November 3 & 4, 2001 Sermon

November 3 & 4, 2001

"A New Measure"

Mike Slaughter

Isaiah 54:1-2
1: "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband," says the LORD.
2: "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.

How do you measure the standards of your life quality? A lot of people call that standard of living. The gospel of Jesus is radical. It's scary when you get serious with the Lord about the meaning of this journey. Jesus said those of us who are first by the culture's standard will be last in the kingdom of God. And Jesus said if you want to really find your life, you have to lose your life. The measure is not about getting. The measure of the kingdom of God is about giving.
The passage we've been using the last four weeks is Isaiah 54. Notice the context of the first verse. God, through the prophet Isaiah, is talking to an unfruitful, barren people - people who are not having an influence for God's purpose. The second verse says to enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, not hold back, lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes for you will spread out to the right and to the left. Our focus today is on the phrase that says to lengthen your cord. The Bible is talking about a measuring cord or a standard of measure. In Biblical times, they had cords of different lengths and they would use these for agreed upon measures. For example, there was a land measuring cord that determined amounts of land tracts, like our acres today. God is telling the people to lengthen their standard of measure.

I. The Measure of Me and Mine
In the middle of a piece of paper put a little dot. Then make a circle about the size of a half-dollar. Inside this first circle, write me and mine. This is the measure of me and mine. When we work with this circle as our standard of measure, we work for all we need and want. Now what exactly does that look like? Well, when I want to go out and eat, I can go out and eat. When I need new carpet, I can afford new carpet for my home. When the kids need shoes or clothes, we are able to get the kids shoes and clothes. It might not always be the name brand thing but we can at least do the K-Mart thing. When cars need repaired we are able to have the cars repaired. With some semblance of regularity we are able to purchase new cars. We are able to help our children get an education. And, we want to go on a vacation once a year. When we are working hard for me and mine, we want to do this with minimal sacrifice. Many Americans strive to maintain this measure of living. Many of us spend most of our energy trying to maintain this standard. But when we continually live in this standard of measure for me and mine, it's like running on a hamster wheel. We continue to run hard and we never grow forward in becoming the people that God has created us to be spiritually. We arrive at the end of life with no more than the life slogan: we came, we saw, we shopped. When you maintain that standard of measure, which has pretty much been the American standard of measure in recent years, you never get beyond being a consumer. Consumer is barren. You leave no spiritual legacy. It's what Jesus was talking about when He cursed the fig tree for not bearing fruit. Faithfulness is fruitfulness. It's what He meant in the parables of the vineyard that didn't produce grapes, or the man who gave the Lord no return on his talent. God created us to be fruitful - to reproduce fruit for God's purpose.

II. Measure of Generosity
There's a man by the name of Millard Fuller who became a millionaire by age 29. He bought his wife everything she could possibly want. One day he came home from work and found a note that stated his wife was leaving him. Later that night he caught up with her at the hotel where she was staying and they stayed up into the wee hours of the morning talking. She had everything that money could buy but their lifestyle had left her dead inside. They knelt down next to the bed and they prayed. The next Sunday they began attending church together and they decided to use the resources that God had given them to serve poor people. Millard Fuller is the founder of Habitat for Humanity, a ministry that has built literally thousands of houses for poor people all around the world. Here's the problem with this first measure of living. The measure of consumption does not fill our spirits or give life.
Draw another circle around the inside circle. We are going to lengthen our measure. I didn't say we're going to lengthen the first measure of living. That's what lots of folks do. They make a little bit more money and they keep expanding the first measure. They just spend more on me and mine. This second measure is the measure of generosity. In the second circle write measure of generosity.

II Corinthians 8:1-7
1: And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
2: Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
3: For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,
4: they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.
5: And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.
6: So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.
7: But just as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us --see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

Turn to II Corinthians, chapters 8 & 9. This is a story of contrast. We read about two different churches in these chapters. The first church we read about was a community of people in Macedonia. They were a poor church. "And now, sisters and brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Notice the contrast here. "Out of severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity." Overflowing joy and extreme poverty don't seem to go together. Neither does rich generosity. "For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability." These folks moved beyond consuming to contribution.
But the Corinthian church, to whom Paul was writing, was a wealthy church. They had all kinds of things going in their favor. They believed in God. They believed that Jesus was resurrected from the grave. They had integrity but they struggled with running on the hamster wheel of consumption. Here's what the poor folk had over the rich folk. The poor folk understood that you and I have a need to give. God has created you and me with a need to give as much as other people need to receive. Esteem comes from making a contribution. Life purpose comes from giving. It is the nature of God to give - and you and I are created with the nature of God. We have esteem, purpose, and reflect the character of God when we go beyond consuming everything for me and mine to being a source of blessing for other people. We need to give as much as other people need to receive.

