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Trust: The
Key To Successful Living
Proverbs
3:1-10
Introduction: Two Questions Christians Ask
If you read the most
recent church newsletter you know that I have spent the past year focusing on
Proverbs 3:5-6. These verses are found square in the middle of our passage for
study this morning. This passage contains marvelous words of wisdom for us on
our relationship with God. During this first month of 2008 I want to talk with
you about what I consider the key to successful Christian living. We will talk
about trusting God, His being able to trust us and what happens when our whole
relationship is based upon obedience and trust.
One of the most requested
songs in the church where I was raised was the gospel song Trust and Obey. The
familiar words of the chorus, which came at the end of all five verses, offered
this wise instruction:
Trust
and obey
For
there’s no other way
To
be happy in Jesus
But
to trust and obey
This brings me to the top two questions Christians
ask.
1.
How can
I know God’s will?
2.
How can
I succeed for God, others and myself?
The answers to these two
questions are the basis for this short series. Here is the central thought
around which we will build a larger framework.
Trust is the most important
factor in…
1.
Knowing
God and His will for my life
2.
Growing
God’s Kingdom and myself as a steward.
With the use of the word
“steward” some of you grizzled, gospel veterans will have broken the secret
code that we are talking about stewardship. To maintain integrity, I have to
admit—you’re right! But, to circumvent the prejudices that sometimes exist
about stewardship listen to these words I wrote in introducing the series to
our worship people.
This will be a series about stewardship
but the “S” word doesn’t appear in the title and it won’t be the focus of our
consideration. Our focus will be “Trust.” Trust is the key to successful
Christian living… In learning to trust we will find that the matter of
stewardship fades in importance because it is no longer the end toward which we
move but the means to arrive at where we long to be in our relationship with
God.
There is a copy of
Proverbs 3:1-10 provided for you in the notes today. As we read the passage you
may want to have a pen or marker ready to highlight some words that communicate
where it is that God longs for us to be in our relationship with Him.
Trust
God
My child, remember my teachings and
instructions and obey them completely.
They will help you live a long and prosperous
life.
Let love and loyalty always show like a necklace, and
write them in your mind.
God and people will like you and consider you
a success.
With all your heart you must trust the LORD and not
your own judgment.
Always let him lead you, and he will clear the road for
you to follow.
Don't ever think that you are wise enough, but respect
the LORD and stay away from evil.
This will make you healthy, and you will
feel strong.
Honor the LORD by giving him your money and
the first part of all your
crops.
Then you will have more grain and
grapes than you will ever need.
Verse 1: Mark the word completely. As the Proverb writer
begins talking about our relationship with God, he identifies the priority of
complete obedience.
Verse 2: The result of complete
obedience is stated—the possibility of a long and prosperous life.
Verse 3: Mark the word always. Qualities like love and loyalty
are to consistently characterize our lives.
Verse 4: The result is
stated: we will earn a reputation for living well in the eyes of both God and
other people.
Verse 5: Mark the word all. We are trust the Lord with all our
heart. The opposite of trusting God is relying on our own judgment.
Verse 6: Mark the word always. We are to always allow God to
lead us. Doing so means God will clear the road ahead of us. Living in a State
where we rely on snowplows to clear the road provides us with a good visual
picture of how relying on God benefits us.
Verse 7: Mark the words don’t ever. When are we to relay on our
own wisdom. Not ever! Instead we should respect the Lord, which means we stay
away from evil.
Verse 8: The result is
once again stated. We will be healthy and feel strong. We live in a culture
where there are many terrible physical and emotional problems that can be
completely avoided simply by respecting God and staying away from evil.
Verse 9: Mark the word all. We honor God by giving to Him from
all our possessions.
Verse 10: The result is
again stated. God will bless us with more than we will ever need.
Some Summary
Observations
The Commands Are All-Inclusive
Please note there are no
exceptions in these instructions. There is no allowance to partially follow
God’s teaching. We can’t follow God with some of our heart or even most of our
heart. We don’t follow some of the time and then stop some times. The passage
is filled with all-inclusive words as God says to us, “I want you to know that
trust between you and me must be complete—with no exceptions.
The Commands Precede A Promise
At each point God follows
a command with a promise. Obedience opens the door for God’s blessing.
The Promises Are Conditional
God’s blessing is not
automatic. Blessing is the result of a trust relationship between me and God.
When I express my trust by obeying God, He demonstrates His trust through His
wonderful provision.
Some
Preliminary Stewardship Statements
1.
God is trustworthy.
2.
God has entrusted (placed
under care) us with the possessions, opportunities, talents and time that
we experience.
3.
We are trustees of everything
the Lord has given us.
Some
Inevitable Questions
As we take our initial
look at this passage, there are some inevitable questions with which we are
confronted.
Do I Trust God?
It’s pretty simple to say,
“I trust God,” or “Sure, I obey God completely,” but we have to evaluate
whether or not that trust and obedience is complete. Do I trust Him in
everything or do I trust Him in just some things? Do I trust Him for the big
things and not the small things? Or, do I trust Him in the small things but
reserve some control for myself on the big things?
