We're going to start a four -week series, just
a short little series called Control -Alt -Delete.
The Control -Alt -Delete command was created
in 1981, and apparently the coding team that
was in charge for creating it later said that
it only took them five or ten minutes to create
it, which just seems like, I don't know, salt
in the wound, because most of us... have been
struggling with something on a computer more
than five or 10 minutes before we have to use
Control -Alt -Delete. And so it's pretty amazing
that they were able to create that so quickly.
Of course, the reason that it was created was
because they were designing an IBM computer,
and they kept crashing, and they needed a faster
way to restart things or to reboot things without
having to start all over. For those of you that
have no idea what we're talking about with Control
-Alt -Delete, you're probably under 30. Is that
true? Because if you've never used Control -Alt
-Delete, you're probably on the younger side.
Or maybe you've just always been a Mac person
and the name for Control -Alt -Delete is different
on a Mac. I use Macs exclusively and I honest
to God do not know the name. I don't know the
combination. Every single time I have to look
it up on the internet to see what I'm supposed
to be doing. Show of hands, let's be honest,
show of hands who has used Control -Alt -Delete
on a computer. Okay, now, put your hand up if
you had to use Control -Alt -Delete and you'd
been doing something for more than an hour that
wasn't saved yet. Okay, keep your hand up if
it's more than two hours, more than three hours,
more than four hours of unsaved work. We had
three hours, we had a couple three hours. Okay,
you guys, we're going to start a support group
immediately after church. Sadly, sometimes the
only option that exists when you are in the middle
of work and everything freezes is to do what
the secretary at the church that I grew up used
to call the three -finger salute, the control
-alt -delete to get everything to start over.
I think a lot of Christians have been hitting
control -alt -delete. And they're quitting Christianity
altogether. Because the screen is frozen. And
it feels like all the good work that they've
done wasn't saved. Like it's all been lost. Like
it's all been wasted. They have seen what is
also called the spinning icon of death. The little
rainbow that never ever stops. The code isn't
adding up, and it feels like it's time to just
start over. And here's the truth. I don't really
blame them for doing that. Because here's the
truth. There's plenty, plenty of things that
religion gets wrong. And I think that every now
and again, it's healthy for churches and people
inside of those systems to admit that we don't
get everything right. And sometimes the things
that we're getting wrong are actually hurting
people. But I wonder if maybe the answer isn't
to delete religion or Christianity altogether.
Maybe we can find a way to let go of the control.
We can seek out an alternative. And we can find
a way to delight in the Lord. So let's open up
our Bibles. I'm going to mention a bunch of verses
today, but we're going to read for the context
of that phrase, delight in the Lord. We're going
to read Psalm 37. The Psalms are in the middle
of the Bible. Psalm 37. If you don't have a Bible,
there are blue ones on the table. There's also
Bibles out in the lobby. You can grab one of
those or download one from any of the digital.
app stores. We have a tradition around here that
when we read a passage or the main passage in
the context of sermon, that we just give it our
full attention. You can do that in whatever way
makes the most sense for you. But if you'd like
to join me in standing for the word, you can
also do that. This is Psalm 37, starting in verse
one. Verse one, do not fret because of the wicked.
Do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will
soon fade like grass and wither like the green
herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Live in
the land and enjoy security. Take delight in
the Lord, and he will give you the desires of
your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust
in him, and he will act. He will make your vindication
shine like the light and the justice of your
cause like the noonday. Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him. Do not fret over
those who prosper in their way, over those who
carry out evil devices. Refrain from anger and
forsake wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to
evil. For the wicked shall be cut off, but those
who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
Let us pray. God of every tribe, of every tongue,
every color, every nation, we thank you for the
scriptures persisted throughout the millennia
that we still have them to consider, to learn
from. And I pray that whatever you have to teach
us today, whatever is most important, that it
sticks, that it would become a part of the framework
of our faith as we become more like your son,
Jesus. Amen. Amen. You can all have a seat. Right.
