A Spiritual ATM
I Samuel 15:22
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/ATM.html
1 Samuel 15:22
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.
A growing, soul winning church that’s making a difference, and reaching many for Christ doesn’t just happen…there is a price to pay! And most churches are not willing to pay the price, and they flounder in the sea of mediocrity! [song: ‘I lobster and never flounder’]
Ill.—church sent annual report to their headquarters for previous year: # of souls saved-0/baptized-0/transfer of letter-0/by statement-0…then at the bottom it said, please pray that we will remain faithful. (faithful to what?!)
Fact is, to have an aggressive, soul-winning church w/ God’s power on it, there is a price to pay!…(it’s not complicated, but basic, and easy to understand, but hardly followed!)
Any church that makes the decision to become an empowered soul-saving station can, if they just decide to pay the price! But do we have enough? Yes, we have within ourselves all it takes…a virtual ATM machine ready to kick out what’s needed…
Here’s the main price to pay:
The price of obedience
Many times in Scripture God says, meet me at a certain place, and I will bless you:
Elijah (brook Cherith, fed him during famine by ravens)
I believe he could have gone anywhere else, even a place not in famine, and yet would have starved to death!
Naaman (leper, dip in Jordan) Why in muddy Jordan?
But it wasn’t a hard thing God was asking of him, he obeyed, and was made whole!
The price of obedience is as simple as being in the place of obedience…
It’s not hard what God requires of us…just simple obedience to Him! Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if the Lord would always find members of GBC “there”…where God has told them to be!? Where is there? In the place of obedience--In God’s will!
God doesn’t pour out His power on churches full of disobedient Christians. There is a price to be paid, and it is the price of obedience…from the pulpit to the pew, we’d all do well to realize our disobedience can affect the whole body, and keep His power out of here!
Three basic areas to start: (if we really want the power of God! If we really want to cash in on what God can do…we’ll remember this later because of the acrostic “ATM”)
1. Obedience in Attendance (Heb. 10:25)
No church will ever be great where the membership is erratic in their attendance.
Show me a church whose people come sporadically, only when they feel like it, if there’s nothing better to do, if it’s convenient…and I’ll show you a church that’s just playing games / not doing much for Christ! Why?
Because unfaithfulness in attendance says something about you…it reveals a lack of commitment, and a lack of love.
But let’s not deal w/ this from the standpoint of a lack of commitment (people don’t commit these days…unless they really want to! We can do what we want!!)
Think about the lack of love, instead…
Ill.—preacher visited in home / noticed they had little housedog / noticed they lavished love on the dog to an extreme / “I can’t get over how much you all love that dog! You’d make great parents…maybe you should have a child to show all that love to!” / woman started weeping and ran out / pastor knew he had said something wrong, apologized to husband / “there’s no way you could know, but we had a son, and God saw fit to take him to heaven at a very young age…but that dog was our son’s dog…it may seem silly, but the reason we love on that dog in such a way, is that’s our way of showing love for our son…preacher, we love that dog so much simply because our son loved it so much!”
If for no other reason, you ought to love the church because God’s Son loves the church! Don’t ever say, “I love Jesus, but I don’t like to go to church so often”…that’s a contradiction in terms…you cannot separate Jesus from the church any more than you can separate the head from the body, or a building from its foundation!
It’s not “Jesus-or-the church”, it’s “Jesus-and-the church!”
So, aside from the lack of commitment, unfaithful attendance reveals a lack of love!
With all our faults, and we have many / failures / flaws…God’s Son still loves the church and gave Himself for it…
Eph. 5:25-- Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
…therefore we should love the church and show it by being faithful in attendance!
So when you faithfully attend church, you’re saying:
• “Jesus, I love you!”—“I care about the things YOU care about!”
Something else you’re saying, is…
• “Pastor, I love you!”
You’re saying: It matters to me that you study long and hard / pray over your messages / dig for Bible truth / plan out a worship service / seek to minister from start to finish / use illustrations and strive to put the jelly on the bottom shelf / try to tell one new joke per year! It matters to me!
Joke—prisoners who number their jokes: guy went to prison/1st day/heard someone holler out from cell “43”/whole cell block laughed!/75/again!/56!/what’s this?/we’ve all been in for years, tellin’ same jokes over and over…so we’ve numbered each joke, someone hollers one out, we all think of that joke, we all laugh!/ “care if I try?”/go ahead/hollered out “12!”/nobody laughed (3 x’s) nobody laughed/looked at cellmate and asked, why is nobody laughing?/I guess some guys just can’t tell a joke!
Seriously, when you’re faithful in attendance, you not only say, Jesus I love you, but Pastor, I love you! I appreciate what you do and it matters to me what you do!
Ill.—a confession: I hurt my wife deeply one time…she had told me before going to work one day about the feast she was gonna have prepared when I got back that night / I got into my day and got busy, and forgot, had a big early dinner w/ a friend, went home, and when I opened the door and took one sniff of air, I knew I was dead!
