Don’t worry

Matthew 6:25-34This is our last week spent on the series that focuses on Stewardship. And as promised I haven’t started a fund raising campaign I only want to explore our relationship to our resources, including our money and how it affects our spiritual life. I’ve heard the expression “we don’t own things, our things own us.” There might be some truth to that if our energy in life is spent accumulating and maintaining material things.We don’t want to lose our things.One of the greatest negative motivators is worry.  We may worry what we will eat or what we will wear. But if that is not a worry perhaps we worry about our house payments and our car payments. Perhaps that’s not a worry for you.  Maybe you worry about your retirement or your children’s education.  No matter what our situation we can really make ourselves miserable by worrying about it.Jesus says don’t worry.  Have you ever stopped worrying about something when someone says “don’t worry”? It’s really difficult. Once you board that worry train it can take you for a long ride that isn’t very fun.Parents, - you ever worry about your kids? Grandparents –you worry about your grandkids? We worry because there are real dangers out there.  Have you heard about that little girl on Oregon playing on the beach? That’s a tragedy.  There is some worry that is proper.  When we worry about the safety and well-being of those that we are supposed to protect, it motivates us to act for their safety. We worry about our health so we go to the doctor. We worry about the direction of our nation so we vote. We worry that something might happen so we do nothing and nothing happens and life begins to pass us by.But when we have done all that we can do.  When we have prepared responsibly and are properly attentive to what we have been entrusted with, worry adds nothing; it only takes away.Jesus says, “Don’t worry.”Worry is a form of fear; fear of some unknown or unwanted consequences. King David wrote in psalm 27The Lord is my light and my salvation—    whom shall I fear?The Lord is the stronghold of my life—    of whom shall I be afraid?That’s the confidence that God wants us to live with. God has promised us eternal life in Jesus’ name.  Jesus came to bring life in abundance. Do you trust in those promises?I’ve told this story before but one time when I was about 9 or 10 there was a tornado warning and I was home alone.  My grandma came over to stay with me. She brought me some sugar cookies as we waited out the storm.  I was afraid but she was not. Her confidence assured me. I trusted my grandma and I knew that everything was going to be okay.Jesus says, “Don’t worry.”Look at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.  God takes care of them right?  You are worth much more than they and they have all they need. Jesus points these things out. The beauty of the creation around him was a teaching tool. Some of you moan about the changing of the season. Some of you welcome it. So…which of you is in charge of this transition?

A late August sign of autumn

I want to challenge you to find the beauty of today. “Yeah, great pastor Jon, it’s gonna get colder soon.”Yep. It’s going to get colder. And a lot of other challenges are going to come up over the next season, the next year, the next decade, the next century. Boy! In the year 2200 there is going to be some bad stuff that happens.  Is it productive for us to worry about that?  Is that the abundant life that God wants for you?But it is so hard to let go of that worry when the future seems so dark and uncertain. But guess what? I don’t want to alarm you or cause worry but every moment is uncertain.  There is no way to know what tomorrow will bring. Today has enough trouble of its own.When we worry we are putting the responsibility of the future on ourselves. Only God knows the future.  Only God is in control. We are not in control. We can only control our response to whatever my come. On Friday I spent a few hours at the traveling Vietnam War memorial. You know what I learned? Everybody has a story just below the surface just waiting to be told. I heard stories of loss.  I heard stories of guilt and shame.  I heard stories of service and sacrifice; of love and pride. I heard stories seasoned with nostalgia and stories spiked with pain.You each have a story.  Your life, the story where you are the main character is one that God loves.Jesus said look at the birds and the lilies.  He was pointing things that God treasures. But Jesus says you are more valuable then they. God cares about your story; God cares about what you have been through and where you are going. The good news is that we look to our Lord Jesus and he says “don’t worry,” because he knows how it’s going to turn out.I looked to my grandma during the storm and found confidence.  How much more can we look to the one who knows the future and holds us in his hand for even greater confidence?The Lord is my light and my salvation—    whom shall I fear?How do we find this confidence?
Seek God first.  The solution to your problem may not be a single step away. But when we put God first in our lives we will be with us through the storm.  The storm may be overwhelming but the storm will pass. Do what you must; do what you can and leave the rest to God.
Oh yeah, were we supposed to talk about stewardship today?  When we put god first, when we trust God with all of our tomorrows; when we lay aside our worries, we begin to see the treasures that God sees.  We see the treasure of this life and the beauty of it lived together. We see that God loves us.  When we can see the treasures of God, the treasures of this world start to fade and lose their importance. Our attachment to temporary things loosens and we gain freedom from them.
So, how is it with you today? What is your story? If you don’t know, I can tell you how it ends.  
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

The Vietnam Traveling Wall at Ludington city park.

