In this series of teaching on stewardship, John Cole revised and taught from a published course made available without copyright by local church pastors shared for churches like ours. Read the handout notes here...

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INTRODUCTION

Genesis 12:2–3 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 15:5–6 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Genesis 22:1–2 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

HOW GIFTS BECOME IDOLS

Ezekiel 14:3 …these men have set up their idols in their heart…

That means that every gift of God is a candidate for idolatry.

IDOLS ARE WORSE THAN WE THINK.

Stewardship proclaims the truth about God; idolatry lies about Him.

Does your giving reveal your faith in God’s promises ? And, as a result, does it show off the reputation of God?

Malachi 1:8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor; Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.

Romans 14:23 …for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Stewardship can be a safe-haven for legalism , where we use our money, our time, our bodies, our skills just enough for God to feel like we’re being righteous when in fact we are deceiving ourselves.

God cares about your stewardship in as much as it shows your faith and love for Him.

Idolatry is evil because it proclaims that something is better than God . That makes poor stewardship not sub-optimal but heinous. Evil.

HOW CAN I FIND IDOLATRY IN MY HEART?

Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

1. Can I imagine being content if things turn out differently than what I hope?

2. Is my fear out of proportion to the situation at hand?

3. Am I faithful as a steward today?

4. Do I feel I’m better than others because of my stewardship?

5. Do you feel God has cheated you out of what was yours?

6. What are your most unyielding emotions? Which emotions—like hatred, anger, guilt, and so forth—would you most like to escape from but you can’t?

7. Where do you feel like you are not being a very good steward?

The encouraging truth is that God Himself is committed to the purity and glorification of all His redeemed people.

Ephesians 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

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INTRODUCTION

We spent 22 weeks considering what it looks like to be a good Steward of all the different gifts and resources that God has given to us.

But I wonder if along the way there’ve been times when you've felt, “I don’t want to be a better steward.”

Or “I don’t think I can be a better Steward. I’ve tried, it just doesn’t work.”

That’s why we’re looking at what we are calling the enemies of stewardship. Namely, the idolatries that live deep down in our hearts. Very often with stewardship, more than modifying our behavior, we need to modify what we think and believe about who God is. Deep in our hearts we serve gods other than the true God and that is the root of our difficulties with stewardship.

Let’s start with Abraham as an example.

In Genesis 12 God makes a promise that will resound through every chapter of the Bible. He appears to Abraham—still called Abram—and promises to make him a great nation.

Genesis 12:2–3

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Later, he takes Abram outside in the dark of night:

Genesis 15:5–6

And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Years pass, and at the age of one hundred, Abraham miraculously becomes a father. He and Sarah are overjoyed and name their baby son Isaac. Isaac…object of parental affection, divine promise, miraculous intervention. He must have seemed the most precious gift in the history of the world.

Then what happens? Chapter 22,

Genesis 22:1–2

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Abraham obeys. And just as Abraham is about to kill his only son, an angel from heaven appears and stops him.

God promises a Lamb and then provides an immediate substitute—a ram in the thicket. And retells his promise, “Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the starts of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.”

God didn’t test Abraham in the sense that you test an unknown substance, not knowing what you’ve got. God is all-seeing, all-knowing…”man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

No: God tested Abraham as he tested Job, as you test gold in the fire, to prove what really is. As one preacher (Timothy Keller) described this testing:

“God’s extremely rough treatment of Abraham was actually merciful. Isaac was a wonderful gift to Abraham, but he was not safe to have and hold until Abraham was willing to put God first. As long as Abraham never had to choose between his son and obedience to God, he could not see that his love was becoming idolatrous[1].”

This lesson is titled “The Enemy of Stewardship”—the enemy God protected Abraham from—idolatry.

Just like the gift of Isaac, everything gift you have is from God. Yet none of those gifts are “safe to have and hold” until our heart is willing to put God first. When we love the gifts more than the giver, we destroy both ourselves and God’s gifts, and we defame the God of glory.

So it’s to this topic of idolatry that we turn to close out our 23-week study of Stewardship.

1. We’ll begin by looking at how the gifts we’ve examined can become idols—money, health, time, citizenship, rest, and our abilities. We’ll see how the lens of Stewardship reveals why God hates idolatry so much—why it is the first of the ten commandments: “you shall have no other gods before me.”

