1 Valley View Chapel February 26, 2012 A Matter of Trust, Part 3 Principles You Can Trust Part 1 Introduction Enron began as a company that sold gas at market prices to other companies. Eventually it began trading electricity and other commodities under the direction of former chairman, Kenneth Lay. Over time, Enron designed increasingly varied and complex contracts. As its services became more elaborate, and its stock soared, Enron created a constellation of partnerships that allowed managers to shift debt off the books. Enron was, in fact, a master illusionist. They took advantage of accounting and legal technicalities to turn debt into equity, loans into cash flow and tax-deductions into earnings. In reality, Enron had painted a false portrait of success. Enron s complicated accounting practices began to unravel in late 2001 when the Securities and Exchange Commission announced an investigation into the company s partnerships. Soon after, Enron revealed that it had overstated earnings for the past four years by $586 million and that it was responsible for up to $3 billion in obligations to various partnerships. Enron s share price plunged and the company temporarily barred employee stock sales. In the interim, billions of dollars in market value were erased and the stock was eventually delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Enron was forced to declare bankruptcy. As a result of the company s collapse in which stock fell from a pinnacle of $90 a share late in 2000 to virtual worthlessness, thousands of Enron employees were not only jobless but had nothing left in their 401 (k) retirement accounts. J. Clifford Baxter paid a frightfully high price for Enron s collapse. In January of last year Baxter, a former Enron executive who had idolized his close friend, former CEO Jeffrey Skilling, left his suburban home in the middle of the night, parked his Mercedes Benz and shot and killed himself. Such was the extent of his disappointment and disillusionment with his trusted mentor. Thousands of lives were ruined and millions of dollars were lost because trust had been misplaced. Trust is an essential part of everyday life. It is imperative that those in whom we put our trust prove themselves trustworthy. Just as there came a defining moment when people put their trust in Enron, when they chose to believe the company s word and invest their assets in the company, so there
2 comes a defining moment in the life of every Christian when he or she has to decide once-and-for-all whether or not God can be trusted. If we decide to trust completely, unconditionally, and irrevocably the purposes and promises of God, then we will grow in our joy and fruitfulness as his disciples. If we decide to doubt the trustworthiness of God, we will live the rest of our lives in fear, uncertainty, and discontent. For the next two Sundays, I m going to talk with you about principles you can trust. Take an inventory The guidelines for our inventory are stated in Psalm 139:23-24, Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. This request for God to search our hearts is a bold prayer. God s all-seeing eye can detect our innermost desires, motivations, thoughts and ambitions. We don t even know all is in our hearts. So, if we re going to see ourselves as we really are, we must depend on God to show us. As we ask God to search our hearts, he begins to show us that only he can lead us in the right way. He will lead us in the way everlasting. He will lead us into the center of his perfect will. Left to ourselves, were we to make choices independent of God, we would follow the natural tendencies of our sinful, selfish hearts. If we are going to live our lives as God intended, then we must follow his leading. As we ask God to search our hearts, God also begins to teach us that trusting him begins with us. We need to examine ourselves to see if we really do trust God. Solomon addressed the topic of trust in the passage we considered three weeks ago - Proverbs 3:5-10. As I read this text, notice the personal pronouns. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. (NIV) Eleven times the personal pronoun your is used in this passage. The trust test starts with a personal inventory. If we have been conscientious and honest in taking our spiritual inventory, we will come to an inescapable conclusion: When we do our part, God does his part. God is faithful to his promises. But all of his promises are conditional. It is only as we fulfill his condition, God honors his promise.
