Series: God Will Make it Grow

Title: Channels of God’s Endless Supply

Text: 1 Timothy 6:9-19

I. Last Week – God is the Source of our Supply

In last week’s sermon, we heard how God is the source of our supply.

We heard from 1Chronicles 29 how King David knew that God was the source of his supply and how he acted on that knowledge;

That he trusted God’s supply enough that he had no problem giving vast sums for kingdom work even though he would not personally live long enough to see the results.

We were also shown in several ways how God is still the source of our supply today:

That our ability to work hard, our intellectual abilities, our ability to invest wisely – are all a gift from God. "...For it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth."

We saw just how much God has blessed us in relation to the rest of the world, and still we were reminded that God and God alone is the source of our supply in spite of all the messages our media saturated culture deliver to us - telling us to "look out for number one" and "enjoy what you have since you worked so hard for your money."

And we heard a great illustration of two very different outcomes for the two lottery winners – one of whom became even more destitute and trapped in sin than when he was in poverty, and the other who gave it all back to further build the Lord’s kingdom.

II. This Week – We are the Channels of God’s Endless Supply

So last week we saw clearly how God is the only source,

and we saw the difference in living in that reality as opposed to living as if we had to make it all happen for ourselves.

Making it all happen for ourselves is very popular in our culture and time, but scripture has some very harsh reminders for those that would put money and personal gain first.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 tells us:

"But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang."

Clearly, putting the gift above the giver creates all manner of problems as it impacts the relationship or lack of relationship we allow to occur with the giver of all we have. So how then does God want us to handle His provision?

Today, I want us to take a look at what it means to be a "Channel" of that abundant and endless supply from the Lord.

If you think about the call God gives all of us as Christians, it is really to be a pipeline of God’s love to other people and to a world that desperately needs that love. Ourselves included.

As pipelines, we are not the source of supply, but the means of delivery. To be effective, we must have the ends of the pipe open on both ends. We must be open to the inflowing of love from the Lord as the source, and be equally open to letting that love flow out the other end unconditionally and unencumbered by our own self interests.

This is a very different mindset than being a "reservoir" where we collect it all. Or even a damn that holds a bunch back and lets out a little at a time.

This is God’s plan of abundance which is a full measure of wheat, pressed down and loaded to the max, the cup filled up so full that it is running over.

How we handle God’s supply of tangible resources such as money, time, or talents is critically important because it reveals something very enlightening about how we tend to handle God’s outpouring of love and grace which may not be so tangible.

Just a little further in 1 Timothy 6: 17-19 we hear this:

"Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed."

That good foundation is made in the relationships we establish and foster with the Lord and with those whom He has called us to love.

So why is it so important for us, and sometimes so hard for us to remember or accept that all those resources belong to the Lord in the first place, and that we are to handle those resources as an open ended pipe rather than a jar or other type of sealed container?

Why do we squirm and bristle at the notion that we are not the owner, but the steward, and as the steward we have certain responsibilities to the owner?

III. Faith is the Point

(where My self sufficient supply gives way to trust in God’s Supply)

For me, it has a lot to do with taking my own self interests out of first place and putting God’s interest back in first place. That is not a once and done deal for me, but a constant effort to check and recheck and then check again to make sure I am not trying to take the provision thing over again.

As we saw in our drama this morning, complete reliance on the Lord to provide as He sees best is not always an easy or comfortable thing to do! We so often fall into the trap of comparison and question God’s motives as to why he won’t "give me just a few dollars just this once!"

So often though, it must go beyond just a few dollars. It must go to what God has for best as opposed to merely good.

Take a look at what happened in the 3^rd chapter of Acts verses 3-8:

"And when the man saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. And Peter, along with John fixed his gaze upon him and said, "Look at us!" And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth – Walk!" And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. And with a leap, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God."

I love this story in Acts because God’s answer to the lame man’s need was so far beyond what the man was initially interested in or thinking about – just the money.

Obviously, Peter and John were acting as the pipeline of God’s miraculous outpouring of provision, and were willing to do so in a hostile environment that would question why they would even associate with a lame beggar that was not fit to enter the temple, but only fit to sit outside and beg.

God’s plan of provision for the lame man, was realized only through the willingness of Peter, John, and the lame man himself to participate.

Could God have sovereignly healed the man without Peter and John’s help? Of course He could have.

Did He choose to do it through the hands, feet, words, and faith of the two Apostles? Absolutely.

Does He want to do the same kinds of things through you and I?

What do you think?

As I look at what really makes the difference between living and acting as a pipeline of God’s endless supply on the one hand vs. believing and acting as if "the person with the most toys at the end wins" on the other; I must ultimately come to a simple point of Faith in my response to God.

That point of faith is when I willingly give up my control and start to trust God at His word that He will take care of me and that He will do it abundantly.

It is that very point of trust where my self sufficient supply and sense of security in my own ability gives way to trust and dependence upon God and His supply.

IV. Application: Hands and Feet on the Faith.

Once I get to the point where I can trust God to provide as He promised, I am finally able to handle the provision and resources in the manner in which He intends.

This is not a "Name it – Claim it" sort of response that also seems to have such a large place in our "All about me" culture, for that in itself violates the principle of truly trusting God for His provision and replaces it with a sort of counterfeit automatic system where I exchange my claim for God’s promised action whenever I need or want another goody.

God does not work that way either, and He does not expect us to treat him like a gray bearded banker in the sky who will give out resources if our loan application is good enough.

Rather, God wants all of us in the deepest and most intimate love relationship possible. He wants that relationship for each one of us and for all of us. He wants it for every single one of His children.

That is why He calls us to be His pipeline. In being open to His outpouring of gifts and provision and abundance and love, we both receive and give away at the same time those most precious and life giving things.

Knowing we do not have to make more ourselves,

Knowing we do not have to store it up for later just in case we get low,

Knowing we do not have to ensure we have as much as the next person,

Frees us to delight in the overflowing!

The supreme joy of watching God unleash something way beyond our expectation is something not to be missed, and it is something God wants each of us to experience.

So how then do we cooperate with God’s plan for it to happen that way?

I think Saint Francis really had it right when he prayed:

Lord, make me a channel of your peace,

Where there is hatred let me sow your love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, union;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

It only requires that we respond to our Lord with this:

We simply say, "Yes Lord!"

Yes, I will go.

Yes, I will stay.

Yes, I will serve them.

Yes, I will hug them.

Yes, I will pray with them, cry with them, laugh with them, celebrate with them,

mourn with them, work with them, worship with them.

Yes, I will give it away even if I don’t know where the rest is coming from.

Yes, Lord. I will love.