2. We’ll consider how we can identify where gifts are becoming idols.

3. And finally, we’ll close with some words about uprooting idols.

So first…

HOW GIFTS BECOME IDOLS

Some people grow up worshipping physical idols. But that’s not all the Bible has in mind when it describes idolatry.

As Ezekiel says of the elders of Old Testament Israel:

Ezekiel 14:3

…these men have set up their idols in their heart…

The heart, the Bible’s image for what, deep down, you most love and desire, is the true battleground of idolatry.

An idol “is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give[2].”

That means that every gift of God is a candidate for idolatry.

Money can be an idol, so can health, and rest, time, citizenship, your abilities. Can you think of gifts of God that have been idols to you at some point in your life?

In the book Counterfeit Gods, the author discusses three basic ways that the Bible talks about idolatry, which you’ll see in a chart in your handout. In Scripture, we love idols, we trust idols, and we obey idols. All three are useful in seeing how gifts become idols in our hearts.

So, following the chart:

· Sometimes the Bible uses a marital metaphor, where we love something more than God and so idolatry becomes spiritual adultery. We love idols because they promise us significance, value, worth, beauty. And we see those idols when we ask ourselves, “what do I most want in life?” Idolatry of our abilities can often fall into this category—where our abilities define our worth and significance, and so we prostitute ourselves to them. A false lover.

· Second Biblical analogy is what Keller calls a “religious metaphor”—that is, the language of salvation. Isaiah 45:20 “…They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, And pray unto a god that cannot save.” These idols promise you control and security. They’re exposed when you ask, “what alleviates my fear”—and get an answer other than God. A false savior.

· Third: the “political metaphor.” A battle for allegiance. Many idols fit more than one metaphor, and especially with this third analogy because it’s often a symptom of the first two. Once we believe that an idol is the way to get what’s promised by a false lover or a false savior, that idol comes to control us—a false master. Romans 1:25 warns of those who “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Serving idols.

Imagine someone who takes stewardship of time to an extreme, insistent that they always use their time in the most productive way no matter the cost to those around them. They become controlled by their schedule rather than the other way around. This idol often surfaces in seemingly uncontrollable anger or anxiety or despondency or guilt.

Sometimes we love our idols, sometimes we trust them, sometimes we obey them, sometimes all three. Those idols are the enemies of stewardship, and they are the enemies of God.

Any questions?

IDOLS ARE WORSE THAN WE THINK.

In point 3, I want to pick up on something I just said, that idols are the enemies of stewardship and that they are the enemies of God.

When we think of bad stewardship, we often think of living sub-optimally—which hardly seems like that big a deal. When we think of idols, we often think of “loving something more than God”—which we know to be bad, but which we also know to be commonplace. That’s where putting these two concepts—stewardship and idolatry together—is really quite powerful.

Stewardship proclaims the truth about God; idolatry lies about Him.

We can see that in the parable we’ve used to frame this whole series, the parable of the talents.

The master entrusts his goods to three servants, promising that he’ll return, and reward them when he does.

Two servants are faithful. That is, they have faith in the master’s promise and in faith they bet everything on his promise. They use the time he’s away to put his wealth to work for him.

The third servant on the other hand tries to play it safe. He buries the talent, then presumably uses his time to serve himself. So when the master returns, he calls that third servant wicked.

Even though that servant gave the talent back. Why? Because his actions—his lack of faith—lied about the master. Those actions proclaimed that the master was not trustworthy, that he was not generous. But that was a lie.

The actions of these servants mattered not because of the money that was at stake but because of the reputation that was at stake. Namely, God’s reputation.

What I want you to see today is that the mindset of the third servant can be summed up in the concept of idolatry. He treated something—his own time and wealth—as more worthy of stewardship than the name of the Master. And idolatry spewed out lies about the Master.

Sometimes, we look at stewardship through the lens of results. For example, how much money are you giving to your church? But the parable of the talents tells us to look through the lens of faith.

Does your giving reveal your faith in God’s promises ? And, as a result, does it show off the reputation of God?

Here’s an example. Let’s say that Suzy is totally enslaved to a love of money—or a fear of the lack of it. Because she considers herself a Christian, she gives some to her church in order to feel like she’s checked that box—but she doesn’t truly give out of prayerful faith and love to God. She is not intentional, generous, or cheerful about the eternal investment of giving to the Lord through the church.

