JANUARY 24, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
JOIN US LIVE AT 10 AM ON SUNDAYS!
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAVE THE DATE: The 2020 Marriage Retreat is scheduled to be Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and November 8!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
Coty Miller’s own “Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
TRANSCRIPTED SERMON:
Over the last few weeks we have kind of interrupted our current series to engage in some important cultural issues surrounding Ethnic Harmony, Justice and Reconciliation that needed to be addressed with urgency...
While our culture may have temporarily quieted down, the discussion hasn’t ended. There is still much left to do, to say, and to engage to see change in our hearts, in our church, in our country (I got sermons on Nationalism in my back pocket) and so I’ve been struggling as to what we should do next...
It feels kind of awkward to just shift back into the topic of money
We opened up this conversation on finances which we felt the Holy Spirit had placed and urgency in our hearts to engage during the COVID Season
AND, as I was talking it over with others, staff, elders, and considering the multiple directions we could take, it helped to reveal that the answer was right in front of me.
If you haven’t caught it, in the money series I was asking the question “how do we best use this preaching/teaching moment on Sundays to disciple our church in a more Kingdom-based understanding of finances?” The staff and I began to discuss this question in Oct-Nov. Somewhere in there we landed on utilizing our discipleship approach through the 3 Pillars: Devotion (UP), Community (IN), and Mission (OUT).
So, our series was already heading towards a trajectory of Finances and MISSION…
...AND often when we are awakened to injustice around us, we often ask, “What do I do now? What can I do about it? What do you want me to do now?”
What I want to do today, then, is flavor our final installment on Finances by allowing the conversations we have been having over the last few weeks to COLLIDE with the topic in our series and give something to our congregation that is tangible and overlaps with our values in a more direct way!
SO, where we have TALKED about Justice and Equity, there are ways in which we need that to translate into actions. One of those actions, as one of our leaders brought to my attention, is that we need to quite literally “put our money where our mouths are.”
As we talk about FINANCES & MISSION, consider it from three angles: Utilizing our money to
Care for Others
To create a Credible Witness
(Which is the sermon I was preparing to deliver) but I want to focus on a third usage of money for the mission...
How to use our MONEY for systemic change. We want to use our money to Fortify Healthy Communities through justice infused, equitable practices.
Each of these topics could really be individual sermons (maybe we will come back to it) we are going to spend most of my time on the final one.
One of the reasons I think this is timely is because the way we use our money individually and collectively has world-changing power!
To quote Big Worm, “Playing with my money is like playing with my emotions!”
Jesus said it like this: “Where your treasure is there you heart will be also”
If you do some reverse engineering of that principle: “you can get at the heart of a matter through the treasure too.
Many have said it: “if you want to see institutions change, hit them in the wallet.”
That’s not just a trite statement:
Civil Rights Activists organized Boycotts to force systemic change...the most famous of which is the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Boycott lasted for 381 DAYS and ultimately led to the Supreme Court ruling segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.
More recently, Jane Mosbacher Morris who wrote a book called Buy the Change You Want to See, which encourages people to keep ethics in mind as we make the small every day buying decisions, that “These small actions have big results. Our purchasing potential is like an untapped superpower.”
So, being mindful in your Kingdom based understanding as we make our purchases can influence the way businesses do what they do on a macro level! Macro/Micro
If we want to be mindful in our Kingdom understanding as we make our purchases, we need to know what that is and we have to see what God’s word says...Turn to Is. 40
As you are turning there, I want to ask you this question for the our First Reflection Time:
How would a little extra money change your life? What would you do if you had an extra 100-200 dollars in your pocket?
Now, I don’t mean you say the thing you would want everyone else to do with it, I mean what would you actually do if you randomly got 100-200 dollars for no reason at all?
I want to tell one quick story about something that happened to me when I got a little extra cash, when I first got to Indianapolis…
There were DIFFERENT motivations for giving:
I heard a prompting from the HS that I was trying to act on. I gave obediently but it didn’t really cost me anything!
