CLM 407 Challenged by our Richness (Sermon by a 20-year-old)

Sun, 13 Apr 1997

Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 407 

Challenged by our Richness

[A message from Christine Scott, to Heathmont Baptist Church, on 2nd
March 1997. Christine, a young lady of 20 years, has just returned
from a 3 month "Missions Awareness Tour" with 17 other young people,
during which time they witnessed on the streets of Hong Kong, cared
for orphans in China, worked in a Hong Kong drug rehabilitation centre,
worked with the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, visited various
World Vision and church missionary work in northern India, and worked
in outreach to the prostitutes of Bangkok.]

God is Amazing

God is amazing. He is unpredictable. He is faithful. He is loving. He
is just. He keeps His promises. He answers prayer. He is holy. He is
our friend. He is a God of joy. He is a God of sorrow. He goes before
us, but He is with us every step of the way. He demands respect. He is
patient. He is diverse, yet He is the same yesterday, today and
tomorrow.

To a small or large extent, I experienced every one of these qualities
of God on this trip. I also learnt a lot about myself and about my
life in Australia.

We are Rich

One thing I discovered before going to Asia was that I am rich. We are
`the rich' that the bible speaks about. One thing I learnt from going,
is how rich I really am.

There are many frustrating things about India. But what I hated, is
the way it makes me feel about myself - I feel opulent. I feel rich
and I feel like a foreigner. India doesn't let you forget that you're
different and that you're rich. This is evident in every little thing
you do. From walking down the street, to trying to buy train tickets.
When you're shopping they hike the prices because they count either on
your ignorance or your laziness to just give up, because it's probably
only a matter of A$1 anyway. You have to struggle and fight every time
to be treated like everyone else, because you cannot hide the fact that
you're a foreigner. You can wear their dress and even speak their
language, but they never let you forget that you're different. The
thing I hate most about all this, is the fact that India is right.

I am different, and I am rich.

How else is it that I, a student on Austudy, can sit in an elite
restaurant across the other side of the world, order a coffee and
still pay less than I would at Eastland (local shopping mall). How is
that possible if I'm not rich?

On the way home from the Missionaries of Charity one-day, Jannah and
I, too lazy to walk, decided to take a man-pulled rickshaw `for the
experience'. It was the first and last rickshaw we'll ever take. How
opulent did it make us feel to be sitting up there as an old, thin,
barefoot man pulled us through the pot-holed streets of Calcutta?

We Have Responsibilities

We are people of wealth, we have choice, we have opportunity and we
have influence. If we write a letter to our politicians, it will be
read. We not only can do this, but we should. It is our responsibility
to speak up for those who cannot speak for them-selves.

    Proverbs 31:8-9 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for
    themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and
    judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."

    Psalm 82:3-4 "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
    maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and
    needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

Why don't we do this? I believe that one reason is because in
Australia, the weak and needy, the poor and oppressed are a much more
hidden part of our society. And they're easy to ignore. India is a very
confronting place. It's an `in your face' society. We have the same
problems here as they do there. We have homeless; we have the poor. But
in India, it's `in your face'. It's hard to ignore the homeless when
they are scattered on every street, every night. It's hard to ignore
the hungry as they watch with longing eyes through the restaurant
window at you as you eat.

It's hard to ignore the poor when they come to your taxi window and
plead for money for milk for their baby.

It's hard to ignore the crippled when they pull themselves along a
train carriage floor, in hope of a coin or a piece of fruit.

You see, India is just hard to ignore.

Christ's Concerns Must Be My Concerns

That's why I needed to go. I needed to make issues like these, all the
things Jesus was concerned about, real. I needed to see them for
myself; I needed to experience them. I needed them shoved in my face.
We all need to make these issues real somehow. If you believe in Jesus
and are committed to becoming more like Him, then these issues should
concern you.

    Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me,
    will do what I have been doing." (John 14:12)

It doesn't take much reading to find out what Jesus spent time doing.
He spent His time on behalf of the poor, the sick and the lost. If we
honestly seek after God, the things that concern Him will concern us
also.

    Psalm 140:12 "I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor
    and upholds the cause of the needy."

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

"What you do for the least, you do for Me!"

Jesus was so adamant that we care for each other, that He attributed
whatever we do for someone else, as being done for Himself.

    "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of
    these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40)

I remember my first day working at Missionaries of Charity. To get
there was about a 45-minute walk through the streets of Calcutta.
Everything happens on the streets. From people bathing, to selling, to
begging, to living. It's amazing to see your compassion grow. The more
I walked, the more I saw, the more I needed to do something. By the
time I got to Prem Dan, the house for destitute, ill and mentally
handicapped men and women, I was willing to do anything. To wash
clothes, to clean floors, I would even cut toenails. My compassion had
become a compulsion to serve. This is what happens when you ask Jesus
for His heart. He gives it to you in ways you never dreamed.

