Series – Managing Well
Message one ‘How to leave a Christian legacy’ Luke 12:13-21 (NIV)
Opening Story
On the website www.askmen.com participants were asked to rank in their opinion the most influential men in 2007. Their rankings were:
1. David Beckham. David is a soccer player for the Los Angelos Galaxy. The reasons he gave for being rated number one: slick haircuts, athletic ability, English charm, and his stylish wardrobe.
2. Matt Daman. Matt is an actor who starred in Oceans Thirteen and the Bourne Ultimatum.
Now if you go down that list of 49 men you find that they are almost all actors, sports people, and a few politicians. I wonder, what if anything will they be remembered for in 200 years. In my day Gordie Howe was the number one hockey player in the world. When I asked the high school kids if they knew who Gordie Howe was not one did. I wonder, what would God say about their contributions to this world? What will God say about my life?
In his book the Treasure Principle Randy Alcorn gives a contrast of two different leaders. One made an impact for eternity. The other made an impact for tourism.
Randy says ‘ we were in Cairo Egypt and the streets were very dusty. He was driven down an alley by the tour guide to an Arabic sign that opened to a plot of overgrown grass. It was a graveyard for African missionaries.
Randy says ‘as my family and I followed our guide pointed to a tombstone that read ‘William Borden’ 1887-1913.
William Borden was a Yale graduate, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. He was an heir to great wealth. Borden rejected a life of ease in order to bring the gospel to Muslim’s. He was a man that could have owned several car factories. But Borden refused to even buy himself a car. Borden gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to missions. After a short but zealous ministry in Egypt, he contacted spinal meningitis and died by the age of twenty five. Now this world would have called Borden a fool. My relatives would have said ‘the poor guy.’ He should have had a party and traveled the world. He should have bought a time share and went to Hawaii, Greece, Sweden, and Austria.
Randy Alcorn stood there and dusted off the epitaph on Borden’s grave. The epitaph described his love and sacrifice for the Muslim people. The inscription on his epitaph reads ‘Apart from Christ, there is no explanation for such a life.’
Randy Alcorn then says his tour continued. The next stop was the Egyptian National Museum. The King Tut exhibit was mind boggling.
Tutankhamen, just a boy king, was 17 when he died. He was buried with solid gold chariots and thousands of gold artifacts. His gold coffin was found within gold tombs within gold tombs within – you guessed it – more gold tombs.
His burial site was filled with tons of gold, worth untold millions today. The Egyptians, like William Borden also believed in an afterlife. But Borden understood this parable of Jesus who clearly taught you can either send it ahead to heaven by using it now to the glory of God or leave it all behind. The Egyptians believed that you can take it all with you to the afterlife. Both the Bible and archaeology proved they were wrong.
For three thousand years all King Tut’s gold remained at that grave until 1922 when a man named Howard Carter discovered the burial chamber.
Let’s think about the difference between these two graves. Borden’s grave is obscure, dusty and hidden off some back alley where the street is lined with garbage.
King Tut’s grave is opulent. It is glittered with unimaginable wealth. Yet where are these two men now?
King Tut, who lived in opulence, is in a Christ less eternity. William Borden, who chose to live a modest life on earth serving Jesus, the one true King, is enjoying his everlasting reward in the presence of Jesus.
King Tut’s life was tragic because he discovered an awful truth when it was too late. The truth is this – he couldn’t take his wealth and treasures with him. William Borden’s life was triumphant. Why is that? Because instead of leaving his treasures behind, he sent them on ahead.
Jesus often spoke in stories to give a profound truth. I truly believe Jesus was a model preacher, one we can learn much from. There are several truths that we want to look at this morning from this parable. From these truths we can learn how to leave a Christian legacy.
1. Don’t be selfish
At beginning of the parable someone makes a demand of Jesus. That is something we should never do, demand something from Jesus. But that is what he does. He simply yells out ‘Jesus you’re a person of authority.’ You seem to have some pull around here. If an election were held, I will give you my vote; that is provided you do what I say.’ Straighten out my brother. Command him to divide the inheritance with me. Command him to give me my share. I need it. I want it. And you have the power to do something about it. Tell my brother to stop being such an idiot. It’s not fair and if you want my support, if you want me to follow you, then straighten this situation out. I cannot support you right now because things are not fair and you’re not doing anything about it. He does not ask Jesus to look at the dispute from his brother’s perspective. He does not want God’s viewpoint. He wants it his way.