I Kings 17:9-16
9: "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food."
10: So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?"
11: As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread."
12: "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread--only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it--and die."
13: Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
14: For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.'"
15: She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.
16: For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

II Corinthians 9:10-11
10: Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
11: 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

There's a great story in the 17th chapter of I Kings. It was a time much like the times our country is experiencing right now. It was a time of terror. King Ahab was in control and the people of Israel were experiencing terrorist acts every day. It was a time of vast unemployment. We are experiencing that with what has happened in the last few weeks and the hundreds and thousands of jobs that have been lost in almost every industry. On top of that, it was a time of drought which was creating severe famine. God spoke to the prophet Elijah and said, "Elijah, I want you to go to a town by the name of Zeraphath. There is a poor widow whom I have chosen to use to give you something to eat." God didn't need this widow to feed Elijah, because God is God and can do anything God wants to do. God can make manna fall from heaven. He doesn't need you and me to give. God realized that this poor widow needed to give as much as Elijah needed to receive. "So Elijah went to the town where this widow lived and asked her how she was doing. She said, 'It's terrible. I have hardly anything to eat. I have a little shortening and flour at home but only enough for one meal.' So Elijah told her, 'Go home and fix that one meal but first give me something to eat.'" II Corinthians 9:10 says that God gives every person seed for sowing and bread for food. No matter how poor you are, every person has seed for sowing, or something they can give, as well as bread for food. Any farmer can tell you that you don't eat the seed you have for sowing. You don't consume the seed that God has given you for a harvest. "So Elijah told the widow, 'First, after you cook it, give me something to eat. And then you and your child eat. I tell you, as long as you keep taking the seed that God has given you to sow to God's purpose, as long as you will be a blessing to other people no matter how little you have, God will never let your jar run empty.'" That is a promise of God. Every single person is created with a need to go beyond consumption to a place of contribution where they are a blessing in the life of other people. Not only did her oil never run out, her child was healed. II Corinthians 9:10-11, "God gives you seed for sowing, bread for eating and as long as you keep sowing the seed that God has given you for sowing, God will make you rich in every way. God will bless all of the areas of your life."
The worship team and I were discussing this the other day. Most on the worship team are a lot younger than I am - about 20+ years younger than I am. I shared with you last week that in May of 1976 Carolyn and I quit dinking with God and quit rationalizing. We said we are going to give you the first 10 percent of our income. The worship team said, "Well, Mike, that's kind of easy for you to do because you live at a different income level." I said, "When Carolyn and I made this commitment to God, we were making $5200 a year." We lived in a little two-and-a-half room cinder block house. It was thirty-five feet from the railroad track. Every time a train went by the whole place shook! You just got used to having your television volume way up. We had roaches. It was one of those houses with no carpets, all linoleum floors. Carolyn put tons of wax on them - it had wax buildup, but they shone! There was no shower, just a bathtub. Every time we took a bath, plaster fell into the bathtub from years of leaks and moisture. But I want to tell you we learned only a fool eats the seed that God has given you to sow. And we continued - it's not overnight. Sometimes you think if you make some big sacrifice for God, God is just going to bless you. You'll be rich tomorrow. No, it is a lifestyle. Over time, after faithful sowing and reaping, God will make you rich in every way.
It's more than money. I want to tell you what the greatest wealth is all about. God will lengthen the measure of influence you have over people in Jesus' name. There is nothing better than that. That is how we are wired. When we die, we don't want to be like a garden made up of annual flowers. They're pretty for a season, but when they're gone, they're gone. I want to be a perennial. After the death of winter, perennials come back with new life. That is the greatest wealth of all when God lengthens the influence you have on other people in Jesus' name.

