Perhaps it began with marks in the dirt, then progressed to piles of stones, and then somewhere along the line came the abacus, but men have always had a means of calculating debts, payments and other quantities.
These days we have desk calculators, computers, smart phones and even watches that can calculate.
Most of us go through life calculating what is good to add to our life or what is good to subtract from our life, and what percentage of our life to dedicate to various pursuits. Most of us calculate the easiest way to gain something, and how to get more for less.
That’s okay, but far too often we don’t include God in our calculations and add too much of something or subtract too much of something. We often try to divide our time and talent and treasure into too many sections and end up frustrated because we can’t accomplish what we want to accomplish.
For today’s consideration, I point out that many people add too much of self, too little of others, and way too little, or nothing, of God!
Calculating without God means excluding the God factor, leaving Him out of the equation and ignoring His counsel, commands and cautions. Leaving God out leads to all kinds of miscalculations. Miscalculations that can cause somebody to be deprived of their due and to be robbed, while others are unjustly benefitted. It’s like dividing up cookies the Laurel and Hardy way: “One for you, one for me. Two for you, one, two for me. Three for you, One, two, three for me.”
In every generation there have been attempts to remove God from everything. “Get out of our schools, money, pledge to the flag, government, holidays, seminaries and all of our lives.” When we calculate our lives without including God, we come out wrong and everybody is robbed.
Jesus told this parable, "The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Luke 12:16-21 (NASB).
I. IF YOU CALCULATE WITHOUT GOD, YOU ROB YOURSELF:
A. This man obviously operated without any thought or concern about God so he robbed himself of God’s greater blessing.
B. Let’s consider the problems with calculating without God. There are some serious consequences, none of them desirable or good. If you calculate morals, ethics or values without God:
1. On the one hand, you will sell out at too low a price, thus robbing yourself.
a. You can sell the eternal fo the price of the temporal. That’s selling too low.
b. You can sell everlasting joy for the price of transitory pleasures of this world. Too low a price to ask.
c. You can sell genuine freedom for the price of deceptive self-indulgence. You have sold out cheaply.
2. On the other hand, leaving God out of it, you will buy too little at too high a price; that robs you.
a. You may pay for the fleeting admiration of others at the cost of God’s constant approval.
b. Like this rich man, you may gain earth’s fleeting riches but pay for it with assured wealth in heaven.
c. You may purchase houses, cars, boats, RV’s and put them before God in you life – but it will cost you your soul. Too high a price to pay.
3. Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.” Matthew 16:24-27 (NASB). We cheat ourselves when love of the world outweighs relationship with God.
C. In leaving God out of our calculations, we settle for the disappointing, deceitful, and destructive things. We have then robbed ourselves:.
1. Of peace with God and the peace of God.
2. Of hope that is more than wishful thinking.
3. Of joy that transcends sorrow.
4. Of forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
5. Of answered prayer.
6. Of confidence of salvation.
D. How many of you have read the short story by O’Henry entitled “Ransom of Red Chief?” In it, two small-time criminals, Bill and Sam, kidnap Johnny, the 10-year-old
red-haired son of Ebenezer Dorset, an important citizen, and hold him for ransom. But during the abduction, Johnny hit Bill in the eye with a chunk of brick. The moment that they arrive at their hideout with the boy, the plan begins to unravel, as the boy actually starts to enjoy his kidnappers.
Calling himself "Red Chief", the boy proceeds to drive his captors to distraction with his unrelenting chatter and malicious pranks. He struck Bill behind the left ear with an egg sized rock. That caused Bill to fall across the fire and into a kettle of boiling water. And when Sam was away, Johnny put a hot boiled potato down the back of Bill's shirt and smashed it with his foot. He demanded that they play wearying games with him, such as riding 90 miles on Bill's back pretending to be an Indian scout.
The criminals write a ransom letter to the boy's father, lowering the ransom from $2,000 to $1,500, believing that the father won't pay much money for his return.
The father, who knows his son well and realizes how intolerable he will be to his captors and how eager they will soon be to rid themselves of the delinquent child, rejects their demand and offers to take the boy off their hands if they pay him $250. The men hand over the money and the howling boy – who had actually been happier being away from his strict father – and flee while the father restrains his son from following them.
The ironic situation is where the kidnappers have to pay the father to get his son back instead of the father paying the kidnappers for his son. They are like those who make their plans and leave God out of the picture and everything backfires in the end. So, like the two crooks they end up robbing themselves.
If you calculate life without God, you rob yourself and:
II. IF YOU CALCULATE WITHOUT GOD, YOU ROB OTHERS:
A. The rich man could easily found some needy folk to share with but he had great possessions and great possessions had him. But God has made it plain that we are our brother’s keeper and we are responsible to help those we can help.
B. Because God expects of us that we show goodwill to one another, we rob others when we fail to obey.
C. There are many “one another” passages with which, if you include God in your calculations, you will recognize and comply with as Christian responsibilities:
1. “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;” Romans 12:10 (NASB).
2. “Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” Romans 12:16 (NASB).
3. “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8 (NASB).
4. “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.” Romans 15:7 (NASB).
5. “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:13 (NASB).
6. “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,” Hebrews 10:24 (NASB).
D. There are opposing viewpoints on this matter:
1. The common view of secular man is,
a. “Look out for number one!”
b. “If I’m not for me, who will be?”
c. “Better you than me!”
d. “Ooooo! Bad karma, dude!”
2. The proper view is:
a. “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Galatians 6:9-10 (NASB).
b. “Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.” 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 (NASB).
E. Let me illustrate taking God into account and NOT robbing others. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon in Oklahoma City. Bob was taking his two little boys to play miniature golf. He walked up to the fellow at the ticket counter and said, "How much is it to get in?"
The young man replied, "$3.00 for you and $3.00 for any kid who is older than six. We let them in free if they are six or younger. How old are they?"
Bob replied, "The younger is three and the older is seven, so I guess I owe you $6.00."
The man at the ticket counter said, "Hey, Mister, you could have saved yourself three bucks. You could have told me that the older one was six; I wouldn’t have known the difference."
Bob replied, "Yes, that may be true, but God and the kids would have known the difference." He didn’t compromise, didn’t sell low nor buy high – he kept God in his calculations and did not rob himself or others.
Keep God in mind because
III. IF YOU CALCULATE WITHOUT GOD, YOU ROB GOD:
A. This man basically prayed to himself, worshiped wealth and totally forgot God. God simply never entered the man’s calculation.
B. To forget, or ignore, or deny God robs Him of His due:
1. Praise
2. Worship
3. Adoration
4. Honor
5. Obedience
C. Robbing God is about as safe as taking a banana away from a gorilla or a cub from Mrs. Grizzley Bear.
D. There are several reasons not to try to rob God.
1. You won’t get away with it.
2. You’ll have to pay for it.
3. You will be ashamed.
4. You will lose more than you gain!
5. You will only gain one thing: the wages of sin, which is death.
E. A little boy, James, was going to VBS. His mom gave him two dollars. One was for the mission offering and one was for a candy bar, (Snickers, of course), on the way home. Carelessly, he carried the money in his hand. He tripped and dropped the money. He retrieved one of the bills but the other blew away too rapidly.
The boy looked to heaven and said, “Sorry, God. There goes your dollar!” He robbed God.
What are you seeking? Are you including God in your quest? Where does He fit in? You need to settle that issue by surrendering all to Jesus so that you always keep God in the calculations. Would you commit that to Him in full surrender?
