Today is the last message in our series entitled “For the Least of These.” This week we focus on what our responsibility to the orphan. Our reading is James 1:19-27
Tag Archive - Stewardship
Daily David, Week 5, Day 5
We have come to the end of week 5. Our reading today is from Psalm 8.
What does it mean to be majestic? Why is God to be praised (8:1-2)? How can an infant’s lips ordain praise (8:2)?
The dictionary definition of majestic is having or showing impressive beauty. When I think about majestic I think about eagles soaring in the sky. It is a beautiful thing to see. It is also impressive. When you see it you are drawn to look and to stare.
When we look around us, we see God’s handiwork all around. You have to intentionally ignore his presence to miss it. Everywhere we look is the evidence of God. He is evident in the beauty of his creation.
We also look at history and how God has orchestrated history. He has helped his people and delivered his people in mighty ways. How can we not praise God?
The simple cry from an infant is praise to God. It is God who created life and gives life. He has defeated death and the devil. The evidence of new life by the cry of an infant is a testimony to God’s victory.
Who is the true king? Who establishes our authority (8:5)?
God alone is the true king. He made everything we see. Any authority that is given us is given by him.
What is the responsibility God gives to us (8:6-7)? For whose benefit are you entrusted with authority?
He made us to tend to his creation. God gives us his creation for our pleasure, but we also have the responsibility to be good stewards of his creation.
He gives us authority not for our own benefit, but that we might serve him, his creation, and other people.
Why do you think the last verse repeats the first verse (8:1,9)?
This is done for emphasis. This Psalm begins and ends with the Lord whose name is majestic. The book of Revelation reminds us that he is the alpha and omega, the beginning and end. God’s creation, your life, and our salvation all begin and end with him. It is fitting this Psalm does as well.
Try to put in writing and describe as best as you can how “little” you are compared to how “big” God is.
It is really impossible to do. We can’t even come close to being able to put into writing how great our God is. Our human language is imperfect, but God is a perfect God. God is so much bigger than we could ever describe. Bigger than the air we breathe. Bigger than the universe. Louie Giglio has a great message on just how great our God is in this video:
And here is a great song on the majesty of Jesus:
Daily David, Week 5, Day 4
Today, we take a break from the story in 1 and 2 Samuel and look at the Psalms. Today’s reading is Psalm 2.
Psalm 2 is often referred to as a royal coronation Psalm. What are the promises God makes in this Psalm?
The promise is that God will place his chosen king on the throne. He says the king will be his son and God will be his father. The nations will be given as an inheritance to the king.
What is the attitude of “the world” towards those the Lord has anointed (2:1-3)? Why do we need not be afraid (2:4-6)?
They are angry. They plot for the destruction of the Lord’s anointed. But the text says that God laughs at them. And God will establish his anointed one in spite of the plans of others.
What does it mean to be a son of God (2:7)? What are the expectations? What is the benefits (2:8-9)?
It is special to be a son. The son will receive the inheritance of the father. The father loves the son like no other. The son is part of the family. At times the son may be disciplined, but it is always done out of love.
The expectation of the son is for the son to be loyal to the father. He is to listen and obey the father. He does what the father says. The son honors the father and praises his father.
The benefit is that the father cares for his son. He provides for his son. He gives his son everything he needs. He also entrusts his son with great responsibility in line with the son’s ability.
Who does this Psalm ultimately point towards?
This Psalm ultimately points us to Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God and will come as the Prince of Peace to take his Father’s throne. Jesus now rules with the approval of his Father and all the nations will be gathered before him on the last day.
We are also sons and daughters of the king. We are loved by him and anointed for service in his kingdom.
What does it mean to fear the Lord (2:11)? Should we be afraid of God? How should we interpret the first three lines of verse 12 in light of the last line of the same verse?
