Monetizing Religion

“Follow the money” is an old phrase that suggests that the truth will be found where you find the person who enjoys the financial benefits. Given that the “love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” (1 Timothy 6:10) we need to be aware of how we think about it!  Do we mistakenly believe that having more will solve our problems? Are we connecting our worth as a person to the amount in our paycheck?  As we prepare our children for life are we encouraging them to find God’s will or just ‘make  a living?’

Bad things happen when religion gets tangled up with money!  In my own life as a pastor I struggle with the demands of the organization I serve always trying to keep fulfilling the mission of Christ and His kingdom more important than paying the bills. We need to find money to pay for the new roof, but that’s not the ‘why’ of our existence. Lord help us if we let it become that.  The Gospel must not become ‘big business’ though many do enrich themselves at the expense of God’s people!  Jesus saw it happening. John says, "After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” (John 2:12-16, NIV)  Jesus was offended that the religious leaders had found a way to make themselves wealthy by exploiting those who came to worship.

Beware of ministries that put all the emphasis on collecting money! Ask questions. Look for financial accountability and transparency.

And …  we must also take care that we do not make our own faith in Jesus about money and things. A common corruption of the Gospel message is called the ‘prosperity Gospel.’  The basic message is that God blesses those He loves and that we can trigger a greater flow of wealth for ourselves by giving more, praying better, and doing good. One of America’s best known preachers wrote this in a best-selling book - “God has already done everything He’s going to do. The ball is now in your court. If you want success, if you want wisdom, if you want to be prosperous and healthy, you’re going to have to do more than meditate and believe; you must boldly declare words of faith and victory over yourself and your family.” (Your Best Life Now, Osteen)  

Not a few of you are wondering what’s wrong with that, aren’t you? The emphasis is in the wrong place. God invites us into His service, asks us for submission to lead us where He desires us to go. He real plans for you and me may or may not include prosperity!  Jesus says that those who would follow Him must ‘take up their Cross.’  Somehow, we have rewritten that into ‘receive your Crown.’  The Gospel has turned into a program to gain wealth and happiness.  Undoubtedly, Christians ought be to joyful, peaceful people – because they live in the center of God’s love and are full of hope.  Are you?  Or, have you  monetized your religion, making Jesus a source of more things?

Here is a hard question – do you love Jesus or do you love the life you believe that Jesus ought to provide for you? 

Have you unconsciously turned your Christianity into a ‘quid pro quo’ relationship that insists that God pay up for your ‘service?’

God is not a deal-maker.  He does love to bless His children. He is a good Father, but He does what is best for us for eternity, not just for today. 

The word from the Word today is a challenge to greater faith. Will you love Him enough to find to trust Him completely?

“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." (Matthew 6:24, NLT)

"Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (Hebrews 13:5, NLT)

IMMEASURABLY MORE

Life can get awfully serious, full of responsibilities.  There are seasons when I feel weighed down by ‘stuff,’ when I forget an important fact-   Jesus celebrates!  He was a ‘Man of sorrows,’ to be sure. However, He laughs, too.  While suffering does an important work in us and it is true that we must not become superficially silly people, we need to know how to look up, to find the joy of the Lord.  Do you remember to celebrate, to laugh, to sit down and enjoy life?

At the beginning of John’s Gospel there is a story about Jesus’ first public miracle. It does not involve sickness, death, or tragedy. Jesus was at a wedding in Cana with His family and His disciples. Jewish weddings were a big deal, involving a celebration that stretched over several days.  The groom went to the house of his fiancé and brought her, in a public procession, to his home.  It marked a new beginning.  Weddings were so significant that Jesus made the wedding a parable to illustrate the arrival of the Kingdom of God. The Church, the Bride, looks forward to joining her Husband at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

At that wedding in Cana, there was a minor crisis for the groom. Somehow, he did not have enough wine! "The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:3-5, NLT)  The family was going to be embarrassed.  The celebration could not go on without the wine! Mary apparently believed that Jesus could and should do something about this fiasco.  Jesus insists that the problem is not His to solve, but Mary ignores Him and tells the servants to approach Him and to do what He tells them to do.  First lesson from this story is this -  To experience God’s sufficient provision know that obedience is a key factor. “Do whatever He says!”

Though Jesus tells Mary He is not ready to act, for reasons we are not told, He chooses to act. As you read, note the details.  "Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions." (John 2:6-8, NLT) 6 containers the size of an ordinary garbage can! Not 6 water bottles, but 6 BIG containers.  Getting those jars filled was no small task. Water had to be drawn from a village well, carried back to the house, poured into the jars which would have been too heavy to move. The work demanded the efforts of several servants for an extended time.  When they had finished, Jesus gives them cryptic instructions: “Take the contents from one of the jars to the best man.”   And, they did! 

There is some wry humor in the last part of John’s account. "When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”  (John 2:9-10, The Message)  Somewhere between the well and the best man’s lips, God made water into wine!  It was not just any wine; it was good stuff.

