James 2:14-26 "Faith & Works"

                The final text for our series on stewardship of self comes to us from one of the most debated texts in all of Scripture.  James 2 has been the battleground for the age-old argument of faith vs. works.  Now, we’ve said in various studies and discussions that good works are the proper response to our right faith in Christ, but I don’t want you to fall into the temptation of just saying that you already know where we’re going and thus there’s no reason to wrestle with the text that is before us.  I want each of us to spend some time taking in God’s Word written here by James and examining our own faiths as we try and determine if we are actually living a salvation by faith life or a salvation by works life.  Notice that I didn’t say whether we believe in one or the other, but how we are actually living.  It’s one thing to say something, and an entirely different thing to put it into practice.

                Our text begins with James asking, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can that faith save him?”  After giving some examples of faith without works, he concludes his opening remarks by saying, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.”  Now, for some reason, this text has been used to promote the concept of good works and to say that they are in some way equal to or greater than faith in Christ; it’s used to promote the notion that we somehow have something to do with our salvation.  While good works ought to be promoted, encouraged, and not overlooked; unfortunately, too many have stretched these verses beyond their meaning and caused them to say something that they do not.  Remember, James, Jesus’ earthly brother, the writer of this epistle, was a very faithful man.  He was a man who trusted in God and fully claimed Jesus as the Lord.  So, when we read the words of James, we have to remember the larger context that is at work here.  This isn’t a man who is simply a moral person who doesn’t hold a high view of faith in Christ.  This is a man who is a very faithful believer in Jesus Christ who is calling for something more than just faith, or at the very least a mere profession of faith.  If we try and separate James’ faith from his ideas about good works, then we have missed the actual meaning of the text.

                What James is trying to get across to his audience here is the notion that faith and works are intertwined.  That notion is something that honestly, is sometimes overlooked in our world today.  In our Reformed traditional, we boldly proclaim that salvation comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  Now, I’m not differing or straying from that statement in the least, but it has caused a bit of a problem.  You see, this statement was taken from Ephesians 2:8-9 as a battle cry of sorts around the time of the Reformation, which finds its beginnings in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of All Saints Church in Wittenberg.  Well, have you ever told a story and then after some time has passed the story makes its way back to you but it’s changed some or the understanding about the story isn’t quite the same?  Well, that is kind of the case here with the concept of saved by grace through faith in Christ.  You see, this statement hasn’t changed in terms of its truth, but it has changed in terms of what it looks like in today’s world.  Unfortunately the sentiments behind this statement and the understanding of how it actually applies have been used more as an excuse to do whatever we want instead of a promoting of how great and powerful our faith in Christ truly is.

                Now, I’m not the type of Christian who gets caught up in outward appearances.  There are some that do and that’s fine, I have no issue with the person who acts in such a manner.  I have no problem with the Christian who removes all habits and behavior that could even slightly be perceived as sinful.  I may view them as going overboard and they may view me as being too lax about my faith, but I would hope that we could both see each other as two people who are living for God.  However, I am very careful to constantly ask myself whether my actions are a.)sinful, b.)causing someone else to sin, c.)destructive to God’s kingdom, or d.)having a negative impact on my Christian witness.  If any of these answers are yes, then I am in need of a change so that my actions or works are not hindering the spread of the gospel.  However, not all Christians ask themselves such questions.  We live in a world where many profess with their mouths and not with their hearts, hands, feet, or any other part of their bodies.  They live immoral lives with no evidence of true saving faith and yet any time they are questioned or opposed about their faith in Christ, they’re very quick to defend themselves with statements that reflect the notion that we are indeed saved by faith alone and not works.  Some of the more common statements we hear are:  “Well, it’s a personal matter and only God knows what’s in my heart.”  “It’s between me and God.”  “It’s not what we do but what we believe.”  I hear these statements, and while there is a great deal of truth to each of them, there’s great shame in them as well.  You see, if the only evidence that someone has that we’re a Christian is what we say we believe, then is it really a true saving faith?  In our text, James answered this question by saying, “You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe—and shudder!” 

                Even demons, those who explicitly serve the enemy, they believe in God and in Jesus as the Messiah as well.  However, theirs is only an intellectual admission.  They acknowledge God, but there are no good works that flow forth from them and from their belief in God.  We would never say that such a belief in God is adequate for salvation, but that’s kind of what we do.  When we say that we have faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and that his death and resurrection have saved us but our lives don’t reflect such beliefs, how are we any different from the demons.  What’s the difference between saying that we have faith and simply believing or acknowledging God’s existence if neither produces any good works or holy fruit as Matthew Henry puts it?  I don’t really think there’s as much of a difference there as we sometimes think.  The only real difference is that one wording seems a little more forgiving than the other.  To further convey Henry’s thoughts on a faith professed only with the mouth, he says, “A bare profession may gain the good opinion of pious people; and it may procure, in some cases, worldly good things; but what profit will it be, for any to gain the whole world, and to lose their souls?  Can this faith save him?” 

                Now, we have to be very careful of the other side of the coin too.  We have to be careful to not look upon someone who displays great works and who has high moral character and think without a doubt that their faith and life is to be emulated.  I have known many good, honest people who live their lives seeking nothing but the good of others, yet the gospel has not impacted them in any way.  Some folks are just good people, but have not come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Now, there are some out there who will say about these folks something along the lines of, “Well, as long as you’re a good person, I think that’s all that counts.”  While I do agree that being a good person (whatever that looks like) is desirable, I want to shedding tears almost every time I hear this statement.  Back when we were walking through John’s gospel, we came across John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”  Now, how are we to take this statement made by Jesus in John’s gospel and apply it to the person who thinks that doing what’s right is really all that matters.  Well the answer is simple, faith is what matters.  Faith is the means by which we are saved and faith alone. 

                James’ words here are not an argument for good works being an alternate route to salvation, but showing that a right faith and an understanding of that faith produces good works.  He’s not saying that faith is nothing apart from works, but that if our faith doesn’t stir us to action, then is it really a saving faith or is it a dead faith.  If the good news of our salvation is something that we can hear about or think about and it not affect us in any way or cause us to want to respond with doing good things for God’s kingdom, then I’m afraid that the message hasn’t been received. 

                As we’ve taken time over the past month to look at our responsibilities as faithful stewards of all that God has given us, we’ve seen many different things.  And I want to try and sum up all of these past four Sundays into this one concept or idea.  A right faith and love for God is a truly great gift.  However, it is a gift that comes with a fairly weighty burden, but who said that a burden always has to be a bad thing.  I have a burden to provide for my family because I love them.  I have a burden to care for the needs of my congregation because I love you.  And each of you have similar burdens in your lives for your friends and family.  We all have a burden to see the kingdom of God spread across this earth because we love not only God, but we love all of his children as well.  Friends, our being faith stewards of God’s graces is not about a vast biblical knowledge, it’s not about adhering to strict laws in order to gain favor, it’s about our responding to the wonderful news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ by going out into the world and seek the lost and serving in any way we can.  I know that there are great things on the horizon for God’s kingdom in the coming year and I know that there are great things ahead for this particular church as well.  Let me challenge each of you begin today seeking ways in which you can serve God more.  Let this be a red letter day in the life of First Presbyterian Church, and a red letter day in your life as well.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

Matthew 23:23-24 "Proper Focus"

                Since we’re jumping right into the middle of Matthew’s gospel today as we continue our look at being faithful stewards with what we have to offer, I want to take a second and give some clarity to where we are in the sequence of events.  Jesus is in Jerusalem.  He has already entered the city on the back of a donkey and been greeted by the multitudes that lined the street.  He has already cleansed the temple and driven out those who are conducting themselves corruptly within its walls.  He has taught for quite some time about the kingdom of heaven and how we are to conduct ourselves as God’s children.  He has already had some disagreements with the temple personnel and the religious leaders of Jerusalem.  That being the case, the Pharisees have already been working to try and find some reason that Jesus should be discredited, or even found to be a heretic, so that he may be arrested.  Now, in the midst of somewhat of a strife between Jesus and the religious leaders of Jerusalem, Jesus goes into a long discourse about what he sees currently in Jerusalem and what is to come.  In the midst of that is where we find our text for today, Jesus’ warning against and condemnation of the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees.

