Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - No Tipping Allowed - #6438

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

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Anytime I'm planning to be in New York City I make sure I have plenty of loose change with me. Yeah, I know I'll need it for tips; maybe for a parking lot attendant or cab driver, a waitress. In fact, tipping, well it's a way of life in America. Now, I looked up tipping in the dictionary and here's what a tip is: It is a small present of money given directly to someone for performing a service. Aw, that's nice isn't it? A tip, a small thank you. Nothing major; loose change stuff. And that's fine if it's in response to a small service, but what about if it's a response to a total sacrifice.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Tipping Allowed."

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Matthew 6:33-34 . They're familiar words of Jesus. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Now, Jesus gives us here a simple but challenging priority structure for life in Christ. He says, "God must always get His share first. Seek first God's kingdom, and then take care of everything else."

Interesting, isn't it? Often God has to wait in a long line in our lives behind our business, our friends, our school work, our recreation, our ambitions, meeting our own needs, and then we fish around in the loose change of our life and we give Him a tip...a small thanks for His total sacrifice on our behalf. See, life at its best always gives to God off the top, not off the bottom.

Let's start with money, whether you have a lot or a little. Now, there's no law that says you have to tithe today; there was a law in the Old Testament. But shouldn't love begin where the law left off? Do you give God His money if there's enough left, or do you seek His kingdom first financially? How about with your schedule? Do I seek first His kingdom? That means you make sure that your time with Jesus is first in your schedule. That's your top priority, and for the work of His kingdom? Well, everything else has to fit around that.

Money and time—that's the dynamic duo. Those are the two things that are really crucial in our lives, and we've got to give those first to the Kingdom of God. But then it also affects the use of my talents; my dearest possessions. Whose car, whose house, whose entertainment center, whose clothes are these? My reading, my music...His kingdom interests come first.

A Christian is one who says, "I will put God's share in the middle. It will be the sun around which everything else has to revolve. Not God's kingdom at the edge revolving around everything else." Give God His money first, give Him His time first, give Him your talents and your possessions first. He gave them to you.

Now, I know that seems risky, but you know what? It's actually the only safe way to go. You give God His, and you don't have less; you have more. You've got the God who owns it all saying, "All these things will be added to you." "You don't have to worry," Jesus said. God is your Father, not your waiter. He's your Lord, not your driver. He gets your best. When it comes to God, no tipping allowed.