Give, Give, Give it All
What We're Made For, part 8
Text: Luke 21:1-4
Topic: We are made to give
Tonight we are going to discuss giving. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Oh great, another sermon about tithing and giving more money to the church. Wake me when the music starts.” I know that’s how I get when I hear someone is going to preach about giving-- and I’m a pastor! Pastors rely the people in their congregation being committed and obedient givers in order to get paid. In order to buy groceries. In order to put gas in their cars. But there is something that is so much more important than a pastor making you feel bad for not giving an offering. Giving and stewardship are important parts of our discipleship, and we should never ignore it or tune it out. In fact, even if you’ve heard a sermon on the same subject, or even the same passage of scripture more times than you can count, when you approach the message with a heart that anticipates God speaking to you, then he will. I promise you that. When you say, “God, open my heart and my mind to understanding you in a new way today,” and you believe that he will, then he will. Be ready to take plenty of notes, because I’m going to be jumping all over the place tonight.
How many of you know that I have a full-time job somewhere other than CCV? Monday through Friday, I go in to work at a company in Neenah, from 8 AM to 4:30 PM. I work really close to home, so nearly every day I come home for lunch to see my family. I’m considered “part-time staff” here at CCV. Does that mean I’m a part-time pastor? No. There’s no such thing. Though nothing is impossible for God, I can tell you that for a human being, it is not possible to be a part-time pastor. You might get paid a part-time wage, and you might not get to give all of the hours to your ministry as you want, but there’s no “off switch” on a minister. You can ask any of the people who know me well-- I don’t have an off switch, period. The same thing goes for being a disciple of Jesus. There’s no off switch. You either are, or you aren’t. There’s no in between.
So, tonight, as we study four verses in scripture, we are going to dedicate our hearts and time to learning how to become even more the disciples of Jesus that he has called us to be. While you look up Luke 21:1-4, join me in prayer.
Holy God, open our hearts and minds to hear and understand your word for us tonight. Open our hearts and fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we have the strength to change into who you want us to be. In the saving name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Please stand as we read the word of God tonight. Luke 21:1-4 [ volunteer reader ]
You may be seated.
There it is. Throw your hands up if you’ve heard this before? Straight forward, just like so many of the passages we read or have been told about time and time again. Just like a few months ago when we studied Zaccheus. Something that anyone who grew up in the church remembers learning at least a dozen times in Sunday School. But if you’ve been a part of The Underground for any length of time, you already know that we don’t stop at the obvious. We don’t hit the skip button just because we’ve heard it before. What do we do here? We look at it. We take it apart. We study it from different directions, and we put it back together again. Why do we do that with scripture? Because that’s what God does in each one of us who become his disciple.
Let’s look at this. Firstly, where is Jesus? Jerusalem. He’s in the Temple. The Temple is the structure and location where followers of YHWH meet and pray and worship and sing and learn and sacrifice. What we call “churches” today are modeled after the Temple (to varying degrees). It really is very wrong to call a building “the church.” A church is not a location. That’s wrong. In your notes, write “CHURCH ≠ BUILDING”. The word that we call “church” is the Greek word “ekklesia,” and it does mean “church” but not as a building.
It means the assembly, or the “gathering.” It is the people who are assembled. It is the people, who are gathered together in the name of God to worship him and be in community with him. You can’t go to church, because we are the church. We can church together, as a verb. But we can not go to church. Not like you can go to a school or a bus station or a movie. Going to a movie theater doesn’t make you a movie theater, but meeting with other disciples does make you the church. So, a challenge for us as disciples of God, who now know this, is to change our vocabulary. The challenge is to work hard to make sure that we change how we talk about the things of God so that it changes the way we and other disciples think and act about the things of God.
