Turn with me in your Bibles to the Song of Solomon 2:15. I want to speak to you a message this morning that the Lord began to lay on my heart all this week and I believe that you'll be blessed with it, it's about the little things. Song of Solomon 2:15, "Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes".
Father, we thank you today that we can live and abide in you. Jesus, we thank you for your word. This morning may we decrease and may you increase in this place. In Jesus name, amen.
It seems in our world today that we measure things by degrees. We measure things so much by time or degrees of how big they were or how bad they were. I think sometimes we forget to give attention to how little details really make the difference in everything. In California a few months ago someone threw a little cigarette butt out a window and it started a fire of about 15,000 acres and a couple hundred people lost their homes. One man went on an interview and as he was sitting there interviewing for a 6 figure job he lost the job because the man who was the head of that company noticed that when the guy got up and left that the quarter that had been sitting on the side of his desk had been missing. He lost a 6 figure job because he saw that he wanted that quarter.
Everyday people make mountains out of molehills. How many have someone like that in your family right now in the midst of the holiday season? Some of you made mountains out of your mashed potatoes on Thursday but God will forgive you, that's alright. There are things in life that keep us from expressing and experiencing a deeper, closer walk with the Lord. How many of you today want to grow closer to Jesus than ever before? As we enter the holiday season there's really a couple ways that you can approach the thing. One is you can approach Christmas like it's just another time of year and it's no big deal and just another day and you can miss the whole joy of the season. Others can get so wrapped up and excited about the decorations and all those wonderful things and forget what it's all about. Or you can approach this time of year and say, "Jesus, I'm so thankful for what you've done. I want to take this time of year to love you more than I've ever loved you before, to know you more than I've ever known you before, to grow closer than I've ever been before". I think we live in such a time that it's easy to miss it. There are things that we experience, opportunities that we have to really draw near and there's also times that we can miss.
I think for the Christian it's probably not the large blatant sins that take us away from God. Things like murder or lying, or stealing. It may be having a bad attitude that really can permeate at a time like this. I believe that all of us are vulnerable to the enemy snagging us on little things. How many know what I'm talking about?
I love this verse in Song of Solomon. It's found in a book that's not often preached on. As a matter of fact most people really don't even understand it. The truth is the Song of Solomon is really all about the love that a husband and a wife have for each other, two lovers falling in love and really enjoying each other on every single level, intimately, deliberately, passionately, caring for each other. The truth is the Song of Solomon is really about all of God's love for us and our love for the Lord. How many know that serving God is more than just a religious obligation but it's the most privileged relationship you and I could ever have?
The idea of this message that I want to get to you is more about spiritual renewal than anything else. It's about God renewing our hearts, about God drawing us close, about us being careful on the little things. Many people say they want to be used by God and they want to have a powerful anointing. How many of you this morning really want to be known and used by God as someone who's a world changer and able to touch other people's lives? Many of us in this room have that desire, we want to see God use us so that people can know the Lord. Few people realize that God doesn't just look at our lives but he looks at our hearts. He doesn't just look at the things that we've done, he looks at what we are and who we are from the inside out.
Many times we ignore the small, seemingly insignificant areas of our life that are not wholly surrendered to the Lord. There's a saying that maybe you've heard, "The devil is in the details". That means the little things that go unnoticed make all the difference. I've found that it's one thing to clean a car, it's another thing to detail the car. There's a story about something that was going on at the Indianapolis 500. Several years ago the lead car began to overheat and was forced to make an unexpected pitstop. The crew frantically went over every area of the car looking for the problem and what was causing it to lose speed. With each passing second the car fell further behind in the race and unable to identify the problem the pitcrew went and set the car right back out onto the track and it kept racing. The car continued to overheat with the sensors indicating the temperatures were reaching critical levels and the car was forced to make a pitstop again. The crew checked over the car inspecting the cars engine, hoses, belts, the fluids and quite by accident one of the crew members looked in one of the air intakes and saw something unusual. He reached in and pulled out a small plastic Walmart bag that had somehow gotten sucked into the air intake. The air had been pulled into the intake and was stopping the flow which was causing the car to overheat and preventing it from cooling. The car went back onto the track but it could never catch up.