Through the lens of results, you’d say something like “Suzy: that’s great, but you can do better. God’s really blessed you; you can give more.” In other words, stewardship that’s sub-optimal.

But through the lens of faith, you’d say something entirely different. “Suzy: because it doesn’t come from faith, your giving actually lies about the goodness of God. You give God some leftovers to satisfy the demands of this capricious deity and then go off to live life for yourself. Who’s the real god in your life?”

Think of what the LORD said to the people of Israel through Malachi,

Malachi 1:8

And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor; Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.

Or Paul to the Romans (not in the context of giving):

Romans 14:23

…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

I think that this offers both a warning and an encouragement.

The warning is pretty simple:

Stewardship can be a safe-haven for legalism , where we use our money, our time, our bodies, our skills just enough for God to feel like we’re being righteous when in fact we are deceiving ourselves.

We’re not honoring him any more than Solomon’s sacrifices honored the Lord when he was also sacrificing to the false god Molech on the side.

God cares about your stewardship in as much as it shows your faith and love for Him.

Which leads us to the encouragement. As Jesus said, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, it’s enough. What matters isn’t the size of your faith but the size of your God.

You can get all caught up in whether your stewardship is “good enough,” whether you can “do better.” Those are fine questions to ask, but they’re not ultimate.

Remember, the question in the parable of the talents is binary. Not, “how strong is your faith” but “do you have faith?” Does your use of your money, your time, your body, your abilities evidence faith that God is better than his gifts? “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Well done.

So then, the enemy of stewardship is idolatry.

Idolatry is evil because it proclaims that something is better than God . That makes poor stewardship not sub-optimal but heinous. Evil.

And that leads to our next question, “if the idolatry of poor stewardship is so bad, how can I identify it in my life?”

HOW CAN I FIND IDOLATRY IN MY HEART?

The problem with idolatry is that it’s often invisible.

You can struggle in your emotions and motives to figure out whether you’re doing something because you’ve made it a false God or because you’re a faithful steward. And, of course, we all have mixed motives.

So how do you know where you’ve made God’s gifts into false gods?

Well, figuring that out is a life-long project. The basic tools of the trade are the normal means of grace:

· Scripture

· The Holy Spirit

· The Local Church

· Circumstances God uses to reveal your idolatry

· Behavior (as in, we recognize idolatry in the fruit of our lives. Galatians 5:19).

Galatians 5:19

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

In addition, you’ll see on your handouts some questions to ask yourself in this area.

1. Can I imagine being content if things turn out differently than what I hope?

Example: your child begins to go blind. You find yourself raging at God even as you desperately seek every available treatment. Your anger at him suggests that you took an assumption about your child’s future and made it a right, which he has unjustly stolen from you.

2. Is my fear out of proportion to the situation at hand?

Example: I’ve broken my arm as a collegiate baseball player. The idea that this might be the end of my career is unthinkable. So I find myself obsessing over every detail of my recovery, desperate to wrest back control of my life.

3. Am I faithful as a steward today?

Example: I’ve devoted my life to getting out of debt. I spend every waking moment focused on that goal. There’s nothing wrong with battling debt, but looking back over the last 12 months I really see no spiritual fruit in my life; everything is consumed with the fight.

4. Do I feel I’m better than others because of my stewardship?

Example: using my time well has turned into an obsession and I find a real anger and panic if my schedule gets messed up. When I think about it, I realize that I’m terrified of losing my reputation as a guy who’s got it all under control. I can’t imagine not living that way.

5. Do you feel God has cheated you out of what was yours?

Like in my first example, I feel real anger at God for putting me in such a hopeless situation. I had great plans for my life; what right did he have to come in and take them all away?

6. What are your most unyielding emotions? Which emotions—like hatred, anger, guilt, and so forth—would you most like to escape from but you can’t?

Very often, the reason they are so lodged in your heart is because some form of idolatry is lodged in your heart.

7. Where do you feel like you are not being a very good steward?

A failed struggle to be a better steward of your money or your body or your time or your skills may well be rooted in idolatry.

There’s no easy recipe for identifying the idols in our lives; as I said, it’s a life-long battle.

Thankfully, it’s a battle God’s gonna win, as we someday stand before him “without spot or blemish.”

Ephesians 5:27

That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Any questions?

NEXT WEEK: FIGHTING IDOLATRY

•[1] Counterfeit Gods, page 14, paperback edition.

[2]Ibid, p. xix.