That’s one reason you won’t hear me call this gathering or ministry a “youth group.” What we call things makes a difference in how we act toward those things. When we call this a gathering, it changes how we approach it. When we talk about student or youth ministry, it changes how we approach it. It reminds us that it is more than a time to teach you how to be good kids and keep you out of trouble and to keep you out of your parents’ hair for a few hours every week. It reminds us as leaders that we are equipping you for ministry.
Hopefully it reminds you as the students that it is not even close to some sort of club that you belong, but that it is a ministry where God is equipping you, healing you, and molding you into his ministers. That this is your ministry, and whether you feel ownership or not is all in whether or not you are being a steward of this ministry. A question to ask yourself is, “Am I being a steward of this ministry?”
Before you answer that, let’s go a bit further into this passage. Jesus was at the Temple. He watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Something interesting to note here is that there aren’t ushers passing baskets. The worshipers are bringing their money and their flour and their various offering up to the collection box. They are moving from where they are, and others are witnessing what they are doing. They are getting up, moving their butts, and making a physical effort. Here at The Underground we do the same thing. We don’t pass an offering plate or a bucket. What do we do here? We have a box in the back called the Joy Box. It’s where we get up and bring our offerings and pledges for ministry.
Verse 2, “Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.” If you remember back a couple of years ago, Josh Hudson preached from Luke 7:17 about Jesus Breaking Down Barriers. If you need a refresher, you can check it out on ccvappleton.com, and go to the Student Ministries “teachings” section. In that sermon, Josh taught us about how widows were a lower class in society. A widow didn’t have the same status as a married woman. A widow didn’t measure up. A widow didn’t get the same respect as others.
But Jesus spoke up and said, “This poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”
What others think of you doesn’t matter at all compared to what God thinks of you. Others may think that you’re just a kid, or just a girl, or just a freshman, or just a middle schooler, or just a high schooler, or just whatever they may think, but to God, you are his disciple. They may think you are the very least, the bottom rung of society, but God says that the least shall be first. Paul tells us that the young must lead by example. God will exalt the lowly and humble the proud.
At first I felt kind of silly preaching a message about giving to you at The Underground. After all, you seem to be very generous with your money. A few years ago we would try and try and try to collect $35 per month in an offering-- right here at this student ministry. $35 would cover our commitment to a young child in South America. We seemed to never raise enough. We had to add to it from other areas. Then, a couple of years ago, you responded to the challenge to support Jacqueline Dusenge. Her parents were killed in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. She needed the money to complete high school-- about $1000 per year just for tuition. That first year we raised just over $1000. The last year over $3000 was pledged.
This is great-- in fact, we’ve raised more than the pledge amount as a community. As a tribe, we are generous. But when I checked things out really closely, I saw some things that truly need addressing. There are some of you who have completed your pledge and then some-- months ahead of schedule. Some have nearly doubled the pledged amount. Some have nearly tripled that amount. It’s remarkable! But then there are others who haven’t followed through. I’m not talking about the one-time visitors who pledged-- I’m talking about some of you who are members of this church, or your families are. At some point there has been a distraction from this commitment, and I challenge you tonight to use the next three months to complete this goal. Refocus yourself on the promise you made.
I say refocus yourself on the promise that you made, because I remember back to that night. I remember the prayers that were being prayed and the things that God was saying to us. We, as his disciples, are called to obedience and to remember that we don’t have anything that God didn’t first give to us. You say, “Things got tight, and I couldn’t do it!” I want to remind you that you were never the one who was going to do it. It is God who is working through you and your financial giving-- through your money-- to build your faith and to build his Kingdom.
If you look at what Jesus is saying here in Luke, he’s comparing the poor widow giving two little coins to the rich people who are out of their extra. Look at it this way: imagine that you need $100 per week in order to live, but you make $200. So, you live off of the $100, give the church $50, and save the other $50. That’s called giving out of your surplus.