The man does not realize his desire for more was going to cost him everything.
Proverbs 21:26 speaks to this very problem when it says, “They are always greedy for more, while the godly love to give.” (NLT)
Charles Swindoll has pictured it this way, “Picture a shipwrecked sailor on a life raft in the middle of the ocean. His terrible thirst impels him to drink the salt water, but it only makes him thirstier. This causes him to drink even more, which males him thirstier still. He consumes more and more of the salty water … until, paradoxically, he becomes dehydrated and dies.”
Jesus tells him that the most important thing is not for him to solve his problem but that his heart is changed. But let’s be honest. “How often have we gone to God asking him to change our situation rather than asking him to change our heart?” Often our prayers are God please solve this problem in my life. Perhaps our prayer should be, “God here is my problem, please change my heart?” Let your revealed truth speak into my life.
Jesus sees his heart attitude. He wants money from the estate today. Jesus thinks I am not getting into that towering inferno. Jesus simply replies who made me a judge over your affairs. Jesus says no I am not going to do it. Jesus sees right through him and gives a story to speak into his life and our lives.
Now Jesus as well as this man know the Jewish law. Under Jewish law in Deut. 21:17 ‘the firstborn son was to get twice the inheritance. But like many inheritances there is a dispute and he wants Jesus, who he sees as a Rabbi to settle it in his favor.
And Jesus literally says ‘hey stranger, I am not going to do it.’ Your heart is not right. So instead of settling the dispute he gives him and all of us a dire warning. That brings me to the second point of how to leave a Christian legacy.
2. Watch out!
Jesus says watch out. Get your guard up. Be careful how you live. Life is a trap. Beware of the trap of greed. In the original Greek the personal pronoun “my” occurs four times and “I” eight times in this story. Notice he says my crops, my barns, my goods. He says I will build bigger barns. I will eat, drink and be merry.
He is confused between ownership and stewardship. He is not concerned about the things of God. He is only concerned about self-indulgence. Jesus says greed is a trap, a deadly enemy. Greed will ruin your life. Greed will break into your life and kill you. It will take everything you have. It will rip the joy right out of your life. Build a fortress around it. Go on the offensive and kill greed dead.
Let’s place the farmer into today’s context. Let’s say he is 50 years old. Let’s say this year has been his highest level of earnings ever. Where is his focus? It is on retirement. It is on moving out of the north. Having a condominium in the desert. He is a gambler. He thinks I have 35 years left. He is investing in himself. God is not directing his life. He does not know the future. He will die tonight. When God calls your number, when your time is up, you’re out of here.
The Bible does not have the word retirement in it. As long as you have breath we should always be thinking ‘what can I do for Jesus?’ One of our conference goals is to bring 75 people, retired or nearly retired, to work for God two days a week in the next season of their lives. What are you doing after work? That is the theme of our 50-50 leadership conference in Sumas Washington in March 2009.
I would have been retired in government in two years. God’s desire is that we look at life after work differently; perhaps to see it as a time when we have more free income and greater time on our hands than ever before to do something for the kingdom of God.
As I thought about the story of William Borden I wondered how my children and grandchildren will remember me. Will they know me as a person who gave his life, time and resources to the things of God? Will they know me as a person who is rich toward God? Or will they know me as a person who is rich toward the things of this world? If you were to ask your children this simple question ‘what is really important to dad or mom what would they say?’ Would they say the things of Jesus? Would they say the church, Jesus, giving to others, prayer, Bible study? Or would they say ‘making money, parties, camping, hunting, fishing, cars, trucks, sports, ATV”S, secular concerts, movies? Where would they say our hearts are? Would they say we are driven toward a comfortable retirement or the things of God? Make no mistake about this – they are watching.
This last week I stayed in a home with a man who is an unbeliever. He is vehemently opposed to the gospel. I never had to ask him what he thought of the Christian church – he simply volunteered the information. He said one word – greedy.
I guess I could have argued with him. I do know many generous Christians. But the Spirit of God told be to zip it and just listen. So I asked him what do you mean? He said many of them have funds invested in stocks. Their portfolios have decreased in value 40% in the last three months. He said it serves them right. They could have given those funds to help their children or others. I was stunned that he said that. But I also knew from his anger that he never gave anything to the Christian church. But that is where he was and I just listened.
