9.5.2021 - Unexpected Freedom

September 5, 2021 - Unexpected Freedom Good morning everyone and Happy Labor Day weekend. It's great to see you here in person and hello again to those of you joining us online. Labor Day is the unofficial change-over from summer to fall. One of the things that means here at the Vineyard is a new round of small groups! (SLIDE) Two ways you can find out more about small groups. First - we have details already up on our website www.duluthvineyard.org/smallgroups and then next Sunday, you'll see a new display of small group info in the lobby. Either way, I'd encourage you - check out options for groups starting later in Sept / early Oct. In our weekend messages over the past month, we've been looking at a string of intriguing things Jesus said & did: all centered on the theme of Unexpected Grace & Generosity. For this series, we are limiting our focus to the Gospel of Luke. But there are a wealth of verses in the Bible that point to God's extravagant generosity. Here are just just a few... ● John 1:16 From God's abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. ● Romans 8:31-32 If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things. ● 1 Corinthians 2:12: What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ● 2 Peter 1:3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. Over and over in the New Testament, we see ways God shares his abundance with us - both in areas of life we would would categorize as spiritual, like being forgiven and rescued from sin - and others items we might might categorize as very practical: like our need for wisdom/direction, as well as our desire to know security and provision. The truth is: God wants to pour out his grace and generosity into every area of our lives. This morning, we're going to look at a passage in Luke 18 (slide) that includes yet another other twist. We're going to read the story of a man that wanted good things from Jesus, but ultimately was not able to receive them. Why don't you grab a Bible, or pull up Luke 18 on your phone and let's see what this passage has to say to us today. Luke 18:18-30 18 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 19 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good - except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" 21 "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have & give to the poor & you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." 26 Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" 27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with man is possible with God." 28 Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!" 29 "Truly I tell you,"Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life." So - another intriguing section of Luke's Gospel. What is this passage about? You might immediately say it's about money or about giving, but those are actually secondary items in this text. (Pause) What's the point, then? ● More specifically, this passage is about idolatry. The truth is all of us struggle with putting lesser things at the center of our lives. For this guy, it was his wealth. For you, it might be something else. ● Whatever the case: when you hold onto an idol in your life, it becomes an obstacle to you receiving all that God wants to freely give you. Here's where we're going with today's message: First, let's unpack some details about our common problem of idolatry. And then, we'll dig into how we can overcome the specific idol of money. That was the hang-up for this man, and it's a challenge for so many of us. Okay - looking back at the beginning of the passage. Verse 18: A certain ruler asked Jesus, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" ● Somehow this man had heard or seen some things about Jesus, and so he took the initiative to approach him. This ruler wanted to know - how do I inherit eternal life? He was seeking something significant. Not just a quantity of life that goes on forever, but a quality of life that would be durable enough to last even into an experience of heaven. Verse 19 Jesus answered... "Why do you call me good?" "No one is good - except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" ● At first glance, it might seem like Jesus is challenging this guy on whether he was following all the rules. But I think Jesus was getting at something different. Jesus was pressing the man about what was at the center of his life. Here's a question: Which one of the 10 commandments gets broken the most? Is it one of the 5 that Jesus mentions here? Maybe commandment #4 - about keeping the Sabbath? That's the longest commandment and one that many of us "work-a-holic Americans" have a hard time with. Nope. None of those. 500 years ago, the Reformer Martin Luther gave the best answer... He said: We don't break commandments 2-10 without first breaking commandment #1. ● Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before me." Whatever other sins we might commit, the foremost sin we fall into is putting other things before God. (Pause) An idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. We all struggle with this problem of idolatry. Every one of us is prone to put things at the center of our lives that shouldn't be there. And Jesus loves us enough to confront the idols that so easily control us. This dynamic shows up over and over in the gospel accounts as Jesus interacts with people. ● In one of the messages last month, we saw how family; how approval; how physical security were all idols that kept people from following Jesus. ● In John 4, we read about Jesus' interactions with the woman at the well. In both tremendous kindness and boldness, Jesus challenged this gal about her patterns of relational brokenness. ● Or think about the Pharisees, and how many times Jesus confronted them about their idols of self-righteousness. ● Lots of expressions - but can all be traced back to the core item of idolatry Friends, if we want to more fully receive God's abundance of grace & generosity, it means that we're going to have to deal with the idols we hold onto in our lives. So - for you - what are the idols that you battle? What are you prone to put at the center of your life? Maybe it's similar to what we've mentioned already. Your idol might be the approval of a family member or authority figure; Or simply wanting to be liked by others. Being successful and winning could be an idol for you. You could be driven by your desire for comfort, or by pursuits of pleasure. Some of you can answer that question right away. But for some of you, it may take some searching: What things grab your imagination? What do you look to - what do you need - to "help you feel okay"? What do you find yourself spending your time, your money and attention on? It's not automatic - but those items could be potential idols for you. For me - in this season I've been wrestling with the idols of stability and certainty. In the long haul of the pandemic, I'm noticing how much I have held onto the security of things going the way I'd like them to. I notice these struggles as I try to stay flexible with changes that occur serving in ministry. And I'm feeling shifts personally as I get closer to 50 and both my kids are in their 20's now. Those are all items that I'm trying to surrender to Jesus - to keep him at the center. We sometimes think we can keep tight fists around our idols at the same time as we try to take hold of the kingdom of God. But it doesn't work that way. We have to face and deal with the idols before us. This past week, I was thinking of the contrast of these two images. (Images of hands full, hands empty). Again - if we hold onto an idol in our lives, it becomes a barrier. But - if we find a way to let go, and open up, we can more fully receive all that God wants to freely give us. I don't know what those images represent to you... but this is a lot of what I sense God inviting us to experience today. To let go of idols that we have had a tight grip on, and to turn to God in a posture of receiving. Whatever is coming to your mind right now - those are great items to come up and to get some prayer about at the end of today's message. Okay - let's zero in a bit further on what we see in today's passage. For this man, his idol was money... which can be a challenge for so many of us. Let's look more closely at The idol of money. ● Verse 21 "All these (commandments) I have kept since I was a boy," he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. As Jesus assesses where this man is at, he is clear with him: "There's one primary obstacle standing in your way. It's the idol of money." And so Jesus challenged the man to let go of that idol, and invited him to become his follower. Sadly, the man buckled, and (as far as we know) he left with wealth still at the center of his life, and he missed out on what Jesus wanted to do in his life. This story is a vivid picture of what Jesus taught about just a couple chapters earlier in Luke 16. ● Luke 16:13 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Money is neither good nor bad... it is how we relate to money, & how we handle it that matters. Money can be a wonderful servant, but it is a suffocating master. ● The story of this man in Luke 18 is one example of wealth becoming an idol, but there are numerous ways this can take root in our lives. ○ I love how Tim Keller describes this in his book, Counterfeit Gods. Money can be a surface idol that serves to satisfy more foundational impulses. Some people want lots of money as a way to control their world and life. Such people usually don't spend much money and live very modestly. They keep it all safely saved and invested, so they can feel completely secure in the world. Others want money for access to social circles and to make themselves beautiful and attractive. These people do spend their money on themselves in lavish ways. Other people want money because it gives them so much power over others. In every case, money functions as an idol and yet it results in very different patterns of behavior. Just like idolatry (in general) can take on many forms - Idolizing money can have lots of different expressions. And on one level or another, this is something that all of us have to deal with. We live in a society that idolizes wealth. This is the cultural ocean that we are all swimming in. And unless we take specific actions, we are vulnerable to money becoming a mastering idol in our lives. ● So - how do we avoid that? Or put another way... ● How do we break the power of money over our lives? I want to put up on the screen again something I shared a few weeks ago. Drawing from both the breadth of Biblical wisdom and hundreds of real-life examples, authors John Cortines and Greg Baumer summarized these 7 Core Principles For Biblical Wealth and Giving in their book God & Money. (SLIDE WITH FULL LIST) We touched on the first 4 principles in my previous sermon - as we talked about how to manage what we have in a godly fashion. The last 3 principles switch gears a bit and focus on the role that giving plays. Look particularly at #7: Giving generously breaks the power of money over us. ● This may seem counterintuitive... but it is the answer that we're looking for. If we want to avoid money becoming an idol in our lives, the way to break its power is by giving it away generously. This is what Jesus pointed the man towards in today's passage. The only way he was going to get free from his idolization of money was to give it away. It's the same thing for us. Giving generously is what breaks the power of money over us. As we try to apply what we read in Luke 18 - a few questions might arise. Questions like: Do all of us have to give away everything that we have... like Jesus told this guy to do? Or you might ask... does God require for me to be in poverty in order to be a faithful Christian? Listen to what author Randy Alcorn writes in response to questions like these: The rich are not told they must take a vow of poverty. They are told, essentially, to take a vow of generosity. They are to be rich in good deeds, quick to share, and quick to part with their assets for kingdom causes. In doing so, they will lay up treasures in