Now, let’s say that you need $100 per week in order to live, but you make $50 per week. That means you still need another $50 in order to live. If God said, “Give that $50 you have to the church,” and you do, then you have zero of the money you need. That is obedience, and that is discipleship, and that is faith-building. In that example, just as in the passage we read tonight, the disciple is relying completely on God to provide. God is our provision-- not just our extra. God is not an add-on, even though many so-called “Christians” treat him like one. When God says, “I want you to pledge $300 to Jacqueline,” and you say, “I don’t have a job, so I don’t have any money, so I’m not going to do that, because it doesn’t make any sense,” then you are a thief. It’s not that you’re stealing from God. No. It’s that when you don’t trust God to do what he says he will do, you are robbing yourself of the opportunity to see God move! You are robbing yourself of faith. You are robbing yourself of testimony. You’re not stealing money from God--you are robbing God of your committed discipleship.
But I know someone who God said, “Pledge $300 to Jacqueline.” And that person, who you all know said, “I don’t have a job. I don’t have any money. But I believe that God is going to do this, and I can’t wait to see how!” And he did it. He pledged $300 in money he never knew if he would have. And he got a job. And in the last year, every time he brought his money into that pledge envelope, it has been a a reminder, “God is doing this. God is the provider.”
So, back to my question from earlier, “Am I being a steward of this ministry?” There are a few things to look at here: opportunity, initiative, and follow-through.
First, opportunity. What are your opportunities to be stewards of this ministry? What are your opportunities to be obedient to God, and to see God move? When I talk about opportunities, I mean a variety of things. I mean when there’s an event coming up, like a Christmas party, or Winter Retreat, or a weekly link meeting, or Youth Gathering, or anything like there, you have an opportunity. There are some of you who are leaders, even though you don’t try to be. People follow you. You have influence. Your attitude affects the attitudes of others. And you have opportunities. When there’s an opportunity, you can either say, “I don’t know if I’m going, are you going?” And then you plant that seed into someone’s mind that, “Oh, they don’t want to go, so maybe I don’t want to go,” and then it goes on and on like that, and you talk each other out of doing something. Don’t act like you’ve never heard of that, because I know it happens. And it’s stupid. You let someone else make up your mind. When you let someone else influence you, and you don’t turn to God for direction, you rob yourself. That’s bad stewardship. Instead of letting someone else making the decision for you, you must say, “I’m going to this, and I’ll see you there!” And when you are doing that in obedience to God, then even if you’re the only one to show up, then you did it in obedience. I’d rather be the only one in Heaven than let my friends talk me into Hell
Second, let’s talk about initiative. Initiative is that obedient response to God’s prompting. When God puts something on your heart, it means taking the initiative to make that happen. It means that if God is calling you to minister in a certain way, that you do what it takes to do that. If God is calling you to lead worship, it means taking the initiative to be discipled and learn how to do that. I means saying, “Yes, I will learn how to play guitar, or piano, or drums, or bass.” If God is calling you to reach people in your school for Jesus, it means starting a link so that you can work with others to do that. If you need to talk to me about something, then it means doing that and reminding me over and over again so that it happens. Let me tell you what initiative is not. Initiative is not when you say, “God gave me this great idea and you should do it.” That happens all the time. I can’t tell you how many times someone has said, “Oh you should do such and such!” But when I say, “That’s a great idea. Let me know what you need to do that,” they just clam up. Initiative is not great ideas for other people.
And finally follow-through. Okay, you’ve made the choice, “Yes I will do this.” And you’ve told someone, “God told me to do this.” But those two things don’t add up to much without the follow through of actually doing it. If God tells you to share your faith and testify to his greatness (which he does, by the way), and you say, “Okay God, I know you’re telling me to do this!” And then you talk to people and say, “God told me to do this, and so I’m going to do this,” but then you don’t do that-- then you’re not being a good steward of what God gave to you to do. If you’re waiting on an invitation to do God’s work, then you must open your eyes. Opportunities are everywhere. Where there isn’t opportunity, there is initiative. And when you take that initiative, and you follow through, that’s where real stewardship comes into play-- and I’m not just talking money.