                Now, we’re not going to spend time talking about each of the issues that Jesus raises against the Pharisees here, commonly known as the “Seven Woes.”  Beginning in verse 13, Jesus condemns the Pharisees for seven things that they had been doing corruptly or incorrectly.  He condemns them for focusing upon their laws and not the will of God, for caring more about earthly things than those of the divine, for worrying more about tradition than worship or obeying God, for neglecting the things that really matter, for only focusing on outward appearances, and covering sins with the appearance of being spiritual.  In essence, Jesus condemns these leaders for being more concerned with themselves and the world that they are in than with God’s kingdom.  Now, like I said, I’m not going to deal with each of these offenses this morning, but each one of them would take quite some time to adequately flush out.  No, what I am going to do today, as we continue our stewardship series, is to focus upon the “woe” that we find in verses 23 and 24.  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocites!  For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faithfulness.  These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.  You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.”

                I think that these verses so precisely sum up the thought that underlines our stewardship series this year.  You see, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees about the fact that it’s not exactly about perfect adherence to the law; that is the Pharisaic law.  He was telling them that it’s great that they gave their tithe and that they expected that from everyone else, but that’s not the full extent of it.  The goal of Christian leader ought not to stop at proper giving.  Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t be more proud of this church as her pastor for the way in which we responded to our look at biblical stewardship since last year.  I mean, erasing a nearly $20,000 budgetary deficit in only twelve month is remarkable, but like I said last Sunday, that’s not the extent of it.  It’s not about whether or not we reach certain financial goals or whether or not we’re adhering to a strict principle of dedicating 10% to the Lord, but it’s about our being faith biblical stewards with what we have been given.  What good is it for us to strictly keep the principle of a tithe, yet ignore other commands that we are given in Scripture?  What good is adherence to some and disobeying others?  How could we say that it’s important for us to meet these financial commands while failing to even give the slightest bit of attention to others; things such as compassion, mercy, and faithfulness?  Have we really done the work of God by meeting our financial responsibilities and ignoring the hungry, the hurting, the homeless, the lost, and all the other groups that are in need.  The commands to care for those in need are just as important as the commands to tithe and to gather regularly for corporate worship.  The commands for ministries of compassion and caring are just as real and important as the commands to seek the destruction of sinful behavior.  They’re just as important as the commands of Scripture that call us to baptize our children and others in the name of the Lord.  We would never think of ignoring these commands, so why would we even think of ignoring those commands that find us in the service of those in need?  Well, my theory is that because it makes us feel uncomfortable.  It causes us to be confronted with our own sinful desires of self-preservation when we find those that are less fortunate.  Are we really doing the work of Christ when we go and serve at a soup kitchen and the whole time we have one hand on our back pockets making sure our wallets haven’t been lifted in the last 20 seconds?  Notice that I’m not saying that tithing is as important as ministries of mercy, compassion, and justice, but simply that the commands for each are just as plain and present as one another.

                One of the sad facts of the matter is that many Christians in our world today, and I mean honest, hardworking, and good people, are what I like to call Sunday Morning Christians.  These folks are regular church attendees.  Why, if attendance was taken, they might even be the most regular attendants in their church.  They always give and they give generously, never giving less than their tithe.  They always volunteer for events that are held around the time of worship.  Some of them are even seen as pillars of their local churches.  However, don’t expect to find the same Monday through Saturday.  These people have become so concerned with the function of the church as an institution that they have missed the bigger picture.  Their behavior outside of the church setting is completely different from their attitudes Sunday morning.  It’s almost as if their faith has become reduced to one day a week where they show up and pay their money and go about their day.  Now, this may come across a little harsh, and I’m not wanting to offend anyone, but sometimes that’s my job.  And obviously I’m using a large brush here and painting in general strokes, but I think I’m probably more truthful here than any of us would like to admit.  How many times have we seen leaders in local churches, both clergy and laypeople, caught in some type of secret sinful life?  You see, we can’t become so concerned with keeping up what we want to and ignoring what we don’t want to think about.  The Pharisees had become such hypocrites in their actions.  They were calling everyone else to live their lives in devotion to God, but they were really concerned with their own interests.  Their lives, which seemed very pious on the outside, were done primarily so that people would perceive them to be this holier than holy group of leaders.

                Being a pastor is one of the greatest honors of my life, but it does come with some things that aren’t such a blessing.  First, there’s the pain and suffering that you have to help others through.  No one likes to see people hurting, either physically or emotionally, but that’s part of the calling.  There’s also the fact that the pastor’s family never gets a full weekend.  It’s just not really feasible for all of my family to go somewhere for a weekend, because we can’t leave until Friday afternoon and we have to be back Saturday evening.  There have been many times where my family goes on a trip and I stay home because of my responsibilities on Sunday morning.  Finally, there’s the issue of people hiding things from you.  This is one that I’ve never understood, but for some reason people feel like they have to act differently around us pastors and that they ought to be on their best behavior.  It’s ironic because I don’t feel that way at all when I’m around other pastors.  However, I do notice a difference in the people who knew me pre-ministry and those who didn’t.  Also, I see a world of difference in the way that some act in a worship setting versus how they act outside of a church.  If our faith is genuine, shouldn’t it be something that permeated throughout our entire lives, and not just when we’re at church or around “church folks?”

                Friends, the bottom line of it all is this, our faith is not a checklist.  It’s not a series of items that we must complete in order to cross off our list.  Our faith cannot be a matter of completing tasks:  tithing, attendance, committees, a certain amount of outreach and mission trips, etc.  Our faith has to be something that is spontaneous and stirs us to action.  Our faith has to be something that causes us to have this burden of love upon our hearts that seeks for the love of Christ to be spread.  Our faith must cause us to go forth into the world and take the good news of the gospel with us.  And the greatest testimony or witness that we can give is by living as a Christian.  We glorify God’s kingdom when we conduct ourselves as Christians in the world at all times, and not just on Sunday mornings.  Don’t be a Christian who worries about showing up every Sunday, never running late, with a perfectly dressed family, and bringing your own Bible as if having your own raises your commitment a notch.  Be a Christian who seeks to serve.  Be a disciple of Christ who truly is a disciple and wants nothing more than to work for Christ’s kingdom in any way he/she can.  Be a person who hears all of God’s commands and not just the ones that are easy or that you like.  It’s very possible, and common, for us to miss the forest because we’re only focused on a small group of trees.  Don’t get caught upon in every little detail, but let you faith flow from every part of you.  And I promise you this, God will do some mighty things through you and you won’t even realize what’s happening.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

2 Timothy 4:9-15 "Christian Retirement?"

If we ever want to look to Scripture to find an example of someone who has lived a tough life there are numerous choices. We could look at the book of Job and find a man who had everything taken away from him so that God could prove to Satan that suffering doesn’t necessarily separate us from God. We could look to any number of martyrs that we find throughout Scripture. Some of the beatings and tribulations of Godly men and women in the Bible are so severe that it leaves us thanking God every day that we are not faced with the same circumstances. Perhaps no person fits the term “rough life” better than the Apostle Paul. After Paul’s conversion to Christianity, his life seemed to be filled with one hardship after another; all while working to establish and foster churches here on earth.

Having a very brief history of the Apostle beginning with his conversion will help us to see just how much Paul suffered for the sake of the gospel. Shortly after his conversion, which took place somewhere between 33 and 36 AD, he was nearly killed in Damascus. Only three years after becoming a Christian Paul traveled to Jerusalem in order to spread the gospel. From 46-48 Paul embarked on his 1st missionary journey. He went from Antioch to Cyprus to Southern Asia Minor and back to Antioch. From 49-52 he undertook his 2nd missionary journey. During this 2nd journey, Paul was imprisoned at Philippi with Silas. He escaped this situation when an earthquake hit and allowed one of the prison walls to collapse. This is the story of the Philippian jailer, who upon witnessing these events, immediately devoted his life to following the teachings of Jesus. Paul’s 3rd and final missionary journey began only one year after returning from his 2nd journey. In 60 AD he made a trip to Rome. On this trip to Rome is where Paul was imprisoned once again, and it was there that Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy that we are looking at today. In all, Paul’s travels after his conversion total up to be an estimated 14,000 miles. Remind you that this is on foot. This would be the equivalent of me walking out the door in the back of the sanctuary, and walking to my childhood home in Meridian, MS and back around 27 times.

