We Believe in Stewardship

Steward and stewarding are typically defined in terms of looking after something that does not belong to you. It is an act of service. Air stewards, racing stewards.

In the Ancient Near East, a steward was a servant who looked after his master’s property or household affairs. Jesus told a story about a dishonest steward in Luke 16, and he told stories about faithful servants too. 

A steward was clearly a trusted member of the household staff. Joseph in the OT became the trusted servant in Potiphar’s house.

So, if you and I are stewards of something, we need to ask ourselves firstly what it is that we are stewarding and secondly how can we steward as the best stewards we can be.

In Matt. 6 we discover some key principles about our stewardship responsibilities.

#1 Stewards of our treasure

Jesus says: Do not store up treasure on earth… but store up treasure in heaven.
If our hearts express what truly matters to us, then Jesus says that what everyone sees with regard to the treasure you accumulate will point to the place where our hearts reside.

What counts as heavenly treasure?

You might think that worship counts as heavenly treasure, you might think prayer counts as heavenly treasure. And yes, God commands our worship and calls us to prayer. But he’s also passionate about other things.

Last week we heard about the Micah challenge.

Micah 6:8 has long been a verse which has occupied my thoughts: He has shown you O man what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with the Lord your God.

It’s interesting to notice that justice and mercy are key values in God’s eyes, but they are not isolated from a deep relationship with himself. To love mercy and to act justly are things to which all people should aspire, but they are not enough to build treasure in heaven. They need to arise out of a relationship with God. On their own they are simply good works that honour God, yes, but merciful and just people don’t get to heaven by virtue of their mercy and love and concern for justice.

A humble walk with God is also an essential ingredient.

And for those who see themselves as okay with God because they’ve entered into a relationship with him through Jesus Christ, the words of the prophet are clear. Add justice and mercy to your portfolio. Not to gain merit before God, but to do what pleases him.

To paraphrase one of the speakers at the recent leaders conference: If you want your life to matter, live it in the context of what matter to God. Justice and mercy matter to God.

#2 Stewards of ourselves

There are times when we are all guilty of sitting back and simply waiting for God to do something spectacular on our behalf. To somehow change us overnight, to put right all our faults and failures with a wave of his hand. But Jesus reminds us that we are to pay attention to our spiritual health. If your eyes are good, you whole body will be full of light. Can you hear the echo of his words to Simon as he washed his feet? If you’ve had a bath, you need only wash your feet.

Being a good steward of one’s self is to follow Jesus closely, to keep in step with Spirit as Paul would urge us all to do.

This we do by faith, for we know that without faith we cannot please God; Heb. 11:6

And by confession: 1John 1:9

#3 Stewards of one master

Verse 24 presents us with a simple truth: You can have only one master.

#4 Stewards of an alternative world-view

Having laid a foundation of the way of life of the good steward Jesus paints a picture of the impact of the choices already made. It’s a picture of life focused on who God is, what God can do and what God will do. He says don’t worry because worry doesn’t change a thing.
What we know of course is that if all our treasure in earthly based, if all our self-esteem is wrapped up in how others see us, where we are in the pecking order of life. Then worry and anxiety will follow us around.

We worry about what we will eat, what we will drink and what we will wear. But the wise steward has his or her focus elsewhere. Rather than the earthly things, their focus is on the kingdom of God.

This doesn’t mean that they do not think about the present, it’s not time-bound. It’s not eternity versus the present that is as stake here, it’s the kingdom of God. And Jesus, don’t forget, has already declared that the kingdom is here, in some measure the kingdom of God is a present reality. He even taught his disciples to pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

I think this means that to focus on the kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of this world is to focus on what God is doing and wanting to do among us and through us. It’s about those passions that he wants us to share for justice and mercy. It’s about the good news he wants us to share and to be and we seek to walk humbly with him. Living examples of God’s normality for the world.

This alternative world-view is rooted in the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul reminds us all in 1Cor.4 that we, like Paul himself are charged with a responsibility to live out and steward this gospel.

