Do Not Misuse Your Money

Everybody ready for tomorrow?  April 30^th, last day to get your taxes filed for 2011.  Or maybe you’ve already filed.  Maybe it depends on whether it you are getting money back or paying money out.

And taxes are a touchy subject for some folks, Politicians are elected or rejected often based on what they promise to do with our taxes.  Oh, if we only had every tax cut that had been promised to us by the parties who got elected into power. If I recall a little bit of my world history the United States was born out of frustration with taxes that were being paid to the Crown. 

I understand here in Canada the Canadian Revenue Agency has come up with a new motto:  It used to be: More Ways to Serve You, but now it is:  “We’ve got what it takes to take what you’ve got.”

And taxes have been a touchy subject as long as there have been taxes being paid, and that has been for quite a long time.  How do you think the Egyptians built the pyramids, or the Myans built their cities, or the Romans constructed the aqueducts and coliseums?

And as long as there have been folks collecting taxes there have been folks resenting having their taxes collected.  Throughout the New Testament the term “Tax Collector” is often used in statements like Matthew 9:10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.  Or Mark 2:16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” Nice.  And when the religious leaders criticized Jesus one of the charges was Matthew 11:19 . . .‘He’s a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’

So here we are in week last of our Stewardship month.  You can all breathe a sigh of relief.  Through the month of April we have been looking at what Jesus said about Money.  So on April 1 we looked at “Don’t Serve Money”, on the 15^th it was “Be Careful Where You Store Your Treasures” and last week was “Don’t Worry About Money”.   

Sometimes pastors choose to not speak about money in church, maybe in hopes that somehow their people will learn about it on their own, perhaps by osmosis.  Or maybe it's because they feel that talking about money is too personal or too obtrusive. but Jesus talked a lot about money, he talked about the way people make it and what they do with it after they have it.  And because money is talked about in the scriptures, and because Jesus seemed to attach a great deal of importance to it, to the point of linking it to our eternities it is something that needs to be addressed. And we can’t just ignore it because it bothers some people and offends other people.

Seriously, what would happen if every preacher prepared his messages to not offend or bother anyone?  You might as well open fortune cookies. 

But apparently Jesus wasn’t afraid to express his opinion on a wide variety of topics that are deemed off limits today.  People’s behaviour, people’s attitudes and people’s money.  Surprisingly though, especially if you are in the habit of watching the political situation in the States, Jesus never talked about politics.  He never told people how to vote, never expressed a preference for a certain political party, never wore a campaign button or endorsed any particular candidate or political party.  Just sayin’.

And this is how this particular story of Jesus happened.  Matthew 22:15 Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. In the original language it says “they wanted to ensnare him with his own words”.  And so the Pharisees enlisted some unlikely allies, in the NLT we are told they were “supporters of Herod”  the actual word used was “Herodians”.

So on one side you have the Pharisees, the religious elite of the Jews and on the other side you have the Herodians who through their support of Herod, the puppet king of Palestine, are de-facto supporters of Rome.  What is that old saying about “strange bed-fellows”? 

And so this unlikely and unholy union asks Jesus a question that on the outside seems like simple curiosity.  Matthew 22:16-17 They sent some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to meet with him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favourites. Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

Now we need to understand that this was not just a general question about Jesus’ philosophy on taxation.  They were not talking about taxation in general they were speaking of a very specific tax.  2000 years ago in conquered Palestine there were several different layers of taxation, much as there is today in our country. 

Those in the know tell us that there was a first of all a ground tax. Kind of like our property tax.  Then there was income tax, that's self-explanatory.   And then there as what was called “the poll tax” or the “Tribute”.  This tax had been put in place when the Romans conquered Israel in in 63 B.C. and had to be paid by every male from the age of fourteen to the age of sixty-five, and by every female from the age of twelve to sixty-five.  It was a tax paid simply for the privilege of being alive and living as a subject of the Emperor. 

And people resented paying it.  There had already been one rebellion, 25 years earlier, primarily over this particular tax. So you see where this is going, right?  If Jesus speaks out in favour of the tax, the ordinary people are going to be outraged; it will solidify what the religious right has been saying about Jesus not being the Messiah.  However if Jesus rejects the tax the Herodians will take the report back to Herod, and eventually to the Romans, that Jesus is talking treason and encouraging people to not pay their taxes. Win, win for the enemies of Jesus, lose, lose for Jesus himself.  In Australia they would say it was a bit of a sticky wicket, here we would say that Jesus was between a rock and a hard place. 

Doesn’t seem to bother him though he doesn’t even break stride, instead we read Matthew 22:18-19 But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said. “Why are you trying to trap me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.”  Some people have commented that it shows that Jesus wasn’t concerned about money because he didn’t even have a coin on him. But the coin he was talking about wasn’t simply pocket change, it was a denarius.  And it was a silver coin that was the equivalent of a full day’s salary.  But I think it goes deeper than that.  The problem with the coin was the inscription on it. On one side would be a picture of the present ruler and the inscription “Tiberius Caesar, son of Divine Augustus.”  This picture and the claim of quasi-divinity made the coin a portable idol, is it any wonder that Jesus wasn’t carrying one with him.

