sermon notes: "How solid is your trust in God? a.k.a. Where does fit in your org chart?" (5/30/2010)

Matt 6:25-34 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Before I start I’d like to share a few words I heard yesterday at St James Lutheran Church during the ordination service of a good friend of mine. I share this because I’d like you put everything I’m going to say in the following context…The topic of the message has nothing to do with what I plan to share with you think morning but I thought it fit really well. ”God wants us to have cracks so the light can shine through…We are a flawed people with a noble calling…our job is to follow the dream that God has set for us. We just need to listen to what he has to say and follow that which he wants us to do.”

Now back to the message…How well do you practice what it says in Matthew 6? This is a passage that you are probably familiar with and is often quoted by Christians…for a variety of reasons. I want to focus on the concept of trust in this passage. Do you truly trust God to do what he promises? Do you worry about earthly things or do you truly leave everything to God? Do you truly trust him to take care of you or do you take things into your own hands? Let me frame it by asking….Where does God fit in your org chart? Do we give him such a position that allows him to take care of us as he promises or do we try to take things into our own hands? Do we marginalize him when it’s convenient…relegate him to a supporting role OR maybe even cut him out completely when he gets in the way?

INTRO
This is an org chart. They are often used to give order to or provide structure for an organization …communicate a clear chain of command so everyone knows who is in charge and what priorities/goals should be followed. So, this morning I’d like you think about what it says in Matthew 6…do you always put God and God’s Word in the top spot or is he relegated to some other role?

Do you put God and his Word in the top spot or does he fit somewhere else? Does God play a supporting role, play no role at all OR does he in fact hold that top spot? Is that reflected in everything you say in do…in your relationships with others, in your work and other things that are part of daily routine.

When I gave it some thought this week, I found that I could point to numerous examples where God didn’t hold that top position. I often push God down in the org chart or leave him off completely…I don’t do this consciously but when I think about it I find that often what I want often takes precedent…my own desires and ambitions blind me from seeing what God is trying to tell me…keeps me from doing what he wants me to do.

We live a world that is full of distractions and temptations…things that take us off track…we can get impatient and this can cause us to lose focus on what should be our priorities. On top of all that we also live in a culture where we’re taught that we control our own destiny…that we get out of life what we put into it...that the world revolves around me. This has resulted in low church attendance in our culture but, I believe, it also impacts those of us who are Christians and do go to church. As a result, we sometimes marginalize God…bumping him down in our organizations, often without even realizing it. I sometimes find that I’ve pushed God down in the org chart or left him off completely.

Again, where does God fit into your organization?

WE SOMETIMES PUSH GOD DOWN IN OUR ORG CHART…I sometimes highjack God’s Word for my own benefit.

I love a good philosophical debate and tend to be opinionated…as those of you that are friends of mine of Facebook know (which BTW I blame on the genes my parents passed along to me J)….
Why do I mention this? When I have these discussions, I often find myself pushing God off to the side. These discussions are about what I think. Though I try to frame my positions in the context of my relationship with God, I’m not always successful. I often use bits and pieces or God’s word that are convenient to me…that support my personal position.

I often use God and the scriptures to support my philosophies/beliefs…rather than leading with God teachings and fitting my own beliefs into those teachings. I don’t believe that God’s Word should not be used to support my arguments…rather what I say and do should reflect what God teachings. The difference is often subtle…but nonetheless very important and I find myself doing the former. However, it is tantalizing because if I can use God to support my position or actions that helps to validate them.

If we find ourselves using God’s word to support everything from politics view points to how to manage our relationships with others to the work we do, then we run the risk of cherry picking only those pieces of his teachings that are most convenient to us. You see this every day on CNN, MSNBC and Fox…you can read it every day in the editorial section of the newspaper…you can find thousands of examples on the Internet. Lots of people, including public figures and politicians use or misuse God. We use God to help us make our arguments…and say that what we are saying and doing is for him. We often get things backwards….allowing our own selfish, usually earthly, interests or priorities to supersede those that God would like us to have.

WE SOMETIMES LEAVE HIM COMPLETELY OFF OUR ORG CHART…I sometimes leave him out when it’s too hard to make his Word and my desires align.

When I’m not pushing God to the side, I sometimes find myself pushing him out of the picture completely….leaving him out of my organization…off my org chart. As I mentioned earlier, we live in a society where we are taught to be self sufficient..to control our own destinies. I need to keep my job, I need to get that raise, I need to get that promotion, I need to be well respected in my job. I need to put up a front so people like me, so I fit in, so people will want to hang out with me. I need hold certain social or political views so I fit in, so I can be part of the “in” crowd”.

