Word of Salvation – Vol.  23 No.  37 – June 1977

 

Cup Day

 

Sermon by Rev.  A.I. de Graaf, B.D. on Psalm 23:5(b)

Scripture Reading: Psalm 23; Matthew 6:24-34

Psalter Hymnal: 318; 94: 1,2 (after law); 428:1,2, (after grace); 380; 38; 402

 

Brothers & Sisters, Boys and Girls, Young People, Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ

Quite a few Christian people are somewhat embarrassed about the special holiday that Melbourne has every year:

“CUP DAY”,

when every business will be shut and every school closed (except for our Christian Schools by way of protest) and we all have a public holiday because of that famous horse race:

THE MELBOURNE CUP.

Now in itself there is of course nothing against horse racing.  It is one of the most beautiful sports: demonstrating the God-given mastery of man over animal, where jockey and horse become one in a swift co-ordination, and years of careful training come to their public climax.

But we all know that this game, too, has been tainted by sin.  Man can spoil the most beautiful things.  And the thing that has bedevilled this wonderful sport is gambling.

Millions of dollars change hands on this day each year.  Three short tense minutes will, for some people, spell the difference between fabulous riches, and financial ruin.

And for millions of Australians, it will at least mean that they won or lost, even if it is that couple of bucks in the company office sweepstake.

Well, you will say, what’s so bad about that?

A day off,

 a bit of a game,

 a bit of fun together,

 would our God frown upon THAT?

Well, He Who took delight in the birds and tells us to watch the flowers of Spring, does not mind His children to take a day off in Spring.  But then indeed to serve HIM… and not Money.

And gambling is: to put your trust in the God Money.

It is a false god because it’s only a creature.  And all who trust in it and worship it, will perish by it.  It is in things like this, that a Christian’s lifestyle is to stand out.  And it may be good that we think about that today – because I am not too sure that the evil of gambling has not crept in a bit or is TRYING to creep in a little into the Reformed Church of ________.

But OUR Cup Day should not be the stakes of money in the MELBOURNE CUP….. but it should be the glad song and quiet trust of God’s child.

  Whether rich or penniless,

   whether healthy or about to go into hospital,

the child of God who knows who his Father is will be able to take a day off to rejoice in HIM, and will set about seeking HIS Kingdom and HIS righteousness.  The child of God who in all life’s circumstances knows he has so many blessings to count will have his own cup day as he sings with David: “MY CUP RUNS OVER…. IT OVERFLOWS!”

You see, the world is getting full of worried people.  Never were the doctors and psychiatrists so busy to calm the poor wretches down, and believe it or not, this is especially true of the well-fed, well-housed and well-spoiled people of the West.

But read the papers, and listen to the conversations!  Are they worried!  And not worried as they SHOULD be, about what happens to the world God has entrusted them, and to their everlasting future when they must one Day face their Almighty judge………!

No sir, the word we hear in the paper time and again is the word ECONOMY.

Will we have enough money?  Oil?  Food?  Housing?  Clothing?  Room?

Will our children have enough?  Our grandchildren?

We insure against all risks, but worry about the rising premiums.

We never had it so good, but boy!  listen to the moaning.

In this world lives the Christian.

And His Lord simply forbids him to worry.

His Lord tells him that he must – may – and CAN RELAX.

That is: Relax where these THINGS are concerned.  So that he can conserve time and energy and money and resources TO DO THE THING THAT REALLY COUNT: TO BE AFTER THE KINGDOM, THE KINGLY RULE OF HIS GOD: His justice to rule the earth and His beauty to shine over the lives of men.

It is THERE, that we come across this thing called GAMBLING.

A worried earthling gambles.  He feels ALL OF LIFE is a gamble.

It’s all a matter of having GOOD LUCK – or bad luck.  And so we try our luck a bit.  You never know… But the Christian is no such loose piece of driftwood floating around in a blind stream.

He knows he is in the FATHER’S CARE.

He knows that his GOD will look after him.

And that this GOD will do that in the way of HIS COMMANDMENTS.

