Fit For Life V, The Secrets Of Financial Fitness

Before we share the message, you know, people ask me what's different about our church and there are a lot of great churches around, but one of the things that I believe is unique about our church is that we seek to be open to the prompting of the Lord without getting like totally wild and disorganized about it. Because God, on occasion, He did in the first service as well, He nudges somebody to speak something that's really relevant. In this case, one of our elders, Ken Adams, has a little picture he wants to share with you about what might be going on in some of your hearts right now as you've been listening this morning. Ken? Just as we're worshiping God, just fashioned a picture in my heart of something that happened years ago. My mom and dad were driving down the road in their car and they looked over and saw a young couple there with a girl sitting real close to the driver cuddling along and my mom said to my dad, look at Merle, look at how cute they look, how come we never sit that way anymore? And my dad said to her, well, I never moved, you know, and I just think God has fashioned in a picture about our hearts here when Katie sang that song in the worship team that there's a distance that's happened with some of us in our intimacy, in our relationship with the Lord and maybe it's through attrition, maybe it's through complacency or maybe you don't know why, but if you're here today and you feel like you've drifted away and you don't sense that love and you don't feel that closeness with God, He wants to bring you back to that place today. If He'll acknowledge that in your heart, that's the starting point and He'll bring you back. He's faithful to do that. Okay. Thanks, Ken, very much. There's going to be a time as we prepare for communion when I'm going to give you a specific opportunity to pray a prayer that would enable you to respond to that very vivid image. I want to encourage you to take your outline out of your notes this morning and let's look at what God has to say to us today from His Word and just before we do that, how many of you remember that some weeks ago we started off with a team of three guys, Mark, Jay and Mark, and they were going to take our challenge to become fit for life. Do you remember that? And we got a little bit sidetracked because of all the events, but they've been working at this. So we wanted to give you a video update of what's going on with Mark, Jay and Mark as they're seeking to get themselves physically and spiritually fit. Let's watch this update. Here we go. My fitness goal is I want to make that, this, look like that. So Mark, how's the workouts going so far? Pretty good. Feeling pretty buff. You feeling buff? Yeah, not looking buff yet. Not feeling buff. Well, you know, these last few weeks have been pretty interesting and if I had to use two words to kind of sum it up, the first word would be salad. Lots and lots of salad. But the second word is accountability. I mean, it gets pretty rough around this house. In fact, we had a little incident happen this week and let us show you a little bit of a reenactment of what happened to me this week. It's really happened. Check it out. What the? Hey! Did you guys take the pop cards? I'm filling out my body composition form. Just show how much lean muscle you got. And what we do in certain areas of the body, we pull away the, actually the fat. You're not going to film her doing this to me, are you? In front of the chest, right at the abs, and in front of your thighs. Take your shirt off. And then all you have to do is relax my chest. Just be careful. He's at 17.4% body fat. That's one more day, babe. And what they recommend is 10 to 15%. So you're just slightly above what they, what the health professionals consider a healthy range. Most Americans are overweight, yes. But she did say, I mean, just for everybody, I'm right where I should be, almost. Yes, he's right within the range he should be. Nice job, baby. Welcome to the crucible. Where three guys living together find out what happens when people stop being nice. Oh. I'm working towards physical health. I'm also working towards spiritual growth. And I have two guys that I live with that I'm able to share my life with. Talk about my struggles at work. The big thing that I'm learning in our time together here, 6 o'clock in the morning, is that being awake and accountable at 6 o'clock in the morning is not always a fun thing to do. No, but it's important because I found that I can live with, that you can live with somebody and not necessarily be close to them. The spiritual is just as hard work, and at times in this group, a lot of sweat. A lot of spiritual sweat when things get a little hot. Come on, there's blessing in getting together with God in the morning. It's still the morning at 7.30. Yeah. It's still the morning at 11 o'clock. That's right, that's the point. That's why we got to meet early, guys, right there. Well, there you go. They're, what, four weeks or so into this, and they've got three or four weeks to go. And we're going to have them come up and give a live report soon. Mark was sure he was within the boundaries of the, I got to find out what that was about there, Mark. Right within the limits. But anyhow, I'm proud of the guys. I mean, they've been hanging in there doing this thing, and this is all about being healthy spiritually. I mean, there's no better preventive medicine I can think of in any circumstance than to be spiritually healthy and physically healthy at the same time. So hats off to the guys, and keep after it, and I think they'd probably appreciate your prayers, too, from what I can tell, they're being challenged. If you'll turn to Malachi 3, I want to read a scripture for you this morning, and sort of set up today's message in a particular fashion. Because I want you to get the context, and we're going to look today at what I've, I've changed the title, really. I'd planned this message two months ago, but I'm going to call it Common Sense, because this is what it really is when it comes down to being fit before God in this very important part of our lives. Context is Malachi 3, verses 6 through 18. And the prophet is coming to the people of God, and here he is. God has taught the people throughout his history how to be pleasing to him morally, spiritually, ethically, and financially. And here's what he says to them, Malachi 3, let's read it. I, the Lord, do not change, so you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Just think about that for a second. That's a decent praise of the Lord right there. I mean, that's why we have breath, because God doesn't change. Ever since the time of your forefathers, you have turned away from my decrees, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, how are we to return? They're asking, how do we come back to you, God? And here's his response. Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, how do we rob you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse, the whole nation of you, because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven, and pour out so much blessing, that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruits, says the Lord Almighty. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty. You've said harsh things against me, says the Lord. Yet you ask, what have we said against you? Well, you've said it's futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out His requirements, and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape. Have you ever heard people complaining, I serve God, I do my best, and other people seem to get ahead, and I don't. Do you ever hear that? I hear that all the time. The Lord is saying, don't go there. Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord, and honored His name. They will be mine, listen to these promises. They will be mine, says the Lord, in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God, and those who do not. There is a distinction, the Lord says, and you will see it. There will come a day, it will become clear to you. I just want to share with you, there's two reasons today, why I feel this is very, very important. This subject is one that would be very easy for me to gloss over, but it's very important today. Two reasons. The first one is, I believe that the heartbeat of most everyone in this place today is to become spiritually mature. And this one area is probably the strongest point of resistance that most of us have in our walk with God. If you don't speak to it, it will just stay as a shadow lingering in your life throughout your whole journey. And you need to look at it, tear it apart and say, Okay, God, I'm on board, I get it, I understand it. I'm serious about it. And the second reason is this. We're a family here. How many of you have kids in your family, and when it comes time for chores, those kids, just the minute they get, all of a sudden they got a lot to do. Or when it comes time to cleaning up or taking care of the room, and you as a parent, let me ask you this, do you love your kids well if you say, Oh, it doesn't matter, just go do what you want to do? Or do you love them well if you help them to share in the family's business? Parents? Yeah, you're right. You want them to learn to be part of the family. The family needs to get some things done, you got to help out. Well, likewise, we're a family. And what I'm going to share today is part of what we as a maturing family need to come to terms with. So let's look at this together. And let's see how this applies to us in this whole matter of becoming spiritually fit. Question for you. How many of you here have ever been robbed of something? Something's been stolen from you. Let me just see your hand. That's astonishing. I've been amazed at how high the percentage. How many of you have had a car stolen? Let me see your hand. Look at that. That's hundreds of you. How many of you have had your house broken into? Look at this one. Isn't that amazing? Wallets, purses. I mean, I had a very nice camera stolen from a car. This has been several years ago now. I remember coming out of the car and seeing the window broken and the camera gone. Man, what is the universal thing? What do you feel when you realize you've been ripped off? What do you feel? Violated. That's right. Somebody took my thing. And more than that, it's like, wow, if they could do that, I wonder what else they could do. And you begin to think all these thoughts. And that's why it's very intriguing to me that the prophet Malachi comes on the scene and he uses this word that we have experienced when he talks about God. He says, you're robbing God. Now, in my mind, I struggle with how many of you know you can't take anything from God? In other words, he's not diminished by something you don't give him. He controls everything. So what he's really getting at is how God feels. Do you understand? He's getting at the feeling that God has. He speaks prophetically. He says, God feels violated when you withhold your tithes and your offerings from him. God feels the same way you and I feel. Now, in this context, and by the way, it's very clear going in that when it comes to this matter, Malachi makes it clear that it is personal, if you're taking notes, and it's all about being part of God's family, being one of his kids. As I mentioned before, the context was that God had given very clear direction to the people of Israel about how they should live as his children. And they were pretty good at it. I mean, for years and years and years, they followed God's plan. And when it came to this whole matter of how to be diligent with the things that God gave them financially, he gave them, to use our physical fitness analogy, the ESPN approach. I don't think they had cable TV. They probably didn't see how clear this was, but I got it right away. Here it is. First of all, earn money ethically. I could give you verse after verse after verse for each of these. Earn money ethically. Don't be a weasel. Don't try to get by on people. Get out there and work hard. Second, save consistently. Put a little something aside. There's many verses that talk about the wisdom of saving, so that when difficulties come, you're prepared for them. P, plan your spending wisely and avoid serious debt like the plague. And finally, nail your giving. Get that down cold. Give to God and to others as he leads you. And this includes the practice of tithing. Now, tithing is giving 10%. That's the definition. 