When seeking advice it is important to consider the source.  Last week I had the opportunity to receive my first ever ski instructions, from John, a retired school teacher of Norwegian descent, who had been skiing since the age of three.  I take some pride in being able to provide a unique experience for him ten days ago, when for the first time in my life I had my feet shod with a pair of fiberglass skis.  He taught me to do the pizza, the snowplow, the wedge to slow down.  Then he encouraged me to unlearn this emergency brake as soon as I learned it.  You will do much better if you do this, he said as he effortless turned to the right and then to the left while gliding down the slope.  I watched carefully, went up the lift to the top of the training slope and started down.  There was no turning those skis - effortlessly or with great effort.  I kept speeding up and going straight, finally I employed the emergency brake – the pizza, the snowplow, the wedge.  Nothing was happening.  I was not slowing down, I was fortunate that the training slope soon leveled off and I coasted to a stop, with my knees feeling as though they had been in a medieval torture device.  John looked at me and said, “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone do that.  Usually they slow down.  Now that you know you can do that, don’t do it again.”

The question that I have for you this morning is that if you want to learn to ski and you have a choice between John, the Norwegian, or Kip, the Ohioan, you will definitely want to consider the source.

You want to be assured that the source is trustworthy.  The expression, consider the source, can be used to say, “You can bank on this advice.  This person knows what he or she is talking about.”  That’s the direction Paul was headed when he addressed Timothy regarding the matter of how the Ephesians spent their time, their money, and their life.  Listen to what he wrote toward the end of his first letter to Timothy found in I Timothy 6:17-19.  Hear now the Word of the Lord:

¹⁷As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, ¹⁹thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

This is the word of God for the people of God.  In this passage Paul told Timothy to encourage the affluent Ephesians to invest their resources in kingdom work.  Let us pray.

We have discovered in the past year or two that investing can be a tricky business.  Stocks, oil, and even compound interest have proven to be more fickle than we ever considered possible.  What then are we to do with what we have?  Looking at this scripture I would say, “Consider the source.”  
 

Consider the Source – Where it all came from

Paul realized that this whole matter of affluence is a tricky thing.  First of all, very few affluent people recognize themselves as affluent.  There is also the problem of stuff providing some sense of status and security.  Paul warned them not to be haughty, that is deriving some sort of status from having money.  Furthermore, he warned them not to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches.  Donald Guthrie, a New Testament scholar, writing about verse 17 stated, “The rich person must carefully avoid two perils: loftiness of mind and too much dependence on wealth.”  The accumulation of assets can change one’s focus so subtly that greed becomes a part of our life without us ever being aware of it.

Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church of New York City tells of a time when he was giving a series of luncheon talks on the seven deadly sins.  His wife asked if they publicized the day that he addressed each topic.  He said they did.  She then assured him that the day he spoke on greed, would be the lowest attended luncheon.  He was somewhat surprised that she was right.  He concluded that the reason for the dip in attendance was a perceived irrelevance.  That is, while the audience could identify their issues with wrath, pride, envy, and lust – greed was not really a problem for them.  They could always find someone wealthier than them, someone less scrupulous than them, someone who really was greedy.  It is too easy to be led away by our own perceptions of status and security and material wealth is a huge player in this scheme.  Dave Ramsey said, “We buy things that we don’t even need with money that we don’t even have to impress people that we don’t even know.”  Why is this?  Greed driven by our desire for status and security.

“Command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”  What confidence Paul expressed in God’s goodness.  God is not interested in some sort of ascetic lifestyle of denial and misery.  God provides everything for our enjoyment.  Earlier in this same chapter to Timothy, Paul told him, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”  This is the gospel, the good news of enough.  We have seen plenty of reasons for uncertainty of riches in the last year or so.  We have all watched as not only the money we contributed toward our retirement this year went into some deep abyss, but it also took a lot of the money that we had put in there years ago.  Apparently this is not the source for our status and security, but there is a promise from God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  This morning when we are tempted to being blinded by greed that we will rarely see in ourselves and stress over money that we had counted on being there, I encourage us to consider the source.  Consider the source – where it all came from.
 

Consider the Source – Where it is meant to be spent

Paul instructed Timothy on how God wanted spent what God gave to the Ephesians.  It is easy on the first reading of this to bow up a little and say as a child says soon after receiving a gift, “It is mine.”  Have you noticed how even the sweetest child will sometimes have this reaction?  However, before we react to God in this way, let us consider the plan.  If God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment, could it be that spending it according to God’s plan, may very well be more enjoyable than spending it according to our plan?  God’s plan is outlined in verse 18: Do good, be rich in good works (buy as much of this commodity as your wealth will allow you), be generous (I believe this applies to our time, our talents, and our treasures), and be ready to share.  What would happen if each of us spent our affluence on these four prescriptions: do good, be rich in good works, be generous, and be ready to share?

