Honoring God With Our Substance

Minister:
Date: PM (Prayer Day)
Text: Proverbs 3:9,10
Psalters: 242, 317, 357, 393
  1. Proper attitude in sowing.
    1. Our text calls us to “honor.”
      1. To honor is to judge something to be weighty or heavy, to be rich and glorious. This word is used in the fifth commandment.
      2. We are to honor “Jehovah.” He is worthy of honor because of who He is and because of what He does.
    2. In our text we are to honor Jehovah with our substances and first fruits.
      1. “Substance” refers to one’s possessions, that which God has given us, put into our care.
      2. “Increase” refers to our income, that which is added to our substance.
      3. The “first fruits” of our increase is the initial portion of the harvest.
      4. This was the giving of a tithe, which was older than Sinai and deliverance from Egypt (Gen. 28:22).
    3. While the believers considers honoring Jehovah this way to be a privilege, the unbeliever sees it as a great expense and folly.
  2. God promises a blessed reward to such giving/ honoring: “barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out….” (10).
    1. This promise is God’s way of challenging us to “test” Him.
    2. The figure of physical and material blessings: the God of the weather promises a great harvest of grain and fruit.
      1. We must not think that this is a promise of earthly, physical wealth, especially in the New Dispensation.
      2. God uses Old Testament language to promise the godly giver who honors Jehovah to receive a great spiritual harvest.
    3. He that sows sparingly will reap sparingly; and he that sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully (II Cor. 9:6).