Latest / Andy Stanley Sermons / Andy Stanley - -Inflection Point: A Parable Part 4

Transcript

Andy Stanley - -Inflection Point: A Parable Part 4 · Andy Stanley Sermons

0:00
Speaker 1: So good morning to all of our Atlanta area churches,
0:02
Speaker 1: as you who are joining us online. And obviously this
0:05
Speaker 1: is very special Sunday in the life of our church,
0:07
Speaker 1: a very important Sunday in the life of our church.
0:10
Speaker 1: And today marks the beginning of the second year of
0:13
Speaker 1: our two year Generosity Initiative, a two year generosity initiative
0:18
Speaker 1: design to literally impact the world, because why not, and
0:22
Speaker 1: my goodness, the world needs to be impacted in a positive,
0:26
Speaker 1: positive way. Now it's a generosity initiative, and I'm just
0:30
Speaker 1: elephant in the room. I realize that some people get
0:31
Speaker 1: nervous when the preacher talks about money, and I understand that. Unfortunately,
0:35
Speaker 1: we have deserved the reputation we have sometimes when it
0:38
Speaker 1: talks when it comes to preachers talking about money. But
0:41
Speaker 1: one of the reasons it's so awkward is that money.
0:43
Speaker 1: It's not just the preacher. Money is a topic like
0:46
Speaker 1: no other topic, right, I mean, hey, so, how often
0:50
Speaker 1: do you work out, you know, three times a week?
0:53
Speaker 1: How many kids do you have two? I've got two kids.
0:56
Speaker 1: How much money do you make? None of your business?
0:58
Speaker 1: All right, It's like suddenly it's like, no, no, we're
1:01
Speaker 1: not gonna have much money. Do you get none of
1:02
Speaker 1: your business right. I can preach about marriage and sex
1:06
Speaker 1: and relationships and raising kids and forgiveness and work ethic.
1:10
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about anything, but as soon as
1:12
Speaker 1: you know, the preacher starts talking about money. So hey,
1:14
Speaker 1: stop talking about money and let's get back to the Bible,
1:18
Speaker 1: says someone no offense who doesn't actually read the Bible.
1:22
Speaker 1: You probably know this or you've heard this, But Jesus
1:25
Speaker 1: says way more about wealth and money than he does
1:28
Speaker 1: about heaven, and weigh way way more about wealth and
1:31
Speaker 1: money than he does about hell. But a lot of
1:33
Speaker 1: Christians love to talk about Hell. They don't want somebody
1:35
Speaker 1: to talk about their money. So we're just not that
1:38
Speaker 1: kind of Christian here. But the reason, the reason that
1:41
Speaker 1: Jesus talks so much about people's money is not because
1:45
Speaker 1: he wanted their money. In fact, there's only one time
1:48
Speaker 1: and all of the Gospels, Matthew, mart Luke, and John,
1:51
Speaker 1: there's only one time I can find that Jesus even
1:54
Speaker 1: ask anybody for money. And he took somebody's money and
1:57
Speaker 1: did a coin to asked for coin, did a coin trick,
1:59
Speaker 1: and then he gave it back to So that's it.