Fear of the Lord does not mean to be afraid of God. The fear of the Lord is to have a deep respect and reverence. It is to realize that God is gracious and loving, but he also has the ability to take everything away from us that we have ever been given. We are special to God and that is important. But we are only special to him out of his grace and love. We have done nothing to deserve this love.
The beginning of this last verse is seemingly contrasted with the last line. In the last line it talks about finding joy in taking refuge in God’s son. In the first line is says to submit so that the Son does not become angry. That does not seem like a joyful thing. There is seemingly a contradiction here, but this is the paradox of grace. Jesus says take up your cross and follow me. Whoever wants to save his life, must lose his life. It is only in the Son of God, Jesus, we find refuge. He is our judge, but he is also Savior.
Uncertainty and God
Over the past few days the stock market has been up and down. There is so much uncertainty in the economy. Many of us are wondering what the future holds. Many think that we are entering into another recession. The confidence of consumers is on the decline. Questions about the government’s ability to navigate the country through this difficult time are on the rise.
I am not an economist or a political analyst. I don’t know what the future will hold. I hope for the best, but I don’t know.
This I do know. I read through the Bible and I see the stories of how empires came and went. We think about King Solomon and his great empire. We think about the great temple he built and the wisdom he was admired for. The Kingdom of Israel had reached the pinnacle of its existence under Solomon. But within one generation, 5 years after Solomon died, the kingdom was divided, the temple was ransacked, and the riches of the kingdom were carried away (1 Kings 12:20, 14:25). No one would have believed it would have been possible a few short years earlier.
We will not have what we have today forever. The kingdom of the United States will not remain the dominant empire for all eternity. China may rise up as the next great empire. It may not. No one knows the future, but no earthly kingdom will endure. That is why Jesus comes to establish a kingdom not of this world.
A second thing I know is God is God. Money is not God. Government is not God. God alone is Creator and God alone is Savior. It is by his grace that kingdoms rise and it is by his judgment that kingdoms fall. If we are to put our hope in anything, it is in God that we are to put our hope. If God is God then it does not matter if the stock market dives, if the economy implodes, and the government defaults on its debt. God is still God. God does not change. The only thing different is I will be stripped of everything else I depended on that was not God. I will know the things I made to be God are not really God at all.
So the question is how will we use what we have today? We have been given what we have been given to use for a time. As long as we continue to use it for the purpose it has been given us, God will continue to provide everything we need and more. But when we start to use what we have been given for purposes other than God intended, then all bets are off. There are no more guarantees. If we don’t use it in the way God intends, then what will stop him from giving it to someone who will use it in the way he intends? He is looking for those who will remain faithful even in times of uncertainty. That is when true faith is revealed.
When we stand before the Lord on the day of judgment our wealth will be gone. Everything will be stripped of us. We will individually stand before God to give an account of how we used the blessings he put into our lives. Will we hear the words, “well done good and faithful servants”?
The Rich Man in Me
In Luke 16:19-31 you will find the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The story tells us about a rich man who lived in luxury every day. At his gate laid a beggar named Lazarus. This man was hurting. He had sores that covered his body. It says he longed for the scraps off of the rich man’s table.
The time comes when both of these men die. Lazarus finds himself in heaven and is greatly comforted. The rich man finds him in hell and is greatly tormented. The rich man cries out across this large chasm which has been set between heaven and hell for mercy. He asks that Lazarus might come just to touch his tongue with a cool drop of water.
But Abraham says, “remember that in your lifetime you received good things, but now he is comforted here while you are in agony.” There was no help coming anytime soon.
As you think about this parable, I want you to think about who you relate to in this story. If I am honest with myself, I am the rich man.
We live in luxury every day! Consider this – if you have running water, food to eat, shelter over your head, clothes to wear, and some means of transportation, then you are in the top 15% of the world’s wealthiest people.
We see wealth around us every day. We are easily reminded of all the things we don’t have. We don’t see the poor around us unless we intentionally open our eyes to them. When we fail to see the poverty in this world we easily forget about all the things we have been given.
