Difference Makers III, High Risk, High Reward

I grew up with sports as pretty easily defined. I mean, how many of you grew up, when you went out to play sports, it was like pick up baseball, football, soccer, something like that, basketball? Now, I mean, you have so many things to choose from. And there's some of the weirdest things that I've ever, I mean, there's sports where they plop someone down the top of the mountain and give them a bike and say, go down the mountain, not on the road, just dodging down rocks and over tree stumps and that kind of thing. There's things called the X Games on ESPN, where there's all kinds of motorized craziness that's going on. And sports has just taken on a whole new level of risk. Rock climbing and those kinds of things, and just 30 years ago, you didn't see people hanging from the underside of cliffs. We even have a little, you can see it faintly there. That guy's nuts. I mean, you're nuts to do that, right? But what is that about? Well, it's people wanting to push the envelope. But here's what's interesting. In today's world, we're more and more in tune with that, because television now goes everywhere people go. And what's becoming increasingly big is like real TV. Did you know that? I mean, real TV in this new season is the biggest thing going. Like Survivor, and now Survivor 2, and we're going to get a whole new shipment of these kinds of programs. I just wanted to point out, by the way, Real Families was on board two years before the wave. Just thought I'd point that out. But real TV, you know, I saw a little clip on an airplane recently of what's going to be happening. There's a show up in Norway. Now, they might do a knockoff of this, or they might do this very show, where they started at the southernmost part of Norway and trekked 1,000 miles almost to the North Pole. 14 different people. And I mean, this was like, they were going through and kayaks, and these ice rivers, and up in the glaciers, and all this nutty stuff. And they finally show the people barely can breathe at the top of the mountain at the end. And it's not to win a million dollars or a contract that's going to put you, et cetera. The guy gets a Jeep. Big deal. I mean, he needs an ambulance is what he needs. But what are they doing? They're just showing you that people today, especially young people, they want to live life as far out as they can. The word is experience. They want to experience all of life. They want the adventure that life has to offer. And we in the church miss the boat, because we make many of these dynamic young people think that, well, but to be a Christian is sort of the boring, old way. I'm here to tell you something. The greatest adventure in life is the adventure of following Jesus, the most extreme adventure. If you want to get extreme, follow Jesus seriously. He will put you in places you won't believe. You'll be hanging upside down on the side of cliffs with people, figuratively speaking. He'll put you out there where you'll experience his power and grace in a way you can't imagine. He wants us to understand that there's risk involved if you want a reward. It's going to take high risk to gain high reward in the kingdom of heaven. And just keep in mind that in Jesus' day, most of the people that followed him were young people. The average lifespan, by the way, in Jesus' day was about 40, 42. So Jesus is very clear, as he teaches here in Matthew 25, about what to do in order to invest your life in a way to gain a high reward. Let's read it together. Matthew 25, 14. If you don't have your Bible, just listen. I'm going to use a translation, by the way. People say, what translation do you like, Jay? I like the NIV, because it's accurate and easy to read. But the New Living Translation is an excellent alternative if you want something just to spice up your reading a little bit. This is a translation, not a paraphrase. Here's how it reads. Again, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and gave them money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave five bags of gold. Now, in your Bible, it might say talents. But five bags of gold to one, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of gold to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities, and then left on his trip. The servant who received the five bags of gold began immediately to invest the money and soon doubled it. The servant with two bags of gold also went right to work and doubled the money. But the servant who received one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money for safekeeping. After a long time, their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money, accountability. The servant to whom he had trusted the five bags of gold said, sir, you gave me five bags of gold to invest, and I've doubled the amount. The master was full of praise. Well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's party. Well, it says actually let's celebrate together, but same thing. Next came the servant who had received the two bags of gold with a report, sir, you gave me two bags of gold to invest, and I've doubled the amount. The master said, well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together. Any difference in the reward? Nope. Five talents, two talents. The key was faithfulness. But look at the next one. Then the servant with the one bag of gold came and said, sir, I knew you were a hard man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. I was afraid that I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth, and here it is. But the master replied, you wicked and lazy servant. You think I'm a hard man? And he wasn't agreeing with him. He said, you think I'm a hard man, do you? Harvesting crops I didn't plant and gathering crops I didn't cultivate? Well, you should have at least put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. Take the money from this servant and give it to the one with 10 bags of gold. