Wednesday Evening Service, 1/21/09
Stewardship is Lordship
Patrick Taylor Jesus is a hard teacher; he gives the test first, and then the lesson. (paraphrased quote from Vernon Sanders Law)How many came here prepared to learn? How many came prepared to teach? We're all going to learn from each other today. To learn something well enough to teach it is to learn it twice. One of our goals is to re-create that experience tonight.
How many of you thought this series would be just about tithes and offerings? C'mon, be honest. How many people still feel that way?
I need someone who was not here the first Sunday when we started this message. Name something that you own in life that is precious to you.
- My dog.
- My flatware.
- My car.
How many of you have had something that was precious, but you don't own it anymore? My new Ford Maverick was crushed three weeks after I got it.
If we really look at it objectively, we don't really own anything. There's a story about a guy who visited his friend on a ranch out west as big as the state of Rhode Island. The rancher, "Look around. I own this land, as far as you can see." The guy said, "No you don't." The rancher said, "Sure I do. I can show you the title." The guy said, "Talk to me in a hundred years; then we'll see who owns the land."
Who can name a scripture from last Sunday's service that recaps that point?
Psalms 24:1
- The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Psalms 50:7-15
- Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
- I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
- I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
- For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
- I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
- If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
- Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
- Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
- And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
So let's go back to "What is a steward?" Who's got a working definition?
- Steward
- A steward is a person who looks after another's property, to take care of it and make sure that it does well and prospers.
- Here's an example for someone on the front row. Seth. Have you ever been here before? No? Here's my phone. It's yours. I want it back at the end of the study. Take good care of it. If it rings, just take care of it.
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(Rick Hahn asks to borrow the phone and gets refused. Then the phone rings; it's Chris Mays asking if Pat is there.)
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
- What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
- For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
You hear people say, "It's my body; I can do what I want to, as long as I don't hurt anybody with it." Well, that's true; you have the option to disobey. But your body isn't really yours. God didn't ask if you wanted it, just I didn't ask Seth if he wanted my phone. He didn't ask if you wanted the height or hair color or eye color or talents or abilities or whatever else you were dealt with. He just gave it to you. So before we deal with the issue of what we do with what God gave us, we have to determine our relationship with him. Are we going to recognize Jesus as Lord? Are we going to obey him?
Seth, is my phone still okay? Is it on? I know you got one phone call already, from Chris there behind you. I'm a licensed realtor in Illinois, so you might get a call from someone wanting to sell their million-dollar home. You might get a call from Pastor Paine; I'm his personal assistant, and he might want something. You might get a call from someone wanting to get baptized. Are you still okay with holding my phone?
- Here's a summary of Sunday's service:
- The evidence of loving God and serving God is obeying God.
The key of our entire relationship with God after first acknowledging him as Lord is our obedience. Who remembers a scripture from Sunday about obedience?
Matthew 7:21
- Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 7:13-14
- Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
- Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Who is Jesus speaking to? Who is the audience? He was talking to the disciples, who were Jews, God's chosen people. He wasn't talking to the masses. He was talking to people who had his commandments. And he was saying to them, to those who had his commandments, "few will find that path." Why? Because he new who obeyed him.
Romans 9:27
- Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
Isaiah 10:22
- For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
Who knows what a remnant is?
- Remnant
- A piece, whether carpet, clothing, or whatever, that is insignificant.
A remnant is so small and insignificant that it can't be used to make anything new; it's a scrap piece that you throw away.
How do you feel when you hear "a remnant is going to be saved"? For me, my feeling is that I'm going to be part of that remnant. Do we have any Marines or ex-Marines in here? I've worked with Marines when I was in the Navy. There's a mentality. Even in a profession, if you go to school or whatever, a Marine is a Marine first. There's a real philosophy behind it. When somebody gives an order, the goal is to react immediately. We understand that philosophy in a military situation, but how about when the Lord of heaven gives an order? When he says "jump" do we jump? When he says to talk to some person, do we run to do it?
When you realize the potential in the first commandment, "Love the Lord with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength," then there's a lot more to obedience than just ten commandments. God told Stephen to go into Gaza, which is desert. He didn't even tell him that he was going to talk to someone; he just said "go," and Stephen went. There's no specific commandment that says "If God says to go to the desert, go." But as long as we know that God wants us to do something, then not doing it becomes sin.
Three questions:
- Will saying the right words get me into God's kingdom?
- Will doing the right works get me into God's kingdom?
- Will obeying God's will get me into God's kingdom?
Luke 6:46-49
- And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
- Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
- He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
- But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
Three steps to get to the place where Jesus is Lord of my life:
- Come to the Lord and acknowledge him as Lord.
- Hear his words.
- Do his words.
The one who built his house on sand heard the words, but didn't do them.
And that's really the key. As long as we have the obedience down, everything else will fall into place.
