would you need to borrow $5,000?” The man smiles, “Where could I find a safer place to park my Rolls-Royce in Manhattan for two weeks and pay only $15.40?
For the past few months we have been learning about good stewardship. Psalm 24:1—“For the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” taught us that everything we own belongs to God, and we are mere stewards of his resources. If it wasn’t for his gracious provision, we wouldn’t have anything! We have learned that God has entrusted us with time, talent, and treasure, and he expects us to use them for his glory.
Like the businessman who used his money wisely by getting two weeks of Manhattan parking for $15.60, God wants us to be good stewards of his money. But what does that look like? How can we be good stewards of God’s money? Well, as we have learned the past two Sundays, good stewardship begins with tithing. God expects us to faithfully give the first 10% of our income to him and then to use the other 90% wisely.
But, as we all know, some people really struggle with tithing. People have all sorts of reasons why they don’t tithe. Some people don’t tithe simply because they do not know that God wants them to tithe, although no one in this church can claim that anymore. Others refuse to tithe for theological reasons. They are quick to point out the fact that the New Testament never commands us to tithe, but their problem is that nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus abolish or change the principle of tithing from the Old Testament. The New Testament highlights the principle of generosity, but tithing is God’s baseline for generosity.
I could go on and on with the various reasons people give for not tithing, but let me get right to the point. I believe that the two most common reasons why people don’t tithe are fear and control. The two big questions are, “What if I don’t have enough?” and “What if I don’t like how it’s being used?” The former doesn’t think that they can afford to tithe and the latter doesn’t like the idea of someone else having control over their money. Usually those of on the lower end of the economic scale fall under the fear category and those on the upper end are part of the control category.
In either case it still comes down to a lack of faith in God’s wisdom and provision. Can we really trust that God knows what He’s doing and has our best interest at heart? Fear and control with finances reveal a lack of faith!
Well, today I would like to share story with you that speaks to the issues of fear and control and help us to increase our faith in the area of finances. One is from I Kings 17:7-16 in the Old Testament. It is a about widow whose faith is tested by finances. It seems really odd to use a widow to talk about money because in ancient times, the words “poor” and “widow” were virtually synonymous. Without a husband to provide for and protect them, widows were among the most vulnerable members of society. Yet Scripture holds this one up as shining example of what it means to trust God with everything. Let’s look at the story!
From Fear in Finances to Faith in Finances (I Kings 17:7-16)
The story takes place during the time when Israel was ruled by the kings. Every one of the kings who ruled the Northern Kingdom was wicked, but Ahab, who was currently ruling, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any other king before him. So, God sent his prophet Elijah to preach against Ahab’s idolatry and announce that God was going to judge him by bringing a drought upon the land for 3 years.
During this time, Elijah retreated to the Kerith Ravine, on the east side of the Jordan River, where God used ravens to fly in a supply of bread and meat every morning and evening, and he was able to drink water from a bubbling brook that trickled through the valley. When the brook finally stopped bubbling and Elijah could live there no longer, God told him to go to the town of Zarephat in the region of Sidon because he commanded a widow there to provide him with food.
So, Elijah obeyed the Lord and went. As he came to the town gate he saw a woman gathering sticks to make a fire. Parched and famished from the long journey, he cries out in desperation for a prisoner’s lunch—a little jar of water and a little piece of bread. The look on her face must have shown the desperation of her own situation. Her lips quivered and her voice stuttered with fear as she told him that not only did she not have any bread, but she only had enough flour and oil to make on one last loaf of bread for her and her son. This was it! It was all they had! After they ate this bread, their resources would be gone and they faced certain death.
Isn’t this always the way it goes? It seems like people always show up asking for help when we are going through hard times ourselves. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been asked to give when you are facing a shortage yourself?
Don’t people know that we have responsibilities? Don’t they know we have our own families to feed? Don’t they know that money doesn’t grow on trees and the grocery store doesn’t give away bread? Why does God do this to us?
The widow was caught in the quagmire of genuinely wanting to help a stranger in need and the facing the responsibility of taking care of her own family. Fear dominated her view of her finances! In the midst of her mystification, Elijah spoke God’s word with clarity and boldness. He commands her not to be afraid and then tells her to make the bread just as she had planned, but give it to him instead of consuming it herself or giving it to her son. These commands are accompanied by a promise from God himself, “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.” Would she trust God with her dough?
Wow, what a test of faith! What would you do if you were in the widows’ shoes? Would you curse the preacher for having the audacity to ask you to use your last supplies and make him some bread? Would you be too afraid to give up the rest of your supplies? Would you be too compelled to take care of your family first? Or would you take God at his word?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it would be easy to believe God’s word in this situation. Who has ever heard of a jar that never runs out of flour or a jug that never runs out of oil? This sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I think it would be easier to rationalize this scene? I would ask, “How do I really know that Elijah got the message right? How do I know I can really trust Elijah’s motives? Can I really trust God to follow through on his promises?”
That’s really what is comes down to, doesn’t it? This who business about tithing and being a good steward of what God has given us is really about trust! Do you really trust God to take care of you? Do you put your trust in money and possessions that can be seen or in God who is not seen? Do you trust him enough to be obedient to his word? Do you trust him enough to give up control of your possessions? Do you trust him with your dough?
The widow had to make a decision! Would she trust in herself or in God? Would she let her faith rule her finances or let her finances rule her faith? Well, verse 15 tells us that she let her faith rule her finances—she went away and did exactly what Elijah told her to do. Out of that little jar of flour and little jug of oil she made the dough and baked a small cake of bread and brought it to him to eat. God blessed her faith and provided food for her and her family. There was an endless supply of flour and oil. God kept his word just like he said!
A few minutes ago I asked if you could trust God with your dough. I hope that that question rubbed you the wrong way—it was a ridiculous question. The real question is can God trust us with his dough? Can God trust us to be good stewards of his resources? Can God trust us to give him the first 10% of our income and use the other 90% wisely? God always keeps his word. We should be more concerned about the way we use his money than we are about the way he uses our money!
What did the widow in this story learn about faith and finances? She learned that faith is always more important than finances and that faith always comes before finances. I hope we have learned the same lesson!
Let me share a letter with you from one of our teenagers at church who learned this lesson. Listen as she writes:
So for those of you who have a hard time 100% believing Jason’s sermon Sunday on tithing or for those of you who would just like the encouragement or interesting story, get this: As I prepare for 3 more years college and I work full time, I have to keep a close watch on my budget. But after last week’s sermon I decided to take a leap of faith as God called me to do so and I changed my tithing of my paycheck from net to gross like Jason had said was Biblically right (something I hadn’t put too much thought into or WANTED to put too much thought into for I knew I would most likely be convicted). This last Sunday after church, I opened my mail from the previous day and found a letter from the IRS informing me I am eligible for $390 back from my taxes and they would be sending it to me asap. Also, as my sister leaves for the month long Compass program this week, her job as janitor needs to be filled which gives me a second job opportunity for extra money. Hmmmm I sense some worries about college finances fly out the window. Coincidence? You may think so. But I don’t.
I hope that we will all put our faith before our finances!