If You Are Not Faithful With One Rand, a Hundred Changes Nothing

Sermon outline

Thriving is tied to kingdom advancement, not wealth for its own sake, and the greatest obstacle to it is not a lack of resources but a reluctant heart held back by comfort and fear, so say yes to God's assignment and drink from the place He has planted you.

1. You cannot serve God and mammon

   If your eye is good your whole body is full of light, but no one can serve two masters. Do not worry about what you will eat, drink or wear, because your Father knows you need these things; seek first His kingdom. To believers it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, so we have insight by the Spirit and the Word, and there must be a visible distinction between us and the world.

   “We can't be worldly and in the kingdom.”

   • Matthew 6:22-34
   • Matthew 13:10-16
   • 2 Peter 1:3

2. Wealth must have a kingdom assignment

   Blessing and abundance must be connected to God's kingdom advancement, so ask what the money and the advancement are for. Earthly wealth stays behind when you die, but kingdom work lays up treasure in heaven. Some wealthy people throw money at a church and then try to control the pastor and the seating; that is not godly. Confidence in wealth breeds fear when the wealth is gone, but with God even a little becomes more.

   Illustration: It is not about having a fancy house in Umhlanga, because that house will go to somebody else when you die.

   “Wealth has got to have an assignment.”

   • Matthew 6:19-20
   • Matthew 19:24

3. Faithful with one rand

   Mammon is deceitful riches and anything trusted that is not God, an insatiable greed with no kingdom benefit, like winnings from the horse racing that go straight back into the betting, or one business deal that leads to wanting kickbacks. The widow's two mites were more than the gifts of the rich. Faithfulness is settled in the single rand: if you hold back one rand of a ten, you will hold back ten of a hundred and ten thousand of a hundred thousand. The antidote to mammon is a specific kingdom purpose.

   “If you can be faithful with the one rand with your kingdom assignment, you'll be faithful with a thousand with your kingdom assignment.”

   • Mark 12:41-44
   • Luke 16:10

4. The anatomy of reluctance: fear and comfort

   The greatest obstacle to thriving is not a lack of resources but a reluctant heart; money is actually the easiest thing to part with. Reluctance looks through the lens of fear of the unknown and of comfort. Blessed with a car, a house and paid bills, we come home, take off our shoes and tell the pastor work is too heavy to open a cell, yet phone him in a crisis for anointing oil. Our daily response must be the same as our crisis response.

   Illustration: A teenager told to fill the dog's water bowl is lying on the bed: "I'm comfortable, I'm taking a break." A diary of netball on Tuesday and dinner night on Thursday shows priorities, not real constraints.

   “Our crisis response must be the same as our kingdom response.”

5. Jonah's comfort, Moses' inadequacy

   Jonah was already doing God's will and loved by the people, but was comfortable, and prejudiced against Nineveh, so he fled and sat in the belly of the fish. Moses spent forty years hiding in fear and still made excuses at the burning bush, and God gave him Aaron rather than let him go. Many are called and few are chosen because few say yes. Striving comes from self-will; thriving comes from surrender. He confesses that he is a private person who had to decide to come out of his shell.

   Illustration: Left alone with a good book, a TV programme or his laptop, he would be perfectly happy. But the kingdom is sacrificial, and he says most of the time obeying it was not comfortable.

   “God isn't looking for your ability, he's looking for your availability.”

   • Jonah 1:1-3
   • Jonah 1:17
   • Exodus 4:10-16
   • Matthew 22:14
   • Romans 8:31

6. It matters where you drink

   People pick churches because they are close to home, have great facilities, let them slip in and out, or the children like them, yet drive their children past the nearest school to get the best education. The priest of the home must be fed to feed the family. You would never pick a spouse because she lives next door. Church is not an experience you can get at a concert, and like a marriage it is a commitment through the days that are not pretty. God gives shepherds, not just churches, and you do not discuss other churches or YouTube controversies and let the devil poison your well.

   Illustration: Ask a room of couples married more than five years who has never had a fight, and no hand goes up. Three years after the wedding speeches, what was cute is not cute any more, but you stay because it is a covenant.

   “If you just want an experience, you can go to any concert.”

   • Hebrews 4:11-16
   • Jeremiah 3:15

7. Teach them to live, then step out in faith

   The greatest thing you can give your children is not things but the ability to live, so that one day they stand on their own feet and remember what mom and dad did and what the Lord says; that is the generational legacy. God will not test you beyond what you can bear, so do not wait for the resources before you move. Sometimes the waiting is the reluctance, and walking forward in faith without full understanding is where flourishing begins.

   Illustration: His father told him to treat his wife like his daughter, meaning that everything in life is teaching, training, discipling and living it through.

   “Sometimes the waiting is the reluctance.”

   • 1 Corinthians 10:13
   • Hebrews 11:6
   • Romans 12:3
   • Psalm 139:14

In this message