Christian Stewardship - Treasure

We have looked at stewardship with regard to time and talent.  Now we consider stewardship from the perspective of treasure. 

What’s treasure?

It’s mostly our money and our stuff.

Looking at the Parable of the Talents from the perspective of money should be easy for the talents described in this account were money.  We expand the stewardship lessons to time, gifts and abilities, and other things; but in original form, the parable talks about money.

Let’s consider money first.  We will get to stuff later.  Sometimes it seems like we can never get away from our stuff, but for now, let’s look at stewardship and money.

Once the first servant received his money, did he go to work right away?

Once the second servant received his money, did he go to work right away?

What does the parable say?

It says they put their money to work right away. 

What difference does that make?

We examined relationship when we discussed the stewardship of gifts, abilities, and talents.  We looked at the relationship between a master and trusted servants.  We examine the present syntax of putting the money to work to reveal another relationship, one between man and his money.

What is the proffered relationship?

Consider that it is one of master and servant.  These two servants are master of the money entrusted to them.  They put their money to work.

Is this different than just going to work for money?

Yes!

I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go is different than putting your money to work.  It is a different relationship.

The servants don’t say, “Well, the old man is out of here.  Guess I better get a job.”  They take their money and put it to work.  And as we learn from the exchange between the master and the third servant, these first two must have done more than put their money into a CD.  There were likely some investments made in the business world, and taking care of those took effort.  They took work.  But these first two servants were not laborers.  They were managers.

So this parable begins very early by presenting a proper relationship between man and money.  Man must be the master.

Today, that relationship seems to be inverted for far too many people.  Money is the master.  And Jesus spoke clearly when he said that you cannot serve two masters.  You will hate one and love the other.  He takes this thinking further and to a point that is on point for this discussion.  You cannot serve God and money.

You cannot serve God and money.

We cannot serve God and money.

God liberated us from sin and death.  We sing, “My chains are gone.  I’ve been set free,” so why would we indenture ourselves to money?

But some are no longer master.  Some have spent more money than they have.  Some have trouble practicing stewardship because they are not master of their money.  When money is the master, money decides how it is spent.  Debt is often the instrument of bondage.  What we owe is what binds us.

Paul once counseled believers in Rome that the only debt we should owe is the debt of love to each other.

We are called to have only one master.  That Master is God.  We serve God when we follow Jesus.  Money cannot be our master.

If we have significant debt, can we really put God first in our lives?

If you are in debt, how do you get out?  How do we get out of debt in America?  It seems like we have gone from the land of the free and home of the brave to land where it’s interest-free with no payments for 12 months and home of the financially enslaved.

But how do we break these chains?

With God and with the tithe.

But I’m in debt.  I cannot afford to tithe.

Actually, you can’t afford not to tithe if you want to break free.  We must be decisive about our allegiance.  We must shift our allegiance from money being our master and make God our Master.  Half and half won’t work.  Sixty-forty won’t work.

 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings.  You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.  Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

Malachi 3:8-10

The Lord says test me in this.  Test him.

I have been down this road of struggling with the tithe.  It was either not enough and I felt guilty or when we gave more, I worried about bills, and debt, and was deprived of peace.  Only when I committed to tithing 10% (that's actually redundant as tithe means tenth) of my gross income did things get better.  God poured out his blessings on me. 

The word trust is not in this scripture, but to put God to the test with our money is hard to do without trust.  In fact, relinquishing our money is perhaps the most viable, tangible, touchable, and feel-able way that we trust God.

I have a financial worksheet that I offer those who come seeking help.  It has spaces for income and expenses with plenty of prompts to help people remember.  People fill it out in pencil and I enter it into the spreadsheet.  It spits out percentages.  The tithe does not go with the expenses.  It has its own stand-alone line.  The tithe is not an expense.  It is not a tax.  It is a viable, visible statement of trust.

This is the only time that I permit myself to view another person’s tithe.  The tithe is a personal statement of trust between the believer and God.  Some denominations differ, but here it is personal.

In my entire time as pastor, I have never seen anyone who came in for financial help that tithed.  People who tithe don’t need help.  God provides.

Now some who occasionally throw five, twenty-five, or even five hundred into the plate may have financial difficulty.  Giving God some of your excess is different than trusting him from the start.  We are to give God our first fruits.

At one ministerial alliance meeting, this was the topic of conversation.  The answers were the same.  We just didn’t see people who tithed coming in for help.

How do we quit serving money as our master?  We must make God our only master.  Money must serve us.  Trust God with the tithe and he will release you from the bonds of financial slavery as well.

God is our Master.

Jesus is Lord.

We are slave, servant, trusted servant, and even friend to Jesus.

Money works for us.

Money is our servant.

We must not serve money.

But we have digressed from stewardship.

Really?  Everyone talks about the tithe when it’s time to talk stewardship. 

That’s often the case and the focus is on the personal benefits, but stewardship is about sharing what we have with others.  The tithe is about trust, or at least part of it is.

