by HARVEYOPP | Feb 10, 2015 | Scott Henry
“There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward’” (Luke 16:1-2).
Because of sin, man constantly rebels against his stewardship. He says concerning his possessions, “They’re mine and I will use them any way I please for my own profit and pleasure.” The words rooted deep in the heart of every person are those of the Pharaoh found in Exodus 5:2: “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” But, by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, sinners are brought back into the household of God to be faithful and wise stewards over the Lord’s possessions so that we may say, “That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” We are stewards of the time, talents, and treasures of our Lord, and we are called to use them for His glory, and we must also be ready to give an account, at any moment, of what He has entrusted into our hands.
Scripture tells us that we must seize every opportunity, every moment, and every talent for the glory of God. We must work diligently in our vocation as responsible stewards of Christ. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:15: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” And we read in Colossians 3:17: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” And Paul makes it very clear in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that our stewardship applies to every area and aspect of our lives: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Scripture is clear — we are stewards of all that God has entrusted into our hand; we don’t steward these things to gain salvation; that is impossible. Rather, we strive to be good stewards as a result or a fruit of our salvation. Time, talents, and treasures and how we use these things only reveal the nature of our heart. If you think everything you possess is yours to do with as you please then you’re manifesting a heart of unbelief; you’re behaving like the Pharaoh in Exodus 5. But if you believe and confess the words of 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you have not received?” then you manifest a heart that has been transformed by the Spirit of God. Oh, it’s easy to say that you believe the earth is the Lord’s and all the fullness thereof, but how do you spend your time? How do you spend the money God has entrusted to you? How much do you give to the work of the Lord compared to spending on your own purposes and pleasures? Are you faithfully giving back to the Lord what He requires of you? Pray that the Lord makes you a better steward of all that He has given to you in order that His name might be praised through the manner in which you steward the possessions He blesses you with.
by HARVEYOPP | Feb 10, 2015 | Paul Tripp
Every day of your life you’ll find reasons to complain, and every day of your life you’ll have reasons to be thankful. Notice the distinction: you’ll FIND reasons to complain and you’ll HAVE reasons to be thankful.
These two themes, complaint and thankfulness, tug at the heart of each of us. They form fundamentally different ways of viewing the world because they’re rooted in fundamentally different ways of viewing yourself.
If you arrogantly assume that you’re a good and deserving person, you’ll place yourself in the center of your world and live with an entitled, “I deserve ______” attitude. Because you live that attitude, you’ll develop an inflated and unrealistic sense of personal need.
Because you have an inflated and unrealistic sense of personal need, you’ll now expect the situations, locations, and relationships of everyday life to focus their energy on serving what you have named as personal needs. But in case you missed it, this universe wasn’t created to serve you; you’re not the center of its attention.
When those people and places fail to serve you, or even recognize what you have named as personal needs, you now have found constant reasons to complain and grumble. What a dark and discouraging way to live!
Thankfully, there’s another way of viewing yourself. If you humbly admit that as a sinner, you deserve nothing but God’s wrath, you’ll have reasons to be grateful everywhere you look.
If you remember that in acts of outrageous grace, God has turned his face of mercy and kindness toward you, and that every good thing in your life is an undeserved blessing, feelings of humility and thankfulness rather than entitlement and disappointment will fill your heart.
I guess what I’m trying to ask is this: how are you viewing yourself? Do you think you’re a good and deserving person who has been unjustly forgotten? Or do you, like John Newton, view yourself as a wretch, saved by amazing grace?
Here’s what I want you to do, the day before Thanksgiving. I have written 10 questions for your personal assessment at the bottom of this e-mail. Don’t rush through these questions and “tick the box” for your daily devotions; be meticulous and intentional.
Honestly admit that you may be more arrogant, demanding, and entitled than you think. Confess where you need to confess, both to God and to others. Finally, don’t be afraid of what may be revealed. God has already forgiven you on the Cross, and on top of that, he provides abundant and life-transforming grace for you, right here, right now.
by HARVEYOPP | Feb 10, 2015 | Scott Henry
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD!” (Psalm 119:1)
If we are going to be joyful and live an undefiled life by keeping God’s testimonies then we must be those who know the Word of God. How much time do you spend searching Scripture? It seems so simple and basic that it should not even have to be asked, but so many people who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior neglect the Word of God. Christians used to be known as “people of the Book” — the Bible. They read it, memorized it, meditated upon it, spoke about it, quoted it, and it was preached from the pulpit on the Lord’s Day, but many in our day, including many “preachers”, neglect the very means that the Lord uses to regenerate the soul of a sinner. As it is written, “…having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever…” (1 Peter 1:23).