This lead car that was about to win a $500,000 race would never make up the time all because of a bag that cost less than 1 cent.
Little things can make the difference. They make the difference between excellence and mediocrity. Colin Powell who went on to achieve some great things in his life said, "If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude". How many know that as believers we should be striving for excellence in every single area of our life. Excellence is more than a well decorated church, it's more than a well decorated house, it's more than everything in it's place and a lack of dust. How many understand that excellence means us living more like Christ every single day of our life. Little things.
It's amazing how in a contract little words like "is" or "but" or "like new" make all the difference in the world. It's the little things if you'll pay attention. For Adam and Eve in the garden it was a simple piece of fruit that messed everything up. For Esau in his life he could have had everything, the blessing was his, but he got so hungry instead of being disciplined he sold it all for just a bowl of soup. The Bible tells us to catch the foxes. Verse 15 says, "Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vine". Foxes aren't big enough. One of the few things that I liked about living in Okeechobee was the wildlife. In the day we could see the eagles that would swoop through but at night we saw some of the coolest things, we would see little foxes that would run, some of the nice red ones with the big bushy tails. For a city boy out of Pittsburgh it was cool to watch them come. I've seen them in the zoo but when I saw them out in the wild, one thing I noticed is that they really weren't that big, just tiny little things.
The truth is that a fox really isn't big enough to get up on a tree and steal the fruit. When it comes in it begins to dig at the roots, tender roots that are coming up and it begins to just eat at them. That's how it finds its food, it will eat those things and fill itself up. You might think when you first look at the bush or the fruit tree that there really wasn't alot of damage. Listen, the fox may not ruin the present harvest that you have but the little fox that will do the damage will begin to ruin the future harvest in your life.
Some people when they're serving God or they're walking through life and they begin to make the little compromises and those little areas begin to creep up in our life, the enemy likes to fool us. He'll come in and nibble at those little areas and we may not see an immediate consequence to our sin and may seem to immediately be blessed by the current things that are going on in our life, but we reap what we sow. The truth is we reap in a different season than we sow. So if you've lived a good life and you've built a harvest of fruit and have been living a life of righteousness for God, you're going to receive that harvest. If while you're receiving that harvest and eating of the bounty and blessing of God, if little things begin to creep into you life that begin to harm what God wants to do in the future, it can begin to steal. Although you're blessed right now there will be no harvest coming up in the next season. The Bible says that we need to catch the foxes before they ruin the hope of a future harvest.
Listen, the idea of the little foxes, the little things that creep into our life are what rob us to our connection and our source. How many know our source is the Lord Jesus Christ? In John 15:4-5, it says, "Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing". Little foxes make us think that we're doing things on our own. The fox will come in and destroy the connection to the vine.
The Bible says that we're to abide in Christ, the constant living, the needing to be with Him, the wanting to be with Him, the loving him and him loving us, the staying connected through prayer, time in the word, time living for him everyday. The purpose of the fox is to prevent us from being connected to God and eventually what that does is result in an unfruitful life. How many have ever met a Christian and you look at them and think they seem to be doing such great things for the Lord, they'll never fall away from God, they're like super Christians. They love the Lord and when they pray things happen, when they read the word the Bible comes to life but then you see them a couple years later and that same fruit isn't being evidenced in their life. How many understand that things don't happen by accident? We need Intentional, purposeful relationship and being connected to Jesus.
The idea of being a Christian is not legalistic perfection. It's not that I have to do this so that everyday I am perfect and right all the time. How many understand you're going to be wrong every once in a while? The truth is that living for Christ is a daily pursuit of Christ likeness. Everyday getting up and saying, "Today I'm going to be like Jesus". The little foxes that can come into our life can be as simple as a bad attitude that we let begin to just brew up within us. Just certain things either on the job or in our marriage, it can be a resistance to the voice of God or the promptings of the Lord. As I was preparing for this, the Lord gave me one of the illustrations that I used earlier when I was laying in bed about 6 am, the alarm had gone off, I really didn't have to get up at that point and I thought I was just going to lay there but God had been speaking into my heart about something. How many know I could have gone back to sleep and missed the whole thing? God said, "You're talking about the little things. Now get up and write that thing down." How many know you've got to learn to listen to the promptings of the Lord? I got up and began to write just a little bit. I said, "Lord, how about if i'm sensitive to your voice and I've got a day to sleep in, how about maybe you let me go back to sleep? He did, what a wonderful thing.
