How much do you value eternal treasures. Jesus’ simple parable reveals what’s in our hearts. Can you leave behind the things of this world to find your heavenly rewards?
www.newlifetucson.org.
Dear Roger,
While I was reading through the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11, the author challenged our faith by describing Moses’ renunciation of the treasures of Egypt in exchange for poverty with the people of God. It seems like we are not seeing much renunciation in the American church today.
Do you agree?
Luke
Dear Luke,
Yes! I agree. It seems to me that many Christians are adopting a worldly lifestyle, chasing the attractive, temporal things of the world instead of renouncing them in favor of those things which are eternal.
The author of Hebrews uses Moses’ renunciation as a guideline. He places the principles out front where we can’t miss them.
We need to look carefully at these principles, because the choices that Moses faced are the same as the ones that we face today.
Let me answer your email with a look at Moses ’principles of renunciation.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking forward to his reward. (Hebrews 11:24-25)
FIRST, A GODLY FAMILY IS HELPFUL IN PREPARING US FOR THE WORK OF RENUNCIATION.
You are fortunate if you were raised in a godly family. It somewhat easier to make right choices when your mom and dad were godly and functional.
However, even if your mom and dad weren’t that good, God can certainly use other people in your life, as well as Bible study, prayer, discipleship, and a number of other tools to build within you great character and a godly lifestyle.
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw that he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the King’s edict. (Hebrews 11:23)
The Jews in Egypt were becoming so numerous that Pharaoh feared a rebellion. He sent out a decree to drown every newborn male child in the Nile River. The penalty for hiding a baby was death.
But by faith Amram and Jochebed, Moses’ parents, refused Pharaoh’s decree. They risked their lives for Moses’ sake.
Then, by divine providence, his parents placed him in a small basket and floated him down the Nile River where he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter. She was so enraptured with the child that she took him home and raised him as her own. She even chose Jochebed to be the nursemaid for Moses! He was raised in two successful families.
As we study the life of Moses, I am most impressed with his parents. They had only a brief exposure to the child, from birth to 12 years, and they shaped Moses’ character in an indelible way.
Faith cannot be inherited. But it can be instilled. Miriam received it. Aaron received it. Moses received it. Joshua received it. Caleb received it.
I still remember coming into the den early in the morning and hearing my dad on his knees in prayer. I don’t suppose you ever get over that.
SECOND, EVALUATE THE ISSUES INVOLVED.
Moses was a famous man in Egypt. History records that he was next in line to be Pharaoh. He had everything going for him. Egyptian education … riches … military commander.
When the Ethiopians invaded Egypt and were threatening the capital of Memphis, oracles were consulted and Moses was entrusted with the command of the royal troops. He took the field, routed the enemy, captured their principal city, Marol, and brought home great spoils of victory.
Yet, there is no sphinx in Egypt in his honor. No pyramid. No mortuary temple that bears his name. These were people who honored their dead! The Egyptians had a saying. “To speak the name of the dead is to make him live again.” Where is Moses’ sphinx? His pyramid?
There is none! Why not? Because of what is written for us in Hebrews 11:26; “There came a day in which he decided no longer to be called the Pharaoh-Elect.”
We all at one time or another experience a little taste of greatness. It feels so good … but it doesn’t last.
I remember playing basketball in junior high. When I left the ninth grade, I looked at the record board on the gym wall and nine of the eleven records were mine. When I came back back the next year and looked at record board and saw that I only held five. I came back two years later, and someone had lost the record board.
Moses considered the power and prestige that would come to him as Pharaoh. He knew that those things wouldn’t last forever.
Moses evaluated the treasures of Egypt.
The world is too often concerned about prices instead of about values. The truth is; the price tags are all confused.
Moses evaluated the pleasures of sin.
David probably had great fun with Bathsheba. But he saw his family disintegrate before his eyes because of it—murder, rape, rebellion, and death. He had great fun with Bathsheba, but I bet that he wouldn’t do it again.
Moses evaluated what it would cost to save of his own people. Was it worth it?
At the burning bush, Moses encountered God Himself—in that moment he knew following God’s call would be worth everything.
THIRD, MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE.
An unbelieving Egyptian, looking at Moses, would conclude that this prince had everything worth living for: prestige, authority, wealth, an exciting future.
But Moses looked at these same things and decided that they were cheap! He wanted neither the pleasures nor the treasures of Egypt because he had something far better—an intimate relationship with God and a home in heaven.
So, Moses came to the conclusion that the renunciation of Egypt was the only option.
He evaluated what it would be like to be Pharaoh with all the power and prestige that goes with that position. However, God is not interested in how much money we have, what family we are from, how much education we possess, or our position in life. God is interested in how well we live by faith.
