“Money, Money, Money” – Pt.3 – Ecc. 2:1-11

6/2/13 Christ Fellowship

“Money, Money, Money” – Pt.3 – Ecc. 2:1-11

Are you glad to be here this morning?  Why?  Are you glad to live in the United States?  Why?  We have some of the most beautiful places in the world here but that is not the main reason why people live in the US.  We have some of the friendliest people here but that’s not the reason.  We have a relatively good economy, at least it is structured to be, but that is not the ultimate reason that people live here. 

The ultimate reason that people live here and even originally came here was for the freedom.  We are a freedom-loving people and we always have been.  It’s the reason that 102 British pilgrims set out on the Mayflower in 1620 and sailed to the New World.  Not only that, but it wasn’t just freedom in general that brought them but freedom of religion specifically.  They didn’t want anybody telling them how or what to worship.

We can appreciate that even in our church here this morning.  We are a Southern Baptist church but we are autonomous and can do basically what we please as far as our style of worship.  And we like that.  That’s why we can joke about there not being a lot of rules around here.  And while we know we are not perfect, we think what we are doing is right and correct and honoring to God.

But what about the people out there that are doing it wrong?  Is it ok for people to worship differently from us?  Is it ok if they don’t immerse or if they don’t have instruments in their music?  What about the folks who handle snakes and kill chickens or even start their services at 11?  It’s crazy.  I know.  But it’s ok with us if that’s how they feel they ought to worship.  They have that right and I believe most of us would fight for their rights even when we know they are wrong.

I have said before that everybody wants to know truth.  It doesn’t always mean we are going to do the right thing, but nobody wants to go through life being deceived, whether it is the meaning of life or the best Mexican food joint in town.  But there is something about our quest for truth that will always involve the giving of our resources.  It involves our resources because when we find truth, we want to invest in that truth.

In 1978, Jim Jones and 900 of his cult followers committed suicide in Guyana after Jones had collected all their life savings and even had their government benefit checks signed over to him.  In 1993, David Koresh and 75 other “Branch Davidians” died in a fire when the FBI raided their cult compound.  Koresh also demanded that all of those that live there give him all of their resources.

You see the same mentality in less extreme versions in the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Scientology.  People are searching for truth and their time, talents and treasure go with them.  The problem is that they make horribly wrong decisions when choosing who or what to worship.  Every human heart desires to find something outside of itself, something that will last and something that is worth living for.

Romans 1:18-22 says, “¹⁸ For the wrath of God ^lis revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,⁷ in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ^22 pClaiming to be wise, they became fools”

Verse 18 says that through their unrighteousness, they suppress truth.  God has revealed enough of Himself to mankind to make us want to know more.  The problem is that following the One true God, Yahweh, seems just too hard or it doesn’t always make sense and so people, from the beginning of time have created their own gods; gods that make sense to them.

I will just say one more time that if I can make complete sense of the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, then He’s not much of a God.  And I don’t really feel bad about that because I know that even the wisest man in the world couldn’t understand God.  God told Solomon to ask Him for something and Solomon (wisely) said he wanted wisdom and so God gave him wisdom and everything else he could want and it makes for a fascinating case study of what money and stuff can do even to a wise man.

This is the last of the 3 sermons in our series entitled, “Money, Money, Money” and I hope you have seen that even when I do teach about money it doesn’t have to be painful.  But I also hope that you have learned that there are benefits of obedience in Heaven as well as consequences of disobedience for how we handle our money while here on earth.  I hope that you have learned that money is just a tool and with it or without it, it is our relationship with God through His Son Jesus that makes this life livable

Today, I want us to look at that wise man, Solomon, who had everything in the world that one could hope to have and yet still he was dissatisfied.  The book of Ecclesiastes is a fascinating book.  It is a book that many have wondered why it was allowed into the canon of scripture because it is different than all the others.  Just a casual read can leave you feeling depressed that if Solomon can’t find happiness, then who can?

You all know the story of Solomon.  He was the son of King David, became the third king of Israel, builder of the first temple there, the wisest man who ever lived and had 700 wives and 300 concubines.  He was a busy guy.  He had a lot on his plate but he also found time to use his great wealth and wisdom to try to find the secret of life.  Ecclesiastes was written toward the end of his life and was the result of that search.

The book is fascinating because it is written by the wisest man to ever live and as such can be difficult to understand without some study.  But it also shows the extent that a man can go to find truth and happiness because if any man could be able to find it, Solomon should.  And he made it almost a clinical research project using everything possible to see if he could attain happiness.  Let’s look at Ecclesiastes 2:1-11.

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. ² “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” ³ I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives. ⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. ⁵ I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. ⁸ I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. ⁹ I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.¹⁰ I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;    I refused my heart no pleasure.  My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.  ¹¹ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

So, what did Solomon do wrong?  He starts out by saying that he wants to find out what is good and ends by saying that everything was meaningless.  So evidently his definition of “good” is to find something that was meaningful.  He used all of his money and his resources, including his great wisdom to search for something meaningful, and fell short.  I would like to propose that Solomon messed up in 3 ways.

In searching for something meaningful and eternal he pursued a good time instead of a good name.

He pursued happiness instead of joy.

He pursued material wealth instead of spiritual wealth.

