Ctrl/Alt/Delight - Money

We're going to start a four -week series, just

a short little series called Control -Alt -Delete.

The Control -Alt -Delete command was created

in 1981, and apparently the coding team that

was in charge for creating it later said that

it only took them five or ten minutes to create

it, which just seems like, I don't know, salt

in the wound, because most of us... have been

struggling with something on a computer more

than five or 10 minutes before we have to use

Control -Alt -Delete. And so it's pretty amazing

that they were able to create that so quickly.

Of course, the reason that it was created was

because they were designing an IBM computer,

and they kept crashing, and they needed a faster

way to restart things or to reboot things without

having to start all over. For those of you that

have no idea what we're talking about with Control

-Alt -Delete, you're probably under 30. Is that

true? Because if you've never used Control -Alt

-Delete, you're probably on the younger side.

Or maybe you've just always been a Mac person

and the name for Control -Alt -Delete is different

on a Mac. I use Macs exclusively and I honest

to God do not know the name. I don't know the

combination. Every single time I have to look

it up on the internet to see what I'm supposed

to be doing. Show of hands, let's be honest,

show of hands who has used Control -Alt -Delete

on a computer. Okay, now, put your hand up if

you had to use Control -Alt -Delete and you'd

been doing something for more than an hour that

wasn't saved yet. Okay, keep your hand up if

it's more than two hours, more than three hours,

more than four hours of unsaved work. We had

three hours, we had a couple three hours. Okay,

you guys, we're going to start a support group

immediately after church. Sadly, sometimes the

only option that exists when you are in the middle

of work and everything freezes is to do what

the secretary at the church that I grew up used

to call the three -finger salute, the control

-alt -delete to get everything to start over.

I think a lot of Christians have been hitting

control -alt -delete. And they're quitting Christianity

altogether. Because the screen is frozen. And

it feels like all the good work that they've

done wasn't saved. Like it's all been lost. Like

it's all been wasted. They have seen what is

also called the spinning icon of death. The little

rainbow that never ever stops. The code isn't

adding up, and it feels like it's time to just

start over. And here's the truth. I don't really

blame them for doing that. Because here's the

truth. There's plenty, plenty of things that

religion gets wrong. And I think that every now

and again, it's healthy for churches and people

inside of those systems to admit that we don't

get everything right. And sometimes the things

that we're getting wrong are actually hurting

people. But I wonder if maybe the answer isn't

to delete religion or Christianity altogether.

Maybe we can find a way to let go of the control.

We can seek out an alternative. And we can find

a way to delight in the Lord. So let's open up

our Bibles. I'm going to mention a bunch of verses

today, but we're going to read for the context

of that phrase, delight in the Lord. We're going

to read Psalm 37. The Psalms are in the middle

of the Bible. Psalm 37. If you don't have a Bible,

there are blue ones on the table. There's also

Bibles out in the lobby. You can grab one of

those or download one from any of the digital.

app stores. We have a tradition around here that

when we read a passage or the main passage in

the context of sermon, that we just give it our

full attention. You can do that in whatever way

makes the most sense for you. But if you'd like

to join me in standing for the word, you can

also do that. This is Psalm 37, starting in verse

one. Verse one, do not fret because of the wicked.

Do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will

soon fade like grass and wither like the green

herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Live in

the land and enjoy security. Take delight in

the Lord, and he will give you the desires of

your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust

in him, and he will act. He will make your vindication

shine like the light and the justice of your

cause like the noonday. Be still before the Lord

and wait patiently for him. Do not fret over

those who prosper in their way, over those who

carry out evil devices. Refrain from anger and

forsake wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to

evil. For the wicked shall be cut off, but those

who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

Let us pray. God of every tribe, of every tongue,

every color, every nation, we thank you for the

scriptures persisted throughout the millennia

that we still have them to consider, to learn

from. And I pray that whatever you have to teach

us today, whatever is most important, that it

sticks, that it would become a part of the framework

of our faith as we become more like your son,

Jesus. Amen. Amen. You can all have a seat. Right.