So they waited with baited breath, waiting to find out who Jesus would offend, knowing that there was no way that he could come out of this unscathed.  And the we read Matthew 22:20 When they handed him a Roman coin, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” Simple question, perhaps they thought he was simply stalling for time and so they answered.  Matthew 22:21 “Caesar’s”. And I’m sure they were thinking . . . “and” “Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

And then we are told in Matthew 22:22 His reply amazed them, and they went away. So what was Jesus saying and what is the message for us today?

Some of Your Money is the Government’s  Nobody really likes paying taxes, that something that most of us have in common, we think we pay too much and deep down think others pay too little.  We always assume the burden falls to those of us in the middle.  The very poor don’t pay tax and neither do the very rich.  Most of us were not surprised at the attitude expressed by American business woman Leona Helmsley.  Helmsley was worth over a billion dollars, when an employee commented that she must pay a lot of taxes when she said “We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes...” She took it as her due that she shouldn’t have to pay taxes.  Of course she did go to jail for income tax evasion.  But the reality is that all of those who enjoy what our country has to offer should pay taxes.  It was President Franklin D. Roosevelt who said “Taxes, are the dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.”

Jesus was acknowledging that there was benefit to being a part of the Roman Empire.  The sword of Rome might have been wielded by an oppressor but it had brought peace to the known world, something that hadn’t been seen in hundreds of years. Road systems were developed for trade, water systems were built and laws were being enforced.  It wasn't perfect but it was working.  It was the Roman Historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus who wrote “The repose of nations cannot be secure without arms. Armies cannot be maintained without pay, nor can the pay be produced without taxes.”

We grumble and complain about government waste and extravagance but as long as we want our public health care, as long as we want our children educated, as long as we expect a degree of safety, both from outside forces and from the criminal element there will be taxes that have to be paid.  If we expect safe water to come out of our taps when we turn them on, and if we expect our streets to be plowed and our garbage to be picked up we will have to pay taxes. 

And the more you travel the more you appreciate our system.  (Pictures from Africa)  Because this is what health care looks like without the taxes we pay.  And this is what education looks like without the taxes we pay.  And this is what main roads look like without the taxes we pay.  This what the drinking water supply looks like without the taxes we pay.  And this is what dinner looks like, actually that has nothing to do with taxes it’s just one of my favourite Africa meal pictures. 

And so Jesus was telling us that if we want all the benefits that our tax dollars bring then we will have to pay taxes.   And I’m proud to pay taxes in Canada, although truth be told I think I could be just as proud even if I only paid half as much.

And maybe tax time can even be a time to be thankful.  You understand that you pay more in taxes than your Grandparents, or maybe even your parents made.   When I was a teenager I remember my father telling me what he paid for income tax that year and he seemed excited about it.  When I asked him why he said “Do you know how much I had to make in order to pay that much in tax?”

And so today, as 2000 years ago there are taxes that must be paid, and I also think that our Governments need to pay heed to other words from 2000 years ago as well, it was Emperor Tiberius Caesar who observed “It is the duty of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not to skin them.”

Some of Your Money is Yours  Then there is the money that we get to keep.  And this money comes with all kinds of choices.  Will we spend it or will we save it?  And what we will spend it on and what will we save it for?   Last week we looked at Christ’s words when he told his followers Luke 12:22 Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear.”  And while we are not to worry about such things we are still required to provide them. 

And some of us make good choices and some of us make bad choices.  Last week there was a story in the news about a single mom who was destitute and was about to lose her home but then she won the lottery.  That’s supposed to be a good news story, but my first thought was “What was a single mom who was destitute and who was about to lose her home doing buying lottery tickets?”  You understand that is a message for a different time, but lotteries are really a tax on the mathematically challenged.

If we spend more than we make eventually it will catch up with us, if we spend our money to support our addictions, eventually that will catch up with us. 

And I don’t think that Christians are supposed to be destitute but I do believe that we are supposed to be responsible with what we have.  A good exercise for all of us is every once is a while just sit down and figure out where you are spending your money.  Are you using it wisely or not.  And that really is subjective, what you might consider wise I  might consider foolish.  But if you are having trouble paying for food and shelter or if you have problems giving the government their share or God his share then you may be spending it in places that it shouldn’t be spent.  And those are all part of the choices we make.

Some of Your Money is God’s  From the very beginning of the book people have offered up something as an offering or as a sacrifice.  So in Genesis and continuing throughout the Bible we see people returning part of what they have to God.  Notice I said "returning" because we need to understand that all that we have comes from God, from our lives to our livelihoods.  And sometimes that was called offerings, and sometimes it was called sacrifices and sometimes it was called a tithe.

