Look at verse 4.  You thought hoarding was bad, you thought being selfish was bad, “Look!  The wages you failed to pay the workmen…”  Back in biblical times, workmen were hired and they were paid by the day.  No legal contracts.  No teams of lawyers here.  It was just a daily thing.  “Look!  The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you.”  The wages are crying out.  “The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord almighty.”

They were cheating people out of money and, because they were cheating their workers out of money, they were robbing the worker’s family from even eating at night.  The rich people were doing that.  So, if you are materialistic, you are sinning against others and against God.

Let me define materialism.  Materialism is not about how much you have.  People think, “Oh, she is so materialistic because she has got a lot of money.”  Or, “He is so materialistic because he has been so successful.”

Let’s do another wealth warning, wealth warning number two: Stop Hoarding.  James 5:3.  Let me just tell all of you to chill for a second.  The Bible is not anti-investing, or anti-saving.  The Bible says to save and invest and live and enjoy stuff.  But hoarding is something different.

“You have hoarded wealth in the last days.”  The word “hoard” comes from a word which means to “hide.”  When I hoard, I hide.  I try to hide it from others.  I even try to hide it from God.  A lot of us like to try to hoard stuff.

How do you know if you have a hoarding tendency?  Let me ask you this question.  I know it sounds like Regis, but let me ask you a question.  How many of you, seriously speaking, would like to become a multi-multi-millionaire?  Don’t answer out loud.  If you said, yes, and I am sure most of you did, why?  Why did you say yes?  Be honest with yourself.  Did you say yes so that you can do stuff to make you look good and feel good, so you can advertise your wealth.  Is that why you said yes?

This song shows the patience, the love, the character and the nature of God.  Let’s worship God together in a spirit of prayer as we just contemplate how patient Jesus is with us.

I Walked the Road

Today, if you became a narrow gater, I want to tell you that that is the greatest thing you will ever do.  We have been talking about signs.  We have been talking about warning signs and many of us have followed Christ’s warning signs.  But Jesus said that after we have that defining moment, He wants us to put up a sign.  He wants us to advertise to others that we are in his family, that we are on the narrow road.

The sign that we need to put up, the sign that I am going to challenge you to hold up in your life is the sign of baptism.  Jesus said these words right before His ascension.  Matthew 28:19.  “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus told His followers to challenge new believers to put up the sign of baptism.

God, I give Jesus my mind and my body and my relationships and my future.  Forgive me, cleanse me and save me right now.  I want to become a narrow gater.  I believe that Jesus is the gate.”  Say that.  Just say that.

I know that is a very bold prayer for a lot of us to pray, in order to come out of the crowd and emerge from the shadows.  But a lot of us here are broad roaders and we have been looking longingly at the narrow road.  As our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, if you prayed that prayer with me and meant business, I am going to ask you to slip your hand up as a sign that you prayed the prayer.  Dozens of people have raised your hands.  Bless you.  God sees your response.

Right now in the spirit of prayer, as our eyes are closed, we are going to sing a song.  This is a song that talks about waiting.  I want you to think about this song in terms of Jesus waiting on you.  Maybe you have not made the choice yet.  Or maybe you just made the choice.

 And Jesus said that He was the rock.  So, the evidence of our salvation, the evidence of our narrow gate theology is life change.  I am not implying that once we step through the narrow gate we become Billy Graham overnight.  The Bible does say, though, that there will be change.  And if there is not change, I really feel like you need to do a quick spiritual EKG.

So right now, I am going to give you a chance to make this lane change, to obey this sign.  Right now would you all bow your heads, no one moving?  I am simply going to pray a prayer and this prayer maybe will be your prayer.  If you want to pray it, I am simply going to give you an opportunity to do so.  You can nail this commitment down.  I am not trying to get you to doubt whether you are a Christian or not.  But I am attempting to get you to take inventory of where you are.

Because the Bible tells me, if I’m not serving within the context of the Christian community, Jesus is not Lord of my life. If I’m not giving of my time and my talent to the local church, Jesus is not Lord. If I’m not sharing my story with others and praying high risk prayers, then he’s not Lord.

And it’s the old of/at deal. Jesus is not going to be Lord of all if he’s not Lord at all. So he’s got to be Lord of all in your life and mine for us to understand. And if he’s not, then we have to take inventory.

You might be saying, “Well, wait a minute Ed. Are you causing me to doubt my salvation? Or are you causing me to doubt whether I’m clothed in Christ?”

No, I’m not. Not at all. But I am challenging you to take stock of your closet to check out your wardrobe. Because I believe once you commit your life to Christ, you’re in. But I also believe that Jesus will know us by our fruits. I also believe that his sheep will know the Shepherd’s voice. And I also believe a lot of people think they are Christ followers, think they’re clothed in Christ when in reality, maybe you’re not. Maybe you’re not.

