KNOWING WHAT MATTERS
Preparing for 2025 ❧ Part 1
Selected Passages ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney
If you were to ask a biologist, “What are the essentials of life?” he’d answer, air, food, water, light. If you were to ask a pharmacist, “What are the essentials of life?” he’d probably give you a long list of trace minerals, and important vitamins that you need. If you were to ask a North Idaho survivalist, “What are the essentials of life?” he’d say a shotgun, bottled water and a bunker.
That may be true, but we know there’s more to life than just our physical needs. Life has a spiritual element, and life has an emotional element and there are spiritual and emotional factors that are just as essential to life as air and water and food and you need these to really live. In fact without these you’re not living, you’re just existing.
We’re barely three days away from 2025. I know many of us will be glad to see 2024 in our rearview mirrors. A number of unpredictable things took place this past year, some things good, some things not so good. As we look to the future, the wisest thing we can do is seek the Lord’s wisdom and guidance. When I was a young teenager seeking God’s will for my life a wise pastor counseled me with Psalms 32:8. God says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.What he didn’t share with me were the verses that followed: Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control. Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord (Psalm 32:8-10, NLT). God really got my attention when I read those verses! The last thing I wanted was for God to have to put a bit in my mouth to lead me, and sometimes He has! Let me tell you, it’s not fun. God promises He’ll guide us along the best pathway of our future, but it’s going to require us to follow His lead.
There are three areas, three great needs in life, where God wants to lead us if we ask Him. God talks about them a lot in the Bible. They are God, others, and money – in that order. This order is important. If you make listening to others or money first, it’s going get you into a lot of trouble. A lot of people confuse their need for money with God or they confuse their need for others with God. Then God says, “Ok. It looks like I’m going to need to put a bit your mouth.” Following God means keeping these needs in their right order. Malcolm Muggeridge said it well (1903–1990)Unless we love God we cannot love our neighbor; and, correspondingly, unless we love our neighbor we cannot love God. Once again, there has to be a balance; Christianity is a system of such balanced obligations—to God and Caesar; to flesh and spirit, to God and our neighbor and so on. Happy the man who strikes the balance justly; to its imbalance are due most of our miseries and misfortunes, individual as well as collective. Three essentials: God (Salvation), Others, (Support), and Money (Stewardship).
- Salvation: My relationship with God. We talk a lot about salvation. The Bible teaches that God
wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth(1 Timothy 2:4). We know Salvation is important to us in our relationship with God. We hear a lot about it, but are we following God’s lead when it comes to understanding what God wants us to do to be saved?
Probably one of best of many verses that explain in the Bible is Romans 9:10If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9, NAS). This verse tells us three important facts we need to know about salvation. 1) Jesus is Lord. That is, Jesus Christ was more than just a good man; He is the Son of God, God incarnate. 2) As the Son of God, He gave His life my place on the cross for my sins so that I could have complete forgiveness from the past, for the present and in the future. 3) Jesus more than just died on the cross though, He rose from the grave on third day triumphing over sin, death, and the grave proving He is God’s Son (Rom. 1:4).
But knowing these facts and believing them are two very different things. The only way you can have a personal relationship with God is by believing in His Son – there are no other ways to God. Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
What is belief? Taking God at His word. It’ a choice of our will. For some of us believing in the Lord Jesus Christ was a very emotional experience. For others of us, it wasn’t an emotional experience as much as we just knew it was the right thing to do. The amount of conviction may be different for you than it is for me, but we are both still genuine believers not because of emotions but because of our choice to put our trust in Jesus. Belief in Jesus Christ is a choice of the will. We often confuse our emotions with feelings with our beliefs. The two are very different. One has to do with the emotions and the other has to do with the will – the choice to take God at His word. Someone asked Luther: “Do you feel that you have been forgiven?” He answered: “No, but I’m as sure as there’s a God in heaven. For feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving; My warrant is the Word of God, naught else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel condemned for want of some sweet token, There is One greater than my heart whose Word cannot be broken. I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word till soul and body sever; For though all things shall pass away, his Word shall stand forever!” It’s not your hold of Christ that saves you, but his hold of you!
Belief is knowing what Christ has done for us and accepting that His death on the cross satisfied God’s wrath for my sins. Belief is a choice of the will. That’s it. It’s not walking the aisle, although the two can happen at the same time. Belief is not a prayer – you express belief through a prayer. Belief is not repentance. Though the two go together. Belief is not getting baptized. Baptism is the fruit of belief. Belief is not confessing your sins, though the two go together. Belief is simply taking God at His word that Jesus Christ died on the cross in my place taking my punishment and giving me His forgiveness. If we make salvation anything other than belief, we reduce it to works. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast(Eph. 2:8-9, NAS).But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God(Jn. 1:12-13). Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430)He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent. Once you take God at His word for what He’s done for you, something very different happens in your life. You have a great privilege you didn’t have before: God becomes your personal Father. God fills the great spiritual need each one of us have. Isa 49:15 Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for a child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on my hand (Isaiah 49:15). The first great need is a right relationship with God.
