STUDIES ON STEWARDSHIP

CHAPTER FOUR

THE STEWARDSHIP OF TEMPORALITIES

In previous studies we have found that stewardship is the care and management of another person’s property, and that it involves, in the Christian sense, the care and management of God’s truth, and of the talents that He has given into one’s hands. We come in this study to take up the stewardship of temporalities, by which we mean those things that are related to time, the things of the world, the possessions of this world, and even time itself.

We are accountable for every thing that has been committed unto us, whether it be Biblical truth, or abilities or material possessions, or time itself. We are accountable for all. The great mistake of many people is in thinking that they are free to try to make the whole world revolve around themselves and their selfish desires. This is not God’s will! The whole life of the believer is to be subservient to the glory of God. Man’s whole nature is to be directed to this end. "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s," I Cor. 6:20. "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," I Cor. 10:31. God’s will and His subsequent glory for it is to be the focus of the life of every one of us.

Faithful stewardship in time and the material things of life reflects several things: (1) It reflects our recognition that God owns all things, and that we only have them of His gracious provision. (2) It reflects our gratitude to Him for His love and grace. (3) It reflects our loving obedience to His will and Word. (4) It reflects our desire to see His reign extended into the hearts of others. (5) It reflects a growth in grace, for stewardship is not a natural virtue, but exists only through grace.

In this study we wish to lay special emphasis upon the stewardship of time and money, for it is in these two areas that men most often prove unfaithful. Not only do men prove unfaithful in administering what they have for the Lord, but often they turn their possessions to an evil use. God’s property is often given over to the devil’s use.

Money getting is not in itself a sin, nor is it a sin to be rich; but it is a sin to love money more than one loves God. It is a sin to become a Mammon worshipper. It is a sin for God’s stewards to withhold from him what he has committed to them as a trust. It is a sin to allow money, and the devotion of time and energy to the getting of money, to crowd God out of the heart and life. This is the sure result however, when, like the rich man in the parable, men lay up treasures for themselves and are not rich toward God as his stewards... Misused wealth is doing much in these days to increase the difficulties which confront the actual assistance which the forces of evil receive from the manner in which many spend their money." C. C. Cook, Stewardship and Missions, pp. 73-74.

In taking up the subject of the stewardship of temporalities, we shall deal with the subject in much the same manner as in former chapters, and ask in the first place—

I. WHAT IS INVOLVED IN THE STEWARDSHIP OF TEMPORALITIES?

We must first recognize that there is a stewardship of time, which is greatly abused by men, and has always been. Nevertheless, this does not void the duty in the least. The Psalmist said, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom," Ps. 90:12. And the apostle admonished the Ephesian church to "Redeem the time, because the days are evil," Eph. 5:16.

Time is important, and the procrastinating Christian is an unfaithful steward of that which could and should be used for God’s glory. Not only so, but there are multiplied millions that not only steal the tenth in money matters, but also steal the seventh in temporal matters. Now the writer does not wish to be misunderstood as advocating a seventh day of the week observance of worship. But it is true nonetheless that Sunday, the Lord’s day, recurs on a seven day cycle, and hence, out of every seven days, one is to be devoted to the worship of the Lord. "There remaineth a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God," Heb. 4:9, literal rendering. This is simply a restatement of the duty of the fourth commandment. Not only so, but all our activities on every other day of every week are to be always at the disposal of our Lord. "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living," Rom. 14:7-9. Ever since Adam and Eve tried to become "as God," Gen. 3:5, they and their descendents have been in rebellion against God’s will.

While in the wilderness trek there was found a man that picked up sticks on the Sabbath, Num. 15:32-36 and the Lord commanded that he be stoned to death. Today, it is common for professing Christians to profane the Lord’s Day by picking up sticks. Some pick up fishing "sticks," and thereby absent themselves from the Lord’s house. Others pick up golf "sticks," and others, if they do not pick up baseball "sticks" themselves, they go to watch others do so, and on and on we might go. Is the Lord’s Day less hallowed than the Sabbath Day of old that men are now free to profane it as they may please? Does "being under grace" give any person the privilege of profaning the Lord’s Day? Assuredly not! Contrary to almost universal thinking, no one exists just for his own fleshly pleasures, but we all exist solely for God’s glory.

But not to dwell upon the profanation of the Lord’s day, we may ask if it is not a lack of stewardship of time when a person is too busy during the week to take time to serve the Lord in some capacity? When Christians will not order their lives so that they may support the Lord’s House on the Lord’s day by their attendance at each of the services, do they not become unfaithful stewards of time? Verily so!