However, the choice to follow Jesus is never an easy thing. And the closer we come to the cross, the more exacting become His demands.
One day, Jesus preached to a crowd of 20,000 the toughest sermon that He ever preached. He shared, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no part in me.” He was preaching about commitment.”
One by one, 19,988 the people walked away until only 12 were left. With a heavy heart Jesus asked, “Will you go away, too?”
Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life” (John 6).
Shakespeare’s “Merchant Of Venice” provides a perfect allegory of the choice involved in following Christ.
The heroine is Portia, a beautiful and wealthy heiress. Many suitors of noble birth wanted to marry her. However, her father proposed a test to select her husband. Three chests were prepared, and she would belong to the one who selected the correct chest.
The Gold Chest was inscribed with these words, “Who chooses me will gain what many men desire.”
The Silver Chest was inscribed with these words, “Who chooses me shall get as much as he deserves.”
The Lead Chest was inscribed with these words: “Who chooses me must give and hazard all he has.”
Which would you choose?
A multitude of suitors soon arrived.
Many chose the Gold Chest. Inside was a skull!
Several chose the Silver Chest. Inside was the picture of a fool.
Finally, Bassanio arrived and evaluated the three chests. Finally, he chose the Lead Chest. Inside was a picture of Portia.
Bessanio chose the winning chest and won the hand of Portia in marriage because he was willing to give everything he had for the sake of the one that he loved.
This is to be our attitude toward Christ. And whoever chooses Christ must give all he has.
Several years ago, the treasures of King Tutankhamen were paraded around the United States. Unbelievable riches were found in his tomb. But what the average person doesn’t know is that Tutankhamen was just a fifth-rate Pharaoh. He was at the bottom of the totem pole. He was a nobody.
Read the inscriptions of some of the prominent Pharaohs. His collection paled in comparison.
So, we can go to a museum and see a fine collection of mummies. Moses could have been one of them. Instead, he earned a berth in God’s Hall of Faith.
Well Luke,
I really appreciate your email. I hope that everyone is encouraged to renounce the things of the world in order to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.
Love,
Roger
When our dreams are shattered, can we actually experience the grace of God in the midst of our humanity, watch God’s spirit move in a powerful way, in a vibrant way, even at times through dysfunctional people. And that’s the power and capacity that can be seen and experienced in the local Church. When we’re hurt, we’re going to work through it in a healthy way. We’re going to pray. We’re going to serve. We’re going to repent. We’re going to keep going, keep dreaming.
Preached at Fresh Life Church. www.freshlife.com.
Do I really want to see myself? Really? Not as I might prefer to see myself in order to have some rickety and ill-placed semblance of peace. Not the image that grants me permission to stay a course that maybe I should stay away from. Not the perception of myself that allows me to side-step guilt, by-pass accountability, and circumvent obligations that I find a bit distasteful. All of that aside, do I really want to see myself? Really?
We tend to craft an image of ourselves that fits what we’d like to be, but not necessarily what we are. We’re quite adept at recognizing what’s culturally acceptable so that we can be acceptable to the culture. We know what fits in the tight social circles within which we circulate, and we have some grasp of the latest trends as we see them spread across magazine covers and splashed across our television screens. In no way are we short on examples as served up by the culture, and we are perpetually subject to a bevy of obstinate expectations associated with those examples. In artfully and sometimes rather stumbling ways we draw from these various examples and expectations, crafting our image so that we fit whatever they happen to be at the moment.
Confusion in the Shaping
And in the shaping we incessantly focus on what we’re supposed to be, which is perpetually held in some jarring tension against this sense of who we actually are. Over time, we develop an ever-morphing confusion regarding our identity as this constant tension too often plays itself out on the side of what’s expected of us verses who we authentically are.
The battle incessantly incurred by this tension leaves us little time and inadequate energy to explore our core selves, as such an endeavor carried out with diligence will always ask the best of us. The mad chase to be whatever it is that will be accepted, to the greatest degree that it can be accepted, in conjunction with the elusive hunt to obtain whatever it is that allows us to blend in with a world that is itself trying to blend in . . . all of that consumes all of our time. And in the consumption, we are never free enough to ask who it is that we really are.
Maybe We Don’t Want to Know
The reality might be that we don’t want to know who we are. In part, maybe this incessant pursuit is in reality flight from who we fear we might be. Maybe the person that we attempt to craft is something that we perceive as a bit shinier and slightly more striking in comparison to the person that we actually are. Maybe the image that the world propagates is better. Maybe, just maybe the world knows something that we don’t know. Maybe we’d rather be shaped by the world rather than being shaped by histories that are painful, or losses that are devastating, or belief systems that were forced upon us, or dreams that were forced into us. It might be that we don’t like who life has made us to be, so we haplessly gawk at those vogue and savvy examples of what it is to be a vibrant and exuberant person. Or just maybe we want a bigger hand in making us who we’ve become over and above everything else that has taken license to shape us in whatever way we’ve been shaped.