Do you have a daily time when you faithfully seek God’s testimonies? How many times have you read through the Bible in your Christian life? Have you learned the lesson that the Lord taught the Israelites of old? “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3). Jesus proclaimed this very verse when He was being tempted by Satan: “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD’” (Matthew 4:4).
So, how much time do you spend searching Scripture? David wrote in Psalm 119:82: “My eyes fail from searching Your Word.” And again in Psalm 119:72: “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver.” And once again, “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). How many Christians can truly claim the words of these Psalms as their own? We spend hours trying to gain earthly riches, which are temporal and fleeting, but how much time do we spend mining the true, eternal riches of God’s Word. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Mark 13:31). It was said of the Bereans that they “…were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). Could this be said of believers in our day? Now that your face is red from embarrassment, let’s do something about this neglect of God’s Word. Begin daily to feast on the Word of Life “…which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). Even as the Apostle Peter wrote, “…as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:2-3).
by HARVEYOPP | Jan 24, 2015 | Scott Henry
“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content…” (Philippians 4:11).
Our text is saying that we must gratefully accept what God provides and avoid a life of covetousness. We must always remember that God owns everything and we are only stewards commanded to use all things for God’s glory. One way we can avoid covetousness is by cultivating a thankful heart. This is not easy, but it is attainable by God’s grace, true faith, and the working of the Holy Spirit and Scripture. The Apostle Paul said he learned to be content. How? Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!” Discontentment is overcome by a life of rejoicing. You see, when you know what you really deserve because of your sins (Hell), yet because of the grace of God you receive eternal life then you can be a rejoicing person.
We must also recognize that God is sovereign over every event in life; nothing happens by chance! “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will…” (Ephesians 1:11). God has a purpose for everything He sends into our life, even the unpleasant things. The Apostle Paul was able to learn to be content when he had little and when he had plenty because he knew both conditions were the providential working of God. Have you had unpleasant things happen in your life? Learn to be content by meditating upon our sovereign God who loves every believer and does ALL things for their eternal good! “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
If contentment is going to be a reality in our life then we must learn to trust the Lord in every situation, and the only way we will come to trust the Lord is to know His Word. How much time do you spend in Scripture? Are you daily searching God’s Word? Let me ask you this question: Are you a person who complains about everything in your life? If so, then you’re not spending enough time in God’s Word. We ought to be like the psalmist who declared, “My eyes fail from searching Your word…” (Psalm 119:82). You see, you can’t spend time with the Lord in His Word and be a person who is discontent. Matthew 11:29: “Learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Rest for the soul is found through knowing Christ.
We also read in Philippians 4:6-7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” God grants us peace in our soul when we come to Him in prayer. The hymn writer wrote: “Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless shame we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” If you’re an anxious person then you’re not spending appropriate time with God in prayer, and an anxious, worried mind breeds a discontented life.
If we will glorify the Lord through a life of contentment then we must be a people who rejoice in the Lord in every situation, know the Word of God, meditate on Christ’s work, and faithfully come before the Lord in thankful prayer. When we are diligent to do these things then we will learn, by God’s grace, to be content in every situation whether hungry or full, sick or healthy, rich or poor because we know the Lord is the Giver and Sustainer of all. Have you learned to be content? Take time today to examine your heart in this matter of contentment by seeking God in His Word.
by HARVEYOPP | Jan 17, 2015 | Scott Henry
“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content” 1 Timothy 6:6-8.
People who love money are always discontent in life. The more they have the more they want and the more they want the more discontent they become! “Hell and Destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied” (Proverbs 27:20). Those who love money spend their time pursuing things that cannot bring them peace or contentment, and they ignore the things that have eternal value. “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
And so our text says “having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” The Apostle Paul says be content with just the basic necessities of life because if you don’t learn to be satisfied with little, you will never be content with much. Paul is not condemning material possessions if God gives them to us, but the accumulation of these things should not be the overwhelming passion of our life. The philosophy of the world is “the one who dies with most toys wins”, but Scripture says: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and looses his soul?” (Mark 8:36) Jesus also said in Luke 12:15: “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
What Scripture condemns is a self-indulgent desire for money that comes from a heart of discontentment. This is a person who is not satisfied with what the Lord provides. The supreme goal of every believer must be a passion to glorify God by seeking first His kingdom and righteousness and not chasing after riches. Matthew 6:31: “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Remember the rich man who wanted to pull down his barns and build greater barns, and store all his crops and goods … the man who said to his soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:19-21).
How are you doing in this area of your life? Do you have an overwhelming passion to possess more and more material goods, or are you content with what the Lord provides. Are you seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, or are you seeking first material wealth? Remember that “the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). Examine your heart in this matter by meditating on the words of Jesus from Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
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