William Borden was someone who could have made a fortune in the stock market. Henry Ford did. Do you want to know what Henry Ford’s dying words were? The happiest time in my life was when I was a janitor as a young boy sweeping the floors in a factory.
Jesus simply told the greedy brother ‘I did not come to bring people to money.’ I came to bring people to God. Then he gives this story to teach a principle that William Borden knew at 25. A fool stores up for himself but a wise person uses wealth for God’s purposes. As someone once said ‘it is not what would I do if one million dollars were my lot; it is what am I doing with the ten dollars I’ve got. This brings me to the third point in this parable. We can only leave a Christian legacy if we repent.
3. Repent
Jesus third point is the man needed to repent. He needed to change his thinking, change his direction. First of all Jesus says he had a bumper crop. In other words things are going fantastic. This is the year he is going to clean up. Commodity prices are going through the roof. It is gravy time. And you may be thinking what is wrong with that? What is wrong with the fact that things are going well? What is wrong with the fact that this year I have earned more money than ever before? I am really glad you asked? That is a great question. The answer is absolutely nothing. There is nothing wrong with the fact that he got a bumper crop. There is nothing wrong with making all you can. There is nothing wrong with savings. There is nothing wrong with rejoicing in a good year.
The problem was he forgot that God gave it to him in the first place. He gave no recognition for the fact that God gave Him wealth for eternal purposes. He does not mention God even once. Not once does the rich man acknowledge where his wealth came from. Make no mistake about it. In this case the farmer is a rich Jewish man. He knew better (Deut. 8:16-19).
So why did he need to repent? He needed to change his ways because he was responsible to live out the truth from the verses we just read. The clock is ticking and like that man, soon for us it will be lights out.
What was his deterrent to being rich toward the things of God? Why was he not a giver?
Randy Alcorn in his excellent book ‘The Treasure Principle’ says there are many roadblocks to giving. Some are unbelief, insecurity, pride, idolatry, desire for power and control, or greed. Our culture screams out make all you can and hoard all you can. But I am convinced that too much money was not the number one issue of the man in this parable.
The issue was idolatry (Col. 3:5).
Now let’s be honest with one another. Most of us are more like the man in the parable than we would like to admit. It is considered normal to keep as much as we can. I battle with it and so do you.
The human heart never changes unless it yields to the Holy Spirit. The farmer said I know what I will do. “I have enough for years. It is Miller time. Eat, drink and be merry. I deserve the good life. It is my money, my farm, my life and what I do with it is my business. So back off.”
The man in the parable needed to repent. I believe we as Christians need to repent, to change our thinking. Here is the basic problem. Jesus said ‘wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ In other words your heart will follow your treasure. It is not an issue of wealth; it is an issue of priorities, it is an issue of idolatry.
The farmer was focused on the things of the world and not Jesus kingdom; not eternal things. It is not too late to change our thinking; to repent, to re-align our priorities.
We have some friends, a married couple, who are very wealthy business owners. The family business keeps them fully occupied. I met them and we became friends. To make a long story short, it was a joy for me to baptize them together. It was his second marriage; her third. But Jesus gripped their hearts and they have never been the same. God saved their marriage.
Because the business is all consuming it is much easier for them to write a cheque than to give their time. But God led them to do both. They gave their time, which was significant and finances to fund seventh Day Slumber, a Christian Rock Band to come to Manitoba. We went and met the band in North Dakota. They all had criminal records and the lead guitarist could not get across the border. The rest made it over; God answered our prayers. The concerts happened all over Manitoba.
Joseph is the band leader. God saved him from a heroin addiction. He started a Christian rock band, now known as Seventh Day Slumber. Because of their strong emphasis on Jesus being your only hope, they have seen thousands of people answer altar calls at concerts. One was Joseph’s own father, who abandoned him at three.
"I began to pray that God would move in his life and God would let him know that he may have made a mistake, but he is not worthless."
"We had a concert and I had the altar call and it was raining and people and adults started coming to the altar in the rain. I saw my dad in the crowd. I was able to lead my father to Jesus."
"Now, my mom still cries a lot, but it’s because I call her from the road every night to tell her how many kids gave their lives to Christ at our concert that night. That is how awesome God is."
"I am here to tell you that God is a restorer, that he is a healer and he changes lives and there is nothing that you have done that you can’t come back from with the love of Christ.".