Solomon was on the right track in looking for something meaningful and eternal but you are never going to find meaningful and eternal in the material and mortal.  He used all of his material wealth and status and influence to obtain a good time.  There is no doubt about that.  He says in verse 2 that he had laughter.  He had pleasure.  He mentions delights and pleasure and reward.  But in the end all he had was a good time.  And he wisely saw that it was nothing gained.  It was temporary and he was looking for something that would last.

Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”  Is that true?  I don’t know if it’s a perfect example but you get the idea by thinking about the possibility of someone promising to give you a million dollars if you changed your name to Adolph Hitler.  Would that be worth it?  Would it be worth it to sacrifice your good name for money?

Solomon had a pretty good name just based on the fact that he was king.  If you had asked anybody living in that day what they thought of Solomon, they would have said nothing but good things, at least while he was alive, just because he was their king.  But what did God say about Solomon at the end of Solomon’s life?

In 1 Kings 11, God says that Solomon has forsaken Him and has not walked in the right ways nor kept His statutes like David his father did.  A good name is not assigned to you with your title or your status.  God looks at your heart and sees what you do in secret.  He knows your character, not just your reputation.  A good name, as used in Proverbs 22, is the name in which you are known by God.

How was David known?  In that same passage in 1 Kings, God says that David was His servant who observed His commands and statutes.  Now, wait a minute, God.  This is the same guy who shed innocent blood and lied and stole another man’s wife.  How can you call him good?  “He was my servant who observed my commands and statutes!”

David was known by God to have a good name. Solomon was known as the king with all the wives.  David was known by God as a man after His own heart.  Solomon was known as rich.  David was known as the greatest king Israel ever knew.  Solomon was known as the next king.

A good name is to be desired because a good name will live on after you are dead and buried.  A good name not only looks good on you but also your family and friends and ultimately the Kingdom.  A good name is meaningful and eternal, just what Solomon was looking for.

Solomon also pursued happiness instead of joy.  Now some of you may think I’m splitting hairs here.  Aren’t joy and happiness basically the same thing?  Well, they can go hand in hand sometimes but not always. .  You can have joy without happiness and happiness without joy.  James 1:2 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”  So obviously you are not going to have happiness in trials but you can have joy.

The difference is that happiness depends on your circumstances.  Joy comes from your attitude and your outlook.  Isaiah talks about us having “everlasting joy”.  If Solomon wanted something that was going to last, he should have pursued joy instead of happiness.  But how do we get joy?  It’s obvious that money and stuff don’t bring joy and that the happiness they bring is fleeting and unfulfilling so how do we go about getting true joy?

I need you to look at another verse with me in the Psalms.  Turn to Psalm 16:11.  It’s important that you see this and take it in because if you want to be able to have joy or even be filled with joy as this verse says, you need to understand this.  This is the secret to having joy.  This is the secret to having what Solomon was searching for and didn’t know it.  Solomon’s dad knew it but Solomon, the wisest man on earth, missed it.

Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

 

That verse has 3 lines.  The second talks about being filled with joy.  The third talks about eternal pleasures.  How do we get filled with joy and have eternal pleasures?  It’s in the first line.  God has made known to us the path of life.  He has told us what to do here in the Bible.  He has told you in your prayer life.  He has told you through your godly friends and family.  He has made known to you what you are supposed to do up to this point.  You want joy?  OBEY HIM.

Oh, I know I sound like a broken record sometime talking about obedience but it’s right there as the secret to having eternal joy filling your life.  He has shown you the right way to go.  He has told you to be holy; to be different and set apart.  Now, as Nike says, just do it!  Nobody said it was going to be easy but at least it’s not hard to understand.  Solomon asked for wisdom and that was a great thing to ask for but evidently he should have asked for the ability to be obedient instead.  He knew what he should do.  He just didn’t do it.

In Hebrews 12:2 it says, “For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross.”  Why did Jesus endure the cross?  Because the Father told Him to and Jesus knew that obedience brings joy even for the Son of God.  Folks, that’s powerful!  Solomon had all the money and all the stuff that a man could want.  Did that bring him joy?  Nope.  Did it keep him from having joy?  No.  We learned last week that money is not good or bad in and of itself.  Our joy doesn’t have anything to do with how much or how little money we have.  Our joy comes from being obedient to what God tells us to do.

Imagine what Solomon could have done if he had just been obedient.  But he pursued a good time instead of a good name and happiness instead of joy and now I want us to see that he pursued material wealth instead of spiritual wealth.  Matthew 6:20 says, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”  “Treasures in Heaven”; Ok, how do you do that?

Well, all we have to do is turn over to 1 Timothy 6:17-19 and read that.  Paul tells Timothy to “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹ In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

“Be generous and willing to share.”  In our main passage, Solomon says the words, “I”, “me” or “mine” over and over and over.  He kept trying to do for himself what he could not do by trying harder or spending more money or using more resources.  He wanted to find something that would last by getting more and more stuff but, as is so often the case in God’s plan, the secret was just the opposite.  The secret is to give it away. 

There’s nothing wrong with having material wealth.  I have known of some wealthy people who were very generous and they were just as happy as they could be.  In fact, because of their great generosity, they had great joy as well.  The truth of the matter is (and like I said everybody wants to know truth) that money is a tool and if you use that tool properly then you will be rewarded. 

You will be rewarded in this life with joy and you will be rewarded in Heaven as well.  Those are rewards that are eternal.  It has been said that money will buy a bed but not sleep, books but not brains, food but not appetite, a house but not a home, medicine but not health, amusement but not happiness, finery but not beauty and a crucifix but not a savior.