Serving Cheerfully

It wasn't always like this. The tasks we did were monotonous, tedious
and boring. I remember gritting my teeth as I was wringing out
hundreds of sheets, The verse kept running through my head, "God loves
a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7)

I was also surprised to discover how much appreciation we think we
deserve. I longed to do a task that `counted". In the washing process,
the clothes are rinsed in water, then wrung, then washed in soapy
water, then wrung, then beaten and rinsed and wrung again, and
eventually hung out to dry. Each day I would be part of that cycle
somewhere and meanwhile just yearning to do something that wouldn't be
repeated.

But I have no right to demand to do something that counts, and no
right to be appreciated for doing a thankless task. I think some of
the people who know best what it's like to be unappreciated are
parents. I 'unappreciate' my parents every day.

Motives - Desire and Duty

I spent an embarrassingly few days working at Prem Dan, but in those
four days I learnt so much. Most of the volunteers that work there
aren't Christians. It's a Christian organisation, so their motives are
God-inspired. But most of the volunteers aren't. They're people who
have seen a need and decided to do something about it.

I heard some people say that it's a shame they let people that aren't
Christians to work there. I thought, "No way". The fact that most
people who volunteer aren't Christians says more about the apathy of
Christians than it does about anything else. It is a Christian's duty
to do good.

    "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good
    works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10)

Most of the volunteers volunteer not because they ought to, but
because they want to. They have chosen to do it, and this puts me to
shame.

Being There

Part of my tasks at Prem Dan were to spend time with women. Listen to
them, hold them, be there for them.

I felt so hopeless. We want to go in and change things and see results
of our labours. But you can't. There are no visible results. We're not
meant to change anything; we're just meant to be there. Because I'm
not used to this kind of thing, it felt like I was doing nothing. But
my presence didn't mean 'nothing' to these women, and it didn't mean
'nothing' to God. As you enter Prem Dan, there's a path that leads to
a courtyard just in front of the buildings. At the end of this path,
there is a statue of Jesus; underneath are written the words, "You did
it to me". Every morning I read those words and was encouraged that
just being there was something.

Again and again in the Bible, if concern is shown for those in need,
God regards this as kindness shown to Himself. This is how deeply He
cares for the poor, to say that whatever you do for them, you do for
Him.

    Proverbs 19:17 "He who is kind to the poor, lends to the Lord".

    Proverbs 14:31 "Whoever is kind to the needy, honours God".

But it doesn't stop there. Not only should we care about the poor
because God does, it is also our responsibility to look after them.

If we Ignore Them, God will Ignore Us

God doesn't just reward good and punish evil, He punishes idleness.

    Proverbs 21:13 "If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he
    too will cry out and not be answered".

Shutting our ears to the poor is not actively oppressing them; it's
ignoring them. I don't believe we actively oppress the poor, but we do
ignore them. And this should cause us to be afraid, because if we
ignore the poor, God will ignore us.

    Proverbs 28:27 "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing".

Do we honestly believe this? If we truly believed this, we would be a
much more giving people.

Releasing What is Already God's

But why should we give? The Bible is full of passages that tell us to
give, but why should we? The first thing to realise, is that what we
have doesn't belong to us anyway.

    1 Chronicles 29:11 "Everything in Heaven and earth is yours".

    1 Chronicles 29:14 "My people and I cannot really give you
    anything, because everything is a gift from You, and we have only
    given back what is already yours".

The things we own are God's; we are only looking after them. This is a
difficult concept to learn. It's hard, but I believe so necessary, to
systematically give everything we have back to God. From our clothes,
to our beds, to our cars, to our health, and our relationships. We
need to give up the belief that we have a right to have these things.
We don't have the rights to anything. Even our next breath is a gift
from God.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we must give up our rights.

    Jesus said, "Any of you who does not give up everything he has,
    cannot be my disciple". (Luke 14:33)

Jesus doesn't just want our possessions, our money; He wants our time,
He wants our talents and gifts, He wants our very lives.

The 'Burden' of Possessions

A rich ruler came to Jesus and asked Him, "What must I do to inherit
eternal life?" Jesus said "You know the commandments, do not steal, do
not murder." The man said, "I've kept these since I was a boy." Then
Jesus said, "You still lack one thing. Sell your possessions and give
to the poor." Jesus laid it on the line. Here was a man of great
wealth; Jesus knew that. But He also knew that the rich young ruler's
possessions got in the way of him believing in God. Here was a man that
had given everything else to God, except his wealth. And when Jesus
asked him to, he couldn't. He'd rather walk away sad, than give his
wealth to God.

