Friendships: Proverbs 13:20 (Oct. 29. 2006)

Friendships (sermon draft October 29 06), Proverbs 13:20

Big Idea: Friends shape us, support us and sharpen us.

Like many of you, I have some good memories of friendships from childhood.

· Playing road hockey and football on the streets, delivering the Vancouver Sun with my friends (and treating them to a Coke or Fanta as a way to say thank you for helping me), pouring paint over our teacher’s car in grade five and pulling other pranks.

· As an adolescent, I remember my best friend and I would ride our bikes to the home of girls we liked, hung out with (the Johnson sisters) on balmy summer nights… jumping on their trampoline

· As an undergraduate… I remember late study sessions with my roommate, ordering greasy Domino’s pizza and traveling Europe with our backpacks one summer… on the cheap…

Many of us have good memories with friends when we were younger…

Then something happens (or may happen for those who are now students).

· We leave school, begin a career and friendships (at least for many men) become less of a priority.

· Perhaps we get married. We want to be good spouses and friendships become even less important and friendship becomes even less of a priority for many of us.

· And perhaps we have children, and we want to be perfect parents… and again the friendship priority sinks lower….

Career, marriage, raising a family are all important, but if we become so fixated on any or all of these and lose our friends, we lose something deeply valuable (and the irony is we’re not as likely to be effective in our work, marriages, and parenting without friends).

A former pastor and an insightful writer I know named Gordon MacDonald says that “Friendship may be the most important building blocks of the spiritual life.”

According to the book of Proverbs, we can’t become wise without friendships…

Today as we continue our series in the book of Proverbs, we’re going to explore what this book that deals with wisdom and life-competence says about friendship and why it is important…

· One of the reasons why friendship is important is because it shapes our character.

The Proverbs were written in part as a kind of manual for parents, mentors, and teachers to guide their young…

In the early chapters of the book of Proverbs, we see a father instructing his son not to get involved with the wrong kind of friends because he knows that the wrong kind of friends will entice him to easy money or easy sex…

The book of Proverbs teaches that friendships shape our character.

We tend to take on the character qualities of those we associate most closely with…

In Proverbs 22:24 we read:

24 Do not make friends with the hot-tempered,
do not associate with those who are easily angered,
25 Or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.

Friendship shapes our character

We walk with angry people, we can become angry.
We walk with people who are cynical, we’ll become cynical.
We walk with people who gossip, we will become gossips…

Friendship shapes our character.

But the converse is also true… according to Proverbs 13:20 if we walk with the wise we will become wise.

Friendship shapes our character
If we want to be less self-centered, we will walk with those who are loving, giving and with a Christ-like servant’s spirit.
Friendship shapes our character
If we want to become honest, we will walk with people who are honest; if we want to become courageous, we will walk with people who are courageous, if we want to be generous we will walk with people who are generous.
Friendship shapes our character…

Bill Russel the famous basketball player who used to play with the Boston Celtics was doing an interview with a reporter. At one point during the conversation the reporter said, “We’re friends.”

At that point Bill Russell said, “time out. Did you say, we’re friends?

The reporter said, “Ten years ago, I interviewed you and since then from time to time we’ve been in touch.” Bill Russell said, “That doesn’t make us friends. I don’t mean to be cold, we’re friendly to each other, but that doesn’t make us friends.

A friend is someone you interlock and walk in the same direction.

Do you have people in your life that you are interlocking arms with and with whom you are pursing a common destination?

I spent part of this last week in Tennessee with a covenant group of friends that I walk with, “do life” with. We are all leaders in the church or some non-profit organization, and we’re peer mentors to each other, and we also “do life” with each other as friends. We come to shape each other’s professional lives and personal lives. One of the members is Chris Woodhull, a poet and politician and leads an inner city ministry. Chris spoke here in January. We spent time in Chris’ home, at the inner city ministry he leads, and on a farm to catch up with each of our lives.

Our arms are interlocked, we’re moving toward the goal of seeking to grow as leaders and human beings.

At this time I am going to invite Sharon Smith, a member of our community to come and describe a friendship that has shaped her….

(Sharon’s testimony here)
The people we walk with will shape our character.
Some of us will seek with great care a choice of a doctor, dentist, lawyer, and some people will take great care over their choice of fitness instructor… but we can be haphazard with our choice of friends… Some may say isn’t it a little elitist to be selective in our friendships, I think we can be pretty wide open with our “acquaintances” and broad with what we might call our “causal friends,” but when it comes to handful of our closest friends… those who will deeply influence our lives, we do well to exercise great care.

In Proverbs 12:26 The righteous choose their friends carefully…

A friend shapes our character, a friend also offers us support in crisis.

David Bentall in his great book on friendships The Company You Keep asks the question, “Do you have someone whom you can call in a crisis?

The Proverbs says a person of many friends (i.e. acquaintances) may come to ruin, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother or sister.

Proverbs 17:17 a true friend loves at all times.

In Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, the writer describes why a true friend, who will be there for you particularly when things go bad, is so important…
9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If they fall down,
they can help each other up.
But pity those who fall
and have no one to help them up!
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
***Sharon Smith testimony… I’m going to invite Sharon Smith to share how her experience of how her friends have supported her in a challenging season of her life..