heaven. I love that... we are challenged to take a vow of generosity. For this man in Luke 18, that vow would have looked like giving away all that he had to the poor. In the story of Zacchaeus that we studied last month, his vow of generosity looked like paying back 4 times the amount he had swindled and giving away half of what he had. ● In the various examples in Scripture, there isn't just one response of generosity. Instead, when we're directed towards a variety of responses that help keep God at the center of our lives - instead of money. ● And the truth is we need to build practices that combat the downstream flow of money becoming an idol. Let's touch briefly on 3 types of practices that have particular potency. (Practices that break the power of money) First are practices of Structured Generosity. We establish regular patterns of generosity. We decide ahead of time how we're going to give. ● For followers of Jesus, a foundational expression of structured generosity is tithing. That involves giving 10% of your income back to God as an intentional expression of worship. This practice has tremendous power, but it can feel daunting at first. This week I was remembering when these ideas of structured generosity got firmly established in my life - about 2 years into being married. At the time, Andrea was pregnant with our first daughter Elisabeth. She was working for a friend, but she hadn't gotten paid for several months. I was in my first full-time job making $10/hour. That amount went farther 25 years ago than it does today, but it was really tight. And yet, we had sensed God's invitation to trust him with our finances and to take the step to begin tithing. ● I made $400/week, so each week, the first thing I did was write out our $40 tithe check. I'll be honest, some weeks it was really hard. I had to take my left hand and guide my right hand to actually write the check. ● But we were convinced this was God's best for us, and that he would take care of us. And I tell you, He did. Seeing God's faithfulness in that time solidified for me this practice of intentional, regular giving. ● And so for 25 years now, I haven't had to ask: are we going to tithe or not? That's a resolute decision we made then that carries all the way until today. Tithing is a fantastic foundation to build on and if you're not currently doing it, I want to challenge you to take that step. But - by no means - should we see tithing as the ceiling for our generosity. ● Other intentional expressions of giving might include doing monthly support for people in missions or giving strategically to non-profit organizations that are making a tangible difference. Those (and others) are great examples of what we'd call structured generosity. They play a huge role in breaking the power of money over our lives. But there's more. There's also expressions of Spontaneous Generosity. This draws directly from Principle #1 that was on the screen earlier: believing that everything you have ultimately belongs to God. At any time, God could direct you to be open handed with your resources and to give spontaneously. ● These are often responses to needs that you become aware of. ● For example - we have some wonderful folks that heard about the need for host homes for this year's group of HLI students... and so these people responded, opening their homes and their lives to these young adults. ● Or you could have something like this happen to you: 3 weeks ago, immediately after I left church, I came across someone at the corner by the SuperOne in Lakeside. I had just preached about generosity that morning, and before I even got home, I had the challenge to live out what I was teaching. I pushed through some resistance, pulled over, introduced myself and took a few minutes to buy this gentlemen lunch. ● Think for yourself... what are needs that you come across in your day to day life? And how might God challenge you to step forward, even spontaneously, to be generous? When you do that - not only is that a blessing to someone else, it chips away at money's power over you. And then there are expressions of Sacrificial Generosity. ● One way you know that money is losing its grip on your life, is when you feel the pinch of sacrificial generosity. Where it stretches you... where it requires for you to adjust your lifestyle in some way in order to be faithful to what God is asking of you. ● Interestingly, this is sometimes where folks with lower incomes excel in generosity over and above those with high incomes. If you have a lot of money coming in, you may be able to give a substantial amount without it actually being sacrificial. But, if you are living paycheck to paycheck, any added step you take to be generous often involves significant sacrifice. Again, this idol of money is something that everyone of us has to wrestle with. The path towards freedom may be unexpected... but it really does work. ● If that is hard to believe - the last section of today's passage can help. We see that... God has answers for our doubts and resistance Maybe we wonder: Is this possible? Is it really possible to be free from the controlling power of money? Is it possible to let go of other dominating idols in our lives? Those listening to Jesus wondered similar things. After hearing... It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard this asked, "Who can be saved?" (v.25-26) I love Jesus' answer: "What is impossible with man is possible with God." These steps towards freedom aren't going to happen by your grit and know-how. You need God. I need God - to see them through. We turn towards God, but it is his power that ultimately makes the difference. Or maybe we wonder: Is this worth it? That's basically what Peter was getting at in Verse 28. Peter said to Jesus, "We have left all we had to follow you!" To which Jesus replied: "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age & in the age to come eternal life." Invitation to trust what Jesus says... Ministry time: ● What are you facing right now that feels impossible? ● Contrast of earlier images - hands full and hands empty.