There is another part to the tithe—the first part that is often overlooked.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

We are blessed when we tithe.  God does pour out his blessings on us.  He out gives us.  It’s not a fair contest.  He wins every giving contest, but that’s not what the first part of this tenth verse is about.

He says bring forth the whole tithe so there may be food in my house.

So there may be food in my house!

We are blessed to live in a part of the nation where the church does a lot.  The church is vital not only to the well being of believers, but to the wholeness of the community.  We help with food, clothing, gifts, bills, school supplies, and much more.  If there is a kid in town who is hungry or doesn’t have school supplies, it’s because his parents are hiding him from the church.  It’s because her parents are too stubborn to accept help.  We help with a lot.

Imagine what it would be like if every believer tithed.  Think on that for a minute.  What if every believer tithed?

The church would be the prevailing force in our nation, in the world.

We would have not only the desire but the means to meet needs and not worry if we will have enough to pay the light bill and the building payment too.  In fact, there wouldn’t be a building payment.

The purpose of the tithe is to fill God’s house with money and resources to be God’s love in this world.  We benefit from this, but from a stewardship perspective, the tithe fills the storage bins so that God’s people may use them wisely to minister to all the people.  We would put them to work.

Consider Joseph who was placed in authority over all of Egypt.  He knew that a 7-year famine was coming.  He had 7 years to prepare.  What did he do?

He collected 1/5 of everyone’s grain harvest and stored it in Pharaoh’s silos.  You might think that he would have collected 1/7 of the grain each year, but he collected more.  He collected 20%.  He was planning to take care of not only all of Egypt but all who came to Egypt in need of food.

The known world experienced famine.  Egypt experienced abundance and prominence. 

Should God’s people be any less diligent today?

One day we will answer the question, “What did you do with what I gave you?”

The tithe will be an easy answer.  That one is a no-brainer.  That one is like putting your name on the top of the paper and getting 5 points just for doing that.  Because when we tithe, we will have more than we need to meet our needs.

What will we do with the rest?

What will we do with our abundance?

This is where we put our talents to work.  This is where we double our Master’s money.  This is where the fun begins for we have been trusted with these talents by our Master.

Sometimes we put some in savings.  Sometimes we celebrate with a nice meal or better car.  Sometimes we fix up our homes, but the person who lives by the tithe still has something to share with others.  There is still something left to give.  There is still something left to share.

Why?

Because we gave to God first.

These are some of the endeavors where we share our abundance with others.

World Vision Kids

A goat and two chickens

Bicycles for pastors in India

Shoes for impoverished kids overseas

Water wells in Africa and India

Homes for kids without homes

The Gideons

And the list goes on, but these have all been supported with money by local churches and church members over the past year.

What did you do with what I gave you?

Many of us are looking forward to the day we get to answer that question about what we did with our money.  But today’s topic is about treasure, so let’s move on to our stuff.

Don't store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them.  But store your treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them.  Your heart will be where your treasure is.

Matthew 6:19-21

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

I had a few dozen 8-track tapes until a couple years ago.  Every time we moved, I found a place to store them.  You couldn’t throw them away.  I mean, really, they’re 8-tracks.  They marked a time that will never come again.  I had to keep these treasures.

Occasionally, I would find an 8-track player at a yard sale, bring it home and discover why it was being sold at a yard sale.  It would try to eat one of my 8-track tapes.  I would save the disfigured tapes.  C’mon, it’s not like I had a choice.  They’re 8-tracks.

Now make no mistake about this, these were not of “collectable” quality.  In fact, they had cobwebs on them, in them, and perhaps holding them together.  They had accumulated dust.  I was understanding the term, “where moth and rust destroy,” better than I wanted to.

Off to the Mission House they went.  They can be someone else’s treasure.

I was holding on to treasures that were not treasures.

I also have some stacks of books.  The stacks are of the same books.  These are books that I didn’t write, so why do I need more than one?

Because they are stacked ready to give away.  Sometimes, I have even replenished the stacks.  I’m not talking about the Bibles that I keep in my office so I have them to give away to anyone who needs a Bible.

I’m talking about some writing books.  At one time I had 15.  Now I’m down to 1 or 2.  I have given them out to people I have known over the past decade who were writers or taking an English class in college.

I am talking about some books about real customer service.  I only have 3 or 4 left.  I give those out if I know this is something important to the person.

I am talking about some books about creativity.  I still have a dozen of those left.  I just don’t meet that many people committed to being creative these days.  But I will find them.

I don’t view these books as treasure stored up on earth.  I view them as rounds in a magazine ready to be fired.

I don’t restock these books much these days.  Unless there is a volume discount or I am after an out of print edition, I just click my mouse once on Amazon if I want to get a book for someone.

It’s sort of like having treasure on demand.

When I get to answer the question, “What did you do with what I gave you;” I’m thinking I will get to talk a little about these books.

But our stuff can weigh us down.  It can get in the way of our running our race.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3

Let us throw off everything that hinders.  Our stuff—our earthly treasure—either has a purposeful existence or it slows us down.  The stewardship of our stuff is much like our money.  We first must resolve the issue of who is master?