So in Psalm 37, David's answer when everything

is falling apart, when enemies seem to win. When

he could see the manipulation in front of his

eyes was not to lift the sword. He surely had

lifted the sword plenty of other times in his

life. But at this point, he had come to a different

conclusion. And it wasn't to delete the problem.

His answer was to trust in the Lord, to delight

in the Lord. And over the next four weeks, I

want to apply that. concept, how we might feel

controlled by money, relationship, the afterlife,

shame, how we can look at the alternative. We

can let go of the control. We can look at alternatives,

and maybe we can find a way to delight in the

Lord, even amongst all of those subjects. And

today, I want to start with everybody's favorite

topic, money. One of the biggest ongoing and

common complaints about church and religion is

that they just want my Money. Many of us have

felt like churches have tried to manipulate us

into giving. We have struggled with how churches

talk about money, and we're not alone. Statistically,

in the early 1980s, half of all charitable giving

in the United States of America went to churches.

In the early 1980s, 50 % of all charitable giving

went to churches. Now... That number is only

a third. Now, it's probably no coincidence that

only one -third of people say that they have

a high level of trust for how churches manage

money. So maybe we can't blame them for going,

well, maybe I should donate to this other thing

instead. But here's the first point. The church

is not meant to control your money. The church

is not meant to control your money. Of course,

very few churches will say that they are trying

to control your money. Maybe they'll say, God

wants to control your money. But then they'll

tell you exactly what God is telling you to give.

Think about it like this. Let's say I own a restaurant

and you come to the restaurant and I say that

I don't want to tell you what to eat. But then

I hand you a menu that has 10 things on it, and

they're essentially all the same thing. And then

I go, you can have anything on this menu. You

can have the fish or the fish. It's essentially

a distinction without a difference. I don't think

that the church should control the money of the

people that attend that church or call that church

home. That includes telling you... I've heard

this before, includes that we should not say

you're stealing from God if you don't give him

10%. Yeah. I think I'm going to take it a step

further. I don't think that God is trying to

control your money either. Not only do I not

think that the church should control your money,

I don't think it's the right way to think of

it that God is trying to control your... money,

because I think that God is asking us to control

our own money, for us to make our own decisions,

for us to make up our own minds. Paul, when he's

writing in 2 Corinthians 9, he says, each of

you must give as you have made up in your mind,

not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God

loves a cheerful giver. I told someone I thought

about adding this and then I will, well, I don't

know if I have time. I'm going to do it anyway.

Last night I was at an event and there was an

auctioneer. It was a live auction and he knew

he was trying to raise money for a good cause.

And there were some things that were up. There

were seven different things that were up for

live auction. It took, I swear, 40 minutes to

get through seven items because these are some

pretty valuable things and they just were not,

no one was bidding on them. And so he was pulling

out All the stops. And I leaned over and I was

like, you know, some people think that's what

church is like. An auctioneer in the front, you

know, calling people out. Well, you should give.

And this, he literally was like calling out tables.

I know you work at such and such a firm. You've

got deep pockets. Paul tells the Corinthian church.

To give what you've made up in your mind. And

yes, some people that believe that a tithe of

10 % is the requirement would say, well, he was

talking about a gift that was being given to

another church. Again, I'm not sure that there

is an actual distinction there. So hear me. The

only thing that you should give is what you have

decided in your mind. Pray, think, decide. Pray,

think, decide. And that's why I've just started

saying. That we don't all give the same amount,

but we give the same percentage, which is just

100 % of whatever you decide between you and

God. And I don't think that God is twisting your

arm or any of our arms because of what Paul said

in Corinthians. He's looking for hearts that

are delighted. He's looking for hearts that have

a sense of joy that they get to do something.