2:01
Speaker 1: That's the only time, okay. But the reason he talks
2:03
Speaker 1: so much about wealth and so much about money is
2:05
Speaker 1: because Jesus knew. What if we're honest, we know that
2:09
Speaker 1: for many of us men in particular, and I know
2:13
Speaker 1: it's men in particular because I are a man, so
2:16
Speaker 1: I understand how particular this can be. That money is
2:21
Speaker 1: and wealth is the chief competitor for our devotion to God,
2:25
Speaker 1: that the chief competitor for our devotion to God is
2:28
Speaker 1: money and wealth and not specifically dollars. Specifically what money
2:33
Speaker 1: represents to us? What money represents And I made a list,
2:38
Speaker 1: and excuse me, it's not the whole list. But money
2:41
Speaker 1: represents security, right, and it represents freedom, and it represents stability,
2:46
Speaker 1: and it represents peace margin you know yet peace, and
2:51
Speaker 1: it represents options. Now, the interesting thing is this in reality,
2:56
Speaker 1: if you think about it, in reality, the only thing
2:58
Speaker 1: on this list that money can actually guarantee is options. Okay,
3:05
Speaker 1: And I'm all for options. I love the fact that
3:07
Speaker 1: I have enough margin and financially that I have options
3:11
Speaker 1: in my life in terms of what I can do,
3:13
Speaker 1: what our family can do. But here's my observation as
3:16
Speaker 1: a pastor, been doing this a long time. Options. Options
3:20
Speaker 1: also create distractions. Options create distractions oftentimes that undermine a
3:27
Speaker 1: person's financial security, their freedom, their stability, and their piece
3:32
Speaker 1: that the more options we have, sometimes the less peace
3:35
Speaker 1: we have. And sometimes the more options we have, the
3:38
Speaker 1: more worry we have. And it's interesting when you read
3:41
Speaker 1: the Bible and specifically what Jesus said that many of
3:44
Speaker 1: the things on this list, in fact, everything on this list,
3:46
Speaker 1: other than options, your heavenly Father has provided and promises
3:51
Speaker 1: to provide for us. And we know when we think
3:54
Speaker 1: about it, I understand I live in the same world
3:56
Speaker 1: you do. It's tempting to think that if I have
3:59
Speaker 1: enough money, it guarantees security. But there's not enough money
4:03
Speaker 1: to guarantee your security, or your freedom, or stability or peace.
4:09
Speaker 1: In fact, what's interesting, many of us have more money
4:12
Speaker 1: than we've ever had in our lives, and some of
4:14
Speaker 1: us have more money than we ever thought we would have,
4:16
Speaker 1: and we still worry, and we still wonder if we
4:19
Speaker 1: have enough. So when again, there's a little bit of
4:22
Speaker 1: a myth here, but it does in fact create options. Now,
4:26
Speaker 1: while Jesus talked a lot about wealth, and he talked
4:28
Speaker 1: a lot about money, there is one parable in particular
4:32
Speaker 1: that addresses that directly addresses what we're doing or attempting
4:36
Speaker 1: to do through this deeper wider initiative, this deeper wider
4:40
Speaker 1: generosity initiative. And so I want to talk about this parable,
4:43
Speaker 1: tell you this parable. And I love this parable for
4:45
Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. One of the reasons I love
4:48
Speaker 1: it is, unlike many of jesus parables, he actually hangs
4:51
Speaker 1: around after he tells it to explain what he meant.
4:55
Speaker 1: Sometimes Jesus would tell a parable and just drop the
4:58
Speaker 1: mic and walk off, and everybody was like, that was interesting,
5:02
Speaker 1: but I don't know what he was talking about. And
5:03
Speaker 1: sometimes the apostles would follow along, they would act like
5:06
Speaker 1: they understood it, like you know, we get it. Then
5:07
Speaker 1: they would say, Jesus, okay, the Pharisees are mad and
5:11
Speaker 1: the people are confused, and would what were you talking about.
5:15
Speaker 1: But then occasionally, and this is one of those occasions,
5:18
Speaker 1: Jesus would stick around and actually explain what he meant
5:22
Speaker 1: by the parable. So that's one reason I like it.
5:24
Speaker 1: The other reason I like it is this that at
5:26
Speaker 1: the beginning of our marriage, early on in our marriage,
5:29
Speaker 1: because Sandra and I were raised the same way, as
5:31
Speaker 1: it relates to money and church and faith. Early on
5:34
Speaker 1: in our marriage, we committed, we committed to organizing our
5:38
Speaker 1: finances according to the lesson in this parable thirty seven
5:42
Speaker 1: years ago, and we've never regretted it. And we have
5:46
Speaker 1: trained our children, or taught our children, or encouraged our
5:48
Speaker 1: children to do the same thing with their money. So
5:52
Speaker 1: this is a perspective this, or i should say, the
5:55
Speaker 1: perspective that Jesus introduces or teaches in this parable. It's
5:59
Speaker 1: somewhat in And here's what I mean by that that
6:02
Speaker 1: healthy people. As you get older and older and older,
6:05
Speaker 1: and as we get closer and closer to the end
6:07
Speaker 1: of our lives, we begin to understand how true this is.