A little over two years ago, God revealed to me that I needed to say “Yes” more. People would come to me with an idea for me to do, and I’d say, “I don’t have time. So, the answer is no.” I stopped doing that. I started saying, “That’s a great idea, you should do it.” I started saying Yes. Then what happened? Not a lot. Because there wasn’t follow through. Follow through is so important! If you say, “God wants me to star a link and we’re going to reach the lost,” but you never even start a link, then why even say yes? Opportunity, initiative, and follow-through go hand in hand... in hand.
In Matthew 21, Jesus talks about two sons. The father told two sons to go out into the field to work. The older son said, “No, I won’t go.” But he later changed his mind and went anyway. The younger son said, “Yes sir, I will,” but he didn’t go. It is the disciple who follows through that is obeying God.
The first challenge for us tonight is to give our money. Money is easy to give, compared to our time and reputations. So start with easy stuff. If you don’t tithe, start tithing. If you’re bad with money, learn how to be good with money. I can even recommend some good books. Money is easy. The real challenges are what come next, when we commit to giving ourselves to God’s plan no matter what it means happens to us or our reputations.
The second challenge for you tonight is to start finally taking advantage of the opportunities you’re given, even when they’re not your idea. It means making a change in your life and committing to being committed. It means showing up, excited and anticipating that God is going to move. There are many of you here tonight who must repent of this sin. It is sin to lead others away from God. Because you are a leader (whether or not you want to be, some of you just are), you have made choices and had attitudes which have led others away from God. You must confess your sin and repent. Let God start changing you and change our tribe.
The third challenge is to take the initiative to take ownership and stewardship of the ideas and calling that God places in you. If there is something that you’re supposed to do, but you need help, and you never ask for help, there is no one to be mad at but yourself. Some people may be prophets, but that doesn’t make them mind readers. Ask God how to implement the ideas he gives you. Ask God to lead you to the right people to help you.
The fourth challenge is really the most difficult. After you’ve repented, and committed to taking advantage of opportunities and taking initiative, you must follow-through. You must seek out and submit to discipleship and see God work and testify to his glory. You must do those things God has asked of you, and not just talk about how cool it would have been. If it is important to God, make it important to you, and then see God use you.
How many of you know that I have a full-time job somewhere other than CCV? Monday through Friday, I go in to work at a company in Neenah, from 8 AM to 4:30 PM. I work really close to home, so nearly every day I come home for lunch to see my family. I’m considered “part-time staff” here at CCV. Does that mean I’m a part-time pastor? No. There’s no such thing. Though nothing is impossible for God, I can tell you that for a human being, it is not possible to be a part-time pastor. You might get paid a part-time wage, and you might not get to give all of the hours to your ministry as you want, but there’s no “off switch” on a minister. You can ask any of the people who know me well-- I don’t have an off switch, period. The same thing goes for being a disciple of Jesus. There’s no off switch. You either are, or you aren’t. There’s no in between.
So, tonight, as we study four verses in scripture, we are going to dedicate our hearts and time to learning how to become even more the disciples of Jesus that he has called us to be. While you look up Luke 21:1-4, join me in prayer.
Holy God, open our hearts and minds to hear and understand your word for us tonight. Open our hearts and fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we have the strength to change into who you want us to be. In the saving name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Please stand as we read the word of God tonight. Luke 21:1-4 [ volunteer reader ]
1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Lk 21:1–4). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
You may be seated.
There it is. Throw your hands up if you’ve heard this before? Straight forward, just like so many of the passages we read or have been told about time and time again. Just like a few months ago when we studied Zaccheus. Something that anyone who grew up in the church remembers learning at least a dozen times in Sunday School. But if you’ve been a part of The Underground for any length of time, you already know that we don’t stop at the obvious. We don’t hit the skip button just because we’ve heard it before. What do we do here? We look at it. We take it apart. We study it from different directions, and we put it back together again. Why do we do that with scripture? Because that’s what God does in each one of us who become his disciple.