(possible quote: James Houston says Friendship built on a mutual sharing of weakness…)

Do you remember when Dr. Larry Crabb spoke here in May? Dr. Crabb is a respected Christian psychologist.

Afterwards at lunch, I said I’ve heard different people cite studies that say if two people have a problem with same degree of intensity and one goes to a psychologist for a year and the other person instead connects regularly with a friend with whom he can share his heart, the person who regularly sees his friend is just as well off if not better off than the person who sees the professional… Is that true?

Dr. Larry Crabb said there have been 1000s of studies done on this… and everyone says that if you can talk to a friend with good character and wisdom, a friend is typically just as helpful long term as a psychologistg if not more so… Larry leaned over and said… but the friend has to be trustworthy in character and wise…

We talked about the fact that if that’s true, why would anyone pay to see a psychologist?

At least 3 reasons…

1) If part of your problem has some bio-chemical cause and you need medicine, a professional like a psychiatrist can prescribe medicine or refer you to someone who can.

2) Professionals are bound by professional ethical codes they need to honor and maintain to keep their designation, so they are less likely to abuse you…

3) a lot of people don’t even have one truly trustworthy and wise friend that could share their problem on a regular basis and do life with… or they don’t have a friend that is able to create that kind of space… if you share some problem instead of listening, the counter… oh you think that’s bad… let me tell you about my Uncle Dave…

I totally affirm the place of the professionally trained counselors. Here at Tenth, we refer people regularly to professional counselors and we help to subsidize the cost for many who can’t afford to pay the full fee.

But, what I am saying is that a trustworthy, wise friend is in many says just as helpful and sometimes more helpful than seeing a professional.

Friends shape us, they support us and they sharpen us.

· Friends sharpen us…

Proverbs 27:5-6
5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
but an enemy multiplies kisses..

Proverbs 27:17

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another…

Quite a long time ago, back when I was a student, I had a brief, but intense summer fling with someone I fell hard for and I felt for a variety of reasons knew that it was wrong to engage in this romance… and later in the summer I remember talking to people about this and about how disappointed I was in myself for participating in this fling… One set of friends, great people, but who didn’t share my Christian values… said I hate you, I’m jealous of you! Don’t you know how many people wish they just once could have a summer fling like you just had? But in contrast my Christian accountability friends, were like… I think you made a wrong choice, I’m disappointed in you (which cut me), but I love you…I’m here for you… if you ever feel like you’re falling into the wrong relationship, I want you to promise me you’ll talk to me about it, phone before anything happens…

Some time after this situation… before I was married and living in a different city… a woman asked to see me at my house for dinner (which she offered to bring)… For a variety of reasons I didn’t feel comfortable with her coming alone, so I said, ok but come with our mutual friend _________ in the end the mutual friend wasn’t able to come… I guess I was a bit tense over dinner…and so she said, “I am not going to come over and bite you…” Later that night she indirectly asked if I would consider breaking up with the woman I was dating at the time… and date her instead… then some time later she said… it’s getting late, can I stay here the night? At that point I said, “I need to make a phone call… I called a close Christian friend… explained the situation…and this person said, tell her to go home. So, I walked over and said, “Go home.”

Do you have a friend you can call if you’re tempted?

Do you have someone you can dial? I know someone who has his accountability friends on speed dial. Even if you can’t get hold of them. having one or two or three you can call and knowing they will hold you to account… has a way of diminishing the temptation.

Do you have someone in your life, a friend who you respect, trust, who will hold what you say in confidence, caring, but strong enough to hold you to account…? Someone who will comfort you when you are hurting, but in a redemptive way hurt you when you are too comfortable?

Do you have a friend or two you can and would call if you are in middle of temptation?

Do you have a friend or two whom can confess your sins to if you did fall?

I really believe in the power of confession to a trusted brother or sister.

When I feel like I have crossed some line, I confess that to a trusted friend. There’s something about confessing that can break the power of sin… something healthy about being open, “coming clean” with a trusted friend.

It can be embarrassing to confess my sins to someone, but I often think about what my classmate in the Arrow Leadership program Waxer Tipton said, “The reason why young leaders are falling is because we care more about our reputation than our character. If we care about our character more than our reputation we’ll pursue accountability friendships and confess our sins.”

Do you have any friends like this? Part of process is to ask… sometime we’re like kids at a jr. high dance, two people want to dance, we’re just afraid to ask. You got to ask.

We’ve been talking about how friends can shape us, support, and sharpen us… so how do we get these kinds of friends?

The paradox is that if we try too hard to get these kinds of friends, we won’t get them. It’s like trying too hard to fall asleep, or trying too hard to be happy… if we try too hard to get friends we won’t have friends.

The best way to get friends is to seek to be a friend.

The best way to have friends who shape us, support, and sharpen us is to be a friend of trustworthy character, love, and courage.

But how do we become that way?

At a seminary where I serve as trustee, we sometimes talk about how we want to raise up Pastors and Christian leaders who will know how to foster loving communities. But we also say that the only way they will be able to do that is if they themselves first experience loving community themselves—so let’s try to facilitate their experiencing loving, transparent community here at the school, so they get a taste of it, so they can in turn foster that in other places when they leave.

If we want be a great friend we must experience great friendship.