If God is our only Master, then our stuff must serve us.

Do you know who learns this lesson best?  The infantryman.  The soldier who must carry his life on his back knows what he needs and knows what slows him down.

A German soldier by the name of Helmuth von Moltke served over a hundred years ago and is best known for the quote, “No plan of battle ever survives contact with the enemy. “  But he also said, “Every infantryman should carry an axe in case he has to break down a door.”

The infantryman knows the weight of everything he carries.  It is either essential or it slows him down.  The next time you see some soldiers or Marines getting off helicopters or out of armored vehicles and heading off into the mountains or desert, consider how many 170 pound men are carrying 120 pounds of gear and ammunition.

And there is always someone saying, “But you might need an axe too.”

If we have stuff for every contingency, we are probably burdened by our stuff.  We need the stuff that works for us. 

On any given day, I will probably have duct tape, bungee cords, some small give-away Bibles, and a prayer blanket in my truck.  I put these to work.  I replace them when they run out. 

Sometimes, I have a box of my books in my truck, but if I know I might have passengers that day.  The books get booted out at home or the office.

How do we know how much stuff we need or don’t need?

 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34

What are we to say about the stewardship of our treasure?

We must be its master.  We cannot put something to work if we are a slave to it. We cannot cast it off while we run the race if it is the master.  If we are truly seeking God’s kingdom, then we must be master of our treasure.

 The love of money has been the root of all kinds of evil.  Paul wrote these often misquoted words to a young pastor named Timothy.  He did not say that money was evil.  We should not extrapolate from this that stuff is evil.  They are just money and stuff.

If we love money, love stuff, or have loved one or the other so much that we have significant debt, make no mistake; we are not the master in this relationship.

We are called to put our money to work.

We are to put our treasure to work.

We are to put our talents to work.

We are to put our time to work.

We are to be the master of these things.

God gave us dominion over this earth.  He told us to subdue it—that is to use and care for its resources in order to maximize the return we produce for God.

Make no mistake here.  We are stewards of the earth.  We are not the owner.  It all belongs to God.  But he has trusted it to our care so that we produce a return for him that is shared with our brothers and sisters.

As Christian stewards, we must not dread the question, “What did you do with what I gave you?”

We look at our time, talents, money, resources, and even the very dominion over this earth and ask ourselves, how can I put all these to work to produce a good return for my Master?

Consider what the Confession of Fatih  has to say about stewardship.

Christian Stewardship (From the Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith)
6.10  Christian stewardship acknowledges that all of life and creation is a trust from God, to be used for God's glory and service. It includes the conservation and responsible use of natural resources as well as the creative use of human skills and energies. These gifts of God are to be shared with all, especially with the poor.
6.11  The motive for Christian stewardship is gratitude for God's abundant love and mercy, accompanied by the desire to share all of God's good gifts with others.
6.12  God gives to the human family a variety of gifts, including gifts to each person for which each person has responsibility. God desires that each person engage in the mutual sharing of these gifts so that all may be enriched.
6.13  Proportionate and regular giving of all that God entrusts to the human family is an act of devotion and a means of grace. Giving to and through the church is the privilege of every believer. Tithing as a scriptural guide for giving, is an adventure of faith and a rich and rewarding practice. The tither not only experiences the grace of God but even the grace of sharing.
6.14  All believers are responsible to God and to the covenant community for their stewardship.

May we do well with the things that God has entrusted to us so that he may trust us with many things.  Let us respond to God’s grace by becoming true Christian stewards.

Amen.

How do we love? God's wisdom delivered in advance.

Read Luke 6:31

Every culture in the world has some form of what we often call the Golden Rule.  Some cultures or religions might consider it a law of reciprocity.  In the positive form, the way that we treat others is the way that we hope they treat us.  The negative is that if we don’t want to be treated in a certain way, then neither do our neighbors.

This can also apply to the condition of our hearts and minds.  What we do or do not desire for ourselves, we should also desire or not desire for the rest of humankind.

The golden rule is a good universal maxim for good living.  If everyone actually lived that way, national defense budgets would drop by 90%.  Taxes would drop by 90%.  Crime would drop by 90%. 

Facebook posts would mostly be about birthdays and grandkids.  There wouldn’t be any real divisive issues to provoke the vitriol lurking within us.

Sounds like a good rule.  Let’s adopt it.

The problem is that somehow, we become exclusive.  I would love for you to invite me over for a feast—burgers and dogs will suffice—so I invite you over spaghetti and meatballs.  Why yes, with olive oil peppers. Sure, I will throw in some bruschetta.

It’s a pretty good gig.  You cook this week.  I cook the next.  Sounds like God’s love in action to me.  Count me in!

I’ve got a friend that loans me a hundred bucks every now and then.  I’ve done it for him.  We’re good.

Sometimes, I stop by a friend’s house and pull the blue dumpsters up from the road before they blow to Kansas.  Sure enough, they return the favor in a couple weeks.

This is a pretty good system.  This tit-for-tat stuff works well. 

