June 8, 2014 · Psalm 24:1–2

Everything Is the Lord's

The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2 for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.

“And stewardship means we have to take care of it; to watch over it. And proper stewardship is actually worship. … It means ascribing our money as under the Lordship of God. … If we truly love God, we're going to show it by how we view and how we use money. … You want to see what you're in danger of idolizing, or putting in front of God? Go on your internet and your phone, and look down your money — how you spent it. … Some people, it might be music, right? Spend a lot of money on music gear; concerts; MP3s. Other people, it might be sports; entertainment. Other people, it's cars. … Or it could be something like your property. Could be your romantic partner. It could be technological gadgets. It could be books. It could be education. Or power. We can't just say, oh, I love God. We need to put our money where our mouth is. And so today I want to propose three simple ways that we can demonstrate that we truly understand the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. And it's pretty simplistic, but it's profound, if we can learn to actually live in this light. First of all, we have to give to God. Give to God. We have to make sure we don't waste it. And thirdly, we have to help people. If you truly see God over money in your life, you're going to give it back to him; you're going to take care of it wisely; and you're going to use it to help people. So let's go through this in step.”