Keep God’s Big Perspective in Mind - (Luke 16:10-16)
It is not uncommon to find people who get so wrapped up in details that lose sight of more important goals. Many Americans seem to become distracted by many things that may seem important at the time but in God’s bigger perspective are mere details.
Illustration: In a 1991 poll, George Gallup, Jr., reported seven needs of the average American:
1. The need for shelter and food,
2. The need to believe life is meaningful and has a purpose,
3. The need for a sense of community and deeper relationships,
4. The need to be appreciated and respected,
5. The need to be listened to and be heard,
6. The need to feel one is growing in faith,
7. The need for practical help in developing a mature faith.
National and International Religion Report, May 29, 1991.
Illustration: As Vice President, Richard Nixon came upon President Eisenhower one day signing an immense stack of mail in his office. Mr. Nixon watched quietly for a moment and then asked the General how, with all that mail, he ever found time to think about the big problems of the country. Ike replied: "Dick, I really haven’t spent that much time on these letters. In fact, in some instances they probably don’t even say exactly what I want them to. But you’ve got to learn that, if you get bogged down in all the fine print and little detail you’ll never get anything accomplished as President.
Bits & Pieces, April 30, 1992.
Jesus’ ministry balanced the macroscopic with the microscopic concerns of people. Our Lord once said,
"He who is faithful in the very little things will be faithful also in much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?" (Luke 16:10-12)
Application: The Lord often determines whether or not we are ready to assume greater responsibilities by testing how well we handle details.
1. Jesus knew that a person’s faithfulness is not measured by the amount entrusted to them, but by the character of the person who uses things.
Application: Learn to teach honesty, reliability, and effectiveness through your lifestyle, words and teachings. When people see your fruit they will recognize your true character.
Illustration: It is common to find people who are only interested in taking on jobs that will earn big rewards while spurning smaller jobs. Everyone needs to learn how to be faithful, responsible and obedient in small things before they can be expected to be trustworthy with larger things. (Luke 16:10) Before Abraham Lincoln was promoted to the Presidency he learned how to chop wood for a penny a day.
2. Jesus showed the depth, breadth, length and height of His love by caring about little things that were important to people. One day Jesus was met by ten lepers who shouted,
"Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." They were all healed. Yet, one came back praising God with a loud voice and threw himself at the Jesus’ feet and thanked him. Jesus asked,
"Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" (Luke 17:11-18)
Jesus knew that people are known by their willingness to complete all of God’s expectations - big and small.
3. Jesus showed His perfect balance of the bigger and smaller ministries through His love for children. It was said, "People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said,
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (Luke 18:15-17)
Jesus used children to illustrate how even the most powerful, the most educated and the most wealthy still need to humble themselves and demonstrate a total dependence, trust and openness to God’s will for their lives. Let the Spirit of God direct you to what is important at the time. "When He the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth." (John 16:13)
4. Jesus illustrated great truth through the addressing of little people and their problems. Zacchaeus was a little man hated by a great number of people. Zacchaeus had probably paid someone a big bribe to get his lucrative job as a tax-collector so he was hated by the Jews. When Jesus paused to look up in the sycamore tree He said,
Illustration: "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." Many people saw this and began to mutter, "Jesus has gone to be the guest of a sinner." But Zacchaeus was so moved by the Lord’s attention to his needs that he stood and said,
"Look Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house." (Luke 19:1-9)
Jesus showed His concern for the most unlikely people. We can learn great lessons in seemingly insignificant situations.
Illustration: There is a children’s song that teaches us a lot about how God makes much with the little:
"God can do a lot with a little. A little is a lot with God."
Illustration: God uses miracles to help us see the greatness of God’s power, purpose and perspective in all areas of life. The miracles that God performs are sign posts to who is performing them. They provide proof to those who believe. They provide question to those who do not understand and need to believe. Those who do not believe react to Jesus’ miracles with sham faith or unbelief. Jesus’ miracle here was one of mercy, tender compassion. Mercy in action towards someone who suffers. Jesus understood the weakness that the two men felt. Because of that he had compassion. Since Jesus understands our weaknesses we can boldly come to him and find not recriminations but mercy and grace. If we do not have faith, we cannot be saved. It is because of our faith that Christ cares for us and helps us.