6:12
Speaker 1: And some of us will get toward the end and
6:14
Speaker 1: have regret that we didn't apply this earlier, and others
6:17
Speaker 1: of us are going to be glad somebody taught it
6:19
Speaker 1: to us when we were younger and were able to
6:22
Speaker 1: live our lives this way because this parable. And this
6:24
Speaker 1: is why, even if you're not a Christian or again
6:27
Speaker 1: a different faith tradition, this is why I'm so glad
6:29
Speaker 1: you're here today to hear this. This is an invitation,
6:33
Speaker 1: This is an invitation to live and to give with
6:37
Speaker 1: the end in mind, because Jesus is about to remind
6:42
Speaker 1: us of something we know but we need to be
6:45
Speaker 1: reminded of occasionally, and that's this that we all all
6:48
Speaker 1: of us, This isn't a Christian thing, this isn't everybody thing.
6:50
Speaker 1: That all of us have limited time and we have
6:53
Speaker 1: limited opportunity, and none of us, come on, none of
6:58
Speaker 1: us are going to get to the end of our lives,
7:00
Speaker 1: which we is spent more money. None of us are
7:02
Speaker 1: gonna get to the end of our lives and wish
7:04
Speaker 1: we'd upgraded more often, or driven better, or lived better
7:08
Speaker 1: or dressed better. At the end of our lives. All
7:11
Speaker 1: of this sort of comes into perspective, and Jesus is
7:14
Speaker 1: encouraging us to adopt this perspective now. And here's the thing.
7:19
Speaker 1: If you're not a Christian, you have the option. If
7:24
Speaker 1: you are a Christian, if you are a Jesus follower,
7:26
Speaker 1: as we're about to discover, he actually instructs us to
7:31
Speaker 1: adopt this perspective because this is baked in to following
7:36
Speaker 1: our king, and nobody ever regrets living a life. Accepting
7:43
Speaker 1: this invitation to live and to give with the end
7:46
Speaker 1: in mind. And again, if you're not a Christian, I
7:49
Speaker 1: think you're gonna love this. I think you're gonna love
7:50
Speaker 1: this because this is true, and there's a truth embedded
7:54
Speaker 1: in this that's really undeniable. And here's the thing. Whenever
7:58
Speaker 1: we live our lives in accordance to what is true,
8:02
Speaker 1: we are happier. That the outcome of living a certain
8:07
Speaker 1: kind of life is greater contentment, greater peace, greater purpose,
8:12
Speaker 1: more happiness. And in fact, the opposite is true as well.
8:16
Speaker 1: I'll just don't elbow anybody or say a name. But
8:20
Speaker 1: have you ever met an unhappy It's kind of a
8:23
Speaker 1: rhetorical question. Have you ever met an unhappy discontent perhaps
8:27
Speaker 1: difficult to get along with? Wealthy person? Yes, you have.
8:32
Speaker 1: Jesus is about and you're like, why are you so
8:35
Speaker 1: upset about? I mean, look at you have five cars?
8:37
Speaker 1: You know, how can you? Why are you so uptight?
8:40
Speaker 1: I mean, Jesus is about to explain how that happens
8:43
Speaker 1: and how to ensure it doesn't happen to you. Not
8:47
Speaker 1: the wealthy part, the discontent, unhappy part. Now, real, quick reminder,
8:51
Speaker 1: this is a parable. This is a parable. A parable
8:54
Speaker 1: is a story that's not true. This is a made
8:57
Speaker 1: up story that's made up in order to communicate important truth,
9:01
Speaker 1: and Jesus was the master storyteller. In fact, his parables
9:05
Speaker 1: are one of the reasons I think that are strong
9:07
Speaker 1: evidence for the fact that the Gospels are in fact
9:10
Speaker 1: reliable accounts of actual events, because they're brilliant, and they're
9:14
Speaker 1: brilliant and all four gospels, and they are somewhat consistent
9:17
Speaker 1: in all four gospels. So he's the master. Here is
9:21
Speaker 1: the parable. Luke recorded this force. Luke thoroughly investigated everything
9:25
Speaker 1: about the life of Jesus. That's where he got his information.
