Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How Generous is Generous Enough? | The Life of Joshua | Joshua 13:8-21:45

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I'm Tanya Wilman. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're going through the Book of Joshua. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, Ask TMBT, where you can ask us anything, and we'd love to connect with you. Last week, Tony Hawk literally sold his soul to a skateboard manufacturer.

Starting point is 00:00:36 The name of the manufacturer is Liquid Death. And as a part of the deal, Liquid Death produced 100 skateboards painted with Tony Hawk's actual blood. Now, it's hard to articulate why this story feels so icky and degrading. But the reason this story bothers some people and I guess motivates others to spend money is actually the same. it's because it's deeply transgressive. Whether or not you believe in a soul, you have a profound sense that at least symbolically, a soul is someone's essence, the core of who someone is. And thus, it can't be owned by a state, a private party, or a consumer goods company

Starting point is 00:01:15 selling skateboards. Maybe you'd say, my soul is my own. But I think we all have a sense of a deeper truth. Your soul, my soul, that is God's. God made it. God owns it. best what to do with it. And anyone who sincerely follows Jesus would have to agree with me, I am not my own. I am his. I can't sell my soul because it's not mine to sell in the first place.

Starting point is 00:01:39 And I can't do anything I want to with my soul because it's his. If that's true of your soul, would you also say that it's true of your car, of your house, your clothes, your bank account? Some people get kind of squeamish when pastors bring up money, but I always laugh at that because I don't think they would have liked Jesus very much. He talked a lot more about money than he ever talked about the soul. And while we're willing to say my soul is Jesus's, we're so much slower to say my 401k is Jesus's. And Jesus firmly believed that what you do with your money is a profound indication of the state of your soul, of your heart. He said in Matthew 6, wherever you're, your treasure is, there your heart will be also. No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. So at the end of the day, you have a decision in front of you. Will you see your soul and your bank account as your soul and your bank account? Or will you see them as God's soul entrusted to your care. God's money entrusted to your care. You are a steward. You are a steward of yourself.

Starting point is 00:03:00 You are a steward of the car that God's given you, not a car owner. You are a steward of the technology that God's given you. You're not a technology owner. You are a steward of the property that God's given you. You're not a property owner. The one time in history that God explicitly gave property to people, this was totally clear. In Joshua chapter's 13 to 21, it's a long section of scripture, the entire land of Israel is divided amongst the Israelites. Again and again, throughout these passages, the author makes it clear that he's dividing up the property, the land, according to what? According to God's will. It says again and again that the land went to whomever God assigned it to. Now just think about that for a second. Who has the right to divide up a property?

Starting point is 00:03:50 or to assign property to someone. For example, can a renter give their apartment to someone else? Well, of course not. That's silly. They're renting what someone else owns. They can't give that ownership to a different person. It's not theirs to give away. Only the property owner can divide up a property. Only a property owner can entrust it to other people. And so the clear message of the book of Joshua to the Israelites is that God is the one who owns the property. That's why he's able to divide it up. That's why he's able to assign it to people. It's his land. Everything that they own is on loan from God. They are stewards of what he gives. And now I can imagine that maybe some Israelites felt a little bit frustrated by this. Maybe they'd say, look, we worked hard for this land. We fought. We sweat.

Starting point is 00:04:40 We bled. We literally put our lives on the line to get this land. This is my land. I earned it. I want it with my own two hands. And this sounds a lot like what I hear many Christians today say about their bank accounts. No one gave me anything I have. Everything I have. I've earned it. I've worked for it. Or maybe it goes more like this. I bought this thing fair and square. This is mine to do with as I please. I'm not hurting anyone, so who cares? But that is complete and utter foolishness. How did the Israelites conquer the land? They did it by God's grace, by God's grace, by God. God's strength, by God's working behind the scenes. How did you get everything you have? God has been there all along. If he wanted you to be homeless, you would be homeless right now, but he's been gracious

Starting point is 00:05:29 enough to give you what you have. So don't take credit for what God's done. It makes me think about the last time my five-year-old daughter wanted to write a letter to a friend. She wrote the entire letter by hand, but I had to tell her how to spell every single word in the letter. And at At the end of it, she stood up, she held up the letter and she said, I didn't. Look at what I wrote. Now, that's not a false statement. She did do it. She really did write the whole letter.

Starting point is 00:05:56 But she wasn't alone. And maybe even more importantly, she couldn't have done it alone. This is true of your work, your paycheck, your house, your car, your everything. Yes, you took responsibility. Yes, you did something. But you did not do it alone. And you could not have done it alone. everything you have every square inch of it is a gift from God the same way that every square inch of an

Starting point is 00:06:23 Israelites property was a gift from God the question is how will you steward it will you honor God with it will you take care of it will you cultivate it and and grow what you have will you be generous with it will you be selfless with it will you help others with it this makes me think of a guy named thomas canaan he lived a few decades ago he was a male man man and he died at age 79. And during his life, he never made more than $25,000 in a single year. Most years were well, well, well under that. And yet, over his adult life, he gave away $156,000. It was a huge proportion of his total earnings over his life. He gave away $156,000. For the most part, he did this in the form of $1,000 checks, that he just sent off to random people that he read about in the

Starting point is 00:07:14 newspaper who were having a hard time. His biographer, Sandra Woggeman, this is what she said, not many people would consider living in a house in a poor neighborhood without central heat, without air conditioning, without a telephone, and even working overtime, all so that they could save money to give away to others. Yet that's exactly what Thomas Cannon did. You know, sometimes people will ask me, how do I know if I'm viewing my money the right way? And the answer is simple. How generous are you? If you see your money as your own, you'll find spending it on yourself really easy and giving it away to others incredibly painful. But then the next question is always, well, how generous is generous enough? And maybe you'll expect me to say, well, you need to give at least 10%. And biblically speaking, that's a great place to start. But I have an even better test. It's the Thomas Cannon test, the guy we were just talking about. You know that you're giving enough if your generosity costs you personally. He gave up a better house with air conditioning and heat and a telephone and all of the conveniences that everybody else have so that he would be able to give more away. Do you give up so much that it means

Starting point is 00:08:26 that it costs you personally in some ways? Do you give up enough that, yeah, you know what? Your vacations are just a little bit less nice. Your cars are less swanky, less new. Your houses are a bit smaller in a slightly different neighborhood than they would be otherwise. That's a great test of whether you see your money as your own or as gods. This is ultimately between you and God. He's giving you tremendous gifts, but they aren't your own. How will you use them? Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper,

Starting point is 00:09:17 check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How Generous is Generous Enough? | The Life of Joshua | Joshua 13:8-21:45

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