Stewardship, contentment and generosity

A song by David.

1 The earth and all its content belong to Yahweh—

≈ the world, and everything that lives in it,

2 because he founded it on the seas,

≈ and established it on the rivers.

3 Who will ascend Yahweh’s mountain?

≈ Who will stand in his sacred place?

4 The one with clean hands and a pure heart,

who hasn’t falsely declared to be following me,

≈ and hasn’t made a promise in order to deceive others.

5 He’ll receive a blessing from Yahweh

and he God of his salvation will declare him innocent.

6 Such is the generation of those who try to discover him—

those who want to imitate Ya’akov (Jacob). (Instrumental break.)

19 “Don’t amass wealth for yourselves here on earth, where insects and corrosion destroy things,[ref] and where it can be stolen. 20 Instead, store your wealth in heaven, where there’s no destructive insects or corrosion or thieves or scammers, 21 because wherever your wealth is, your values will also be focused there.

22 “Your eyes are your body’s lamps, so if your eyes are healthy, then your entire body will be bright. 23 But if your eyes are evil, your entire body will be dark.

24 “No one can serve two masters, because they’ll either hate one and like the other one, or else will support one and despise the other. So you people can’t serve both God and money.

25 “So that’s why I’m telling you all not to worry about your worldly life—things like what you’ll eat or drink, or how you look and what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Think about the birds in the sky—they don’t plant seeds or harvest crops or gather grain into barns, but it’s your heavenly father who feeds them. Aren’t each of you worth more than them? 27 Who can add an hour to their lifetime by worrying?

28 “Why would you worry about clothes? Look how the flowers grow in the fields—they don’t work or make fabric, 29 but I can tell you that not even King Shelomoh (Solomon) at the peak of his reign was dressed as well as the flowers.[ref] 30 So if God dresses the plants in the fields that are here today and thrown away tomorrow, won’t he care much more for you, you people with little faith?

31 “That means that you people don’t need to worry about having anything to eat or drink, or having clothes to wear. 32 People with no trust in God try to obtain all those things, but your heavenly father already knows that you need these things. 33 So instead you should be striving to enter God’s kingdom and to be guiltless in his eyes, and then all these other things will just follow. 34 Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow can worry about itself—today’s problems are enough by themselves.

13 Then someone in the crowd said, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me a share of our father’s estate.”

14 “Man,” Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) responded, “who said that I’m the judge or arbitrator over you all?” 15 Then he told them, “Keep alert to avoid all greediness, because a person’s life is not about gaining lots of possessions.”

16 Then he told them all this parable, “One time a rich man’s farm produced a really good harvest. 17 So he started figuring out what to do, ‘What should I do? I don’t have anywhere to store my harvest.’ 18 ‘Ah,’ he said, ‘I know what I’ll do. I’ll knock down my barns and build bigger ones, and then I’ll store all my grain and other produce in there. 19 Then I’ll be able to tell my soul: Soul, you’ve got enough good things now to be able to relax for many years of resting, eating, drinking, and being happy.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘How foolish! Tonight I’ll be demanding your soul and then who will everything you stored up go to?’

21 “So that’s the end of someone who accumulated so much for himself, but wasn’t rich in God’s eyes.”

11 But you, Timotheos, as a godly person, flee from those things and instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith in order to take hold of the eternal life which you were called to when you confessed wanting to follow Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) in front of many witnesses. 13 I am commanding you in front of God who gave life to everything, and in front of Yeshua the messiah who testified the good confession to Pontios Pilatos (Pilate),[ref] 14 to obey that command faultlessly until the return of our master Yeshua the messiah. 15 He will be revealed in his own time—the blessed and only God, the ruler over all rulers and master over all masters, 16 the only immortal one who lives in unapproachable brightness which no person has ever seen or is capable of looking at. He will be honoured for his eternal power. May it be so.

17 Command those who are rich in this present age to not be proud and not to put their hope in uncertain wealth, but in God who richly blesses us with all that we need to be happy. 18 They should live out goodness, doing good deeds, helping others and being generous, 19 thus they will be building themselves a good foundation for the coming age so that they may experience true life.

32 And so the group of believers were united in their will and attitude. No one claimed anything to be their own, but they shared everything they had.[ref] 33 The missionaries of the master Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus), experienced great power and proclaimed the truth about how he came back to life, and God’s favour was with them. 34 None of them were lacking anything, because any of them who owned properties or houses would sell them and donate the proceeds. 35 They would lay them down in front of the missionaries, and from there it was distributed around according to what needs each person had.

36 Yosef (Joseph) (a Levite born in Kupros (Cyprus) who was nicknamed by the missionaries as ‘Barnabas’, meaning ‘Encourager’) was one who 37 owned a field which he sold, and brought the money and put it down in front of the missionaries.

8 And then, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about how God showed kindness to the assemblies in Makedonia[ref] 2 in that as they proved themselves in a time of persecution, they continued to show great positivity and from the depth of their poverty, their generosity resulted in plentiful riches. 3 So I’m testifying about their ability, and besides that, they voluntarily 4 and enthusiastically begged us to allow them the grace and fellowship that would come from their service to other believers. 5 It wasn’t something that we expected of them, but they gave themselves—firstly to the master, and also to us by God’s will. 6 So we encouraged Titos that just as he began to do previously, that he would go on to cultivate this generosity in you. 7 But since you’re all prolific in everything—in faith and speech and knowledge and all earnestness and in the love from us to you all—make sure that you’re all prolific in this grace of giving.

8 I’m not saying this as a command, but approving the genuineness of your love through the earnestness of others. 9 because you have all experienced the grace of our master Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) Messiah: that although he was rich, he became poor so that all of you in your poverty might become rich.

10 And I’m giving my opinion on this because it’s beneficial for you all not only to do what began last year, but to do it willingly. 11 Now you should see this through so that you’re all not just ready to be willing, but also to actually accomplish that from what you have, 12 because if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what they do not have.

13 Of course, it’s not that others should be relaxing while you all endure difficulty, but with an aim of equality. 14 At the present time, your excess will help those who are in need—another time their excess might meet your need to bring about equality. 15 As the scriptures say:

‘The person who gathered much didn’t have too much,

and the person who gathered little didn’t have any lack.’[ref]

6 Also this: the person who plants sparingly will also harvest sparingly, and the person sowing generously will also have a generous harvest. 7 Let each person do what their own heart tells them—not out of sorrow or from pressure, but because God loves those who are cheerful givers. 8 And God is able to shower generosity onto you all so that you’ll be content having everything you need, thus able to be prolific in doing good to others. 9 As it’s written in the scriptures:

‘He distributed his gifts and gave to the poor,

now his righteousness will remain to the end of the age.’[ref]

10 Thus God who supplies the seed to the person sowing and supplies our food,[ref] will be supplying and multiplying your seeds as you sow in others and will increase the harvest resulting from your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched towards generosity in every way, which will lead us all to give thanks to God. 12 Serving in this kind of ministry meets the needs of the believers, but also leads to plenty of occasions to give thanks to God. 13 In proving yourselves by this ministry, they will honour God as it displays your commitment to the good message of the messiah, and your generosity toward them and towards everyone, 14 and they will wish the best for you all and pray for you because of God’s overflowing goodness to you all. 15 Yes, we thank God for his incredible gift.