There is no joy on the other side of a twisted

arm. So let's let go of control. Let's see the

alternative and let's delight in the Lord. Of

course, it's not just the church or religion

that tries to control our finances. Sometimes

we forget that we are not what we own. Say it

again. We are not. What we own, our possessions

are not our person. When he died in 1990, Malcolm

Forbes was worth an estimated $400 million. Malcolm

Forbes is the one that was known. Well, it's

attributed to him that he coined the phrase that

he who dies with the most toys wins. Wins what?

Wins what? You're dead. You don't know people

admire how much money you had. Luke 12, Jesus

says, watch out, be on your guard against all

kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance

of possessions. It wasn't long after Forbes'

death, it might have even been happening during

his life, that people started changing how that

phrase ends. You can say it with me, he who dies

with most toys still dies. We cannot let things

control us either. We have to look for the alternatives

so that we can delight in the Lord. We cannot

let things convince us that they are what we

are and distract us from God. I also think that

we have to, in order to delight in the Lord,

that we have to learn, especially in relationship

to money, we have to learn that wisdom is worth

more than wealth. Wisdom is worth more than wealth.

Proverbs 3 .13. Blessed are those who find wisdom,

for she is more profitable than silver. Proverbs

16. How much better to get wisdom than gold?

Last year, every day when I would drive my son

Wallace to seventh grade, we had this little

Psalms and Proverbs book. That's all it was was

Psalms and Proverbs, and it was like stashed

in the passenger side door. And on the way, almost

every day, he'd pick it up, we'd open it, and

he would read it, I would drive, he would read

it. And he would read something out loud from

the Proverbs. And just for a couple minutes on

the way to school, we would talk about what that

meant for him as a seventh grader. Developmentally

speaking, middle schoolers are at a place where

the chemicals in their brains and the hormones

going through their bodies are trying to convince

them that everybody is looking at them. And what

happens is what's on the outside, their possessions,

not just whether they're handsome or not, but

their possessions can become their person. And

what they have gets elevated above who they are.

I remember being in middle school, and there

was a kid. I won't say his name because it's

such a unique name. Some of you surely have heard

his name before. We were in middle school together,

and he was picking on this kid. And it was just

me and the two of them because we were coming

up from tennis for gym or something. And I kind

of was like, hey, man, leave him alone. And he

says to me, man, I was going to say your shoes

look nice. Because developmentally, he's going,

oh, what's on the outside is what matters. I

didn't really care what my shoes looked like

that much, I guess. But shoes and brands and

outfits and looks get elevated above goodness

and kindness and wisdom. But wisdom is worth

more than wealth. And we need character to shine

through so that we know how to make up our minds

about what we do with money. I think sometimes

us as adults, we have yet to learn the lesson

that we should have learned in middle school,

that we are not the things that we have. One

thing that we should definitely have learned

and should definitely become more apparent as

we age is that peace cannot be purchased. You

cannot buy it no matter how much money you have.

You cannot buy peace. It is not going to happen.

Philippians 4, Paul says, I have learned to be

content whatever the circumstances. The worries

that we have about things like... the size of

our house, our bank accounts, what kind of car

we drive. Generally speaking, these things would

not have made sense to someone like Paul. And

the reason they would not have made sense to

someone like Paul isn't just because cars didn't

exist back then, but it's because by the time

that Paul wrote Philippians, he'd been beaten

multiple times because of his faith and imprisoned

multiple times because of his faith. He's actually

writing the book of Philippians from house arrest

because of his faith. And yet, he was at peace.

For Paul, there was one thing that offered peace.

And he could look at the empire. He could look

at Herod Antipas. He could look at the Herods

that he had to come in contact with, or the Roman

rulers that he had to come in. And they had wealth

beyond your imagination. If you ever get the

opportunity to go to Caesarea Philippi, or Caesarea

Maritima in Israel, And look at the foundations

of the place that he had been on house arrest.