Here is my question to you today – is your celebration of life, your ability to feel joy being hindered by a development you did not foresee, a problem you cannot solve, a situation that came from nowhere? 

If the Lord of life would invest Himself in a wedding, in a village nobody cared about, can you trust Him to provide what you need for life? He is a good, good God!  Perhaps the thing stealing your joy is just an irritant, not really a big deal, but enough to keep you from singing.  Let me ask you -  was running out of wine a life or death matter? Of course not, and yet Jesus cared. He cares about your need today. So, ask Him for His provision.  Hear Mary’s words and take them to heart:  “Do whatever He tells you.”   In obedience you will find that He enters the ordinary and something amazingly wonderful will emerge, the best stuff, on the third day!  That’s just another way to say, ‘in a way and at a place when you least expect it.’

The word from the Word comes from my favorite part of the Scripture, from a letter that overflows with hope and promise.  There is a little phrase tucked into the passage that I try not to forget – “immeasurably more!”

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21, NIV)

________

Good, Good Father  (listen, learn, and worship at this link)

I've heard a thousand stories

Of what they think You’re like

But I've heard the tender whisper

Of love in the dead of night

You tell me that You’re pleased

And that I'm never alone

You're a Good Good Father

It's who You are

It's who You are

It's who You are

And I'm loved by You

It's who I am

It's who I am

It's who I am

I've seen many searching for answers

Far and wide

But I know we're all searching for answers

Only You provide

Because You know just what we need

Before we say a word

You are perfect in all of Your ways

You are perfect in all of Your ways

You are perfect in all of Your ways to us

Love so undeniable I can hardly speak

Peace so unexplainable I can hardly think

As You call me deeper still

As You call me deeper still

As You call me deeper still

Into love love love

You're a Good Good Father

It's who You are

It's who You are

It's who You are

And I'm loved by You

It's who I am

It's who I am

It's who I am

Anthony Brown | Pat Barrett

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A Holy Adventure

A Holy Adventure

At the far edge of my memory, reaching back almost 6 decades, are images of being with my Dad. He was only in his mid-20’s but to me he was big, strong, safe, and wise.  In 1959, we lived in Northwest Iowa and he  bought and sold sheep. From my toddler years I accompanied him every day.  He introduced me as his ‘sidekick.’ I was all of 4 years of age, but he made me feel like a man.  I followed him everywhere, doing what he did, standing where he stood, both consciously and unconsciously adopting his mannerisms. When he got up early in the morning to go to visit farms to buy a small flock or to an auction barn, I was ready to go, too. Where he was, I wanted to be. I was his ‘disciple!’ 

Here is a pointed question for you -  are you just a friend of Jesus or are you His disciple?  
Asked another way, do you drop in to church on Sunday to ‘see’ Him for an hour or so; or do you follow Him daily, inviting Him to shape and form your life?

The Gospels record an invitation Jesus extended:  "The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 1:43, NIV) "After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him." (Luke 5:27, NIV)  The response of those men is difficult for us to grasp.  How could they just walk away from their lives, their families, and go after this Man? But, they did!  They were privileged to see Him heal the sick, to hear His amazing words, though sometimes what He said confounded them.  They were changed by being close to Him, invited to a whole new way to live.  We can never forget that their devotion was costly.  Everyone of those disciples literally gave their lives to Christ.

He offers the invitation of becoming a disciple to us. He says, “I am the Way!” and we will find eternal life when we will follow Him, living as He lived, shaping our thoughts, our words, our actions around His wisdom. Hear Him - “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?" (Luke 9:23-25, NLT)

There is no richer way to live than following Jesus. There is no more costly choice we make than following Jesus! Yes, both statements are true. In Him we find purpose beyond just ‘making a living’ and finding some happiness for the moment. We become part of His work that saves us and our world. We also enter into the same kind of suffering that He experienced.  So many want to be a friend of Jesus, enjoying the benefits of the Kingdom.  The costly way of discipleship is not so readily embraced, is it?

Have you heard His invitation? What is your response?

As you meditate on this passage today, I encourage you to give yourself, without reserve, to Jesus. Make your prayer one of complete surrender. “Lord, you lead, I’ll follow.”  And, He will lead you all the way to your Home.  Here is the word from the Word.

" As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”
He said to another person, “Come, follow me.” The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”

Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.” But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62, NLT)

Let’s go, disciple. The adventure begins, today.

________________

I Will Follow

(worship at this link)

Where You go I'll go

Where You stay I'll stay

When You move I'll move

I will follow

All Your ways are good

All Your ways are sure

I will trust in You alone

Higher than my sight

High above my life

I will trust in You alone

Where You go I'll go

Where You stay I'll stay

When You move I'll move

I will follow You

Whom You love I'll love

How You serve I'll serve

If this life I lose

I will follow (You)

Yeah I will follow You

Light into the world

Light into my life

I will live for You alone

You're the One I seek

Knowing I will find

All I need in You alone

In You alone

In You there's life everlasting

In You there's freedom for my soul

In You there's joy unending joy

And I will follow

Chris Tomlin | Jason Ingram | Reuben Morgan

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