Let’s look at this. Firstly, where is Jesus? Jerusalem. He’s in the Temple. The Temple is the structure and location where followers of YHWH meet and pray and worship and sing and learn and sacrifice. What we call “churches” today are modeled after the Temple (to varying degrees). It really is very wrong to call a building “the church.” A church is not a location. That’s wrong. In your notes, write “CHURCH ≠ BUILDING”. The word that we call “church” is the Greek word “ekklesia,” and it does mean “church” but not as a building.
In the NT, ‘church’ always denotes a group of people, either all the Christians in a city (Acts 14:23; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1) or those gathered for worship in a particular house (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19) or all Christians in all the churches, the whole church (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:22). It never signifies a building or a ‘denomination.’
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary (1st ed.) (168). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
It means the assembly, or the “gathering.” It is the people who are assembled. It is the people, who are gathered together in the name of God to worship him and be in community with him. You can’t go to church, because we are the church. We can church together, as a verb. But we can not go to church. Not like you can go to a school or a bus station or a movie. Going to a movie theater doesn’t make you a movie theater, but meeting with other disciples does make you the church. So, a challenge for us as disciples of God, who now know this, is to change our vocabulary. The challenge is to work hard to make sure that we change how we talk about the things of God so that it changes the way we and other disciples think and act about the things of God.
That’s one reason you won’t hear me call this gathering or ministry a “youth group.” What we call things makes a difference in how we act toward those things. When we call this a gathering, it changes how we approach it. When we talk about student or youth ministry, it changes how we approach it. It reminds us that it is more than a time to teach you how to be good kids and keep you out of trouble and to keep you out of your parents’ hair for a few hours every week. It reminds us as leaders that we are equipping you for ministry.
Hopefully it reminds you as the students that it is not even close to some sort of club that you belong, but that it is a ministry where God is equipping you, healing you, and molding you into his ministers. That this is your ministry, and whether you feel ownership or not is all in whether or not you are being a steward of this ministry. A question to ask yourself is, “Am I being a steward of this ministry?”
Before you answer that, let’s go a bit further into this passage. Jesus was at the Temple. He watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Something interesting to note here is that there aren’t ushers passing baskets. The worshipers are bringing their money and their flour and their various offering up to the collection box. They are moving from where they are, and others are witnessing what they are doing. They are getting up, moving their butts, and making a physical effort. Here at The Underground we do the same thing. We don’t pass an offering plate or a bucket. What do we do here? We have a box in the back called the Joy Box. It’s where we get up and bring our offerings and pledges for ministry.
Verse 2, “Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.” If you remember back a couple of years ago, Josh Hudson preached from Luke 7:17 about Jesus Breaking Down Barriers. If you need a refresher, you can check it out on ccvappleton.com, and go to the Student Ministries “teachings” section. In that sermon, Josh taught us about how widows were a lower class in society. A widow didn’t have the same status as a married woman. A widow didn’t measure up. A widow didn’t get the same respect as others.
But Jesus spoke up and said, “This poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”
What others think of you doesn’t matter at all compared to what God thinks of you. Others may think that you’re just a kid, or just a girl, or just a freshman, or just a middle schooler, or just a high schooler, or just whatever they may think, but to God, you are his disciple. They may think you are the very least, the bottom rung of society, but God says that the least shall be first. Paul tells us that the young must lead by example. God will exalt the lowly and humble the proud.
At first I felt kind of silly preaching a message about giving to you at The Underground. After all, you seem to be very generous with your money. A few years ago we would try and try and try to collect $35 per month in an offering-- right here at this student ministry. $35 would cover our commitment to a young child in South America. We seemed to never raise enough. We had to add to it from other areas. Then, a couple of years ago, you responded to the challenge to support Jacqueline Dusenge. Her parents were killed in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. She needed the money to complete high school-- about $1000 per year just for tuition. That first year we raised just over $1000. The last year over $3000 was pledged.