David Platt shares in his book, Radical, that today more than a billion people live in desperate poverty. Although you are not going to necessarily see these people in Elburn, Wasco, St. Charles, or Geneva. You are not going to see them unless you want to see them. They attempt to survive on less than a dollar a day. Close to two billion people will survive on less then two dollars per day. That’s nearly half the world struggling to find food, water, and shelter with the same amount of money I spend on french fries for lunch.
When I think about the rich man and Lazarus, I wonder if the rich man even knew Lazarus lay outside his gate. I wonder if he was so blinded by his luxury he missed the poverty just outside his gate.
The Bible teaches us not to neglect the poor:
Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. Proverbs 28:27 When it comes to sin, we certainly do not overlook the sin of sexual immorality. But neglecting to care for the poor is much more readily acceptable. What is the difference? One is taboo and the other is status quo. But the Bible condemns both.
God does not give us what he has given us for our own luxury. He gives what he gives us so that we might serve his kingdom purposes. On the day of judgement each one of us will be called to account for how we spent the treasure he gave to us. Did we spend it on earthly trinkets or did we invest it in heavenly treasure.
I want you to consider if you take your cue for how you spend your money from the people around you spend their money or do you take your cue from God’s Word. I imagine many of us take our cue more from the world around us than anything else and we are given to the same keeping up with the Joneses games everyone else is playing.
King David once asked the question, what is a sacrifice that costs me nothing. I wonder if we give in such a way that it costs us something. Do we give off of our table of bounty or do we give from our left-over scraps?
In the end, we should be careful to note the rich man did not find himself in hell because of the way he spent his money. We are never going to buy our way into heaven. Jesus blood alone paid the price. But there is nothing in our life that is as good of an indicator of our eternal destination than the way we spend our money. It’s no wonder Jesus talked about money as much as he did.
Wrap up and Ramp up
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? Luke 14:28
The year of 2010 is about to come to a close. It has been some year. No doubt it has been a year filled with both joys and sorrows along with setbacks and breakthroughs.
The end of the year is an opportune time to sit back and to review the past year and to plan for the year ahead. It is good opportunity to ask yourself some tough questions about where you have been, where you are going, and where the Lord might be leading you. I would encourage to take some time to do this during your daily devotions sometime in the next week for a year end wrap up and a new year ramp up. Here are some questions you might consider asking yourself. This list is by no means a comprehensive list.
Ask yourself about your relationship with the Lord. Have I grown closer or further away from the Lord during this past year? Why? What spiritual discipline are I going to seek to grow in this year? Prayer? Scripture memorization? Journaling? Worship? Serving? And what is my specific plan to grow in that discipline?
Ask yourself about your finances. Are there any debts I am carrying? Do I have a plan to pay that debt off in the next year? Are there any unnecessary expenses I can trim from my budget to simply my life and give me opportunity better serve my Lord?
Ask yourself about your relationships. Is there anyone I need to ask forgiveness from? Is there anyone I need to forgive? How is my marriage? Is there more I can do to better encourage my spouse? Do I have a plan to help enrich my marriage? Have I scheduled vacation time away from work to focus on my family?
Ask yourself about your physical fitness. How much do I weigh? Am I ok with that? What can I do to get where I need to be? Am I getting adequate exercise? How can I make my physical fitness more of a priority?
Ask what is in your hand. When Moses encountered the Lord at the burning bush, Moses doubted his ability and his calling. God then asked Moses a question. The question was: “what is that in your hand?” It was a shepherds staff. God would use that staff to accomplish great things through Moses. You also have special gifts which God has put in your life. Ask what has God given me as a special skill or talent? How might I better use that gift for his glory and kingdom purposes? Is there some new ability I might strive to learn or master in the next year? Maybe it is playing a musical instrument. Maybe it is sewing. Maybe it is photography. Maybe it is writing. Maybe it is wood-working.