9:29
Speaker 1: Jesus told his disciples, and that could be the twelve
9:31
Speaker 1: Apostles or a broader group. Jesus told his disciples. There
9:36
Speaker 1: was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting
9:40
Speaker 1: his possessions. So here's the context. There's a rich guy.
9:44
Speaker 1: He is an estate manager. The rich guy doesn't pay
9:47
Speaker 1: any attention to the business that is happening in his
9:49
Speaker 1: name because his estate manager handles all that. He's just
9:52
Speaker 1: living a good life. And the estate manager had the authority,
9:56
Speaker 1: had the signet ring, that would be like a signature
9:59
Speaker 1: for us. Right, this state manager has the authority to
10:02
Speaker 1: buy and to sell into trade and to do business
10:05
Speaker 1: in his master's name. But he was mismanaging his master's property.
10:11
Speaker 1: He wasn't doing anything criminal, he was just being irresponsible.
10:15
Speaker 1: And this became public knowledge, and word eventually got back
10:19
Speaker 1: to the boss, so his master when he heard about this,
10:23
Speaker 1: his master called him in and asked him, what is
10:25
Speaker 1: this I hear about you? He assumes that the rumors
10:28
Speaker 1: are true, He says, give an account. That is, I
10:31
Speaker 1: want you to get everything together so I know what's
10:33
Speaker 1: going on. Give an account of your management, because you
10:36
Speaker 1: cannot be manager any longer. What I've heard about you
10:40
Speaker 1: is so disconcerting. You're hurting my reputation, not just yours.
10:43
Speaker 1: So I want you to close up all the business
10:45
Speaker 1: that you're in the midst of doing because I don't
10:47
Speaker 1: know what's going on. I've trusted you to do this
10:49
Speaker 1: on my behalf, and once you get everything together, I
10:52
Speaker 1: want you to bring it to me. And then at
10:54
Speaker 1: that point you can't work for me any longer. He
10:58
Speaker 1: wants him to come back and help him understand who
11:00
Speaker 1: he owes and how much he owes to who. So
11:03
Speaker 1: at this point Jesus now introduces us into the thoughts
11:07
Speaker 1: of the money manager, because again it's a made up story,
11:10
Speaker 1: so he can make up what this guy's thinking, the
11:12
Speaker 1: money manager that says the money manager said to himself,
11:15
Speaker 1: or thought to himself, what any of us would? What
11:19
Speaker 1: am I gonna do? What should I do? Now? My
11:23
Speaker 1: master is taking away My master is taking away my job.
11:28
Speaker 1: He recognizes, and this is the point Jesus is going
11:30
Speaker 1: to lead us to. He recognizes he has a little
11:33
Speaker 1: bit of time, and he has a little bit of opportunity.
11:36
Speaker 1: He still has the signet ring, so he can still
11:38
Speaker 1: boot and do business in his the money manager's name.
11:41
Speaker 1: But he's only got a little bit of time. He's
11:43
Speaker 1: got a little bit of opportunity to secure his future,
11:48
Speaker 1: to ensure that he has somewhere to go and someone
11:52
Speaker 1: to go to. Now, what happens next is kind of
11:55
Speaker 1: odd to us because we don't live in that culture.
11:57
Speaker 1: But Jesus audience certainly understood what happens next. So here's
12:01
Speaker 1: a little background. In ancient times, there's no middle class.
12:05
Speaker 1: There are wealthy landowners, and to some extent they were
12:08
Speaker 1: oftentimes merchants, but they were kind of the group that
12:11
Speaker 1: kind of controls everything. Then there were day laborers, like
12:15
Speaker 1: Jesus' father Joseph was a day labor. He was a
12:18
Speaker 1: carpenter or did stone work, so he's a day labor.
12:20
Speaker 1: So there's day laborers that get paid by the day.
12:23
Speaker 1: And then there's a category of we would call them freemen.
12:27
Speaker 1: Sometimes they're referred to freemen. A freeman was a person
12:30
Speaker 1: that was a slave who either worked their way into
12:34
Speaker 1: freedom or were given freedom by their owner. In Latin,
12:38
Speaker 1: they were referred to as the libertini. The libertini the
12:42
Speaker 1: group that if you were libertini, that meant once upon
12:45
Speaker 1: a time you were a slave, but now you weren't.