It is one of the most beautiful places you have

ever seen. And they built these things. Just

unimaginable wealth. And yet he had more peace

than they. I've heard people say, well, billionaires

don't seem to have many worries. People say,

well, it sure looks like money buys peace for

them. And to that I would say, then why do they

always want more? And why do they never stop

trying to get it? In the last 10 years, just

in the last decade, the wealthiest 1 % of the

world, 1 % of the world, 80 million people in

the last 10 years have added $33 .9 trillion

to their wealth. Now, of course... That money

isn't spread out evenly, right? Just the wealthiest

3 ,000 billionaires. There's more than 3 ,000

billionaires. Did you know that? Just the wealthiest

3 ,000 billionaires added in 10 years $6 .5 trillion

to just their wealth. And it gets worse. In that

same 10 years, just the 10 wealthiest people

in the world. Well, 10 years ago, all of them

together had $559 billion. Okay? That's $55 .9

billion each if it was spread out evenly for

10 people. Now, those 10 people have $2 .6 trillion.

One person has nearly three -quarters of a trillion

dollars by themselves. So how much is enough?

How much money brings contentment? Some of us

in here are thinking about, I think about it.

I'm not going to lie. I think about it. I think,

man, if I just made a little bit more. Oh, if

I do this side thing with pastors. Oh, if that

paid just a little bit more. Oh, if that, like,

oh. But you know what? It will not bring peace.

It will not bring contentment. There is no amount

of money. That will do that. And this is the

truth. Because those 10 people that have a value

of $2 .6 trillion could end world hunger by themselves.

And yet they are still starving for more. I started

this saying that it's fair that churches should

acknowledge. The faults that religion makes,

that churches make. I also think it's a fair

thing to say that churches need to ask themselves

how much is enough. Churches don't always know

how to stop pushing for more giving. Churches,

pastors. It's also important for us as a community

to know when to be content and how to be content.

How to live modestly. Here's the truth. Our annual

budget as a church, the giving that our congregation

provides is in the arena of 50 to 70 % of some

other churches that are the same size as us.

But we will not get up and twist arms. Even me

telling you that, someone could go, oh, he's

pulling one on us. He's trying to trick us. There

are things that we can do. There are things that

churches do all the time. But I just don't think

that we're willing to do some of those things

that have to be done in order to double the budget.

And a $10 ,150 monthly budget is modest and a

place to be content for now. And if the Lord

provides more, we'll do our best to be wise with

that. Because we do not want to be stressed or

angry or frustrated or hurting each other. We

want to let go of control. We want to look at

the alternatives and we want to delight in the

Lord. And we want people that call this their

church home to feel delighted that they're a

part of it. And to not have a poison pill. of

how the church treats them about giving. At the

end of the day, God is asking us to be trustworthy

with what we have as individuals and as a church.

That's also part of the reason that we've continued

our conversation with the third place about whether

the lobby would be a good temporary spot for

them. Because God has given us this building

to steward. We don't own it, but we lease it.

And it's important that we ask, what has God

given us that we can use for good? This last

week, I met with one of the board members of

Third Place to officially have them walk through

the building. Jeff, the building owner, obviously

knows this. The trustees, we've talked about

this. They're on what's called a one -month fact

-finding opportunity. They're just looking at

the different options that they have. But they

would not intend on moving until this summer.

They would not want to move here or share our

lobby unless the intention was that they would,

as soon as possible, be able to build out and

be in the other end of the building. But it's

our responsibility to think what has God given

us and how can we be a good steward of it? How

can we be faithful? Because what this church

can do is not just about the dollars that are

given. What this church can do is not just about

the dollars that can be given. It's about the

people that are here. It's about the tables you're

sitting at. It's about the doors that you walk

through. So for all of us, God's asking us to

be trustworthy, to listen to our hearts, to make

up our own minds as individuals and as a church,

to let go of control, to find the alternative.

And delight in the Lord with all of our hearts.

Amen? Yeah, let's pray. Father God, we thank

you for peace and wisdom and having an identity

that is found in you, not by the brands or clothes

that we put on our back. We pray that you just

fill us with delight today. We just have a sense

of delight at getting to be with you and getting

to be with each other as we move towards the

table. Amen.