Do You Believe In The Future?

Philippians 3: 1-14

Some years ago I read of a committee for Economic Development that was formed in the early 70's.
It was composed of 200 leaders in business, government, and education.
They held a symposium on important issues facing our country.
One of the questions was, " Can we afford tomorrow?"

The Saturday Review and several other newspapers carried several of the key matters
which were discussed.
The question: " Can we afford tomorrow," was a serious question that many
distinguished leaders of our nation attempted to answer.

One reaction to the question could have been: " Why worry about tomorrow when
we're not even sure that we can afford today?"

When you follow their thought through political, business, labor, and other issues
a Christian might discover something very insightful.
We might discover something of which we should be aware, and that is that all vital issues
are basically moral issues.
It doesn't matter if it is in the field of business or industry, or politics; all vital issues
are basically moral issues.

The ones who contributed to the symposium were saying many things, most of them had
an "if" clause attached to them.
For instance they were saying that we could have a viable urban life " if" we want it,
and " if" we are willing to pay the price for it.
Also, they were saying that we can have a social order of peace and cooperation " if" we want it
and " if" we are willing to pay the price for it.
And they also said that we could have a world of decreasing tension and increasing
concentration on our common problems " if" we want it and " if" we are willing to pay the price for it.

But the price for the future comes high.
It demands a kind of moral commitment that many are not willing to make.
Do you believe that church is needed?
Do you believe that the church is necessary?
Do you believe that the church deserves your time, your service and your financial help.

We are stewards of the future, and the future is already here.
The future has invaded us, and there is no way we can hold it off.
The old days, good and bad, are gone -- we cannot bring them back.
We are to be good stewards of what is given to us in our use of our time, as well as in our possessions.

We also must face the question, " Can we afford tomorrow?"
That tomorrow is already here.
It is the one we hear in the cry of every child, and in the plea of everyone in need -- can we afford that future?

Paul understood this completely.
Their future had invaded their lives.
They were asked to define a kind of stewardship for the future that would make their present meaningful.

So, let us look at what the Bible teaches us about stewardship.
In the days of Jesus, the steward was the manager of the household.
The steward was not the owner of the assets, but he was a responsible administrator of the owner's property.
We are all stewards of our possessions and our influence.
The question is: "What kind of stewards are we?"

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 reminds us of our responsibility as stewards:
"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful."

To be the steward that God would have us to be, we must strive to to be more Christ-centered
and less self-centered.
A wise person once said that "People wrapped up in themselves make very small packages."

If we are Christ-centered, we would be what God would have us to be:
"So trusting my all unto Thy care,
I know Thou lovest me!
I'll do Thy will with a heart sincere,
I'll be what you want me to be."
-- Mary Brown
Every Christian should use what God has given us in service to others and for the glory of God.
But it is not likely that we will exercise good stewardship until we acknowledge that that we are stewards.

John Wesley in a very powerful sermon about this, once said, "We are not, in fact, the owners,
as we seem to think, of everything that we have. We are merely the stewards.
God gives us something in time and in place and we are stewards of that which
we have been given, not owners."

God is the owner of everything. "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it" (Psalm 24:1, NRSV).
All that we have belongs to Him.
We use it; He owns it.
He entrusts it to us.
We are responsible to God for the day, the talents, the opportunities that we have,
and we must never forget that we are always answerable to Him.

Giving money for the work of the church is one very important aspect of stewardship,
but it is not the whole of stewardship.
Christian giving represents gratitude to God.
It is a symbol of the giving of ourselves.
Therefore, giving is not a once-for-all event, but a consistent part of our life.
It is a spiritual discipline that reminds us who we are, and whose we are.

There are many different aspects of stewardship some of which are our time, our talents, our treasure,
our thankfulness, our tithing, and to witness of God's Gospel.
We are called to be stewards of all our time and of all our resources.
True satisfaction comes to those who do not separate stewardship from the rest of their lives.

Many Christians become busy and involved with interests of life outside the church,
and no longer give their time and talent to the church.
Many will get into large spectator, mega-churches where they no longer have to be personally involved.
They still give their money, but not themselves.

They console themselves with the attitude that it is other people's turn to give of their time
and talent to carry on the work of the church and ministries of the church.
And when this happens, that Christian is not blessed, and the church is deprived and robbed
of the ministry of of this Christian.

We will give account to God for our stewardship.
God holds us fully responsible for the use of all that He has given us.
He expects us to manage our time and our day with love and faithfulness to Him.
His reward is approval enough for doing our duty, and His disapproval is punishment enough
for poor stewardship.

In Philippians 3:1-14, Paul was writing to a very strong church in Philippi.
He was warning them against something that would weaken the church, and he was emphasizing
the one thing that would give them strength.

Paul was telling them that the backward look is fatal to their faith.
And this is true for us.
We must give complete concentration to the work in the present and to the goal ahead.

Here is what he said: " One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward
to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God
in Christ Jesus."
This is good advice for a runner who wants to win a race, and it is good advice for us
to think in that way of our stewardship and service.

I believe that the church at Philippi heard what he had to say.
And I hope that our church will accept our stewardship of the present and the future.

The New Testament Church grew tremendously by Christians whose lives were invaded
by a new, unknown, and unpredictable future.
Their lives had been upset by God.
God had given them something to do, and they were reluctant to do it.
We realize how difficult it is to do the things we must do "if" we are going to be stewards of the future.