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, hallelujah. And they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Powerful story. Now remember the context. The disciples had asked Jesus, how will you know it's the end of the age? And Jesus said, well, lots of things are going to happen. Number one, he said, you're not really ever going to know the day, because only the Father knows, and he's not telling. And number two, he said, a lot of people are going to stop watching. They're going to be ready for a while, then they're going to give it up and just start getting involved in things. Don't be like that. That's the parable of the 10 virgins. And then he tells this story, Matthew 25. He says, and I'm going to give you some things, some talents, to invest. While I'm gone, you need to make the most of your talents. And that's a big deal. Now it uses the word here, bags of gold. And in some translations, it says money. But most translations, it says talents. And the talent, of course, can be translated into money or a bag of gold or whatever. Here's what I want to do, just for the purpose of today. I'm going to use $20 bills to symbolize bags of gold. I was a little short on bags of gold for today. So I came up with $20 bills. I tried to get five to represent five talents, but this is all Carol had for my allowance for the week. So I got three. So let's just say that these are our talents, all right? And I want to talk about these talents, whether they represent your abilities or your physical money. Let's just talk about them for a little bit. The number one thing we need to know that Jesus says is the issue of ownership. Let's put that up, please. Ownership, that's the number one thing. On your outline, the first thing you've got to get clear if you're going to invest wisely and get a high reward is understand that God owns everything. You say, well, I've heard that before, but that doesn't really seem to stack up when it comes down to paying, does it? Oh, yes, it does. If you understand the principle of ownership, you understand this. You didn't bring anything into the world, and you don't take anything out. At the end of all this, 60, 70, 80, 90 years, there will not be a U-Haul behind your hearse. You're just going to go the way you came in. Simple as that. God just says, while you're here, though, I'm going to give you a lot of stuff to manage. I'm going to give you the responsibility of managing your talents and abilities, and I'm going to give you some things, and I want you to become a good manager of my property. Look at that scripture, Matthew 25, 14. He trusted his, circle word, his property. It belongs to him. Everything we have belongs to him. Now, we get to use them and enjoy them. We get to benefit from them, but we don't own them. And the problem is, loved ones, we get way too attached to God's stuff. Hello? Way too attached to God's stuff. It's kind of like this. Let's just imagine that someone from, let's say, Swigley Heights or someplace like that says, you know, we have a 200-acre estate here in Swigley Heights, Jay, and we want you and Carol to go ahead and live there for the three months we're going to be gone this summer. We're going over to the continent, and we want you to stay in our estate. We just want you to take care of the plants and the animals. And oh, by the way, we have a little barn with three horses that Carol can have, and we have a little sports car garage over here for you, and so on and so on. And it's all yours for three months. And I say, hey, well, that's a deal. And we've got a nice lake with a view and a big, beautiful house. OK, so I move in, and I get to liking this stuff. Well, three months later, he comes back, and the owner says, well, we're back from our vacation, and kind of time to swap back over. And I turn to him, and I say, well, you know what? I kind of like my view. I kind of like my garage with my three cars, and I kind of like Carol's barn and her three horses, and I kind of like my 200-acre estate. What's the wrong word that I'm using there? What's he going to say to me? Yeah, he'll probably be a little less kind than I would. Yeah, he's just going to say, take a hike. I said you could use it. You don't own it. Now, don't let that seem like too far of a stretch, love. That's exactly what the Bible is saying. We don't really own it. We have been entrusted by God with it. And that can be a very freeing thing. You know, if God owns the stuff that we think that we have, then he's also responsible for it if we entrust it to him. And therefore, we don't have to worry so much about it. How many of you spend way too much time worrying about stuff? Don't put your hand up, because most all