10% of your increase in the workaday world over into your worship world. Bring the two together through your tithe. And see, the people got this early on because it demonstrated their gratitude to God for what he'd done for them, and it helped to support the ministry of the place that they called their church home. The people did this for centuries. They won because they obeyed God and he blessed them. God won, if you will, because he was honored and blessed. And the ministry of the temple won because the work went on without any interruption. Now, it seemed like a great plan, and the people did it. And then, suddenly, something happened. Malachi caught it. The people began to change the rules. And Malachi shows up and says, Wait a minute. You have this ESPN plan and you're not doing it now. What's going on? Some of you are doing really kind of crazy things. Like, some of you are going out to the shopping market and you're not spending wisely. In fact, you overspend your budget. So, when you come back, you don't know where you're going to get the money. So, you go into your little tithing account, and you just jump some of it over into the checking account, and, whew, problem solved. I mean, you know, God's not going to miss the 10% anyhow. I mean, He's got plenty of other people that are making it up. Another one went out and built a big house, more than they could afford. Well, you know, the only way to really begin to cover those payments was to take money out regularly out of the tithe and direct it to the house payment. But God didn't. I mean, God's not, like, He's not keeping real busy. Another person lost their job or came into adversity, and they hadn't saved anything, so they didn't have any way. But they went into the tithe and figured, well, I'll just use God's money this time in my life. And a few, hey, a few were the opposite side. Everything was going great for them, and they had some kind of great idea, you know, some basket weaving technique and started an IPO or found oil in the Middle East, and it had a windfall. But when it came time for them to tithe, they sat down to write the tithe check on the windfall, and they said, whew, that's a lot of bucks. I'm not going there. And if God doesn't like it, have His people call my people because this is just too much money to be given over. And so the people, they created their own system. Malachi, the no-fear prophet, comes in, I mean, and he says some pretty tough things here. He just says, you know, you wouldn't want to be robbed, would you? And the people would say, no. And you wouldn't think of robbing a family member. And they said, oh, no, no way. He says, well, then why in the world would you rob God? A God that you know has done nothing but give to you and love you and show you the way of salvation. Malachi makes it very clear this is not a legalistic accounting issue. It's a personal one. You're God's kids. He's your Father. How dare we rob from our Father? And the consequences of it are very painful. Malachi says it's time for a change, time to just kick back a little bit and look at it, reset the bar. And let me just say, for those of you, I'm sure there's just maybe one or two really detailed, maybe even a little cynical kind of people, and I love you too, but you're thinking, well, the church must have a problem, so Jay's going to have to talk about money today. And you know what? I just want to say, this is not about us. We don't really have a problem. Like everyone, we're having to manage through these tougher times, but you're a very generous church, and many people are sacrificing to help us do not just the ministry here, but to make room for the ministry that's coming in the future. And I just want to say thank you for that. So this isn't about North Way right now. It's about you and your growth and how God responds to you today. And I want to say one more thing, just as your pastor. After 27 years of being a pastor, I have made this observation, and it's just absolutely clear to me now, that every person I've met of significant spiritual stature, and by that I mean God is using them in some way, not necessarily publicly, but either as just a solid citizen in the kingdom or a person that's leading ministries, everyone that I've ever met has nailed this subject down. They don't waffle on it. They don't struggle every week. You know, well, I'm not sure. They know what they're supposed to do, and they do it. It's a given. And I'll tell you why that is. Because Jesus came along and He said, you know, you can't serve God in money. One or the other is going to be your primary thing, and it's going to be what you give your affection and your attention to. And the other will come along. And if it's money, that will be first. And God will kind of come along. And if it's God, He will be first. And He'll take care of the needs that you might have in your life. I remember having a conversation a while back with a man that was a newer believer. And he, you know, he took his Bible, and I always tell new believers to start in the New Testament because it's a little easier reading. But he's one of these guys, he's sort of independent. He started in the Old Testament. And he, to his credit, he plowed all the way through it. He got to Malachi. And he called me after he read Malachi. He said, what's this tithing thing? He said, I'm not sure I understand that. And I explained to him, he said, is that 10% on the net or the gross? Is that everybody or just the more spiritual people? And then