And those gifts, those sacrifices, those offerings were given for a couple of different reasons.  From the time the Israelites began gathering together for corporate worship there were costs associated with that worship. 

If you read through the Old Testament first there was the Tabernacle, which was like a portable temple that needed to be constructed and maintained.  There were priests who led the people into worship who needed to be paid, there were scrolls and ink for recording the scriptures that needed to be purchased.  There were sacrifices and offerings that were part of their worship which needed to be provided.  And God called on his people to provide for those expenses.  There was a fiscal responsibility to their worship. 

Could God have done it without the giving of his people?  Sure he’s God.  But he knew that anything in life that doesn’t cost you something isn’t worth anything. 

Today there is still that practical aspect of our worship.  If you want to worship under a tree by yourself there will probably be very little practical cost associated with that.  However, if you want to come together corporately to worship there are costs associated with that.  We’ve talked about this before.  Before we even look at salaries at Cornerstone there is a building to be paid for and maintained.  There are mortgage payments that have to be made every month, there is power that needs to be paid to light and heat the building, there are cleaning supplies and insurance and snowplowing and lawn mowing. Last week they were here to inspect and maintain the alarms and emergency lighting and to inspect and clean the Heating and Ventilation system.    And that is before we do anything in the building.  And then there are the salaries and curriculum and licensing costs that allow us to provide the ministries for you and your family.

Do we require that people at Cornerstone give?  Yep, sure do.  Does that mean that if you don’t give you can’t worship here?  Nope.  Does that mean that if we are going to send someone around to your door looking for your offering envelope?  Nope.   

But if you don’t give there will be no Cornerstone.  You understand that right?   If the people of Cornerstone didn’t make the sacrifices necessary to pay the bills then the staff would be laid off, the building would be sold and there would be no Cornerstone.  Because there is no magical pot that we go to for our funds.  Every dollar in our budget comes from those who call Cornerstone their church home.

But more than just the practical side of giving is the spiritual side of giving.  Because even if you were worshipping under a tree by yourself there should still be a sense of giving back to God.  Early in the story that was called making sacrifices and it involved bringing meat, grain, wine or oil and offering it to God as a gift.  Did God need those things?  No he is God.  But it goes back to anything that doesn’t cost you anything isn’t really worth anything, including your worship.  Because it allows us to acknowledge that what we have comes from God and to be thankful for that which we keep.       

And very early in the story it is laid down what God’s people are to return to God, When the law was laid down over three thousand years ago it was written Leviticus 27:30 “One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD and must be set apart to him as holy.”  And it was reiterated in Deuteronomy 14:22 “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year.”      

And often when you bring up the tithe people will tell you that the tithe is an Old Testament concept, and that is a sermon in itself, but when Paul was writing about money to the church in Corinth this is what he wrote. 1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. The believers in Corinth had a Jewish heritage so I wonder what they assumed when Paul said that should put aside a portion of the money they had earned.

And then they will go on to tell you that the Tithe was used for something very specific and that is true, listen to the words of the prophet Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. The tithe was provided so that the temple and all that was involved in temple worship could be maintained.  And we don’t have a temple and priests and scribes but we do have a church and we do have a pastoral staff. 

So what is the tithe?  Tithe simply means tenth and throughout the word of God the concept is reiterated that all that we have comes from God but he requires a tenth of it back.  For the people of God this does not mean that we give God ten percent of what is ours, it means that He allows us to keep ninety percent of what is His.  Now listen to the last part of that verse from Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

And so God tells his people, “If you tithe, if you return to me ten percent of what I have given to you then I will bless you”  You see when we give to God, we are just taking our hands off what already belongs to Him.

And as a side note, we live in a great country where if you give to God what is God’s than Caesar won’t want nearly as much.  When you do up your taxes this year and you use the receipt that is provided by Cornerstone for your giving you will discover that Caesar will give you a break on your taxes.  If you gave a hundred dollars a week, which is the tithe on a fifty thousand dollar salary,  then you will save over $2,500.00 on your taxes.  And to quote F. J. Raymond “Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.”

Don't Worry Just Trust

How many folks out there were born after 1958?  So what do you think of the change in the Old Age Security age?   If you missed the last budget the age for eligibility has changed for the Canadian Old Age Security from 65 to 67 and I would suspect that is only the beginning. And it really doesn’t affect how I was thinking about retirement because my plan has been to continue pastoring until I’m seventy.  All things being equal.  But for some people it is a concern, they have been anxiously awaiting the day they turned 65 and could begin drawing that enormous amount the government has been promising them.

 A little history lesson here, the first public pension plan in Canada was put into place in 1927 and it basically required the federal government to share the cost of provincially run, means-tested old age benefits. 

The plan as we know it was introduced in 1952 and allowed people to retire with some benefits when they turned 70.  In 1965 legislation was passed that reduced the eligibility age to 65, phased in over a five year period.   