- Support: My relationship with others. From the beginning God designed the Church to be a
place of close, likeminded, like-hearted relationships. In what is known as Jesus High Priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus said,I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me(Jn. 17:21, NLT). Jesus’ prayer fulfilled in Acts. 2:42,44 They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and in prayer. . . And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. What the Bible describes here is sharing life together as a family of believers. Not just weekends, holidays, or special events, but life day in and day out.
The relationships you develop with other believers on a daily basis are extremely important. These daily connections are not just good, they’re vital to your emotional, spiritual, physical health. How? They will help you to become all that God has called you to be. It’s when you relate closely with other believers that are strengthened, encouraged, equipped to become all that God has made you to be. Heb. 10:25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near(Heb. 10:25).
The best way to develop these kinds of relationships is to get involved. Ben Franklin formed a support group of very brilliant people and called it “My most ingenious friends” group. As a group they would they would write papers and discuss them, discuss questions, help each other in their careers, goals, life goals. They met every Friday night for 40 years. Franklin was still accomplishing things in his 80’s and 90’s. Why? He had a support group that kept him growing.
Thomas Edison had a support group called “My mastermind alliance.” He put people with a similar life mission together and over a six-year period they came up with over 300 patented inventions. They were averaging one minor invention every 6 weeks, and one major invention every 6 months.
One health study I read discovered that if you isolate yourself from other people, if all you have are acquaintances, no close friends, you have no intimate relationships with other believers, other people, you are three times more likely to die an early death, four times more likely to suffer emotional burnout, five times more likely to be clinically depressed, and ten times more likely to be hospitalized for emotional or mental disorder. I don’t know where you’re at, but I know God is calling you to greater and deeper and more fulfilling relationships.
Let me give you a word of warning though. The Bible seriously warns, over and over again, about teaming up with people of opposing values. It’s very, very dangerous. Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14, NLT). Be very careful. If you’re not, God may well put a bit in your mouth! Don’t get stuck in unhealthy relationships. Three great needs are: God, Others, and finally…
- Stewardship: My relationship with money. Is money your master or are you the master of your
money?“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money”(Lk. 16:13, NAS). You’ve got to decide what’s going to be first in your life. If you say to God, “I want You first in my life” He will test you. He will test your priorities. Count on it. The way He’s going to test your priorities is He’s going to challenge you along the way to see what’s really first in your life. He’s going to show you how He wants you to use the money He’s given you. It’s a test of character: I the owner or the steward? We talked about this almost a year ago.
Stewardship says I don’t own it; I’m just managing it for someone else. This concept is foreign to a lot of people simply because most of us don’t see ourselves as stewards but owners. An owner says in his heart: This is mine. My money, my home, my car, my clothes, my couch, my chair, my table, my refrigerator, my phone. One of the main reasons we see ourselves as owners has to do with our time and investment in all that we have. I worked for what I have. I saved for it. I paid for it. I invested my time and effort to getting what I have.
That all sounds appealing. But there is one major flaw in this thinking. You’re really not the owner. At most, you’re just the temporary manager. The Bible says God is the Owner. In fact, He owns it all. The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it(Psalm 24:1).
There is another problem with seeing ourselves as owners – worry. For many, their whole sense of identity, worth, security, and happiness are so wrapped up into what they “own” that the very fear of losing it makes them want to end their lives. Why? Because money is their master. The truth is
everything you have – cars, homes, ambitions, talents, everything you’ve got is really just on loan to you for the time that you’re alive. We benefit from it. But we must never forget that we don’t own it.
Almost sixty years ago, author and professor Lois Cheney wrote a book entitled: “God is No Fool.” Once, a man said, “If I had some extra money, I’d give it to God, but I have just enough to support myself and my family.” And the same man said, “If I had some extra time, I’d give it to God, but every minute is taken up with my job, my family, my clubs, and what have you—every single minute.” And the same man said, “If I had a talent I’d give it to God, but I have no lovely voice; I have no special skill; I’ve never been able to lead a group; I can’t think cleverly or quickly, the way I would like to.”
And God was touched, and although it was unlike him, God gave that man money, time, and a glorious talent. And then He waited, and waited, and waited…. And then after a while, He shrugged His shoulders, and He took all those things right back from the man, the money, the time and the glorious talent. After a while, the man sighed and said, “If I only had some of that money back, I’d give it to God. If I only had some of that time, I’d give it to God. If I could only rediscover that glorious talent, I’d give it to God.” And God said, “Oh, shut up.” And the man told some of his friends, “You know, I’m not so sure that I believe in God anymore.” God put a bit in this man’s mouth to get his attention, but he still wouldn’t listen.
Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life (I Tim. 6:17-19, NLT). If we’re wise, we’ll recognize money is a tool. It’s not our identity. It doesn’t reflect our real value. It is an investment toward storing treasure in Heaven. Someone has well noted, Money Will Buy… A bed but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements but not happiness; religion but not salvation; a passport to everywhere but heaven.
So, what are our three great needs and their order? God (Salvation), Others (Support), and Money (Stewardship). Get these out of order and your life will be out of order.