This is great-- in fact, we’ve raised more than the pledge amount as a community. As a tribe, we are generous. But when I checked things out really closely, I saw some things that truly need addressing. There are some of you who have completed your pledge and then some-- months ahead of schedule. Some have nearly doubled the pledged amount. Some have nearly tripled that amount. It’s remarkable! But then there are others who haven’t followed through. I’m not talking about the one-time visitors who pledged-- I’m talking about some of you who are members of this church, or your families are. At some point there has been a distraction from this commitment, and I challenge you tonight to use the next three months to complete this goal. Refocus yourself on the promise you made.
I say refocus yourself on the promise that you made, because I remember back to that night. I remember the prayers that were being prayed and the things that God was saying to us. We, as his disciples, are called to obedience and to remember that we don’t have anything that God didn’t first give to us. You say, “Things got tight, and I couldn’t do it!” I want to remind you that you were never the one who was going to do it. It is God who is working through you and your financial giving-- through your money-- to build your faith and to build his Kingdom.
If you look at what Jesus is saying here in Luke, he’s comparing the poor widow giving two little coins to the rich people who are out of their extra. Look at it this way: imagine that you need $100 per week in order to live, but you make $200. So, you live off of the $100, give the church $50, and save the other $50. That’s called giving out of your surplus.
Now, let’s say that you need $100 per week in order to live, but you make $50 per week. That means you still need another $50 in order to live. If God said, “Give that $50 you have to the church,” and you do, then you have zero of the money you need. That is obedience, and that is discipleship, and that is faith-building. In that example, just as in the passage we read tonight, the disciple is relying completely on God to provide. God is our provision-- not just our extra. God is not an add-on, even though many so-called “Christians” treat him like one. When God says, “I want you to pledge $300 to Jacqueline,” and you say, “I don’t have a job, so I don’t have any money, so I’m not going to do that, because it doesn’t make any sense,” then you are a thief. It’s not that you’re stealing from God. No. It’s that when you don’t trust God to do what he says he will do, you are robbing yourself of the opportunity to see God move! You are robbing yourself of faith. You are robbing yourself of testimony. You’re not stealing money from God--you are robbing God of your committed discipleship.
But I know someone who God said, “Pledge $300 to Jacqueline.” And that person, who you all know said, “I don’t have a job. I don’t have any money. But I believe that God is going to do this, and I can’t wait to see how!” And he did it. He pledged $300 in money he never knew if he would have. And he got a job. And in the last year, every time he brought his money into that pledge envelope, it has been a a reminder, “God is doing this. God is the provider.”
So, back to my question from earlier, “Am I being a steward of this ministry?” There are a few things to look at here: opportunity, initiative, and follow-through.
First, opportunity. What are your opportunities to be stewards of this ministry? What are your opportunities to be obedient to God, and to see God move? When I talk about opportunities, I mean a variety of things. I mean when there’s an event coming up, like a Christmas party, or Winter Retreat, or a weekly link meeting, or Youth Gathering, or anything like there, you have an opportunity. There are some of you who are leaders, even though you don’t try to be. People follow you. You have influence. Your attitude affects the attitudes of others. And you have opportunities. When there’s an opportunity, you can either say, “I don’t know if I’m going, are you going?” And then you plant that seed into someone’s mind that, “Oh, they don’t want to go, so maybe I don’t want to go,” and then it goes on and on like that, and you talk each other out of doing something. Don’t act like you’ve never heard of that, because I know it happens. And it’s stupid. You let someone else make up your mind. When you let someone else influence you, and you don’t turn to God for direction, you rob yourself. That’s bad stewardship. Instead of letting someone else making the decision for you, you must say, “I’m going to this, and I’ll see you there!” And when you are doing that in obedience to God, then even if you’re the only one to show up, then you did it in obedience. I’d rather be the only one in Heaven than let my friends talk me into Hell
Second, let’s talk about initiative. Initiative is that obedient response to God’s prompting. When God puts something on your heart, it means taking the initiative to make that happen. It means that if God is calling you to minister in a certain way, that you do what it takes to do that. If God is calling you to lead worship, it means taking the initiative to be discipled and learn how to do that. I means saying, “Yes, I will learn how to play guitar, or piano, or drums, or bass.” If God is calling you to reach people in your school for Jesus, it means starting a link so that you can work with others to do that. If you need to talk to me about something, then it means doing that and reminding me over and over again so that it happens. Let me tell you what initiative is not. Initiative is not when you say, “God gave me this great idea and you should do it.” That happens all the time. I can’t tell you how many times someone has said, “Oh you should do such and such!” But when I say, “That’s a great idea. Let me know what you need to do that,” they just clam up. Initiative is not great ideas for other people.
