Do you realize how much trust is a part of our life each day?
• Every time we flip a light switch, we trust that the light will come on
• Every time we place the key in the ignition of our car and turn it, we expect the car to start
• Every time we sit in a chair, we expect it to support us
Every day our life is filled with trust in THINGS and PEOPLE.
So often we find it hard to trust, because we have been let down so many times.
For example, we elect people into political offices to represent us. They say everything we want to hear, but once they are in office they forget the promises they made.
Illus: Imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
• 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
• 7 have been arrested for fraud
• 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
• 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
• 3 have done time for assault
• 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
• 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
• 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
• 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
• 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
Can you guess which organization this is? It's the 535 members of the United States Congress.
It is difficult for us to TRUST. Many times we find ourselves wondering if we can trust ANYONE!
Illus: In May 1995, Randy Reid, a 34-year-old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on. The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911. When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. Apparently the fall didn't cost Reid his sense of humor. As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: "Don't drop me." (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.) (Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 4.)
Sometimes we resemble that construction worker, in that God has taken care of us over and over again, but we are afraid if we put our trust in man, HE WILL DROP US!
Listen, we do not need to be so eager to trust man, but it is essential that we TRUST GOD!
• We read in 1 Pet. 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
• We read in Matt. 6:28-34, “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
WHAT IS THE LORD SAYING? He is saying that if we live our Christian life TRUSTING Him, He will take care of us. If something concerns you, God wants you to know it concerns Him. And no matter how BIG or SMALL a problem might be; you can trust Him!
Our scripture text shows us the various places that people during the days of the Psalmist put their trust. The Psalmist said:
• Some put their trust in their chariots
• Some put their trust in their horses
• Some put their trust in the Lord
Everyone puts his trust somewhere.
Illus: Ann Beck said, “When my husband and I taught 2 and 3-year-olds in Sunday school, a Bible verse we helped them memorize was Psalm 56:3, ‘When I am afraid, I will trust in you.’ Our preschool son, Mark, was one of our pupils.
One stormy night, as lightning flashed and thunder boomed, the electricity suddenly went off. ‘I'm not afraid,’ Mark assured us as we groped in the dark for candles and matches. Expecting him to quote the Bible verse he recently learned, I proudly prompted him, ‘And tell us why you aren't afraid.’ ‘Cause I've got my flashlight.’" (Ann Beck, North Carollton, MS, Today's Christian Woman)
It is obvious today that we as a nation are placing our trust in our technology and powerful weapons.
WHY DO I SAY THAT? How many times have we heard politicians stand before the American people on national television and declare that we are the ONLY SUPER POWER on the face of the earth?
WHAT ARE THEY SAYIING?
• They are saying that we have all these powerful weapons to defend us as a nation.
• What they are not saying, but implying, is that WE DO NOT NEED TO TRUST IN GOD, WE CAN TRUST IN THESE POWERFUL WEAPONS!
However, what these men and women fail to realize is that America has become the great nation we are, not because of our weapons, but because OUR FOREFATHERS PUT THEIR TRUST IN THE LORD JESUS. But this is no longer the trend in this country!
Illus: We as a nation are like Samson, in that he killed the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass and afterwards, he threw away the very thing that gave him the victory.
Today, we live in an age when people in this nation have put their trust in PEOPLE AND THINGS. Our forefathers placed their faith in almighty God. Today, they have taken that faith that gave us this great country and have thrown it away.
It is obvious that we are not putting our trust in the Lord, but in PEOPLE and THINGS!
Illus: Some people will go to a doctor they have never seen before. They do not know how much schooling he has; perhaps they do not even see a degree on the wall that he ever attended medical school.
This doctor, that they do not know a thing about, will say to them, “I have scheduled you for surgery next month and I am going to put you on the operating table and cut you from your chin to your stomach and I am going pull your heart out of your chest and work on it and then put it back in your chest.”
They will look at him and say, “Ok, if you think it needs to be done!”
People put their trust in PEOPLE and THINGS. For example, without hesitation people:
• Will jump into their car and drive across long bridges suspended high in the air
• Will step into elevators that are suspended on a few cables hundreds of feet in the air.
• Will trust in airplanes that men have made with their hands that fly high in the sky at record breaking speed.
People tend to be trusting, but the one place you find that man has a hard time trusting is in God the Creator.
The psalmist said, “Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”
HOW ARE WE TO TRUST THE LORD? Let me share with you a few of the ways the Bible tells us to trust in the Lord. In the next sermon we will continue to talk about other ways we are to trust in the Lord.
I. WE ARE TO TRUST THE LORD WITH OUR TITHES
We can TRUST THE LORD, but the question is can GOD TRUST US?
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger says that he is privileged to preach in many churches. In many of these churches he has noticed the attendance and offering boards on display.
He said that as he visits and preaches in various churches, he has noticed that some of these churches had the SAME ATTENDANCE but there was a large difference in their offerings. Even though the attendance was the same, the offering might vary from one to three thousand dollars.
WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE? It could be several things, such as:
• It could be that one church might have more wealthy people than others and their giving would reflect that.
• Some churches might have the same attendance as others but a big difference in their giving is that some churches are filled with people who truly love the Lord and they are trusting Him to supply their needs.