We are planning on going to the SaltScapes Expo next week and if it is like the other years it will be full of different tourist destinations in the Maritimes, food exhibits, and retirement service people.  Interesting.

And at first you would be tempted to think that is simply related to the demographics of those who read SaltScapes, but it’s not just the SaltScapes Expo.  If you go to the boat show they are there too.  Not the tourist and food exhibits but the retirement people.  And if you go to the home show or you go to the RV show there they are.  Walk down the mall and there they and everyone talks about their RRSP’s and when they plan to retire, the freedom 55 or 60.  Angela and I are on the freedom 85 plan.  Figure if we can retire at 85 and die at 90 we should be all right.

I was recently reading that it was in the 1950’s that western society achieved a standard of living that had never before been seen in history.  We had come to a place where the average person was no longer living day to day or a hand to mouth existence.  All of a sudden the average family had discretionary income, the opportunity to buy what to that point had been considered luxury items and to save for retirement.

Today we have stepped even beyond simply saving for retirement to the point that we are not content with being able to retire to a life of ease we want to be able to enjoy all the facets of life that escaped us during our years of employment.   

And it is a concern for folks that they may not be able to have that lifestyle when they eventually retire.  And certainly I have seen examples in the past of people who sacrificed things in order to have lots in place for tomorrow only to have tomorrow arrive without them.

We want to go from being Yuppies to being WOOFs (Well Off Older Folks).  And so there is a whole new industry that has sprung up so that we can invest now for that day down the road when we no longer have to work, whether that day comes when we are 55, 65 or 85.

If you live in Canada when you retire you may have to worry about whether you can have full cable or basic cable, you might worry about whether you will be able to travel, you may have to worry about whether you live in a nice neighborhood or a sketchy neighbourhood, you might even have to worry about whether you buy Kraft dinner or the no name mac and cheese but you will not starve to death or have to go naked.

I have delivered groceries to people who told me that their children had nothing to eat and when I got there they were watching cable and the apartment smelled of cigarette smoke, indicating that there were apparently choices that had already been made that precluded buying food, but that’s not the same as not having food to eat.

If tomorrow Angela and I were unable to work, we would eventually have to sell our home and sell our cars, we might lose everything we own.  We might lose our lifestyle but in Canada in 2012 we would not lose our lives. 

For the vast majority of those of us who live in Canada today the concept of worrying about what we will eat or what we will wear is radically different then it was when these words were spoken.  Today we worry about what our choices will be, will I have chicken or will I have beef? Will I wear the red top or will I wear the blue top?  Which pair of shoes will I wear today?  Will it be Tims or McDonalds for lunch. 

Today those are frivolous choices; 2000 years ago they were life themselves. When Jesus said Luke 12:22 Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear.”  He was talking to people who sometimes did not have enough food to eat and who only had a very basic wardrobe.

Let’s put this passage into context.  The crowds coming to hear Jesus preach have grown from tens of people to hundreds of people and now we are told in Luke 12 thousands of people have gathered to hear the words of Jesus.  And it is as he is teaching a group of thousands we are told in  Luke 12:13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” And Jesus makes a turn in his teaching and starts to talk about greed and makes the statement Luke 12:15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”   And then he tells them a story.  It is sometimes referred to as “The Parable of the Rich Fool”  you may remember I referenced some of it last week.  This man had so much that he didn’t know what to do with it, he has to tear down his barns to build even bigger barns to hold all that he had. 

Jesus was drawing a picture of a man who we rich beyond the average person’s imagination?  If you showed our homes and cars and lifestyle to the majority of the world we would be that man.  Our RRSP’s and mutual funds are simply bigger barns.

Remember that this story was told in a society where people lived from day to day.  That was the nature of the beast, it was a subsistence economy, you grew it, caught it or picked it and that was what you had.  Or you made it and sold it to buy something that you needed for today, and that is how many people still live around the world. 

And so I’m sure that many of them were feeling a little smug when they heard Jesus say: Luke 12:21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” 

“Not a problem Jesus, we have that covered you don’t have to worry about that.  We promise we will not store up earthly wealth.”    Seriously, they had no barns that were bursting at the seams; their daily concerns had more to do with how to find food and clothing then what to do with all the extras.  His apostles had given up everything to follow him, they had left behind their professions and their possessions, and then we read in Luke 12:22 Then, turning to his disciples, (it was almost as if he knew what they were thinking) Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear.”  He was telling them, you can be caught up in a little amount of stuff as well as lots of stuff.

This was not a once off statement, did you catch what he said “That is why I tell you. . .” this was an ongoing discussion.  Perhaps at the end of the day as Christ and the twelve sat around the fire the discussion would turn to what was on the menu for the next day, where they were going to come up with enough food for the twelve of them.  It had to be a concern, especially for whoever was in charge of making dinner. 