The little fox could be habits that you're starting to pick up. Maybe depression like attitudes that you're just allowing, feelings that come in and you know you can let the joy of the Lord be your strength but you just let that depression sneak in and decide you want to let it make itself at home for just a little while. It could be busyness, that you once had time to pray and time for the word and time for your family but things just keep piling up. What are the little foxes that are taking you from the Lord? Little bits of unbelief or fear. Listen, foxes come nibble at new growth, not the old growth that's tough and hard but new growth.
How many have found yourself growing in the Lord, only to find the enemy coming in and picking at those areas where you've started to have victory in? Catch the little foxes. They nibble at new growth, areas that are still developing that help us to become mature or maybe they nibble at the tender areas that are sensitive where God is doing a fresh work where there once was hurt. That's where the enemy aims. How many know we need to be aware of those things? There is a reason why people who are cultivating and developing put up fences and barriers around those areas.
Let me ask you, what areas is God working on in your life? The truth is if you're mature there should be certain areas that are pretty stable and settled where you're connected with Jesus. But if you're walking with the Lord there are always areas where the Lord is helping you to be more like Him? To me being a Christian is one of the most fun things in the world because everyday there's something new going on. There's the challenge of God working on those areas that you know aren't right and its fun to watch God take and mold you to become more like Him. There's other days where the joy of the Lord is just there and it's a marvelous, tremendous thing. Each day is an adventure.
How many have found that serving God is one of the most adventurous things you will ever do? I promise that if you will live for Jesus with all your heart, soul and all your mind and strength, you will never be bored in life. I want to tell you that a bored Christian is really someone who is not growing in the Lord. The truth is if you're growing close to the Lord, God is always doing something in your life, doing something inside of you, doing something with you, helping you reach out, helping to tweak those areas to make you more like Him. It's a marvelous thing. As a matter of fact, it can be pretty exciting if you'll let it be.
Little things are a big deal to God. Throughout the word of God we talk about his greatness and his majesty but have you ever noticed that God tends to reveal his greatness and his majesty in the little things? The Bible says if you want to be great in Gods kingdom you have to be servant of all.
One of the greatest stories in the Word of God is about David and Goliath, how a small little boy came up against the giants and won. The Bible says that if you have faith as a mustard seed that you can do great things. The Bible talks about the parable of the talents, whether you have little or much, it's what you do with that little bit that God has given you that brings glory to the Lord. We're told that we need to come to God as a little child. The greatest lesson that God ever gave in his word was the comparison that he made with this wealthy man that was giving a whole lot of money but it was nothing to Him and the one lady that had only 2 cents which was all she had. Christmas is coming. How did Jesus come? As a little baby. Jesus could have swept into this world with the greatest army in all of history, could have overwhelmed everyone of us but he said, "I'm going to come and change the world and I'm going to show up as a baby, not a baby in a King's place but a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. It doesn't look all that grand but God reveals himself in the little things.
Proverbs tells the lazy man, "If you want to see how to prosper, look at the ant". I don't believe that the devil is in the details, I believe that the devil is after the details of our life, those little things that make the difference for God. I want to tell you that it only takes a little bit to mess up your life and I don't want to get legalistic. I remember when it used to be taught in the church that we were to live holy and pure lives before God, not just to not be lying, stealing and murdering but to live a life that is holy. The world's philosophy has crept back into the church over the years because the church at one point became so extreme in its legalism but that's not so much what God is after. What God is after are the details of our heart and we need to thank God for His grace but we also need to realize the gravity of his wisdom, about letting the little things in our life be surrendered to the Lord.