The Greek word for faith is pistis, persuasion. It is the reliance upon Christ for our salvation. This is exactly the same response that a child gives to their parents to survive each day.
God’s purpose in miracles is to strengthen our faith. When he causes miracles to occur today he reveals himself in all his splendour. His miracles create in us a desire and willingness to spread his gospel to the nations. By doing that we cause others to see his glory and build in them a living faith in Christ which allows them to be molded and it helps them to see his miracles, big and small, each day.
5. Jesus expected people with little or big gifts to demonstrate productivity. Jesus once told a parable about three men who were given ten, five and one talent respectively.
The man who had received five talents brought his master ten talents. The individual who had received ten talents returned to give his master twenty talents. But the man with one talent said to the Master,
Illustration: "I was afraid of you and went out and hit your talent in the ground. See, here is the one talent that belongs to you." Jesus said,
"You wicked, lazy servant? So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who had ten talents." (Matt.25:14-30)
No one has any suitable excuse for not multiplying what God has given them. As we have been faithful in little things, we will enjoy the responsibilities of administrating great responsibilities for all eternity as a result of our faithfulness here on earth. Our short span of 70-90 years makes a huge difference for eternity.
6. Jesus used an attempt by the government officials to ensnare Him with neglect to small details for God’s greater purposes. One day the tax-collectors came to Peter and asked,
Illustration: "Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?" Yes, He does, he replied. Jesus said to Peter, "Even though the sons of the king are exempt from paying taxes, so as not to offend the rulers, go to the lake and throw out your line and the first fish you catch will have a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."(Matt.17:24-27)
Application: Try to fulfill all things in a righteousness fashion. As far as it is possible be at peace with all men. Ask the Lord to give you the wisdom, discretion and social-political savvy to know what is the most diplomatic way of resolving problems.
7. Jesus showed forgiveness for big offenses and little offenses. He said,
"The Master cancels all of our debts to Him and we must also forgive others iniquities - whether they be great or small. (Matt. 18:21-35)
Illustration: In l880, James Garfield was elected president of the United States, but after only six months in office, he was shot in the back with a revolver. He never lost consciousness. At the hospital, the doctor probed the wound with his little finger to seek the bullet. He couldn’t find it, so he tried a silver-tipped probe. Still he couldn’t locate the bullet.
They took Garfield back to Washington, D.C. Despite the summer heat, they tried to keep him comfortable. He was growing very weak. Teams of doctors tried to locate the bullet, probing the wound over and over. In desperation they asked Alexander Graham Bell, who was working on a little device called the telephone, to see if he could locate the metal inside the president’s body. He came, he sought, and he too failed. The president hung on through July, through August, but in September he finally died-not from the wound, but from infection. The repeated probing, which the physicians thought would help the man, eventually, killed him. So it is with people who dwell too long on their sin and refuse to release it to God. Give up the details to God and keep the big picture of God’s greater glory, His will, His love and His great commission in mind.
Roger Thompson
"In All Things Be Thankful"]
Back during the dark days of 1929, a group of ministers in the Northeast,
all graduates of the Boston School of Theology, gathered to discuss how they
should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services. Things were about as bad
as they could get, with no sign of relief. The bread lines were depressingly
long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great Depression seemed
an apt description for the mood of the country. The ministers thought they
should only lightly touch upon the subject Thanksgiving in deference to the
human misery all about them. After all, there was to be thankful for. But it
was Dr. William L. Stiger, pastor of a large congregation in the city that
rallied the group. This was not the time, he suggested, to give mere passing
mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite. This was the time for the nation
to get matters in perspective and thank God for blessings always present,
but perhaps suppressed due to intense hardship.
I suggest to you the ministers struck upon something. The most intense
moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when
difficulties abound. Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half
their number dead, men without a country, but still there was thanksgiving
to God. Their gratitude was not for something but in something. It was that
same sense of gratitude that lead Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the
first Thanksgiving Day in the midst of national civil war, when the butcher’
s list of casualties seemed to have no end and the very nation struggled for
survival.
Perhaps in your own life, right now, intense hardship. You are experiencing
your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be thankful this day? May
I suggest three things?
1. We must learn to be thankful or we become bitter.
2. We must learn to be thankful or we will become discouraged.
3. We must learn to be thankful or we shall surly grow arrogant and
self-satisfied.
