Introduction
Graduation. To be 18-19 years old. To be poised on the precipice of starting your own life. Your life, where you make your own choices, live out your own values, and decide who you want to be. I’m so glad I get to share a message for graduates today.
I’m 48 years old. Is
that old? I don’t know. It’s a lot older than our graduates, but it’s
still a lot younger than many people! In many regards, I do feel old. Why do my feet hurt in the morning when I stand up for the first time? How can they hurt? I haven't done anything yet. I've only been sleeping! I guess they just hurt because I've been walking on them for 48 years.
But in many ways, I feel like I am still the young man
sitting out among the graduates poised to begin my adult life. I will forever be linked to my senior year of high school, because it was the year I began dating the woman who became my wife. So much of the man I am today was shaped by that decision and the dreams we had together--dreams we worked so hard to realize. 1992 was the year that I began the journey of who I am today.
My words today are for the graduates, but they are really for all of us. We all need to remember what it is to be young and charting the direction of our lives. We also need, at times, to recalibrate our lives to get back on the path of righteousness.
Luke 12:13-21
13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
20 “But
God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get
everything you worked for?’
21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not
have a rich relationship with God.”
Don't Be A Fool
The best advice I can give to graduates, to anyone really, if have a rich relationship with God. Graduates often start with very little money. If they have a job, they usually aren't earning much. Their parents probably paid most or all of their expenses. Then, suddenly, they are out learning to pay for groceries and clothing and laundry detergent and other things. They may just barely scrape by for a few years and they may long for the day when their finances aren't so tight.
So here's an important word for you. You're
not doing this all by yourself. Even when you think you are all on your own, you parents, your family, your church are still pulling for you. And even if no one else is there, God is surely with you.
But don't be a fool like
the man in Jesus’ parable. He was a fool
because he was greedy and selfish. He didn’t think of others. I do feel some sympathy for him, because farming can be a tough business. Most years, farmers are just scraping by. Insects and plant diseases and drought often eat up your produce and you may barely have enough or maybe even come up short. There are many lean years. I'm sure there were people who helped the farmer in Jesus' story during his lean years. But when he finally had a good year with a surplus, all he thought of was himself. Instead of turning to help others who may not have been so fortunate, he thought only of himself and how he could enjoy the pleasure in this world. He planned to take it easy saying, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come” but didn’t realize he was about to die and lose it all.
None of us knows how many days we have. and when this life is over, the things of this world will belong to others. We can't take them with us. Therefore, we should think of others instead of clinging to what we have. And we should value our relationship with God above any worldly goods because they are only temporary.
Be Generous
Be a generous person. Proverbs 11:25 says, “The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.”
Always remember, God is taking care of you, and therefore, you can be a generous person who does what God calls you to do.
You don't have to live out a scarcity mentality. When you live for a long time barely making it or not having enough, you can get in the habit of clinging to what you do have. You always have this mentality that you've got to hoard up every little bit you do have because tomorrow you may be without. Some people get into this way of thinking so strongly that even when they have extra, they still feel as though they must hoard what they have.
And the Church needs your financial support. Our bills and our staff need to be paid, and this is only possible when people give generously. The Church can only function to the degree it is funded. That's just the way it works. So we need people to give and the tithe is the biblical standard of giving.
However, the tithe isn’t just about what the church needs. It’s also about what you need. Tithing helps you remember life isn’t all about you. It helps you guard against greed. It’s also something to help you practice your faith in God’s providence—that He is going to take care of you. Tithing is an exercise of faith that strengthens your trust in God, helping you build a rich relationship with Him while building His Kingdom. The tithe is a win, win, win--a win for the church, a win for God's Kingdom, and a win for your spiritual life.
Trust God
Trusting God and maintaining a strong relationship with Him is something young adults really, really need. The ten years after high school graduation are the most formative of your whole life. Thin about it. From the ages of 18 to 28, people are leaving their parents home, maybe going to college or joining the military or starting a career. They may be choosing a spouse and who will be the most influential person in their life of the rest of their life. They may be having kids of who be a minimum 18 year responsibility. If ever there is a time in life when people need God's guidance, grace, and help, it is those young adult years.
Sadly, these are also the years when most people drift away from church. I know it can be difficult to stay connected in that time of life, but it is so worth it and so needed. I challenge graduates to not drift away but to delve into their relationship with God through the Church.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” Us older people also must continue to trust God. And sometimes we struggle. The last 2 years have been a huge exercise in trusting God because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. As church, we struggled. I remember vividly our church leaders concerns in the March of 2020 when we learned we had to shut down in-person worship for an undetermined period of time. "How will we pay our bills if people aren't attending church and putting offerings in the offering plate?" We knew we could survive for a few weeks, maybe a few months, but how long without continued giving?
What we found is that God was faithful and people continued to give faithfully. And as the days and weeks and months wore on, people continued to give. We actually saw an increase in giving. We were cautiously optimistic, but we thought, "Well, we don't know how long this is going to keep going on and how this pandemic is going to affect the economy and trickle down to our supporter's personal finances." However, by the end of 2020, I found that the church ended the year with a surplus--something that hadn't happened in the last 10 years I'd pastored the church.
And it was in that moment I sensed the Lord leading me to the parable we read today of the rich man who built bigger barns. I sensed God asking me, "What is your church going to do with this extra? Are you going to build bigger barns to store it all away? Or are you going to trust Me and help people?"
So I shared this with the finance committee and said, "I think we need to help people in our community, because a lot of people struggling right now." And Finance was wise and cautious. They said, "Well, we still don't know what the future holds. Let's wait a little while longer and see if giving continues to provide a surplus." So we waited a few more months into 2021. When giving continued to be generous, finance recommended and the elected Church Council approved a new charitable program called Operation Mercy Drops. With Operation Mercy Drops (OMD), church members identify and sponsor people in our community who have a special need to receive a $1,000 grant. (Click here to read about Operation Mercy Drops.) We made a commitment to give a $1,000 grant each month for at least 12 months. So many people have been blessed by this so far. God has been good to the givers and the receivers because we chose to give instead of building bigger barns.
You can't even imagine how much good can be accomplished when people trust God, are faithful, and give generously. Lives are changed when we choose to think of others instead of hoarded our extra in bigger barns.
Recalibration
A few weeks ago, a member of my church gave me a book titled One Man's Wilderness. It's the story of Richard Proenneke, who in the 1970s moved to the Alaskan wilderness to build a log cabin and live off the land. It's a fascinating story; I love that kind of thing. Well, since Richard was cut off from civilization, a man named Babe would fly in some supplies every so many months. After about 10 months of isolation, Richard asked Babe what time it was. He found his watch had drifted off by about 15 minutes. He had to recalibrate his watch to get back on the right time with the rest of the world.
We all need a recalibration from time to time. Do you remember being a graduate, with your whole life ahead and you had your great goals and ideals you wanted to realize? Or maybe it was at another time in your life, when you had a clear vision for the kind of future for which you wanted to strive. How are you doing? Are you still on the right path?
We all drift off course from time to time. It may not even be by much, but over time a little drift can make you miss the target by a lot. So, it is good for us to stop every now and then and think about it and commit to do the things we need to do to get back on the right path.
What do you need to do today to get back on the right path?
Or if you are just starting out, what do you need to do to help you become the person you need to be?
I invite you to pray to God about it and ask Him for help.
And if you've never don it before, I invite you today to accept Jesus invitation to come follow Him.