AUGUST 22, 2010

TEXTS:  Joshua 24:14-28;  Matthew 6:19-21, 25-33;  Luke 18:18-30; Deuteronomy 6:

“If God is Your Co-Pilot, Switch Seats”

ILLUSTRATION:

            Someone shared with me a really cute story recently and I want to begin today by sharing it with you.  There were three churches:  1 Baptist, 1 Presbyterian and 1 Methodist, all located in the same two blocks of town.  All three of them were also having a major problem with squirrels.  Apparently a lot of squirrels were inhabiting their properties, chewing on wires and causing all kinds of problems.  Several months later, the ministers of these three churches met for lunch and the topic of the squirrels came up.  The Baptist preacher told the other two that they had hired a specialist who had come in and put out squirrel bait.  It seemed to work for a few weeks, but then the squirrels wised up and now they were back in full force.  The Presbyterian minister shook his head and shared that they had set up camp with some BB guns for a few days.  He too said this had worked initially, but the squirrels seemed to have wised up to that also and were back in full force at their church too. 

            The Methodist minister listened to their stories, then said to them:  “Well, we took a little different approach and we seem to have gotten rid of the squirrels.”  Intrigued, the other two ministers asked him what they did.  He replied:  “It was simple really.  We just brought them in and baptized them and now they only show up two times a year:  at Christmas and Easter!”

INTRODUCTION TO TODAY’S TRUTH:

While this is a humorous story, it caused me to think some this week.  Here we are at the end of our Summer Sermon Series on God’s Simple Truths.  I’ve heard lots of good comments and discussion around these sermons this summer.  My fear though is that we’ll not think much more about them once the series is over, unless something critical comes up that draws us back to some of the scriptures or words.  And an even greater fear is that perhaps this is the way we also view our relationship with God.  We are baptized and commit ourselves to Christ, but then how seriously do we really take that commitment.  How often do we put into practice these simple truths, the teachings of Christ or the commandments of God?  Is it only when we need something for ourselves that we take seriously our relationship with God, OR are we truly embracing Christian discipleship every single day of our lives?

This morning I’d like to offer us one final Simple Truth.  I believe it comes from the passage we’ve just read from Luke.  Here Jesus encounters a rich man.  Now on the surface, we assume rich means that he had a lot of money, and he probably did.  But underneath it all, rich could also mean that he had everything the world said he needed in order to be happy.  Yet, he somehow sensed he didn’t quite have it all.  Something was missing.  So he asked Jesus:  “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He goes on to tell Jesus that since his childhood he’d kept all of the commandments, or in other words, “I’ve been a good person!”  But Jesus said that’s not enough.  “You still lack one thing.  Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come follow me.”  Again, if we dig a little deeper, we see that Jesus is really asking for the rich man’s heart.  He wants his whole life—his heart, his service, his love, his commitment.  Jesus wants the man to lay aside all other things that take up his time, his energy, his attention, his devotion, his life and instead give his whole self to Jesus. 

The Simple Truth for today:  WE MUST PUT GOD FIRST!  God must be the top priority in all parts of our lives.  This is the last simple truth.  But really, it’s the most important one of all.  For you see, if we’re going to embrace all of the others, then we’re going to have to put God first.  If we’re going to love, forgive and humbly serve one another, it will come from our having put God first.  If we’re going to not worry, to pray and to believe that God is with us always, it will come from our having put God first.  If we’re truly going to carry the cost and responsibility of being Christ’s disciples, then it will come from our having put God first.  Like the rich man, anything less than this is not enough.  Christ demands our all if we’re truly going to be his disciples.  And our all means putting God first in everything!