Secondly, there is the stewardship of material things also, and this goes beyond the tithe, and many messages on stewardship deal only with tithing, because this is the place where most people’s stewardship first begins to fall short. Man is inherently a selfish creature, and unless early in his Christian life he is impressed with the duty of stewardship of money, it is very hard to bring him to submit to this duty later.

That stewardship is not simply tithing, and that tithing does not of necessity make a person a good steward we must realize in the beginning, else we make a tragic mistake. Tithing is certainly a part of stewardship, but it is simply the starting point of stewardship of material possessions.

It should be clearly understood at the outset that stewardship is more than tithing and comes before it. A great mistake has been made by some in placing such emphasis on tithing that the duties of stewardship have been overlooked. Tithing is not all of stewardship, it is only a part, and therefore should not be made to eclipse the responsibilities of the steward in the administration of his entire income for the glory of God... We tithe in recognition of God’s ownership of the whole, just as a tenant pays rent in recognition of the landlord’s ownership of, or rights in, the house or farm. Paying rent entitles the tenant to use the house or farm, but it does not constitute him the owner of it. The tithe is paid not simply because it is the Lord’s but because all one has, or acquires, is his. Paying tithes does not constitute a man the owner of the nine-tenths that are left. God’s rights in the remainder are just the same as before the tenth is paid."—C. C. Cook, Stewardship and Missions, pp.1117-118.

Stewardship of material possession is not simply a dispensational responsibility; it is a duty that has always existed in every dispensation of the world, and it is also a reasonable duty. No one of us would expect a bank or loan company to furnish the money needed for something and receive nothing in return. Yet many seem to think that God should furnish us with all things, and receive nothing in return, not even an acknowledgement of His ownership of all things or a word of thanks for His blessings. Little wonder that God has to treat so many of His children like the dead-beats they are, and take back His part by way of crop failures, business reversals, loss of jobs, hospital bills, automobile and other types of repair expenses, etc.

God is the owner of all things, and we have nothing but what He graciously gives us. Only a few Scriptures are needed to show us the completeness of His ownership of the world and every thing therein. Abraham called God "the possessor of heaven and earth," Gen. 14:22. The Psalmist declared, "The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof," Ps. 24:1. David said, "All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee," I Chr. 29:14. The foremost apostle spoke the same truth, saying, "God.. .made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth," Acts 17:24. And there are many other such declarations.

Some may say, "Surely that doesn’t belong to God which I have worked for and increased by my own labor and ingenuity." But it does belong to God, and Scripture has anticipated just such an objection long ago. Lest any should say, "My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth," the Scripture warns, "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth," Deut. 8:17-18. No one exists or prospers apart from God’s constant gift of life, breath, knowledge, strength, opportunity and many other things, as fully declared in Acts 17:24-28a. And it is human ignorance and arrogance that thinks otherwise.

Not only so, but it is also written, "Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills," Ps. 50:10. "The silver is mine and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts," Hag. 2:8. On the basis of such Scriptures, who can boast of anything that he possesses that it is truly his? Must we all not say with the Apostle, "For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it," I Cor. 4:7.

Truly we have nothing that is really our own except our sin and perverseness. The basis of stewardship of material possessions is the same as in all other realms. It is based on God’s ownership of all things, and it involves our faithful management of these things. Scripture leaves no doubt as to our responsibility or our manner of discharging this stewardship.

In other things believers have everywhere zealously declared the Bible to be their only rule of faith and practice. But in the matter of giving we have given ourselves a great deal of latitude, considered our own personal convenience, resorted to our own plans, adopted our own proportions, chosen our own way of doing things, and have scarcely thought to inquire whether our Lord and Master had given us any directions in the Scriptures concerning the giving of money for the carrying on of his worship and work. The Bible has been left out and all sorts of human inventions have been adopted to raise money. We have chosen our own way and have not hearkened to the law of the Lord. This should be so no longer. "TO THE LAW AND THE TESTIMONY!" The whole question should be looked at in the pure and unerring light of God’s word. In no other way can questions about giving be satisfactorily settled. Let the voice of the Lord be heard in the midst of the church. Let God say by what system of giving he would have his gospel spread and his work carried on, and when he speaks let all men be silent and ready to learn."—Charles C. Cook, Systematic Giving, quoted in Stewardship and Missions, pp. 92-93.

