THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT

I had a friend, a member of a former church, who was searching for God’s will in his life. He had come to a job related crossroad. One direction offered, it seemed, great promise in terms of possible career advancement and income as well as the opportunity to get away from a superior he didn’t like. But, making this choice meant he would have to move far away, disrupt his family among other things not to mention also leaving his church home in which he was very active..
He did a lot of praying. He prayed “God, please show me direction – to stay in a muddled political mess here, or leave for potential big money.”

Within minutes he saw the initials G-O-D on the back of a truck that had just merged into his lane. Almost immediately he saw the word CHRISTIAN on a billboard and then a truck trailer parked at a home and garden business that he was sure said “Jahway” on it’s side. Looking back he saw it said “Roadway” but he was still sure he saw “Jahway.”

He turned off the highway he was on and a red truck in front of him advertised that it had been sold by James Ford. He then passed 13th Street and then a mailbox that had only the word “four” on it.

As soon as he got home he began trying to make sense of these “clues” and thought that perhaps the Bible could cast some light upon the mystery. He found there was no chapter 13 in James so he tried James 4:13 and here’s what he found. “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. ‘ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:13-17 NIV).

Look at what we also find in James 1:5-6 (NLT) . “If you need wisdom – if you want to know what God wants you to do – ask him, and he will gladly tell you….But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer.” My friend asked and received because he expected God to answer. I might add that his experience reminds me of the last line in Robert Frost’s Road Not Taken…”And that has made all the difference.” It certainly did in my friends life…he stayed.

What would you like to ask God and are you prepared to seek his answer? He’s got one waiting and it too could make all the difference in your life.



Sermon, November 21, 2010



REACHING OUR FULL POTENTIAL
Sermon Text: Matthew 25:14 30 (NIV)

A young man was seen pedaling around a college campus with a T shirt reading “I’m going to be a doctor.” A sign on the back of his bicycle proclaimed: “I’m going to be a Mercedes.”

Roy L. Smith once told the odd case of an Australian youth who suffered a concussion while serving with the armed forces in Korea. At the time of his injury the young man was 5 feet 4 ½ inches tall. The blow started strange reactions within this soldier’s body so that he began to grow. Today he stands 6 feet 3 ½ inches high!

Needless to say this is a very strange case. But there are innumerable instances of people who never grow to reach their full intellectual and spiritual stature until after they suffer some terrible blow.

Here is the question for the day: Are you reaching your full potential as a follower of Jesus Christ? Are you growing because of some blow you have suffered or simply because you long in your heart to be more like Jesus, are you moving forward in your spiritual life?

In Matthew 25, Jesus warns his followers that the kingdom of heaven, the fulfillment of God’s plan for humanity, will come upon them suddenly, at a time when they least expect it. And then he gives them a number of parables, or word pictures, of what this kingdom of heaven will be like.

In verses 14-30, Jesus says, 14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 ”‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. What is Jesus saying here? How are we to apply this ancient parable to our lives today?

I love this inspirational poem from Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, a former president of Morehouse College which can well guide us through the ups and downs of life.

“Life is just a minute / Only sixty seconds in it,
Forced upon you, can’t refuse it. / Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it,
But it’s up to you to use it. / You must suffer if you lose it,
Give account if you abuse it,
Just a tiny little minute,/ But eternity is in it.”

And this catchy little poem perfectly captures our first point for today. According to Jesus’ parable of the Kingdom we will be held accountable for the stewardship of our lives.
Most of us connect the word “stewardship” to the wise management of our money or our time. But God has blessed us with infinitely more resources than just our time and money. We are called to be wise and generous stewards of our health, -- our intellect, -- our compassion, -- our wisdom and life experience, -- our influence, -- and our relationships.

In this parable, we are called to invest our lives in such a way that we see a rich return. Jesus is encouraging us to dream great dreams – to make our lives count for something. Some of us would prefer not to have great dreams. A man once said, “It is possible to evade a multitude of sorrows by the cultivation of an insignificant life.”

And that’s true. You can escape much pain and trouble if you never take a risk, never give of yourself freely, never step out in faith. But you will be missing so much of the abundant life that Jesus promises to his followers.

Are you cultivating an insignificant life? The best way to answer that question is to examine your motives. Are you working at your job to bring glory to God, or to get a paycheck?

Are you using your paycheck in a wise and generous manner taking care of your family and contributing to the Lord’s work? Or are you using your money to indulge in more stuff or more status symbols to impress your neighbors?

How do you use your time? Do you submit your time to God first, before you ever fill out your Day-Timer?