Sadly the good news is not perceived that way in the world. In a recent survey of 16-29 year olds in America, the following assessments of what Christianity was about were made: 

• 91% said antihomosexual
  
• 87% said judgmental
  
• 85% said hypocritical
  
• 78% said old-fashioned
  
• 75% said too involved in politics
  
• 72% said out of touch with reality
  
• 70% said insensitive to others
  
• 68% said boring
  
• 64% said not accepting of other faiths
  
• 61% said confusing
  

Apparently we need to work on our stewarding of the good news.

Conclusion

The teaching of Jesus in Matthew 6 is very relevant tour day. With it’s rampant consumerism, it’s easy to see how we can be sucked into a pattern of life which does not focus on God’s kingdom. We get caught up in the message of our modern world that there are just too many things without which our lives are hardly worth living.

Jesus says to us, “Put this consumerism on one side. you can’t serve the god of get and keep and the God of grace and hope, of generosity and mercy and justice.

The good steward will care for those around him, will care for her environment and will care about the resources that are available and should be shared among all people. When we get locked into the world of consuming we become greedy and selfish.

God, by contrast, calls us to focus elsewhere, to live unselfishly, generously and graciously.
To be careful, to steward things well, so that no one is deprived of the grace of God.

We Believe in the Power of Prayer

I’ve often wondered how many prayers are recorded in the Bible. I’ve sometimes thought it would make a wonderful study to go through the Bible and not only count them but study them. Maybe I’ll do that one year, but until then I’m pleased to be able to tell you that someone else has done it too and he counted 650 prayers in the Bible and 450 recorded answers. I haven’t read the book, and so I don’t know what he counted as a prayer and what he counted as an answer, but at least I now have an answer to me question!

Our theme today is We believe in the power of prayer.

In order to believe in the power of prayer, you first have to believe in the power of God to answer prayer.

Before we look at the question of the power of prayer, we must answer two vital questions:

• Why do we pray? 
  
• Why is prayer important?
  

For many people, prayer is a last resort in a crisis. Something somewhere deep inside of them calls them to pray in those darkest moments. I believe that this call comes from our deep need to connect with the God who created us. We may not understand it, we may even believe it, but it happens.

For others is a matter of duty, a matter of ritual. Sometimes this is a positive thing, others times less so. Praying the same prayers in adulthood that you prayed as a child is surely a sign that growth has been held back for some reason or another.

And then there are those who pray because it’s the most natural, compelling and satisfying thing they do. To bring all their concerns, worries, joys and desires to the God who loves them is purpose enough for their prayer life. As they pray they record wonderful answers and can see the hand of God moving in and through all that they do.

This is surely not only a great reason to pray, but also a great expression of the importance of prayer.

Prayer, powerful prayer is prayer that changes me as much as it changes things around me. Powerful prayer deepens my knowledge of God not just my knowledge about God. And none of us would surely argue with our desperate need to know God better.

Prayer is also important because some things can only be changed through prayer. Some great act of self-control won’t do it, or some great act of personal sacrifice won’t be enough. Sometimes only a miraculous answer to prayer from the God who can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine as Paul puts it, can solve the problem, answer the need or close the gap.

The simple truth is this: God’s power is released through and in the lives of those who pray.

God’s power can change circumstances and relationships. It can help us face life’s daily struggles. It can heal psychological and physical problems, remove marriage obstructions, meet financial needs–in fact, it can handle any kind of difficulty, dilemma or discouragement.

Too busy not to Pray Bill Hybels

A pattern for prayer

In Matthew 6 Jesus offers us a pattern for prayer and some principles for prayer.

The principles

Pray in secret. Jesus uses the example of the man who stands on the street corners to pray. His prayers are probably clever and articulate. They are the prayers of a proud man, not a humble person.

Jesus says pray in secret not because prayer is not meant to be done in public but that it’s not meant to done to impress anyone. Prayer is about you and God, not about you and the crowd of people around you. Even when we pray together in church or in a small group, we should be praying in the secret place.