Can you imagine the food they must have gone through when they were travelling around the countryside?  Everyday twelve men would eat breakfast and then they would eat lunch and pretty soon it was supper time and they would have to eat again.   My father used to tell the story about an incident that happened with his father during the depression, my Grandfather was working down on one of the wharfs on Grand Manan and one of the other men said “It looks like it’s lunch time”  to which my Grand Father replied “It might be lunch time at your house but at our house it’s just twelve o’clock.”   So maybe the apostles didn’t have lunch time they just had noon time.  But even if they skipped lunch it was still 24 meals a day, that had to come from somewhere.  And then there was the clothing issue, “Peter is really rough on his robe, and it’s starting to wear in the back, and if he doesn’t do something soon we are going to be seeing more of Peter than we want to.  And all this walking is wearing out our sandals, does anyone know where we can buy a dozen pair of sandals?  Cheap?”

This entire section is directed at the committed, to people who had already given up a lot to follow Christ and now he is challenging them to take one more step of faith.  Understand they were a lot further down the path then most of us are.  They had already given up more than any one of us has given up.  Now he was telling them to not even worry about the basics about staying alive. 

First Jesus Told them: Do Not Worry!  The word “Worry” is mentioned 34 times in the Bible and in 26 of those instances it is prefaced by the words “Do Not” and another five times we are asked the question “Why worry?”  And I would say that the command to “Not Worry” is a whole lot easier said than done.  How often have you been told “Oh don’t worry about that.”  Or how often has someone asked you “Why are you worrying about that?” 

Those of us who don’t worry much can’t understand those who do worry.  “What good does it do?” we ask.  And those who do worry can’t understand those of us who don’t worry.  “Don’t you care?” they ask.  So I’m not sure that the command “not to worry” is real helpful in itself.  But maybe this will help. (Bob Newhart Video Stop It)

So roughly translated Jesus was saying “Stop it”.  And  I’m not sure that the simple command to not worry by itself is overly helpful, so Jesus goes on to add to the command.

And so Then He Asks Them: Why Worry?  We all know that worry doesn’t accomplish anything, it is different from trying to find a solution.  With worry we don’t say “How can we solve this?” It jumps right to worst case scenario.

Realistically we need to be able to be able to look at what life might have in store for us, but we can’t stop at that point and not move on.  Every decision we make in life might have negative consequences, Jesus himself challenges people to count the cost before they move on, but to move on. 

Trust me when we were in the planning stages of this building there were nights that I woke up in the middle of the night and wondered how were we going to make that $9,000.00 a month mortgage payment, that was more over $2,000.00  than our monthly income, and what would happen if nobody came.  And then I would think: it’s a going to be a great building in a great location, and if worse comes to worse than we will sell it and move on and then I would go back to sleep.  Amelia Earhart said “Of course I realized there was a measure of danger. Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when I first considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn't any good reason to refer to it again.” 

Earhart realized that either she would make it home safe and sound or she wouldn’t and she determined that it wouldn’t be a point of worry.  I’m sure she did everything in her power to increase the odds in her favour, but she knew that worrying wouldn’t change the outcome.

At some point we need to realize that whatever it is in our lives that we are worried about, it will either happen or it won’t, and all of our worry won’t make one iota of a difference. 

 And so Jesus asks his disciples Luke 12:25 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?   60 seconds that’s all, will worry add even 60 seconds to your life?  Of course not.  If anything worry will subtract time from our lives.  In the physical sense health professionals warn us about worry and what it does to our blood pressure, and how it creates ulcers and gives us head-aches and stress. But more than that it robs us of time we could be spending doing other things, productive things.

Of course Jesus wasn’t expecting an answer, it was simply a rhetorical question so he warns them.  Luke 12:26 And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?

In the parable of the sower Jesus talks about good seed that was sown and took root and began to grow but was soon overtaken by the thorns.  And then he told them the meaning of the parable Luke 8:14 The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity.

In his book “Crazy Love” pastor Francis Chan challenges us with this question “Do you see evidence of God’s kingdom in your life Or are you choking it out slowly by spending too much time, energy, money and thought on the things of this world?”

What is it that steals your attention away from God?

It was French playwright Jean Anouilh who said “We poison our lives with fear of burglary and shipwreck, and the house is never burgled, and the ship never goes down.”  And Winston Churchill who said “When I look back on all the worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened.”

Here is a reality check: your wishing won’t make it happen and your worry won’t keep it from happening. 

So what is the opposite of worry?  Trust.  Finally He Challenges Them: Learn to Trust! 

We worry about things when we don’t trust them.  Whatever that level of mistrust is or why we don’t trust.  Worry is a lack of trust.  People worry about flying because they don’t trust airplanes, people worry about being on the water when they don’t trust boats, people will often worry about what their kids are up to because they don’t trust their kids.

And sometimes that is warranted, at some time perhaps we were let down or we know someone who was let or we read about someone who was let down.  But sometimes it is simply us worrying.  What was it the psychologist asked in the video “Have you ever been buried alive in a box? Do you know anyone who has been buried alive in a box?’’