Neither stewardship nor tithing originated with the Jewish dispensation, and consequently, neither of them terminated with it. We are not obligated in this matter simply because the Jews were. We are obligated because it is God’s plan in every age of this world, and it will be His plan even during the Millennial reign of Christ as some of the prophecies of that time indicate.

There is but ONE Faith on Money—Some fine folks say, "Give the first thing you think of." Others, "Give until it hurts," arid others, "Give what you feel like is right," and many more such statements. But never is there even one verse of Scripture for any of these human attempts to say how much.—From righteous Abel until the last soul shall have been saved, every soul will have been saved exactly alike—by Grace through Faith. That is true in every Dispensation. There has never been but one law on marriage—one man and one wife in every dispensation.—There is but One Law—and remember it is not only The Law, but The Divine Law On Money in Every Dispensation. Every one is under that Just Law—The Law that treats the poverty-pressed widow and the big moneymaker and the parsimonious miser Exactly Alike—according to ability."— James F. Dew, in The Flag of Truth, August, 1963, p. 8.
Traces of it (i.e., The tithe—DWH) as something old, and well understood, appear in the earliest historic times among nations having little or no intercourse with the Jews or with each other. To suppose that so many people all hit upon the tenth is out of the question, and the only reasonable conclusion is that they all got it like the altar, and the sacrifices for sin, from a common source. That it was a part of God’s moral law originally revealed to man, and as such was obeyed by Abraham and afterward incorporated by Moses in the Levitical Code."—J. P. Hobson, a lawyer, in "What We Owe," quoted by C. C. Cook, Stewardship and Missions, p.124.
Such historians and authorities as Heroditus, Xenophen, Pliny, Grotius and others testify that all nations from the most ancient time practiced tithing. It is thought by many that it was carried down the stream of human life from the day when God established this law from the very beginning. Monacutlus, one of the world’s great students of ancient history, writes, "Nations have existed that did not offer sacrifices, but there is no record of any nation that did not pay tithes to its deity." —R. V. Clearwaters, The Local Church of the New Testament, p. 55.

There can be no doubt that both stewardship and tithing are both of perpetual obligation upon believers, and though unwillingness to discharge the duty may suggest many objections, these generally disappear as soon as the will of man is made willing to obey the Lord.

As we have before observed, tithing is simply the starting point for stewardship; it is the minimum requirement. Tithing fulfills the requirements of the law, but one must go beyond the tithe before he gets on the ground of grace. Under grace, believers have more freedom, and consequently more responsibility, than those under law. Being under grace does not lessen the duty in stewardship matters, it increases it, but of this we shall speak more in the next division, which brings us to consider—

II. HOW ARE WE TO USE THESE TEMPORALITIES?

In consideration of this, it must first be pointed out, as has already been done in previous studies that neither these, nor any other "good and perfect gifts" are ever to be used in a selfish way. Granted man has his needs in this world, and many of the gifts of the Father fills these needs, but in giving these to man, they are but a means to an end. Too many believers think these are an end in themselves and consequently they use them selfishly.

Today we live in an age in which there are more manufactured articles than there ever have been before in man’s history. Man has more comforts and conveniences than ever before, but instead of this making him more grateful to God, and more desirous of using what he has for God’s glory, man has become utterly selfish. He takes no thought except to serve and satisfy self. In an age when there is every potential for getting the Gospel to every corner of the globe, most professing Christians will not give more than a few paltry cents a month for the cause of missions. What a difference between such and the First Century Christians! Paul testified of the churches of Macedonia that, "in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints," II Cor. 8:2-4. These churches, though in deep poverty and great affliction, were yet happy to give to others. Yea, they begged the apostle to allow them to do so. Who ever head of a missionary of our day being begged to accept financial help from any church, rich or poor? Conversely, the missionary must often beg churches to give so that he can get to the field to which the Lord has called him. How tragic! Yet how common such a situation is.

It is to be noted secondly that we are to use wisely those things that have been committed to our stewardship. We have no right to "blow" large amounts of money simply to satisfy some whim of ours. As the Scriptures say, "Having food and raiment let us be therewith content," I Tim. 6:8. Many Christians are miserable because they have every comfort and convenience that they could desire, but they have these things at the expense of misusing God’s things, and consequently they do not have the joy of dedicated, self-denying Christian service. Where one denies the claims of stewardship in order to sate oneself with the things of this world, there can be no joy or satisfaction. Only misery can result under these circumstances, for God’s curse is upon all such selfishness.