I tried to give without the other person seeing it but he caught me!
This person: saw an opportunity to serve and it actually cost him something. He gave sacrificially!
Original guy who gave me the money had a hand in it to because he cause a chain reaction of giving that he wasn’t even aware had taken place.
Who knows how the server responded but I guarantee she was excited to see a tip that was 100% or more from the tab.
We ALL have different motivations and those motivations should challenge us to rise up even further in our discipleship and generosity.
AND, there are multiple Observations we can make about this situation:
While that amount of money may be a fun surprise to many of you listening, there are those around us wherein 100-200 could absolutely CHANGE the course of their life
The reverse is true as well. A $100-200 loss (vehicle brakes) my be an inconvenience that you can absorb financially but it could mean the difference between putting food on the table or not for others.
I don’t know what the server did with the money, but I do know others who’ve received relatively small sums of money at the right moment and it saved them.
...and SIMPLE OBEDIENCE from a cheerful giver may mean a world of difference to them.
Open your bibles to ISAIAH 40 and read along with me.
Isaiah 40:3-5
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah is making a prophecy about a future time when there will be a new economy, a LEVELING, based on the values of the Kingdom of God.
Valleys will be LIFTED and
Mountains will be brought low
Luke revisits this in His Gospel speaking about John the Baptist who is the one crying in the desert.
So, when you read Jesus’ interactions with the world, this is what he was doing. This was the Kingdom he was proclaiming and it applies to our economy as much as it applies to everything else.
Think about this:
The Rich Young Ruler who was abiding by the Jewish laws, comes to Jesus seeking his counsel: Mk. 10:20-25 “21 Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. 23 And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus responded again and *said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
When he encountered Zacheus, he received the Kingdom willingly and paid back all he had stolen with interest.
When the widow gave two mites, he praised her for giving sacrificially and not those who gave larger sums of money out of their abundance.
Mark 12:43-44 says “43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
When the religious people were taking advantage of poor people in the temple, Jesus flipped over some tables!
This continues in the church age with the community in ACTS as they sold their possessions and gave to those as they had need.
In Acts chapter 11: Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
In 2 Corinthians 8, it reads:
8 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.
5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, 15 as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
At the end of the day, this GOAL OF EQUALITY (NOT just handouts, not just helping when you can, not just 10%) EQUALITY is STILL the aim!! Before we get derailed,
Communism/Socialism? Not Capitalism though...
Remember, Capitalism is just our current economic location. NEITHER of these things is biblical -I am talking KINGDOM ECONOMY which is completely OTHER and sits outside of either of these two - detached from them both - and UTILIZING whatever financial framework we are in to do the work of God.
The Goal is equality and we are called to it if we claim to be a disciple of Christ.
All of this is ROOTED in Christ. DID YOU CATCH THAT? God’s exorbitant, incalculable, generosity, through the gift of giving his own son for the redemption of the world, is our most shocking example. Don’t pass that up!
I know that many of you who are good with money are also good with maximizing your dollar, calculating opportunity costs, searching for the best deal, and securing the best return on your investments.
When Jesus was sent to the cross, God chose to make a bad deal!
Don’t try to work the numbers in your mind (utilitarian?).
The life of Jesus (who was 100% God and MAN)
who lived a perfect and sinless life
Has more intrinsic value more than the combined valuation of every human life combined: past present and future. In this comparison of life, we are but dust, chaff in the wind. Ecclesiastes says we are a vapor, a mist, a vanity, here today and gone tomorrow BUT GOD CHANGED that willingly ascribed value to humanity...
God loved us so much that He gave his only son to purchase the redemption of us who were sinners, with generations of transgression in our history, and (as the scriptures say) were enemies of God, and we STILL abuse the grace that was extended to us.
This decision was NOT a GOOD investment deal for GOD and HE CHOSE IT ANYWAYS!! Jesus SPENT His death on our redemption and SPENT his life by showing us what it looked like.