Now add in the fact that Paul’s travels often took him to some less than desirable locations. Very few times when Paul arrived at places where a church was already established did he find it peaceful and a time of relaxation. Usually there was some conflict within the church that Paul himself had to address. There is also the “thorn in the flesh” mentioned in 2 Cor. 12, which is most likely a physical disability Paul gained during his ministry. Add to that the continuous persecutions, beatings, and aforementioned imprisonments along the way and you start to get the picture. Paul managed to squeeze all of this into about a 30 year period. This letter to Timothy was written only a few years prior to his death in Rome.

We can tell from the previous words in this letter that Paul had a feeling that his life was soon to come to an end. Earlier, in 4:6-7 we find, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Paul’s acknowledgement of the nearing end makes what we find in our text today an even more impressive message than what we might find simply by a surface reading. After requesting that Timothy come and visit Paul (no doubt so that he may continue to teach and train him for the continuation of his ministry) Paul moved on to reminisce of some of his fellow workers of the past who had worked honorably and dishonorably.

The first name that Paul gives to Timothy is the name Demas. Now this isn’t a name that I expect everyone to be able to recall off the top of their head, but it is someone that Paul has referred to at other points during his letters. In Philemon, Demas is listed in a group of men that Paul calls his “fellow laborers.” In Colossians 4 his name is simply listed without any other qualifying information. Here, we find that the name Demas carries with it a negative connotation. “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” We can take this as Paul warning against loving worldly values more than the spread of the gospel.
The next two names, Crescens and Titus, are of two others who Paul had sent out. When it comes to Crescens there is nothing else known about him other than this passage of him being sent to Galatia. Now Titus, we know from Paul’s letter to him and brief mentions in other letters, was a close friend and associate of Paul’s. Regardless, both of these men have left Paul’s side at this present time.

Whether this desertion was meant as a negative or simply just Paul’s telling Timothy where the others had gone, there is now a shift from those who have left Paul to the one who was still with him. Luke alone was with Paul. It’s funny, despite the fact that Luke wrote his gospel and the book of Acts, little is known about Luke the person. We know from inference that he was with Paul on his last journey to Rome. It is also mostly likely that Luke even willingly accompanied Paul to prison in Rome (this no doubt shows why Paul speaks so lovingly of him). As far as definitive references to Luke go in Scripture we have similar evidence as we do for Demas. In Colossians 4 Luke is described as the beloved physician is also listed as a fellow laborer in Philemon 24. It has been suggested that Luke’s skills as a physician allowed Paul to carry out his journeys despite his physical ailments. The best quote that I have found for summing up Luke is as follows, “The Church is full of talkers and of people who are there more for what they can get than for what they can give; Luke was one of these priceless people—the workers of the Church.”

The next person we come to is a person who has redeemed himself in the eyes of Paul. Paul says that Mark will be useful for him in ministry. Now the Greek word used here for ministry carries with it a wider sense of service. In other words, Paul is saying that having Mark with him was beneficial at this time. This is unexpected in light of what happened during Paul’s first missionary journey. Mark had been picked by Paul and Barnabas to join them on the mission and to become a contemporary of theirs. We are told, however, in Acts 13 that Mark left them and went home. Paul took this defection so hard that when Mark wanted to go with Paul and Barnabas on Paul’s second missionary journey, Paul refused to have such a quitter accompany them. Paul and Barnabas argued over this issue so much that they actually parted ways because Paul would have nothing to do with Mark. We don’t know exactly what happened to mend the relationship between the two, but Paul is now asking for Mark’s presence.

The next name, Tychicus, is someone who Paul had sent out to visit the church that he had established in Ephesus. He was the one who delivered the letters to the churches in Colossae and Ephesus. Then, the final name mentioned is Alexander the coppersmith. It is unknown what exactly Alexander had done, but we can determine from the text that he had worked to disrupt the spread of the gospel and caused Paul personal harm.

Now sandwiched between these last two names is what I want all of us to focus on this morning. Listen to the personal requests made by Paul to Timothy, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” Despite Paul’s seemingly dire situation, this language seems to indicate that he still had work to do. Paul wanted his books, or in the Greek, his biblia, which literally means papyrus rolls, and it is most likely that these rolls contained the earliest forms of the gospels. He wanted the parchments. Perhaps these were legal documents such as his proof of Roman citizenship. However, it is most likely his copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, or as we would say, the Old Testament. Paul was acting like a man who still had work that needed to be done. Even though Paul had been through so much and was certain that the end was near, he continued to work for the sake of the gospel.

One of the ways in which you know that you have fully entered into adulthood is when you start thinking about retirement. Now, obviously Amy and I aren’t thinking about retirement any time soon, but it’s something that we began planning for several years ago. We don’t know what it will look like. I imagine a cantankerous old Presbyterian preacher sitting on the porch with his eternally beautiful bride somewhere, but you never know. After all, what does a preacher retiring even look like. Most preachers I know who have retired have gone right back to work doing something else in ministry. After all, my calling is that of making disciples, and you can’t really retire from that can you? You know we say that we have two jobs in life; we are a doctor, teacher, lawyer, etc., but we are also Christians. It is my opinion, as it is most likely yours, that the later job is a calling that is much more than a profession. As such, it is something that last for a lifetime and never really has a retirement. You can’t retire from Christian service.

If there was ever a person who had a right to say that they were retiring from Christian service it was the Apostle Paul. After penning 13 New Testament epistles (along with numerous other letters that are not in our Bibles) and some 25 years of missionary travels, he could have said he was done and no one could have second guessed him. The truth of the matter is that he didn’t. Despite all of the physical pain, prison stints, the loss of co-workers, the regrets of his lifestyle prior to his conversion, he continued onward. I mean, the man was sitting in prison talking about the fact that he had work to be done. He didn’t know for certain whether or not he would even make it out of prison. Paul knew that one never retires from Christ. You don’t stop being a Christian. When a teacher retires, they no longer go to the school every day. When a lawyer retires, he doesn’t go in every morning to the practice. Retired doctors don’t keep the same schedule as they did before retiring. Christians never retire. They never quit being Christians if they are faithful to the Word of God.

Friends, as we continue during this season of stewardship of self, we are at a crossroads. We have made great progress in suring up the operations of our own church family, but is that the goal? We have worked hard to get ourselves to a stable position in how we operate, but is that the ultimate goal? Well, I don’t think I even need to answer that for you. The goal isn’t about us, but about proclaiming God’s Word and reaching all those around us who are in need of it. We have to continue to be active in our efforts to establish God’s kingdom here on earth. We have to continue to work in the area missions and outreach and evangelism. We have to continue to support and take part in the Christian education of this church. We have to continue to fan the flame of Christ that burns within each of us. Friends, I know that it doesn’t take long of completely devoting ourselves to something before the feeling of being burned out sets in. I know that people in churches many times feel like they need a break and that it’s time for someone else to worry about it. I want to encourage you, just as I have to encourage myself constantly, to keep the mindset of the Apostle Paul. There is still work to be done. Christ has commanded us to continue in our efforts, for He is with us “to the end of this age.” There is never a time, as long as we have air in our lungs, in which our service to Christ is done. We should work each and every day, in some manner or way, at growing Christ’s kingdom upon this earth. There is no such thing as retirement from being a Christian. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

1 Peter 4:1-11 "Using Your Gifts"

You may be sitting there asking yourself why I would choose to read these verses to begin a series on stewardship. Well, it is my hope that over the course of the next few minutes that that will be abundantly clear, but I will at least give you that this text isn’t often thought of in terms of stewardship. However, we have to remember that stewardship is much more than a financial responsibility. I think that it is very apt stewardship text when we look at it in terms of how we use the gifts that God has given us. Remember, our stewardship series won’t be focused on how we are to be faithful stewards with our finances, but how we are faithful stewards with our gifts, time, and talents. The proper use of these things is just as important for the sake of the growth of God’s kingdom as our financial responsibilities are, many even more so.

Most of the time, when we look at the first half of 1 Peter 4, much of the attention is given to the third verse: “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, and drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.” I happen to like the way that the NIV translates the beginning of this verse, “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what the pagans choose to do.” Now, most of the time when we see this verse, it’s in the context of someone telling us that we shouldn’t do something. Someone doesn’t want another person, for instance, to consume alcohol and so they point to this verse as proof of that. Well, hold on just a minute, we have to be real careful how far we go, we can’t make the text say something that it doesn’t. When we look at the list that’s given to us here in verse 3, we see that they are all abuses of good things that have been given to us by God. Debauchery, lust, and orgies are all abuses of love, something that God gave as a gift to man and woman, to Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden before the Fall ever happened. Drunkenness and carousing are abuses of fellowship and merriment that God has given to mankind. The Rabbis of the Jesus’ day devoted songs to the wine that was shared at times of fellowship. They would say that without wine, there is no joy. Remember when we looked at Jesus’ saying that he was the good wine, the true wine. We said that Jesus was true joy. The first part of this text isn’t a condemnation on a bunch of different behavior exactly, but a condemnation on abusing and misusing wonderful things that have been given to us by God. It is a condemnation and rebuking of us not being faithful stewards of what God has given us.