Jesus tells the disciples: “Look around, do the birds worry?  Yet God feeds them.”  Little side note here, the birds don’t worry but the birds do work, God doesn’t just drop the worms in their nest.  “Look at the wild flowers”  Jesus suggests “Even Solomon, the richest king in our history didn’t dress like them” 

If you can imagine the worst case scenario why not flip it and imagine the best thing that could happen.  Be like the guy who fell off the ten story building and when he went by the third floor someone heard him say “So far, so good.”

Jesus was asking the disciples “Has it worked out so far?  Have we starved to death or had to run around naked?”   I mentioned earlier that the word worry was used 34 times in the Old and New Testament, the word trust is used in 134 times. 

The question is this:  Can you trust God?  Can you trust him to provide for you and to allow you to provide for his church?  

Two things to finish with  this morning, it was Mitzi Chandler who said “Worry is as useless as a handle on a snowball.”  I have no idea what that means but it sounds great. 

And the most important thing this morning is the last words of our scripture passage and they are the words of Jesus in Luke 12:32 “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.

Can you believe that today, are you able to trust the one who holds the universe in the palm of his hand?

Be Careful with Your Treasures

For those of you who have been living under a rock or in a cave for the past month or so today is the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  And because of our Halifax connection most of us are familiar with the story of the Titanic and feel a certain link with the tragedy.  And while it is probably the most well-known ship wreck  today it is by no means the largest.  1,523 people lost their lives when the Titanic hit the iceberg and sank 100 years ago and while that is a incredible tragedy it pales in comparison to the 9,500 who lost their lives on the Wilhelm Gustloff when it was sunk by the soviets in January of 1945 or even the loss of 4375 lives when the MV Doña Paz collided with an oil tanker in the Philippines and sank in December of 1987. 

Others contend that the Titanic was the greatest sea tragedy up to the point in history but on February 06 1822 the ocean going junk Tek Sing hit a reef off of Indonesia and went down with all 200 crew members and 1600 passengers. The SS Sultana was a Mississippi River steamboat paddle wheeler that exploded on April 27, 1865 with a loss of over 1600 lives.

Perhaps it is simply the story of the tragedy, the hype that had gone into promoting the ship as the greatest ship to ever sail the ocean and the fact that it happened on her maiden voyage that makes it so memorable. 

 A little Titanic trivia for those who are into that type of thing.  The ship took three years to build and cost 7,500,000.00 which in today’s dollars would be $400,000,000.00  She was at the time the largest ship ever built, The Titanic was 882 feet and 8 inches long (268 meters) and her gross tonnage was over 46,000 tons, which had nothing to do with her weight and instead was a measurement of her overall internal volume. The ship was approximately 11 stories high.  And for 1912 the size of the Titanic was almost unimaginable, but compare her to the Oasis of the Sea today, which is 300 foot longer and her gross tonnage is 225,282 tons.  Which is almost 5 times that of the Titanic.

The statement that the Titanic was unsinkable and “Not even God could sink this ship” appear to be just a myth and there are no records of either of those statements having been made before the tragedy. 

The cause of the Titanic tragedy has been debated for 10 decades but the reality is she was travelling at high speed and hit and iceberg.  Had she been carrying her full complement of lifeboats the death toll would have been far less but executives at White Star felt that the 32 lifeboats recommended made her look too ungainly and used up too much deck space.

For one hundred years there has been speculation about the amount of treasure that was aboard the Titanic when she sank.  There have been rumours of Gold and Jewels and we all know about the “Heart of the Ocean” the blue diamond that was featured in the movie.  Listen carefully, there was no Rose, there was no Jack and there was no blue diamond, it was just a movie.

With the discovery of the wreckage in 1994 and the subsequent exploration there have always been those who have anticipated the discovery of millions of dollars in treasure.  But apparently that wasn’t the reality.  According to the cargo manifests there was no treasure aboard the Titanic, it was a passenger ship and carried minimal cargo and what she did carry was just every day stuff.

This morning I want to tell you about two men who sailed and died on the Titanic that day. 

Now even though the Titanic wasn’t carrying a cargo of gold that is not to say that there weren’t several personal fortunes aboard, the list of first class passengers read like a “Who’s who” of 1912.  Business men, owners of companies, movie actresses and the like.  It was the greatest ship to ever sail the ocean, her owner “The White Star Line”  had made sure the entire world knew what a privilege it would be to sail on the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic.  The first class passengers included some of the most prominent members of the American social elite. 

The list included industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim; Macy's department store owner Isidor Straus and his wife Ida;( a little side note, it is reported that when the crew tried to get Ida to board a life boat she refused to leave her husband’s side saying “I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die, together.” There was George Dennick Wick, the founder and president of Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company; streetcar magnate George Dunton Widener; Pennsylvania Railroad executive John Thayer, Charles Hays who was president of Canada's Grand Trunk Railway and we shouldn’t forget George Wright, a developer from Halifax.

