Refuge Church

We take God’s gifts for granted. We assume we deserve the good things that come to us…or we even complain about them not being better. And more often than not we are content to enjoy the gift and completely forget the Giver. This mentality. This forgetfulness of the many blessings we do have and the ingratitude at receiving them is what Jesus takes on this morning because followers of Jesus should never outgrow gratitude.

We are taught to believe in ourselves in order to achieve great things. And when things get hard, you must return to the belief that you are the person to do it…that you have what it takes…that you are meant to do this...But family, that’s exhausting…Because even when it works, the high is fleeting and it’s on to the next hill to take. And when you fail, you wonder if you were wrong to think you ever could. It’s a vicious, dangerous rollercoaster. We need something transcendent of us, of our circumstances, something that will remind us of who we are and what truly matters when the shine of success wears off and when our failures leave us crushed.

What Jesus teaches us this morning couldn’t be more opposite. When it comes to spirituality, first you have to give up believing in yourself. And in so doing, you'll find that tiny faith in a great God is greater than great faith in ourselves.

We are all prone to justifying ourselves, especially in the realm of money. We can always reason away our selfish financial decisions. We can rationalize our comforts and our expenditures. Our list of needs can begin to grow. We look around us and compare ourselves to other people and think, I’m not as rich as them. I don’t have a house as big as their’s or a car as nice as his.

And we don’t realize how riches can begin to blind us. We can become so preoccupied with the pursuit of wealth and our career that we become blind to the suffering of others around. We can begin to lose sight of the priorities of the kingdom of God and God’s law, which call us to be generous and to seek the welfare of our neighbor. We can forget the fact that we are going to die one day and give an account for what we’ve done with what God has given us.

But Jesus in this text wants to slap us away. To shake us. Wake us up out of a dangerous sleep to the realties before us. Wake us up to the realities of suffering in this life and the the danger of suffering in the life to come. He wants to help us see clearly the danger of of ignoring God’s law and ignoring our neighbor in our pursuit of riches. He warns us that riches can blind us to our sinful failings and our need for God’s mercy.

God has placed something sacred in your hands. Stewardship isn't just about money, it's about managing the sacred.

We find joy in God’s pursuit of his people because his story is big enough for us all to belong in.

We naturally go along to get along.

From a young age, as we become more self-aware, we begin to experience an overwhelming desire to fit in. We begin to notice our differences in comparison to everyone else, and we try to minimize them. We match haircuts, clothing syles, grammer expressions, possessions such as the cars we drive and the houses we buy. And oftentimes we sacrifice who we truly are in order to assimilate to the world around us. Though we may desire to behave otherwise, we often fold under cultural pressure. This is often true of our Christian beliefs, too.

We feel there is safety in the crowd. And that when you blend in, you won’t be ridiculed…but the problem is, you probably won’t be following Jesus either. There may be safety in the crowd, but there is also danger: Jesus tells us narrow is the way to life; broad is the path to destruction. If we go along to get along, we are disciples of the world, not of Jesus. Because Discipleship requires leaving the crowd & bearing your cross.

Our society determines our worth based on what we have to offer. But the good news of Jesus is for everyone, regardless of what you have to offer!

We are prone to think our gifting is all about us. But the Holy Spirit empowers believers with gifts for the building up of the church and reaching the lost. The gifts are graciously given from God through the Spirit for the building up and edification of the church. They didn’t come from you, and they’re not ultimately for you! You’re just the vehicle to make Jesus’ name great!

1 Corinthians 12-14