Our possessions get in the way of our relationship with God. We spend
far too much time acquiring and maintaining things. They take our time
and money. They hinder our relationship with God, because they shift
our focus. They become the centre of our world, our priorities and
concerns.

I remember waiting for a taxi and my pack was extremely heavy. I was
inwardly whingeing to God, and He said, "You make burdens for
yourself". It was true. For the first time, my material possessions
literally translated into the burden on my back. Whatever I bought, I
had to carry. Our possessions are as much a spiritual burden, as they
were a physical burden for me that day. Just like a pack hinders you
from running, our possessions burden and hinder us from running the
race.

    Hebrews 12:1 "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin
    that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race
    marked for us".

Our possessions burden us.

What did Jesus mean when He said, "Sell your possessions and give to
the poor"? Did He mean for us to sell our possessions and give to the
poor, or to sell our possessions and give to the poor? We each need to
have a response to this. As bible-believing followers of Jesus, you
can't ignore what He said. You cannot believe in half of Jesus. You
can't believe in only half of what He said, and ignore the rest. You
either believe in all of Him, or you don't believe in Him at all. There
is not point in being only half committed to Him, because half a
commitment is no commitment. God is an all or nothing God.

Why are we so reluctant to give our wealth to God?

God has Blessed Us to Bless Others

Don't we trust that He will look after us? He won't leave us
empty-handed.

    Jesus said, "Give and it will be given to you" (Luke 6:38)

    Proverb 11:24 "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another
    with-holds unduly but come to poverty"

When we give, God will bless us.

This is something I hadn't really taken in before. And it struck home
when I heard Zac, who Les spoke about earlier, talk about his life. He
said, "You cannot out-give God". His life is proof of that.

    Malachi 3:7-10 (NIV)

If we're not receiving blessing like this, then we're robbing God. God
knows how reluctant we are to give Him our money. He says, "Test me in
this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven". 

But we shouldn't give in order to receive, but because we can give.
God has blessed us to bless others. Not only can we bless others, but
we ought to.

    Luke 12:48 is as much a warning as it is anything, "From everyone
    who has been given much, much will be demanded."

I know that much is demanded of me. But this doesn't stop with
possessions; it extends into every aspect of our lives.

We need to be generous people. We need to learn to give and how to
share. We are a people of wealth and the Bible commands us to give.

    1 Timothy 6:17 "Command those who are rich in this present
    world....to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous
    and willing to share".

    Jesus said, "The man with 2 tunics should share with him who has
    none, and the one who has food should do the same". (Luke 3:11)

Generosity will not go unrewarded.

    Proverbs 22:9 "A generous man will himself be blessed".

    Proverbs 11:25 "A generous man will prosper, he who refreshes
    others, will himself be refreshed".

    Deuteronomy 15:10 "Give generously, without a grudging heart, then
    the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything
    you put your hand to".

Inward Purity, not Outward Show

The attitude of giving is as important as the act itself. God wants us
to want to give.

One day, Jesus went to eat at a Pharisee's house. They were horrified
that He didn't wash before the meal. Jesus said, "You clean the
outside, but the inside is unclean". He was talking about their lives,
that outwardly they did all the right things, but their hearts weren't
in the right place. They gave because the law said they should, not
because they wanted to. Jesus said to them, "If you give from your
hearts to the poor, then everything would be clean for you".

    2 Corinthians 8:12 "If the willingness is there, the gift is
    acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he
    does not have".

If the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable. Not only should
we give, but we should want to give. Jesus implores us to give. And we
should, because God has given to us, and as a people with many things,
it's our responsibility and our privilege to share with those who
don't.

Most of all, Give Your Life

When we give to others, we're giving to God. The first thing we need
to give to God is our lives, and we shouldn't stop giving to God until
He has everything. We should give no less than everything.

We need to earnestly seek our God, we need to care about what He cares
about, and we need to give everything we have, and everything we are,
to Him.

Beg His forgiveness and seek His will. 

                                                                        
      Christine Scott 

WWW: http://www.pastornet.net.au/hbcwww/index.html 
-- 

     Shalom!  Rowland Croucher

     Director, John Mark Ministries - resources for pastors/leaders.
       (Bookroom, library, and worldwide F.W.Boreham Trading Post)
      Home Page: http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm (300 articles now)
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