The Responsibles, Part 3 - "Here Today, Here Tomorrow"

0:01 Hey, everybody. Andy here. Welcome to Your Move, where we help you make better decisions and live with fewer regrets. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the generosity of our listeners. So if you have been positively impacted by this podcast, would you consider supporting Your Move with a tax-deductible donation? To give, just visit yourmove.is slash give. That's yourmove.is forward slash give. Thanks for considering. And now back to the show. So today is part three of this four-part series where I'm inviting you into and we're inviting each other into to join this elite group of superheroes, super citizens, super husbands and wives and moms and dads and high school students and middle school students and children, super people, men and women students who are taking responsibility for their lives, their past, their present, and as we're gonna talk about today, their futures.

0:58 This elite group of people that understand that their irresponsibility, their irresponsibility eventually, there's no way around it, that their irresponsibility eventually becomes somebody else's responsibility. And these superheroes that we're calling the responsibles that you're invited to be a part of, the superhero responsibles, they're like, I'm not having any part of that. For my irresponsibility to land in somebody else's lap, that is an epic fail. I don't go there, I'm not having it. The responsibles clean up what they mess up. It's who they are. They're the best neighbors. They're the best friends. They're the best husbands and wives, the best students, the best parents. And you're invited to join that group. But to join that group, for us to join that group, requires that we ask and answer, and answer honestly, a really important question. And we don't ask it and answer it once. We ask it and answer it throughout our life, in every season of life, because in every season of life, the circumstances change.

1:56 and the question is this, am I taking responsibility for my life? Am I taking responsibility for my life? Not, the question isn't, am I a responsible person? You are a responsible person. You show up at work, you show up at school, you pay most of your bills. So, you know, if I were to try to accuse you of being an irresponsible person, you can point to many, many, many areas of your life where you are a responsible person. But our question is different. It's, are you taking responsibility for your life, your full responsibility for everything you're responsible for, your actions and reactions, your past obligations and your future obligations. And as I said last time, this isn't a Christian question. This isn't a religious question. This isn't a Christian thing. This is just a thing thing. This is just a people thing. If you're not a real, if you have no faith at all, or you come from a different religious tradition, here's what I know about you.

2:48 You don't want your irresponsibility to become somebody else's responsibility. You don't want your mess to end up in somebody else's lap because that's, well, it's irresponsible and it's embarrassing. And you don't think of yourself as an irresponsible person. So this is an all skate. This is for all of us. But if you are a Christian or somebody who's seeking to learn how to be a Jesus follower, like we're doing this growing network of people all over the world that realize it's not just about what you believe, it's about what you do with what you believe. If you wanna be that kind of Jesus follower, then this is super important. Because as Jesus followers, not only are we forbidden from becoming an unnecessary burden to someone, we're actually commanded to look for opportunities to do the opposite. Here's what the apostle Paul wrote. I mean, this doesn't get much clearer than this. He said this, he said, carry each other's burdens. Because from time to time, we can't help but be a burden because things happen that aren't our fault, that we're not responsible for.

3:48 And suddenly there's a need and suddenly there's a bump and suddenly there's a health thing that we're not responsible for. He said, hey, if you're a Jesus follower, I want you to be freed up and I want you to have the margin to be able to carry other people's burdens, implication. Don't become a burden unnecessarily. Don't create a burden that somebody else has to carry. And then look at what he says next. And this is one of these statements that kind of slips through the cracks that if you were raised in church, this probably wasn't front and center, but it should have been. Listen to what he says. He says, and in this way, in other words, by carrying other people's burdens, by having the margin to carry each other's burdens because you haven't created a burden somebody else has to carry. Look at this. In this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. Now, everybody's heard of the 10 commandments, the 10 big famous laws.