Where can I find that?

Jesus said in John during his last supper before going to the Cross, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know his master’s business, instead I have called you friends…” He says that night… as I have loved you so love one another.

When you experience deeply the constancy, the trustworthiness, the wisdom, the care, the conviction of Jesus Christ, you’ll be better able to offer that to others.

When we experience the friendship of Jesus Christ… our heart will be filled by more than any other human friendship and so we bbswon’t approach people with that suffocating desperate dependency that can kill a friendship.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not just the abc of the Christian life, it’s the A-Z, including friendships.

Pray…

C.S. Lewis says

“For a Christian, there are no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you for one another.” A friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others…. At this feast it is God who has chosen the guests. It is God, we may dare to hope, who sometimes does, and always should, preside.

(The sermon can be heard on line at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)

Justice and Mercy: Proverbs 19-17 (Oct.15, 2006)

Craig Erickson… leads off with a drama (bring newspaper article)

Big idea: "Justice and Mercy": Those who love the poor, lend to the Lord…

Have you ever heard that faith is a private thing? And that faith shouldn’t be brought into your work life, particularly if you work in education or government...

True Christian faith is personal, but it’s not private in the sense it affects the way we live our “public life,” i.e. our life in our larger world of our relationships, our work and our engagement with the social issues of the day.

God is deeply concerned about how we live our public life, especially as it concerns the poor.

If you have your Bible’s please turn to Proverbs 19:17

Those who are kind to the poor lend to the LORD,
and he will reward them for what they have done.

Proverbs 14:31 31 Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,
but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

Proverbs 29:7 7 The righteous (the morally upright) care about justice for the poor,
but the wicked have no such concern.

The Bible shows us that God identifies very closely with the poor.

The Catholic scholars have coined the term God’s preferential option for the poor.

Our own pastor Julie Linden, who leads our ministry for the homeless Out of the Cold and our drop in ministry Oasis ministries talks about God’s bias for the poor…

Why do the poor deserve this special attention?

Monika Hellwig says the poor are more aware of the dependence on God, they have no exaggerated sense of their own importance or exaggerated sense of their need for privacy, when they hear the Gospel it sounds like good news and not a like a threat, they poor can respond to the call of the Gospel with a certain abandon because they have little to lose.

Why do the poor deserve this special attention?

Maybe those who are parents with more than one child can relate. If one of your children is in trouble… maybe they’re being bullied, maybe they have an illness, or maybe they’re in financial trouble, or perhaps they’ve made a choice that really hurting them…

There’s a sense in which you love all your children equally, but there is also a sense in which your heart and prayers go out especially to your vulnerable one…

God’s heart goes out in a special way to his children who are poor and oppressed and vulnerable… they need God’s love in very particular way…

In the Holy Scriptures, God calls his people to leave behind sheaves of wheat or grapes for the poor, there’s a constant call to exercise fairness and justice for the poor in court (then as now, if you were poor you’re always in place of disadvantage in court), to care for the vulnerable: for the orphan, the widow, the immigrant, the single mother.

God so identifies with the poor and disadvantaged that he says when you love the poor you deepen your love relationship with me and when you hurt the poor, your hurt your relationship with me.

In Proverbs 21:3 God says those who shut their ears to the cry of the poor will cry out and not be answered… In Isaiah 58:9 God says when we loosen the chains of injustice and care for the poor the Lord will hear us…

As read in Proverbs 19:7 Those who love the poor, lend to the Lord…

In Micah 6:8 we read, God hath showed thee, O man, or woman what is good;
and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God…

So how do we live out the call to do justly, love mercy, love the poor and lend to the Lord?

There are many different levels on which this can be lived out.

It can be lived out on a city or national level.

During Britain in the 1700s… there was a great spiritual awakening. People John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield were key players in this spiritual revival where hundred of thousands of people became followers of Christ and a number of them asked how do we take the Gospel and work it out in public life.

They began to look at the African slave trade. For more than 30 years Christians in Great Britain mobilized by people like William Wilberforce did everything they could to work the abolition of slavery and the slave trade not just in England, but in the whole British Empire.

At one point Christians organized petition drive and got ½ of all the voting population of England to sign a petition for the abolition of the slave trade.

But wealthy classes were against this. It was going to be a huge economic loss for them, if they did not want slavery to end.

The planters in colonies were warned freeing the slaves would cost investors in Britain huge financial losses, which in turn would hurt everyone in England because the price of sugar and other foodstuff would shoot up if had to be produced by laborer you have to pay. These arguments swayed wealthy government leaders who stood to lose more than anyone else and whose agreement was necessary for the legislation to pass.

To get the wealthy members of the government to “buy into” this legislation, the abolitionists in the House of Commons accepted a provision in the emancipation act that compensated the planters for their financial losses right out of the British treasury which equaled one half of the British annual budget. The abolition act passed in 1833, providing the way slavery to cease within all British colonies. The direct cost to individual British citizens was huge--lost taxes from planters, new taxes for naval operations against slave ships and much higher cost of living as the cost of sugar and other food stuff did rose sharply.

The costs of emancipation were so high that historians Seymour Dresher called the British abolition of slavery voluntary “econocide.” because the British people were willing to let their economy tank for a generation or two to rid themselves of the slave trade.