12:47
Speaker 1: And then the fourth category were the slaves, slaves now
12:51
Speaker 1: former slaves, this libertini. They were oftentimes educated and had
12:56
Speaker 1: a skill. That's what made them valuable to their masters.
12:59
Speaker 1: And oftentimes they're masters purchased them because of their education
13:02
Speaker 1: and because of their skill, and then over time became
13:05
Speaker 1: they became so endeared and endearing to a family or
13:08
Speaker 1: an owner, they were eventually set free. And apparently that's
13:12
Speaker 1: the category that this money manager is. He obviously has
13:15
Speaker 1: some skill as it relates to doing business on behalf
13:19
Speaker 1: of his master, but at one time he was probably
13:22
Speaker 1: a slave, and each of these the libertini. The thing
13:25
Speaker 1: that they would do once they were set free is
13:27
Speaker 1: they would try to find a patron or a family
13:30
Speaker 1: that they could again endear themselves to and work for
13:34
Speaker 1: and get paid for their work and basically provided non
13:38
Speaker 1: slave labor that benefited the family. But here's the catch.
13:42
Speaker 1: That relationship depended one hundred percent on the goodwill of
13:46
Speaker 1: their patron. There were no contracts, no binding contracts, So
13:49
Speaker 1: if they did anything to displease the family they work for,
13:52
Speaker 1: they're out. And not only are they out, their reputation
13:56
Speaker 1: is trashed. And the opportunity to get back into the
13:59
Speaker 1: good will or the good graces of another wealthy family
14:02
Speaker 1: was minimal, especially if you were going to stay in
14:04
Speaker 1: the same region. So this is a very precarious situation
14:08
Speaker 1: for the money manager, and the goal for somebody in
14:11
Speaker 1: that category was to keep your master happy and your
14:14
Speaker 1: master's family happy at all costs. Don't offend the wife,
14:18
Speaker 1: don't offend the kids. I mean, you just got to
14:20
Speaker 1: play your cards exactly right, which explains what the money
14:24
Speaker 1: manager thinks next in this parable. So back to the parable,
14:29
Speaker 1: the manager said to himself, what shall I do now?
14:31
Speaker 1: My master is taking away my job, and I'm not
14:36
Speaker 1: strong enough to dig. In other words, I would be
14:40
Speaker 1: a worthless slave. I'm no good doing manual labor, so
14:44
Speaker 1: that's not going to work, and I'm ashamed to beg
14:48
Speaker 1: I'm on the He realized, I'm on the verge of
14:51
Speaker 1: becoming a beggar. So I gotta come up with a plan.
14:54
Speaker 1: I got a little bit of time, got a little
14:56
Speaker 1: bit of opportunity. And then he comes up with a plan.
15:00
Speaker 1: He comes up with an answer to the question that
15:02
Speaker 1: he just asked, what shall I do now? So here
15:07
Speaker 1: it is now at this point, everybody in Jesus' audience,
15:11
Speaker 1: they're leaning in. I mean they're locked in. Some of
15:13
Speaker 1: you are as well, if you haven't heard this parable
15:15
Speaker 1: and there of course thinking this dishonest money manager. Goodness gracious,
15:21
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, why is he kind of the
15:23
Speaker 1: focus of this story. But anyway, Jesus continues, and here's
15:26
Speaker 1: what he says. The money manager thinks, or says to himself.
15:30
Speaker 1: He says, I know he comes up with a plan.
15:32
Speaker 1: I got it. I know what I will do so
15:35
Speaker 1: that when a little bit of time, when I lose
15:38
Speaker 1: my job here, people will welcome me into their houses,
15:44
Speaker 1: I've got a plan that's going to endear me to
15:47
Speaker 1: my next patron, my next opportunity. So here's what he did,
15:51
Speaker 1: Jesus is so he called in each one of his
15:55
Speaker 1: master's debtors, all the people that owed his masters his master.
15:59
Speaker 1: Aparently there were a dozen or dozens of these, we
16:02
Speaker 1: don't know. He just talks about two in a minute.