God's Word teaches us the importance of looking ahead.
When we start looking back, we are tempted to debate ourselves over what we
should have done and didn't.
When this happens, we fail to give the needed attention to what we're doing today.
I have known people who can get so angry about something that happened years ago
that they are unable to live today.

That kind of situation is reminiscent of Henry ward Beecher's dog.
Beecher said that one day his dog chased a rat into a hole, and for the rest of his life
he could never pass that hole without running to it and barking at it as though
the rat had just dived into it.

When the backward look is an occasion for disagreement, dissension, and criticism
of one another for things done and undone, it may serve many purposes,
but there is one thing that it will not serve -- it will not help us to prepare for the future.
We must determine how we can make the best of the future.

The weakness and danger of the backward look is not always dissension,
it also invites complacency.
We can spend so much time admiring the victories and glories of yesterday that we
become derelict in facing the duties of today.

When you look at the work of the church, there are two words that we need to emphasize,
and those two words are faith and mission.
The church must have faith, and the church must be on mission.
We cannot separate faith and mission; they belong together.
Most of us know this, but hesitate to put it into practice.

We're facing tremendous problems in our world.
We're facing the disintegration of our families.
We are facing problems that we didn't have to deal with years ago.
We are also facing the decline of morality.
We are living in a society that ignores God completely.

Every headline is depressing.
If it were not for our faith in God, we would be tempted to give up.
But we must not give up!

There is a source of strength and courage for us that is more than adequate for the problems
that we face today, and that we will face tomorrow.
We cannot do it alone.
We must do it together in Christ.

We must never pretend that it is easy for it isn't!
But I believe that, in and through, the Lord Jesus Christ we will be given the courage and faith
and the hope and the direction that we need.
The church alive in Christ, and powerful in the Holy Spirit of God, is our hope for the world.

It is good that we let the glories of yesterday inspire us, but it is another thing to drain
our vital energies in a kind of admiration of what we did back then.
We cannot grasp our future as Christians unless we are ready to concentrate on what lies ahead of us.
And most importantly, we must tune our spirits to the will of God and follow His will
as faithfully as we can.

The tasks we face our tremendous.
But we should be grateful for such a bright and unlimited future.
I know there are times when we wish that we could give our responsibilities to someone else.
And there are times when we might wish we could turn away from our responsibility to the church,
and say, " Let somebody else worry about them."
But we cannot do this, and still be the church that God intends for us to be.

God has given us a wonderful time in which to live and to serve.
God has brought us together and has blessed us in the most unbelievable ways.
And because of His gracious and bountiful blessings, we have a tremendous responsibility
to be prepared for the future which is ours in Christ.
Great blessings and victories will be ours.
There will also be great duties and great demands made upon our lives.

I believe so deeply in the church, and I truly believe that the church in Christ is the hope for our world.
The work that is ours to do in our church is a stewardship given to us by God.
The opportunities given to us individually are given to no one else, and we must fulfill them.
To be good stewards of the future we must be concerned about our future, our children's future,
our grandchildren's future, and the future of the world.

But we must begin here!
We must pray and serve to keep the church alive and strong.
We must not look around at others, and ask what they are doing.
We must be more concerned about what God wants us to do, and do it.

Remember the story in the last chapter of the Gospel of John where Simon Peter wanted
to know what was going to happen to another disciple.
Jesus answered. " You let me take care of him; you follow me."

This is a good place for us to keep our thoughts about the church.
We must ask ourselves what we're giving in our time and talents, of our possessions
and money in the work and support of the church.
Sacrificial giving of life, of time, and of talents and money is the way to shape the future.
There are things we must do if we want to claim the future that God has in store for Us


We must love God with all our strength and with all our mind. God must be in first place in our lives.
God's Word must be prominent and important to each one of us.
Being faithful in attendance and participating in the work of God's church is vital.
We must remember that God's Word says that the tithe is His.
There is no question that every Christian should be a tither.

We must be a praying people.
We must be a compassionate church.
We must be a witnessing church.
We must be a faithful church.

If we will be the good stewards that God has commanded us to be, the church will go
from victory to victory and from strength to strength.
But should we fail to do these things that God demands of us as faithful stewards, we will fail.
We will become weaker and weaker and become less and less useful and the blessings
of God will depart from us.

God doesn't work in absentia, and neither can we.
We cannot trust others to do what is ours to do if we want to be good and faithful stewards
for our future and for our God.

What symbol do you want for our church?
We have a choice.
It is either pilgrim or pall-bearer!
We must be Christians who are determined to be the ones through whom God works and speaks.
The work of the church is not to take good care of the past or to enjoy the status quo.

Is our future worth what it is going to cost?
I believe it is!
I believe that everyone here would agree that it is better to have a little piece of a big future
than a big piece of the dead past.
I believe that when we stand together we will have the future God has planned for us!


( Then, I would step down in the altar, and I would tell the congregation that I stand before them
to tell them that this is my commitment to God and for the future of this church,
and I would invite every Christian who will make that commitment to come and stand with me.

And before the service, I would have already asked one of God's dedicated and committed,
Christian, know by the church to be so, to lead us in a prayer that we would be willing to
pay the price for the great future that God has planned for us, or I would lead the prayer
myself.)

Sermon adapted from several sources by Dr. Harold L. White