Those Scholars who believe that all political activity is motivated by self-interest, have been scratching their head trying figure out why the British people were willing to sacrifice their financial well being to end slavery… because from all appearances people who stood against slavery--didn’t appear to stand to gain anything for themselves…

According to Proverbs and the Scripture part of what it means to be a follower of God, wise and upright is a willingness to sacrifice our personal interests to serve the poor and oppressed. The wicked on the other will sacrifice the interests of the poor to advance their self-interest.

Those who love the poor, lend to the Lord…

What might it look like in a church to love the poor and lend to the Lord?

When I first came to Tenth Avenue Church, I had been told that’s “hey-dey” had been back in the 1950 and 60s and that in the not so distant past the church had cycled through 20 pastors (including associates) in 20 years.

As a new minister here, I read through all the board minutes from all the board meetings where minutes had been taken as far back as I could go (dug up from the church archives by Ruth Gilewich) and any church document that could give a sense of where we had come from.

I quickly came to the conclusion that my predecessors had been more experienced, more talented, and were far more than accomplished than me. One had been a VP for our denomination another a president of one of our colleges...

I thought if we were going to go forward—given my own limitations as a person—it we would simply need the blessing of God…

One of the ways I thought that we could invoke the blessing of God is if we blessed the poor. If we could bless those who could not repay us—then God would bless us…

Now when people ask how was that Tenth has “come back,” I find myself saying it’s simply the grace of God… it’s also about prayers and investment of the many faithful people who preceded me and it’s a bout this community communities committment…to reaching to poor lead people my colleagues, Don, Linda, Julie… so many of you…

When City Hall said we’re doing too much ministry for the homeless, and said you’re now acting more like a social services agency and you need a permit, on the one hand it’s been a pain to go through a arduous an application process, on the other hand it’s been a kind of unintended compliment that we’re on the right track.

Those who love the poor, lend to the Lord…

What does it look like do justice, to love the poor, lend to the Lord?
This past Friday, I was delighted to learn that a Bangladeshi economist and the bank he founded won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for pioneering the use of microcredit, the extension of small loans to benefit poor entrepreneurs.
Many banks as we know banks redline poor and community neighborhoods, refusing to make loans regardless of the actual level of risk they face.
Grameen Bank has been instrumental in helping millions of poor Bangladeshis, many of them women, improve their standard of living by letting them borrow tiny sums to start businesses.
Loans go toward buying items such as cows to start a dairy, chickens for an egg business, or cell phones to start businesses where villagers who have no access to phones.
A little closer to home, I recently came across Christian a man who owned a car dealership, through a self-study discovered that men were getting better deals than women, and Caucasian males, were getting the best deals on cars and minority women were the worst deals. They realized, minority women, many of whom were lower income, were in effect subsidizing the car purchase of the Caucasians males, because they were paying more than the market value of the cars and therefore males could less than the market value.

This Christian man appealing to consciences of the people management working at the dealership that we need to stop this and just the fix a fair market prices on our cars because it’s not fair to the minority women. The man said I am Christian, I believe we have to be willing to sacrifice some financial profit in order to fulfill justice. The workers, even those who were not Christians agreed.

They found when they implemented this practice of a fixed price for everyone their profits dropped by 10% as Caucasian males tended shopped elsewhere…

The employees talked about this profit loss and the issue came up as to whether to stop this new practice of fixing pricing and go to the old system since the new system was hurting their bottom line… The employees agreed that what they were doing was right.

They began to use implement “best practices” in terms of business, seeking to become more effective and efficient and after some months of best practices they were able to reduce their profit loss to 5% relative to before they had the policy, but as far I know they didn’t completely close the gap. But employees are proud to be part of the company and they realize are pressing value back into the community as people save money.

Just because we follow God’s way doesn’t always mean we become richer. Sometimes, we ending actually losing money following God.

The person wise, righteous person is willing to sacrifice personal profit for the sake of the common good, the wicked fool is willing to sacrifice the common good for the sake of personal gain.

If you own an apartment building that houses lower income people and you have an opportunity to renovate the apartment so you can re-rent it at higher or rent or sell the property for a huge profit to developer who will build luxury condos, but the people who were renting the apartment can no longer afford to live there… if you’re a Christian you remind yourself that a true follower of Jesus is willing to sacrifice personal profit, if it means you an opportunity to serve the common good…

Those who love the poor, lend to the Lord.

We’ve seen how justice can be played out in nation or business, now let me apply this to our personal lives.

What does it mean to love the poor and lend to the Lord in our consumer life?

Part of what it means is that we allow our conscience to inform what we buy.

Then this week, as I prepared for this message, I came across information on abuses that have occurred in Nike factories in Indonesia, China, and Vietnam, including reports of torture and rape…The New York Times has run a front page article Nike’s corporate abuses.

These reports of abuses is why film maker, Michael Moore in the documentary film The Big One approaches the founder and then ceo of Nike Phil Knight and bashfully presents him with first-class two airplane tickets to Indonesia.
"Let's go," said Moore, smiling.
Knight starts laughing and no, not a chance. Have you ever been to see your factories in Indonesia? Knight says, “No and I am not going to.”
Moore asks does bother you if 12-year-olds girls are working in your factories? Knight says, They're not 12... Knight says… there 14. Moore says, well, how about 14 then, doesn't that bother you? Knight says, No.
According to author Shane Clairborne, workers make $1.50 for making Nike shoes that cost over $100—and according to Clairborne the workers make ½ of what it costs to live. And people like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods earn more money earn more money wearing shoes for ads than all the workers combined earn for making the shoes.