he asked this kind of interesting question. He said, is this retroactive? He said, because if it is, that's serious money we're talking about here. And I know it's serious money. All money is serious. For this man, it had been one of the more serious things in his life. But you see, the tithing principle goes right to your heart. And it just kind of smokes out all the talk and all the stuff. And it makes you come to terms with, is God really serious here and throughout Scripture about giving? Or is it just something that we can massage our way through? I just have to tell you, friends, don't come back into this with the whole thing of Old Testament, New Testament. It just doesn't hold any water. If law expected this, how much more does... If grace gives so much more, how can it expect less? The law is just the baseline. And by the way, the tithe preceded the law anyhow, in terms of the Jewish structure. The tithe was given in Genesis 14 as the very first expression of God's sovereignty in our lives. And so I said to this guy, we were talking. I said, if you're going to be serious about this, there's three simple things you need to do. And this is consistent with our physical analogy. I said, you're going to need to, first of all, take a heart check. Write that down. You're going to have to take a heart check. He said, what do you mean? I said, well, take me back to the day that you first came to Christ. Do you remember that day? He said, I remember the day that you looked at me. And our eyes met that day. And then you called me. We went out and we talked a little bit. And you shared with me how having a relationship with Christ was different than having a religion that I followed. You shared with me the difference between doing and done. You told me about a cross where Jesus Christ placed himself willingly to carry the penalty for the sin that I could not pay for. And I remember thinking at the end of that conversation that, gosh, no wonder we have a hymn that we sing that's called Amazing Grace. I said, and what did you think back then? He said, I remember when that happened. And I said, I was so thankful that I realized for the first time that I was acceptable to God. And the only way I could really respond was to give my life back to him in gratitude. And when he said for me to do anything, I would do it. And I said, and now he's saying maybe take a look at your resources. And he's saying, do it my way and not your way. And he said, yeah, I guess you're right. You see, tithing isn't fundamentally about money. It's about the true condition of your heart before God. It's showing, it's showing tangibly what really matters to you. And if Jesus could give us 100% of himself on the cross, is it too much of him to ask for us to give our first 10% back to him? Look at the second verse near the bottom of your outline. And so, dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice. Pastor Scott prayed that as we opened up today. The kind he can accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? That's the point, loved ones. In view of what God has done, how can we say no? And I wonder if the prophet Malachi stood here in our church family, I wonder if he'd say, I think I have a word for you, North Way Christian community. Look at the cross. Look at the promises God has made for those who will obey his word to provide for you and care for you and supply your needs and think about what he's promised about heaven and the life to come and then decide, do you want to withhold from God? I think not. I think there's nothing that makes more sense than to do what God says. Now, in order to do that, number two, it's going to take a gut check. What does that mean? Well, when it gets down to being serious with God about this, you've got to get serious with yourself. A gut check is talking about courage. It takes some courage to do this. What does it mean to bring the full tithe, the second verse there, into the storehouse? And by the way, for those of you who are saying, well, you know, I know tithing was Old Testament, but what does it say in the New Testament? Let me bump you up one verse. Would you read this with me? This is from Jesus. This is the New Living Translation. Here's what Jesus said. He's talking to the people together, the scribes and Pharisees. For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes. Is that what that says? You should tithe, yes. But you should not leave undone the more important things. In other words, he's saying, yeah, you should tithe. That's a given. But even do the more important things of mercy and compassion and justice. I don't know. If Jesus said it more than once, would it help? Or is it once enough? It's very important. We realize that that's the baseline of our giving to God. And what does it mean to bring the full tenth? And this is where the gut check comes. You see, the full tenth isn't just what's left over. The full tenth is looking at your resources. And saying, okay, Lord, I want to honor you. And sitting down and just kind of doing the tough work of setting it aside and saying, okay, this is God's. What Caroline is, our first check. Every pay period, our first check is to the Lord. I call it the birthday cake principle. When you go to a birthday party and you cut the birthday cake, who gets the first piece of cake? You? Who gets the first piece of cake, young lady? Who gets the first piece of cake? That's exactly right, good. The person whose birthday it is. The birthday girl, the birthday boy, right? Why? Because you want to honor them. They're special. Loved ones, it's the same way. When God gives you the birthday cake of your resources, give him the first piece. It's a great thing to do. It honors him and it says loud and clear, I'm trusting God. I'm believing him. He's going to take care of me. And this takes a little bit of guts and it takes a little bit of forethought and it takes some preparation. But if you do that, you will find yourself in a position that's just greatly freeing. Just