What about your relationships? Do you work to build others up, or tear others down? Or do your needs always come first? Do you care about others for themselves, or for what they can do for you? Do you take more than you give? Do you look for the opportunity to share your faith with others?

Famed baseball player Mickey Mantle died at age sixty-three of alcohol-related liver disease. Not long before his death, Mantle said to someone, “You talk about a role model? This is a role model: Don’t be like me . . . God gave me the ability to play baseball and I wasted it. I was given so much, and I blew it. I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up. I want to start giving something back.”

How sad it is to discover at the end of your days that you have been cultivating an insignificant life! No amount of money or fame or status can make up for a life that was spent in self-centeredness and vanity.

The second point of this parable is that our view of God affects the stewardship of our life. The first and second servants trusted their master’s commands. Even when he was gone, they proved trustworthy and wise in their handling of the master’s property. And in the end, they earned the master’s trust and fellowship. But the third servant viewed his master as a hard, unpredictable man and acted accordingly.

How do you view God? Do you see God as an absentee parent, a vague abstraction, a cosmic police officer? Do you see God as a hard-to-please taskmaster who piles on more expectations than you can possibly fulfill? Do you skip over those verses that speak of God as kind, gentle, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love? It is vitally important to examine your view of God, because your view of God will affect your ability to step out in faith.

Pastor Michael Yaconelli used to play an unusual game of hide-and-seek with his two young sons. Yaconelli would hide while his sons looked for him. Just moments before the boys found him, Yaconelli would jump out of his hiding place with a loud shout. Naturally, his two boys would run off screaming in the other direction.

But one time, the boys turned the table on their father. Just as he popped out of his hiding place, the older boy announced, “Hey! He isn’t a monster. It’s our dad! Attack!” And the two boys pounced on their father with giggles and hugs.

Pastor Yaconelli likens this moment to the time when we come face to face with God, our Heavenly Father. At first, we may feel immobilizing fear. At the same time, we cannot help but acknowledge that this incredible Presence is also our loving Father.

When you trust God’s leading, you will be able to follow. When you trust God’s provision, you can give of your resources generously. When you trust God’s love and mercy, you can share that love and mercy with others. Everything starts with your view of God!
And finally, Jesus is teaching us through this parable that what we do here in life has eternal significance. Our influence stretches on for many generations, long after we are gone. One life can have an immeasurable impact on this world. And when we invest our lives in glorifying God, God will honor that investment by multiplying it far beyond anything we could do with simple human effort.

There is a beautiful prayer by John Piper that expresses the desire to let God work through us for His glory. Piper prays daily, “Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am.” That is the prayer of a man who is an obedient servant of God.

Lois Cheney in her book, God is no Fool, tells a revealing parable about a man who was touched by God. God gave this man a priceless gift --- the capacity for love. The man was grateful and humble, and he knew what an extraordinary thing had happened to him. He carried this capacity for love like a jewel and he walked tall and with purpose.

From time to time he would show this gift to others, and they would smile and stroke his jewel. But it seemed that they’d also dirty it up a little. Now, this was no way to treat such a precious thing, so the man built a box to protect his jewel. And he decided to show it only to those who would treat it with respect and meet it with a reverent love of their own.

Even that didn’t work, for some tried to break into the box. So the man built a bigger, stronger box, one that no one could get into, and he felt good. At last he was protecting the jewel as it should be.

Upon occasion, when he decided that someone had earned the right to see it, he’d show it proudly. But they sometimes refused, or perhaps they smudged it, or just glanced at it disinterestedly. Much time went by, and then only once in a while would someone pass by the aging man. He would pat his box and say, “I have the loveliest of jewels in here.”

Once or twice he opened the box and offered it saying, “Look and see. I want you to.” And the passerby would look and look, and look. And then he would back away from the old man, shaking his head.

The man died, and he went to God, and he said, “You gave me a precious gift many years ago, and I’ve kept it safe, and it is as lovely as the day you gave it to me.” And he opened the box and held it out to God. God glanced in the box, and in it was a lizard - an ugly, laughing lizard. And God walked away from him too.

Love guarded and unexposed. A jewel turned into an ugly lizard. A servant cast into the outer darkness.

Friends, life is not to be hoarded. It is to be lived fully, abundantly, without reservation. It is to be invested in love, in hope, in faith so that a wonderful harvest of lasting influence will be reaped.

So, how about it? Are you reaching your full potential as a follower of Jesus Christ?
When you face the Lord, will you have the joy of hearing these words, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”?

Today is Reign of Christ Sunday. Let us open our hearts that Christ may, indeed, reign there.

Amen