And being in first class wasn’t a bad place to be on the Titanic, The cost of the First Class Parlour Suite in 2012 dollars would be in excess of $83,000.00 while a first class room would cost you the equivalent of $3,000.00 per person about the same price as a balcony room on the Queen Mary 2 would cost you today for the same trip.  But along with the nicer room and better food was the greater chance of survival in first Class.  60% of the first class passengers, including 94 % of the women and children survived compared with 44% of the second class passengers and only 25% of the third class passengers.

It is interesting that the wealthiest men in first class went down with the ship and perhaps that was part of the personality that had allowed them to reach that place in the financial world.

But regardless of how much these men were worth on April 14^th 1912 on April 15^th 1912 all they were they were left holding was who they were and not what they had. 

Let’s go back to the scripture that was read earlier  Matthew 6:19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.” 

Understand that I am in no way making a judgment on the people who died that day on the Titanic other than to say that in their lives and deaths we have an illustration of how fleeting life actually is.   

1) There Was a Man With Earthly Treasures According to all reports the richest man on the Titanic that day was 47 year old John Jacob Astor IV  who was travelling to NY with his second wife 18 year old Madeline.   Divorce and re-marriage were frowned upon in the circles that Astors were part of especially when your second wife is just a year younger than your son.  And so John and Madeline had spent their Honeymoon travelling overseas and were now returning to the US for the birth of their first child.  

John Astor had gotten his money the old fashioned way, he had inherited it, but he turned a small fortune into a large fortune.  He was an inventor and an investor, and on April 14^th it is estimated that John Astor’s personal fortune was in excess of  $150 million.  Now that doesn’t seem like much today but in 2012 dollars it is estimated that it would be worth in excess of $119 billion, that’s serious change. 

But that was April 14^th, on April 15^th John Astor held no more in his hands then did 46 year old George Bailey who was a stoker in the ship’s engine room. 

In vs. 19 Christ warns us about storing up treasures that can be lost.  Now what Jesus was talking about were things that could rust, rot or get ripped off. Today you don’t have to wait that long for things to become worthless, only until the warranty runs out. There is nothing in this life that is invincible, nothing that cannot be worn out, broke or stolen.

Everything we earn, everything we buy everything we collect is susceptible to damage.  And Christ is basically telling us that if if that is where your treasures are then you are doomed to disappointment.  In Christ’s day people associated material blessings with God’s blessings.  Now that’s silly isn’t it, I mean we would never be guilty of that would we? 

In other words if’n you could buy a new chariot every year then people would be convinced that God was rewarding you for something or because of how good or righteous you were. 

Now I don’t believe that Christians ought to be destitute.  You see I believe that we are children of the King, and as such we are not to inherit poverty.  On the other hand I don’t necessarily agree with the Prosperity theology that is swept through the Evangelical Church a few years back.  It been referred to as a cargo cult and that is pretty close to the truth.  I’ve met some devote Holy Spirit anointed Christians who can pray heaven down, but who have really done no more than exist financially over the years.

And I get real concerned when I see Christians getting caught up in the world’s philosophy that more is better.

Think about it how often do we buy toys just to have toys? My daddy used to warn me about, “Spend money you ain’t got to buy things you don’t need to impress people you don’t like.” Think about it, you may be able to buy it but you can’t keep it.

Now if that’s bad enough may I remind you that even if you do keep it, if it doesn’t rot, rust or get ripped off, even if it don’t die the day after the warranty runs out, friends listen up because this is important, friends some day you gonna die and they’re gonna put you in a hole in the ground and throw dirt in your face, and then your kids are gonna go back to the house and fight over everything you left behind.

Because as Job said, Job 1:21 He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave.”  Billy Graham said something very similar when he said, “There won’t be a u-haul following your hearse.”  And Edmund Burke said, “everything you own will at the end of your life belong to somebody else.” friends you can’t keep what you have, the only thing that will be yours for eternity is what you are.

Or as Colonel Sanders the founder of KFC said “There's no good reason to be the richest man in the cemetery.”  

The things of this earth aren’t the treasures you are supposed to be concerned about; they are not the best investments.  You may not lose your shirt but there is a pretty good chance that you might lose your soul.

In Luke 12 Jesus tells a story about a man very much like John Astor, a man who had accumulated so much he had no idea how to spend it and Jesus finishes his story with these words  Luke 12:20 But God said to him, “You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?” Don’t you just hate it when he says stuff like that? 

In John Astor’s case the answer was most of his fortune went to his son Vincent.  To his wife Madeleine, he left the use of a 5 million dollar trust fund and an annual paycheck of $500,000, as well as use of his New York mansion and his Newport mansion and all of its furnishings, the pick of whichever luxury limo she wanted from his collection and 5 of his prized horses - as long as she did not remarry.  