But do we really want to know who we are? And is this fear of knowing in reality a fear of self. Is it a fear of what I might find if I scratch the surface a bit? Is it a throbbing apprehension of what sits down there in those dark places that would forever brutalize me should I bring it to the light? Has my life been so marked by running from myself that running to myself is something that I don’t even understand how to do? Is my goal to reinvent myself rather than rediscover myself because what I think I’d discover isn’t all that appealing? Or do I assume that an image is something that is crafted rather than something that is cultivated?
The Richness of Running to Self
I would propose that the most potent person I can become begins with the solitary yet immensely challenging task of being the person I am. That may in fact be the most difficult part of this journey that we call life. The greatest ‘me’ begins with the authentic ‘me.’ That means that I must be willing to park myself wherever I am at, rein in my rather rogue passions, forcefully yet tactfully strip away all the facades, and accept whatever I find as my point of departure.
While I tend to run from me, I need to decide to run to me. And in the running I am going to seek out and boldly seize the strengths that I have ignored or altogether abandoned. It may well be that I have spent my life incessantly looking for things outside of me that are already within me. It would be entirely prudent to embrace an entirely different tact that involved recognizing these hidden attributes, learning to warmly appreciate them, and then robustly enhancing them in a perpetual cycle of personal growth that we could have hardly imagined as possible.
Where It Begins
It begins with intention not bridled by fear. It involves the impetus of possibilities to offset the impotence of impossibilities in order to actually challenge the impossible. It’s an intention to grow despite the obstacles that currently lay across our path, as well as press through the obstacles that will arise as a response to our efforts to press forward. It all begins with a passion to grow that will not heed nor be dimmed by the challenges that in and of themselves will bring growth simply by virtue of our choice to engage them.
Second, authentic growth can only begin with an authentic start. That means that we must focus on who we are, which is typically quite different from who we’ve become. This focus is achieved by brazenly identifying the assorted facades, fearlessly calling them out, audaciously casting them off, and then embracing both the glory and gore of that which lies underneath. It is that glory and gore that is the raw material from which we build a self beyond anything that any collection of facades could hope to fabricate.
Third, we must secure the resources that are above us and adamantly avoid those that are below us. This means that we refuse anything that generates a lateral move or grants us permission to grow in place, neither of which have anything to do with growth. We must find those people seasoned with wisdom, seize those resources that are unashamedly bold, and be willing to allow those resources to speak into our lives even when their messages are hard and sharp.
The Face in the Mirror
The face in mirror is a great one already which stands ready to be made greater still. It can be done when we choose to press through fear, tear ourselves down to our authentic self, and intentionally seek out challenging resources to assist in our growth. And when we do, the person that we’ve shaped ourselves to be pales in comparison to the person we are now on our way to becoming.
Used by permission of the author.
What’s the best way for your church to communicate to your congregation?
Well, it depends on the church.
The world is increasingly a complex melting pot of subcultures. Some churches thrive using social media while other churches need more traditional communication channels. There are hundreds of options.
And text messaging may actually be one of the best tools you can use.
Why texting?
Text messaging (SMS) is as popular as email was a decade ago. According to Pew Internet Project, 90% of American adults have a cell phone, and 79% of them use text messaging in 2014.
In other words, 7 in 10 church goers use text messaging. And this number is growing.
In most cases, the nature of texting is more effective at communicating than email, service announcements, and voice messages. It is 160 characters delivered within 7 seconds.
Tools for Texting
Of course, you don’t want to send out 200 individual messages from your phone. There is software for that.
Some solutions, like Church Office Online, even integrate mass text messaging into church management software (ChMS). In fact, Church Office Online actually includes text messaging in every subscription package at no extra cost. Users can easily send text messages to specific individuals, ministry groups, or their entire congregation.
Texting Your Way to a Healthy Church
Churches can use text messaging in a variety of ways. There are clear benefits to its ability to communicate the urgent – weather cancellations, emergency notifications, and calls to action for community service. It is administratively versatile with its convenience of volunteer communication, event reminders, announcements, and schedule changes.
But text messaging’s real value is in how churches can explore using it to spiritually strengthen the health of their community. The fuel that drives a church’s health is each individual’s personal relationship with Jesus. Abiding in Christ prunes and refines us to be more like Christ. And it is out of the overflow of this relationship with God that the most powerful ministry is done.
So how can text messaging be used for spiritual growth?