Remember what Jesus says to us who choose to be his disciples:  “If you want to be my disciples, then you must deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me….not sometimes, not only when it’s convenient for us, not only when we need something from God, but DAILY!”  (Luke 9:23)   To truly be Christ’s disciples, then we’re going to have to give God more than just our casual attention, more than just our every so often attention.  If we are truly Christ’s disciples, then God will have to be first in every part of our lives!!!  So this morning, for our remaining time, I’d like to suggest to us two tests that will help us determine if God is first in our lives.  Now these things will likely have to be done at home, so it might be good to take some notes so that we can take these tests later and see in what areas we might need to adjust our priorities and put God first again!!

TEST ONE:  CHECKING OUR CALENDARS:
            The first test is to check our calendars.  Checking our calendars helps us to see if we are putting God first when it comes to our time and energy.  So we need to take a good look back over this last year, going back through our calendars to see just where the majority of our time is being spent.  Now before I go any further, I want to make sure you know that there are many things that we should be spending our time on that are both necessary and good.  But, what we need to take a closer look at is how much time we’ve given to God and to the building up of His kingdom.  Now most of us are pretty good at giving God at least one hour a week…..for church!  But one hour out of 168 hours in a week is not really putting God first.  The thing is, we’re not really alone if that’s all the time we’re giving God.

            I read some statistics this week.  Someone has calculated how a typical lifespan of 70 years is spent:  Sleep:  23 years or 32.9% of the time.  Work:  16 years or 22.8% of the time.  TV:  8 years or 11.4% of the time.  Eating:  6 years or 8.6 % of the time.  Travel:  6 years or 8.6% of the time.  Leisure:  4.5 years or 6.5% of our lives.  Illness:  4 years or 5.7% of our lives.  Dressing:  2 years or 2.8% of our lives.  Religion:  0.5 years or 0.7% of our lives!  If these estimates are accurate, then this is truly sad.  To only give .7% of our lives to the one who gave his whole life for us!  I truly don’t believe that Jesus wants only 1 hour a week or even .7% of our lives.  Rather, I believe he wants us to give as much time as we can to him and to serving him.  The problem is, so many other things demand our time, don’t they.  Work, relationships, sports, recreation, just to name a few.  As I said, none of these are bad, but if these take up the majority of our time leaving us very little if any time or energy for God, then we run dangerously close to these other things becoming the gods (with the little g) we serve.

            In our earlier scripture reading from Joshua, we heard some very challenging words.  “Now fear the Lord and serve him with ALL faithfulness.  Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped and serve the Lord.  But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves THIS DAY whom you will serve.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  The choice is ours too.  Will we be enslaved by our busy schedules, allowing them to become the gods that we serve, or will we faithfully serve the Lord?  You might say, well we have to work and we are obligated to grow our relationships with people.  I agree.  God doesn’t deny us these things.  In fact, God has given us our jobs and our friends and our families.  But we seem to take these gifts and turn them into things that tie us up so that we can no longer serve God faithfully.  Or to put it more simply:  we put our work, our relationships, our recreation all before God.  They become our first priority instead of God being our first priority.  The truth is that we should do as Joshua said each and every day:  Choose THIS day, who we will serve.  We should lay out our schedules, our calendars before God and ask God to lead us, to help us prioritize, to show us what is most important to him that we do that day!  If we will do this, then we will be putting God first.

            In her book A Practical Guide to Prayer, Dorothy Haskins tells about a noted concert violinist who was asked the secret of her mastery of the instrument.  The woman answered the questions with two words:  “Planned Neglect”.  Then she explained:  “There are many things that used to demand my time.  When I went to my room after breakfast, I made my bed, straightened the room, dusted and did whatever seemed necessary.  When I finished my work, I turned to my violin practice.  That system prevented me from accomplishing what I should on the violin.  So I reversed things.  I deliberately planned to neglect everything else until my practice period was complete.  And that program of planned neglect is the secret of my success.”