4:41 This little phrase right here does not get the airplay it should, but this is front and center for all Jesus followers because the apostle Paul coined this phrase. This was his phrase to reduce or to summarize Jesus' new command that he gave his disciples at the end of his ministry, where he said, a new command I give you. The apostle Paul calls it the law of Christ. There's not 10, there's one. Jesus says, you are to love one another. You are to value one another as God through me has valued you. He said, you are to love one another as I, Jesus, have loved you. There's the golden rule and then there's the platinum rule, The law of Christ is the platinum rule. And we are to live our lives in such a way that we have the margin to help carry other people's burdens because we have not become a burden ourselves. And the reason he says, in this way you fulfill the law of Christ, because it's what Jesus did.

5:34 Jesus did not put a burden on you. He lifted a burden from you. And that's what Jesus followers do. That's why we take responsibility for our lives. It's what Jesus followers do. it's what responsible people do. And then later in the same passage, he kind of doubles down and he says this. He says, for each one should keep talking to Christians. For each one of you that claim to be a Jesus follower, you should carry your own load. That is, you gotta take responsibility for your own life, your own actions, your own inaction, your past, present, and future instead of creating and not create a load for somebody else to carry. Now, last time we were together, we looked back and we asked the question, are you taking full responsibility for your past? Or is someone currently managing your mess from your past because you left a mess in their lap? And we talked about what to do if that's the case. And we were very clear last time, it's worth repeating, that yes, God forgives you of your sin and God forgives you for the message you've created for yourself and others.

6:34 Yes, God absolutely forgives. But Jesus was so clear about that. And he was so clear in saying, look, because your heavenly father has forgiven you, it's all the more reason to clean up what you messed up. In other words, that forgiveness, God's forgiveness, does not release us from our responsibility for our past. It's just the opposite. That taking responsibility for our past, taking responsibility for the messes that we've created through our actions and inactions and overreactions is actually the appropriate response to God's forgiveness. It's evidence of this word we don't talk too much about. It's evidence of repentance that you've turned around and you're moving in the opposite direction and you're embracing perhaps responsibility that in the past you've run from. It demonstrates that we've truly had an encounter and submitted to our do what's best for others king. So today for the next few minutes, I wanna talk specifically about your future.

7:37 And there's good news and there's bad news. It really depends on you. There's good news and bad news. And the good news or the bad news is this. Your future is coming for you. It is. It's a freight train and it's coming. And the older you get and the older we get, the faster that train seems to be moving, doesn't it? I tell people all the time, I'm like, I feel like I have three days. I have Christmas, then I have Easter, and then it's summer, and then it's Christmas, and it's Easter, and it's summer, and then it's Christmas. And sometimes I just feel like there's two, right? My future's coming for me. your future is coming to you. Look up here. Refusing to plan for or refusing to take responsibility for your future as much as you can predict it is actually planning to be a burden to someone else, perhaps someone you love. So if you have to leave early, bottom line, don't plan to be a burden by being irresponsible and refusing to face the future that is coming for you.

8:35 Instead, we get to do the opposite as Jesus followers. We're to plan to be a blessing to other people. We are to anticipate the future and make plans according to what we can anticipate about our own future that sets us up to be a blessing to people and not a burden. And the best way maybe to understand this is this. Your decisions, my decisions, your daily decisions, my daily decisions are like the steering wheel of our life. You are steering your life in a direction. And the direction you're steering your life in, that direction to some degree, not 100%, but that direction to some degree determines your destination. I call it the principle of the path. The principle of the path is direction, not intention, determines your destination. Direction, not intention. We get so easily confused because intention, intention, my intent, my intent, my intent, my intent, your intent doesn't matter.

9:29 Your intent and my intent does not steer our lives. It is our decisions, which is determined by our direction. Our direction, not intention, determines our destination. So you are currently, you are currently steering yourself toward a destination financially, physically, as it relates to your health, right? You're steering your life in direction emotionally, mentally, relationally, even spiritually. So regardless of your age and regardless of your season of life, this isn't just for 25 year olds, regardless of your age, regardless of your season of life. We should all pause from time to time and ask this question. If this continues, where does it lead? If this continues, where does it lead? If this continues, where does it lead me? If this continues, where does it leave me?