This last week one of my friends over at Real Life Ranch and I'll tell you lots of stories from there because there's great things going on over at that place. Each day they're changing the life of kids. How many of you men notice that when your boys are challenging you a little bit that its real easy to let pride get in there and have its way. How many of you love sports? How many are competitive? When someone comes up and they're telling you, "I can do it better and you can't get it", you're going to make sure that you can deal with it. I remember when we were growing up and we'd be in the weight room, some of the greatest days of soreness that I've ever had in my life. We'd be sitting in the weight room and we'd bench 250 lbs and then a kid would come over saying he could bench 275 lbs and next thing you know you have 300 lbs sitting on your chest. How many know that's not using wisdom?
The other day, a good friend of mine, Bill, who comes here on occasion and will become more and more a part of this church. He's taking care of one of the kids that I was dealing with at the ranch. He took some time off and the one kid said. "I'm going to bet you 50 laps around this ranch" and what that turns out to be is 10 miles. "I'll bet I can go through this whole week while you're gone without getting into trouble". How many know that kid was already fighting a losing battle from the very start? So Bill said, "I'll take that bet". Now Bill gets real competitive. Bill called the house parent that was going to take care of the kid the next day and said, "tell the kid that he's got 30 seconds to get his room clean and when he can't do it, bust him for it so I don't have to run 10 miles". How many understand that we're men and we're playing for keeps, kids don't know what they're doing.
Bill started to think, "I'm letting pride eat me up here". How many know when God starts dealing with you, you do the manly thing and try to back out of it gently? Bill knew he set the kid up. Sometimes you set people up, you take a bet you know you can't lose. Bill took him outside and said, "Listen, son, you can back out of this, it's ok, because there's no chance you're going to win this thing". When you tell a 15 year old boy that he has no chance of winning it, even though he knows he can't win it, he still think he can win it. The kid kept going.
Bill comes in the house and God is dealing with him. He writes the kid a letter and I want to read it to you. It's such a small thing. I was proud of my friend. He said, "Pastor would you read this and tell me what you think". I asked him if I could share it with the church on Sunday because it goes right along with my message. It says, "Dear Chris, I'm writing this to you at 9:50 pm on Friday night. You're currently sitting a few feet away from me enjoying your candy. While you were in the shower I called Uncle Eric to discuss our bet. I explained to him that I had given you a number of chances to back out of your decision, some were public chances and others were private. I explained to him that I was willing to take the heat and tell everyone that I was the one to stop the bet so that you didn't lose a contest you had no chance of winning. Part of me wanted to force you to bail out. As I thought about it I realized I was allowing myself to fall into the sin of pride, the same sin you were committing by refusing to back out. It's a sin that men have a very hard time with.
Hopefully we learn through our relationship with God when we are being prideful and humble ourselves before we have to face the consequences. It's possible I could have found a way to raise the stakes and force you to change your mind. It is also possible that nothing I could have said would have made you change your decision. To continue to increase the pressure in order to force you to change your mind would only have accomplished one thing, I would have been teaching you how to be prideful and I'm not willing to do that. I care too much about you in my role as your housefather to allow my pride to get in the way of my ability to be a good houseparent. More importantly I care too much about my relationship with God to knowingly sin. I also care too much about you to make you pay such a huge price to teach you this lesson.
Sometimes the best way to teach a lesson is to admit you're wrong. I should have stopped what was going on before I got to the point where neither of us felt like we could back out. As a parent and a man of God, I should have recognized what the enemy was doing and stopped it. Please forgive me for not seeing what was happening sooner. We are all growing in our relationship with God and the increase in maturity that relationship brings. If I had allowed to let this bet to go forward I would be acting in an immature manner and setting a horrible example for you and the other children under my care. So the bet is off. I know i'm running the risk of having you believe that I called off the bet just so I wouldn't lose. However I'd rather humble myself before God for my sin and make a good decision then be prideful and set a bad example.