            Her program is something we could learn from too when it comes to our relationship with God.  Spending time with God and working for God should not be what we do once everything else is completed.  If we wait to do that, then we will not have much time or energy left to spend with God.  But if we reverse things, putting other things on hold until we spend time with God or do what God asks us to do, then we’ll likely find we are much more successful in our relationship with God and with putting God first in our lives.  And when we do, the other things will get done too.  Jesus says it so well in Matthew 6:  “Seek FIRST God’s kingdom, and all these other things will be given as well.”   Putting God first with our time helps us to do this.  But there’s another test that comes with this Matthew passage also.

TEST TWO:  CHECKING OUR CHECKBOOKS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS:

In addition to checking our calendars, we should also check our checkbooks and financial statements.  A close check of these things will help us see if we are putting God first when it comes to how we spend our money and what we consider to be important in our lives.   Let me share again some of Jesus’ words from the gospel reading:  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”    

 Now following this, Jesus began to talk about not worrying, something Pastor Jenn has already offered us a good look at.  But why is Jesus talking to them about worry, especially just after talking about not storing up treasures on earth?  I believe it’s because Jesus knows that we have a huge tendency to worry about our finances….about whether we’re going to have enough money, about storing up plenty just in case.  Once again, if this is a big worry of ours and if it’s something that consumes us, then it becomes our top priority instead of God.  Jesus tells us that all we need to do is look at the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and realize that just as God takes care of these things, he will also take care of us.  So he concludes, instead of worrying, instead of letting these things consume you, “Seek first God’s kingdom and all these other things will be given to you as well.”

            So how do we know if our money and our worry about money is taking a top spot in our hearts and minds and lives over God?  We can check our check books and our financial statements.  We can see just where most or all of our money is going.  What are we spending the most of our money on?  That’s a tell tale sign because Jesus says:  “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Again, I’m not saying we shouldn’t pay the bills and take care of our loved ones.  God intends for us to do that.  But the question is, are we putting God first or these things first?  Are we giving to God first and then trusting God to provide enough for all the rest or are we paying everything out and then if there’s anything left over, giving it to God?  Remember the saying:  Give God what’s right, not what’s left.  And what’s right, God clearly tells us.  Deuteronomy 14:22 says:  “Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.”  And later in chapter 26 we read these words:  When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you….take some of the first fruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord you God is giving you and put them in a basket…..Go to the place the Lord your God will choose as his dwelling and give them to the priests.”  So God decreed that his people would bring an offering to him.  And he specified that the offering would be a tenth of their income.  AND he specified that it would be the FIRST tenth of what was produced!  So, when it comes to our offerings, be it money, time, energy, talents….God wants what’s first, not what’s left over. 

            So it’s right to give to God first, but it’s also right to give to God and God’s kingdom what is important to God.  Let’s look back at our Luke passage.  Jesus tells the rich man to sell everything he has and “give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come follow me.”    I imagine most of us are pretty good about giving our tithes, although perhaps we all need to take a more serious look at whether we give to God first or not.  But it’s not just the tithes Jesus wants.  He wants our money to go to the things that matter so much to God.  If we will do this, then we will be putting God first.

            From the passage in Luke, apparently what’s most important to God is the poor.  Over and over again the bible speaks to us of taking care of the poor.  But poor doesn’t just mean those without money.  It also means those who are poor or lacking in homes, clothes, love and yes, even and especially those who are lacking a relationship with Christ!  These are the people on the margins of society…those without so much, those who need so much.   And these are the people that Jesus spent SO much of his time and energy on.  If we’re true followers of Christ, then we too will care about them and do all that we can to help them.  We will give, not just money, but time, energy, love and anything we can to reach out to them as Christ did.  If we’ll do this, then we’ll be putting God first in our lives.

            Milt Rood worked for years and years in Spokane Washington as a car salesman.  He was also very active with the Union Gospel Mission work with juvenile delinquents.  Week by week he’d patiently teach the Word and pray with young boys in trouble.  One week Milt went into the hospital for exploratory surgery.  The doctors found he was full of cancer.  They sewed him up again and sent him home.  He died within a week.  After the funeral, a friend of his remarked:  “It’s interesting that at the funeral no one ever asked or talked about how many cars he had sold!”