Pray sincerely. One of the most crucial things we need to learn about prayer is simply this: be honest with God. God loves an honest prayer. Remember the story Jesus told about the Pharisee and the sinner who both prayed? It was the honesty of the sinner that brought justification through prayer and the grace of God.

Don’t try and muster up faith, express your prayers in the context of your faith as it is. If you’re unsure of your motives in prayer, tell God you’re unsure and trust that he will take you in the right direction. To say” Lord if it is your will” is not a cop out for those who lack faith, but an expression of our inability to have 20/20 vision when it comes to prayer. My favourite expression is to say to God, “This is the desire of my heart, if it’s wrong change my heart.”

Pray specifically. Sometimes we take this to mean pray for a red bicycle with 26” wheels and those little things in the spokes that make a noise when they go round.
Well that’s a pretty specific prayer, but praying specifically doesn't always mean giving an exact description. If we go back to the pattern Jesus gives us in Matt.6 we see that specific prayer is focused prayer.

• Honours appropriately
  
• Worships authentically
  
• Submits willingly
  
• Asks clearly
  
• Confesses openly
  
• Seeks protection humbly
  

The challenge of prayer is to abandon self-reliance, autonomy and selfish choices.

Understanding how God answers prayer

In Too Busy, Bill Hybles uses a simple three word explanation of how God answers prayer: 

• Go
• Slow
• No
  

How to improve our prayer lives?

Time: If prayer is ever going to be more than something you squeeze into your schedule you will have to work out how to set aside sufficient time to pray. You alone can answer the question as to whether 10 minutes a day is more valuable to building your prayer life than an hour a week.

Focus: On your relationship with God more than getting answers to your prayers. Answers are good, answers encourage, but if your relationship with God is not growing, if you are not changing then I;d suggest there is something wrong with your prayer life. Prayer is an intimate connection between you and God. That should change you.

Content: Think about what you are praying. Draw up a plan, follow a pattern. You can use the pattern of Matt.6, you can uses the ACTS pattern. As you read through the Bible, make a note of those verses that encourage you to pray and what to pray. Recently in my reading I found this verse in 1Tim.

First of all I urge you to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

That’s impacted how I pray for people and who I pray for in recent weeks.

Record:Write it down. Simply record your prayers and record answers too. I’m not so good at this, but I do, form time to time, write my prayer down.

Conclusion

When we pray remarkable things happen. We change, circumstances change, people change. Not because we pray, but because God responds. He’s not a puppet under our control, tug his strings correctly and he dances to our tune. No, prayer is what aligns us with him, with his purposes, with his plans. 

Yes there are times when God says no, there are times when he doesn’t appear to answer or even hear us. But at those times we need to remember that he hears all our prayers. What we need is the patience to wait and listen and learn.

We Believe in Radical Discipleship

What does it mean to be radical? How would you define it?

The problem with being radical is that it’s become a by-word for fanatic, for terrorist for something quite frankly to which we should not aspire. But Jesus called the people who follow him to do so in radical change of lifestyle. Radical would have been the best way to describe the life of the followers of Jesus in the early church. It’s unconventional, maverick and counter-cultural.

Is that still true today? Does Jesus continue to call people to follow him in radical discipleship? And if so, what will it look like and how do we live it?

Keys to a radical lifestyle

You might think that when we talk about radical discipleship we’re going to talk about how to read you Bible more often, more fully and more deeply. You might think we’re going to talk about how to develop a more fulfilling prayer life or a more active evangelistic life.
But we’re not. Important as those things are, Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, mission, they are not what makes us radical. What makes us radical is the pattern we follow, the pattern of Jesus.

Key characteristics

#1 Christ-centred

A Christ-centred life is a connected life. Jesus said, "I am the vine you are the branches. Every branch that remains in me bears fruit..."