When I was at the concert he also had an alter call. At the alter call the kids came forward in droves. Hundreds of youth made a profession for Jesus. As the band leader sang the song Carolina tears came to our eyes. The song was about his mother in law, a strong Christian, whose husband walked out the door after 30 years of marriage, and how Jesus is the answer.
Many of the youth could relate. Gone is the day when the kids in Canda come from generations of Christianity. Most of the kids come from broken and troubled homes. This area is no different. I saw a lady in the area and said to her ‘you look like you need some encouragement.’ She had tears in her eyes. She looked at me and said my husband left me and my three kids last week.
Would you fund a 7th Day Slumber Concert in the Red Lake area to reach these kids?
There is the way to leave a Christian legacy. That brings me to the fourth principle. If I am going to leave a Christian legacy, then I must realize this.
4. Heaven, not earth is my home.
Why did Jesus give this story? He gave this story to tell the man, to tell us, that our focus needs to shift. Our loyalties need to change. The Bible says were pilgrims, strangers on earth (Hebrews 11:3; 2nd Co. 5:20; Phil. 3:20). Moses understood this principle (Hebrews 11:24-26).
So the issue is this. Where we choose to store our treasures depends largely on where we think our home is. Where was the man’s heart in this parable? It was on the things of the world. What does he do?
Does he say ‘hey the Lord has really blessed us this year.” No. Does he say ‘The Lord has given us a bumper crop.’ No. He does not say ‘God gave us more to give back to him.” No. Does he ask for spiritual advice?” No. He does not say ‘Jesus how can use this bumper crop that God gave us to minister to others.” What does he do instead? He starts to think ‘commodity prices are only going to go up. I got to build some bigger barns to store that stuff. Because next year the value will increase by 30%. His heart was in the wrong place.
This church gives an annual donation of $1,380 to our head office of the BGCC. We also tithe. That is we teach tithing and ask you to tithe. Then we budget to give away 10% of our donations. This past week I was at our regional conference in Southern Manitoba. Were a church planting organization. Part of our plan is asking God in faith to plant five new Canadian churches by 2012. Were well on our way.
Someone in Winnipeg had a vision, a dream from God. The dream was this. They had a dream to plant a new church in downtown Winnipeg. That new church is called City Church. Let me tell you this amazing story. Two churches in the Winnipeg area, Grant Memorial and Stonewall Church listened to the Spirit of God. They said this is a good dream, a great vision. This is from the Lord. City church started with 170 people. That is right, 170 people. Lorne Meisner, our Bishop and his wife said we will go and help out. Over a hundred others said count me in. They got an old vacant Lutheran church in downtown Winnipeg. The place was musty. All the old pews were stacked to the rafters. It stunk, but they never saw it as a hopeless building. They saw it as a place where people can come to hear about Jesus and have healing in their lives.
Downtown Winnipeg is full of first Canadian immigrants. One man, a doctor gave his story. The year was 2004. Nearly a million Tutsis and Hutu moderates were butchered by Hutu extremists. Today in Rwanda, churches have human skulls piled high as permanent memorials. With machetes, machine guns and clubs, Hutu extremists on their murderous rampage killed nearly a million people in just 100 days in Rwanda. This doctor was exhausted. One day, in the middle of his exhaustion, when he had nothing left, two men carried a woman into the hospital. The woman had been beaten beyond recognition. They handed her over to the doctor. She bled to death in this mans arms. That woman was the doctor’s wife. That doctor is now part of our new church plant, City church in downtown Winnipeg. City church is filling with people like that. They have come from abusive situations all over the world. God has brought them to our major cities in Canada. I could sit here all day and tell you about various groups, the MB church, Alliance Church of Canada, Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada, and our own BGCC, all crying for church planters to start churches like City church. Many of our churches have no pastors. Were part of this group and that is where part of our dollars go.
Locally we have a responsibility, a calling from God to reach this area for Christ. We as leaders believe in the vision and mandate of this church. It comes directly from Jesus words, the gospel. We believe a great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission will grow a great church. Do you? We need all of you on the team, every one of you. That may require repentance on your part.
One person heard the call and donated $3,620 to kick-start a youth initiative. We have two started.
One just started last night called the Rock, to reach kids grades five to eight. Sam Bates is the leader. God put it on his heart to do this.