So in Psalm 37, David's answer when everything
is falling apart, when enemies seem to win. When
he could see the manipulation in front of his
eyes was not to lift the sword. He surely had
lifted the sword plenty of other times in his
life. But at this point, he had come to a different
conclusion. And it wasn't to delete the problem.
His answer was to trust in the Lord, to delight
in the Lord. And over the next four weeks, I
want to apply that. concept, how we might feel
controlled by money, relationship, the afterlife,
shame, how we can look at the alternative. We
can let go of the control. We can look at alternatives,
and maybe we can find a way to delight in the
Lord, even amongst all of those subjects. And
today, I want to start with everybody's favorite
topic, money. One of the biggest ongoing and
common complaints about church and religion is
that they just want my Money. Many of us have
felt like churches have tried to manipulate us
into giving. We have struggled with how churches
talk about money, and we're not alone. Statistically,
in the early 1980s, half of all charitable giving
in the United States of America went to churches.
In the early 1980s, 50 % of all charitable giving
went to churches. Now... That number is only
a third. Now, it's probably no coincidence that
only one -third of people say that they have
a high level of trust for how churches manage
money. So maybe we can't blame them for going,
well, maybe I should donate to this other thing
instead. But here's the first point. The church
is not meant to control your money. The church
is not meant to control your money. Of course,
very few churches will say that they are trying
to control your money. Maybe they'll say, God
wants to control your money. But then they'll
tell you exactly what God is telling you to give.
Think about it like this. Let's say I own a restaurant
and you come to the restaurant and I say that
I don't want to tell you what to eat. But then
I hand you a menu that has 10 things on it, and
they're essentially all the same thing. And then
I go, you can have anything on this menu. You
can have the fish or the fish. It's essentially
a distinction without a difference. I don't think
that the church should control the money of the
people that attend that church or call that church
home. That includes telling you... I've heard
this before, includes that we should not say
you're stealing from God if you don't give him
10%. Yeah. I think I'm going to take it a step
further. I don't think that God is trying to
control your money either. Not only do I not
think that the church should control your money,
I don't think it's the right way to think of
it that God is trying to control your... money,
because I think that God is asking us to control
our own money, for us to make our own decisions,
for us to make up our own minds. Paul, when he's
writing in 2 Corinthians 9, he says, each of
you must give as you have made up in your mind,
not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God
loves a cheerful giver. I told someone I thought
about adding this and then I will, well, I don't
know if I have time. I'm going to do it anyway.
Last night I was at an event and there was an
auctioneer. It was a live auction and he knew
he was trying to raise money for a good cause.
And there were some things that were up. There
were seven different things that were up for
live auction. It took, I swear, 40 minutes to
get through seven items because these are some
pretty valuable things and they just were not,
no one was bidding on them. And so he was pulling
out All the stops. And I leaned over and I was
like, you know, some people think that's what
church is like. An auctioneer in the front, you
know, calling people out. Well, you should give.
And this, he literally was like calling out tables.
I know you work at such and such a firm. You've
got deep pockets. Paul tells the Corinthian church.
To give what you've made up in your mind. And
yes, some people that believe that a tithe of
10 % is the requirement would say, well, he was
talking about a gift that was being given to
another church. Again, I'm not sure that there
is an actual distinction there. So hear me. The
only thing that you should give is what you have
decided in your mind. Pray, think, decide. Pray,
think, decide. And that's why I've just started
saying. That we don't all give the same amount,
but we give the same percentage, which is just
100 % of whatever you decide between you and
God. And I don't think that God is twisting your
arm or any of our arms because of what Paul said
in Corinthians. He's looking for hearts that
are delighted. He's looking for hearts that have
a sense of joy that they get to do something.