It’s real easy though to come to depend on our financial resources instead of our spiritual resources, to trust in our money more then our God.  But if what we possess in this life is earthly treasure and doesn’t last then what is the secret?  How do we obtain that heavenly treasure? 

Jesus goes on to tell us in Matthew 6:20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

Let’s get on with the story.

2) There Was a Man With Heavenly Treasures   There was another John sailing on the Titanic on her maiden voyage. His name was John Harper and he wasn’t travelling first class he was travelling second class, his ticket would have cost the $60.00 or about $690.00 in today’s money. 

John Harper was the Rev. John Harper originally from Scotland.  Harper was a 39 year old widower travelling with his six-year-old daughter, Anna and his niece Jessie W. Leitch.  The reason they were making the trip?  John Harper was the pastor of Walworth Road Baptist Church in London and he had been invited to Chicago to preach for several weeks at the Moody Church. 

So why do we remember John Harper?  If you Google his name you get hundreds of hits, ranging from today’s Wikipedia references to Newspaper accounts from a hundred years ago.  So what made him different.  The accounts tell us that he made sure that his daughter and niece were safely aboard a life boat, but that was done by scores of men, many didn’t have a choice, the rules very much were “Women and children first.”

Various accounts tell us that it was John Harper who convinced the band to play “Nearer my God to Thee.”  We are told that Harper was heard to rally people toward the life boats shouting “Women, children and the unsaved into the lifeboats!”

And there are accounts from survivors that to the end, even when he was in the ocean that John Harper was presenting people with the claims of Christ and the offer of Salvation, using the words of Acts 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”  We are told that when he asked one man if he was a Christ Follower and the man said no that Harper took off his life belt and gave it to the man saying “You need this more than I do.”

There are even accounts of a man coming forward and claiming to be John Harper’s last convert. 

I truly believe that on April 15, 1912 that John Harper was greeted in heaven with the words “Well done my good and faithful servant.”   

One other interesting bit of Trivia, Harper’s daughter “Anna” died in 1986 at the age of 80.  She died on April 10^th the anniversary of the sailing of the Titanic and was buried five days later on April 15^th. 

And Jesus continued his thoughts in Matthew 6:21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

In the big scheme of things it doesn’t really matter what John Astor did with his treasure or what John Harper did with his treasure.  The question that matters is 3) Where are Your Treasures.  Our as one with wrote  “It’s not what you’d do with a million, if riches should e’r be your lot, but what you are doing at present with the buck and a quarter you got.”

You will never be held accountable for what I have been entrusted with, and I will never be held accountable for what you have been entrusted with.  But whatever it is that we have, there is only room in your life for one #1 priority, and if that isn’t Jesus Christ, then no matter how good and noble that #1 priority is it is the wrong one.

The whole issue is not so much a question of wealth as it is a question of loyalty.  What demands a greater degree of loyalty in your life? And if it’s Christ then there will be times that that need to be demonstrated.

Now then in saying all of that let me say this, one of the places that believers need to invest their heavenly treasure is the local church.  You see throughout the New Testament and throughout history the church has been God’s agency for change in the world.   The very first account of the church of Christ is found in Acts 2:44-45 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.

The early Christians made an investment into that which would change the world and would ultimately affect the eternal destiny for literally Billions of people.  And your investment into Cornerstone Wesleyan Church will have eternal ramifications.  If the church can offer a further reaching ministry through your giving and a thousand people get saved it was a worthy investment, if a hundred people get saved it was a worthy investment, if ten people get saved it was a worthy investment.  As a matter of fact if one person gets saved because of a sacrificial investment made by you wouldn’t  the investment be worth the return? It would be if it was your child or your spouse.

Every area of our church’s ministry cost something, sometimes it’s money and sometimes it is time but every ministry we offer cost somebody something.  And every one of us has to be willing to share the cost.  But not every one of us has to give the same, I believe in the concept of not equal giving but equal sacrifice.  If your giving to the kingdom is going to be worth anything it will need to cost you something.

What is a sacrifice to me may not be anything to you on the other hand it may be way out of your reach, only you and God know what entails a sacrifice for you, right. 

And we are going to need a commitment from everyone in the church if we are going to fulfil our mission. 

The choice my friends lies with each one of you.  You can invest your time and money in things that won’t last, and will at the end of your life belong to somebody else or you can invest them into those things which will last for eternity.

In two weeks each of you will be asked to fill out a commitment card and we will be asking that you prayerfully consider filling it out. 

This is how we arrive at our annual budget at Cornerstone, we don’t just pull a figure out of the air we ask you; what type of church you would like Cornerstone to be? What type of ministries would you like us to offer for the community and for your family.   What type of impact would you like us to have on the world. 

I think we do it well; I don’t try to guilt you into what you should give, or at least not a lot.  And there is a line on the bottom of the card that says if you need to change your commitment through the year you can, just let us know.  I would like to think that this is the most important Sunday in the year because it really does give each one of us the opportunity to say “This is my church”