Well, here we are; we’re at the 4th week and we’re rounding to a close. For those who might not have been here for the entire series, or if you missed one, we’ve learned how to wreck eternal life and entry into heaven, we’ve learned how to wreck our marriages and other relationships and we’ve learned how to wreck our finances. This is a series that we could carry on for weeks to come, but I promised I’d cut it off at 4 weeks. So we’re going to go through several things and simply entitle it “How to Wreck the Rest.” For those that have been reading the notes, if you're interested PM on Facebook, we're offering the messages in an album for $15.00.
The first thing I want to touch on is something that should be, but sadly sometimes isn’t, a very important place in our lives. The local church. You might not realize it but people can and do wreck churches. Most, if not all, of us have witnessed, heard of or read about a church split. Most splits are created by discord. I don’t have time to go in depth into all of these issues so we’ll just tackle the main cause here. That can come in the form of gossip. Let me warn you, this is the first step to sowing discord and the first step to wrecking a church and just about everything else.
Rom 1:28-32
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Yikes! Hard to believe that gossip made it in that list huh? Well, suffice to say gossiping is a mark of someone that is degenerate and to listen to gossip is to approve. So we first get into the “sowing circle” and kick some stuff around. What we do when we gossip is we essentially go down to the satanic supply store, buy a big bag of discord and start sowing. Keep in mind that “sowing discord” according to the book of Proverbs is something that the Lord hates.
Furthermore,
Prov 17:9
Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
Gal 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
As a church we’re a microcosm of what the universal body is to be. So then as it is written in the book of 1 Corinthians, we’re do be one body with many parts. Discord undoes this. So if you want to wreck a church the main ingredient is gossip and discord.
So what else does “the rest” cover? Well, glad you asked. How about your workplace and your job? Well, in short you follow the simple recipe for wrecking the church but there are a couple other things you can do to. The first is be undependable. While it is true the following verse is speaking of God, it’s also true that it applies to employers.
1 Cor 4:2
Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
The second one is a little simpler. Be lazy.
Eph 6:5-7
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man.
Col 3:23-24
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Just throw all those verses out the window and gold brick all day. Only work when the boss is coming in. You’ll soon develop a horrible work ethic and get fired. As Christians we should be hard workers. We should set the bar, not shimmy under it. I know it sound weird but your work ethic can either hinder or help your witness.
So at this point we’ve wreck our all kinds of stuff! Relationships, finances, work, church and eternity! The last thing goes back to the very first night we stated. I want to close with telling you how to wreck your future.
Of course we know already how to wreck our eternal future and that is to reject the Gospel. Since the Gospel is relational it touches and affects every other area of our lives and becomes the fountain head of failure for everything else we have mentioned.
Wrecking the future is easy. Just cut God out of the equation. Make plans and don’t consult, make moves without praying, wreck everything by rejecting the gospel and simply leave a trail of wreckage as your past.
See in reality we’ve all wrecked before. We’ve all trashed at least one area of our lives that we’ve spoken about. However there is a difference between the one who is trusting Christ and the one who is not. A distinction between the one who has fallen on the mercy of the Gospel and one who has rejected it.
That difference is that when those who wreck, despite God’s warnings to us, do wreck we have someone to help us put everything back together again. It’s been a couple years now since Nicole and I went through a wreck. We lost everything we had. There was a 1-2-3 punch that put us on the floor financially. We wrecked and we wrecked it bad. As I look back, the depression, fear, anxiety, frustration and guilt were unbearable. I know without a doubt we’re the reason we wrecked. However God never left us. He didn’t let us wreck and then say “well, I guess that’s it.” No He was the only thing that was keeping me from losing my mind.
Ps 37:23-26
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, For the Lord upholds him with His hand. I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.
We’re not promised that in the future we won’t wreck but we are promised that in the event of a “wreck” God’s not going to leave us. Jesus Himself said the same, “I’ll never leave you or forsake you.” As well as “Lo, I am with thee always.” So consider this.
Ps 139:1-5
O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
You want to wreck your future? Cut God out of it. It’s a sure fire way. But bear in mind;
Isa 46:9-10
Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying,'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure
Which in turn causes us to remember what James said;
James 4:13-16
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
In other words James is warning against wrecking your future by cutting God out of it. We would all do well to remember that we are under His care and live to do His will. However, if you want to wreck your future be proud and obstinate and see how fast it all comes unraveled.
There have been common elements in all of these “wrecking” and I hope that you can see them. However pride is the trapping that holds them all together. It is pride that causes us to reject the Gospel; we’re too intelligent to believe something so simple or we’re good the way we are or even still we don’t have to listen God is a God of love. It will eventually ruin every relationship that you have because pride is selfish and wants only its needs met. Pride will ruin your finances because you’ll always be keeping up with the Joneses. Pride will ruin a church because no one will ever be good enough to enter in the house. Pride will ruin the work place because I’m a know it all or I could start my own business doing the same thing or still yet, I’m too good for this job.
So let’s kill pride and be humbly submitted to the Lord and to each other. If we do so, we can avoiding wrecking---and even if we don’t we’ve got a God above us and some godly people around us that will help us crawl from the twisted, burning wreckage and start over.
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