A Christ-centred life never asks God to bless its plan, rather it asks what are God’s plan and what part can I play in the fulfilment of his purposes? We ask a simple question: "Lord, what are you doing and how can help?"

#2 Whole-hearted

No other gods but me; Love the Lord your God with all your...

A whole-hearted, Christ-centred life is a surrendered life. Jesus spoke about carrying a cross and dying to self. The alternative to whole-hearted is the half-hearted, lukewarm Christianity against which Jesus speaks in Revelation

#3 It’s a faithful life

Radical discipleship means not giving up when things get tough. We do not stop worshipping God, we do not stop praying to God, we do not stop meeting with others, we do no stop seeking God just because problems come.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: How come Christ-followers are quick to give up on prayer when things are going badly and yet those who do not profess to follow Christ are among the first to start praying when things are going badly.

#4 Spirit inspired risk oriented

Only God’s agenda matters. The radical follower of Jesus Christ echoes the words of Isaiah the prophet by saying simply: Here am I, send me.

The big question of course is: How do you know it’s from God? I wish I had a simple answer.
In the end only time will tell. If it’s from God it will last, it will produce fruit, kingdom fruit. But the time frame might not match our expectations and the fruit might not be what we expect.

How is it expressed?

This is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list, but I believe that a radical life of discipleship will be expressed through:

Unconditional acceptance of the people Jesus misses most

Willingness to fail. The radical disciple gets out of the boat. He or she will have stories to tell their grandchildren about the amazing things that they have seen God do with the ounce of faith they offered him.

Generosity towards others

Grace-filled

Radical discipleship is not about our ability to tick the right boxes, it’s about our decision to abandon ourselves to the purposes of God. Radical discipleship settles for nothing less than 100% commitment. It is not satisfied with less and will do all it can to raise the standard and live the life. It is not into self-recriminations but accepts failure as part of the journey. Radical discipleship is relentless in its pursuit of God.

World-changers

I think we all know that it is through these kinds of disciples–Christ-centred, whole-hearted, faithful, Spirit inspired–that God will work his purposes in our world. If we want to be world changers, if we want to influence our communities for Christ, then this is the pattern of discipleship to which we need to aspire.

How do we respond?

Two ways:

First, with a sense of failure and defeat. We say yes to the idea of radical discipleship but we say we’re not up to the call. We realise we haven’t lived like that and every time we try we fail. So we give u and settle for mediocrity.

Second, with a sense of hope. We still acknowledge that we fall a long way short of the life of a fully devoted follower of Jesus, but we know that by the grace of God we can get up and get going once again.

I am what I am, but I am not all that I can be.

How do we get there?

So how do we become Christ-Centred disciples, radical disciples? It’s not easy! There are no instant fixes, quick solutions or fast track training programmes. It is a life-time’s work.

Some basic principles:

#1 Check your pulse. If you have a pulse, then you are still alive and therefore have the chance to start again!

#2 Check your position. I use four things normally when I go out for a walk. I use a map, a compass, my gps and my eyes. The map tells me where I should be and where I should be heading. The compass helps me orientate myself according to what I see on the map. The GPS helps me get an accurate fix on where I actually am. And I use my eyes to see the reality of my situation in the real world around me.

#3 Check your purpose. We said earlier that the radical disciple has no other agenda except the agenda of God. There are times when we kid ourselves into seeing our agenda as God’s agenda. But I believe that if we practice the principles of radical discipleship we will become more and more aligned with the purposes of God.

#4 Do it daily

Conclusion

If Paul is right when he declares that we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God prepared in advance for us to do, then tell me why we should should ever settle for anything less?

We Believe in the Gospel

It seems a little odd to have to make such an obvious statement as “we believe in the gospel”. It’s as taken for read as “We believe in God”. We are, after all, an evangelical church with an evangelical statement of faith. But it’s one thing to say that we believe it and another to say and act on the basis of what it is we believe.

Maybe we should be asking what it is that we believe about the gospel.

