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Proverbs 18:10
A strong tower
Drama
A person walks to the front, finds a reel to reel recorder and turns it on. The speakers in the
sanctuary play the intro:
“Good morning Mr. Phelps,
We know the world has taught you some pretty strange things when it comes to your
time, priorities, finances, gifts and so many other things. Commercials inundate you with
ridiculous things you need. You are told that being the best at sports, music or computer
is somehow an end in itself. You have become persuaded that you don’t have the time for
hospitality, evangelism, loving people the way God calls us to.
Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to ignore what the world is selling and
follow the path of Jesus. There is no question it will be hard, but we want you and your
team to reimagine what the world could look like. We want you to live generously.
As always should you or any member of your IM force be caught or killed, the secretary
will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.
Good luck Jim.
[On the PP, we show the match striking and then the theme music to Mission Impossible.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA2KmJMKFrQ
What is the mission?
Your mission, should you choose to accept it. . . and make no mistake, I intend for every one of
you to accept this mission, your mission is to live generously.
We are smack dab in the middle of Mission3.10 and smack dab in the middle of the book of
Ephesians, Paul includes this large section that revolves around imitating God. Imitating a God
who made himself small, was tortured, died and buried. A God who allowed himself to suffer the
ultimate humiliation. Who sacrificed everything. That is the God we imitate. A prodigal,
extravagant, generous God.
So Ephesians is about showing the world the wisdom of God in the unity of the church and so
imitating God that we are willing to give up everything. It's about not being greedy. It's about not
stealing, but working hard, but not merely working hard, it’s about working hard so that we will
have the ability to be extravagantly generous.
To be generous in our time and our home with our neighbors
To be generous in regard to our compliments about Christianity and Poolesville Baptist
To be generous in our financial contribution to the church
To be generous in our service in regard to time and expertise
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To be generous in our coming together to worship and encourage one another and just to
be present.
We must live Generously.
To help us do that we have been bouncing off of Eph 3:10 which speaks of our mission as the
church. Then we bounced off of the text on sharing. And now I want us to jump off of Proverbs
18:10-11
Do you live a stress-filled life?
But before I do, let me ask you a question?
How many of you live lives filled with stress?
Like you have to go to the masseuse (rather, a massage therapist, apparently they don’t like the
word masseuse and it only applies to females) to get the knots out. Or a counselor to try to help
you respond well to the stress or you can’t sleep well or you cry a lot? You probably know the
symptoms of stress.
Can I tell you something? I don’t think we have to live this way. I know that you think we do,
but I think there is a real life out there that doesn’t have any of that. The only reason that we
continue to carry stress is because we continue to allow the world to dictate what life is about-what will make us safe
And I think the Bible has something to say about this. I am going to read this backwards because
it fits the way I have set it up. What the world trusts in and then what we should trust in.
11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.
10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
(Pro 18:10-11 NIV)
We are about to jump into the video but I want you to think about this for a second.
In what do you put your hope?
In what do you put your hope? Most of us do think of our wealth as that which keeps us safe. It's
a fortified city, it’s an unscalable wall. We make sure we plan with our 401K and a Roth for
both husband and wife of the maximum $5500 per year and we have a trust and a mutual fund
and your portfolio has 7% in gold (but not right now, because gold has had its run). You use
Ramseys envelope system or Quicken to account for every quarter and you understand risk parity
and the Jensen Index and Sharpe Diagonal and 10 other investment strategies and you think that
will keep you safe. You know that if you lose your job you will be able to live for 3 months
without pain and that if you get disabled, a big fat insurance check will come in, and that if your
house burns down you can rebuild a better one right there on the spot because you were wise.
You have what you need.
And all of that is great and even applauded in scripture as being wise, but you need to know
clearly that your wealth will not keep you safe. This is not the big picture plan for your security.
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Where is your strong tower? Where are you safe?
10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
What happens when all your planning and all your wisdom and maybe even all your wealth
disappears? What happens when something tragic happens and all you have to rely on is God?
Why is it that we only rely on God when things go wrong?
I am saying too much. Let’s visit Frank again.
The first week, Frank, an already pretty generous person, seemed a bit put out with how
extra generous he was being asked to be. His son Evan gave his favorite toy and Frank
was feeling some conviction.
Then the next week he had a dream. A dream where his money and his giving testified
against him.
Last week he tried to give more to the soup kitchen but Re talked him into actually
serving, and it started to change Frank.
Today, tragedy hits and Frank has to decide what he trusts in.
Play Video
So, everything was neatly in order, and Frank was in control. But now, all of a sudden, he isn’t in
control anymore.
What would you give for peace?
As I said before, I think there is a way to live life that doesn’t require stress. I am not saying I
have achieved it, but I think it is real. What would you give to live a stress free life? Would you
be willing to live without sugar for the rest of your life? Would you give half of your money
away? Would you give up that one thing that you love more than most other things? Running,
weight lifting, ballet, books, pets, your job, your retirement account? And I know what you are
thinking: but those things are the things I do or have to remove stress from my life—I enjoy
those things. I get it. I am saying would you give them up, if I promised you real life, stress free
life?
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I am not asking you to do any of these things. I think God gives us those things for our joy, but it
illustrates my larger point. You don’t believe that there really is such a life. You can’t even
imagine a world like the one I am suggesting.
And it’s our lack of imagination that makes it impossible to truly live. It's our rigid acceptance of
the life we are in that keeps us from moving into true life. True peace.