Tie Jesus Around The Waist

There’s another one though, too. We sometimes tie Jesus around the waist. The fire insurance Jesus. You know. Everything is cool. If the elements hit or if you get into a tight situation or whatever, then, oh, man we’ll put Jesus on! But we kind of wear him like this. [Ed ties the jacket around his waist.]

“Yeah, you know I’ve prayed that little prayer. And God has forgiven me of my sins. And I’m in, man. You know, I’m in heaven!”

I become bitter.  Surely you don’t compare yourself with anybody, do you?  Sometimes I will compare myself with another person and I can do something better than him.  And I’ll compare myself to him.  Because I can do stuff better than him, I feel better about myself.

I say to myself, “Man, I am pretty good.  I’m better than him.”

So comparison either puts me in the dumps or it puts me on an ego trip.

Really, though, it’s ridiculous to compare ourselves with people.  That’s like comparing apples with oranges.  Or for the yuppies here, Perrier with Sushi.  You can’t do it.  God made it obvious when he made you and me that we can’t compare.  I’m me and you’re you.  So stop comparing and contrasting yourselves with others.

In 2 Corinthians 10:12, the Scripture says, “For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.”

I was on a phone call a couple of days ago talking to a good friend of mine in Houston. In the middle of the conversation, I just brought up this other guy and I began to, you know, talk about him a little bit. And I began to say some things about this guy. And then we talked some more, my friend and I, and he said, “I’m going to be in Dallas in a couple of weeks. Let’s get together.”

I’ve known this guy for a long, long time, so I said, “Let’s do it.”

Then I got my hair cut and came back to the office and I began to study for this talk. Then I started reflecting back on what had happened to me that day.  I started thinking specifically about that conversation, and I said to myself, “Man, Ed, why did you bring up that other guy to your friend in Houston?”

Can you imagine David’s reaction and response? What did David do? You’d think, since he was a man after God’s own heart he would confess and come clean. But David starts this intricate cover up. He says to himself, “You know what? I’ll just call for Uriah and act like I need to talk to him in my palace. And then surely Uriah will go and make love to his wife.”

So that’s what he did. Read 2 Samuel Chapter 11:8. “Then David said to Uriah…”

Now Uriah had not seen his wife for weeks and weeks and weeks.

“‘…go down to your house and wash your feet…’”

That means, “Have a good time with your spouse.”

“…So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.”

Maybe it was a gift card from Victoria Secret, I don’t know. But Uriah did not go and have sexual relations with Bathsheba. He was so loyal that he slept that night on David’s door step. The next morning David was on his second cup of espresso, he looks out and there’s Uriah asleep.

So the next day he gets Uriah drunk. “Uriah, go home and see your wife.” Uriah slept again at David’s door step.

Finally, David does something that we all do. And it is very, very tempting. Once we sin, and once we try to cover it up as opposed to coming clean, what do we do? We try to cover it up more. And we end up covering it up and sinning more and more and our sin becomes deeper and darker and we do this free fall into the abyss of immorality.

That’s what David did. He decides to have Uriah killed. Are you ready for that? Killed! So he gives Uriah this note and Uriah takes the note to General Joab and the note says, “Hey, General Joab, tell Uriah to go to the front lines. And then you back the troops off and he’ll be killed.”

David had bug eyes for that biblical babe, Bathsheba. He was on the ledge of lust. The look was not what got him into trouble. We’re going to be attracted to the opposite sex. It was the second look, the third look. Then, “Hey, go check her out for me. Find out who she is.”

David knew who she was. Come on! Her husband, Uriah the Hittite, was one of David’s top 30 soldiers; a part of his royal guard. He’d seen Bathsheba around at parties and get togethers. He knew. What was David doing? What was this guy doing? A man after God’s own heart. What was he doing walking on the edge and the ledge of lust?

Women would bathe on the roof tops during the afternoon. Water was caught in cisterns and the water would be warmed by the afternoon sun. And they would take hot baths there. David was watching and he knew where Bathsheba lived. He saw her, he lusted after her, and now the plot clots because he was contemplating this whole situation.

Consumation

Now look at 2 Samuel 11:4. “Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.”

David slept in the wrong bed. David broke his covenant before God. David leaped off the ledge and the edge of morality.

It’s difficult to walk on the ledge and the edge, because one missed step in my size 11 Kenneth Cole boots; one change in the direction of the wind; maybe one time you’re distracted and you look the wrong way, you can fall. And I can fall, too.

David and Bathsheba had sex together. Several days later Bathsheba goes to Kroger, buys a pregnancy test, and she text messages David these words, “David, I’m pregnant. Bathsheba.”