I respect the fact that were willing to be committed to the words you spoke. However, as you dad it is my job to protect you as best I can. No dad would allow his child to do something that he knows would hurt him. A godly man would rather look foolish than see his children hurt. I'm willing to look foolish so that you aren't hurt. I hope that you understand and can accept my apology. Hopefully we both can learn from this. I'll see you when I get home and we can talk about it if you'd like to. If you want to raz me about it, I'll keep my promise and take the heat".
I want to tell you that when I read that I was so proud of my friend I couldn't wait to share it with others. How many understand that he stopped the fox from getting in and spoiling his life and the life of that little boy? It only takes a little bit to mess things up.
Ecclesiastes 10:1 says, "As dead flies give a perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor". It just takes a little bit. You know a reputation can be ruined by one act of folly, one sin. I want to tell you that it's easier to maintain a reputation and a good righteous life than to try and rebuild a shattered one. The Bible says that our life should be as a sweet smelling perfume, a sweet aroma to the Lord". Just a little sin can effect a whole life. Little compromises have large consequences. I believe that most of us don't walk away from God by just turning our back and saying, "Lord, I don't want anything to do with you". But it is easy to move away from the Lord just one step at a time, just a little bit. Pretty soon you find yourself saying, "Lord, I feel so far away. How did I get here? I don't remember". Today people are able to compartmentalize everything they do in their life and it really doesn't flow as a whole. How many know that with God there are no compartments, it's just a life. Sin is one area of our lives that will eventually effect everything that we do.
Galatians 5:9 says, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump". What is leaven? It's just like yeast. If you're baking bread and you've got leaven in it, you're going to have bread that rises and tastes good. If not, you're going to have a flat matza ball. Little sins distract us. Little sins can become big sins. Little sins desensitize us and leave us vulnerable to the enemy. Little sins sap our energy and our strength and take away from our time that we could be doing things for the Lord. Little sins can be more easily excused and justified. Little sins multiply. You want to know an even greater truth, there are no little sins.
Matthew 5:19 says, "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of the commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the Kingdom of God". My prayer for us as Christians is that we'll be great in the Kingdom of God. My prayer is that at Harvest Community Church that in your life and in my life, God will see that we're great in God's kingdom for two reasons. 1) because we live His Word and 2) because we teach his word and help others through our life and through our example and through our words to draw closer and become more like Him. But it happens in little things.
Let me talk to you about this Holiday season. When your family gets together and they're getting on your nerves, remember the little things.
When you want to bless someone and you want to encourage them and sometimes the greatest gifts aren't the most expensive or most elaborate, it might just be that little thing you know that they will like to touch their hearts. How many know its those little areas that you notice and you're able to bless make all the difference in the world?
There's so much through the Word of God that talks about how the little things effect us. I want to encourage us as a church as we're getting close in the season, as we're getting close to seeing what God is doing in this place and helping us to reach this city for Jesus. It's the little things that make the difference by paying attention and staying awake.
Proverbs 6:10-11 says, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler and your need like an armed man". Christian, can I tell you, the time that you spend in prayer, even if all you've got is that 5 minutes will make all the difference in your day. The little things that you do to tell people about Jesus make all the difference in the world. The little things that we'll pay attention to, to bring glory to his kingdom. I want to tell you, if you're feeling like you can't even be successful in life, the little things will make the difference between excellence and poverty. One of the things that we're trying to do here as a church is to do everything excellent for the Lord. There's times I'll be walking in this church and say, "God, there's so many big things you have to do here". Then I'll see a little piece of paper and God says to pick it up. Why? Because that little piece of paper will make all the difference in the world. It's a piece of trash. People say that if you don't pay attention to them it won't matter, they're just little people. How many know there are no little people in the eyes of God? Not one person. Everyone from the youngest little baby to the oldest person. Each one makes a difference to Jesus.
Let me ask you this morning, do you have any little foxes in your life? Are there areas that God is working on that you've said, "Lord, I'll let you touch everything but that"? Have you found yourself growing closer to the Lord but there are certain things, little things that God has been dealing with in your life and it's been affecting your life and your relationship with Jesus?
Are there little foxes that have come to ruin the future harvest God has? I want to challenge you this morning, catch it and don't let it have its effect.
How many know that if we do, we'll see great things for God? Amen.