We are Poor Stewards if We Do Nothing

A beautiful truth of God is that God will accept you just as you are right now.  Every flaw, every failure every aspect of your being God will accept and love you unconditionally.

A beautiful truth of God is that God will accept your neighbor just as they are right now. Even if you don’t like their flaws and failures.  God will love them unconditionally too.

This month we are talking about stewardship. The most common thing we have been given stewardship over is money. And Jesus talks a lot about money and how to approach it, how we are to understand it and our relationship to it. Money is the example because everyone is affected by it and can relate to it.

But we are stewards over many other things aren’t we?  We are stewards of this building. You are stewards of your homes.  We are stewards of our nation and of our society.  The decisions we make not only affect our lives but the lives of those that come after us when we hand the responsibility of stewardship over to them.

My grandparents had a house on Coldwater Lake.  It was a simple chalet-style home on two lakefront lots. They had a garage that grandma kept stocked with popsicles and ginger ale.   They had a buried cooler that was half full of dirt and as many worms as you would need to go fishing they had a dock and a boat and even a sauna. That place was magical. I loved my grandma and grandpa. The food tasted better there. The sun was warmer there. The grass was greener there (it really was they irrigated their lawn with a pump from the lake).  The pop even tasted better there.  Then when I was 9 they moved! And don’t you know someone else started living in my grandma and grandpa’s house?  They even made a sign with their last name and put it on my grandma and grandpa’s house.  It wasn’t their house anymore.

They were stewards; good stewards of that property. The deed of ownership gave them the responsibility of taking care of that piece of God’s creation.  That responsibility was passed on to someone else.  This happens to all of us who are blessed with the opportunity to be stewards. We are entrusted with something and eventually the responsibility will pass to someone else.

 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Remember our heart will follow our treasure? Where are we spending our time, money, and energy? Have you checked?  Look at your budget or look at your calendar. Most of us will find that our hearts and our attention is divided.  We have said yes to too many commitments and are working to pay off a bunch of stuff that doesn’t make us happy.

Jesus says we are to serve only one master.

When our loyalties are divided as they are, serving two, three, or ten masters we are not living as God intends us to. This may be the reason why many resent or even hate the things that pull us away from our intended treasure. We end up hating our job or our boss, because they have become an unintended master of our lives.

What Good preachers do.

 There were two big news events that stood out this past week. On Monday we heard about the suicide death of Robin Williams. The other item in the news is the ongoing tension in Ferguson, MO over the shooting death of Michael Brown a week ago Saturday.

What do these have to do with the Gospel? What do these have to do with stewardship?

First Robin Williams:

I’m not an expert on suicide and depression, but I know enough that it’s not a matter of having the right perspective. It’s not a matter of lifting you self up by you boot straps. Depression is a physiological disorder that causes feelings of despair.  It’s a disease that needs to be treated.

Next Michael Brown:

I don’t know the facts. I have heard what is reported from the police and from two witnesses about what happened. But the fact is that an unarmed, 18-year-old black man is dead. An unarmed, 18-year-old black man is dead. To his community this is Trevon Martin all over again. To his community this is their son, their cousin.  To parents of young black men this could have been their son.

What to these have to do with the Gospel? What do these have to do with stewardship?

Jesus once said “every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, and no town or house divided against itself will stand.” Matthew 12:25

We want our house to stand! As good stewards it is our responsibility to make sure that it does. But we have to make doubly sure we are working with God according to His will.

When there is division there is weakness.  When there is a lack of understanding, there is darkness.  Jesus said he came that we might all be one.

When I see crowds of people defying a curfew because of a lack of justice, my impulse as a follower of Christ is to stand with them. Jesus stood against injustice.  When I see someone suffering from depression, my impulse as a follower of Jesus Christ is to lend my strength.  Jesus offered healing to the sick.

Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they do not know each other; they do not know each other because they cannot communicate; they cannot communicate because they are separated.

Religion deals with both earth and heaven, both time and eternity. Religion operates not only on the vertical plane but also on the horizontal. IT seeks not only to integrate men with God but to integrate men with men and each man with himself…any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion –Martin Luther King jr.

What does this have to do with stewardship? If stewardship is only about raising money for the church then it has nothing to do with it.  But we are more than stewards of our money.  We are stewards of our Church, our homes of our land, of our government and of our society.  What world are we handing to the next generation if we do nothing about our understanding of serious life threatening mental illness? What world are we handing on to the next generation if our African American brothers and sisters live in fear of law enforcement rather than in partnership?  Stewardship demands that The Christian community do something.

So, how is it with you today?

Jesus has to be Lord.  God doesn’t want shared allegiance. God doesn’t want a piece of your life. God wants to be everything to you. If you make Jesus Lord and Master, the other allegiances will find their proper place. You still will have to work and be committed to other people. Bu you will not have a heart that’s divided.