You see, the central message of this passage is not a condemnation of certain behaviors, but a call to use what we have in a proper manner. Beginning in verse 8, we find, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” And here it is, I really want you to pay attention to verse 10, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” In other words, God has given each and every person a gift. He’s given each and every one of His children some type of ability or talent or characteristic or trait that not everyone has. The question then becomes how are we going to us it? How are we going to use those special talents and gifts that we have? Are we going to use them for good or bad? Are we going to use them to construct or to destruct? Are we going to use them to promote kingdom growth or to inhibit kingdom growth? You see, it’s not about the abilities, but about how you use them. What good is having a gift if you never use it?

Now, I could point to numerous examples of folks who were living lives that didn’t reflect Christ in any way and changed. I could point to stories of how people with immense talent that lived immoral lives turned from their ways to a new way of life. I could talk about how many of these folks came to be my colleagues in ministry, but I think that that sometimes gives the wrong idea. Many times, we think that only pastors are those who have been given gifts that can be used in service of God’s kingdom. I don’t know if that’s because we pastors are so often talking about it, or because it makes it easier to deny the fact that many of us don’t use our gifts as we ought to. After all, everyone has been given some type of gift from God. Your gift may not be that of preaching, or teaching, or public praying or anything that usually goes noticed within the church, but don’t think that your gifts are not useful in the service of God’s kingdom. I can promise you thing, that an individual church’s strength is not found in her pulpit, but in her pews.

My job, my calling, is often misunderstood by many people. Many think that the responsibility of the pastor is to tend to the business of the church. He’s to tend to the teaching and preaching of the church. He’s to tend to the various programs and ministry of the church, and he’s to function in many regards as the CEO of his particular church. And while all of those things do describe to a certain extent the responsibilities of a pastor, I prefer to think of my calling as being similar to a pair of glasses. Now, I don’t wear glasses, but most of my family does and in particular my wife. I learned many years ago that without the use of contacts or glasses, she can hardly see a thing. She’s also a very intelligent woman. She has a tremendous ability when it comes to solving problems, in particular problems dealing with numbers. I used to look at her notes from when she would figure out mortgages for people when she was a mortgage lender and the face that I made was similar to that of a monkey looking at a road map. Now, I say all of this to point out the fact that without her glasses to help her focus, her ability with numbers would be completely wasted. The role of the pastor, along with the church and her members, is to help each and every one of us focus our abilities upon serving God. It’s to point us all in the right direction so that we may use our gifts to the glory of God, “so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power for ever and ever.”

So let me ask you a few simple questions? First, what is your gift? Some of you may know it off the top of your head, while others struggle in determining what ability they have. Some people really struggle with figuring out what they bring to the table or what they have to offer. I often find it helpful to seek the advice of those around me when wanting to know about me because many times they notice things that I don’t. Secondly, after determining what your gift is, how are you using that gift? Are you using it in the positive manner that we’re called to, building up God’s kingdom and serving Christ and his church? Or are you abusing it? Are you using it in that the way that Peter condemned earlier in this text? Are you using the gifts that God has given you in a selfish manner? Are you withholding from God what is rightfully his? Are you being a faithful steward of God’s grace? As we spend some time over the next few weeks looking at stewardship as it pertains to our properly using what God has given us, I want you to think of some ways that your gifts, your abilities, can be used in the service of God’s kingdom. And I want each of you to know that there is no such thing as a useless gift or talent, just one that has not found its proper direction. God uses all talents and all abilities in the service of His kingdom. How is God calling you to use the gifts that He has given to you this day? Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2 Corinthians 9:6-11 "It's Not What, But How"

Over the last month, you have all patiently tolerated my thoughts and ramblings about giving, tithing, and stewardship. In addition to that, you have been so kind as to read a letter of preparation about how we were going to approach this stewardship season. Finally, you have listened to fellow members of your church family talk about what stewardship means to them. My hope is that as a result of all of this, that you have all challenged yourself to grow in your understanding of biblical stewardship and what makes a faithful Christian steward. As I said at the beginning of this series, both from this pulpit and that previously mentioned letter, I don’t want you to interpret this short series as a fundraising effort, but as a spiritual growth effort. The things that we have talked about over the last several weeks are much more important matters than the need for the church to have more money or the pastor to feed his family. Y’all can take one look at little Thomas and tell that nobody at my house is going hungry. This look at stewardship hasn’t been done as if it was a pledge drive or fundraiser. This look at biblical stewardship has been done for the purpose of helping all of us to think about what we are (a) commanded to give to God and (b) called to give to God. I hope that you have, and will continue to for the rest of this week, to sit down with your family and to determine the answer to both of these questions.

We’ve spent enough time looking at and talking about what we should give, and I want to end this look at biblical stewardship by looking at something a little different: how we should give. We’ve said that we hesitate to give to God because of worries about there being enough left over for ourselves and our family. We are hesitant and reluctant to give, and I’m not just talking about money. If you dedicate more time to God, will you have enough left over for your loved ones and your responsibilities? I know what it’s like to have an overcommitted schedule and feel like you are neglecting those at home. I will openly admit that while being enrolled in seminary full-time, working as a youth director, and doing some other odd jobs, that I made it as if Amy were a single parent for the first year of Ashby’s life. My desire to provide something and work towards a goal drove me to miss out on the very thing that I was working for. I had to learn that everything else would be fine. I had to learn that what mattered to my family was time with my family, and they needed me much more than the wages and fruits of my labor. I was so worried that if I gave up providing certain things, that they would be unhappy with me. I was letting a lack of faith keep me from giving of myself freely and generously to my family. I was not trusting that God would provide all that we needed in order for us to survive as a family. Paul tells us the same thing when it comes to giving to God. “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all time, you may abound in every good work.” The Lord has promised that He will provide for our needs.

Did you notice those few words there in the middle that seem somewhat counterintuitive: a cheerful giver? These words have caused many Christians a good deal of confusion for quite some time. What in the world is a cheerful giver? What does that even look like? I know many people who give and give generously, but how do you give cheerfully? Unfortunately, far too few people enjoy giving when it is done freely. Sure, we all enjoy giving presents to our family, friends, and our kids, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I love the look on my wife or my kids’ faces when I give them a present that they like, but I’m not really talking about giving someone a gift or present. I’m not even really talking about giving to a local or national charity or mission organization. I’m talking about specifically giving to God being something that is done out of joy instead of obligation. I’m talking about a tithe offering being the Christian returning lovingly to God what He commands us to give Him because of all that He has given to us. I’m not talking about begrudgingly giving our tithe to God because we feel guilty if we don’t. Hear me when I say this, if the only reason why a Christian gives to God is because of the command to do so, then I think that there is something missing there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very important and proper for the Christian to respond to God’s commands with obedience, but there’s a little bit more to it. If the Christian views tithing as simply an unregulated and voluntary tax paid to the Church, then a great tragedy has taken place.

Our attitude when we give is more important than the amount that we give. Some of you may question this and wonder what many have thought before us and say, “Isn’t it better to give a larger gift or make a greater commitment to God? Isn’t the purpose to commit as much as we can to God? I thought the entire goal was fully committing all that we have to the Lord, or at the very least our firstfruits and our ten percent.” Or maybe you even look at it from the other side of the coin. Maybe there is a sense in which you are embarrassed with your ability to give only a small gift. I have talked with more people than I care to about them feeling less than someone else. Sometimes, we think that the value, the true worth, of a gift is measured in the amount, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. God is far more concerned with how we give from the resources that we have than what we give. Personally, I don’t care if you give 2%, 5%, 10%, 20%, or any other percentage to God. What I do care about, however, is how you give it to Him. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not dismissing the principle of tithing. I’m simply saying that as I see things, the attitude is even greater than the amount. If you don’t want to take my word for it, you need only look at Mark 12:41-44 and the story of the poor widow’s offering. In this account we are told of all the people coming to pay their offering. We’re told how so many brought it in the most visually stunning way imaginable; similar to how we would pay for a $100 item in all quarters instead of simply a few paper bills. To give their offering, the people would come forward and drop these multitudes of coins into these large metal boxes, making as loud of a noise as possible so that everyone in attendance not only knew they were giving, but that they were giving greatly. All those in attendance were basing a persons’ wealth and generosity and piety on the amount of noise generated by their offering. Then this widow comes forward, and she places two small copper coins in the bins. Now, with this small offering, she shows everyone in attendance what true faith is all about.

