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I had the advantage of knowing yesterday what the result of our prayers had been. I think we have seen a miracle. I had thought if the total was $250,000 I would be disappointed. If it was $300,000, I would have been satisfied. If it had been $350,000, I would have been very pleased. I didn’t consider anything bigger than that. $417,000? I am blown away.
I was actually quite scared that it was going to be somewhat disappointing but I would have to pretend to be all enthusiastic.
What does this tell us? I have been scared right through this process. I said on the first night, at the Baptist Church, that I was scared stiff. This was the biggest faith thing we have done for a long time. The result was entirely in God’s hands. We had no control over how you would respond. Normally we like to be in control and be assured that the outcome is pretty well certain. This time, we had no control.
I’m not sure that I trusted God completely. I believed the process was the right one. I believed we were doing the right thing. I hoped we would see a miracle but I had my doubts. Did I really believe that God would speak and God would inspire people to give? It was not just God, was it? It was God and you. God had to inspire us. You had to respond obediently. And God did inspire and you did respond.
We have said all along that this was more about growing than it was about giving. The two are linked. The challenge of giving had the potential to grow us. And people who are growing will also give. They are closely related, but money is only money whereas our relationship with God is of infinite value. Money is only money, but our attitude to money affects our relationship with God.
Prior to making our responses, there was the potential for growth as we grappled with hearing God and as we grappled with submitting to God.
Two or three weeks ago I went to the Promise Keepers meeting here in Gore. One of the things that challenged me was a comment about being specific in prayer. It was one thing for me to pray for a God to do something spectacular but quite another to specifically say, “Lord, please release $425,000.” The couple of times that I did that with others listening, I just about choked on it. I found it hard to get it out. It was bigger than I could really believe for and I thought it sounded greedy. But look what God has done.
Now that we know the result, there’s new learning for me, and maybe for all of us. God really does answer payer. God really does perform miracles. So, does that enable me to trust Him more the next time? What will be the next time we are challenged to trust God?
It may be a bigger challenge because God has got us to one level of faith but He wants to move us up to the next level. Are we ready for it? Are we more ready to trust God than we would have been, because of today? That’s how faith grows. We trust God for one thing. It might not be very big but, for us, it is a big test. And God shows Himself to be trustworthy. Having experienced that, out faith will be bigger to trust God for something bigger.
Maybe for some people, giving is relatively easy, but there are other areas where it is harder to trust God. What are the bigger things for you? Whatever they are, now that we have seen God at work, yet again, can we trust Him with those bigger things? One of the bigger things is can we trust God for bigger things? Does this open the door for bigger faith adventures; bigger miracles? Is our faith growing?
Maybe, for some of us, the learning today is: “I wish I had been bolder. I could have been part of that miracle. I could have been rejoicing too, but I am not because I didn’t trust God enough.”
It is not only about how much we have learnt to trust God. It is also about how much God can trust us. In Luke 16 there is a parable. I don’t want to look at that parable. We have looked at it several times before. But I do want to pick up on the words of Jesus after that parable.
READ Luke 16:10-15
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.”
That is illustrated in another parable. You remember that a master gave three servants part of his wealth for them to invest while he was away. When he returned, he found that two of them had indeed invested his money and multiplied it for him. Do you remember what he said to them? “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!”
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.” “You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.”
I am sure I’ve used the story before of a Pastor who wanted to appoint a new Deacon. He simply screwed up a piece of paper, dropped it on the floor of the church and waited to see who would pick it up. Many people walked over it, but one man simply bent down, picked it up and put it in a rubbish tin. That man, in that simple act, demonstrated that he cared about the tidiness of the church. He demonstrated that he was willing to serve and do something menial. He was appointed. Jesus says that those who are faithful in little things will be given bigger things. Faithfulness is proven in little things. Those people are given bigger rewards - bigger opportunities and bigger responsibilities. How we handle little things is a sure guide to how we will handle bigger things. If we prove ourselves trustworthy with small responsibilities we will be given bigger responsibilities.
One of the Biblical qualifications for Elders, in 1 Tim 3:4, is that they can manage their own family well and their children obey them with proper respect. Why? The logic is simple.
1 Timothy 3:5 If they don’t know how to control their own families, how can they look after God’s people?
Conversely, if we prove ourselves dishonest in little matters, we will be dishonest in big matters.