The Savior can’t be bought but can only be had by grace and through faith.  Money?  It comes and it goes but the Word of God stands forever.  It has been proven through the life of Solomon and through our lives here this morning and will continue to prove itself long after we and our stuff are long gone.

Do you want a good time or a good name?  Do you want happiness or joy?  Do you want material wealth or eternal wealth?  You can’t serve both God and money.  Make the decision today to do what God asks you to do with your time, your talents and your treasure.  You will be glad you did.

“Money, Money, Money” – Pt. 2 – Psalm 49:5-6

Swinging pendulum illustration:  hold pendulum up to your nose and let it go.  It will come back but not hit you.

How do you know what to trust?  If somebody on the street that you have never met says you should trust them, should you?  No.  We learned that as little kids and from the government, right?  The only real way to know you can trust something is if it has been proven to be trustworthy.  What if something or someone is trustworthy some of the time?  Are they trustworthy?  If your car starts most of the time, is that ok?  If your spouse is faithful 9 times out of 10, is that faithful?  Can you trust a chair that only falls apart about half the time?

What about something that only lets you down in a crisis or when the pressure is really on?  If you went to buy tires and the salesman told you that these tires are great for around town but don’t go over 55 on them, whatever you do; are you going to buy those tires?  Of course not.  If they can’t be trusted under pressure then they can’t be trusted.

What about money?  Can you trust money?  You can trust it to buy you a gallon of milk down at Bilby’s store.  It may take $7 to do it, but it will do it.  If you have enough money you can usually buy almost anything from somebody.  I even heard the other day about some bored college kid who sold his soul on ebay.  Good luck collecting on that but you can even buy a soul if you want to.

The problem with money is that it is deceiving.  If you have money, it will get you out of trouble every time…until it doesn’t.  If you have money, you can buy your way out of every problem…until you can’t.  Money is great for buying friends (if you don’t care about the quality of friends).  It’s great for buying a good time (if you don’t mind it being over too soon and bringing problems with it).  Money deceives us into thinking that it will always be there.  Money deceives us into thinking we can handle this problem if we just spend some of it.

The problem is that like an old chair, money will let you down and it is usually when the pressure is on and we need it most.  Money deceives us in several ways.  It deceives us into thinking that it will always be there.  It deceives us into thinking that we need just a little bit more of it.  And it deceives us into thinking that we have control over people or things when in reality we have no real control.  And that can be scary or that can be comforting, depending on your outlook.

Let’s look at a passage written by someone whose outlook was correctly focused in Psalm 49.  The psalmist starts off here saying that he wants everyone’s attention, please.  Everybody, short, tall, rich or poor listen up.  I’m about to tell you the truth.  So, let’s read this important message in verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 49.

Why should I fear when evil days come,
    when wicked deceivers surround me—
⁶ those who trust in their wealth
    and boast of their great riches?

This is obviously not so much of a question he needs an answer to.  It is a question that answers itself.  It’s a rhetorical question meant to make the reader understand the deception of wealth.  Let’s look at this closely to see what is meant exactly because I want us to see that this deception is contagious.

The psalmist is saying that evil days have come and wicked deceivers are surrounding him.  And who are the wicked deceivers?  He tells us that the wicked deceivers are those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches.  Why would he say that those people are wicked deceivers?  There are 2 ways that I see.

First they are deceivers because they have been deceived.  They have fallen for the lie that money can buy anything and everything.  And why does it seem like so many people that have money have fallen into that lie?  Because it is a pretty convincing lie.  Satan knows how to use money and he has used it to bring problems at least since Jacob swindled Esau out of his birthright. 

Satan knows how to make it a convincing lie by making money trustworthy some of the time.  Sometimes if you have enough money it will get you out of a jam.  Sometimes if you have enough money it will buy you some pleasure that will last for some time.  Sometimes if you have enough money it will buy you some power over some people.  And because it works sometimes, people are deceived into thinking that it will work all the time.

And so now, not only are the people deceived by money, they start to deceive others.  The psalmist is saying he is surrounded by people who are deceived by money and who are trying to intimidate him with the same deception.  But he is not falling for it.  He says that these wicked people have surrounded him and now evil days have come.  And most people would be afraid but not the psalmist because his outlook, his perception of money, is correctly focused and he sees money as the tool that it is.

*Hold up old sharpshooter shovel*

There is nothing good or bad about money, in and of itself.  It’s just a tool that can be used for good or bad but it will let you down.  Oh, it looks dependable.  It has been dependable in the past.  But it will let you down.  Is it going to come from the handle or the shaft or the blade?  It will let you down and it will usually come when the pressure is on and you want it to help you the most.  Then what are you going to do?

Now, I know that there are not many of us in here this morning that would consider ourselves to be extremely wealthy.  Don’t worry; I am not going to give a long speech about how much wealthier we are as a country than most other countries.  We all know that.  But I also know that because there are no Bill Gates or Ted Turners here this morning that it has been pretty easy for you to agree with what I have been saying.

“Yeah, preach it, pastor.  Mean old rich people deserve it!”  The problem is I’m not just talking to rich people.  Money is deceptive and as I said earlier that deception is contagious.  It can make people who have very little become convinced that they need more and without more money then everything is hopeless.  I have seen people with hardly anything be as happy as they can be and enjoying the full life that God has promised in John 10:10.  But I believe I have seen more poor people be just as miserable as they can be because they didn’t have everything they thought they should have.