For example do we simply believe the gospel as a series of propositions about our faith. A series of statements that best fit our understanding of where we stand before God. A sort multiple choice questionnaire like the ones the market research people do... "On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is strongly agree and 5 is strongly disagree. Please rate the following statements about your faith…"

Before we look at what we believe about the gospel, let me ask a question: What first drew you to Jesus? What was the one big question you had that demanded an answer?

I had a big question: Who gives meaning to my life?

Maybe Nicodemus had a big question. "Are you really from God?" From the answer Jesus gives to Nicodemus’ first statement and his then question would imply that the gospel is a radical rethinking of the relationship between God and man, not only for a religious man like a Pharisee.

But the gospel, the good news, is not about having all the answers to all the questions. Foe many years we’ve taught ourselves that in order to prepare properly to share the gospel with another person, we must first learn a series of answers. But times have changed. The questions we may have had 30, 20 or just 10 years ago are not necessarily the questions being asked today.

In the message of Jesus Christ we have the one answer to the one question. The question of reconciliation with the God who made us and who loves us. The only problem is that is not the question with which many of our friends begin.

Douglas Coupland, a Canadian author who first used the term ‘Generation X’ to describe the children of the 1980s articulates the question being asked like this:

Now–here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God–that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I am no longer capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me to love, as I seem beyond being able to love.

The point is this: We believe in the gospel as a message of forgiveness and reconciliation, as the answer to the most fundamental questions of life. We believe in the gospel as the message of eternal security. But what if our friends and neighbours aren’t looking for forgiveness? What if they aren’t interested in eternal security? What if their starting point is a search for a life that makes sense of terrorist threats and crashing markets? What if they simply want to learn how to love, to give, to be kind, to live a deeper life? What does our gospel have to say to the those questions?

What do we believe?

When we say: We believe in the gospel, what do we mean?

The gospel as truth
The gospel as power
The power to save
The power to change lives: 

The great evangelist H.A. Ironside was interrupted one time by the shouts of an atheist. The atheist yelled, "There is no God! Jesus is a myth!" and finally, "I challenge you to a debate!"
Ironside responded, "I accept your challenge, sir! But on one condition. When you come, bring with you ten men and women whose lives have been changed for the better by the message of atheism. Bring former prostitutes and criminals whose lives have been changed, who are now moral and responsible individuals. Bring outcasts who had no hope and have them tell us how becoming atheists has lifted them out of the pit!
"And sir," he concluded, "if you can find ten such men and woman, I will be happy to debate you. And when I come, I will gladly bring with me two hundred men and women from this very city whose lives have been transformed in just those ways by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Ironside knew that atheism doesn't change lives. Jesus changes lives.

The gospel is “good news”. And the good news is that the kingdom of God has broken into history in the powerful person, ministry and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And lives are changed forever as a result of an encounter with him.

What answers does it provide?

Perhaps one of the most crucial things we need to demonstrate is that faith actually works. That a lifestyle based upon the good news of Jesus Christ actually works in practice. That it makes us better people, kinder people, caring people.

The crucial factor in persuading someone to believe [is to] …awaken a desire for God in them.
The Provocative Church

...our lives need to become increasingly aligned with the example of Jesus... It means, though, increasingly becoming people of justice, kindness, mercy, strength, hope, grace, generosity, and hospitality. (64) Michael Frost Exiles

What would a gospel church look like, what does a gospel lifestyle look like?

Missional, incarnational, grace-filled

The gospel impacts our eternal destiny, but how does it affect our daily lives?

• Live a life worthy of the calling you have received
  
• You attitude should be like that of Jesus... who humbled himself
  
• The gospel as counter-culture
  
• The gospel as subversive
  
• The gospel is Christ first method second
  

How does what we believe impact the questions people may be asking?

Conclusion

What believe about the gospel must affect how we live among the community in which we find ourselves. It cannot remain a series of bland statements to which we simply give intellectual assent.

The gospel must become a way of life, we must once again become a people of the way and not just a people of the book.