            I believe that’s the way it will be when we reach heaven’s gates.  God will not ask us how much money we made or how well we did in our job or how many awards we earned or how big our house was or how many cars and things we owned.  No, I believe that God will ask how many people we helped, how many times we gave to the poor, how many in prison we visited, how many sick we cared for, how many thirsty we gave drink to and how many hungry we gave food to.  That’s what matters to God.  And that’s what should matter to us if we are putting God first in our lives.  Do our hearts break for those in need?  Do our hearts break for those who are in trouble?  Do our hearts break for those who are social outcasts?  God’s does.  And if he’s first in our lives, our hearts will too.  And if we need to check on this and see how we’re doing, we should just take a look at our checkbooks and finances.  For as Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

CONCLUSION:

Today’s truth:  We must put God first in all areas of our lives!  If we truly want to embrace all the other truths we’ve looked at this summer, then we must first embrace this truth.  If we truly want to be faithful disciples of Christ, then we must embrace this truth.  God must be first when it comes to our the use of our time, energy, money, talents and well, even our very thoughts and feelings.  God must be at the top of our list! 

On June 4, 2010, basketball great John Wooden went home to be with the Lord.  “Coach made it”, declared Pastor Dudley Rutherford at his funeral.  “He is there, in heaven, not because he was a good teacher….or won basketball games.  He is in heaven because he put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ.”  More than 4000 people from all walks of life gave their last respects to the former UCLA coach and teacher.  Wooden, who died at 99 years old, read the Bible every day.  For his memorial service, he requested that Matthew 22:37-39 be read.  Here’s what those verses say:  “You shall love the Lord you God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, and with ALL your mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment.  The second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

I think the coach got it!  I think he understood that his first priority in life was God, not just a little bit, not just every so often, not just in the off seasons, not just in the rough times of life….but every moment of every day of his life.  He loved God with ALL his heart, mind and soul because he knew that God had so loved him that he gave all he had too…his son!

 Jesus gave his whole life for us.  And if we commit to following Jesus, then he must be Lord of ALL of our lives, not just some!  We must give our all to him!  In the book of Colossians, the writer asserts Christ’s Lordship over the entire church.  Chapter 1, verse 18 makes it clear:  “And Christ is the head of the body, the church.”  Then, after going on to express what Christ had done for each member of the church, how he had reconciled us to God, he states in chapter 3:  “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated a the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” 

It’s really quite simple.  We were separated by sin from God.  God sent Christ to die for our sins.  Now, through Christ, we are not only forgiven, we are reconciled to God once more.  And when we confess this, when we ask Christ to be our Savior, then we are committing our lives to him…not just part of our lives, but all of our lives.  And Christ then becomes Lord of ALL of our lives.  So, we must, we must put Him first in everything we do, think, say and believe.  God must be first in our lives, this is the simple truth for today and tomorrow and for all of our lives! 

Who’s first in your life? Perhaps this week you’ll go home and take these tests to see where God fits into your life.  For today though, I think it’s important that we remember that we have indeed made a commitment to Christ.  We accepted him into our lives and our Lord and Savior.  Then we sealed our commitment through the waters of baptism.  Therefore, today, as we ponder what God is saying to us and as we strive to seek first God and God’s kingdom, I invite us to renew our baptismal vows.  Perhaps in so doing, we will once more be fully committed to loving God with ALL our heart, mind and soul.

If you are willing to do this, please turn in your hymnals to page 50 and 51 and stand as we reaffirm our baptismal covenants. 

Cindy:  Introduction and questions

Jenn:  Profession of faith and prayer of thanksgiving (not responsively)

Cindy:  Introduces the closing hymn (Living for Jesus) and invites everyone to come forward to have the water placed on their heads.  Remember your baptism, and give thanks!!