Our prayer partners have been praying for youth ministry to get off the ground.
The second one is called Ignition, whose vision is to reach high school students with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They already want to start a high school worship team. There were six of them last week practicing the song ‘Refiners Fire.’ The words to that song go like this ‘Purify my heart, cleanse me from within and make me holy. Purify my heart; cleanse me from my sin, deep within.’ I cried. I am not a worship leader. I stood there and sang that song with those kids – I believe in faith that this team will somehow come together. Were praying about starting Youth Alpha.
Last Monday our board put together a proposed 2009 budget. We realized something; all of us need to step up to the plate. Many of us need to repent of our ways. In case you think that this message is about you; well that is not entirely true. The Holy Spirit directed this message to me. The more I read this passage the more certain I was that this was the one I needed to preach on today.
Every good preacher, and I have so far to go, knows one thing. Unless the message grips your heart, it likely should not be delivered. This message gripped my heart this week.
This past weekend we were in the Winnipeg area. The last day of the conference my wife said ‘I would like to take you out for Chinese food for your birthday.’ My first thought was we cannot do it. It cost us a lot to go to Winnipeg for the regional conference, the gas, the motel, meals. But the Lord spoke to me and made it clear that I needed to go and stay connected with other pastors – hear other stories about how God is working. That is how I found out about City church. And this past weekend I realized something I already know, but it came back to me. And that is this – a church’s health is not measured by it’s seating capacity but by its sending capacity.
My wife always reminds me that ‘when we take care of the things of God, then God will take care of the things that are dear to us. Now having a Chinese meal insignificant; it has nothing to do with eternity, but my wife knows that I love Chinese food and you cannot get it here.
So as were driving out of the church parking lot this senior lady flags us down. I roll down the window and she hands me $60.00. She smiled and walked away. Dinner was paid for. Then God provided a free place to stay that night.
By Monday Sam told me he is going to give it a shot, youth ministry for grades 5-8 called the Rock. Then another man came in to pray with me. Something else was donated to the church that day. Those are ways in which God blesses us.
I know that God is leading us. He promised the farmer His presence, His power and His direction in the parable but the man said “I will do it my way.’ What a fool!
Friends God owns everything whether we choose to acknowledge this or not. The only question is will Jesus say ‘well done good and faithful servant.’
Or will he call us a fool. It will only be one or the other.
To be a fool is to have missed the point of life. The remarkable thing is that this person that God calls a fool, we would very often call a success.
It’s true in this life that people will say all kinds of things about you. But for Jesus to say your life was foolish that is devastating. Do you know why he calls the farmer a fool? It is because he stupidly believed he could control the future, how long he could live, and how much he could party.
Conclusion
Today were releasing our proposed 2009 budget to you. We laid hands over that paper and prayed. We realize we have financial challenges. But we also realized that we are in a great place. Were in a place where we can pray more and watch to see the blessings of God.
The scripture says that one day God will lay everything bare. He will expose all our motives. Every time I am away I miss you all. We love each of you. You’re our people. Evy and I love you. We pray for you. But we need you all on the team.
Two weeks ago I challenged this church to tithe based on scripture (Mal. 3:8), that is to pay God first. The challenge was to tithe for 90 days, and tell us about your stories about how God is taking care of you. My experience has been I have as much at the 90% level as at the 100% level.
I am really excited that people in this church are finding out that God’s promises are true. One person told me they are taking up the challenge. I have confidence there will be others. I know God will take care of you, you can count on it.
Do you know how Jesus concludes this parable? He does not say the farmer is bad at his occupation. He says he has his priorities all wrong. He says he is living for now instead of eternity. And Jesus simply calls him a fool. Building bigger barns was not the problem. The problem was he was not building them for eternity; he was building them for himself.
Supposing your home country is Sweden, and that is where your permanent residence is. Now you’re visiting Canada for three months, living at the Howie in the suite. Would you fill the Howie suite with expensive furniture and wall hangings? Well of course not. It is not your real home. You would earn your money here and send it back to Sweden so it would be waiting for you when you got home.
That is what Jim Elliot, a former missionary meant when he said ‘he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.’ Gain was exactly what people like William Borden and Jim Elliot lived for, that is the kind of gain they couldn’t lose. But the rich farmer strove for gain in this lifetime, and he found out it was gain he could not keep. Which gain are you pursuing?