They have been deceived by the people who have wealth – people who themselves are deceived – into thinking that the answer to all their problems will come if they can just have enough money to be happy.  I hear people all the time say they don’t want to be wealthy.  They just want to have enough to be content.  But that day will NEVER come, folks!

What’s worse is that it is the same people who say with their mouths that God will take care of them.  “I know that God is in control but…”  There is no “but” at the end of that sentence.  Either He is in control and is aware of your situation or He’s not.  I know that there are some people here that are hurting financially.  I know that jobs are scarce and precious.  I know that our food pantry has been there for lots of us and that’s great.  That’s what it is there for.

But now is the time, my dear family, to believe.  In fact, and I’m going to be blunt here, now is the time to put up or shut up.  Don’t be deceived!  Either believe that God is sovereign or quit saying it.  Don’t bring that deception in here because we know how contagious it is.  There is a misconception about God that if we just have enough faith, then He will pay our bills.  But what happens when our bills don’t get paid.  Your misconception leads to a loss of faith.

 

True faith is what the boys in Daniel 3 had.  When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were about to be burned alive they said we know that God can save us and that He will save us.  But even if He doesn’t…  Even if He doesn’t!  I want that to be our unofficial motto around here.  I know that God can and I know that he will.  But even if He doesn’t! Say it with me.

And what happens if He doesn’t?  What happens if the bills don’t get paid?  What happens if we lose our place to live?  What happens when the doctor brings us bad news?  Still I will praise Him.  Still I will worship Him.  Still I will believe Him.  And why should I praise, worship and believe Him?  Because He has proven Himself to be trustworthy all the time.  From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation and all through our lives, God has never let us down.

He is not a tool that can be counted on most of the time.  He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things so don’t just do something, sit there and let your hands hang down and be still and know that He is God.  And because He is God, He can choose to pay your bills OR…OR…He may know that what you are going through is going to make you more like Him and all you have to do is believe and be obedient and don’t be deceived. 

Of course, no one is going to use that as an excuse to sit on the couch eating bonbons and watching Oprah, waiting for God to pay the cable bill.  1 Timothy 5:8 says, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  But once you have done all of what you are supposed to do, let go and let God, as they say.

O.J. Simpson has been in the news again lately.  He has been in jail for some time but in 1978, when he was still playing for the Buffalo Bills, he was quoted as saying, “I sit in my house in Buffalo and sometimes I get so lonely it’s unbelievable.  Life has been so good to me.  I’ve got a great wife, good kids, lots of money, my own health – and I’m lonely and bored…I often wondered why so many rich people commit suicide.  Money sure isn’t a cure-all.”

That’s pathetic on several levels but mainly because O.J. was deceived and he knew it!  He knew he was deceived by money and things but he didn’t know where to turn.  He didn’t know what to believe.  He didn’t know in what to invest his time, talents and treasure.  Nor did he know at that time how much worse it would get.

I want us to look real quickly at what the Bible says about where we are to invest our time, talents and treasure.  I’m not going to spend much time on this but instead of being deceived by resources, let’s see where to invest them.

First, James 1:27 says that we are to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  In other words, we are to take care of those who can’t take care of themselves but also those from whom we will never be repaid.

Secondly, Acts 4:32 teaches that we are to invest in the church.  “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³ With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴ that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵ and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”

It says that God’s grace was powerfully at work through their sharing.  It’s not how much we give.  It’s the spirit of sharing that unleashes God’s grace.

Next, Listen to Psalm 1:1-3.  Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, ² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.  ³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Instead of being deceived by wealth and all the problems that come with it, this says that those who are in the word and meditating on it are the ones who prosper.

Titus chapter 2 tells us that we are to invest our time…in each other.  It says that the older or more spiritually mature are to teach the less mature.  In verse 12 it tells us to teach these to say “No” to worldly passions; to not be deceived by things of this world.

And just like we are to invest in each other, Matthew 28:18, the Great Commission, tells us to invest in unbelievers.  “¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

And lastly, John 3:21 says, “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

Live by the truth.  Don’t be deceived by wealth or the lack of wealth.  Live by truth.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  That’s where your investments should be…because He is trustworthy.

“Money, Money, Money” – Pt. 1 – Luke 16:10-13

Peter Marshall was former chaplain of the Unites States Senate. A man came to him with a concern about tithing. He said: “I have a problem. I have been tithing for some time. It wasn’t too bad when I was making $20,000 a year. I could afford to give the $2,000. But you see, now I am making $500,000 a year, and there is just no way I can afford to tithe $50,000 a year.” Dr. Marshall reflected on this wealthy man’s dilemma but gave no advice. He simply said: “Yes, sir. I see that you do have a problem. I think we ought to pray about it. Is that alright?” The man agreed. So Dr. Marshall bowed his head and prayed with boldness and authority, “Dear Lord, this man has a problem, and I pray that you will help him. Lord, reduce his salary back to the place where he can afford to tithe.”

Now, with that being said and with the title of the message being what it is, you would assume that I am going to preach on tithing. Actually, I am not. I partly just thought that was a pretty funny story and wanted to throw it in there but I am going to talk about money. I’m going to talk about money because Jesus talked about money and He talked about it a lot.