There is no joy on the other side of a twisted
arm. So let's let go of control. Let's see the
alternative and let's delight in the Lord. Of
course, it's not just the church or religion
that tries to control our finances. Sometimes
we forget that we are not what we own. Say it
again. We are not. What we own, our possessions
are not our person. When he died in 1990, Malcolm
Forbes was worth an estimated $400 million. Malcolm
Forbes is the one that was known. Well, it's
attributed to him that he coined the phrase that
he who dies with the most toys wins. Wins what?
Wins what? You're dead. You don't know people
admire how much money you had. Luke 12, Jesus
says, watch out, be on your guard against all
kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance
of possessions. It wasn't long after Forbes'
death, it might have even been happening during
his life, that people started changing how that
phrase ends. You can say it with me, he who dies
with most toys still dies. We cannot let things
control us either. We have to look for the alternatives
so that we can delight in the Lord. We cannot
let things convince us that they are what we
are and distract us from God. I also think that
we have to, in order to delight in the Lord,
that we have to learn, especially in relationship
to money, we have to learn that wisdom is worth
more than wealth. Wisdom is worth more than wealth.
Proverbs 3 .13. Blessed are those who find wisdom,
for she is more profitable than silver. Proverbs
16. How much better to get wisdom than gold?
Last year, every day when I would drive my son
Wallace to seventh grade, we had this little
Psalms and Proverbs book. That's all it was was
Psalms and Proverbs, and it was like stashed
in the passenger side door. And on the way, almost
every day, he'd pick it up, we'd open it, and
he would read it, I would drive, he would read
it. And he would read something out loud from
the Proverbs. And just for a couple minutes on
the way to school, we would talk about what that
meant for him as a seventh grader. Developmentally
speaking, middle schoolers are at a place where
the chemicals in their brains and the hormones
going through their bodies are trying to convince
them that everybody is looking at them. And what
happens is what's on the outside, their possessions,
not just whether they're handsome or not, but
their possessions can become their person. And
what they have gets elevated above who they are.
I remember being in middle school, and there
was a kid. I won't say his name because it's
such a unique name. Some of you surely have heard
his name before. We were in middle school together,
and he was picking on this kid. And it was just
me and the two of them because we were coming
up from tennis for gym or something. And I kind
of was like, hey, man, leave him alone. And he
says to me, man, I was going to say your shoes
look nice. Because developmentally, he's going,
oh, what's on the outside is what matters. I
didn't really care what my shoes looked like
that much, I guess. But shoes and brands and
outfits and looks get elevated above goodness
and kindness and wisdom. But wisdom is worth
more than wealth. And we need character to shine
through so that we know how to make up our minds
about what we do with money. I think sometimes
us as adults, we have yet to learn the lesson
that we should have learned in middle school,
that we are not the things that we have. One
thing that we should definitely have learned
and should definitely become more apparent as
we age is that peace cannot be purchased. You
cannot buy it no matter how much money you have.
You cannot buy peace. It is not going to happen.
Philippians 4, Paul says, I have learned to be
content whatever the circumstances. The worries
that we have about things like... the size of
our house, our bank accounts, what kind of car
we drive. Generally speaking, these things would
not have made sense to someone like Paul. And
the reason they would not have made sense to
someone like Paul isn't just because cars didn't
exist back then, but it's because by the time
that Paul wrote Philippians, he'd been beaten
multiple times because of his faith and imprisoned
multiple times because of his faith. He's actually
writing the book of Philippians from house arrest
because of his faith. And yet, he was at peace.
For Paul, there was one thing that offered peace.
And he could look at the empire. He could look
at Herod Antipas. He could look at the Herods
that he had to come in contact with, or the Roman
rulers that he had to come in. And they had wealth
beyond your imagination. If you ever get the
opportunity to go to Caesarea Philippi, or Caesarea
Maritima in Israel, And look at the foundations
of the place that he had been on house arrest.