I love sports and I have bought my fair share of Nike… even when I’ve heard rumors about their corporate practices… I’ve bought Nike I’m guilty here… I need to change…

I know things are always black and white, most of life is grey, but corporate should inform our consumer choices.

This past week I read an article in the Washington Post, about Coca Cola (and some of you, are like I should have gone to the Baptist church today) and allegations of abuses at the bottling plant in Columbia, South America. Coca-Cola apparently allowed notoriously violent paramilitary groups to use violent intimidation and even murder, of Coca-Cola's bottling workers who were interested in unionizing.

Yes, it’s true, I know if we looked hard enough we could probably find dirt on all most if not all Fortune 500 companies, and to have in the world and buythings.

But we hear about corporations that are guilty of serious, repeat abuses (and I’ve listed some corporate watch dog sites in the recommended resource list) and if we want to be people, who do justly and love mercy, people who love the poor and lend to the Lord it ought o inform our choices.

More positively, if want to love the poor and lend to the Lord when a company engages in fair-trade or support movements to make poverty history that should inform our consumer choices…

In our personal life we can also reach out to disadvantaged people. . Sociologists tell us people, often subconsciously, we tend to try to form friendship with people at our social class or above us that should not be true of true Christians… love of all grounds… whether above, parallel, or below us socio-economically, whether they advantage us or not…

And something some small as a conversation can make a big difference the life of a person:

I’m going into invite Lutz from our oasis ministry… to speak now..

(Testimonies from

Lutz…

I’m going to invite Keven Stephens…

Keven Stephens)

Those who love the poor, lend to the LORD.

Shane Claiborne, a young man who is part of the Simple Way community… describes heading for a loaf of bread with Michelle a colleague and one of the founders of the Simple Way Community…

He walked past an alley known for sex trade and drug dealing… and they saw a woman tattered and cold and on crutches. She approached Shane asking if he wanted her services. Shane and Michelle scurried to get their bread and when they got home they noticed the bag had a large gash in the side and the bread had gone bad. They would have to go back…. They walked passed the alley again…. They saw the woman crying and shrivering…. They got their bread and this time they couldn’t just pass her by.

Shane and Michelled stopped and we have home a kind of safe place and you can get warm and have a cup of coffee and a snack… so she stumbled onto her crutches and came home with them…

As soon as they entered the house, the woman started to weep hysterically. Michelle held her as she wept. When had gained her composure she said “You are all Christians, aren’t you?” Michelle and Shane looked at each other startled. They had said nothing of God or Jesus… there house had no cross, not sign of the fish, no plaque that said Jesus saves.

She said I know you are Christians because you shine. I used to be in love with Jesus like that, and when I was I shined like diamonds in the sky, like the stars. But, it’s a cold, dark world and I lost my shine a while back on those streets… and she us them to pray with her that she might shine again.

Weeks went by and they didn’t see her…. Then one day there was this lovely lady at the door with a contagious ear to ear smile…. Shane I meet a lot of people, so he trying to fake recognize her… she said, “Don’t try to fake that you remember me.” She went to explain that she had fallen in love with Jesus again…and she said, she lost everything on the streets but wanted to give something back to the community and all was this Marlboro miles points you could redeem for things in the Marlboro catalogue and she gave Shane a box stuffed with them…

Francis Schaeffer said the mark of Christian is not a cross or a fish, but love.

Jesus said by this all people will know that you are my followers if love each other.

We are not called to be known for being a “conservative” or “liberal” we called to be known by love… We called to known as people who love and add value to our people, our company, our city, our world.

Jesus gave us a sneak preview of the final exam in Matthew 25and he said in effect this how you’ll know that you really knew me come judgment day: if you have fed the poor, clothed the naked, reached out the stranger, visited the sick and those in prison…. When you did for the least of my brothers and sister you did for me…

Some will say, but Jesus when did we ever see you ever poor, hungry, thirsty…? He’ll say when you did for the least of these my brothers and sisters you did it for me.

We know from Mary’s offering of two pigeons at the temple shortly after Jesus’ birth that she and Joseph couldn’t afford to offer a lamb and that they came from a family at the bottom of economic rung, we know that for some of his life Jesus was what we call would call homeless, we know that he spent his last meal in rented room, and that he was in buried in borrowed grave…

But when was Jesus naked, hungry, and thirsty, as my teacher Tim Keller points out, on the cross… Jesus was naked, hungry and thirsty and he therefore identifies with naked, hungry, and thirsty…and oppressed and when we serve these people it’s as though we are serving God.

Mother Teresa says Jesus comes to us the distressing disguise of the poor.

When we love the poor, we love the Lord.

How do we become that way?

By centering our life on Jesus, the one who gave himself for on the cross to die for our sins when we spiritually bankrupt and had nothing to offer him so that through his death we must be made be reconciled to God…

Elaine Scarry who teaches at English at Harvard in her book Beauty and Being Just says that beauty has the power to bring us out of ourselves. If we look at a beautiful piece of art, some in literature, or in nature, it has the power to bring us out of ourselves in a way helps move toward others and work toward justice.