And I entitled this 3-sermon series, “Money, Money, Money”so that now when you tell people that all your pastor preaches on is money, money, money, you won’t be lying. People start to cringe when the subject of money is brought up in the church and I think it is because preachers have gotten a bad reputation for always telling people to give, give, give to the church.

I think of a story that Flip Wilson told. A preacher was trying to get his people to be more enthusiastic about their church. The preacher said in his sermon: "If this church is going to get anywhere, it has to learn to crawl." The people said, "Let it crawl, Rev., let it crawl!" Then he said, "And after it learns to crawl, it has to learn to walk." And the
people said, "Let it walk, Rev., let it walk!" The preacher got excited and said, "After this church learns to walk, it has to learn to run!" The people shouted back, "Let it run, Rev., let it run!" Then he said, "And if this church is going to run, it's going to take money!" And the people said, "Let it crawl, Rev., let it crawl."

I have to admit that I hate money. Oh, I’m not trying to be all spiritual here. I like the stuff that money buys. I just hate keeping up with money. I hate trying to balance my check book. I hate trying to remember my pin number and password. I hate that some ATM’s charge me money to get my money out. Even my own bank charges me money for checks. It costs me money to have money and to spend money.

That’s just one more reason to look forward to Heaven, isn’t it? We aren’t going to need money in Heaven. We only have money because we can’t trust people to do the right thing. So we have a means to trade for things. But because we have a means to trade, now we have to protect that means because we can’t trust people to not steal it. It’s a vicious cycle but it tells us a lot about somebody when we see how they deal with money. And that is what I want us to see today.

I’m not going to tell you how to spend your money or where to spend it or even that the church needs it. I want us to see the mindset of the one who handles it well and the reward that comes with it.

In Sunday School we are going through the parables of Jesus and one of my all-time favorites is the parable of the prodigal son. It is, in fact, in the chapter of Luke just before the chapter we are going to look at this morning. Our passage this morning is in chapter 16 of Luke and the prodigal son is in chapter 15. I love the lesson that we are to learn from the prodigal story in that even if we sinfully waste our lives and then, even in the eleventh hour, come back to God in true repentance and faith, the fact that we have wasted our lives will make no difference at all to the pardon we receive or to our acceptance with the Father. (According to Luke, David Gooding)

And that is great and comforting news to lots of us who have wasted lots of time. But the very next parable that Jesus gives tells about the flip side of that. The other side of the coin is that while we still get the reward of Heaven, there are consequences for wasting anything that God gives you, including your money, your time or your talents. And our passage for this morning comes on the heels of that parable.

So, with that in mind, let’s read Luke 16:10-13.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? ¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

One of the most mysterious things about how God works is how He is sovereign and yet gives us free will. I don’t understand that and that’s ok. Much greater minds than mine have tried to figure that out and can’t so I just choose to believe it without fully understanding it. It’s all part of having faith in God.

And as we talked about recently, one of the “side effects” of free will is that there are benefits of obedience and consequences of disobedience in this life. BOOCOD. We have talked about BOOCOD in this life many times but do you realize that there are BOOCOD in Heaven as well? There are rewards in Heaven for how we choose to live down here and there are consequences in Heaven for how we choose to live down here.

That’s what Jesus is talking about here. And it’s very interesting because rarely do we think of the eternal consequences of our use of money. The problem with talking about our rewards in Heaven is twofold. First, we don’t really know what the rewards are going to be and secondly, most people think the reward of Heaven itself is enough. It’s hard to motivate people to do better by telling them that Heaven will be better if they do when we just got through telling them that Heaven will be perfect.

How can it be more perfect? We will have to trust God for that but we do have His Word that it will. Let’s look at several verses where God makes it clear that there are rewards in Heaven based on what we do in this life, and a big part of this is what we do with our money. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:10 – “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 1 Corinthians 3:8 says, “The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.” Revelation 22:12 says, "Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” Rev. 2:23 ”I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”

Now, while we don’t know what those rewards are necessarily, we do get some idea of what they are in our passage this morning. It talks about true riches and property of your own. There are also lots of passages that talk about us receiving crowns in Heaven. There is the crown of righteousness and the crown of life, the incorruptible crown, the crown of rejoicing and the crown of glory. So, how does that sound to you? Pretty good?

I’ll be real honest with you. We studied about Heaven a few months ago and we know that it is going to be very much like what we have down here except perfect. And if you were to give me a crown right now, I would appreciate it and I would put it on the shelf somewhere and look at it ever so often but I don’t really have a use for one. Crowns don’t keep the sun out of your eyes and won’t keep my head from burning. And I don’t think I have anything to wear that would go with a crown.

Well, I have an idea. I have an idea that the crown that we get may not be a literal crown. I have an idea that when these verses were written that was about all that they could understand as far as rewards go. They didn’t have anything else that they could relate to that would be of great value eternally and so God uses a crown to represent our reward.

I don’t know what is meant by a crown but when God tells me it will make even Heaven a better place, I believe Him. I believe Him because I have been on the receiving end of His blessings before. I believe Him because when He says that all things work together for the good of those that love Him, I can look back and see how much better my life has been since I have had the opportunity to suffer.

I believe Him because when He says He will make my paths straight when I lean on Him instead of my own understanding, I can look back and see that He did indeed make my paths straight in those times and I was blessed far more than I was ever able to imagine.

I believe these rewards will be worth it because when He says to consecrate ourselves because He is going to do amazing things among us, I can look back and say, “Wow! I never saw that coming!”