Then set your goals and write out our plan. Winston Churchill is credited with saying: Failing to plan is planning to fail. Many of us have our bucket list of “someday” items. But if we never plan, that someday will never come.
I do want to offer you a word of caution. Don’t try to do it all at once. Many of us over-estimate what we can do in the short term, but under-estimate what we can do over a longer period of time. We will often bite off more than we can chew and give up in frustration after a short time. You might have several different areas in your life in which you are hoping to be a better steward. Don’t try to take them all at once. Focus on one or two. Maybe this year you want to focus on finances and spiritual disciplines. Work on mastering those two areas of your life before you move on to focusing in other areas.
Finally, recognize that unless the Lord builds the house, it builders labor in vain. (Psalm 127:1) It is important we do it God’s way and not our way. If we do it our way, our plans are destined to fail. But if we do it God’s way and trust in his supply we cannot go wrong. So let’s make 2011 to be a year all for Him!
Stewardship of Money
The state of the economy is on the forefront of our minds these days. It has led to much fear, anxiety, and worry. We are hopeful things will turn around. At the same time hold some concern that maybe things will get worse before they get better if they get better at all. Some are more deeply impacted than others. Maybe you lost a job. Maybe your salary was cut or your income is down. Then again your experience may be the total opposite.
It is a time of challenge. But even as it is a time for challenge it is a time of faith. It is a time to learn to trust and rely upon God in a greater way. It is a time to realize that the economy is not our God, but that Jesus is God. Then know he operates by an entirely different economy that is not of this world.
This time of challenge is an opportunity for the church to declare the good news of Jesus Christ. In the good times many are hardened to the message of hope. But when going through the valley so many are looking for any word of hope. And we don’t have just any word of hope. We have the Hope of the World! The only lasting hope that is real and certain. It’s easy for us to shrink back in times like this as economic woes come to the forefront of our mind. And the enemy wants us to think that this is the darkest hour. But Jesus is is calling out that the darker the dark, the brighter the light will shine. This is our finest hour.
On Sunday I will be talking about the stewardship of money. As we learned last week, stewardship is about choices we make with all of life’s resources. The choices we make with money are part of that stewardship. There are blessings and curses that result from our decisions. Wise choices lead to blessings. Foolish choices lead to curses.
It is said Jesus talked about money almost as much as he talked about anything else. This is true. But the thing is that it really was not money he was talking about. It was a matter of the heart. For many of us it is not a money problem we have, but a faith problem. It is not a debt problem we have, but a priority problem. it is not a lack of money we suffer from, but a lack of contentment. So if we are to address money problems it will start by addressing the heart.
So please join us on Sunday as we look at the stewardship of money and trusting in God’s greater economy.
New Message Series on Sunday
Do you ever feel like that spinning plates guy? You have got a dozen or so plates spinning on the end sticks all at the same time. It doesn’t take much for one of those plates to come off its stick and for it all to come crashing down. This is a common feeling among many. Many of us feel as if life is spinning out of control. We feel like we got too much going on. We know we need to slow down, but we don’t know how.
Jesus said he came that we might have life to the full (see John 10:10). Yet, it seems like the only thing our life is full of is activity. The activities we find ourselves involved us leave us less than fulfilled. There has got to be a better way!
On Sunday, I will begin a new message series on Stewardship. Stewardship is about more than giving money to the church. Stewardship is about the choices we make in life to manage our life’s resources. These resources include our time, our money, our health, our relationships, and our planet. It often seems things like money and time are on short supply.
During this message series we will talk about making wise and godly choices. It is about making time for the things that are most important. It is about investing wisely in that which is lasting. It is about finding energy to accomplish our calling and fulfill our destiny. Ultimately, it is about living that full and abundant life Jesus has come to give us. I hope you will consider making the time to join us for what I believe to be an important message.
Have a great week!