And finally follow-through. Okay, you’ve made the choice, “Yes I will do this.” And you’ve told someone, “God told me to do this.” But those two things don’t add up to much without the follow through of actually doing it. If God tells you to share your faith and testify to his greatness (which he does, by the way), and you say, “Okay God, I know you’re telling me to do this!” And then you talk to people and say, “God told me to do this, and so I’m going to do this,” but then you don’t do that-- then you’re not being a good steward of what God gave to you to do. If you’re waiting on an invitation to do God’s work, then you must open your eyes. Opportunities are everywhere. Where there isn’t opportunity, there is initiative. And when you take that initiative, and you follow through, that’s where real stewardship comes into play-- and I’m not just talking money.
A little over two years ago, God revealed to me that I needed to say “Yes” more. People would come to me with an idea for me to do, and I’d say, “I don’t have time. So, the answer is no.” I stopped doing that. I started saying, “That’s a great idea, you should do it.” I started saying Yes. Then what happened? Not a lot. Because there wasn’t follow through. Follow through is so important! If you say, “God wants me to star a link and we’re going to reach the lost,” but you never even start a link, then why even say yes? Opportunity, initiative, and follow-through go hand in hand... in hand.
In Matthew 21, Jesus talks about two sons. The father told two sons to go out into the field to work. The older son said, “No, I won’t go.” But he later changed his mind and went anyway. The younger son said, “Yes sir, I will,” but he didn’t go. It is the disciple who follows through that is obeying God.
The first challenge for us tonight is to give our money. Money is easy to give, compared to our time and reputations. So start with easy stuff. If you don’t tithe, start tithing. If you’re bad with money, learn how to be good with money. I can even recommend some good books. Money is easy. The real challenges are what come next, when we commit to giving ourselves to God’s plan no matter what it means happens to us or our reputations.
The second challenge for you tonight is to start finally taking advantage of the opportunities you’re given, even when they’re not your idea. It means making a change in your life and committing to being committed. It means showing up, excited and anticipating that God is going to move. There are many of you here tonight who must repent of this sin. It is sin to lead others away from God. Because you are a leader (whether or not you want to be, some of you just are), you have made choices and had attitudes which have led others away from God. You must confess your sin and repent. Let God start changing you and change our tribe.
The third challenge is to take the initiative to take ownership and stewardship of the ideas and calling that God places in you. If there is something that you’re supposed to do, but you need help, and you never ask for help, there is no one to be mad at but yourself. Some people may be prophets, but that doesn’t make them mind readers. Ask God how to implement the ideas he gives you. Ask God to lead you to the right people to help you.
The fourth challenge is really the most difficult. After you’ve repented, and committed to taking advantage of opportunities and taking initiative, you must follow-through. You must seek out and submit to discipleship and see God work and testify to his glory. You must do those things God has asked of you, and not just talk about how cool it would have been. If it is important to God, make it important to you, and then see God use you.
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