of us would agree with that. It's an interesting thing, you know? When there's something wrong with somebody else's stuff, you don't worry about it. Let me take you forward to spring. In spring here in a few months, if your lawn grows up and it's full of weeds, you just get, oh man, what a pain. And you're kind of, how am I going to take care of this? If your neighbor's lawn is full of weeds and a mess, you don't care at all, right? In fact, you're kind of glad if it's next to yours. It makes yours look better. Well, God says, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it. Now, that's why someone like Jack and Jan Fink can lose everything they own. Their house burned down right before Christmas. Remember that? You college students might not have heard that story. But a couple of days before Christmas, their entire house burned down to the ground. They lost everything. And they could be despondent. They lost their heirlooms and their family treasures. But instead, they're here praising God and thanking Him that they were spared and that they're beginning a new chapter in their life. Why? Because God owned it all, and God just allowed it to go. And now they're replenishing with new things that God has given them. So first things first, understand that God owns it all. He owns it all. You only get to manage it. And by the way, we all own something. Some of you say, well, I wish I was a person that had five talents, but I only have two. That's God's choice. Don't complain about the number of things that you have. He knows what you can manage. But by the way, if you're faithful with the little things, He's going to grant you more. And one more thing, can I say, look on your outline. From whom much is required, much is required rather from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given. Here's a question for you. How many of you believe you're of the much more category? How many of you think of much more than the average person? Well, you know what? You don't understand how you live. Can I say that? You need to get outside of the good old North Hills. You need to go with Charlie Beck over to China. You need to go down to Mexico. You need to go to Ecuador, where one of our teams is heading this week to deliver our shoe boxes and take some of our goods. Folks, we are the much more of the world. You say, well, I don't have as much as my neighbor. You live in the top 2% of the world. You do. Therefore, much more is required. Number two, what do you do with it then? What do you do with the talents that God's given to you? Well, you've got three choices as I see it. Three options. The first is you can make the option of just go ahead and taking your talents and spending them on yourself. And just continuing to just put more and more of it into your bank accounts, or buying your stuff, or getting what you want to indulge your fantasies. And so that's number one. I'm going to talk about that a little bit more in a moment. Number two, you can just sit on it. You can take that talent and just put it away and just kind of hide it. Just bury it down there so no one really knows that you have it except you, and it just doesn't do anything. Or number three, you can invest it. You can invest it. You can invest it according to how God has directed us in his word. I want to look at each of these for just a moment. See, I believe that the general, if you will, drift of the church in America in the new millennium is toward number one, taking their talents and sort of unconsciously, because the devil doesn't usually tempt us overtly, but sort of unconsciously invest more, listen to me now, more and more of our stuff into ourselves. We begin to think that somehow God owes us a higher standard of living. We begin to think if we don't have more that we really aren't going to be happy, and so on and so on. Pastor Scott shared with me something a few weeks ago that I thought was helpful at this very point from George Barna and his research team. I've mentioned him before from this platform. He's the most highly respected Christian researcher in America. The highlights of his study for the year 2000, this current year, here's five of his top 12 descriptors of what's going on in the church. Now, when he talks about the church, he's not talking about the main, he's talking about people like us who believe in Jesus Christ and his work. Here's number one. This isn't on your outline. He says, number one, he discovered that desiring to have a close personal relationship with God ranks just sixth among the 21 life goals tests trailing such desires as living comfortable lifestyles. You understand what that's saying? When surveyed, in other words, Christians said, I'd rather have a comfortable lifestyle before a close personal relationship with God. Again, he's not talking about Joe six-pack here. He's talking about believers. Number two, he says this. Born-again Christians spend, look at this, seven times as much time on entertainment as they do on spiritual activities. Now, I'm not going to pick on any one group of people here. But some of you know that your entertainment could take you four, or five, or six hours just to do one round. I'm just teasing. I'm just teasing. I saw a couple people out there that I know like their golf. OK, I'm just teasing. We all have our entertainment things. But that shocked me. But it's true. We unconsciously, you know, we watch television. We do this. We do that. Seven times more than we spend doing the things of God. Number three, in a representative nationwide survey among born-again adults, none of the individuals interviewed said that the single most important goal in their life is to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ. Look at this one. Among born-again Christian adults, only 8% tithe their income to their church. You want to know why the church is limited and what it gets done in the world today? Why we can't do the great creative things? Why we can't compete with the world to win the hearts of our kids? Because of that number right there. 