LOJ #166: Sold out Or Sell Out?

LOJ #166: ‘Sold Out or Sell Out?’

Andover Baptist Church-December 2nd, 2012

Opening

A. Text for today is Luke 16:10-13 and our sermon is titled ‘Sold

Out or Sell Out?’

B. Scripture NET:

Luke 16:10–13 (NET)

“10 The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches?12 And if you haven’t been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

C. Children’s Sermon (SLIDE)

1. Have the kids come forward

2. Pick on of the kids to be my servant

3. Have Ian say no I want you to be my servant

4. We start (gently pulling on them)

5. What is the problem? Could [kid] serve both of us? No

6. The Bible tells us that we should serve God first and

listen only to what He say to do

D. Introduction

1. In our text today we are told by Jesus that material

things cannot be our focus that they cannot be what we

serve, that we are to put God first

2. I think it is fitting that we are talking about this in the

month that we observe Christmas, for many people

attend church in the Christmas season, but fail to

worship Christ in the Christmas season

3. Because Christmas has been hijacked in the lives of

many believers (and for the entire world)

4. Have any of you seen a hijack scene in a movie?

a. It goes down pretty much like this

b. A plan to take down an armored car is hatched

c. You see the armored car going on its merry way

d. The guards driving the armored car are oblivious

to the fact that they are about to be robbed

e. Then boom it happens extremely fast

f. The armored car is stopped, the doors on the back

are blown, the money is stolen and the guards are

dumbfounded as to what just took place

g. Our culture has done this with Christmas

5. For centuries Christmas was focused on Christ and His

birth, and the gift that He gave us on the cross of

Calvary

a. But in the early 1800’s a hijacker came upon the

scene who was going to become a competitor to

Christ

b. The emphasis on the gift of salvation was buried

under the wrapping paper and stockings

c. The Savior who truly knows us has been replaced

by a jolly figure who supposedly sees us when

we are sleeping and uses his spying to give gifts

to deserving girls and boys

d. Gone is the idea of the original Christmas gift,

given not to those who are deserving, but to those

who are undeserving, wrapped not in paper or

bows but in the love and grace of God

e. The location of these gifts have changed as well:

the original Christmas tree, we know as the old

rugged cross, adorned not with tinsel or

ornaments, but with the body and blood of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ replaced by a lit up

plastic conifer

f. Now I know I've just stepped on some toes

g. Some of you may be thinking: Are you James,

against Santa Clause? Surely you wouldn’t

deprive a child of that joy?

h. I’m not necessarily against Santa, but I will tell

you what I am against: anything that replaces

Jesus in people’s lives

1. And families have allowed that to happen

during Christmas

2. The one time of the year, greater than

even Easter, to share the Gospel has

been hijacked by a poor substitute

3. Santa Clause didn’t die for your sins

4. And when children and families are more

excited about gifts and elves and lights

and parties than about Jesus we have a

problem

5. When it’s taboo in our culture to wish

someone a Merry Christmas, because it

implies Jesus Christ, we have a problem

6. When kids can stand up for show and tell

and speak about what Santa Clause

supposedly brought them, but not tell

what Jesus has done for them, we have a

problem

7. Christ is being pushed out of Christmas:

'Happy Holidays!' 'Happy Xmas'

'Season's Greetings' are all symptoms of

this underlying problem

8. We need to take Christmas back and it

starts with you parents and grandparents:

in your homes and families

9. For It is you who decide whether your

family is going to worship at the altar of

a Christmas tree or a manger

10. It is you who decide whether wrapped

gifts or Jesus is who you will serve this

Christmas!

11. It is you who will decide whether your

family will be sold out for Jesus, or sell

out to this world

12. And may I just say that I hope and pray

that you have a very Merry and Happy

Christ filled Christmas

Sermon

READ: Luke 16:10-12 (Scripture slide)

A. Are you Faithful or Dishonest? That is the question here

1. If someone can be trusted with a little they can be

trusted with much,

2. If you are a white lie teller, then you are a liar

3. If you steal, no matter how little, given the opportunity

you'd steal something much bigger

4. As servants of God we are going to be held accountable

for our faithfulness to Him

a. We are to be faithful to Him in all things in our

life

b. Our money, our time, our life

1 Peter 4:10 (NET) “ Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God.”

Ephesians 5:15–17 (NET)“15 Therefore be very careful how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is.”

c. We are stewards of the Gospel message!