My boss treats me with respect, so I do the same.  I’ve worked in other places where that wasn’t the case and I sure did whatever I wanted when the boss was away.

This golden rule is just simple reciprocity.  I give so that I will receive.  In many religions past and perhaps some present, this was man’s relationship with their gods.

I give in expectation that the gods will return the favor:  do ut des. 

But this is not the model by which we relate to our God.  Our God gives us grace.  Our God pours out his favor upon us and we didn’t really do anything to deserve it.  Jesus did everything for us, so why does Jesus use this golden rule that seems to be universal and quite secular?

Perhaps we need to understand society, especially society in the time when Jesus came in the flesh.  Imagine concentric circles.  In the center are the very self-righteous.  These are Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and others who believed themselves to be in good standing with the one true God.  There were probably some rich people in that circle as well. A healthy offering covers many sins, at least as far as society goes.

Then there were your law-abiding Jews.  They followed the Law of Moses and the administrative regulations tacked on by the Pharisees, paid their taxes and made their sacrifices and offerings.  They were good people but not quite inner circle material.  They bought general admission tickets to the Thunder Game.  They could only look at the skyboxes from the outside.

Then we get into the all others category.  Surely there are subcategories within this outer taxonomy.  I’m sure at the weekly Pharisee meeting during happy hour at the Phylactery Club, these nuances were discussed ad nauseum.  Nitpicking nuances was surely a favorite pastime of those in the inner circle.

What is it to nitpick nuances?  Read any Facebook post with a dozen or more comments that don’t involve grandchildren.

Would you rather be called before the Roman governor and have to enter his pagan palace or would you rather have to pass by the leper colony on your way to teaching Leviticus 19:18 at the Sadducee Seminar?  Which would be worse?

If you were part of the inner circle, life was generally good.  If you were on the outside, well, it was not so good.  Those in the middle, well every dog has his day, right?

I’m being purposely glib here to make the point that there were societal distinctions even among God’s Chosen People.  Elsewhere in the world, we see a caste system.  The ethnography of our own country is more complicated, but there are divisions and distinctions among people.

Money, celebrity, urban, rural, right and left seem to dissect us into groups that may or may not have much association with each other. 

What did Jesus say?  Do to others as you would have them do to you.

What did he not say?  There is nothing about the other person’s ability to reciprocate in his imperative statement to us.

There is nothing in this directive concerning the other person’s ability to pay us back or love us back or respond in any way.  The instruction is wisdom for our hearts.

We come once again to a couple dichotomies.

Inclusion or exclusion.

Transformational or transactional.

When we apply the Golden Rule in the context of the full biblical witness that we know, especially the teachings of Jesus, we find that he calls us to cross all societal boundaries with our love for others.  What we do for others is to have nothing to do with their ability to repay us.  It has nothing to do with whether they return love for love or not.

The first and foremost thing that we must do is include our neighbors in this family that we know and love so much.  We live as brothers and sisters in Christ and we call others to come into the fellowship.  Inclusion in the family of faith is how we know abundant life in this modern age.

There are plenty of people who have all the money they could ever spend and yet they have missed the boat on joy and peace and abundance.  There are plenty of people in poverty who have missed out on abundance. 

Whether or not you have money and stuff does not dictate abundant living.  Abundance comes with inclusion.  Knowing the fullness of God’s love in this time comes in family.

We are also people of transformation.  When we do unto others, we are not doing it in expectation of what they can do for us.  We do for others with the expectation that the One who commanded us to love them is ready to transform them.

We are sent into the world.  We meet people where they are, but we don’t want to leave them there.  We want them to come to know love.

We want them to come and know the God who is Love.

We want them to know what it is to live in love.

We want them to know how to face the troubles of the world knowing that Love has overcome the world.

We want them to know the abundant life that is here for us in this present time.

We want them to know the eternal life that is in store for us, and it comes with quite the benefit package.

These things are transformational.  They change who we once were into who we are now as brothers and sisters in Christ.  We want this for others.  We desire abundance and transformation for all.  Our hearts are being shaped—modeled after—the divine heart and we want this abundant and eternal life for others.

Transactional is that I will do for you, so you can do for me.  That’s not the Golden Rule that Jesus gave us.  Jesus tells us to image how we would like to be treated by our neighbors and do the same for them without expectation of getting anything in return.

Transformational is responding to that urging of the Spirit that lives within us and leading people into the family of faith.  Let’s put this leading of the Spirit into Golden Rule context.  If I was lost, I would want to be found.  If I was dying, I would want to be healed and live.  If I was at the end of my rope without any hope, I would want a miracle. 

We are blessed—so blessed—to lead people to the Author of miracles.

Doing unto others doesn’t always involve food or money or rides or material things.  It always must include love.  The Golden Rule that we have been taught crosses boundaries.  It breaks stigmas and stereotypes.  It must not be confined to those in our circle of comfort.  We must not be exclusionary.

The Golden Rule does not tell us what to do.  We know what to do—love one another.  We must ask God for wisdom and he gives it generously.  The Golden Rule is a dose of wisdom. 