I believe these crowns and rewards are going to be amazing because when God says, “I the LORD do not change!” I know that I can look back at the amazing things He has done for me and know that He has never changed. His Word remains true and His love and compassion and generosity are overflowing here on earth, so why should I expect anything less in Heaven?

And so when God says that if we are trustworthy with our worldly wealth then He will give us rewards that will last forever, I trust Him and I want those rewards. I want those rewards because God says there are benefits of obedience in Heaven. But if there are benefits of obedience in Heaven then there must be consequences of disobedience in Heaven as well, right?

But here we run into a similar but opposite problem as we had with rewards. It’s hard to imagine Heaven being better with rewards and it is also hard to imagine Heaven being worse with consequences. What could the consequences be that is referred to in our passage? In verse 11 it says, “¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” In other words, there are consequences in Heaven for mishandling money on earth.

Three men died in a car accident and met God at the Pearly Gates. The Lord spoke unto them saying, "I will ask you each a simple question. If you tell the truth I will allow you into heaven, but if you lie....Hell is waiting for you. To the first man the Lord asked, "How many times did you cheat on your wife?" The first man replied, "Lord, I was a good husband. I never cheated on my wife." The Lord replied, "Very good! Not only will I allow you in, but for being faithful to your wife I will give you a huge mansion and a limo for your transportation. To the second man the Lord asked, "How many times did you cheat on your wife?" The second man replied, "Lord, I cheated on my wife twice." The Lord replied, "I will allow you to come in, but for your unfaithfulness, you will get a four- bedroom house and a BMW. To the third man the Lord asked, "So, how many times did you cheat on your wife?" The third man replied, "Lord, I cheated on my wife about 8 times." The Lord replied, "I will allow you to come in, but for your unfaithfulness, you will get a one-room apartment, and a Yugo for your transportation. A couple hours later the second and third men saw the first man crying his eyes out. "Why are you crying?" the two men asked. "You got the mansion and limo!" The first man replied, "I'm crying because I saw my wife a little while ago, and she was riding a skateboard!"

I’m pretty sure that’s not a true story. I mean who would believe a Yugo in Heaven, right? But there are consequences in Heaven for our misuse of money. Now, I know what you’re thinking. There you are in Heaven. There’s the streets of gold, the gates of pearl, a huge mansion to live in filled with everything one could ever want, plus face time with Jesus to ask Him every question you can think of. What could possibly be a downside?

Oh, sure, the guy in the mansion next to you has a few more crowns and more acreage and his backyard overlooks the River of Life . But, hey, you’re in Heaven, the land of no regrets. What could be better?

Turn just a few verses over to Luke 16:19-26. “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

What could be better than being in Heaven? Being in Heaven with all of your friends and family. Being in Heaven with all the people that you don’t even know will be better. But, Todd, how could my faithfulness with my own money ever affect other people like that?

In 1854, Sunday School teacher Edward Kimball helped lead Dwight L. Moody to Christ. DL Moody’s conversion led to J. Wilbur Chapman’s conversion which led to Billy Sunday’s conversion which led to Mordecai Ham’s conversion which led to Billy Graham’s conversion. Do you know how many souls are in Heaven right now because of all of those powerful preachers? Only God knows but there has to be literally millions. All because of a Sunday School teacher who was concerned about the life of a 17 year old shoe salesman named DL Moody.

Our friend Bill Lightsey came here the other day and told several stories about how a Gideon Bible placed in the right place at the right time saved a life and now that person will be in Heaven forever. That same day, Jody Kennedy, the missionary, was here and he told me that there is a great seminary down in Nicaragua that is turning out godly, biblical men who are called by God to be pastors in little towns and villages all over the country. He said that the problem though is that they don’t have a church building in which to meet.

That bothered me and so I asked Jody how much it would cost to build a building down there. Long story short, the final cost is about $25,000 for a turn-key building with a pastor ready to go. I never was good at math but I believe we could build about 2 of those a year with the money we used to spend paying for the Runaway Bay property. Thank you Lord that we don’t have to do that anymore and thank you Lord for putting me in a place that is more concerned about leading people to have a life-changing relationship with Jesus than having a beautiful campus with stained glass and fountains.

No offense Dr. Jeffress but I don’t know how that stuff is justified. Maybe he can and I’m not going to judge him. His vision is obviously different than mine and who am I to say? I want to be in a church where the people are good stewards; stewards who know that this building and this stuff is temporary and is not ours but is on loan from God for but a short while.

I thank the Lord I am in a church that takes into consideration that every dime that is spent here is somebody’s hard-earned tithe or offering and we take that very seriously. Back in verse 10 it says that whoever can be trusted with little can be trusted with much. We may not have the budget that they do at 1^st Baptist Dallas (we may not have a budget at all!) but we have shown ourselves to be faithful with little and so we look forward to the benefits in Heaven for being obedient in this life.

There is BOOCOD here today and there will be BOOCOD in Heaven. We have seen the benefits here and I can’t wait for the benefits in Heaven.

"What is Expected of New Members - Be Biblical" - Joshua 8:30-35

"What is Expected of New Members - Be Biblical" -Joshua 8:30-35

Have you ever wanted to ask God a question and be able to know for sure what the answer was? You know, just sit down, face to face and ask Him something. Oh, sure, you want to know why something had to happen or why you were mistreated in first grade but I'm talking about asking God a practical question. Questions like these from school children:

Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don't you just keep the ones you have?