10:26 And if this continues, where does it leave the people around me? and then we should adjust accordingly. Are you taking responsibility for your future or are you laying a trap for future you? Early on in our marriage, Sandra and I memorized a verse of scripture from Proverbs and I've talked about it before. In fact, she's talked about it with our congregation before. So if you've heard this before, good. If not, I'm glad you're listening or watching or here today. Proverbs 27, 12. We turned this verse into a prayer. that we prayed consistently night after night, week after week when our kids were born. It's one of the first verses we taught our kids even before they were probably old enough to be able to memorize scripture. We just started early because this was such a powerful principle. Here's what it said.

11:17 I'm gonna kind of pick it apart and we're gonna jump to the New Testament then jump back to this for just a minute. But here's what the writer of Proverbs said. The prudent, that's the wise person. The prudent is the person that understands that life is connected, that today is gonna impact tomorrow. and yesterday is part of the reason I am where I am today, that life is connected. The prudent see danger, or the translation we memorized from says the prudent see danger coming. That is, they're looking ahead and it's like, uh-oh, here it comes. The prudent see danger or the prudent see danger coming and they do something. They respond to what they see. The prudent see danger and then they take refuge. I remember specifically one of our kids kept saying refuse. The prudency danger and take refuse. I'm like, no, it's not refuse. That's different. Okay, refuge, right. But that's what responsible people do. They see something coming, they acknowledge it, they admit it, they don't deny it, and then they take appropriate action.

12:15 They respond to or prepare for the inevitable. But there's another character that gets introduced because this is how the Proverbs work. The prudency danger and take refuge. But the simple, Now the simple are generally, in Old Testament language, we're usually younger people. No frontal lobe development yet. So they're just having a hard time seeing how life is connected, right? The simple, but what I've learned and what you've learned if you live long enough is you can be older and simple. That you can approach your life as if life isn't connected. That somehow it's gonna work out and somehow there's not gonna be consequences. And you know, it's just, he says the simple, the person that doesn't acknowledge that their lives are connected, that today impacts tomorrow. They just keep going. They see the same danger. They see the same freight train. They see what's happened to other people. And somehow they just keep going.

13:09 And here's how they excuse it. I've got this. Mom, I've got this. I appreciate you guys sitting me down to talk about this. And I realize you're concerned for me. And it means a lot. You friends would have the courage to talk to me about this and confront me. But I got this. I've got this. Hey, I see what you're saying and I don't think you're wrong, but I've got time. Okay, I'm in my 20s. Okay, I'm only 30 something. I'm only, I've got time. I'll be fine. And you know what the Christian version of, I've got this, I've got time, it's going to work out, it'll be fine. You know what the Christian version of this sounds like? I'm just trusting God.

13:50 Now, the problem is, this is the end of the conversation. How do you say to somebody, well, you shouldn't be trusting God. You need to take responsibility for, I mean, it's like this just shuts down the whole conversation. And there's usually, they get this, I'm just trusting God with this. I mean, even as the pastor, it's like, all right, well, conversation over. You just trust God with that. Let me tell you what you should trust God to do. And this won't make sense to some of you, but I'm gonna tease this out later. Here's what you should trust God to do. You need to trust that God will not suspend the law of the harvest on your behalf.

14:30 You should trust that God will not suspend the law of the harvest on your behalf. What do I mean by the law of the harvest? What am I talking about? This is so important. We're gonna jump to the New Testament real quick because the apostle Paul addresses directly the Christian inclination to misunderstand understand our heavenly father and use religious language as a cover or camouflage for irresponsibility. And so to do that, he sets up one of the most often quoted and ignored principles in the entire Bible, certainly the entire New Testament. Here's how he starts it off. Now remember, he's talking to Christians. So look up here a second. If you're not a religious person, you're not a faith person or maybe a different faith tradition, and you're not a Christian, this verse isn't directed at you, but I think you should pay attention anyway.