You see, these two small copper coins, or two lepta, are worth nearly nothing. As a matter of fact, in this day and age, where the value of a coin was based off of its thickness and weight, a lepta was referred to as a “thin-one.” It was by all accounts as worthless a currency as there was at this time. Each of these coins was valued at less than the modern day equivalent of a penny. Think about today’s society where many toss pennies aside as if they have no value at all, and here is this woman, who places such a seemingly insignificant amount in the offering bins. In the midst of all of these people giving such massive amounts of coins, Jesus praises this widow for her seemingly miniscule offering. “Jesus called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” The value of a gift is not determined on the amount, but by the spirit in which it is given.

We’ve all heard stories of anonymous donors and mystery providers, so there’s really no need to go into such tales. However, I fully believe that if you were to ever sit down with one of these men or women who have ever made such donations, none of them would say that they did so in order to feel better about themselves or that they would have felt guilty had they not done so. I’ve sat with folks who have made such contributions to others, and I can tell you this, that every single one of them gave a donation because of how blessed they felt they had been. They didn’t feel like the owed it, but they wanted to show gratitude for what they had been given.

During our look at biblical stewardship, we have seen that we are to give a tithe (10%) out of our first and best fruits, but not only that, we are to give it cheerfully. I know that each of these truths come with their own set of challenges. I understand the difficulties that lie in making these things reality, but I want all of us to hear the closing words of our text from Paul on what happens when we give cheerfully. “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” I’m not going to stand up here and tell you that you will be given everything that you want when you give to God what is rightfully His. For me to do so would be a flat out lie and has no biblical standing whatsoever. What I can tell you with complete certainty is this: When we treat our Christian responsibility of giving to God what He commands, there will never be a time in which we do not have what we need. You may not see a difference in those two things, but there is a world between them. I don’t need many things to survive. Sure, there are a lot of things that I have gotten accustomed to and it would take a great deal of adjustment to do without them, but I don’t need them.

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I have felt before like I’m doing without because one of my families two cars won’t work right, or I have to eat at home every night because restaurants are too expensive, or I can’t take a vacation because my kids’ school costs too much. Here I am complaining and focusing on the negative side of everything. Instead of being thankful that my family has transportation, food, and education, I focus on what I want instead of need. I’m not asking, nor does God command, you to give up everything in your life. I don’t think that there is a Scriptural command to give every last thing that we have, but I do think that we should commit everything to the Lord. I don’t hesitate for one second in saying that the blessings that God gives to us, which He has already given to us, could ever be mistaken for what He commands of us. Quite simply, there is absolutely no way that we could ever come close to giving to God what He has already given to us. Shouldn’t we rejoice and want to cheerfully give back to Him but a portion of what is rightfully His? Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Malachi 3:7-10 "Don't Hold Back"

Our continued look at biblical stewardship and what makes a faithful Christian steward brings us today to the prophet Malachi, the final book of the Old Testament. Now, for us to fully understand what our text today is really saying I think that we need to have a sense of what’s going on at this particular time. You see, this book is the last of the prophets, and the 400 years of silence known as the intertestamental period begins with the close of Malachi. So, what is contained in this prophetic book are the final words of God before a period of silence from Him that lasts for 400 years until the time of John the Baptist. Now, Malachi is speaking to Israel (the Jews) almost a century after their return from exile. When they were initially allowed to come back from their exile from their land, they returned with a great fervor for the Lord. They almost immediately began rebuilding the temple and were very committed to the service of their God. However, that did not last very long. The people began to not tithe because of their own interests and what they wanted to do with their money. Now the purpose of the tithe was to provide for the Levites, the priests. This notion of a tithe, or ten percent, was initiated in Leviticus 27 when God, through Moses, commanded that a tenth of all possessions should go to supporting the priests, their ministry, and the tabernacle. This was done since the tribe of Levi was the only one that did not inherit any land of their own. Since the Levites, the priests, were not being support through proper tithing, they were forced to go and make a living for themselves. They were forced to enter into some other line of work in order to provide for their needs and the needs of their families. In doing so, the priests began to neglect their God-given responsibilities of caring for the temple and conducting the worship services. After years of this type of behavior continuing to happen, things had become pretty unruly and God’s chosen people had gone astray. Eventually, there was almost an entire generation of the people of Israel that knew putting oneself before God and didn’t know the importance of tithing.

So Malachi enters the scene and God speaks through him and paints just a stunning picture of Israel’s unfaithfulness. This picture leaves us with no other conclusion than that Israel deserves complete and total condemnation. Roughly 46 out of the 55 verses in this book are words condemning both the sinful people and unfaithful priests. And it’s near the end of those condemning words that we find our text for today. You see, it isn’t as if this is a new problem that has arisen with God’s chosen people. We are told in verse 7 that “from the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you says the Lord of hosts.” God’s patience seems endless. Throughout history, both prior to this account, during this account, and even after this account extending through today and I’m sure into the future, God’s people have ignored and disobeyed Him. Sure, some of it has been unintentional, but many times it has been something that we knew was contrary to how God would have us behave. Despite man’s numerous acts of rebellion and disobedience, God has always been willing to accept us back. It truly is one of the great pillars of the Christian faith that our God loves us so much that He is willing to forgive anything if we will simply come before Him and ask for forgiveness.

However, the people in Malachi’s day don’t admit their guilt; they wouldn’t admit that they had gone astray. They even had the audacity to imply that they in fact had never disobeyed. They had asked the question, “How shall we return?” God responds to this question by saying, “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you? In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.” God doesn’t leave anyone out. He doesn’t go easy on them. He doesn’t say, “I know that you have had great difficulty rebuilding your lives. I know that things have not been easy with all that has transpired.” He doesn’t even say to the people, “Look, I know that not having the priests in their usual role has made it difficult for you to worship, so I understand a little bit why you have neglected your responsibilities as you have.” There are no words of comfort and understanding here. Our God is a loving and caring God, but make no mistake about it; He is a just God who expects what He commands.

He goes on to tell the people “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.” He demands that the full tithe, the full ten percent be brought before Him. One of the greatest stories that I have ever been told about tithing came from the pastor of my previous church, Rev. Steve Bryant. Many of you got to meet Steve at my ordination and installation service back in February. Well, shortly after beginning his pastoral ministry Steve found himself the sole pastor of a fairly large church in Florida, one of the largest Presbyterian churches in the state at that time. They were going through a season of stewardship much like we are today. At the end of the season, they submitted pledge cards similar to what we will do in a few weeks. As the secretary of the church was going through the cards and writing the amount that each family pledged, she came across an unusual amount written on the card of one particular individual in the church. She came into Steve’s office to tell him and to ask him what should be done about it. Well, Steve, much like myself, doesn’t really want to know what any particular member of his congregation is giving. After some discussion he consented to look at the amount and he was blown away with what this man pledged. He figured that it must have been an error on the part of the man and that they would just hold out that one man’s pledge from the overall total until it got straightened out. Well, beginning at the first of the year this man wrote a check that was in line with what he had pledged a few months prior, and each month after his checks were in line with that pledge. This was a great blessing to Steve and to this church because it allowed them to do so many things with this money that they really weren’t even expecting.

The end of the year came, and Steve got a call from this particular man and all he would say was that he had just gotten off the phone with his accountant and there was a problem and he needed Steve to come to his office as soon as possible. Steve has admitted more than once that that was one of the scariest drives that he has ever made. He didn’t know what he was about to find when he got to the man’s business. For all he knew the church was getting ready to have some explaining of its own to do to federal authorities. Steve got to the man’s business, went back to his office, and closed the door so they could talk. He asked the man what the problem was almost not wanting to hear what the answer was going to be. The businessman looked at him and said, “Steve, I was talking to my accountant this morning and it turns out that I actually made $80,000 more than I thought I did this year and I didn’t tithe any of that. I need your help because I don’t want to not tithe, and this means that I’ve got at least $8,000 I need to give back to God. Steve, can you help me with this problem? Am I being an unfaithful steward?” Now, every time Steve tells this story he begins to smirk and chuckle at this point. He told the man, “Yeah, I don’t think that we’ll have any trouble helping you to resolve this problem, and I don’t think that God has a problem with you stewardship at all.”

