CCC Gainesville | Blog
Sunday we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together during our 9 & 10:30 worship services. There are many ways to prepare yourself to participate in Holy Communion. One of those ways is by fasting. Perhaps you fast from media for a couple of hours before bed Saturday night, or from food starting sometime on Saturday. Remember, we never do these things to earn God’s favor, because we have it in Jesus. We fast because:
— Jesus commended fasting as a normative act of humility and devotion to God (see Matthew 6:16-18). Note particularly that he says, “When you fast…” not “If you fast…” (Seems like fasting is SOP for apprentices of Jesus.) Take a look at Matthew 9:14-15. The first Christians fasted (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23).
—At heart, fasting is an intensification of prayer. It’s a physical exclamation point at the end of the sentence, “We hunger for you to come in power.” It’s a cry with your body, “I really mean it, Lord! This much, I hunger for you.”
This meditation made me so thankful we’re offering help. It is too late to join this one but be on the lookout for next one.
Millionaire Athletes Going Broke
I just recently watched ESPN’s 30 for 30 series titled “Broke”. Essentially it is a documentary on athletes who have made hundreds of millions of dollars but are flat out broke. I am by no means a financial expert, but feel that I could give wise counsel to almost all of the situations discussed. This counsel wouldn’t come from me, but would come from God’s word. Had these athletes followed a biblical worldview of handling their finances, I believe their lives would look completely different.
Let me preface this by saying that I am not trying to come off as judgmental (I know I’ve made my fair share of mistakes and my mistakes don’t show up on Sports Center or USA Today!)- my intention is to show that God’s word is applicable not only to the average “Joe” but to everyone- regardless of income, status, job title or lack of job title. Here are a few thoughts that stuck out to me from watching the show:
- As an athlete, one of the most humiliating things you can say to an opponent is that you “own” them. It means that they are inferior and that they call the shots. An overriding theme of this documentary was athletes being owned by debt.
“Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.” Proverbs 22:7
- Seeking counsel seemed to be another theme in these athletes financial demise. They either didn’t seek counsel or they sought counsel from people who were self serving.
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice” -Proverbs 12:15
“The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsel of the wicked are deceitful.” – Proverbs 12:5
- Most of these athletes came into their professional sports as kids who had never been equipped to handle finances. They have never had any training or anyone to walk along side of them and “mentor” them. This seemed to be a prevalent key to their financial demise and a perceived failure from the colleges and leagues that employed them or gave them scholarships.
“Train a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6
- Athletes never want to look like a fool- they want to look like the hero. No one wants to be on Sports Center’s Top Ten Plays by dropping a ball, fumbling on the one-yard line, or air balling a free throw. Yet when it came to saving money, a majority of these athletes looked just like that, a fool.
“The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets.” –Proverbs 21:20
- Many of these athletes have come from poor or poverty stricken homes and have never had any money. They have started their careers going from zero to financial hero without ever having the opportunity to be tested with small or average amounts of money.
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.” –Luke 16:10
- Another overriding theme was that these athletes never knew how much money they had or where their money was going. They weren’t involved in the planning of their finances and never took any type of initiative.
“Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.” – Proverbs 24:3-4
There are many more biblical principles that could be applied to this documentary. I encourage you to watch, from a biblical worldview lens, the next time it is on. The reality is this- it is obvious that these athletes (or advisors) have squandered what was entrusted to them. But they really are a reflection of our society as a whole, just on a larger scale. They are really no different than a lot of people in our cities or towns. The biggest difference is their amounts and their high profiles. I would encourage you to think about how you can help the people in your area deal with their finances from a biblical perspective. Taking them through a Compass Small Group Study is a great place to start!
God Bless, Kyle
Compass – finances God’s way | October 3, 2012 at 8:30 AM
Gentlemen,
Thursday morning at 6:30am we will gather at the Cracker Barrel, on Archer Road, just West of I-75.
(4001 Southwest 43rd Street, Gainesville, FL 32608 & Phone (352) 375-2424
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Not bad at all.
Today’s reading in Mark, 7:24-37 contains a crazy encounter between Jesus and a woman who just needs help for her daughter.
Read the passage and come back. Did Jesus just call this woman a dog? Or did Jesus tell a parable and give her a challenge and an offer. Tim Keller has great insights here:
On the surface, this appears to be an insult. We are a canine- loving society, but in New Testament times most dogs were scavengers—wild, dirty, uncouth in every way. Their society was not canine-loving, and to call someone a dog was a terrible insult. In Jesus’s day the Jews often called the Gentiles dogs because they were “unclean.” Is what Jesus says to her just an insult, then? No, it’s a parable. The word parable means “metaphor” or “like- ness,” and that’s what this is. One key to understanding it is the very unusual word Jesus uses for “dogs” here. He uses a diminu- tive form, a word that really means “puppies.” Remember, the woman is a mother. Jesus is saying to her, “You know how fami- lies eat: First the children eat at the table, and afterward their pets eat too. It is not right to violate that order. The puppies must not eat food from the table before the children do.” If we go to Matthew’s account of this incident, he gives us a slightly longer version of Jesus’s answer in which Jesus explains his meaning: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Jesus concentrated his ministry on Israel, for all sorts of reasons. He was sent to show Israel that he was the fulfillment of all Scripture’s promises, the fulfillment of all the prophets, priests, and kings, the fulfillment of the temple. But after he was resurrected, he immediately said to the disciples, “Go to all the nations.” His words, then, are not the insult they appear to be. What he’s saying to the Syrophoenician woman is, “Please understand, there’s an order here. I’m going to Israel first, then the Gentiles (the other nations) later.” However, this mother comes back at him with an astounding reply:
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. (Mark 7:28–30)
In other words, she says, Yes, Lord, but the puppies eat from that table too, and I’m here for mine. Jesus has told her a parable in which he has given her a combination of challenge and offer, and she gets it. She responds to the challenge: “Okay, I understand. I am not from Israel, I do not worship the God that the Israelites worship. Therefore, I don’t have a place at the table. I accept that.”
Isn’t this amazing? She doesn’t take offense; she doesn’t stand on her rights. She says, “All right. I may not have a place at the table—but there’s more than enough on that table for everyone in the world, and I need mine now.” She is wrestling with Jesus in the most respectful way and she will not take no for an answer. I love what this woman is doing.
In Western cultures we don’t have anything like this kind of assertiveness. We only have assertion of our rights. We do not know how to contend unless we’re standing up for our rights, standing on our dignity and our goodness and saying, “This is what I’m owed.” But this woman is not doing that at all. This is rightless assertiveness, something we know little about. She’s not saying, “Lord, give me what I deserve on the basis of my goodness.” She’s saying, “Give me what I don’t deserve on the basis of your goodness—and I need it now. –Tim Keller
(the entire chapter is available online)
