Good morning! I'm Tim Roberts and I am the pastor of a great
group of Christ followers here known as Sunrise Church. I want to take just a
moment to once again tell you just how much I love you. This Thursday, as we
gather around our dinner tables and give thanks to God, let me assure you, you
will be there along with my family for what I truly thank God. I hope that you
share that same sentiment for Sunrise.
Speaking of which, I am very thankful for how God is using
Sunrise to enrich the lives of so many here in our ministry area and throughout
the greater Winston-Salem area, and throughout the world. I am always astounded
by the level of love and compassion that is generated by this community of
faith.
It is also one of the reasons that I have been particularly
excited about this Stewardship series that we're ending today. Normally,
stewardship is not something that most pastors like to preach on because it is
something that can be very personal and touchy. But this time, it was
relatively easy because God has led us through some good time of visioning as
we went through the process of what we called God N2 Focus, where we looked at
going from doing good things to doing God things. You will be hearing more
about in the coming several weeks.
Let me begin my time with you with this thought. Back near
the end of the 19th century, the American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, made this
statement:
Build a better mousetrap
and the world will beat a path to your door.
I'm sure that you've heard this adage before, but have you
ever stopped to consider it? I did just the other day as I saw a clip from an
old Tom & Jerry cartoon where Tom
constructed a very complex trap to try to catch Jerry. Of course, you probably
know that it backfired on him with some disastrous consequences. But it did
cause me to pause and think about mousetraps.
Here we see the standard mousetrap that has been around since
about the same time Emerson made that statement. Simple and effective. So, can
there be a better one?
Many have tried to improve on the design and some have come
up with inventions that are just way too complicated for the purpose. So after
more than a century, is there a better one?
A few years ago, we had problems with mice in the parsonage
we lived in. So, I went to Lowe's to get a mousetrap. The sales associate took
me to a whole rack of contraptions designed to capture rodents and started
showing me all the different ones and explaining how they work. After several
minutes, I just asked, "What is the most effective one you have?" Do
you know what he picked up? Right. The same simple trap that has been around for over 100
years.
Sometimes what we have is the best there is and there really
isn't much room for improvement. But, at other times, there can be room for
radical change and good opportunities
for investment.
There's that word that we have been looking at for the last
couple of weeks, invest. Let's look
at what it means again.
Devote (one's time,
money, effort, or energy) to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a
worthwhile result.
So, knowing what the word "invest" means, what can
we deduce would make a good investment?
Over the last two weeks, we have been pondering what makes a
good investment and here's what we have discovered so far:
Invest in:
- What You Believe
- What Others Need
- What Yields the Greatest Return
So, what do people think are good investments? What do
people invest in? [Allow response]
Now, let's begin to think through this theologically as we
turn in our bibles to Luke chapter 12.
Luke 12.16-21 (The
Message)
16 Then he told them this story:
"The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. 17 He talked to himself: 'What can I do?
My barn isn't big enough for this harvest.' 18 Then he said, 'Here's what I'll do: I'll tear down my barns
and build bigger ones. Then I'll gather in all my grain and goods, 19 and I'll say to myself, Self, you've
done well! You've got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the
time of your life!' 20 "Just then God showed up and
said, 'Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods - who gets it?' 21 "That's what happens when you
fill your barn with Self and not with God."
[Prayer]
The man in this parable suffered from a condition that I
call Bigger Barn Syndrome. It is a condition that Jesus identified in that time
he told this story, some two thousand years ago, and is a syndrome that still
plagues us today.
We live in a consumerist society. Many argue and I agree
that that's good for the economy. But with all good things, there are limits
and there are consequences.
While consumerism does boast the economy, creating jobs and
job stability, it can also create the false need/desire for more and more
stuff.
We have all seen the extreme of this on the television show Hoarders, and know that is not the norm.
But, as we look back in recent history, we are becoming more possessive of what
we have and also have seen dramatic increase for the desire to acquire more.
Most of our parents and grandparents lived quite simply. They did not want or
need those things we now consider necessities.
I am faced with that reality each day as I go to my closet
in our home, which is an 80 years old house. Every morning, I go to my closet
and am struck by just how small the closets are. My closet is actually one
that's in the hall, because the closet in in bedroom is only large enough for
one person's clothes now. But that's not the way it used to be. You see, the
closets didn't get smaller; they are the standard size for a home of that era.
The problem is that the number of articles of clothing that most individuals
today require has greatly increased - not that we need all those clothes, we
desire them; I desire them.
So, what does scripture say about this problem? Another
witness to Jesus' teaching, wrote in another gospel, these words:
Matthew 6.19-21
19 "Don't hoard treasure down here
where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or - worse! - stolen by
burglars. 20 Stockpile treasure in heaven, where
it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. 21 It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is,
is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
So, obviously, what we consider offhand to be treasure is
very different than what God considers it to be. From these two accounts,
treasure must be something that can't be destroyed, eaten by moths, or taken from
you. So, exactly what should our treasures be then?
I think that we once again witnessed the answer to this question
just a couple of weeks ago when Hurricane Sandy struck our northeast. Our
hearts broke for people as we heard numerous stories of who lost basically
everything. But interspersed in these accounts, there were comments that were
made from people who said time after time, "You know, we lost everything
we own, but we still have each other and that's what really matters."You
see, these folk are just stating a biblical truth; Real Treasure is people.
Earlier this year, we had the blessing, here at Sunrise, of
discovering real treasure in a new family. I want to invite up the Markle
family to share with you their testimony of love.
[Markle family speaks]
I am so happy that God brought the Markle's to Sunrise and
that we have been able to invest God's love and mercy in them and now are
seeing how God is yielding this great return. They, Michael (two weeks ago),
and Casey (last week) all have testified to this truth that Real Treasure is
people.
A mentor and colleague of mine, Michael Slaughter, pastor of
Ginghamsburg UMC outside of Dayton, Ohio, once said this at a conference I
attended, "The only thing we can take with us to Heaven is other people."
Once I got past the shock of that statement, I realized that he summarized in
one simple statement, the heart of our existence. It sums up the whole point of
God's love, of Jesus' ministry, and the mission of the church...
Sharing the Love of
Jesus so All Become His Followers
You see friends, we invest in the church because it yields
the greatest return...for us...for those we love...for the world... it yields people
coming into a loving and devoted relationship with God through the saving grace
of Jesus Christ.
Wei invest in the Church because it is our call - it is our
mission.
So, how do we invest this mission? It starts with us, here
today, with how we understand the mission of the church and how we look to each
other as unique and wonderfully made children of God - ones in whom Jesus
invested his very life. It begins with how we invest in the church and one
another.
[Continue with signing the Relational Covenant and turning in the Estimate of Investment cards]
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