15:23 So he's writing to Christians and here's what he says to Christians. He says, do not be deceived. There's an interesting little Greek word, plenao, which means don't be confused. Don't allow yourself to be led astray. Don't look at these circumstances or these events and draw the wrong conclusion. Don't assume what other people assume about their indecision or their bad decisions and come to the same conclusions. In other words, don't be deceived. And the reason he says don't be deceived is because we are so easily deceived as it relates to what he's about to tell us. He says, do not be deceived. Then he doubles down. God cannot be mocked. In other words, if you think you are going to get away with something because you're so smart and so slick and so careful and so mature and so wealthy and so whatever it is, he says, you're crazy. You can't mock God.

16:17 You can't write God off as irrelevant. You can't write God off as, hey, I know what Jesus said and I know Jesus is the son of God, but I'm really smart, okay? I'm really careful. I really got my act together. I am so resourced. I know what it says. I know what it says, but, but, but, but, the apostle Paul shakes his head and says, do not be deceived. God cannot be dismissed. God cannot be mocked. He has set certain things in place, certain principles in place, universal equations. And if you ignore them, you pay. And a principle is different than a law. Just real quick, a law, you can break a law. You don't break a principle. You break yourself against a principle or you leverage a principle to your own good, but you don't break it. You can ignore it, but it's still operating in the background of your life. So what's he getting that. He's getting at people who think they will be the exception to this principle. He's talking to Christian people who think they can outsmart God. And here's what he says. Do not be deceived.

17:27 God cannot be mocked. Here it is. A man reaps what he sows. Only the men, women, you're on your own. You can do whatever you want to. There's no connection. No. You were thinking, I love the Bible. Now, in ancient literature, almost all ancient literature addresses men only. So Paul wasn't, you know, dissing the women. This is just the way they wrote. So essentially it means this. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. People, all people, we reap what we sow. And you know this. You've warned other people of this. You've seen this. You've experienced this at some level. And the apostle Paul says, yeah, but at some point we lose our minds and we deceive ourselves and talk ourselves into things and out of things. And we think we can outsmart God and God's going to suspend this principle on our behalf. Now, when my dad used to teach this and he would teach us at home and he would preach this sermon, he would always say, in fact, I can't read this verse without hearing his voice saying, people reap what they sow later and greater, later and greater. And later is why we're deceived.

18:31 mom look nothing's gonna happen I did it I did it I did it I did it hey guys I appreciate it ladies I appreciate you sitting me down and confronting me but look I've been in I've been involved in this for a year I've been involved in this for two years and nothing's happened nothing bad has happened later greater later greater so we we get confused and deceived because of later but you know what else we're overcome and we're shocked over greater well you know if you if you've raised kids, you've told them life isn't fair. You're not kidding. Fairness ended in the Garden of Eden. Nothing has been fair ever since, okay? But here is where we get in trouble. Later and greater means the consequences and the benefits. It works both ways. The consequences and the benefits are always out of proportion to the input. I mean, the easiest way to understand this is the law of the harvest. Take any plant, consider the size of the seed, consider the size of the plant.

19:29 There is almost, there's no correlation. There's no equality. It is unfair. The seed is tiny. The plant is gigantic in relationship to the seed. It's the law of the harvest. So later and greater, and the greater is shocking. I don't deserve this. I didn't see this coming. This is, there's no proportionality. Be warned. There's no proportionality. You should know this later and greater. In the language of the Proverbs, the writer of the Proverbs, we are fools. We are fools to assume otherwise. This is why I said, if you're gonna trust God, trust that God will not suspend the law of the harvest on your behalf. Irresponsibility has a consequence later and greater.