Jesus says this:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do
not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
He gives us peace – not as the world gives. When we lack that peace it is time to make sure
what you’re doing is in line with what God is wanting you to do.
Stress exists because you live life wrong!
Isn’t it possible that if you feel stress and a lack of peace that maybe, just maybe, you are living
life wrong?
Look at Re. This is a man filled with joy and filled with peace. He didn’t even take the bonus
that Frank gave him in the last film. Even though his life has been difficult. He lost his wife, he
has been homeless and now he is living on a gardener’s salary. But it seems that he gets real life.
He hasn’t created imaginary walls to keep the stress out. He has a real tower.
Frank has everything. You can’t help but be impressed with him. He has Poolesville kind of
money and beyond. But this does nothing to keep his wife from being mugged. His IRA isn’t
going to help the doctors keep a steady hand.
Is it okay to plan for the future?
Let me take a very important aside:
I have IRAs. I have a portofolio. (granted, it says that if I keep working at my current
increase in salary for the next 93 years, I will have enough to retire with the expected cost of
living in 2036 when I am 65). But I have a portfolio. I have a house (that I will own in about 14
years). I have stability. I wont get Social Security but I try to save 11% for retirement and I give
away 14% of my income. So I live on 75% of what I make.
I keep to a budget, I am sometimes extravagant and sometimes miserly. Here is my point. I think
its okay to plan, to have a budget. To keep money and set it aside for unforeseen times. Or even
times that are totally foreseen. You will probably need money to live when you stop working. I
am saying, I think that is okay and even that there is some call to do so from scripture. So keep
up with your financial planning . . . maybe.
But where do you put your trust?
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Because the world so compels us that we barely even notice. It tells us that this is the only way to
live.
But I become more and more convinced that you actually can’t live the life that you were meant
to live by doing all of that.
So where is your tower?
Do you resent those who do hope in what they have?
Let me ask another question. Some of you don’t seem to put a lot of confidence in what you have
or your talents. In fact, you don’t have much of anything to put confidence in. I wonder if you
secretly resent those who have a lot.
Do you remember Re in this story? He said he resented people with money. He hated them for
what they could do with their money to help him. It was a dark time for him. And it resulted in a
tower perspective. He couldn’t rely on other people. He couldn’t rely on himself. So he began to
rely on God.
It didn’t start that way. It started dark. He hated people, He probably thought ill of God. But the
Lord changed all that and he started seeing where his hope could be placed. He realized that
money doesn’t belong to people. It all belongs to God. That we simply steward it. And if God
wanted Re to have it, he would give it. So Re decided to live joyfully with what God gave. He
decided to stop resenting and start trusting.
Long ago Agur prayed a prayer to God:
“…give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I
may have too much and disown you and say “Who is the Lord?” or I may become poor
and steal and so dishonor the name of my God”
Agur knew a thing or two about our human nature.
Do you remember that line Re says to Frank?
Frank asks how we can tell the difference between building imaginary
walls and being smart with your money. Re answers “Maybe when you
stop thinking of it as your money.”
Job 31:24-25,28
If I have put my trust in gold
or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’
if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,
the fortune my hands had gained…
… then these also would be sins to be judged,
for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.
Re gets it. We have to have our hope, our trust, in the right things. Or in the right person: our
strong tower.
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What do you put your trust in?
I know what our trust is in. Because I put my trust in the same ridiculous things:
In my children—but sometimes we lose them before their time
In my spouse—but sometimes they leave
In my portfolio—but bear markets happen and they destroy
In my abilities—but so many people end up disabled.
And if you want to keep trusting in those things, that’s fine. But what happens when you lose one
of them? Will they be shown to be the idols that they are?
If you keep trusting these things you will not be living the life you were made to live.
So do you want to continue to live a life filled with stress and difficulty? Or do you want to give
all that over to God. This is the God who took all that on himself, and took all your sin on
himself. And took all the consequence of sin on himself. This is a God who knows the world
isn’t offering you real life and who counters that offer with something that I know often looks
unimaginable. A strong tower kind of life.
Are you hurting today? Are you stressed? Do you long for peace in your life? Run to the
Tower! Leave the crumbling imaginary walls behind and see what your world looks like from
the tower of the name of the Lord.
I am not claiming an easy life free from struggle. This isn’t a call to give $100.00 and get 100
times that in return. This isn’t a proclamation about being forever healthy and wealthy. Struggle
will continue. But worry, stress, fear—these don’t have to accompany the struggle. You can
struggle and still have hope, and peace, and joy. Because the king came and he struggled too,
right along with you. And he feels your hardships now and he says “join me in this new kind of
life.” He says “Repent of your sins and follow me.” “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you
will be saved.
Saved means more than heaven and clouds and harps, it certainly means life forever with him,
but it’s more. It's living now the life he designed for you. And thriving.
What imaginary walls of protection have you erected?
I want you to spend time this week asking God to reveal your imaginary walls. Seek His help in
dismantling them and running to the strong tower.
How will you share?
And again this week I want you to ask how you can share. How you can be part of this mission
3.10 of living generously, of experimenting extravagantly. Of sacrificing huge. Of loving loud.
I hope you are asking that question about your finances—will you give an endowment gift that
will provide for the church for years to come? Next week we head into the new neighborhoods
with gifts. Next year I have plans for a community talent night, a community picnic, a huge
WUMCO drive and I have a book full of new ideas for how we will love this community.
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But I absolutely need contributions and commitment to make this all come about. What are you
ready to sacrifice to make a temporary and eternal difference? The Mission is possible.
Assuming you accept it.