We hear this story, and there are many just like it out there floating around, and our first instinct is to laugh about it. Our first thought is to say something along the lines of “That’s a problem that I’d like to have,” and I understand that. All of us would love for issues about money to be how we are going to spend it all instead of where is it going to come from. But I want you to think about this man for a moment and his situation as it compares to the people of Israel in Malachi’s day. You see, as we were told earlier, God condemned the people and He was angry with them for not giving Him the FULL tithe, for not giving Him the FULL ten percent. This man in Florida, had he just stayed with his original pledge, even though it was substantial, it would not have been his full tithe.

Friends, it is very easy for any one of us to become complacent in what we give to God and I’m not just talking about financially. Every single person who bears the name Christian is called to examine themselves each and every day. Just as we are called to examine ourselves before partaking of these elements on the table that sits before us, we are called to examine and evaluate whether or not what we are doing for God’s kingdom is enough and is our FULL tithe. As all of us continue to pray and discern what God’s will is for us in the coming year and what He wants each of us to commit to His Church, I want to encourage you to not become complacent. I want to encourage you to not just stay with something because it’s familiar and you’re comfortable with it. In order for truth Christian growth and maturity to occur, there is a sense in which we must truly place our faith at the forefront and put ourselves out there. What happens when we do this? In verse 10, God tells us, “Put me to the test, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” You can’t out-give God, and He has promised to bless us beyond all that we can imagine when we return to Him what is rightfully His. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Proverbs 3:9-10 "Giving God Our Firstfruits"

You may not have discovered it yet, but I can be difficult to deal with many times, and I will be the first to admit that. I give my sweet wife all the credit in the world, because I can frustrate anyone with my behavioral quirks and idiosyncrasies, but she remains patient when it comes to my odd behavior. She tolerates my strange requests and habits with little-to-no complaining. One of my more prominent quirks is that I like to plan as much as I can plan when it comes to certain things. Now, when it comes to things that I know, like Bible studies, group discussions, or something that most people spend time planning for, I tend to fly by the seat of my pants. However, when it comes to things like budgets and orders of operation, I am a very planned person. I’m the type of person who goes on vacation, but keeps a tentative schedule in my head as to what I want to happen and when it should happen. I’m the type of person who sits down at the beginning and ending of each work day and makes a list of things that I need to get done that particular day. I’m the type of person who makes a list on Friday of all the things that I want to have done by the time that Monday morning rolls around. I’m the type of person that every time there is a change in our financial situation at home, I sit down and I figure out how much is spent on bills, groceries, gas, childcare, etc. I like to have every piece of information at my fingertips. I enjoy being able to find an answer to any and all questions that I may have about our families welfare. I like to have all the information in front of me. Regardless of what the information may say, it helps me knowing that I have a clear understanding as to what’s going on.

As you can probably imagine, there has been a great deal of change that has taken place within my family over the last year, and really over the last 5 years. In July of 2007, I began my studies at Reformed Theological Seminary. Now, I was still getting a paycheck from my previous employment as a high school science teacher and baseball coach, but that was getting ready to change; July was my last check. So, Amy and I sat down and we figured out what we were spending each month in order to figure out where we needed to cut back and it seemed like almost every time we attempted this, we would remember at the very end that we hadn’t accounted for our church offering. And our offering was pretty simple, at least 10% of whatever our income happened to be, but we’ll dive into that a little more next Sunday when we look at the prophet Malachi. So, we had our adjusted budget for the time being. Since that time, we have seen our family grow twice, a change in employment for each of us, a move from MS to Houma, and that’s only the major changes. Each time we experienced one of these changes we would go through the same process and adjust our budget accordingly. Each time, we would figure everything out and it seemed like nearly every time we would remember at the end that we had to account for our tithe. So we made a promise to each other a while back that when new family budgets got configured and monthly expenses got checked, that our giving to God would be the first thing that we set aside. It was important to us for that to be first.

In our text today, we’re told about giving to God. The book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom, primarily from Solomon, for the purpose of guiding people through life in such a manner so that they honor God appropriately. The first nine chapters are information that Solomon is passing down to us just as a father would pass down to his son. He is giving us some very practical advice for leading Godly lives. In verses 9 and 10, he is telling us a little bit about how we are to conduct ourselves when it comes to giving. “Honor the Lord with you wealth, with the firstfruits of all your produce.” The firstfruits refers to a practice that we’re first told about in Deuteronomy 26. We’re told to give to God using the first and best portion of our harvest. We’re told to give back to God what is rightfully His. We’re told that it is only fitting that we give our firstfruits, our greatest and our best, back to the one who has first given to us. Unfortunately, many Christians today give to God only out of their surplus and their leftovers. If they can afford to give something after all of their monthly bills are paid, then they do. If money or time is tight, then they just don’t give.

Some people, and for that matter some of you, may hear these words coming out of my mouth and say, “Preacher, does it really matter whether I give first or give last? Isn’t it just important that I give, and that’s all that matters?” Well, yes and no. It is important that you give, but that isn’t all that matters. We will see in a few weeks that giving back to God shouldn’t be a painful or joyless concept. We should be able to recognize how God has so richly blessed us and we ought to rush to give back to Him and give but a portion of what He has given to us already. God doesn’t require that we give all of our possessions and our wealth back to Him, but he does demand a portion. He does demand that we honor Him with our wealth.

This language of fruit makes me think about the process of buying fruit, which is a humorous thing to me. If you’ve never watched someone pick out fruit, then try it next time you’re at the grocery store. Everyone has their own method for telling when a particular fruit or vegetable is ripe or “good”. We inspect, squeeze, tap, smell, or I’ve even seen some people shake fruit to see if they want to buy it. And we do this because we want good fruit; we want the best fruit available. We don’t want to buy something and then get home and realize that it isn’t what we thought it was. We love going to the store and seeing that the produce has just been put out and that there are seemingly innumerable choices before us. Very few of us in here like it when we want some bananas and there are only those few brown ones left that no one else wanted. We want first pick; we don’t care for the leftovers. We’re not happy that we got the bananas, we’re upset that we got only the lesser and leftover bananas. We got what was remaining after everyone else. Why in the world would we think that God would want our leftovers? If we know that we’re not happy with them, then why would we expect God to be happy with them?

You see, it would be really easy for all of us, myself included, to say that we “need” this and that and if there’s anything left over then I’ll give it God. But what happens when we think like that is that we place ourselves about God. We start to think that our needs and our goals are the top priorities in our life. Remember, as I have said, it isn’t as if God is calling all of us to give everything and take a vow of poverty. He is simply demanding that we give back a portion of what He has given to us already. It is better to give God the first part of our fruits. This shows that God, not possessions, take precedence in our lives and that our resources belong to Him. After all, we are only managers of God’s resources. There is nothing that is completely ours. Giving to God first helps us conquer greed. It helps us to properly manage God’s resources. Perhaps most importantly, it opens us up to receive God’s special blessings. Matthew Henry, in his commentary on the entire Bible, says of these verses, “God, who is the first and best, must have the first and best of everything; his right is prior to all other, and therefore he must be served first. Note, it is our duty to make our worldly estates serviceable to our religion, to use them and the interest we have by them for the promoting of religion, to do good to the poor with what we have and abound in all works of piety and charity.”

So, what happens when we give to God in the manner in which He commands us to? Well, we’re told here that, “Your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine.” The picture being painted here is one of abundance and plenty and not that of lacking and want. You see, it’s not as if we are forced to make a choice between giving to God and taking care of ourselves and our families. Just like we saw two weeks ago when we witnessed the young boy give the basket of food to Christ, and it was used to feed 10,000-15,000 people and have twelve baskets of fragments left over, there will be plenty. Just like we saw last week, it isn’t about what we have to put in, but that when we invest what God has given to us, and given to us in abundance, then our return is never empty. Our return is never less than 100%. I can’t think of a businessman alive who would ever tell you that you should not invest in something that offers a minimum of a 100% return. Why would investing in the Gospel be any different?