20:24 So back to Proverbs 27 for the grand finale. You ready for this? The prudency danger or this prudency danger coming and they take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. Every single time. But when the simple keep going and ignore what's coming toward them. And they get clobbered. They're not the only ones that get clobbered, right? They're not the only ones that get clobbered. The people around them, the people that surround them, the people that care for them get clobbered as well because their irresponsibility ends up on somebody's plate. Our irresponsibility, I know I've said it 100 times, always becomes somebody else's responsibility. It's hard to play catch up financially. It's hard to play catch up physically with your health. It's hard to play catch up spiritually. And do you know why? You know why? Because all these things are governed by the law of the harvest, not the law of the final exam.

21:23 You can cram for a final exam and pull it off and make an A. You cannot cram in the areas of life that matter the most to you, relationally, financially, your health, your relationship with God, in terms of the time it takes to develop that kind of faith. in the areas that matter most, isn't it true? Small deposits over time make all the difference. Small deposits over time make all the difference. And you can't go back and reclaim the time to make the small deposits. So. are you ready to stop making excuses?

22:09 Are you ready to start doing now? Are you ready to start doing now what you should have been doing all along? Are you ready to join this epic group of superheroes that we've called the responsibles? If not, if you're like, Andy, I can't argue with you. you have a microphone on. I'm sitting here in a crowd and I'm watching online. I can't argue because, but if you're sitting here and you're like, you know what? Okay, Andy, you're not all wrong, but I do got this and I can handle this. And yeah, I think God is gonna take care of me. And I think it's all gonna work out. And I do have time. Here's all I would say to you, okay? If you're not ready to take this step, I'm recommending.

22:54 Tell the people you will be counting on what you will expect from them. when you eventually reap what you are currently sowing. You should tell them. You should call them. You should get them together and say, hey, you know, the other day you warned me about and I said, don't worry about it. I just want you to know, I still think I don't need to worry about it. But if what you think is gonna happen happens, I just want you to know, guys, I'm coming to you for help. You should just tell them that when you eventually reap what you're currently sowing,

23:26 they should know what you'll expect. Look up here. And if you're afraid to do that, you need to think about that. And if you're not willing to do that, you need to think about that. Because if the roles were reversed and suddenly somebody came to you and expected you to pick up their slack when they didn't take your advice, how would you feel about that? Isn't this just the wise thing to do? Isn't this just, isn't this what people who connect the dots do. And maybe if you'll force yourself to do that, that one step of responsibility may lead to a second step of responsibility where you take responsibility for your life. Now, if you're not a Jesus follower, just want to be clear, I have no authority to tell you what to do. I'm just making suggestions. This is just good advice or good counsel, or at least I think it is.

24:23 But if you're a Jesus follower, I'll just be blunt. irresponsibility is a sin and here's why i say that because jesus he was so clear just follow him through the gospels and here's what you discover about jesus and sin jesus would say if it hurts him that's a sin whether it's on a list or not if it hurts her it's a sin whether it's on a list or not. If it hurts you, it's a sin whether it's on a list of sins or not because God cares about you. And if your irresponsibility steals from other people, steals their time, steals their resources, steals their future, steals their retirement, steals their plans, if your irresponsibility steals from them eventually, of course your heavenly father who loves you and loves them would say, yeah, it's a sin. It creates a burden for someone. It creates a burden for you.

25:29 And Jesus followers, we're burden carriers like our king, not burden creators. So again, don't plan to be a burden. Are you planning to be a burden by ignoring your health, ignoring your finances, ignoring what's becoming more of a pathway than a point of entertainment. Don't plan to be a burden. Plan. Be intentional. Be proactive to be a blessing to the people you love the most, the people you would turn to if things go off the rails. Take responsibility for your future. It's what love does. It's what Jesus followers do. So thanks for listening.

26:23 But before you go, I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who supports Your Move financially. It's the generosity of our listeners that makes this podcast possible. So if you have found this content helpful, we would like to invite you to make a tax-deductible donation to Your Move. You just visit yourmove.is forward slash give. That's yourmove.is slash give. Thanks for considering and make sure you join us.