When we make Jesus Christ the center of our lives, we a free from our self-absorption, and come out of ourselves and become the kind of people who loved Jesus he loved… . we become people who love poor, in so doing, and love the Lord.

Prayer of Saint Francis…

Announcement re:

Mission course…

Jamie MacIntosh… International Justice Ministry.


Benediction: Live by faith, be known by love, be a voice of hope

(The sermon can be heard on line at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)

Money: Idol or Icon: Prov.30:7-9 (Oct.8,2006)

Money: idol or Icon October 8, 2006

Text: Proverbs 30:7-9

Homiletical idea: Will money be our “god” or will money our lead us to God?

Earlier this yebar I was in San Francisco, and I pulled into a gas station downtown.
I filled my tank and went inside the convenience store to the to pay for my gas.

The attendant asked me if I wanted to buy a lottery ticket. I said, “If you can guarantee me I’ll buy the winning ticket, I’ll buy one.” He said, that’s a good one…

The chances of winning a lottery are 7 million to one--which means you’re more likely to get by hit by lightening than win the lottery…

A lot of people think that coming into a lot of money will solve their problems, but psychologists tells us that people tend to have more psychological problems after winning the lottery that before. People think if they end up winning the lottery their financial problems are going to be history, but 1/3 who of people who win the lottery end up declaring bankruptcy.

We tend to think that money is a kind of cure all, and money can obviously bring significant benefits to our lives, but money can also complicate our lives and so we need wisdom with money.

The book of Proverbs, is a book full of wisdom, and speaks to the issue of money.

If you have your Bibles please turn to Proverbs 30.

In Proverbs 30 we have the writings of man named Agur, a man who is likely not a Jewish person by ethnicity, but he’s been converted to follow the living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and he a courtly leader, and he’s facing death…

Proverbs 30
7 "Two things I ask of you, LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
9 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 apparently he’s facing death.
7 "Two things I ask of you, LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
As a person approaches death and begins to “number their days,” they often experience greater clarity. They often have a much keener sense of what’s vain and what’s really important. As Agur faces death, he experiences this heightened clarity…
He prays that God would give him neither riches nor poverty…

As we said, the Proverbs don’t typically offer absolute, universally applicable rules. They offer wisdom that applies to most of life’s situations.

When Augur prays for neither poverty or riches, he’s for praying something that generally speaking we ought to desire.

But, some people actually do pray for and voluntarily choose poverty.

And some people are called to pray for great wealth to enable them to better serve others.

Francesco and a woman named Clare both came from wealthy Italian families, but when they gave their lives to Christ as young people they renounced all of their worldly wealth and chose a life of poverty. History knows them as Francis of Assissi and Clare of Assissi.

Monks make vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Some feel called by God to calling that includes poverty.

But most of will not pray for poverty.

So, for most of us it’s appropriate to pray with Agur, Lord give me not poverty….

And for most it’s also appropriate to pray--though it’s counter-cultural--give me not riches (or at least to have this heart’s desire).

Not that riches per se is bad.

A certain level wealth people us to do things that they otherwise could not do—if you have no money or alternate funding source you’re not going to be able to able to go to school beyond a certain point and wealth enables you connect with more loved near and far and puts you in position to help others finacially.

The proverbs (10:4) affirm that wealth can be the fruit of our diligence

The proverbs also affirm (Proverbs 10:22) that wealth can be a blessing from God.

So, why is then appropriate generally speaking to follow Agur and to not pray for riches?

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux the 12 century reformer said, “To see a man humble under prosperity is the greatest rarity.”

Wealth can lead to pride, a kind of over-confidence that distances us from God.

Thomas Carlyle said for every 100 people who can handle adversity, I can find you one who can handle riches.

Augur prays “God give me neither poverty or riches…”

In vs. 9 Augur give his reasonsf or his prayer… “He says God don’t give me poverty as I may be tempted to steal and to dishonor your name….”

Jean Valjean the lead character in Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserables is impoverished as is his sister and her children. The children are crying out for bread and Jean Valjean though an admirable man of typically great integrity ends up walking past a bakery after hours, sees a loaf of bread and punches a whole through the glass to steal the bread. He’s arrested and imprisoned…

There are unique anxieties, pressures, and temptations one faces when one is in poverty…

So, generally speaking it is wise to pray that we avoid poverty.

But, Agur also prays this counter-cultural prayer that he will not fall into great riches.

He also gives his reasons.

Vs. 9 Otherwise… I may have too much and disown you…

Agur is concerned that if he has too much wealth, his money will become his security, his real god, and as a result he will disown the living God.

Jesus warned us against putting our security in money.

Jesus taught us that money can easily take the place of God in our lives.

He warned us that we cannot serve both God and money because both will demand our absolute allegiance…

Jesus warned about the subtle, powerful pull money has over us. If you’re committing adultery, it’s not like as you’re making love someone you say part way through--oh… you’re not my wife…. But, the greed god is very subtle, it creeps us on very gradually… this is why Jesus says in Luke 12:15 watch out for all kinds of greed…

Nearly half of Jesus’ parables concern money and there are more 4x as many verses in the New Testament on money that on prayer.