Now, I’m not saying that if you give something to God that you get that exact thing back and then some. What I am saying is that there is no such thing as an empty investment in God or the Gospel. There is no such thing as a worthless investment of time, talents, money, or any other resource when we are speaking in terms of committing and growing in the Christian faith. I can’t imagine anyone ever coming into my office and sitting down across from me and saying, “You know Tommy, I give and give and give to the church, but I don’t really feel like I ever get anything in return.” If someone ever did, my answer would be simple, “Well, first off, it isn’t about you, and second, I bet that I could point to several things and show you just how blessed you have been through your investment in God’s kingdom.”

God has given us all more gifts than we could ever count. He has blessed us so much that we wouldn’t know where to begin when listing all that He has done for us. Despite all that He has given to us and all that He has done on our behalf, He simply commands for us to honor Him with what He has given us, and to give it to Him first. God wants our best, and He deserves our best. In fact, He really deserves more than our best, but unfortunately that’s all we can give Him. As you continue to pray about what you want to commit to God in the coming year, I want all of us to take some time and to think about how richly we have all been blessed. When we truly see how great our blessing are, then we will never think that God is asking too much when He commands our firstfruits. His blessings will never cease. Glory be to God; the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Matthew 25:14-30 "Using What God Has Given You"

This week, we begin our study of biblical stewardship. Last week, we looked at the account of the feeding of the 5,000 in John’s Gospel. We saw the all-sufficiency of Christ. We saw that Jesus is enough; in fact He is more than enough for all of us. We saw that when we cling to Christ, then our fears about giving should be eliminated just like those of the young boy who gave of his basket of food. There will never be a time when we are without. This week, we turn to the teachings of Jesus during his earthly ministry, his parables; in particular, the parable of the talents found in Matthew’s Gospel.

First off, I need to say that there is more taught and referenced in this parable spoken by Jesus than we could hope to cover fully this morning. There are teachings about judgment, criticisms of Scribes and Pharisees, as well as the teaching that we are going to focus on this morning about investing what God gives us. Now, we will briefly touch on all of these other concepts, but what we are going to primarily pay attention to this morning is the responsibility that we have to use the gifts and the blessings that God gives us in order to glorify His name. To do so, we are going to look at the actions of the three servants and how their master responds to each of them upon hearing of how they have invested his money.

To put this parable in a much shorter manner; it is a story of a master who is going away on a vacation or to study abroad for quite some time. Now, this was a common practice of this time, and instead of letting his estate sit and dwindle and eventually die, he entrusts it to his servants in proportion with their abilities. He divides it up in portions of talents, and a talent is equal to about 20 years worth of daily wages for the average laborer. To one servant he gives 5 talents, one 2 talents, and to a third he gives 1 talent. Two of the servants double the money given to them and are praised accordingly. The third man invests nothing and finds condemnation.

Now I briefly mentioned that there was a trace of Jesus criticizing the Scribes and Pharisees in this parable. You see, they didn’t want things to change. They fought this man named Jesus who taught new things about God and claimed to be the second person of the Trinity. Christ was calling all to grow in the faith and to dig deeper into the things of God. The Scribes and Pharisees wanted to keep the status quo so-to-speak. They didn’t want any change to the way that religion was practiced in that day. Think about that for a second. These groups of religious leaders were not only not encouraging people to grow and dig deeper, but they were actually discouraging and condemning it. What if other areas of life refused to change? How far has medicine come because of a desire to be better? How far has technology come because of the desire to grow? Think about if we stopped in our Christian growth. What if what we learned as a child was as far as it went?

Let’s take this theme of growth and relate it to our current season of stewardship. This past week, I sent out a letter to all of you in preparation for our stewardship campaign, hopefully you all received it in the mail. As you read this letter, I hope that you saw that the focus our season of stewardship wasn’t that of “we have this amount of money that we need and our success is based on if we meet that need.” Instead, this church is choosing to base a successful stewardship campaign on whether or not there is growth, and not just growth in numbers, but real Christian growth and dedication.

In our parable, each of the three servants was given a sum of money by their master. Let’s just assume that the servants who were given 5 and 2 talents had shown their master that they had better financial sense than that of servant who was only given one talent. Honestly, this is just the way that it is sometimes. Amy is much more gifted than I am when it comes to financial matters. During a majority of our seven years of marriage, I have barely laid eyes on our bank account. For all I know she has been storing all of our money in an account with only her name on it. Her gifts are greater than mine in this area. I have no problem not spending money, but when it comes to savings accounts, IRA’s, investments, etc. I am terrible. If someone was going to put us in charge of their estate for a period of time, she would be a much better choice to handle a bulk of the estate to ensure that the money is being used effectively. So let’s don’t make a big deal out of the fact that the servants were given differing amounts of money because that isn’t what the focus of Jesus’ teaching is all about. What Jesus is trying to focus in on is not the amount that they were given, or really even the amount that was made, but what the servants did with what their master gave to them. We are all given different gifts and different amounts of talents. The fact that the number of someone’s gifts is less than the next person matters none. What matters is whether or not we invest those gifts to God.

Notice that the servants who invested their master’s money and made something out of it were praised, and praised equally. Regardless of the fact that one servant made 5 talents and the other only 2 talents the master’s response is the same. “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” Jesus is reminding us of something. He’s reminding us that He has furnished all of his people with personal resources for the sake of building up His kingdom. The Lord Jesus is reminding us that all of us have things in trust from God which He expects us to use for the building up of His kingdom and by which He will take an account at the end. We’re all given different amounts of money, talent, time, etc., but it isn’t about what we are given. The question is what are you doing with what you are given? Anything whereby we may glorify God is our talent. Our gifts, our influence, our money, our knowledge, our health, our strength, our time, our senses, our reason, our intellect, our memory, our affections, our privileges as members of Christ’s Church, our advantages as possessors of the Bible—all, all are talents. So you see, there is no shortage of things that we can give to God and use for the purposes of glorifying His name.

I can remember when I was a kid that my grandmother was always at the church working on something that was called the Chancel Committee. Now for those of you who don’t know, the chancel committee was entrusted with the responsibility of decorating the church, and the sanctuary in particular, for Sunday services. They also decorated the church for events in the life of the church like Easter, Christmas, funerals, weddings, etc. Now my grandmother didn’t have all the money in the world, she had what she needed to live, but it wasn’t as if money was there to just give it all to the church. And my grandmother loved her church, we always used to joke that she would have donated until she was completely broke if my grandfather hadn’t set money aside that she couldn’t give away. Instead of money, she had time. She was retired; she was still healthy enough to work, so she donated her time to the church. I point to this to show that there are so many things that we can give to God and do for our congregation in this coming year. Stewardship is so much more than money and figuring out the budget for the coming year.

So we see that we ought to follow the example of the two servants who invested what their master gave them. We ought to invest the blessings and gifts that our Master has given to us. Just like the servants in this parable, our investments into the Gospel will always offer a complete return. But what of the servant who did not invest the money that he was entrusted with. This parable condemns the man who will not try. It is very likely that the unworthy servant felt that it was not worth trying. After all, he only had one talent. Was it really worth the trouble to invest this mere 1 talent? I think that William Barclay answers this best by saying, “The world is not composed of geniuses. For the most part it is composed of ordinary people doing ordinary jobs, but these ordinary jobs must be done if the world is to go on and God’s plans worked out. It has been said with great wisdom, ‘God does not want extraordinary people who do extraordinary things nearly as much as He wants ordinary people to do ordinary things extraordinarily well.’” Furthermore, Abraham Lincoln once joked, “God must love the common people because He made so many of them.” The world depends on the man with the one talent.

My mom used to love to listen to Jeff Foxworthy’s tapes when I was younger. She especially liked the “redneck dictionary” segments that he did. One of her favorites was the word “usta-could”. You know, like I used to could do that when I was younger. How many things could we say that about in our lives? Think of the things that you have learned to do over the years and now you probably could not do even if your life depended on it. I have a college degree that required me to do complete high level courses in chemistry, physics, calculus, and other math-based subjects. I had trouble helping a Pre-Algebra class at a middle school when I substitute taught before coming to Houma. How could this be? Simple, I haven’t practiced. I have neglected something that I was given the ability to do. I have not used a skill that I learned. If we honestly examine our lives we will see that there is some talent which God has given us. It is death to hide that talent; it is life to use it in the service of men and of God.