2 Corinthians 8:3, 9
3: For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,
9: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

III. Measure of Passionate Living
Take your pencil. We're lengthening our measure again. We're doing a third circle outside the other two. Call the inside of this circle crazy compassion. The first circle is consumption. The second circle is contribution. The third circle is crazy compassion. II Corinthians 8:3, "For I testify that these poor people gave as much as they were able." That reflects the second level, the level of contribution or generosity. When you give what you are able, you give what makes sense. You give out of your own ability. Now notice the third level. Even beyond their ability, they gave. There's only one way you can go to the third level. You are driven by the love of God. You've seen people driven by love. You have been rational, really neat people, then you fall in love. I'm talking about some of you that are sixty years old! You fall in love and you kiss your brain goodbye. You've seen it. You come in here wearing toupees and all that kind of stuff. You know what I'm talking about! When you fall in love with God, you just go into a crazy kind of compassion where you are consumed by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. You begin to demonstrate the behavior, the compassion, and the attitude of Jesus Christ. That's why, in verse four these Macedonians even begged for the privilege to participate in this crazy kind of giving. Look at verse 9. This is the spirit of Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. That is crazy compassion. Jesus, the Lord of the universe, has the wealth of the universe, yet he came to a humble place as a humble person, born in a stable, because he has crazy compassion for you and me. That is the love of Jesus. When you are infected with that love of Jesus, you demonstrate that kind of crazy compassion to folks all around you.
When I was in Hawaii three weeks ago, I met a man who experienced a typhoon hitting one of the islands in the 1960s. He had a wife and a young child at this time, and they lived in a house built on a cliff. When the typhoon hit, it caused a tidal wave. This tidal wave hit the cliff and all the houses slid over the cliff and collapsed on the beach. He was standing away from the houses, watching as they all just swept down on the beach. His wife came running up to him and said, "Our son was still in the house." This man jumped from rock to rock to get out on top of the rubble of all the houses. He began to run over two by fours, jumping from corrugated tin roof to tin roof until he heard the cry of a child. He spent an hour and a half digging through rubble until he got to his child. The child was injured, but still alive. He took his child in his arms and began the same process, running back over the debris and up the rocks to an ambulance. He handed his son to the ambulance driver. The ambulance driver asked him to sit down. The man said, "Why?" The ambulance driver said, "Look at your feet." He was wearing white boat shoes that were fully red with blood, and he didn't even realize it. You see, as he was jumping from board to board, nails and screws were going through his feet. He didn't realize his own pain because of his passion for the child. Jesus Christ didn't realize his own pain because of his passion for you and me. People who are filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, because of the pain and need of the world, demonstrate crazy compassion. Now here's the amazing thing. The result of this third level is supernatural fruitfulness. One ordinary person will literally influence thousands and thousands and thousands of lives for Jesus Christ.
Get your pencil and string again. Here's how it works. Hold it about an inch out. Here we were. We were meeting in that little two-room country church down the road. But, we wanted to lengthen our measure. And we built this building. And thousands more people have come. But you see that wasn't enough. We wanted to lengthen our measure again. A year and a half ago we built the Avenue. You've heard me say that in the last year and half since it's been open, over 40,000 have come through that door. And it's more than that. It's becoming almost a 24/7 ministry. I was over there Monday night for the alternative Halloween party. There were hundreds of young kids and their parents at the Halloween party. I wondered why my house in Tipp City didn't have more kids coming to my door. They were all here! I met kids from all over. On Tuesday night over 700 kids came to a concert at the Avenue. Then we said that wasn't enough! We lengthened our measure again. This year we bought and rehabilitated a house in Dayton with three apartments for single moms. Isn't that exciting? But that wasn't enough! We lengthened our measure again. Young moms need cars. In the month of August we gave away eight cars. But that wasn't enough! We lengthened our measure again. Over sixty of you literally took apart a barn that you are going to reconstruct on the South Campus. There will be 10 car bays where we will be able to repair more cars to meet more needs. When you and I are willing to lengthen our measure, millions of lives will be touched for Jesus Christ all around the world. I see that everywhere I go. Millions of lives are being touched all around the world because ordinary people, together, are willing to lengthen their measure.
Let's pray. Lord, it is not enough to just do what we have to do. We want to have an affair of the heart and go way beyond contribution to crazy compassion. Take what we have, Lord, and allow us in our brief lifetime, to sow it. To sow it to your mission so it will be multiplied in supernatural ways. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.