What specifically or how should we do what we are called to do as God’s love in action?  We do the very thing that we would hope others would do for us.  We do it without expectation of return.

Last week we looked at love in action.  We looked at words and deeds being in harmony.  We said that we are people who take action.

We understand that God is Love.  We understand that we are God’s love in action.

The carnal man asks, “Should I help?”

The disciple asks, “How should I help?”  Wisdom and discernment follow—God grants wisdom generously—but action is automatic.  It is natural for us as a Christian.  We will do something to help with the real needs of people.

This is how we left things last week.  Welcome to God’s wisdom delivered in advance. 

“How should I help?”

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Sometimes this is giving a ride.

Sometimes it is food.

Sometimes it is speaking the truth in love.  Wake up!

Sometimes it is prayer for a person or with a person.

Sometimes it is companionship through a time of hardship.

Sometimes it is just being a friend.

Sometimes it is showing someone how to make a grocery list, or a budget, or a daily schedule.

Sometimes it is reading the Bible with them.

Sometimes it is just being someone who will listen.

But all the time it is drawing them closer to the One who can transform them.  All the time it is bringing people into the family of faith.  All of the time it is making sure that no one is left as an outsider, for we would not want to be left alone when joy, peace, and hope abounded within this family that we know as the body of Christ.

“How should I help?”

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

It’s not tit-for-tat.  It’s not reciprocity.  It is wisdom from God on how to be his love.

It’s a model that we can apply in every circumstance.  How would I want to be treated?

We know the what.  It is to love one another.  Here is the how.  Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Amen!

God is Love. We are God's Love in Action!

Read James 2:14-26

We have been proceeding through the topic of love.  In recent weeks we have looked at love and action and how we love God directly and how we love God by loving others.  Trusting in the Lord was surely one of the most direct ways in which we can love God.

I challenged you that trust leads to obedience.  Trying to obey God without trusting him is frustrating.  Trust is essential in loving God.  So too, faith comes into the picture when we talk about love and action.

Somewhere down the road, we will take on faith as its own topic.  Before then, we will make stops at peace and rest, but we need a dose of faith when we talk love and action.  So we come to a letter written by James to Hebrew believers scattered all over the known world.

These are people who knew the law, once lived by the law, and now surely are wondering how they are to live considering the fact that Jesus took care of their salvation in a single sacrifice.  The short answer to how are we to live is we are to live in love.  But what does that mean?

James says if you see a brother or sister in severe need, he says without clothes or daily food, and you just walk on by saying, good luck with that; you missed the boat on loving your neighbor.  You are disconnected from your discipleship.

Our response to God’s great love that we saw poured out on the cross is discipleship. It should be rooted in love, governed by trust, and demonstrated by faith and obedience.

Salvation is all from God, but how we respond is our discipleship.  We can say that we have faith and live in love, but our actions say more than our words.  This is not to say that we should all be mute.  On the contrary, we should acknowledge God in everything that we do.  We should share the good news at every opportunity, but our words and our deeds must be in harmony.

You can’t say that you love God and have faith in God and ignore hardship among others who cross your path, especially fellow believers.  Love and faith will produce action if they are genuine. 

James is not talking about the lazy and foolish—the Proverbs have plenty of counsel for those cases.  He speaks of those with legitimate need.  If we encounter someone with real need, we help.  Love compels us to help.  Our faith compels us to help.  Our discipleship which couples love and faith leads us to obey the Spirit within us and we help.

Our love, faith, and deeds are in harmony. We may not be able to dissect what was love and what was faith, but our response was our discipleship.  We helped because we obeyed the Spirit that lives within us.  Faith and deeds, love and action were in harmony.

James inserts what he expects will be a conversation among his readers.  One says that I have faith.  Another says I have works.  He tells us that just saying your have faith doesn’t amount to much.  It’s much more tangible to validate that faith by what you do.

For the hard cases that say, I have faith that there is one true God, that might seem impressive if you compare yourself to a bunch of atheist that are espousing a cosmic accident; but it’s nothing to put on your resume.  Even the demons believe that.   That sort of faith held by the demons does not lead them to obedience to God.  They know enough to realize that their day is coming, and they are shaking in their boots about that, but they don’t have faith.  Their knowledge does not lead to love and obedience.

So, if your stance is that I have faith because I believe there is one true God, you haven’t separated yourself from a very ungodly crowd.  James goes so far as to say that faith that is not accompanied by action is a dead faith.

How would you feel if every morning you were greeted with,” Hey, you’re looking good, but your faith is dead?”

Nobody wants to hear that their faith is dead.  But, but, but, I believe in God. But you have no actions to show for it.

This ersatz conversation is not for the purpose of determining who has faith.  It is not a litmus test that screens out the wannabes.  It’s not a heaven or hell discriminator.

It puts in juxtaposition two incongruous conditions—faith and lack of deeds.  For if there is faith there will be deeds.

James extends his previous thought in metaphor. 