8% tithe. 16% decide they're not going to give anything. Just showing up is their contribution. And finally, most Christians' votes in this past election were influenced more by their economic self-interest than by their spiritual and moral values. What's it saying? It's saying that whether we know it or not, by and large, we are investing our talents in ourselves. And that will not lead to a heavenly reward. The second group, and it shouldn't be too difficult to understand why this doesn't please the Lord, it's people who just bury their talent. These are the nothing venture, nothing gain crowd. These are the ones that just feel safer not getting involved, you know? It's interesting. When the Lord, the master returns and the people say, well, here's your money back, here's your talent back, the Lord doesn't say, well, gee, that wasn't very smart. He says something I wouldn't expect him to say. He says, what? You, say it. Say it again. You wicked and lazy servant. That is not a word I would associate with someone that made a bad investment. You know, that was not very bright or that was short-sighted, but he said wicked. You wicked servant. Why does he use such a forceful word? Because I believe that God knows that he's entrusted you with a treasure, your talent, whatever it is. And you all have talents. How many of you have talents in organization? You're organizationally talented. How many of you have talents in hospitality? You love to welcome people and make them. How many of you have talents in cooking? I'd like to see you after the service, please. Is this a thing? How many of you have talents in music? How many of you have talents in leadership? You see, God's given you all talents and he's saying, it's a treasure I've given to you and for you to squander it and hide it, that's a wicked thing to do. Why? Because other people are not being helped and you're withholding love. And that's why it's such a difficult thing in the eyes of the Lord. Don't bury your talent. I just want you to know if your mission here is to come and be comfortable, my mission is to make you uncomfortable. Not because I don't want to be your friend, but because I don't want God to say on that final day, and by the way, did you notice, you're gonna give an account. This has nothing to do with whether or not you'll be a person that will enter into heaven. But it has an awful lot to do with what your eternity will look like. Third option, the best one is to invest in the kingdom. Invest in the kingdom and you'll not only enjoy eternal reward, you'll enjoy reward today. Here's the problem. Lots of times we make an investment and we just don't know why, but it doesn't seem to work out. Has that happened to you? You've given something and you weren't appreciated. I know a couple that a few years ago moved into a new subdivision here in the North Hills, of which there are many, many, many. And after about six months, they said, we'd like to reach our neighbors for the Lord, so we're gonna have a, what we call a seeker Bible study in our home. And so they sent out 30 invitations to their new neighbors and they had eight couples respond and say, well yeah, we'll come and check it out. You know, we'd like to see the inside of your house and see if ours is nice or anyhow. So we'll come and check it out. And so they made preparations. Wife had a hospitality going and she had nice food prepared and the house was all clean and kids were taken care of. And they waited on that night and they waited and you know, the weather wasn't all that bad. It was a spring day, not a winter day. And they waited and they waited and for an hour they waited and nobody came. They were heartbroken. They called me the next day and said, Jay, what did we do wrong? Eight people said they were gonna come. I said, you know, you didn't do anything wrong. You did what God told you to do. You were obedient. You invested your time. They were discouraged for a while. A week later, one of the couples called and said, hey, we want to apologize. Something came up, just one, just one call. In fact, we feel so badly. Would you come over to our house for dinner? They went over to their house, shared a meal with them. Within three weeks, they led that couple to Christ. And now the Bible study for the neighborhood is in that couple's home. But it only happened because one couple was willing to risk the possibility that they wouldn't get an immediate return in their investment, that maybe something would go on that was just beyond their control. And see, they overcame that important thing that holds us all back on your