I’ve been talking rather abstractly about how money become a god, so let’s be more specific.

So how can money act like a god?

The “money god” like the living God has the power to re-shape our values and character.

In Proverbs 11:1 we read that the Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight. Money power to makes us compromise our soul.

I remember being in Boston one night a few years ago and it’s late between 11 p.m. and 12 p.m. I’m in the car with some other people… I go through a toll which I believe was $5 dollars, and I reached into my travel pouch and pulled out a bill and handed it to the man in the toll both… the man’s eyes brightened, a subtle smile creep up the sides of his face, I sensed (and I know this sounds judgment) this air of evil… I thought nothing of it…. until… later when I checked my travel pouch and realized I had given a $50... in the dark instead of five…

And what troubled was not so much losing $45 US dollars, but that person willing to compromise his soul for $45 (I gave him $50 instead of $50, but presumably $5 in the till to balance the stash).

As we now from high profile government, corporate, church and much lower profile failures of integrity, people will allow money to re-shape their values and character….

A second way in which “money god” tries to mirror the living God is that it promises to provide us with security…

The Proverbs 18:11 tell us that wealth of rich is their fortified city .

It’s their place of security. A lot of us at a subconscious level put our security in our money.

If we have money in the bank, investments… we feel this sense of safety.

Many Christian people hesitate to tithe (responding to God’s call to give the first tenth of their income to the work of God) or to give money generously to people in need, not necessarily because they are so greedy, but because they believe that there money is their security.

So, how else can money be like God?

Like the living God, money tries to offer us a sense of significance… Most of us are not as ambitious as Bill Gates or Jim Pattison, but a lot of us feel significant (or would feel significant) if we can our can eat at certain restaurants, have a certain style, be able to pursue certain recreational pursuits… it’s very subtle but we get a sense of significance from our ability to do this or that with money…

Like, God, the money god seems to promise joy and happiness…

That’s part of the reason why, as I alluded to earlier, the lottery is so popular…

But what does the money god deliver…? Well let’s go down the list? Does it shape our values and character yes. Yes, but in the way we like?

My seminary professor Haddon Robinson says that for every verse in the Bible that tells us the benefits of wealth (and there are some as we’ve said), there are ten verses that tell us, the danger of wealth, for money has a way of binding us to what is physical and temporal (prop rope), and blinding (prop) us to what is spiritual and eternal.

Does money offer security? Real security?

My wife, a former journalist in Japan, observes that in Japan a country has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world says if you grow up without much money, it’s not going to hurt you (you might not have all the advantages), but if you grow up in a family lots of money… there’s a much greater chance of family dysfunction…

Money cannot save us from tragedy, relationship pain, and heart ache.

Does money bring a sense of significance and happiness?

Brad Pitt in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine says:

Hey, man, I don't have those answers yet. The emphasis now is on success and personal gain. I'm sitting in it, and I'm telling you, that's not it. I'm the guy who's got everything. I know. But I'm telling you, once you've got everything, then you're just left with yourself. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it doesn't help you sleep any better, and you don't wake up any better because of it.


Chuck Colson who works with both poor in prison and mixes with the wealthy and powerful says that it’s better to be than poor than rich, because the poor still think money will bring them happiness, but the rich know better.

If money has the power become a god in our life, but will not “deliver” what do we do?

One of the things that Agur prays for in vs. 8 before he dies is that he would be free of falsehood and lies. He is saying he wants to be a person of truthfulness and integrity…

Part of the way we avoid the fate of making money our “god” is to always act with complete financial integrity…

My professor Haddon Robinson grew up in Harlem New York. He grew up in a family that didn’t have much money… one time when he was boy, he and his dad were going to ride the subway and the person collecting the money at booth wasn’t there and Haddon as a boy we don’t to have pay! And his dad pulled his wallet to put money in slot… Haddon’s dad who had no theological training, said that just would be right.

Psalm 115 says if we follow the way of the idol, we will become like the idol… if bow down to money we’ll become spiritually deaf, dumb, and life-less like money… if we follow of the living God we’ll become like God.

On Wednesday I was in Boston to attend the board of trustees’ meeting for a seminary. When the cab driver dropped me off at the hotel, he said I’ll give you two blank receipts to fill in (expecting I could fill them both out and claim bogus expenses so I could be doubly re-imbursed!).

The Proverbs would say if you want to be free of money as your god, never, ever falsify your expense sheet.

If you want you don’t want money to be your god, never list time sheet more hours then you actually…

If you want you don’t want money to be y our god, if you business leader, never let you’re the bottom line become the bottom line.
Bill Lear was devastated when he learned that two Lear aircraft had crashed under mysterious circumstances. He'd developed the plane to offer business travelers a fast, economical alternative to the airlines. At that time, 55 Lear jets were privately owned. Bill sent word to all the owners to ground their planes until he and his team could determine what had caused the crashes.
To Bill, a Christian, risking the loss of more lives meant far more than the adverse publicity that grounding all Lear jets might generate in the media. He protected his customers.
As he researched the two ill-fated flights, a possible technical problem emerged. Bill experimented with his own plane to recreate the same problem. He nearly lost control of the jet in the process, but found that a defect in the plane's mechanism did exist. All 55 planes were fitted with a new part, eliminating the danger.
Bill spent two years rebuilding the business.
According the Proverbs the wise person is willing to forgo profit to serve the common good, the wicked forgo the common good for the sake of profit.