There was nothing I could say other than sorry, and the only way I could’ve been more rude was to not show up at all…
(not talking about being sick, vacation, working, etc., I’m talking about just taking any ole’ opportunity that comes along, or simple excuses Satan provides if you’ll miss! This shows a lack of commitment…we should be able to say, I have a previous commitment, but we don’t commit in case we get a better opportunity!)
Also, I’m not talking about those who travel, and we have several…it’s your right and privilege you’ve earned, and you’re faithfully in church elsewhere / you let me know before you go because you believe in praying for safe travel, and in doing so, you say the same, “Pastor, I love you!”
When you’re faithful in attendance, you not only say, Jesus I love you, and Pastor, I love you…but also:
• Members, I love you, too! Why? Because we’re a body, that’s intended to function TOGETHER!
What if your hands had taken the day off today? You ladies couldn’t have put your makeup on!
--every morning I roll over and thank God for a woman…named Mary Kay!
Good thing your legs are doing their job today…the whole body is intended to function as a unit!
Let’s take a survey: how many of you are more encouraged by a good crowd than when the crowd is down? It’s more exciting, it’s how God intended, singing is better, people get into it, say amen!…people are saved! We’re more open to the Spirit and we have a more spiritual service…every single one matters, and each one who walks in the door is like a spiritual drop of Visine that helps “get the dead out!”
Hey, determine in your heart that “I’m not gonna be the reason we’re down” / I care about my brothers and sisters in Christ / I’m not gonna come only when convenient / when I feel like it / I’m gonna be faithful and make the extra effort to make it work!
There’s a price to be paid if we want God to take us seriously…we’d better take Him seriously! And take His church seriously! Get into s.s., and PM services!
So, we need to be obedient in the basic area of attendance…that’s the “A” (of ATM)…next…
The “T”:
2. Obedience in the Tithe
This point is not about building a bank acct. We’re in no danger of that, and I don’t work on commission! It’s about obedience and blessings!
The word “tithe” literally means tenth…ten percent…it’s God’s perfect plan. The wisdom of God planned for us a method of giving which is completely fair and equal to all who will obey, no matter what you make!
It’s a definite portion, and to be brought to a designated place (Mal. 3:10, the storehouse)
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground
God says in Malachi, try me…try this…see if I won’t open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing bigger than you’re even capable of receiving!…see if I am able to take the other 90%, and make it go much farther than 100% ever possibly could.
Then He goes a step farther in v. 11, look at it:
“rebuke the devourer”
My God makes shoes last longer / the roof stronger!
There’s 2 plans:
90% and God as your partner
100% and you’re on your own…how’s your plan workin’?
“If God really blesses me, I’ll tithe” (cart before horse)
“We can’t afford to add that to our bills” (you can’t afford not to!) (Won’t work in budget unless it’s the first item!)
“If we get out of debt, or sell our house, then we’ll tithe.”
(God’s waiting to see obedience out of you and then He’s free to bless you in financial ways!)
Hey, I’m not trying to put you into a straight-jacket, I’m trying to set you free!
“But we’ve got a lot of debt”
You can talk about financial freedom all you want, but as a believer, you’ll never be free until you obey this…no Christian can skip over this step. When you tithe, there’s always a blessing, and when you don’t, there’s always a curse!
v. 8-9 curse
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me
Definite portion / Designated Place…
for a Divine Purpose
v. 10-- that there may be meat in mine house
God’s tried to give this church meat…have we bitten off more than we can chew? Everyone’s benefiting from a meaty program we’ve got going on now…even those who “eat free!”
Ill.—kids eat free at many restaurants, and when it comes to the church…it’s also the immature who seek something for nothing.
Some make another mistake, which is thinking they have an alternate method of blessing the church. They say, I can’t afford to give money, but I’ll give myself…I’ll serve in the nursery or kids ministries or the kitchen. But what did our text say today? To obey is better than sacrifice! God wants our obedience more than our service. Jesus said “where your treasure is, there’s your heart”. Jesus says, money talks. That’ll prove you love me and want to obey me.
This stuff about “you can leave your wallet at home” is misleading…you can’t do that and be obedient!
We’ve covered the A and the T of our ATM…time fails to go into much detail about the “M”:
3. Obedience in Ministry
That’s using our gifts in the church, for we’re not saved to sit but to serve! We must willingly help in needed areas for the Lord’s sake!
(young church, kids’ ministries need help!)
The bottom line:
God loves the church / God loves you / and we’re at a crossroads as a church…there’s a price to pay…are we willing to pay it!
Invitation:
Who would say, “God has put His finger on an area in which I need to be obedient, maybe one we’ve talked about today, or another one, and I’m pledging right now to do what’s right!”?
Who needs to be saved? We’ve talked about the price to pay…but ultimately, Jesus paid the price for you to be saved!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/ATM.html