outline. Number three, what motivates us? The key to motivation, I should say, is overcoming our fear. Fear always keeps me from using my talent. I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. Circle the word afraid and hid. That goes all the way back to Adam and Eve, doesn't it? There's all kinds of fear. Fear that you won't do well. Fear that you won't pull it off. Fear that somehow, you know, I've failed in the past, I'm gonna fail again. I remember all the way back when you were a kid in school when the teacher asked, who knew the answer to the question, you were afraid to put your hand up because you might have the wrong answer. Some of you still have that problem. That was an easy one and it's just in there. Fear, fear of failure. Listen, fear of failure is worse than failure itself. Do you know how many times I have failed in my leadership here? Lots of times. Made decisions I shouldn't have made. I remember, I probably failed a dozen times just trying to find a place to put this church. In 1991 and two, we just couldn't get it right. Couldn't seem, and yet, just keep doing it. I dated dozens of women before I met my wife. Got shot down lots of times and finally, got it right. I tell the staff here at North Way, you know, go out and try some things and it's okay to fail. Just don't fail on the same thing over and over again. That's not a good thing. I just wanna say to all of you, can I give you a pastoral commission for today? Go out and fail once this week. Yep, you heard me right. Go out and have a good failure somewhere. Now, I don't mean go do something stupid. I mean, risk something. You know, risk sharing or risk inviting or risk involving or serving and getting rejected or getting put down or getting dissed in some way. But risk it, and if you fail, God has something else in mind. Someone told me after the first service that a great scientist said, the definition of a genius is a person who can make the greatest number of mistakes in the shortest period of time. And the reason that is so is because eventually, they will come to the solution more quickly. Don't be afraid to fail. People say to me, well, you know, I'm afraid of like, you know, being over committed or I'm afraid of disappointing. I've even had people say, I'm not gonna get involved in the ministry because I'm afraid I might disappoint you. Because, you know, I can't be committed. Well, you know, here's the deal. That's disappointing to me. Go ahead and give it a shot. And if you can't fulfill it, then we'll understand and we'll make accommodations. It's much more important to give it a shot. Don't be bound by your past failures. You say, well, you know, Jay, you just don't know how bad I really have made my life, what a mess I've made. You don't know how God could ever use me or my talents. I don't know. I mean, I don't believe he ever could. I mean, you just don't know what my talent's been like. I made a mess of my life. You'd like this, Joel? You would like this, wouldn't you? Joel's a wise young man. He would like this 20 bucks. Okay, Joel. You don't want that, do you? You would still like it? It's kind of crumpled up though. Okay, Joel, last shot. You'll still take it. Okay, Joel, you're the man. You get it? You can have it just like it is. You're not a dumb kid, are you? No, no. Why? Because you see, that $20 bill we'll spend, he put it right in his pocket. He's quick. Okay? He's quick. He knows I'm gonna come looking for it right after the service. He knows that that $20 is worth every bit as much as it was crackly, sparkly new. Listen to me, loved one. Your life might've had some real heartbreak, and you might've been broken a few times, and folded over, and stepped on, and squashed, and hurt, and even torn, but you have eternal value that never changes, and God wants to use those talents. He wants you to make a difference with him. Don't be lied to by the devil that you can't matter. Don't believe that because you've made some mistakes, or because you've filed up, or because you're not as talented, or as perfect as someone else appears to be, that God can't use you. God has great plans for you. The key is that you lay hold of that, and begin to believe that, and then pursue it with passion. Number four, pursue it with passion, because if you're just sort of indifferent about it, it won't happen. Look at the next verse. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart. That's the definition of passion, as working for the Lord. You see, part of what happens is we withhold. You know, we just sort of, we just dabble a little bit at it, rather than diving into it. This is a big deal. I am convinced that God many times honors people with less talent and more passion than people who have lots of talent and little passion. I'm convinced that God notices when people are wholehearted. In fact, 2 Chronicles 16, nine says, He looks to and fro over the whole earth to find those whose hearts are wholly committed. One translation says, deeply passionate toward Him. Why? Because God is a passionate God. God is a more than kind of God. God is a and then some kind of God. He demonstrated how passionate He was about creation. I mean, when you think every snowflake out there, loved ones, is different. Hello? Who'd have thought of that? I just had them all coming down the same and just missing