Herein is a reason for the wise use of material things—a good reason even apart from the duty of it. One has but to look at Christians who indulge self at the expense of their stewardship to see the most miserable people on earth. Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," Acts 20:35, but man has too often tried to reverse this practice by thinking that "It is more blessed to receive than to give." No wonder some people are so unhappy.

Thirdly the things of this world are to be used dedicatedly. That is, every bit of our material possessions above our needs should be put at the disposal of the Lord to be used for the dissemination of the Gospel. Most professing Christians want to give God the "leftovers." They spend until they have purchased everything that their greedy hearts desire, and then, perchance there is a little left over, that is given to the Lord’s work. But God expects and demands that His portion come off the top, not off the bettom. He is to be honored with the "firstfruits," Prov. 3:9, not simply with some last portion of one’s substance.

The Lord puts a curse upon those that misuse their stewardship of material things. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation," Mal. 3:8-9. It is often the case that believers will have near bankrupting bills from one cause or another, simply because they have abused their stewardship. Remember that in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25) the unfaithful steward had taken from him even that which he had, and it was given to another.

But some will doubtless say of the passage in Mal. 3, "Oh, that’s in the Old Testament!" Which proves exactly what? Man has put a division between Malachi and Matthew that should not be there. Just because something is recorded in the Old Testament doesn’t mean that it has no application to believers today. The Lord and His apostles drew all their Scripture proof from the Old Testament, for most of the New Testament was not written until the latter years of the First Century. We have no right to abrogate any thing in the Old Testament which our Lord has not abrogated. We know of some things that have been abrogated, for they are expressly said to have been done away. Such were the typical sacrifices, for they were fulfilled in Christ, Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14. But most New Testament truths have their roots in the Old Testament. But no one can show even a hit of the tithes and offerings being abrogated as a duty.

To prove that God’s people are as much obligated to tithe and give offerings above the tithe today as they were in Old Testament times is a simple thing. The first thing to be established concerning this is the question, How was the Old Testament House of worship supported? The answer is, With tithes and freewill offerings. This is a fact so well known and admitted as to need no Scripture proof. The passage in Mal. 3 proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt. This brings us to the door, so to speak, of the New Testament.

Did Jesus tithe and make freewill offering? He was scrutinized as closely as any person ever was, for the Jewish religious leaders desired above all things to find some fault in him, but they could not, so it is obvious that He tithed and gave offerings. He Himself commended the tithing by the Pharisees, Matt. 23:23. In fact, the only commendation that He ever gave this group of people was in this matter. The stewardship of tithes and offerings was in force in the days of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus, and this was the only efficient method of supporting the House of worship.

But what of the period after the crucifixion? We are not left in doubt about the matter, and while the word "tithe" is not used, we find statements made which are as strong as, if not stronger, than this. Let us hear what the great apostle of the Gentiles has to say to the Gentile churches concerning this duty. "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? And they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?" I Cor. 9:13. He appeals to the fact that we have already established, namely that the tithes and offering were used for the support of the Old Testament House of witness. Now note the New Testament application of this same principle: "Even so bath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel," V14.

This should be plain enough for any person unless he has a preconceived bias against the truth. However, if this is not strong enough, the inspired Greek text is even stronger. (1) "Even so" (Greek houtos) is translated in even stronger terms elsewhere, as "on this wise," Matt. 1:18; "after this manner," Matt. 6:9; "Likewise," Matt. 17:12; "On this fashion," Mark 2:12; "thus," many, many places. (2) It is the Lord that has made this provision, not the church or preachers or others of lesser authority. (3) It is not a mere suggestion; it is a command for He "ordained" it (Greek diatasso), which is translated, out of its sixteen appearances, "commanded" seven times, "ordained" three times, "appointed" four times, "set in order" once, and "give order" once. Thus there is but one conclusion that a person can come to without perversion of the Scripture, and that is that the present day House of God is to be supported identically as the Old Testament House of worship was—by tithes and offerings.

This brings us back to the point from which we diverged. A curse is placed by the Lord Himself upon those that are unfaithful in this matter of stewardship. And this is a matter of total stewardship, not just of the tithe alone, for it is "in tithes and offerings" that God has been robbed. No one can make an offering until he has first paid his tithe in full, for anything given before the tithe is fully paid is nothing more than an installment upon the tithe that is owed.