It is one of the most beautiful places you have
ever seen. And they built these things. Just
unimaginable wealth. And yet he had more peace
than they. I've heard people say, well, billionaires
don't seem to have many worries. People say,
well, it sure looks like money buys peace for
them. And to that I would say, then why do they
always want more? And why do they never stop
trying to get it? In the last 10 years, just
in the last decade, the wealthiest 1 % of the
world, 1 % of the world, 80 million people in
the last 10 years have added $33 .9 trillion
to their wealth. Now, of course... That money
isn't spread out evenly, right? Just the wealthiest
3 ,000 billionaires. There's more than 3 ,000
billionaires. Did you know that? Just the wealthiest
3 ,000 billionaires added in 10 years $6 .5 trillion
to just their wealth. And it gets worse. In that
same 10 years, just the 10 wealthiest people
in the world. Well, 10 years ago, all of them
together had $559 billion. Okay? That's $55 .9
billion each if it was spread out evenly for
10 people. Now, those 10 people have $2 .6 trillion.
One person has nearly three -quarters of a trillion
dollars by themselves. So how much is enough?
How much money brings contentment? Some of us
in here are thinking about, I think about it.
I'm not going to lie. I think about it. I think,
man, if I just made a little bit more. Oh, if
I do this side thing with pastors. Oh, if that
paid just a little bit more. Oh, if that, like,
oh. But you know what? It will not bring peace.
It will not bring contentment. There is no amount
of money. That will do that. And this is the
truth. Because those 10 people that have a value
of $2 .6 trillion could end world hunger by themselves.
And yet they are still starving for more. I started
this saying that it's fair that churches should
acknowledge. The faults that religion makes,
that churches make. I also think it's a fair
thing to say that churches need to ask themselves
how much is enough. Churches don't always know
how to stop pushing for more giving. Churches,
pastors. It's also important for us as a community
to know when to be content and how to be content.
How to live modestly. Here's the truth. Our annual
budget as a church, the giving that our congregation
provides is in the arena of 50 to 70 % of some
other churches that are the same size as us.
But we will not get up and twist arms. Even me
telling you that, someone could go, oh, he's
pulling one on us. He's trying to trick us. There
are things that we can do. There are things that
churches do all the time. But I just don't think
that we're willing to do some of those things
that have to be done in order to double the budget.
And a $10 ,150 monthly budget is modest and a
place to be content for now. And if the Lord
provides more, we'll do our best to be wise with
that. Because we do not want to be stressed or
angry or frustrated or hurting each other. We
want to let go of control. We want to look at
the alternatives and we want to delight in the
Lord. And we want people that call this their
church home to feel delighted that they're a
part of it. And to not have a poison pill. of
how the church treats them about giving. At the
end of the day, God is asking us to be trustworthy
with what we have as individuals and as a church.
That's also part of the reason that we've continued
our conversation with the third place about whether
the lobby would be a good temporary spot for
them. Because God has given us this building
to steward. We don't own it, but we lease it.
And it's important that we ask, what has God
given us that we can use for good? This last
week, I met with one of the board members of
Third Place to officially have them walk through
the building. Jeff, the building owner, obviously
knows this. The trustees, we've talked about
this. They're on what's called a one -month fact
-finding opportunity. They're just looking at
the different options that they have. But they
would not intend on moving until this summer.
They would not want to move here or share our
lobby unless the intention was that they would,
as soon as possible, be able to build out and
be in the other end of the building. But it's
our responsibility to think what has God given
us and how can we be a good steward of it? How
can we be faithful? Because what this church
can do is not just about the dollars that are
given. What this church can do is not just about
the dollars that can be given. It's about the
people that are here. It's about the tables you're
sitting at. It's about the doors that you walk
through. So for all of us, God's asking us to
be trustworthy, to listen to our hearts, to make
up our own minds as individuals and as a church,
to let go of control, to find the alternative.
And delight in the Lord with all of our hearts.
Amen? Yeah, let's pray. Father God, we thank
you for peace and wisdom and having an identity
that is found in you, not by the brands or clothes
that we put on our back. We pray that you just
fill us with delight today. We just have a sense
of delight at getting to be with you and getting
to be with each other as we move towards the
table. Amen.