As we see Jesus bringing low the mountains (those is positions of power, authority, and wealth) and raising up the valleys (the lowly, the oppressed, the downcast, and poor), He was leveling the playing field and we can respond in a couple of ways just like we see others respond to it in the bible…
some, like Zacheus, and the community in Acts, caught the Kingdom Vision, participated willingly and joyfully by lowering themselves. They came into alignment with the kingdom).
BUT others were “brought low” through rebuke, or when the opportunity was placed in front of them, they walked away in sorrow because it was just too much for them to give up.
Some even despised the Kingdom intentionally choosing the ways of the world...to build their mountain status up on the backs of the valleys in the world.
Ultimately though, at some point, there will be a reckoning and Jesus will make things right and it will be a day of mourning, gnashing of teeth, and great despair for those on the top of the mountain.
We, as kingdom people are meant to choose this kingdom way of life in the here and now. To give our lives away and come into agreement with the Kingdom Economy, in increasing measure, through our discipleship of Jesus Christ with these particular values now!!
So, if God were to enact this now - the leveling of all things - if He were to make this happen suddenly and take the choice OUT of our hands - do you believe your economic status would be raised up or laid low?
Take stock of your placement in this world
Take stock of you position and wealth status in this country, amongst those, at work, in a racialized society, in the spheres of influence (work, school, etc)
As you take inventory, let me remind you that your social location, as American’s, on the globe is by far the greatest mountain in the world - let’s not forget that.
But, personally, in your social location...
Are you willingly giving enough away so that your heart is detached enough that, if it were taken, you would be fine. You would rest in the sovereign hand of God comfortably?
Are there valleys around you that need to be lifted up?
I can make this easy! If you live in America, chances are you will be made low.
This can be applied in SOO MANY AREAS of our lives: you positions of authority, your ethnic station of privilege and power. BUT, since we are trying to stay in the lane of MONEY & FINANCES, I want to give some tangible ways to engage it in that area.
FIRST, The only way we even get close to accomplishing this level of financial equity is by whole heartedly buying into the vision of the Kingdom of God over the values of the world and America.
SECOND, embracing a posture of RADICAL Generosity that would make your financial advisor ask, “are you sure about that?” Seeks out opportunities to lift the valleys and create equity.
This WILL be sacrificial and, if you are doing it well, will create a lowering effect for you. When it starts to hurt, you can know you are starting to do it right.
Where, in the vicinity of your living area, your LINE OF SIGHT, can you give with such an extraordinary amount or consistency, that - even though it may hurt - valleys are being raised.
Listen to the Holy Spirit and not your current financial schematic. *WE CORROBORATE in our household.
Give generously in a way that builds into our communities a healthy and just economic structure that creates equality for those in your realm of influence.
THIRD, Historically our country’s economy has severely disadvantaged certain groups and ethnic minorities (I’ll assume you understand that).
Supporting Minority-Owned Businesses:
black nation app
Utilizing the Halo App
Researching Companies that you purchase from to ensure they are equitably minded.
The Orange Harp
Buycott
DoneGood
This is what I want you to do....many of you are already using these apps fluidly and are very familiar with them.
I want you to become evangelists of the best ways you have discovered to engage in equitable giving, support marginalized people groups, and to pour into communities of color in our church.
I want you to become very vocal about the businesses you support, the apps and websites you use. Spread them throughout the Common Ground Northeast Community.
Talk about this in your next house churches and if you’re completely new to this, pick at least ONE app or business you want to support and begin the journey. Maybe add one new thing or change to one new purchasing option a month
Let’s get good at leveraging our buying power to push change into the hearts of the system towards equity.
Won’t happen over night
There is a Kingdom Vision set before us and we have been given an opportunity to participate in the economy of it.
On the one hand, it will be realized, it will be brought into reality on this earth with or without our participation but we have been given an opportunity to take part in the leveling but it has a cost! Will we embrace the joy, like Zacheus, when we see it’s redemptive power, when we see the communal healing, and when we see the beauty of the reconciling power as those in the valleys and the low places on this earth are raised into.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.