Sunday, September 13, 2009

Being Rich Toward God!


I want to talk to today about getting rich!

Check out this youtube video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38mCxz7HLLo


How many of us have bought into a get rich scheme at one point or another....In our younger more foolish days before Sharon and I were married we tried our hand in selling NSA ‘bacteriaostatic’ water treatment units.

Some Chinese believe if anybody were to unconsciously wear their clothes inside out then they would be very lucky on that day. But the act must not be done intentionally. Well today we are beginning a new series on living life intentionally inside out! Yes, my clothes are inside out to reverse our thinking on a lot of so called Christian behaviour. The first line of thinking to be challenged is the whole area of what it means to be rich.

Now, being in a church that promotes getting rich is certainly not a new thing. I have been there where there are prayers for unexpected cheques in the mail, more bonuses, surprises, windfalls, you name it in the name of Jesus and it will be done to you. However, I want to promote an inside out focus here and speak about the richness that God offers us which is even better.

Being Rich without God makes us lukewarm. Revelation 3:14-20

In Revelation 3:14-20 the posture for receiving blessing is revealed.

17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.'

That is US!

Time magazine actually ran an article in ’06, ‘Does God want you to be rich’...well...

How rich do you think you are? Its like Scotiabank...you’re richer than you think!

We make 100x more the amount of money that ½ the world makes in a day. Most of the rest of the world makes about $2-day. The rest of the world looks at us and thinks wow, they are stinking rich. Being rich puts us at such a disadvantage spiritually. Jesus was quoted in the gospels talking about just how difficult it is for us to enter the kingdom of heaven. The toughest people to reach are the rich and the more money we have, the easier it is for us really not to rely on God....I don’t need a thing.

You have heard it said ‘money does weird things to people,’ but have you ever heard someone say, ‘money has done weird things to me?’

The church in Canada has a problem and we are lukewarm and as one pastor states, lukewarm and loving it.

15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

God wants to spit you out of his mouth – Now, let’s look at the Greek word for spit...huck! Being lukewarm is repulsive to God.

He is saying to us, you make me gag when you compare me to your stuff, your idols, your security

I too get easily sucked into all of this, the comfortable life. If I can’t pull it off here, I will leave. If I can’t be an example of keeping me eyes on the real prize, I’m going to have to get off this bus.

The fact is that Halton has been declared the safest place to live in Canada. Did you ever think how dangerous that is for our faith?

How many of us have had to pray, ‘give us this day our daily bread and really needed to pray that as if our life depended on it. We really just don’t get that needy.

But what does the verse say.... you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

wretched – a deplorable state of misfortune, prisoners huddling in cold, dark prisons.

We need to get to the place of an honest admission.

We are poor –

We are blind-

We are naked – how vulnerable are we really?

When you get to the place where you honestly tell God, ‘I’ve got nothing’. ‘I’m not feeling it’. These are not pretty metaphors to be throwing around.

I know what you are thinking. You look at people on your street and it looks pretty good. They walk their dogs and hopefully keep them on their leash, they take their kids to minor soccer, they have a nice home, they look like they are doing pretty good without God. Plain and simple that is what wealth does to them and it does the same to us. It gives you that attitude...’I do not need a thing’ and it is a false sense of security. All you need to do is just ask someone who has lost their job or someone whose spouse walked out on them.

18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Jesus is telling us that what he has for us is so much greater than anything we could ever find out there in stuff for our houses, our closets. God own the real ‘Future Shop’ and it is worth the wait. I know there are Christian books telling you that you can have your best life now, but ultimately our best life will be later...Matthew 6:19-21.

Francis Chan speaks on this very theme in ‘Crazy Love’ and challenges us with 3 simple questions in his message.

If you are lukewarm, here are 3 things to ask God alone or with honesty in your small groups. I will never forget how powerful a night of sharing in Mexico was when we debriefed with a team from New Jersey when one girl just honestly admitted to all of us, “I am lukewarm.”

1. Show me where I’m lukewarm?

2. Give me strength in the areas that I am weak

3. God do whatever it takes to get me on fire for you.

He goes on to say, if that means taking all my money away, then take it away. If that means taking all my security away, then take it away. If that means taking all my loved ones away

...or moving me away from them, then do what it takes.

WHY? Because you God rebuke and discipline us those who you love, don’t let us leave lukewarm.

OK, so what’s in store when we go there?

Being rich toward God is found in a place of desperation. Gen 27:28

Jacob is a great example of someone who got it all wrong and got it all right almost at the same time.

In this story of we find Jacob disguising himself as Esau so as to win the favour of His Father. The culture of covenantal blessing in the family was passed down through the firstborn son yet Jacob was not content for leftovers. He knew how rich the family blessing was and deceived his father in the process. You might be able to fool others and maybe even yourself in to believing you are rich toward God. We can say all the right things, make other people notice, but we can’t twist the arm of God. He will bring the blessing when we are ready to receive it. Did Jacob receive the covenantal blessing? Yes. Did he take an unorthodox route to position himself for it. You bet he did. He wrestled with the angel of the Lord all night to know the Lord’s touch. The deceiver had to learn the consequences of being deceived at the hands of his Uncle Laban and put his only family on hold for 14 years.

Being rich toward God is letting go of other’s IOUs Deuteronomy 15:4

However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,

In v3 we are called to cancel debts

In God’s economy, there is an expectation of kindness and justice...

Micah 6:8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

There is a mandate for all of us because we all have been richly blessed and that is to learn to hold it with open hands. We get to the point where we open the cheque book and ask God, ‘how much?’

Being rich is all about where you store it! Matthew 6:19-21

Do you think you would ever get to the place of cheque writing except this time you will be the one writing them and asking God, ‘How much’?

Does that sound crazy? Have I got your attention?

What does He want to store up in us.

Kindness - Romans 2:4 kindness leads us to repentance

Redemption - Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace; 2:4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

Wisdom - Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

Generosity - 2 Corinthians 9:11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

Psalm 34:8 How do you taste God? Can you recall a rich experience with him and what did it look like for you?

Look at how David identifies himself in Psalm 34.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.

5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.

6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.

(Before we can taste and see the Lord is good we have to realize just how poor we are. )

7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

9 Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.

1 Timothy 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

James 2:5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

I want to finish by turning that opening video on being rich inside out.

Make the decision to become rich. (toward God)

Close your eyes and visualize (pray) the lifestyle you want to lead...you will start seeing thing in your environment that you have not seen before. (that is what we call the HS leading)

Studying how to get rich (toward God)

Find people who are already rich (toward God) and get into their sphere of influence.

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