Last week we began a series of sermons and a congregational focus on Faithfulness to Fruitfulness.  The series was developed in response to a book that Bishop Robert Schnase wrote entitled, The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.  He states in the book that after looking at hundreds of congregations, the fruitful ones all had some common practices.  Those practices he identified as: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Faith-forming Small Groups, Risk Taking Missions and Service, and Extravagant Generosity.  He encouraged churches to set goals toward fruitfulness as he writes, “Congregations are called to change the world, not just keep their doors open.”  Risk Taking Missions and Service is how we employ the resources God has given to us – our time, our possessions, and our abilities.  If we employ them for our own comfort, we may find ourselves missing what God has in mind for our lives and our stuff.  However, if we spend them according to God’s four-fold prescription, lives are changed.  Schnase wrote about what happened one day at a church where two babies were baptized at the same worship service.  After the service there was the shifting of families in the front of the church for pictures.  At one point the mother of one of the children, asked the grandfather of the other baby to hold her child while she grabbed something out the diaper bag.  As the grandfather was holding the baby several people commented on how nice they looked together.  The grandfather explained, “Oh, he’s not mine, I’m just holding him for a minute.”  The grandfather told this story the next day to the pastor and said, “Yesterday I realized something when I was holding that other baby, the one from the family that just joined this church.  I kept telling people that wasn’t my child, but then it dawned on me that it was part of my church family, and that I have a responsibility for that little boy just like I have for my own granddaughter.  I’ve been a member of this church for more than forty years, and in God’s eyes I’m a grandfather to more than just my own.  I’ve taken care of my own children with my own will, but I realized I also need to provide for the children of the church.”  That week he changed his will to include his church. 

Ask any member who has built houses in Mexico last year, cleaned up a storm torn home in Galveston last month, or fixed up a church in North Bryan what it was like to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, and to be ready to share.  My experience has been that they will begin to talk about a God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  It is not meant to be some strange form of chastisement for God to give us something and then take it from us.  It is a prescription for enjoyment.  God has given opportunities and resources to us that when combined properly are pure enjoyment.  So when assessing what you have in terms of time, money, opportunities for service, consider the source. Consider the source – how it is meant to be spent.
 

Consider the Source – What matters most

So, if we set our hopes on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment, and we follow the fourfold prescription for employing our resources (do good, be rich in good works, be generous, and be ready to share), what can we expect?  This isn’t a vending machine principle of putting the right combination of coins in the machine to get something out, it is a spiritual principle outlined in the scriptures with more focus on life, real life than only the moment.  Paul wrote in verse 19, “thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of life that really is life.”  I love that last part, “take hold of life that really is life.”  Donald Guthrie said that here Paul is “bringing out its contrast with life propped up by so uncertain support of riches.”

Last week as I was skiing down one of the mountains of Colorado, I had a life changing experience.  I really did not pass my lessons.  I actually flunked ski lessons.  After six hours of training, the instructor looked at me and said, “You will need to return tomorrow and spend at least the morning on the training slope.  You’re not ready for the mountain, until you learn to turn on those skis.  The problem was I did not have the time to return to the training slope in the morning.  I had a son who had passed his snowboarding lessons with flying colors.  He had no desire to return to the training slope.  So we went up the mountain, three miles up the mountain - the longest 15 minute gondola ride in my entire life.  Zachary had even made a phone call that I had never heard him make before, “Mom, pray!”  As I started down the mountain, I called to mind everything that my instructor said, “It’s just like riding a bicycle, easy, no sudden moves, move your eyes and your feet will follow, finish the turn, lean into the mountain…”  And then something amazing happened!  I turned and my speed became manageable.  By the next day I almost had a moment where I enjoyed skiing.  My instructor was clear, until I learned how to turn on those skis, I would never enjoy skiing.  Then I could take hold of skiing that really was skiing.

As I reflected on that life-changing, life-threatening moment in life, I realized that this is the way it is in our life with God.  Until we learn to turn our resources – our time, possessions, and our opportunities over to God, we may never know the life that really is life.

Schnase wrote, “There’s no end to what the church can accomplish for the purposes of Christ when the sharp awareness of the assets, resources, and talents that God entrusts to us supercedes the fear of scarcity and the obsessive focus on needs, problems, and shortages.  Extravagant Generosity means graciously and responsibly placing ourselves and our resources in service to God.”  I have seen that happen in the last week at this church.  We were facing a crisis a week ago with guests coming to our church for Family Promise, a ministry designed to give families in financial and often social crisis a hand up as they regain their footing.  The crisis was that we had ministries without ministers.  When asked to respond to that need, this church stepped forward.  Every slot is filled in time for our guests’ arrival today.  Thank you.

Are you ready to take hold of the life that really is life?  Consider the source.  Consider the one who had all the status and security of heaven itself, and spent it on those that he loved so dearly.  Here, on the Communion Table, is the evidence of and participation in life that really is life.  Consider the source.  Amen.