Lifestyle

Experiencing Abundance, Part Three

John 10:10

During our recently concluded men’s mission trip to Mexico, God poured out one blessing after another on us. Last Sunday, I told you the story of Lupita and her family and the amazing testimony she shared with us about the way that God used the house we built for her 6 years ago, to transform her entire neighborhood, leading many people to faith in Christ. What a blessing it was to hear Lupita’s testimony.

The next day, I was similarly blessed through an equally amazing testimony shared with me by our missionary hosts in Mexico, Tim and Kathy Johnston. Like most missionaries, Tim and Kathy live very simply as their income is quite modest. Consequently, I was intrigued by the Toyota Prius sitting at their house and I asked them about it. Kathy told me this amazing story.

A few weeks ago, they were surprised to receive a check for $25,000 from one of their supporters. The accompanying letter said that this gentlemen had recently sold a portion of his business and made a good bit of money and he wanted them to use the $25,000 to buy something they needed for themselves. Something like a car.
As it turned out, what they needed most was, in fact, a car. So, Tim spent the weekend searching eBay and found what looked to be a great deal on that Prius. A man had purchased the $30,000 car, brand new, from a dealer but as he drove off the lot he hit another car. The accident caused very minor damage to the Prius but it freaked the new owner out and he backed out of the deal and the dealership took the car back. Somehow in the commotion surrounding the accident the guy who bought the car lost his car keys. A “smart key” with all kinds of high tech stuff built into them. Long story short, when the dealership reported the accident to their insurance company, the insurance company totaled the car and it was then sold at a salvage auction.

A guy in the salvage business bought the car, fixed the damage, replaced the key, placed it for sale on eBay and Tim saw the ad and agreed to buy the car from him for $18,000. So, Tim and Kathy were rejoicing that God had blessed them with a brand new, $30,000 the car for just $18,000, and they still had $7,000 remaining from that unexpected gift from their supporter.

When Tim explained to the seller that they lived in Mexico, the seller said that he would drive the car to the San Diego airport where they could complete the transaction and he could then fly home. So, that’s what they did. But once they arrived at the airport and met the seller, they began to get a little bit nervous as they discovered that the seller was Muslim. Kathy said that the quiet concern in the back of their minds was, “If he finds out we’re going to use this car in Christian ministry, he may back out of the deal.” So, they were hoping to keep their occupation to themselves.

But, sure enough, after just a few minutes of talking the seller asked them why they lived in Mexico. Tim took a deep breath and told him that they were Christian missionaries, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the Mexican people. The seller immediately broke into a huge smile and excitedly told them that just 2 weeks earlier he had become a Christian and that for the last 2 weeks he had been sharing his new faith in Jesus with all of his Muslim friends and family. For the next couple of hours, while Tim and Kathy tried to find out how their new car worked, all the seller wanted to talk about was Jesus.

Eventually they signed all the transfer of ownership papers and Tim handed the man $18,000 in cash as they had previously agreed. But the seller stunned them by saying, “No. I’ve changed my mind. Take the car and keep your money. Let it be a double blessing to you.”

Once again, we’re reminded in dramatic fashion that we serve a God of incredible abundance. Everything that He is and everything that He has, He is and has in great abundance. He abounds in love. He abounds in grace. He abounds in mercy. He abounds in kindness. He abounds in goodness. He abounds in faithfulness. He abounds in joy. He abounds in wisdom. He abounds in power. He is a God of great abundance. And He absolutely delights in sharing the abundance of His life with His children.

In fact, He’s so passionate in that desire that He sent Jesus to us to make it possible. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Unfortunately, you and I stifle the flow of God’s abundance when we allow sin to linger in our lives, because sin separates us from God, the source of abundance. As Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

So, because the lingering presence of sin stifles the flow of God’s abundance into our lives, we’ve been doing a very difficult thing recently…we’ve been looking at some of the ways in which sin can work itself into our lives.

--We talked a couple of weeks ago about sinful thoughts. Thoughts that reflect the thinking of the world, rather than the character and mind of Christ.

--Last week we talked about sinful attitudes…things like prejudice, materialism and spiritual complacency. Attitudes that have no place in our lives as God’s children.

--Now, today, we’re going to look into a third category of sins: sins of speech. Sins that find expression in the things we say. Sins that are born when we fail to apply God’s counsel, fail to exercise godly discipline; fail to submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit the things that we say. I freely confess, today, that this has been and remains a daily battleground for me. I have discovered through many painful and humiliating experiences, that the gift of speech that God has given me can be instantaneously corrupted when I fail to discipline my tongue. And, folks, this is something that we must take very seriously because the scriptures make it clear that God takes it very seriously. Just listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 12:36-37, “I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” The words we speak tend to reveal the content of our hearts. What we say…especially as God’s children…matters greatly to God.

So, what kinds of speech fall under the broad category of “Sinful Speech?” Again, this will be a representative rather than an exhaustive list, but let’s begin with…CRUDE OR FOUL LANGUAGE. We’re talking here not only about cursing but about all the various forms of slang words that work their way into our speech as thinly disguised alternatives to actual curse words. The general level of speech that many in our culture now consider to be acceptable has grown so coarse and so crude that this is a real problem that demands real vigilance from us.
Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths…”

Ephesians 5:3-4 says, “But among you there must not be even a hint of…any kind of impurity…because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”

There’s the vision of the way that God intends for us to speak. Our goal as God’s children is to consistently speak in ways that reflect the glory of God and our gratitude to Him. Consequently, it’s important for us to honestly ask God to search the patterns of our speech and reveal to us any way in which our words have begun to reflect the crudeness and coarseness of the world. And if God reveals some worldly pattern of speech in us, we need to confess it as the sin that it is, ask for God’s forgiveness and repent—that means change our behavior.