Notice the reaction of the master and the unworthy servant once it is discovered that this servant has done nothing with the master’s money. Now it goes without saying that just like the master, our God is not happy when we don’t use what He has entrusted to us. But I want to pay attention for a brief moment to the reaction of the unworthy servant. You see, the servant doesn’t just own up to what he did; he doesn’t just say, “Master, I was lazy.” Instead, he pretty much turns around and blames anyone but himself. He primarily places blame on the master. I must admit that more times than I care to admit, that I have found myself in the role of the unworthy servant. I have made excuse after excuse for not using what God has given to me. I have blamed all kinds of things: the economy, my busy schedule, my family, my friends, my job, the uncertainty of the future, but I have rarely, if ever, just admitted to God, “Master, I am lazy.”

As we move forward during the season of stewardship how does this parable of the talents affect our thinking? As we gather together with our families and we try and figure out what we want to commit to God and to this church in the coming year, as we pray over what God is calling us to do, let’s keep in mind this fact: God wants us to invest what He has given to us. All that we have are gifts and blessings from God. God gives to each of us differently. Just because money is tight doesn’t mean that you have nothing to offer to God during this stewardship season. Remember, this stewardship campaign is focused on Christian growth. We all have ways that we can grow in our faith. And I promise you, investing in God and investing in the Gospel with a loving and joyful heart will bring you more delight than any other investment you could ever imagine. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

John 6:1-15 "THE FEEDING"

Our text this week is the beginning of a very important section of John’s gospel. There are some very important and famous texts that we will see in this particular chapter, and those coming soon after it. Our specific text for today, the first 15 verses of chapter 6, are the account of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. This particular sign or miracle is the only one performed by Jesus that is recorded in all four of the gospel accounts. Now, we’ve all heard this story numerous times and could give the quick overview in a matter of seconds, but I want us to dig a little deeper than just a surface reading today. I want us to truly see what a miraculous event this was, and I think that a good place to start on such a journey is to understand all of the conditions as they were at this point.

So, Jesus and his disciples come to the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, which is called a multitude of other names, but most notably the Sea of Tiberius. They are thought to be in the town of Bethsaida or just outside of it; a distance of somewhere between 70 to 90 miles from Jerusalem, where the events of our last several Sunday’s occurred. And we know from the text that a large crowd is following Jesus to this place. They are following him we’re told, “because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.” Now, we’ve only seen a couple of accounts of Jesus healing thus far in John’s gospel, but it is very likely that there have been others healings that simply have not been recorded for us.

Jesus and his disciples go up a mountain there along the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee and they sit down and survey the crowd. They can see that there are many people gathering and waiting to hear Jesus say something or see him perform some type of sign. It’s at this point where Jesus chooses to put his disciples to the test. First, he turns to Philip and asks him where they are going to get food to feed all of these people. Now, before we look at Philip’s response, we need to pay attention to the words of John when he says that Jesus “himself knew what he would do.” Jesus knew well in advance what he was going to do, but he wanted to see the faith of his disciples before taking action himself. Philip, seeing the magnitude of the crowd says, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” Now, a denarii is the equivalent of one day’s pay for an average worker. So, Philip is saying that even 8 months’ worth of an average man’s salary wouldn’t be enough for everyone there to get even just a little bit of food, much less enough to satisfy their hunger. So that tells you a little bit right there as to the size of this crowd. Then, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, chimes in. He says, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.” Now, had Andrew stopped there it would have been a true sign of faith. Had these been his only words, then he would have sounded as if he believed completely that Jesus could supply such a vast amount of people with such little resources, but his statement continues on. He says, “but what are they for so many?” He too doesn’t see how the contents of the boy’s basket can help the situation.

Now, I want all of you to understand exactly what amount of food we’re talking about here. We’re not talking about 5 big loaves of French bread and 2 great big redfish in this boy’s basket. We’re told that he has 5 barley loaves, and a barley loaf was the bread of the poor. It was the lowest quality bread that was available at the time, and they weren’t really loaves as much as they were small cakes. They were probably similar to the size of a Twinkie or some other little snack cake; hardly enough to feed this crowd that continued to gather at the foot of this mountain. And the fish, as we said earlier, weren’t anything to speak of either. They were primarily just used to give the flavorless barley cakes some taste. These 2 fish were probably each about the size of a sardine. So, what we read on the surface might allow us to think of a basket that is somewhat overflowing with food for one person, is indeed containing 5 dry Twinkies and couple of sardines. This amount of food would have been barely enough to feed just this one boy, much less anyone else who is hungry and in need of food.

Jesus instructs his disciples to have the crowd sit down, and as they are doing so they see that there are around 5,000 men. Notice that it doesn’t say 5,000 people, but 5,000 men. This number didn’t include the women and children that were present; a common way of conducting a count or census at this time. When we add the women and children to the number of men, we get a much larger crowd. Throughout the years, biblical scholar have tried to determine the total attendance at this gathering, and the numbers that they have somehow come up with range between 10,000 and 15,000 people in all. To give you some perspective on that amount, this would be somewhere around the number of folks that the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge could hold with its capacity of around 13,000 people. So, as this crowd is gathered at the foot of this mountain, Jesus is looking down knowing exactly what is about to transpire. He sees the loaves and fish that he has, and he knows that he is about to feed this multitude with such a minuscule amount of food.

“And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.” Now this would be a miracle in-and-of itself, and it is, but there’s even more. You see, God, through Jesus Christ, supplied for the needs of these people, but He supplied them with even more than they needed. “And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.” Not only had God provided them with what they needed to survive, but gave them more than they could possibly use. All of the 10,000 to 15,000 people in attendance had eaten until they were stuffed and yet there was more left over. There was more food in the twelve baskets of leftovers than there was in the initial basket given by the young boy. I don’t know what your history of food preparation is, but I can tell you a little about mine. You see, I’ve cooked for what I consider to be a substantial crowd before. I’ve cooked for upwards of 200 to 250 people before. I’ve cooked everything from burgers and hotdogs to chicken to pork tenderloin to boiling crawfish, and I’ve even smoked a few pork shoulders for making some pulled pork sandwiches. And if these experiences have taught me one thing, it’s that people can eat when someone else is providing the food. What may look like a large amount of food to you won’t go as far as you think when feeding other people, and here is our Savior, providing for the needs of everyone in attendance this day with a few scraps of food.

Now, I want to quickly talk for second about what didn’t happen here. You see, we read this passage and we see the all-sufficiency of Christ and we see the providence of God and we understand that this sign was done in order to let God’s people know that Christ was the Messiah and also to teach us that God will and does provide for our every need. However, there are those who don’t exactly see it this way. Some folks who read the Bible try and put it in terms that they can understand. They say that there must have been those in the crowd who packed lunches to share with other folks around them or that there must have been food stored away by the disciples because there’s no way that Jesus could take this small amount of food, feed 10,000 to 15,000 people, and then have even more left over after everything is said and done. They say that there must be something else to the story that we don’t have for us in our text because it doesn’t make sense to them, it isn’t rational. I mentioned last Sunday that God is speaking to all of us, but many of us don’t hear Him because we aren’t quiet long enough to do so. I also said that it doesn’t take us understanding something for it to be true. We, as fallen and broken creatures, have to get out of the way. We have to remove ourselves from the equation so that we don’t get in the way of God. God doesn’t need us to believe in Him, but we are the ones who need to believe and submit to God the Father Almighty.

After seeing this series of events takes place and seeing that there is so much food left over, the people are amazed. In fact, we’re told that they proclaim Jesus as “the Prophet who is to come into the world!” This isn’t a mistake on their behalf; after all Jesus’ three offices that he fills are that of Prophet, Priest, and King, but it’s what comes next that causes a problem. Much in the sense that had Andrew stopped his statement he would have been correct, so the people would have been right in leaving it at that. However, we’re told that “perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” They wanted to crown him right there on the spot. The problem is the type of crown and kingship that they had in mind. You see they were thinking of an earthy king and kingdom, and not the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom that Jesus taught about wasn’t an earthly one, but one that was inaugurated by his coming; the kingdom of God.

It’s quite simple: God is more than enough. God is greater than anything that we could imagine or ask for. The kingdom of heaven is beyond compare. Just as those in attendance experienced that day, God will supply for our every need. No matter what we perceive to be the situation, there is no limiting the power of God. Christ has come and his work is completed for us this day. Let us all rest in the promises and provisions of God the Father Almighty; thanking Him for all that He has done on our behalf. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.