This is one of the
fundamental questions that has to be settled for us to mature as followers of
Christ, to know the will of God and to experience the fullness of the
relationship
God desires with us (which
I remind you is the ultimate in success!). For the past year I have heard God
say to me again and again, “All right, Art, here we are again. Trust in me with
all your heart and don’t rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge me in all
your thoughts and actions and I will open up the way for you.” Then the
question followed: “Are you going to do that? Do you trust me?”
We live in a self-reliant
society. These kinds of question aren’t answered that easily. There’s some
invigorating wrestling that takes place. The good news is that when you lose
this wrestling match to God, you win! I want to encourage you to make these
first four Sundays of the year a high priority. I can’t think of a sermon
series I have ever preached that is more vital to living for Jesus than this
one.
Can God Trust Me?
If the first question
makes you sweat, this second question where we turn the tables is even more
strenuous. Can God trust me? Does He trust me? Have I proved that I am
trustworthy? Or, am I one of those
people where I am trustworthy in some things, but in other areas I know God is
saying, “I wish you were ready for me to take this step in your life, but the
truth is that both you and I know that I can’t touch that area of your life
yet. You’re just not trustworthy yet.”
We will wrap up this
series by taking what I’m calling The Trust Test. This is week 1. On weeks 3
& 4 we will take the trust test to determine if we really are trusting God.
For the rest of this message,
let’s talk about God and how our trust in Him can be developed.
Some
Trustworthy Thoughts About God
God’s Care Is Constant
When it comes to trusting
God, you can be sure that His care is constant. I love the confidence
communicated by this contrast in Hebrews.
Don’t love
money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail
you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have
no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
Hebrews
13:5-6 NLT
God assures us He is never
to going to leave us. We have to decide whether or not we trust Him? How are we
going to know if we don’t trust Him? The contrast says we’ll be able to tell by
how we handle the core issue of money and possessions. We are going to trust
God or we will rely upon our possessions.
One of Billy
Graham’s longtime partners in his crusades was gospel singer George Beverly
Shea. At one point he was telling about some of the songs that he had been
asked to sing. One of his strangest requests came when somebody handed him a
slip of paper asking him to sing the song, “God’s Grip Don’t Slip.”
The grammar isn’t very
good (my computer’s spelling and grammar checker keeps trying to correct it),
but the theology is marvelous. God’s grip don’t slip. His care is constant.
It’s not sporadic. He is sovereign, which means nothing can touch us without
first touching God.
God’s Gifts Are Generous
God’s care for us is
constant and it is generous. He blesses us with all kinds of blessings. In your
notes I want you to write Psalm 136. When you have some time later today or
tomorrow, read the Psalm.
Praise
the LORD! He is good.
God's
love never fails.
Praise
the God of all gods.
God's
love never fails.
Praise
the Lord of lords.
God's
love never fails.
Only
God works great miracles.
God's
love never fails.
With
wisdom he made the sky.
God's
love never fails.
The
Lord stretched the earth over the ocean.
God's
love never fails.
He
made the bright lights in the sky.
God's
love never fails.
He
lets the sun rule each day.
God's
love never fails.
He
lets the moon and the stars rule each night.
God's
love never fails.
Psalm 136:1-9 CEV
Every time he makes a great
statement in this psalm, the psalmist follows it up by declaring, “God’s love
never fails!” Another song we used to sing as I was growing up was Jesus Never
Fails. The chorus proclaimed,
Jesus
never fails, Jesus never fails.
Heaven
and earth may pass away,
But
Jesus never fails.
Some Thoughts About Developing Our Trust
Trusting
God In Adversity
We are responsible to trust God at all times, including
times of adversity, but we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit to do so. Listen
to David’s testimony.
Be
merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me;
all day long they press their attack.
My
slanderers pursue me all day long;
many are attacking me in their pride.
When
I am afraid, I will trust in you.
In
God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mortal man do to me?
Psalm 56:1-4 NIV
I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm
34:4 NIV
What’s David saying? When
we encounter difficulties we have one main responsibility: Trust God. Trust God
and obey Him. That’s our part. He takes care of the rest.
When we try to take over we’re
telling God, “God, I don’t really trust you. I’m not sure you understand all
the problems with… my marriage, my finances, my kids, or my job. So, I’ll
handle this one.”
Trusting God In Plenty
The extent to which we
genuinely thank God for the blessings He provides is an indicator or our trust
in Him. Trusting God when times are good may be more difficult that trusting
Him in adversity. When things are going well we can become pretty filled up
with ourselves, convinced we are doing a pretty good job.
Trusting God As Our Source
Our tendency as humans is
to trust in God’s instruments of provision rather than in God Himself. We trust
our job instead of realizing God is the provider of the job. We trust our
health instead of realizing that God is the provider of our health. Proverbs
offers this counsel.
The LORD is a mighty tower
where his people can run for safety--
the rich think their money
is a wall of protection.
Proverbs
18:10-11 CEV
We know God helps us when
we’re in trouble. We run to Him and He protects us. But, we rely upon what we
have far too readily as a wall of protection.
What is your wall of
protection to which you run? Is it your possessions? Is it your education? Is
it another person? The constant drumbeat of Scripture is God reminding us that
we are to rely upon Him and Him alone.
Conclusion: The Lord’s Table—A Place of Trust
We begin our year at the
Communion Table. It’s at this table where God tells us, “You can trust me. You
can count on me. You never need to doubt me. I gave my Son for you.”
Let’s come to the table
today.
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