3 Recognize God as our source You hear me saying the same thing every week when it comes to trusting God because there are only a few principles that are utterly essential to trusting God the way he wants to be trusted. So, for the third time in three weeks I will repeat the truth that God is the source of every blessing that we have. There is no more powerful or descriptive passage of Scripture concerning God as our source than Colossians 1:15-18 - He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. Paul reminded the Colossians that God created everything. God sustains everything. And God created and sustained everything so that his entire created order would give him honor and glory. He is the uncreated source and the undisputed Lord of all he has created. If we read Colossians 1:15-18 even superficially we will come to an undeniable conclusion: We are dependent people. And if we truly recognize our dependence on the power, mercy and grace of God, we will also be humble people. No one who thinks seriously for five seconds about the greatness of the infinite God could maintain a shred of pride. It is the recognition of God as our source that prompts us to thank him and praise him for all that he has done for us and all that he has given to us. Understand God s trust principles I want to leave you with four biblical principles which will help you grow in your level of trust. To the extent that you grow in your level of trust, you will grow in your level of obedience. And when you grow in your level of obedience, you will grow in your level of peace, joy, contentment and all other spiritual blessings. We are the managers not the owners of all that we have The psalmist, writing 1,000 before Christ, understood this principle and recorded it in Psalm 24:1, The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it... When we grasp fully the truth that everything we have belongs to God, we will settle forever the trust issue when it comes to our possessions. We grow when we give Practicing biblical stewardship - giving back to God what he has already given to us - enhances spiritual growth.
4 Conversely, if you are unwilling to surrender to the Lord in giving him the rightful portion of our material blessings, then you are living willful disobedience to one of God s timeless laws. And if we live in willful disobedience to any law of God, then we can t grow spiritually. I do not preach on stewardship every year so that the church budget will be fully subscribed. I preach on stewardship every year because my heart s desire is for the f Valley View Chapel family to be all that we can be for God. I preach on stewardship because Jesus Christ is worthy of our all-out, total commitment. It is only when we are totally yielded to God that we can live a satisfied and productive Christian life. Florence Nightingale, the famous nurse of the Crimean War, was a devoted Christian. She was once asked the secret to her enormously effective and productive life. Her reply: I have kept nothing back from God. Florence Nightingale knew that we grow when we give. Begin to practice God s stewardship principles today The English literary giant of the 18 th century, Samuel Johnson once said: The person who waits to do a good deal at once will never do anything. Many Christians have every good intention to start tithing to the Lord. But they are waiting until they can give a significant amount. That is a mistake. Jesus praised the widow who gave two small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny, more than he praised the rich men who gave large amounts. God is more pleased when a child gives 50 cents from a $5 allowance than when an adult gives $25 from a $1000 paycheck. There s no better time than today to begin obeying God. I came across a poem that describes many people when it comes to obeying God in general and obeying God in tithing in particular: Procrastination, my greatest sin, It brings me endless sorrow. I m going to stop doing it. Perhaps I ll start tomorrow. Every day you postpone obeying the known will of God is a day when you will fail to experience all that God has promised his obedient children. God made us and he knows what is best for us better than we do ourselves. It is in our best interest to obey God. When we obey God, we are in compliance with the timeless laws of heaven. Giving to God has eternal consequences Ponce de Leon looked in vain for magical waters called The Fountain of Youth because he wanted to live forever. We live forever through our giving.
5 You ve heard the saying, You can t take it with you. We all know that s true. You ve never seen a hearse with a luggage rack. Douglas Lawson said: We exist temporarily through what we take. But we live forever through what we give. Jesus put it this way: For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. Mark 8:35 In other words: What we keep, we lose. What we lose, we keep. My parents, Ellis and Ruth Fanning, never made more than $15,000 a year during their entire lives. They had to sell their home in 1956 because of hard times. They never owned a home again. But they gave all they could to the Lord. Mom and Dad never had much in the way of earthly possessions. To her dying day, my mother was amazed that Emily and I had 2 cars and 3 TV s. She couldn t imagine such luxury. But for the ages of eternity, people from every tribe and tongue and nation will thank my mom and dad for giving to the Lord. When we get to heaven, will there be people from who will thank us because we prayed and gave and served and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ? Conclusion We have taken a personal inventory. We have recognized God as our source. We have seen four timeless stewardship principles from God s Word. But what are we going to do with the truth we have encountered? We can store this information away in our heads and walk away from this worship service unchanged, untouched, in the same condition in which we entered this place of worship. Or we can go out the door determined to trust and obey God, and experience the fulfillment of his promises.