Rev. David Holwick O
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
May 7, 2017
Proverbs 3:5-10
ALL IN
I. There are some things you can't be half-hearted at.
A. Poker players know how to do it.
Last month something unusual happened at a professional poker
tournament.
Famous poker pro Gus Hansen began the game by going all in.
He shoved all his chips into the middle of the table.
What is amazing is that he did this blind - he was betting
$300,000 and he hadn't even looked at his cards.
He had horrible cards, but he won the hand.
With each hand after that, he continued going all in.
In one of his early hands, he pushed the chips in, peeked at
his cards as the professionals do it, and saw two 2s.
His opponent had an Ace and a Jack of the same suit.
$600,000 was in the pot.
The dealer dealt out another 2, and Hansen's winning streak
continued.
It wasn't until 16 minutes had gone by that he finally lost a
hand.
#65829
1) This would have been very thrilling, but also very stupid.
2) It is only a matter of time before you lose everything.
B. Christian faith has parallels with aggressive poker.
1) Jesus says you have to go all-in if you want to follow him.
2) He says you have to love him more than anything else.
3) He says you have to be prepared to give up your life itself.
C. How does your commitment measure up to this?
1) Probably none of us have had to literally lay our lives on
the line for God.
2) But many of us haven't risked anything at all for God.
3) We expect him to do things for us, but our commitment to
him is very thin, maybe almost nonexistent.
4) Perhaps we should be more like Gus Hansen the poker pro.
II. Put your trust in God.
A. The book of Proverbs focuses on practical faith and morality.
1) I hope you have all been reading a chapter a day.
a) Celeste and I find it helps to read it together.
1> I especially liked Friday's chapter.
2) The teaching in Proverbs on commitment to God is very basic.
B. Our commitment needs to come from the heart.
1) The foundation is given in Deuteronomy 6:5 --
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your strength."
2) Jesus said this was the greatest commandment in the Old
Testament, when combined with the command to love your
neighbor as yourself.
3) How much of a heart-commitment have you made to God?
a) For some people, it is more of an intellectual
stance - they believe God exists.
b) A heart-commitment goes much deeper.
1> You sense a personal relationship with God.
2> You love him, and feel that he loves you.
C. Trust is very similar to faith.
1) You commit yourself before you really know what is going
to happen.
2) Christians often use the analogy of a chair.
a) When you sit down in a chair, you assume it will
support you. You trust it.
b) Every once in a while, you find your trust is misplaced
and you end up on your keister.
(my dad loved that word)
1> When you trust something, make sure it is worthy of
your trust.
2> Millions have found that God is worthy of it.
D. To trust God is to submit to him.
1) The original NIV says in verse 6, "in all your ways
acknowledge him."
2) The newer version gives a stronger word - you don't just
acknowledge God, you must SUBMIT to him.
3) This means you follow his commands and do what he tells you
to do.
a) When everyone else says God's ways are old-fashioned
or unrealistic, you follow God’s ways anyway.
b) You trust that God's way will work out better for you -
your life will go straight and not crooked.
III. Don't try to figure everything out.
A. There will always be tension between God's way and our way.
1) We kind of like our own understanding - we have a track
record with ourselves.
2) Verse 7 reinforces this tendency - we think we know enough.
a) You may do boneheaded things sometimes, but you don't
really think you are a dummy, do you?
b) The reality is, humans are not very good at processing
reality.
c) We skew things by running them through our mind's filter.
d) Proverbs 14:12 says,
"There is a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death."
B. Remember this when everything seems to be going wrong.
1) Christian blogger Katie McCoy writes:
Try as I might, some things just don't go quite like
I've planned.
You probably have had things go awry as well.
Some have been disappointing, others have been devastating:
the marriage that ended, or the marriage that hasn't
happened yet;
the baby you're unable to conceive, or the baby who
grew up and broke your heart;
a devastating diagnosis, or an illness they can't
diagnose;
the parent you lost at a young age, or the parent you
care for in their old age;
a job change, or a job loss.
Whatever it is, it wasn't part of your plan.
What happens when our plans fall through, when that hope
we've been aiming at and working toward doesn't
materialize --
when, because of our choices, someone else's choices, or
simply the sovereign hand of God, we look around and
say to ourselves, "I didn't sign up for this"?
#65828
2) Proverbs 19:21 says,
"Many are the plans in a person's heart,
but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."
a) No matter what plans we have for ourselves, God's plan
will be fulfilled.
b) Katie McCoy concludes, instead of resisting God, the
more we orient our lives around him and let his
Spirit shape and transform us and our plans,
the better off we will be.
c) In the meantime, we will often have to submit to the
simple prayer, "Thy will be done."
C. Avoid the world's pitfalls.
1) Fear God and avoid evil.
a) Morality - right and wrong - is at the core of God's
purposes for us.
b) You probably know what you should be doing, or not doing.
c) Only you can decide which way you are going to go.
2) God's way has a great payoff.
a) It brings health.
b) It brings prosperity.
IV. Our commitment needs to be concrete.
A. Words like "trust" and "submit" can be easy to wiggle out of.
1) Verse 9 brings the concept down to the nitty-gritty.
2) Solomon tells us, honor God with your wealth.
a) It might be easy for him to say - he was worth billions.
b) But for all people of all time, we have put our money
where our mouths are.
c) This is why Jesus made money and possessions the
ultimate sign of our commitment to him.
d) He would tell people to give all their possessions
away and then follow him.
3) "Giving all" happened on occasion, but not typically.
a) Solomon is thinking of the practice of tithing, and
giving offerings in worship, and helping the poor.
b) A certain portion belongs to God, with your generosity
being what is on top of that.
4) Churches have sustained their ministries for thousands of
years on this principle.
a) When people believe in the mission, they give.
b) When they don't give, or give just a token amount,
that sends a message.
B. Do it first, not last.
1) Firstfruits were the offering that was made at the beginning
of the harvest.
a) It was an offering in the faith that more good stuff
was to come.
b) They didn't figure what we left over, and give that.
c) They gave to God before they gave to themselves.
2) Giving generously to God has benefits for us.
a) Solomon says our barns, or bank accounts, will be
filled to overflowing.
b) I don't see this as a rigid transaction - you give
to me and I'll pay you back - like some Pentecostals
do.
c) Instead, it is the principle that those who consistently
honor God in their everyday lives will experience
contentment and sufficiency.
1> Test him in this.
V. How committed are you to God?
A. I didn't want this to be a begging sermon.
1) I admit I am concerned over recent trends in our church.
a) Key people have been retiring or moving away.
b) The bills get bigger and the offerings stay flat.
c) We don't even put the Working Balance in the bulletin
anymore because it sent a negative message to visitors.
(it is a negative message because it is a negative number)
2) But the principle of commitment transcends our situation.
a) Do we really believe in God?
b) Only a few have ever backed this up with their lives.
c) Are you one of them?
B. Commitment must flow out of relationship.
1) If you are going through the motions and don't really
believe, I wouldn't expect much commitment.
2) In that case, don't give more money, but give more of
yourself to Christ.
a) Trust in him to save you.
b) He will tell you what to do next...
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#65828 “When Things Don’t Go As Planned,” by Katie McCoy, Baptist Press,
May 5, 2017; <http://www.baptistpress.org>.
#65829 “Going All In,” Rev. David Holwick, adapting an article by
Charles Curtis: "Insane (or brilliant?) poker player goes
all-in on every hand and completely dominates," USA Today,
April 11, 2017; <link>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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