What is your Spiritual Footprint?
What is your Spiritual Footprint?
Introduction
The Lord has really been talking to me lately about a lot of things. This blog is a collection of inner workings, fights, discussions, conversations and investigations that have been going on my life recently. So through that struggle, I have felt compelled today to share some of what God has been working on me with. If I say anything today that resonates with you, then that is all I can hope for. So in essence this sermon is for me and my life as much as it is for you. It is something that I need to hear as much as anyone else.
Carbon Footprint
A buzz word that has recently come into our vernacular is “carbon footprint”. A definition of which I grabbed from Wikipedia is “the total set of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product”. We are asked by the media to be mindful of our “carbon footprint”, that effect on the environment that we leave with our lifestyle. I’m not here this morning to debate Global Warming, or the green movement, but I do know we need to take care of this earth God made, but I am here this morning to talk about our “Spiritual Footprint”, which I would like to define as “A person’s reaction to the impressing of the Holy Spirit’s guidance in their life in regards to giving back to the Kingdom.”
I believe that once we accept the great gift that Jesus has offered us, we then have a responsibility to act and give back. So what good are you leaving behind at the end of each day? What has the Lord asked you to do for another person? Have you ignored the Holy Spirit’s prodding? Have your ears been deaf? Your eyes blind? Is your heart cold to the hurting of the world?
Rich Young Ruler
Do you ever “hate” a scripture? Well, this following scripture is one I’ve hated for a long time. Only for the fact that the Holy Spirit uses it to convict me each time I read it. Many times I can find myself becoming a HighLighter Christian. Reading the scriptures that I like, ignore the ones I don’t, and this just happens to be one those hard scriptures that fall into both of those categories.
Mark 10:17-31
17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.20“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”21Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”22At this, the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” 24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is[b] to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” 28Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” 29“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
How would you define rich?
Websters dictionary defines rich as “having abundant possessions and especially material wealth”
What percentage of the world’s population would have to be below you for you to consider yourself “rich”? If you were in the world’s top 51%, would that make you rich? I think on a technicality you have more possessions than more than half the world, so yeah maybe. Well what about the top 25%? 10%? 5%? I wonder these things myself. So where exactly do you as a person rank amongst the world’s wealthiest. Luckily there is a website that does the math for us! www.globalrichlist.com. I decided to do a little digging and I looked up the AVERAGE family income in Charlottetown, PEI and that amount comes in at whopping $61,569. According to this calculator if you are an average family in Charlottetown you now fall into the TOP 0.95% of the world’s wealthiest. Now let’s go back and read verse 23 “How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” What does that mean for us North America?
When I was a kid my complete concept of being poor meant shopping at KMART and that my family could not afford to buy me Reebok Pumps. But never once did I ever wonder where my next meal was coming from, or what would happen when the cookie jar was empty, or even if I was going to be able to play hockey next season. I was born into a life of privilege, of intense wealth, and of never actually needing something (even though I thought much differently as a kid). Sadly, it took me a long time to realize this. The Lord has been continually convicting me of my wealth, of how everything I have in my life is because of Him, and how much I need to detach myself from my “stuff”.
After years of struggling and fighting, I feel like finally the LORD has gotten me to a point where if he asked me to sell all I had and move to Africa, I would. This is where the last part of that scripture really hits home for me, and makes all the sacrifice worth it. He hasn’t asked me yet, but I know he is preparing my life for a watershed moment like this.
29“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
I finished reading a book recently called The Irresistible Revolution: Living the life as an ordinary radical by Shane Claiborne (which I cannot recommend strongly enough). And in that book, he has some great quotes, but one that resonated with me was this “But as I pursued that dream of upward mobility preparing for college, things just didn’t fit together. As I read Scriptures about how the last will be first, I started wondering why I was working so hard to be first.” Bill spoke last week, on this very topic, why is the church trying so hard to be first, when maybe all we need to is learn how to be last a little more. Something that I’ve heard said a lot recently is that “The church is the sole institution that exists for the benefit of its non members”, so why does the church spend so much time trying to please the people inside it?