I find that I don’t share many of the same values that my co-workers and others I deal with on a daily basis have….but sometimes I find myself falling in behind them…even in very subtle way. I look at the material world and think that that playing field isn’t level because I can’t play by the same rules…but I sometimes find myself bending those rules so I can level the playing field a bit. If that guy can cut “moral” corners from time to time then why can’t I maybe just this once. If this ever happens ask myself (and I hate to use this cliché but) “What would Jesus Do. Remember that it’s not about what we can or can’t achieve here on Earth…it’s about where we are going (eternal life) and how we get there.

Do you let your desires, goals and interests get in the way? Do you bend the rules from time to time? I catch myself doing this from time to time and a little voice says…it’s okay if I do this thing for ME just this one time because God wants me to be happy…even if I know that it’s not what God wants. Do I really trust God to provide for me?

Before I move on I want to make one point…remember, God knows we are not perfect but he also wants us to give it our best effort and remember that he comes first….remember that he has earned our trust. We will make mistakes…we just need to make sure we consider his wishes at all times.

SOMETIMES WE DON’T LISTEN TO WHAT GOD WANTS AND WE THINK WE CAN DO IT BETTER OURSELVES

Throughout the Bible there are countless examples where God’s people, when challenged or otherwise, have side-stepped God’s will…thought they could do it without him…that they had a better plan. In Genesis in the story of Babel- everyone had the same goal and it was a grandiose one….they wanted to reach heaven with their tower…but what they wanted was in conflict with what God wanted. As it says in Genesis 11:3-4, they wanted a tower that reached the heavens so that they could make a name for themselves. That didn’t go well for them…they were scattered and their tower abandoned before it could be completed. In the end, God’s will prevailed. Have you or are you building any towers in your life?

Throughout the Old Testament God instructed the Israelites to follow only him, he gave the instructions on how to follow him and warned them not to follow false gods…but they often found themselves not following his instructions. In Exodus 32: there is the story of the golden calf…Now I don’t own a golden calf or any other physical object that I worship but there are plenty of other things I find myself putting ahead of God. Do you have any golden calves in your life?
But in the way there are examples of God’s people pushing God down in their organization, there are others where individuals have stood steadfast to God…trusting him completely…even in tough times. Let’s take Job who faced challenges that most of us will fortunately never even be able to relate to. However, he stood steadfast in his faith. Have you ever had a Job moment where you had to decide between what you thought was best for you and God’s will.

“DON”

I’d like to share a little about someone that I believe exemplifies Job. Obviously he hasn’t faced the trials and hardships of the scale that Job faced but I see some of the same characteristics in him that were seen in Job.

Don lives a couple houses down from us and his son is in Tea’s class at school. I see Don nearly every afternoon and have the opportunity to talk to him a couple times. About a year ago, Don lost his job…with a church. He had to sell his home and move back into his father’s house with his wife and kids. By any definition, things are currently not going his way. It would be easy for him to say God let me down...he hasn’t done anything for me lately so let me push him off to the side for a while until I can get myself back on track. But that’s not Don…he talks about his life and experiences as gifts from God. He won’t compromise who he is or his beliefs so he can get himself back on his feet. He completely trusts that God has a plan for him and that his current situation is part of God’s plan and something that will make him a better Christian. God's Word and what he believes to be his will are ingrained in everything he says and does. He’ll be the first to admit that life isn’t always easy but there also isn’t a person that is more positive and trusting in God. From what I know of Don, he consciously puts got at the head of his organization every day and in everything he does…period. There are no exceptions.

He uses the walks to school in the afternoon and trips to Publix as opportunities to minister…he views the work he gets as opportunities share God’s word and show others what he believes is a Christian work ethic, he even uses the free time he now finds himself having as opportunities to share God’s Word through his Facebook page. From my perspective, every minute of every day, he sees as a gift from God and an opportunity to do God’s will.

WHERE DOES GOD FIT IN YOUR ORG CHART?

Where does God fit in your organization….into your org chart? Does he sit at the top? Do you allow him to set the direction of your life OR does he sit somewhere further down and play a supporting role OR maybe from time to time do you give him the day off? I’d like to challenge each of you to ask yourselves this question each and every day….take a piece of paper and draw out your org chart...be honest with yourself…would the org chart that God has created for you be the same as the one you drew out? God needs to factor into ever single decision we make, every action we take and every word we speak!