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Think of it this way.  We talked about loving God by trusting him with all of our heart, even over our own understanding.  Our trust in the Lord becomes visible in the deeds of our faith.  Our works are the visible image of our invisible trust and faith.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

Our works are the image of our invisible faith.  Love in action is the visible image of our faith.  I can’t see your faith but I can see the works that proceed from your faith.

James is telling us that the person who receives Jesus as Savior but not as Lord is a preposterous creature.  Receipt of the greatest gift ever should result in the response of love and discipleship, but some don’t want the discipleship.

Some do not want to receive Jesus as Lord.  Thanks God for the get out of hell ticket, but I’m not much at having a Lord in my life.  This following Jesus business is just a little much for me at the moment. 

James is telling us that this response is outrageous, perverse, and abnormal for the new creation that we have become. New creation is Paul’s term.  Let’s say for the disciple that we have been born again to be. 

Our faith is made complete in what we do.  Our love for God is visible in our love for others.  This is our natural state as a born-again believer.  This is who we are made to be when we belong to the Lord.

What do you call a person who belongs to the Christ?  He or she is a Christian. 

How do you know a person belongs to the Christ?  They will know us by our love.

Can we belong to the Christ and not see our love and faith manifested in deeds?  Such a condition is unnatural.  It’s like swimming upstream; yet, it seems so many are trying to do just that.

Our response to the love that we know in Christ Jesus is discipleship.  Discipleship manifests itself in love, faith, and trust.  These become visible in obedience and in deeds.

God’s love in action is the visible manifestation of our faith.  Action completes our faith.  Action by itself is not pleasing to God. Faith without deeds is dead, so faith and action must be companions. 

Here are three unnatural conditions for those who claim to be Christians.  These conditions should not exist in the believer.

·      Faith without deeds.

·      A Savior who is not also Lord.

·      Salvation without discipleship.

Now here are three conditions that we might not think go together but God says that they do.

·      Peace granted to us without understanding.

·      Trusting God over our own understanding.

·      Forgiveness that comes without merit (grace).

There are things in the carnal world that don’t seem to go together but they do.  There are conditions that for the Christian should not coexist.

·      Faith without deeds.

·      A Savior who is not also Lord.

·      Salvation without discipleship.

We have been talking about love and action.  This discussion has taken us to trust, obedience, faith, and deeds.  It all comes under this umbrella of discipleship.  So the question to us is, do we want to be his disciples?

Jesus tells us to take his yoke and learn from him.  He says that his burden is easy.  The load is light.  He does not say that we won’t have trouble in the world.  We know the answer to that.  We will, but we can learn from our Lord.  His commands are not a burden to us.

He tells us that people will know we belong to him by our love.  Don’t we want to not only be his disciple but look different from those who are not?

His invitation is to follow him.  Are we up to this?

The answer for one who has received unmerited forgiveness from God—grace—salvation through grace—must be yes.  The answer must be yes.

Words like Christian tourist, Christian spectator, and Christian consultant, Christian commentator are oxymorons.  These are words that don’t go together.  Where there are disciples there is action.

Grace compels us to action. 

Many of you know this.  I see so much love in action every week.  What I hope that you understand is that action is now your natural response as a follower of Christ.  Action is your natural condition.  You are God’s love in action.

We understand that God is Love.  Now understand that we are God’s love in action.

The carnal man asks, “Should I help?”

The disciple asks, “How should I help?”  Wisdom and discernment follow—God grants wisdom generously—but action is automatic.  It is natural for us as a Christian.  We will do something to help with the real needs of people.

Our faith is made complete in our action.

Amen!

Trust is Action

Read Proverbs 3:5-6

We have returned to the topic of love and action. 

The side of our building says, God’s Love in Action.  It has been the motto of this body for all of this new century.  We have grown into it to the point that there is much fidelity between what our motto says and who we are. 

We get this love in action stuff.  We like to do things that show our love.  Jesus said this is how people will know that you are my disciples.

We want to love God and love others.  There are some things that are just about taking care of a fellow believer and others that are for everyone.  We have dived head first into both.

How do we love God?  We worship him in spirit and in truth.  We come before almighty God with no pretense. That means even if we can quite catch the melody for the song, we sing anyway knowing our heart is hitting the perfect notes.  We love God by worshiping him.

We tithe.  We may not make much, but the first ten percent is the Lord’s and we give it joyfully.  We make offerings that go beyond the tithe. We love God in our faithful giving.

We read God’s word aloud and write much of it on our hearts. 

We come into the assembly seeking to please God and not to see what we can get out of it.  We realize that it’s not all about me.

We love God by loving others in so many ways.  We give rides, loan vehicles, give out food all year long.

We help with bills.  We get people coats when it’s cold.  We help reconstitute lives when a house burns to the ground.

We pray with people, console people, and feed a lot of hungry people.  We deliver love in a sack lunch during the summer.

We teach kids at VBS and then throw them a pool party.  We walk the town telling people that God loves them.

We give out gospels galore.  That’s our form of measurement—gospels galore.

We hold funeral services for people who are very much disconnected from the church.  We are very much God’s love in action.  We surely have some blind spots but we act on them when we find them.