Then, in Luke 16, Jesus specifically talks about how we handle our worldly wealth. If we can’t be trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, we will not be entrusted with true riches. Worldly wealth is considered very little. There’s far more important things. But worldly wealth is a testing ground. Money is a test case. God says, “Can I trust this person with true riches?”
What might those true riches be? What is really valuable? Maybe other people’s lives. Maybe other people’s salvation. Could God gives us leadership responsibilities where we will influence other people? Could God give us a ministry of healing or counselling or teaching, where we will influence other people’s lives? Not if we can’t even handle money properly. Why should He let us handle people’s lives if we can’t handle something much smaller – our money?
Of course, there is much more to being a leader or a teacher or a counsellor than just being able to handle money. There are other skills required, but how we use our money is a test of our faithfulness. So when God says, “Can I trust this person with true riches?” He wants to know whether we have been faithful with His money.
I say, “His money” because everything we have really belongs to God. It is entrusted to us to use faithfully for Him. We are stewards, or managers, of God’s wealth. The picture is that we are employees in God’s business – God’s enterprise – and He trusts us. He trusts us to handle His resources for the good of His enterprise (the Kingdom of God).
Here’s the really exciting part. We have been tested in the area of money, and many of us have proved faithful. We can expect God to give us bigger things. Maybe as a whole church, God will entrust us with more opportunities, more responsibilities, more influence. Maybe as individuals, God will entrust us with more leadership opportunities, bigger ministries, more people whom we can influence for good. What has God got in store for you now because He knows He can trust you? I don’t know, but won’t it be exciting to see what happens? Those who are faithful in little things (like money) will be given bigger things – things of real value.
Again, please don’t think that I am teaching an immediate cash handout, but one possibility is that God will give you more money, because you proved faithful with what you had. More money would be another test. Now that you have more money can you manage that faithfully for the Master’s enterprise?
It may not be money. There are other things far more valuable than money. Whatever it is, stay faithful. Continue to be a servant of the Kingdom and God will honour the way you have given in this last little while. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. We cannot serve both God and money.” If we stay faithful, our devotion will always be to God. Even if we got more money, money would never become our master. We would serve God and love God and not love the money. The money would be what we use to serve God.
Jesus finished that little discourse by saying, “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” It is a different values system. We can get sucked into the world’s values or we can remain faithful to God’s values. Remain faithful and we will receive true riches.
Having grown a little though this experience, maybe we can trust God for bigger things. And maybe God can trust us with bigger things.
There is one more bigger thing that I want to mention. While our focus has been on Growing Through Giving Easter has been steadily approaching. If we are grateful for the way God has provided this money, through his faithful people; if we are blown away by this, how much more grateful must we be that God gave His Son. Does that blow us away? This is only money. It is very, very exciting but it doesn’t even compare with the gift that we see in the Cross of Calvary.
Take away the money. Take away our plans for a church building. Let’s not put any value on them. The one thing that matters is that we know Jesus – that we have received God’s gift to us – that as Easter approaches we know that we have been forgiven because Jesus bore our sins in His body and carried them to the cross where He took on Himself the punishment those sins deserve.
Read Phil 3:7-11
Nothing compares to knowing Jesus. If our answered prayers remind us that our God is an awesome God – and they do – that is only a pale reflection of what the Cross says about our God – loving, gracious, merciful, patient, forgiving God.
If you don’t know this much bigger thing; if you don’t know the goodness of God, I encourage you to reflect on what you have seen God do in the last 4 weeks and know that that is just tiny compared with what He wants to do in your life. If you want to experience God, don’t just observe from a distance. Get involved with Him; talked to Him; trust Him with your life and receive His goodness.
This is the biggest thing: that we know Jesus. Let’s never forget that that is why we are extending our church. It is because our real commitment is to serving Him in mission in Gore and beyond. We are building because we want to be more effective in mission, not because we want to be more comfortable. We are making it bigger because we want more people to know Him. One day we will open this building and part of opening it will be dedicating it – giving it away; giving it to God and saying, “It’s yours. It is for the work of your Kingdom. We are yours. And having found us faithful in giving, He will give us bigger things. As we prove faithful in little things (like money) more and more God will entrust to us the gospel and other people’s lives. And we will have bigger celebrations than today.