There has never been a time of such blessed spirituality and continuing revivals as there was in the first century. What is the reason? Part of the reason has to do with faithful stewardship of material things. The early believers and churches gave sacrificially of their material possessions. In fact, many gave all that they had. "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," Acts 2:44-45. "Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need," Acts 4:34-35.

Are we using these temporal things as we should? Are we being faithful stewards of the material possessions that God has committed unto our care? How near are we to the standard of the first century believers? Far, far below it! We must yet notice—

III. WHEN ARE WE TO USE THIS STEWARDSHIP OF TEMPORALITIES?

Some Christians think to use all of the material possession that have fallen to their hands so long as they live, and then atone for all their selfishness by willing what remains to be used in the Lord’s cause after they are gone. But such is nothing more than conniving at sin. It is almost as if they want to live selfishly all their lives, then think to bribe God to forgive them by giving to Him what was already owed to Him before. That is strange reasoning! One’s duty of stewardship is now in the present life, not beyond this life when one can no longer selfishly use one’s material possessions. It is no mark of spirituality to give unto the Lord only that which is of no use to us, or that which we can no longer use for self. David said, "Neither will I offer burnt offering unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing," II Sam. 24:24.

The world is full of people who are willing to give unto the Lord that which is worthless, or which they cannot personally use, but is it not much rarer to find one that is truly willing to sacrifice of his best for the Lord? This latter, however, is true stewardship and will be rewarded by the Lord.

Stewardship is always a present duty. This truth is taught in many places. "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come," I Cor. 16:2. The time element is emphatic. It is to be on Sunday after one has been prospered. It is always easier to act the good steward as one is prospered than to let the debt pile up until it is such an amount that, through greed, one feels that he cannot part with such a large sum.

Some endeavor to excuse themselves from their duty of tithing on the basis of the above verse, holding that it is inconsistent with proportionate giving. However, we find almost the same words given in Deut. 16:17 in the midst of a book that enjoins the tithe as constantly and strictly as any other book in the Bible.

Whenever we receive our income we should recognize God’s ownership of all we receive and our stewardship by at once laying aside a portion for God. We are not to spend, and spend, until only a little is left, and then offer the great Creator and Giver if all things the mere leavings of our income. God should be first in our giving, not last."—Charles C. Cook, Stewardship and Missions, p. 95.

Because stewardship is not a natural virtue, but must be cultivated in the believer, it is necessary that the training start early in life. To illustrate the susceptibility of children to get the wrong idea in money matters, a story is told of a well4o-do Christian who consistently gave his children pennies to put in their Sunday School collection. One Sunday morning, he found that he had not enough pennies for all of his children, so he gave each a nickel. One of the children immediately exclaimed, "No, Papa, they don’t want nickels; they only want pennies." How sad that we have too often given our little ones the impression that stewardship is a penny affair.

We must not only emphasize the fact that stewardship is a duty, but that it is a duty which is meant to be discharged now, for no matter how much a person professes to believe in any given doctrine, it means absolutely nothing unless he actually puts it into practice. Unfaithfulness in stewardship is the easiest of almost all sins to commit. It is easy to "intend to give unto the Lord’s cause" and yet continually neglect to do so. Delay and neglect are two of Satan’s most powerful weapons.

Another reason why stewardship in material things should be discharged now is that opportunity is a fleeting thing. The Lord may open doors for only a short time, so it behooves God’s people to be faithful in their stewardship so that best advantage may be taken of the opportunity. An illustration in point: In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries China was open to the Gospel, but many failed to respond to the missionary call, and many others failed to stand behind and support those missionaries that did respond. Lack of financial support kept many missionaries from preaching the Gospel in China, which is the one thing that could have prevented its present condition. Today China has gone Communistic, and the door is now tightly closed to almost all missionaries. In the Day of Judgment someone must give an account for this.

In temporal things one may take any one of four attitudes. The tramp attitude, which is the desire to ride along free, letting everyone else bear all the expenses. The tipper attitude in which one occasionally gives God a "tip" when one feels especially blessed materially by the Lord. The tither attitude, in which one faithfully gives a tenth of his income—a good attitude, but still not the best attitude. The trustee attitude in which one recognizes that he is nothing but a trustee—a steward—of all things that come into his hands, and is accountable to God for how he administers it all.

We conclude this present study by observing that some people, when they are converted, are converted all over except in their pocketbooks or purses. Some people’s billfolds are never converted. This ought not to be so. God’s people are meant to be faithful stewards—faithful stewards of all things that are given to them, and no one can be in God’s will who refuses to faithfully discharge his stewardship.