- Prayer
Your church can use texting to communicate urgent prayer needs or even just every day prayer requests. However, the real potential lies in developing weekly or even daily prayer guides to help church members practice and cultivate the habit of prayer. - Scripture
Scripture illiteracy is still a problem. As we’ve seen with the emergence of Bible apps and audio Bibles, technology is providing new avenues of engagement that can be the first format that suits certain types of learners. Perhaps text messaging is the channel that some need to finally jumpstart a habit of Bible reading. This could be a weekly or daily devotional with one text being Scripture and a 2nd text being a thought-provoking question. One of my favorite examples is using text messaging to share the Scripture text for the sermon the day before. What a wonderful way to extend the sermon beyond the service and prepare hearts to receive more.
Think about how your church can turn text messaging into weekly devotionals of prayer and Scripture. Tools like Church Office Online are perfectly suited to help you get started, explore the potential, and manage the full spectrum of church texting.
Special thanks to Church Office Online for supporting Church relevance by sponsoring this post.
www.churchrelevance.com Used by permission.
The Winter Olympics 2010 are upon us. Athletes across the globe long to skate like Ohno and ski like Mancuso. Even if they don’t win the gold, they hope to score a cushy endorsement deal with Swatch or Wheaties. Nike’s got a spot! Will Tiger leave a hole???
As Christians, most of us are keeping score in life. We know Ephesians 2:8-9: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Yet something inside of us can’t accept the fact that we don’t earn our salvation. We still keep racking up brownie points for God in hopes that we can please Him on our own. Why can’t we receive God’s free gift of salvation in simple faith?
Long-time Christians and pastors are suckers for legalism. We can be “good enough,” by golly! I began trying to get on God’s “nice” list at an early age. My third-grade year, it was my all-consuming desire to win the Sunday School perfect attendance pin. Practically perfect, the blue and silver shield had “perfect attendance” emblazoned upon the front like a banner from heaven. In order to receive the coveted award, I not only had to show up on time every Sunday without fail, I had to read the weekly Sunday School lesson and bring my offering envelope.
On the Sunday before Labor Day, Mrs. Brumit marched Randy Phelps to the front of the classroom and announced he had won the coveted prize-the perfect attendance pin. He proudly stuck out his chest and Mrs. Brumit penned his award from Jesus to his freshly washed IZOD polo shirt. Applauding wildly, I had a revelation from the Almighty. When I looked at Randy’s bespectacled face, for one brief shining moment I thought I saw a halo encircling his blonde buzz cut. I determined that morning that the next year I would stand before God, the angels, and the cheering crowd sporting that silver emblem on my gingham dress.
But “perfect attendance” wasn’t an easy feat to perform. Three Sundays in November I hacked and sneezed all over Sandy French because I wasn’t going to let the Asian flu keep me from my trophy. In April I puked twice in church after eating too many donut holes before the sermon started-or was I sick? I can’t be sure. After my breakfast preceded me, everyone looked a little green around the gills. Debbie McCoy and Vicky Palmer contracted the virulent strain of intestinal flu I so graciously shared with the class. Undaunted, I came week after week after week after week……
Twice I almost lost the competition because of an errant offering envelope. One windy March Sunday, it fell out of my pocket when I hopped out of our Pontiac and onto the pavement. Sweet Mrs. Bentley saw the little white square under the car and returned it to me in the nick of time. The second envelope fiasco came the Saturday night I decided to hide it in my Bible between Nahum and Habakkuk. I hoped the fiery minor prophets would hold it fast until I arrived at class. When Sunday School started, I frantically thumbed through the Bible pages hoping to locate my nickel for Jesus. Where did it go? I scoured all of the “ah” prophets: Isaiah, Hosea, Ezra, Jeremiah, Jonah, Nehemiah, Zephaniah and Zechariah.. My tithe was nowhere to be found. Suddenly I recalled a Lucky Strike commercial from the night before. The book had something to do with tobacco-no, it was Habakkuk. I found Habakkuk, placed my envelope in the offering plate and breathed a sigh of relief. After twelve months of hard work, I reached my lofty goal and wore my heavenly treasure, my Baptist banner, with pride.
Be honest. I’m not the only Christian around who struggles with legalism. You’ve been there, too. But once I stopped trying to get into God’s good graces and start trusting Jesus for salvation, life just got a lot more fun. My walk with God is no longer a religion, but a relationship.
Read or listen to “Spiritual Maturity Is Not Simply Legalism.”
The parable of the “treasure hidden in a field” teaches that receiving Christ’s free gift of salvation is worth all that we have. Outward kingdoms only offer an illusion of wealth, power and security that quickly fade into guilt and regret. God’s inner kingdom is priceless and lasts an eternity.