So how can we as rich Christians serve? We need to recognize the need around us, and act on it. Luckily for us a wise person by the name of Jesus had something interesting to say directly on this topic.
Recognize the Need around You
In scripture there are more than 2000 references to helping the poor, and the destitute.
Jesus only talks about judgment day once in the gospels.
And this scripture has both!
Matthew 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats
31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Jesus is all around us. All we need to do is open our eyes and help those in need. Jesus isn’t asking nicely. Jesus isn’t saying to his disciples here “Well if you kind of feel like it today, then maybe you could, you know maybe um, drop a can of corn into that bin at the end of the line at Sobeys next time you get groceries”. No, he is commanding his disciples (us) to help those in need, and weight of the world is upon our shoulders. At the end of the age, there will not be a theology test. Nowhere in this passage do I see Jesus saying “and the sheep and goats will be sorted to the left and to the right, which will be determined by a 1000 word essay on Entire Sanctification.”
It will be on how we treated, or mistreated the marginalized, the poor, the widow, the hurting soul and the man in jail. As you have done to the least of these, so have you done to me. That what you have NOT done to these, so you have not done to me.
Now don’t get me wrong and think that I am saying one can get to heaven by works, no, it doesn’t work that way. But what I AM saying is that we will be held completely accountable on how we used our time, immense resources and calling on our lives to serve God. If you, can honestly say right now, if Jesus was to walk into this room and separate us, where would you fall? Are you one of the sheep that has given up everything to follow him? Or are you still saying “Jessus, I did not see you”. Ignorance will not be an option, I’m sorry. You should not live your life afraid of losing it, you should be afraid of not living the life God has in store for you. What exactly are you still holding onto? Where is your heart?
Matthew 6:19-21
19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“What you believe is not what you say you believe, what you believe is what you do”
Donald Miller – Blue Like Jazz
Jesus’ call on your life is always on the table.
In 1999 I moved out to Calgary to go to school. To this day I still believe that God called me out there for a purpose. It was in leaving my family, and seeking God that landed me into some of the darkest times of my life. Even if those years were not easy, they were necessary and formative to the man I am today. Somewhere along the line in seeking God though, I forgot to keep looking, and I was subsequently side tracked for many years. I had lost my sense of purpose and the call of God on my life. In a lot of ways, I relate strongly to the rich young ruler. I went out to Calgary, much like how he went to Jesus. Saying “Ok Jesus, here I am, I followed all your rules, I was a good boy! What else must I do?”. Jesus, then put the question to me, will you give up your life? Give up your desire to become first? Give up your desire for wealth? Give up everything? How much do you trust me… and I didn’t trust him, and I did my own thing. This led me falling away from God, and losing my sense of purpose. The parable of Prodigal Son, meshes well in this context as well. As we see in the scripture of the rich young ruler, Jesus does not chase after him when he walks away. The father in the Prodigal Son, does not chase his son down the road when he leaves with the money. But, he is always waiting, his arms are always open for a loving embrace and welcome home feast.
God’s arms were open waiting for me to come back, and even though it took a small life crisis for me to recognize this, he was there, waiting for when I did. If you are in a similar situation, I guarantee, he will be there when you finally choose to listen, and you won’t regret it.
Conclusion
So now what? What is God saying to you right now? What is it that you need to do? Today my prayer is that when you lay your head down on your pillow tonight, tomorrow night, and every remaining night for the rest of the life, you answer to “What is your Spiritual Footprint?” will be a positive one. God saved you, so you could give back to the Kingdom.
John 13: 35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Has God called you to a purpose and you’ve ignored him?
What is God asking you to give up today?
Have you become apathetic to the needs of those around you?
What is your Spiritual Footprint at the end each day?
Posted under musings