But there is another kind of love in action.  It’s almost invisible.  You can’t keep it on the shelf.  You can’t deliver it or have someone come pick it up.  You can’t buy it or sell it.  But it is love and action and love in action as much as giving a box of food or helping someone with their water bill or holding a love ambush for the kids—Easter Egg Hunts and Trunk or Treat events.

What is it?

It is trust.  It is plain and simple trust in the Lord.

That sounds like a warm and fuzzy thing more than action.  And that’s why we don’t always recognize it as action. 

Now, this sort of trust doesn’t mean that when we find another believer in need and have the means to help him or help her, we just walk on by and say, “I trust that someone else will help them.”

It doesn’t mean that when we know we are supposed to share the gospel that we say, “I trust God to take care of this with someone more qualified.”

It is not handing someone a gospel tract or a Bible and saying, “I trust that you will figure this out and be a better person.”

This is trusting in the Lord when I want something now and even think that I must have it now but I wait on the Lord to provide in his time and from his glorious riches.

This is not being anxious or worried about something because my trust is in the Lord.  Maybe it’s a car payment or getting a promotion or whether or not your child gets to start in the baseball game.

Understand that sometimes the direction that you receive from the Lord tells you that you have more car and accessories than you need at this time.  You need less car and smaller payments. Sometimes the Lord wants you to know that you are not getting promoted because you are not doing as great a job as you are telling everyone that you are.  And sometimes the Lord wants you to just let the coach do his job and let the kids play ball.

And sometimes, God has something beyond your wildest imagination that just not here yet.

Trusting the Lord, waiting on the Lord, and not giving in to anxiousness is not our natural human condition.  We want what we want and most of the time we want it now.

Sometimes trusting in the Lord is waiting.  Waiting is action when it is done in trust.  If you have ever done the Disneyworld or Universal Studios vacation, then you know what trust is.  You stand in a line and trust that sometime in the near future, you will get to the ride.  After you have been in line for an hour, you might get an affirmation that the line in fact does lead to a ride when you make it to the one and one-half hours from this point sign. 

If I can trust Disney and wait on my chance to get on this three-minute ride, then I hope that I can trust in the Lord and wait on what he has in store for me.

Sometimes trusting in the Lord is doing what you know that he wants you to do for one more day.  This whole eating healthy thing doesn’t seem to be producing the results that I want.  This drinking more water and fewer soft drinks doesn’t seem to be doing anything.  This whole getting up 30 minutes early to pray and read my Bible hadn’t made my life any easier.

Sometimes trusting is just staying the course, even if for just one more day.  As it turns out, we can only live one day at a time.

Isn’t that what addicts and alcoholics say—one day at a time?  It’s not just for them.  There really are no other options.  That’s the way that life unfolds—one day at a time.

That’s also the way we trust.  In this moment, in this hour, in this day we trust the Lord.  Trust is action.

It is not action like swinging at a fastball or tackling the quarterback or draining a three-point shot, but it is still action. 

Trust often involves waiting, not immediate gratification.  So many times, we help people who come to us with a problem that they have ignored for a few months and suddenly the bill is due today, or the power gets shut off.  One of the first things that I usually tell people is that if we decide to help, it probably won’t be today.  Go call the company and see if they will give you a longer grace period.

So many people are looking for answers but not willing to invest in trust.  I just want my immediate problem fixed so I can get back to my life that hasn’t been working out so well, but I am comfortable with it. 

Some many go from urgent problem to urgent problem to urgent problem with no sanity in sight.  So many do not want to trust the Lord.  So many don’t see peace anywhere on their horizon.

I am not talking just about people who need help with a bill.  Many people won’t trust the Lord in family troubles or during times of loss.  Some stop trusting the Lord when something bad happens.  Trusting the Lord is loving the Lord. 

God, why would you let this happen?  I don’t know if I can trust you anymore.    I don’t know where to turn.  I need something tangible.

What people say they need and what the Lord has prescribed are often miles apart.  What people need is trust.  Trust in the Lord is the prescription.

But this is only a partial strength prescription for we are counseled to trust in the Lord with all of our heart.  There is no hedging your bet.  There is no Plan B.  It is what I like to call, All In. 

It’s not, I will try this the Lord’s way for three days or a week or even a month.  It’s I will trust in the Lord with everything that I am.  I will trust in the Lord with all of my heart.

Let’s briefly consider another proverb embodied in a discussion of rich hosts and fools.  Proverbs 23:7 tells us that “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

What’s going on in our heart is really who we are.  Our minds might be able to quote two dozen Bible verses but if our heart does not value these words, we don’t value them. 

Our mind might tell us that it sure would be easier this way, but if our heart tells us that a different way would please God, then we must bring our minds into agreement with our hearts.

This is the battle between trusting in the Lord and choosing our own understanding.  Our own understanding seems more tangible.  Surely it makes more sense. Why?  It’s our own understanding.  Of course, it makes sense to us.  We can wrap our minds around our own ideas and conclusions.