• Other churches say they love the Lord but it is evident they are trusting in themselves.
God has promised He would take care of the person that tithes.
In Mal. 3:10-11, we read, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.”
People that don’t tithe show by their deeds that they are not trusting God for their needs. They figure they can do a better job of taking care of themselves than trusting God to take care of them.
Our giving reflects our LOVE FOR THE LORD but also it reflects where we have PLACED OUR FAITH. God has promised to take care of the Christian that tithes, BUT SOME SIMPLY DO NOT BELIEVE HE CAN BE TRUSTED.
They are IGNORANT when it comes to the teachings of trust we see in this Bible.
We live in a world that is filled with ignorance. One of the most ignorant things a person can do is to PUT THEIR TRUST IN PEOPLE AND THINGS and feel they CAN NOT TRUST THE LORD.
Illus: A pastor was talking to a new convert about tithing and he said, “Pastor, I really do not have the money to tithe. It takes all that I make to pay my bills!”
The pastor told him that God has promised to take care of him if he would spend his money wisely, trust God and tithe.
The man said, “Pastor, you do not understand, I can not tithe, I do not have the money.”
The Pastor said, “Sorry, but you do not understand! Let me ask you something. Would you be willing to tithe each Sunday if I personally would make up the difference at the end of the month to pay your bills?”
The man said, “Pastor, if you promised to do that I certainly would tithe every Sunday!”
The pastor said, “That is amazing: you trust me to supply your needs but you are not willing to trust God!”
The man got the message, started tithing, and every month trusted God to supply his needs.
When people fail to tithe, they are saying that they can not trust in the promises of God’s Word, they must take matters into their own hands.
We see that WE ARE TO TRUST THE LORD WITH OUR TITHES and -
II. WE ARE TO TRUST THE LORD WITH OUR TALENTS
America is fascinated with talented people.
• About 25 million people watched the 45th Annual Grammy Awards.
• An estimated 40 million viewers tuned-in to the 75th Annual Oscars Ceremony on Sunday March 23rd.
• Literally millions each week watch “American Idol” and see the hopefuls week after week risk their egos to see if they can make it in the entertainment business.
Many people think that this concept is new, but those of us who can remember all the way back to the 1980s realize that Ed McMahon was doing Star Search back then.
WHERE DOES THIS TALENT COME FROM? It comes from God. Talent is something that comes from God.
Illus: A little over ten years ago, Rush Limbaugh burst onto the national landscape with his daily three-hour radio show. One of the trademark lines that you often hear him say is, "Talent on loan from God." Regardless of what you think about Rush’s philosophy and politics, he has one thing right: our talent is a gift from God.
A talent might be a certain GIFT, but also in the scriptures it might be MONEY.
God has given to each and every one certain talents. But some folks are taking those talents and literally wasting them.
Matthew 25 gives us a parable.
• One receives one talent
• One receives two talents
• One receives five talents
But this parable also tells us that once the talents were given, they were to USE THEM, not WASTE THEM!
A talent was actually a measurement of weight. Talents would vary greatly depending upon just what was being weighed out - gold, silver, or copper. A single talent of gold, silver or copper would have been a significant sum of money.
• For instance, a talent of silver was worth 6000 denarii. A denarii was the amount of money that a laborer would earn in a single day, so one talent of silver would be equal to sixteen years of salary.
• Five talents would be enough money to live a long and prosperous life. If you were to translate that into modern terminology using the figure that a good laborer today makes between seventy and one hundred dollars a day, a talent would be worth over four hundred thousand dollars.
Only a foolish man will take the talents God has given him and literally waste them.
Illus: A man and his wife loved the Lord very much. They were both talented and could sing well together. They not only could sing well together, he could play a guitar and sing as well as any professional you ever heard on television. However, his wife died and he went through a time of hardship. He lost his job, but later he met another woman and married her. But she did not like him singing that much and he wanted to please her so he laid his guitar down and now is not singing at all.
WHAT A WASTE! Every Sunday he could be in some church using his talent for the Lord but instead he is wasting it.
This parable teaches us some things.
1. WHAT WE HAVE IS NOT OURS
So many of us think that we own a large portfolio consisting of land, houses, stocks, and bonds, but in reality we are only managers.
One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, or what kind of house I lived in, or what my clothes looked like or how much I had in my accounts. All of my stuff will be in the hands of someone else or in the landfill somewhere.
In Eccl. 5:15, we read, “As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.”
We are stewards ... managing resources.
2. WE’RE GIVEN WHAT WE CAN HANDLE
In today’s parable, each man was given what he could handle. The Bible clearly tells us that God will not put on us more than we can handle. There is a danger in accumulating possessions. If we are not careful, our possessions will eventually possess us.
3. WE MUST INVEST WHAT WE’VE BEEN GIVEN
We cannot bury our resources in the ground and expect God’s blessing. We must use what we have for good.
Illus: Sometimes as we drive down the highway, we see signs on the back of commercial vehicles that say, “How is my driving?” Then they give you a telephone number you can call to report their driving.
The question we need to ask today as Christians is, “HOW ARE WE USING OUR TALENTS?”
Conclusion:
We are to trust the Lord with:
Part 1 of 2
I. OUR TITHES
II. OUR TALENTS
Part 2 of 2
III. OUR TIME