God says that His child when he is young and strong, as a RESPONSIBLE PROPHET, PRIEST AND KING and as God’s COVENANT PARTNER IN THE WORLD, is to WORK for his money.  He is to use the gifts.  All of them, as he got them from his God.  That way he will make his money.  That way he also will have – he hopes – something to spare to help those in need.  To GIVE.

Those in need must not be looked after because of the GREED of people who put their money in RAFFLES and LOTTERIES.

If I put my money in a lottery it is no good that I say piously that this money is used to build hospitals.  Because that is not why I give it to the raffle.  I raffle because I hope to get the prize.

But my prizes and surprises are not to come to me this way.  And only when I give up SERVING MAMMON will I really begin to see HOW MY CUP RUNS OVER and HOW MY GOD CARES FOR ME.

You see: gambling and betting is not something that stands by itself.  It is part of a lifestyle, of a PATTERN: the pattern of TRUSTING LUCK, but that luck is not my God.

And the pattern of trusting MONEY, but that master is not mine either, says the Christian.

The Christian lives another way.

He does not NEED this kind of gimmick.  He does not NEED other gods.  Goodness and mercy follow him all the days of his life.  And so he is careful, especially in this area, the area of money.

That Master, Mammon, is not just deaf and dumb.  With the devil behind him, he can be cunning and dangerous.  A member of one of our churches, not so long back, was sent by his firm to Tasmania, to Hobart to be precise.  You know what he had to do there?

ON BEHALF OF HIS AUSTRALIA-WIDE FIRM he had to go and SACK THE THIRD SUCCESSIVE MANAGER of their Hobart office.

And you know what was the downfall of these 3 successive managers?  The Casino at Hobart: the gambling palace.

These men were so gripped by this devil, that they in desperation embezzled company funds.

And we have spoken to many wives of gambling men.  Who started little but ended having not a cent behind them.

Just one unholy passion filling all their frame:

                            “How To Try My Luck!”

If you do not know that your cup overflows, then you might be tempted to do that.  If you were not set free from worry by your Lord and King so you can be searching for HIS Kingly rule and righteousness, then you too might be one of these poor suckers.  But the call comes out to you now: Make it DIFFERENT Cup Day: the cup that runs over already with the blessings of the Lord.  Not the silly cup business whereby the winning horse is going to tell you to be glad or to be upset.

There is the way of the pagans, who worry about all these things.  AND there is the way of those who KNOW Who looks after them.

Now, says God: Do you trust Me?

Enough?

Do you dare to stand out and PROFESS in the world, even at your office when the sweeps are organised, Who the One is to whom You Owe allegiance alone?

Now again the Christian has an opportunity to look around him in the world and to say it, loud and clear: MY LORD is KING.

That means that, yes the LOT is controlled by THAT LORD.

This means I shall not use it lightly, and surely not for greed.  I shall reserve it for those solemn occasions that there is no other way to ask for His will.  But in 99 out of the 100 cases His will is clearly revealed in Scripture.

He gave His Son Jesus Christ in death for us, that we should know ourselves free men, no longer slaves to any power.  He raised Him our Saviour from the dead, that we could live even under the shadow of a severe operation or in the circumstances of poverty, with the joy and relaxation of Psalm 23: My cup Overflows…..!

Surely we still live in a sinful world and tomorrow still will have its battles and struggles: tomorrow will have its troubles, too.  But there will always be enough grace to cope.

Life is no gamble.

It is a gift from a Father who cares.  Therefore we resist the temptation to gamble.

The Reader’s Digest Lucky Number that tries to get subscribers by greed, is torn up and thrown out.  Yes, look at it, but hear your Father ask: Do you trust ME for your surprises…… or must it come from these gimmicks?  Am I real to you, my child?

I, the God of creation, am also the God of Redemption.

Do not tear My world up by letting Mammon be boss ANYWHERE,

As you trust Me in church, so trust Me tomorrow.

And when you have that day off: relax, but relax by looking at Me and My great works, My salvation for you.  And be a witness to the poor slaves of money in whose midst you live….. not incognito, surely?

Each day may be Cup Day for my child, says God.

Your cup is running over.

Amen.