my driveway. That's what I would have done, you know? And God created, I mean, He could have created two dozen or maybe a hundred kinds of flowers. Instead, there are thousands of different kinds of flowers. I mean, God even went to the, I mean, He went to the extreme. You know, He created 500,000 species of beetles. I mean, maybe 10 would have been enough kinds of beetles. He just went overboard. He was sending a message. He made trillions of stars to tell us there's nothing He can do. He's not limited in any way. He's passionate about His creation and He wants us to be passionate back to Him. Passionate just means I want to give a little bit more than is expected. I want to give more than just the average, the mediocre. I want to give what represents my best. You notice that the man who was given five talents went right out, the Bible says, went out immediately and got to work. The one that had two, he went right after it in verse 17 and got to work. You see, there are people in this church, they're passionate about it. There's kids, ministry people who come in early and stay late and call their little ones during the week to see how they're doing. There are people who run small groups who check up on their folks and make sure that all their needs are met from week to week. There are people who do the extra that you don't even see up in the sound booth or back behind the scenes in the kitchen area. There are people serving everywhere. I want you to hear from one person who, you know, they'd been involved in ministry at other times and other places, but something happened when they got here that began the light of fire in them. And I want you to hear just a short testimony. Bill Cavanaugh, where are you? Just give him a warm welcome as Bill comes up to share this morning. Thanks, Bill, for staying. Appreciate it. I see you, unbeknownst to Bill, by the way, team here, just stand with him. Go ahead. Good morning. My name is Bill Cavanaugh. My wife's name is Donna. We have two children. Brianna is 11 years old and in the fifth grade, and Kara is eight years old. She's in the second grade. We have lived in Cranberry since 1985. Our family came to North Way just recently this past spring, and my wife and I completed the Discovery 101 class with Bob Zontz and Brian Gagnon. Prior to joining North Way, I was an active member at our previous church, serving as a Sunday school teacher for the senior high students. With the high school students, this is where my passion lied. My wife and likely my kids would tell you this is because I'm still a kid myself. Upon arrival at North Way and seeing the fire for the kids, as well as the number one item on a church mission statement of preparing the next generation, I knew without question that this is where God wanted us. Confirmation of this came in a big way at the Youth Sunday service in early June. We were home. As I learned about the youth program, I saw it was a bit different than what I had previously experienced. I felt a burden on my heart as I tried to determine if I belonged. I do admit to being intimidated and feeling not on the same level as the youth leaders in the program. I wasn't sure I could fit in. I wasn't sure I could commit as I felt like a rookie among seasoned veterans. Should I take the risk? Or since I was a new member, should I ride it out a while and make a decision later down the road? It was on a particular Sunday during the summer that it was my decision time. And Pastor Jay's message coincidentally, or should I say divinely, that Sunday was about service. The funny thing is Pastor Jay was talking to me direct. I was recharged. I was now saying to myself, I can do this. I can do this. Immediately after the service in the car, I told my wife Donna that I felt Pastor Jay was talking to me directly and that I could indeed be a part of the senior leadership team. I made a commitment to Mark Hessel shortly after and I have not looked back one time. I am revitalized by the Holy Spirit and my passion for God and the kids. In the past, where I might have been apprehensive about dancing, raising hands, kneeling, hugging, what's up with that? It couldn't seem more natural and genuine now and more real. I am excited about my involvement of co-leading a small group, developing new friendships and trusts and worshiping God with the students. I am especially excited about the future as both Donna and I see Pastor Jay's vision for this church. I do not wanna miss a single minute. There have been nights at Planet X and I've told this to other leaders and friends that if I were simply a bystander or only an invited observer that I would be completely satisfied with my role. The love for God and for the kids and each other is indescribable and priceless. Sunday night is never less than awesome and it is one of the highlights of my week. I am honored to have been asked to speak today but I would like to state that any other youth leader could be before you right now speaking. Passion for service can only be heightened and excelled to levels thought unattainable when you are surrounded by other people who have the same passion. God has truly graced my life and my family's by calling us to North Way as our church home. I am grateful and thank God every day for sending us here. I am thankful to my wife and my children for