Another kind of speech that is clearly sinful is LYING. And I’m not talking here simply about big, bold, brash, bald-faced lies. I’m talking about any kind of speech that is in any way rooted in what is not true.

--Exaggerating to make your self look better or someone else look worse is a form of lying.

--Saying things with the intent of misleading someone is a form of lying.

--Making a commitment and then not following through on it is a form of lying. For instance, telling someone that you’ll pray for them and then not doing so; telling someone you’ll pay them back and then not doing so.

Colossians 3:9 says, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self…”

Notice that it doesn’t matter how big or what color it is…even a “little white lie” its still a lie. Notice that it doesn’t matter that…“everyone does it”…its still a lie. All forms of lying are sin. All forms of lying are rooted in what Romans 12:2 calls, “the pattern of the world”--the very pattern that God is working to root out of our minds so that our thoughts and behavior reflect more and more the character of Christ. And since all forms of lying are sin, all forms of lying stifle the flow of God’s abundance into our lives. In John 8:32 Jesus said, “the truth will set you free.” And one of the things the truth sets us free to do is to continue to receive the abundance of God’s blessings. So we need to honestly and regularly ask God to search our hearts and see if there is any trace of falsehood in us. If there is we need to confess it; repent of it and ask God to forgive us.

Now that we’ve begun to move down this path of identifying sinful speech…speech that has no place in the mouths of God’s children…I’m guessing that you could probably add any number of other specific types of speech to the list. For the sake of time, I want to add just one more this morning. It’s a type of speech that is so contrary to the very essence of the Christian life described in the scriptures…so contrary to the Christian life modeled by Jesus…and so contrary to the quality of life that I’ve personally experienced in my own walk with the Lord…that it not only saddens me but, quite frankly, it disturbs me to the point that I intentionally choose to minimize the amount of time that I spend with people who talk like this. I’m talking about that disgustingly sinful form speech called COMPLAINING. Griping. Grumbling. Whining.

--People who find something to complain about in every circumstance.

--People who find something negative to say about virtually everybody.

--People who are constantly critical of everything and everyone…other than themselves. They never turn their critical focus onto themselves. There’s something wrong with everything and none it is their fault. People have done them wrong. The world has done them wrong. The church has done them wrong. The pastor has certainly done them wrong. Even God has done them wrong. If they’re bitter and they complain, in their mind, they’re perfectly justified in doing so. According to God’s word, they’re sinning.

1 Corinthians 10 identifies a catalogue of “evil things” that God’s children are to have nothing to do with including: “idolatry,” “pagan revelry,” “sexual immorality,” and, oh, by the way, “complaining” and “grumbling.”
Ephesians 4 identifies a catalogue of sinful kinds of speech that should have absolutely no place in the life of a child of God. And in verse 31 we’re given this very direct command: “Get rid of all bitterness…”

Several years ago, one of the former pastors of the church I was then serving invited me to join him for lunch. He was retired, but he had pastored that same church 20 years prior to my tenure there. Midway into the lunch our conversation took a dramatic turn.

He said, “You’ve been here about 3 years now, haven’t you?” I said, “Yes, I have.” He said, “I’m guessing the honeymoon’s worn off and you’re facing some struggles.” I said, “Right, again.” Then he slid a piece of paper across the table to me and said, “I want you to write down the names of the 3 or 4 people in this church who are doing their best to make your life miserable.” I said, “What?” He said, “Humor me.”

So, I did. I wrote down the names. In fact, it really didn’t take me long to do so. When I stopped writing he said, “Are you done?” I said, “Yeah.” Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out another piece of paper and slid it across to me. When I looked down at it I saw the very same names that I had written.

After a few moments of puzzlement I looked up and he said, “It’s not you. It’s them. 20 years ago, they tried to make my life miserable. It’s just who they are. And that’s just what they do.”

He gave me an incredible gift that day. It freed me from their bitterness. It freed me from their pettiness. But, folks, how sad is that? How sad is it for a chold of God to be known for their complaining?

Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Jesus…let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise…” How sad is it for a person who claims to have been saved from death to life by the sacrifice of Jesus to then choose to write with their life a legacy of bitterness and rather than a legacy of praise?

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” How sad is that for a person who claims to know Jesus to then choose to write with their life a legacy of complaining rather than a legacy of gratitude?

I’m not saying that people who are known for their bitterness and complaining are not Christians. It’s not my place to judge. But I can’t help but wonder what they’re going to do when they get to heaven and find out that for all of eternity we’re going to be praising God!

And I’ve noticed something about people who live their lives like this. I’ve yet to meet a single one them whose life is characterized abundance. There’s no way it could be, because the lingering sin of complaining and bitterness has cut them off from the God of abundance.

Folks, ask God to search your heart and see if what He finds is a heart continually praising Him. Continually giving thanks to Him. If He finds any trace of bitterness…any trace of complaining…confess it for the sin that it is. Repent. Ask for God’s forgiveness. Ask Him to give you a new heart. Ask Him to lead you into that place where you can experience the free flowing abundance of His grace and blessing.