quickly, a little word to those of you, and this is a smaller subset. There's some of you here today that have been pretty successful. There's a lot of us that just kind of go month to month and we're low or moderate income people. But there's some of us that have done pretty well. Do you know proportionally speaking what statistics say? Listen to this. The more you make, the less likely it is that you tithe. Proportionally, wealthier people give a smaller proportion than people who have less money. Very interesting, isn't it? Want to know why that is? Because people who make a lot of money, when they sit down to write their tithe check and they say, okay, 10% of that. They look at that check and go, no way am I, no way. I mean, I've done my part, but that's just too much. And they push back. And that's a sad thing. And you know what? God will get his work done, but you know what? You will miss out on what God wants to do through you. And I was meeting with somebody yesterday, somebody that's been very successful in their particular profession. And they shared with me, they said, you know, I asked them how they were doing, they said, well, to be truthful with you, I'm just bored. I'm just bored. And this person has absolutely no financial concerns whatsoever. And we talked about that. And I said, what is that? I don't know, I'm just bored. And I just have a hunch it has something to do with the fact that they're not really in God's sweet spot. God will bless you in unimaginable ways. Look what Proverbs 3, 9 and 10 says. Honor God with everything you own, give him the first piece of your birthday cake, and your barns will burst and your wine vats will brim over. God will honor you as you honor him. And I just want to encourage all of you, no matter what your income level, honor God first. And then let him take care of what your needs would be. We do what 1 Corinthians 16, 2 says. We honor the Lord. Look at this. On every Lord's Day, what day is Lord's Day? What day is Lord's Day? What? Okay, so we go back and do a basic calendar search here. The Lord's Day is Sunday. First day of the week, Sunday. On the Lord's Day, I would encourage you every week to come. Every week. Because it reminds you on a weekly basis that God is your source. I mean, Paul says it. I didn't write this. He says this. Put aside something from what you've earned during the week and use it for this offering. And by the way, the amount depends on how much the Lord gives you. So just be proportionate about it, be consistent about it, and have the courage, have the guts to do it. And then number three, it takes a faith check. What does that mean? Well, it's about enduring when you don't see it. And here's what happens. Sometimes we think, well, we're going to put it in today and tomorrow morning, we're going to wake up and go out to our mailbox and we're going to have this big fat return on our investment in God. The hundred-fold return. How many of you have seen people get on television and say, if you put this seed in today, tomorrow, you're going to get in the mail and, you know, you go down that road. Folks, listen. God is not like this machine. I've planted some seeds years ago that I have not seen come forth yet. How about you? Sometimes it just doesn't happen. And I go through times of questioning and wondering. But I don't want to be the person Malachi talked about who started doubting God and saying, well, how come you're blessing them, God, and you're not blessing me? I just want to, God, I'm doing what you said. Now it's up to you to do what you said. And can I tell you, after 30-some years of doing it, I can tell you, God has never failed. He's put me way out there sometimes, but He's never failed. You know, I asked for some testimonies today like we normally have and we asked a couple people to come and they graciously declined and they told me why. And basically, it has to do with, they said, you know, I just feel awkward talking about my finances in front of the church because I don't want to boast or anything like that like I'm some kind of, and I respect that, but just as an encouragement for the people who may be saying, no, is he really serious about this? How many of you by the showing of your hands here in a moment would say, I've learned to tithe and I've discovered God keeps His word to me. Would you just put your hand up? All right. Look at that. There are several hundred of you who have put your hand up. For those of you who haven't quite discovered that, my word to you today is, it's time to make a decision. Nobody slips into this, folks. Listen, nobody just kind of says, well, you come to a day when you say, you know what? I've heard that. It's for me today. I'm going to do it. I'm going to be serious about it. I'm going to do a heart check because I realize what Christ did. I'm going to do a gut check because I'm going to get disciplined about it and I'm going to do a faith check because I know that God will supply as I trust Him going forward. If you do that and fulfill what's in God's basic plan, can I tell you what's going to happen? God is going to provide the needs that we have here far and abundant beyond what we need and more than that, He's going to bless this place with His spiritual blessings. There is a direct link between the physical and the spiritual and as we show our wholeheartedness to God, spiritually, He pours out. Miracles begin to happen. God begins to do things because the people have demonstrated their love for Him. And that's the kind of place I want to be part of. That's the kind of family I want to share in. How about you? Amen? Let's stand. Lord, we're about to just come to the table that You set, the table of communion, to the place where You demonstrated that You came to give us Your very best. And so, Lord, we ask You now to open our hearts as we prepare to receive the elements as a symbol of what You've given to us. And I pray in Jesus' name that You would now open our hearts to be reminded of Your sacrifice. Amen.