Dear God, I am an American. What are you?

Dear God, If you watch in church on Sunday I will show you my new shoes.

Dear God, If you let the dinasar not get extinct we would not have a country. You did the right thing.

Dear God, Thank you for the baby brother but what I prayed for was a puppy.

Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that ok?

How many times have you ever said to yourself, "If I were God, I would do things a little differently"? I know if you were God you would answer all those questions that those kids have and you would do this and you would do that. You would probably make your ways just a little higher than our ways and your thoughts just a little bit out of our reach, right? You would still be perfect but maybe not quite as perfect as this God is. That way you could still be in touch with the common man. And we appreciate that. But we are also glad that you are not God.

Because we want a God who is perfect in all His ways and able to know everything and be everywhere and have all power. I'm pretty comfortable with that myself. I've said before that if we could understand all of God's ways, He wouldn't be much of a God would He? Well, the good news is that God has made His ways known to us. He has made His will known to us. He has made our future known to us and it is all right here in this Bible.

It's interesting to think about what we would say to God if we were face to face but in His Word we have what He wants to say to us. Imagine being able to write a book that would answer every major question anyone ever had in the history of the world. Imagine having the thoughts and wishes of the Creator of the universe in written form that is accessible and easy to read. Sure, some of it can be difficult to understand but that is due to our lack of study rather than poor composition.

66 books written by 40-plus writers over the course of thousands of years. That's a recipe for disaster right there. There is no natural way that the Bible could have been written and come out at the end as this incredible manuscript that has changed lives and guided nations for thousands of years including many years in which it was only partly written! There is no natural way. The document that you hold in your hands is a supernatural book. It was written supernaturally and talks about things that are supernatural and has supernaturally survived as the inerrant Word of God for all these years.

　

Oh, it is still just as controversial as ever. In fact, just recently, a judge ruled May 8 that cheerleaders at a Southeast Texas high school can display banners emblazoned with Bible verses at football games. The Kountze school district had initially said the banners could not be displayed after receiving a complaint about them in September from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The foundation argued the banners violated the so-called First Amendment Establishment Clause that bars government — or publicly funded school districts in this case — from establishing or endorsing a religion.

What is it about this ancient book that just a few words from it are so threatening to people that they are willing to go to great personal expense to keep them from being seen? The Bible is under attack right here in the United States like this manuscript has not seen in hundreds of years and yet when the History Channel runs a miniseries about it, it is the highest rated thing on TV. What is it about this book that forces people to pay attention to it? Good or bad, people are paying attention to it.

In our passage this morning in the book of Joshua, we are going to look at a group of people who paid attention to the Word of God even before it was completely written. In fact, they took time out of a life and death situation, a series of battles the outcome of which would dictate the future of God's chosen people for thousands of generations to come. They took time out to read and meditate on the holy scripture and were blessed by God for doing so. Turn to Joshua 8:30-35 and let's continue to see what is expected of new members to our church.

We are in the 3rd of a 3-sermon series on what is expected of members. We started with Joshua 6 where we saw that we are to be warriors. In Joshua 7 it told us to be holy. And now in Joshua 8, we see that we are to be biblical. I believe this to be extremely timely for our church these days. We can see in the book of Joshua how the Israelites finally made it into the promised land; into the land where God intended them to be.

And just like the Hebrew people, Christ Fellowship has recently moved into the land where we are supposed to be and we have seen God bless and provide at every turn in ways that are almost as dramatic as He did for them. If you think about it, the Israelites struggled for a long time in their far-off land then spent some time in the wilderness and then overcame incredible obstacles to go into a land and take over an area that they did not build. And that was God's will.

This church struggled, overcame obstacles and now ministers and worships in a building we didn't build and nothing has ever been so obvious to me that it is God's will than this has. And while there were millions of them and not so many millions of us, I still see so many similarities and when I see that God blessed the Israelites for being warriors and being holy and being biblical, I know He will bless us as well. Look at Joshua 8:30-35.

30 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel , 31 as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. 33 All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal , as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel . 34 Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel , including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.

Let me tell you what’s going on here. Joshua and the Israelites have just crossed over into the Promised Land and they have hit the ground running. They immediately conquered Jericho and after a small setback they conquered Ai. And they are about to go on to the next city they need to conquer but they take a break. Joshua gathers all the people together. By this time, there had to be over 3 million people. But they gathered half of them on one side of a mountain and the other half on the other mountain.

I read that this was a very beautiful section of the country and that even today it makes something of an amphitheater. If somebody talks on one side of the mountain, you can hear it on the other mountain. And so Joshua stood in the valley next to the Ark of the Covenant and after making some sacrifices, he read what they had of the Bible, which at this point was just the books that Moses had written. It says he read the whole law; the blessings and the curses.

A story is told of a man who loved old books. He met an acquaintance who told him he had just thrown away a Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. "I couldn’t read it," the friend explained. "Somebody named Guten-something had printed it." "Not Gutenberg!" the book lover exclaimed in horror. "That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. Why, a copy just sold for over two million dollars!" His friend was unimpressed. "Mine wouldn’t have brought a dollar. Some fellow named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German.".

Some people appreciate what they have in these scriptures and some people don’t but unlike any other book anywhere, the Bible allows us to look back and see what to expect of God but also to look forward to see what God expects of us.

