Adult Bible Study Guide

Jan • Feb • Mar 2018

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 Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide
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 Stewardship: Motives of the Heart
Contents
1 The Influence of Materialism
2 I See, I Want, I Take
3 God or Mammon?
4 Escape From the World’s Ways
5 Stewards After Eden
6 The Marks of a Steward
7 Honesty With God
8 The Impact of Tithing
9 Offerings of Gratitude
10 The Role of Stewardship
11 Debt—A Daily Decision
12 The Habits of a Steward—
13 The Results of Stewardship
 Stewardship: Motives of the Heart
Our Goal

These lessons are geared to teach

us what our responsibilities as
stewards are, and how we can,
through God’s grace, fulfill those
responsibilities—not as a means of
trying to earn salvation but as the fruit
of already having it.
 Stewardship: Motives of the Heart
Lesson 3, January 20

God or Mammon?
 God or Mammon?
Key Text
Philippians 2:9-11, NKJV
“Therefore God also has highly
exalted Him and given Him the name
which is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those
in heaven, and of those on earth, and
of under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus
 God or Mammon?
Initial Words

It’s God or mammon. We have to make

a choice, and the longer we hesitate,
make excuses, or procrastinate, the
stronger the hold that money and the
love of money
will exert on our soul.
What should make our decision easier
is focusing on who God is, what He has
done for us, and what we owe Him.
 God or Mammon?
Quick Look

1. Ownership Through Creation

(Psalm 33:6-9)
2. Ownership Through Redemption
(Colossians 1:13, 14)
3. Ownership of All
(Deuteronomy 10:14)
 God or Mammon?
1. Ownership Through Creation

Psalm 33:6-9 NKJV

“By the word of the Lord the heavens
were made, and all the host of them by
the breath of His mouth. ...
Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the
inhabitants of the world stand in awe of
Him.
For He spoke, and it was done; He
commanded, and it stood fast.”
 1. Ownership Through Creation
Christ, the Creator

Material things are not evil. After all,

Jesus Himself created it. How then,
could it be evil? It can, unfortunately
as with all of God’s gifts, be perverted
and used for evil, but that does not
make the original gift evil.
God created the material world, and
He wanted His people to enjoy the fruit
and benefits of this world, as well.
 1. Ownership Through Creation
Christ, the Creator

Jesus is the Creator (John 1:1–3). He

knows the value of material things, and
He knows that He gave them to us for
our benefit, and enjoyment.
He knows, too, what happens when
humanity perverts those gifts, or even
makes the gifts an end in themselves,
when, as with all things, they were
meant to be used to glorify God.
 1. Ownership Through Creation
Son of God/Son of Man

One reason Jesus came to this world

was to show us just how loving and
caring God is. Satan, however, has
tried to depersonalize Him,
characterizing Him as someone who
doesn’t care about us.
An inordinate love of material things
works well as one of Satan’s ploys to
achieve this end.
 1. Ownership Through Creation
Son of God/Son of Man

What does this story (Matthew 19:16–

22) tell about how Satan can use our
love of material things to keep us
distant from the Lord?
The love of the world and of material
things blinded him so that even
though he was sad, that sadness
wasn’t enough to make him do the right
thing.
 God or Mammon?
2. Ownership Through Redemption

Colossians 1:13, 14 ESV

“He has delivered us from
the domain of darkness
and transferred us to the
kingdom of his beloved
Son, in whom we
have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins.”
 2. Ownership Through Redemption
Christ, the Redeemer

Adam and Eve sinned. Thus, humanity

became debtors to divine justice, a debt
that we could never repay. Only the
sacrifice of Christ’s life could
accomplish the required payment of
divine justice.
“By pouring the whole treasury of
heaven...God has purchased the will,
the affections, the mind, the soul, of
 2. Ownership Through Redemption
Christ, the Redeemer

The Greek tetelestai in John 19:30

means “it is finished.” His mission
was accomplished and our debt was
“paid in full.”
Looking at the cross of Redemption
reveals a past event with a present
effect and a future hope. Although
undeserving, we are redeemed
(Eph. 1:7).
 2. Ownership Through Redemption
A Jealous God

Christ paid the debt, completely,

for all the evil you have ever done.
What must your response be?
God created humans to be free, which
means we have the option to serve Him
or to serve anything else. The only God
worth serving is the One who created
and possesses all the universe.
That’s why He is indeed a jealous
 God or Mammon?
3. Ownership of All

Deuteronomy 10:14
NKJV
“Indeed heaven
and the highest
heavens belong to
the Lord your God,
also the earth with
all that is in it.”
 3. Ownersip of All
True Ownership

We belong to God, both by creation

and by redemption. We own nothing
other than our own choices.
What we think we own, He owns.
We are but His stewards, and as such
we are to manage tangible and even
intangible possessions to the glory
of God.
 3. Ownersip of All
True Ownership

God’s ownership and our stewardship

mandate a relationship, one through
which He may use us in ways that will
prepare us for heaven and that will
benefit and bless others. But unfaith-
ful stewards can restrict the Owner’s
access to His own possessions. What
we do with them reflects the kind of
relationship that we have with Him.
 God or Mammon?
Final Words

Stewardship started with God

placing Adam and Eve in a beautiful
garden home that they were to care for
and manage (Gen. 2:15).
In this environment Adam and Eve
were to learn that God was the Owner,
and they were His stewards. Adam
and Eve have positions of responsibility
and trust but not as owners.