1 Thessalonians 2:4 (NET)“4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we declare it, not to please people but God, who examines our hearts.”

2 Corinthians 4:7 (NET)“But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”

Jude 3–4 (NET)“3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.4 For certain men have secretly slipped in among you—men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe—ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

B. Let's be honest if Christ were to take an inventory of our lives

what would He find?

1. It seems that in America today many Christians believe

that to give God an hour of our time to worship on

Sunday is too great of a sacrifice.

2. I shudder to think how many American Christians

would remain American Christians if their lives were

subject to forfeit as it is in many countries in the world.

3. For once we need to give back to God Who has given so

greatly to us (we ask and ask and ask and give very little

of ourselves at times)

4. Everything we have is His gift to us, how can we keep

the lives He has given us to ourselves?

B. God wants us to be trustworthy in the stewardship of the

earthly wealth that He has given us!

1. In fact your handling of money speaks volumes about

your spiritual health

2. Money can reveal your true character (families torn

asunder over inheritances, ect.)

3. And Jesus gives us a very practical spiritual diagnosis:

If you aren't managing your money well, chances are

you aren't managing your spiritual life well either.

4. Why is that important? Well your use of worldly wealth

determines how God will bless you with responsibilities

for His Kingdom.

5. Remember we have been looking at what it means to be

a good steward

a. In essence you and I have been given lives to

manage, on loan from God

b. He is observing how we handle the little He has

given us

c. He is doing so to judge wether or not we can

handle more responsibility

d. Here is the question you must ask of yourself:

Have I been faithful in what God has given me

to manage thus far in my life?

e. If not, why would God give you greater

responsibility?

f. If you are not using your earthly life to impact

your eternal life, you are missing out

READ: Luke 16:13 (Scripture slide)

"No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

A. What is the definition of a master?

1. They are one to whom someone answers too without

question

2. A master indicates an exclusive relationship

3. Two masters are listed here: God and money

4. Only one can control you, only one deserves you

B. Money is a terrible master

1. It promises life and yet takes it from you as you pursue

2. And in the end money let you down and you would

trade all you have for peace

C. God, and God alone, can be your Master

1. Who do you serve in your life?

2. Who is in your wallet so to speak? Is God allowed into

it?

3. What is in your checkbook has been said to define you

better than a biographer

4. If God is the Master of your life, your view and use of

money will be proper; however if your focus is on

money neither your view of God nor your view of

money will be proper

5. Your view of God and money fuels your life: From

your passions clear down to even your politics (i.e. as in

do issues of fiscal policy trump issue of the protection

of the unborn)

a. Is it your money? Or is it God's?

b. How much of the the money God has given you

been entrusted back to Him?

c. How do you think He would respond if the

'accounts' of your life were laid before Him?

d. What would He think of your use of time, talents

and possessions?

e. Would He fire you? Or bless you with more?

D. So who do you serve? Your wallet? Your job? The toys you

collect? The things of this world? Or God?

1. I can tell you a fact that you had better heed

2. One day you will stand before Him and only one of

those choices will be right

3. Jesus told His disciples that it was not easy for a wealthy

person to enter the Kingdom of God.

a. Some you you here might smugly think to

yourselves that you are not wealthy

b. Think about this: The average person living in

China averages a wage of $200 a month (teens in

the U.S. with a part time job make more than

that)

c. Couple this with the fact that 1/3 of the world

makes less than $2 a day

c. What does that mean? We are rich!

Application (slide)

1 Timothy 6:10 (NET)"For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains."

Matthew 6:33 (NET)"But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Invitation

Let us sing our last song #,

LORD’S SUPPER

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