First, let’s look back to see what we can expect of God. We need to see that God never changes. Once we wrap our minds around that fact, everything else about God begins to be clearer because through these scriptures we can see God when He is pleased and when He is angry. And we can see how He reacts when He is pleased or angry.

In the Old Testament, Malachi 3:6, God says, "I the LORD do not change.” In the New Testament, James 1:17 says that God never changes. Rest assured that God still loves His creation passionately and wants to have a relationship with you just like He first did with Adam and Eve. But we as a church also have to realize that He hates sin and will punish it just as He did with the first church.

We can look back and see that God is all-powerful. He spoke the universe into existence. He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to leave Egypt . He had a fish swallow Jonah. He made fire come down from Heaven for Elijah. He made an axe head float for Elisha. He gave a young boy the ability to kill a giant. And He sold the Runaway Bay property so we could be where we are supposed to be. God never changes and He is all-powerful.

We can also look back and expect God to be all-knowing. Psalm 147 says His knowledge has no limit. Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. Matthew 10:30 says, “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” If God never changes and He is all-powerful and all-knowing then He knows our needs as a church and will provide.

One last thing about God that we can look back on and continue to expect from Him is His sovereignty. This can be hard for us to understand. How can God be sovereign and yet still give us free will? How can God’s overall will always be done even though we are sinful? Do you want to know the answer to that question? I do too. I don’t mind telling you I do not understand God’s ways even while I stand up here and preach about them. This is just another way that if we were to understand Him, He wouldn’t be much of a God.

But I can tell you that from the beginning of time, God’s overall will has been done. People have fought it. They have complained about it and they have denied it. But God’s Word teaches us that we can oppose it and suffer the consequences or we can be a part of it and be blessed. It’s our choice as a church.

Now, an astute listener would have their ears perked up at some of that last part. It should ring a bell with you when I talk about suffering consequences for disobedience and being blessed for obedience. Some people joke about how much I talk about the benefits of obedience and the consequences of disobedience. I even have a way of remembering it. I always say remember BOOCOD. Remember that there are benefits to obedience and consequences to disobedience but I am not the first to bring this up.

In fact, as a biblical church and as we start to look forward to what God expects of us I want to turn to the book of Deuteronomy. A little bit of research shows that when Joshua stood before the people in the valley that day to read from the book of the law, that part of what he read was this very passage. Let’s read Deut. 28:1-2. If you fully obey theLord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. ² All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.

Now slide over to verse 15: However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you.

God says BOOCOD. God says if you obey Him then you can be blessed as you partner in His will. But because He is sovereign, if you choose to disobey, then His will is still going to be done overall. You just miss out on the blessings. It’s pretty simple. It’s not always easy but it is pretty simple.

So, as a biblical member of a biblical church, the first thing to know is that God expects obedience. Once you wrap your mind around that everything else becomes clearer because we can see through these scriptures everything that God expects of us.

God expects us to be obedient and He also expects us to be unified. Do you remember that that is what Jesus prayed for believers? In John 17 when Jesus was praying He prayed that we would be unified. Why was that so important that Jesus would pray that? He didn’t pray that believers would be comfortable. He didn’t pray that we would not have pain or problems. He prayed that we would be one.

There was once a pastor who decided he was going to do something different for a change, so instead of a sermon, he gave everyone two sheets of paper. On one sheet, the heading read,“THE PROBLEM IN THIS CHURCH IS …” and on the other sheet, the heading read,“WHAT THIS CHURCH NEEDS IS …” He had them fill them out and hand them in. The next Sunday, he gave the results. On the sheet that listed the PROBLEMS, such things were listed as:
· Should not serve coffee in church
· Should serve more coffee in church
· Should have shorter sermons
· Should have longer sermons
· The music we have is terrible
· It’s terrible we don’t have more music like what we have

On the sheet with the heading of WHAT IS NEEDED, things were listed like:

· Need to spend money on more chairs
· We don’t need to spend any more money
· Pitch all the songs and start over
· We need a new preacher!

We can see the humor in that illustration, but there is something else we can see, too. We can see the unhappiness of those in the church. We can see the lack of unity as a body of Christians, and there is one more thing … we can see a church that has dropped the ball in its teachings, because nobody mentioned Jesus Christ. (Bruce Ball, SermonCentral)

Satan has split more churches over music and pews than anything else and it is because the people were not unified in their passion for leading people to have a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. That is our motto and our goal and we are unified behind that. And as a member of this church we expect that of you and that is what God expects of you also.

If I could have all my wishes granted for this church I wouldn’t wish for big numbers. I wouldn’t wish for a big, fat bank account. I would wish for a church that was filled with members who were courageous warriors like in Joshua 6. People who would admit that they were scared to death to do what God asked them to do but they do it anyway because they know God will provide.

I would wish for a church filled with people who were holy like in Joshua 7. People who only wanted more of God and were only scared of sin. I would want a church filled with biblical people like in Joshua 8. People who knew what to expect of God and knew what God expected of them.

God is at work in this community but so is Satan. And Satan is scared of this church, mark my words. He’s not scared of us, per say, but he is scared of what we are able to do through Christ Who strengthens us. And he wants us to be more concerned with the style of music and committees and who’s mowing the grass than on people’s eternities.

But God has told us in His Word what to expect of Him and what He expects of us but He also tells us about our future and the future of the evil one. And Satan knows what is in there so he’s mad. Just make sure you know what’s in there.