What is it to trust in the Lord with all of your heart?  How do we trust the Lord with all of our heart? Here are some things that you will see in yourself and perhaps in others if you trust in the Lord with all of your heart. 

They read the Bible.  How does this say trust?  They look for the answers before life gives them the questions, and they know where to find them.  They are so convinced that God has shown us the way they are not going to wait for problems before they start looking for answers.

They make daily appointments with God.  This isn’t just a quick prayer in the morning and one with each meal.  This is real time with the One who knows the way.  In fact, he is the Way.  It is a deliberate thing.  It is something worth pushing daily demands aside to do.  People who trust God make significant time for him.

They understand and accept that it’s a broken world.  But I believe in Jesus and everything should go without a hitch from now on.  That’s not exactly what the Bible says.  In fact, Jesus is very clear.  You will have trouble in the world.  We accept that, but we don’t permit ourselves despair for Jesus has overcome the world.  For now, though, it’s broken.  In a broken world, bad things do happen to good people but trust is not contingent upon circumstances.

In prayer, they listen much more than they talk.  If you can’t sit silently waiting on the Lord to answer, maybe you don’t value his answer or don’t really want his answer.  If you pray asking God to bless what you want because it makes sense to you, there might be a trust issue.  This doesn’t mean that we don’t offer up to the Lord what we think we ought to do.  It means that we don’t try to limit what God has to say to us just to those things we want to hear.

They are not distracted by false urgency.  Their eyes are fixed on Jesus.  They are willing to wait upon the Lord.  They are not hedging their bets.  It is all in with trusting the Lord.  You may be falling to pieces trying to keep up with the world’s priorities, but the man or woman who trusts in the Lord with all their heart is not cut off in his race.  They never want to hear the words, “You were running a good race.  Who cut you off?”

They obey the Lord.  When the answer that God provides is not the one they had worked out in their own understanding, they still do it God’s way.  Trust leads to obedience. 

They believe that the Spirit that lives within us is greater than any spirit in the world.  They believe that they are playing for the winning team and are fully equipped for what God calls them to do.  Obedience is not difficult, it’s not burdensome; it’s the only viable choice.

There is a lot of action in trust.  This is not an all-encompassing list, but it hits some points where we can do some self-assessment or accountability partner assessment.  You will find your own indicators of trust. 

There is one more thing that you might notice among those who trust the Lord, including yourself.  In everything you do, you acknowledge the Lord.

It’s not, Ooooooh.  I guess that I will do this God’s way.  I hope it works out ok.  Man, this could be my undoing.  What am I doing?

It’s I’m all in.  I trust the Lord.  I might not be able to explain exactly how everything is going to work or work out, but I trust the Lord.  I’m yours.  I am your servant.  You have called me friend.  I am your disciple.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

Here is the thing that is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  When you trust the Lord over your own understanding and acknowledge him every step of the way, he shows you the way—he directs your path or makes your way straight. 

Trust is action.  In fact, the other things that we call action and are easy to see must be done in trust to produce fruit.  Trust is action.

It is officially baseball season so by Major League rules I am required to include at least one thing pertaining to baseball.  Did you ever see a batter swing at a pitch that he really didn’t want to swing at?  It is a pitiful looking thing.  Mind and body are not in agreement.  The bat just somehow comes forward but there is no commitment in the swing.  I would rather swing hard at a pitch and miss it by a foot than have one of those uncommitted swings.

Trust involves consonance between heart and mind.  We must trust the Lord enough that our heart convinces our mind that his way is better than our way.  God’s way is better.  Even when our own understanding tells us differently, we trust that God’s way is better.

You might think, I understand the philosophy of all this, but give me some specifics.  Beware, I might get under some people’s skin as we look at trusting God instead of our own understanding.

God’s way is marriage.  In our own understanding, we think shacking up is just as good.

God’s way is living within our means.  In our own understanding, we think everyone has a bunch of debt it must be ok.

God’s way is that we show respect for our leaders and pray for them.  In our own understanding, we think contempt of those in authority is a daily staple. 

God’s way is that we do not forsake the gathering together of believers.  Too many Christians think, I’m saved I don’t need to hang out with all those hypocrites.

God’s way is that the man is the spiritual leader of the family.  The world says everyone or no one is the leader.  That thought of the husband being the spiritual leader is archaic. 

God says take a Sabbath day of rest and honoring him.  The world says—and the world has done a very thorough brainwashing job on so many—the world says that you don’t have time for that.

God’s way is to trust him completely.  The world says trust anyone but the one true God.  Make your own god if you need to, it’s easier.  Rely upon your own understanding.  Be your own god.

The list could go on.  You might want to spend some time in which you examine parts of your life in which you trust God completely and those in which the world has you convinced you of something else.

What I hope to convince you of this morning is that trust is action.  It’s not a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Trust is action and trusting in the Lord with all of your heart leads to obedience.

The sign on the side of the building is validated.  We know how to love God by loving others, but how we love God directly?

Let’s start by trusting him with all of our hearts.  Let’s start with trust.

Amen.