Let your Christian influence shape how you work with money from M-F 9-5 and in every other hour of your life…

If you want you don’t want money to be y our god, honor the real God with your wealth by living a life of integrity, by honoring your financial commitments.

Pay people what you’ve agreed to pay them…whether your suppliers, employees…

Don’t’ spend more than you can pay on your credit card.

If you want you don’t want money to be your god and money to bring you God, to those who would consider yourself followers of Jesus (everyone else relax and eavesdrop if you want), honor with your money.

In Proverbs 3, the Scriptures honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of your crops…vs. 10 then your barns will be filled to over flowing and vats will brim over with new wine.

One of the most powerful ways we can say that God and not money is our God is by honoring God our first fruits, the first tenth of our income, which the Bible calls the tithe… because our tithe is an extension of ourselves, when we offer it, we are saying, we are putting our trust in God not in our out money…
Richard Foster says When we let go of money, we are letting go of part of ourselves and part of our security and putting it in God. It produces an air of expectancy as we anticipate what God will lead us to give. It makes life with God an adventure in the world, and that is worth living for and giving for.
I would encourage faithfully, particularly if you’re in one two situations…

If you’re financially tight…

Someone I know said one of the things I can do to express my gratitude to God is to tithe… sometimes it’s difficult when things are financially tight to tithe, but one of the things I can to express my thanks to God is to honor in this way.

When things are tight, it’s tempting to short-change God, perhaps that’s one of the reasons why Augur prays he wouldn’t fall into poverty.

When I started in ministry, I was making $200 a month (US dollars). I felt I had to tithe more than $20--at least 21 dollars… as way, I of demonstrating to God and me that I was putting my security, in God, not in my money.

Second time I would particularly encourage you to tithe is when you making a lot of money…

When I was 2 years out of undergrad, making the equivalent of a 6 figure salary… People (none of them Christians) were telling me, “You seem to be becoming more materialistic, I stared to think I need to give more… more away….”

For a lot the more they make, the harder it is to tithe… Every giving study suggests that more money people make the less they give as a percentage of their income…
A man who came to Peter Marshall, a pastor and then well known chaplain of the US Senate, with a concern about tithing. He said: "I have a problem. I have been tithing for some time. It wasn't too bad when I was making $20,000 a year. I could afford to give the $2,000. But you see, now I am making $500,000, and there is just no way I can afford to give away $50,000 a year."
Dr. Marshall reflected on this wealthy man's dilemma but gave no advice. He simply said: "Yes, sir. I see that you do have a problem. I think we ought to pray about it. Is that alright?"
The man agreed, so Dr. Marshall bowed his head and prayed with boldness and authority. "Dear Lord, this man has a problem, and I pray that you will help him. Lord, reduce his salary back to the place where he can afford to tithe."
The tithe is technically just a tenth, but the spirit of the tithe to give sacrificially and in faith…for most of us to give 10% of our income is a sacrifice and that’s the point… and if you’re making money such that it’s no longer a sacrifice, in terms your lifestyle, you’ve got to give more than a tenth, give until it hurts in some way… That’s hard, but Jesus said, in parable the features stewarding our Master’s possession, that to whom much is given much will be required…

Be generous with your money to God and to others…

Gerald May says that money can be an idol, but it can also be an icon… something that that reminds of God…. if we use our money to honor God and bless people…

If you don’t want money to be your god and your money to bring you God honor God in your giving and be generous to people.
Someone has said, We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give….
Jesus says in Luke 16 said use your money on earth… to bless others and you will be welcomed in eternity by them.
If you bless financially they carry that memory into the next life…
(illustrate with people right there).
Money itself will not last, but what we do with money will last
How do we become that way people of integrity and generous with what we have?
By looking to Jesus.

According to 1 Corinthians 8, we read that Christ though rich became poor for our sake, so that through his poverty we might become rich…

When we center our lives on Christ and what he did for us by emptying himself of his wealth to become a human being and dying on the cross so that we might become spiritually rich… we can become people who can honor God and bless people with our money…

In the movie Saving Private Ryan… Ryan this grey haired elderly, World War II veteran accompanied by his family, searches for one particular grave, Captain John Miller’s, the captain who led his platoon to rescue private Ryan, laying his life and the lives of some of his men on this rescue mission…. When Ryan is at captain John Miller’s grave, he's overcome with emotion and gratitude and he turns to his family, and says, “Tell me I’ve been a good man, lived a good life…”

When we realize Christ didn’t just say I’ll tithe my blood to you, but gave his life… When this truth sinks deep in our heart and we see all he’s given us, like Ryan we become deeply grateful person, and we will become people who don’t serve money but God and people through our money. Martin Luther said the Gospel is just the ABC of the Christian it’s the A-Z it applies to each area work, money.

When we our lives are centered on Christ and what he did for us, money will not be our god, we’ll lead us to God as we honor him and bless people with it. As we look at Christ, we’ll find we have a reason to live and reason to give.

(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio htm)