16:04
Speaker 1: So we called in each one of his master's debtors,
16:07
Speaker 1: and he asked the first one, how much do you
16:10
Speaker 1: owe my master? And this particular merchant said, well, we've
16:15
Speaker 1: talked about this before, and I promise I'm going to pay.
16:17
Speaker 1: But currently, you know this, I owe him nine hundred gallons.
16:20
Speaker 1: This is an enormous amount of olive oil. Nine hundred
16:24
Speaker 1: gallons of olive oil, he replied. In Jesus's parables, he
16:28
Speaker 1: often used hyperbole to make a point. Nine hundred gallons
16:31
Speaker 1: of olive oil. The manager says, I'll tell you what
16:34
Speaker 1: I know. We've talked about this, and you're a little
16:36
Speaker 1: bit behind. The manager told him take your bill, sit
16:38
Speaker 1: down quickly because I only have a limited amount of time,
16:42
Speaker 1: and make it four hundred and fifty. We're just gonna
16:45
Speaker 1: cut it in half. I've got the signet ring. You
16:47
Speaker 1: only owe him half. And of course this merchant is like,
16:51
Speaker 1: wait what what? Thank you? Wow? I wasn't expecting that.
16:57
Speaker 1: Thank you, because the money manager still had the opportunity
17:01
Speaker 1: to do business in his master's name. Now, everybody in
17:04
Speaker 1: Jesus' audience at this point is like moaning, like, oh,
17:07
Speaker 1: you know, he was bad, he just got worse. Then
17:10
Speaker 1: Jesus goes on. Then he asked the second and how
17:13
Speaker 1: much do you owe? And he said, well, I know,
17:18
Speaker 1: this is an enormous amount of wheat, A thousand bushels
17:21
Speaker 1: of wheat, he replied. The money manager said, look, I
17:24
Speaker 1: tell you what, take your bill and make it eight hundred.
17:27
Speaker 1: And once again, this this merchant, this trader, is like,
17:30
Speaker 1: oh my goodness, I thank you, thank you. Think I
17:33
Speaker 1: promise I'm gonna pay him. Thank you if there's if
17:35
Speaker 1: there's anything I can ever do for you. The implication
17:41
Speaker 1: is because he said he did this with each of
17:42
Speaker 1: the people who owed his man and his master. He
17:46
Speaker 1: did this over and over and over and over and again.
17:50
Speaker 1: This gets out and gets back to his master, and
17:55
Speaker 1: when his master found out what he had done. Unless
17:59
Speaker 1: you've heard this story, worry before this parable before, you
18:01
Speaker 1: can imagine how he would have responded. And the people
18:06
Speaker 1: in Jesus' audience who had not heard this parable before,
18:09
Speaker 1: they could imagine what they thought, Gee, how they thought
18:12
Speaker 1: the rich man would respond to this terrible news as well.
18:17
Speaker 1: But Jesus is the master storyteller, and everybody in the
18:23
Speaker 1: audience guessed wrong when the Master caught when of what
18:28
Speaker 1: his manager was up to, Jesus says the Master commended,
18:34
Speaker 1: and he even adds an adjective to make sure you
18:36
Speaker 1: know we're not confused. He commended the dishonest manager. Why
18:43
Speaker 1: Jesus keeps going because he had acted shrewdly, he had
18:49
Speaker 1: acted prudently. He thought it through, he came up with
18:54
Speaker 1: a plan. He realized, I've got limited time, I've got
18:56
Speaker 1: limited opportunity. I've got to do something now with my
18:59
Speaker 1: limited time and my limited opportunity, And he came up
19:02
Speaker 1: with a plan to secure a place to go when
19:05
Speaker 1: his master let him go. The money manager was commended
19:11
Speaker 1: for taking full advantage of his limited time and his
19:15
Speaker 1: limited opportunity. And Jesus' audience is so confused, which means
19:21
Speaker 1: he's got them right where he wants them. Then at
19:24
Speaker 1: this point. This is one of the reasons I love
19:26
Speaker 1: this parable. Jesus pulls out of the parable. He's finished
19:29
Speaker 1: with the parable, and he begins to address his audience directly.
19:34
Speaker 1: Years ago, when I first understood the implications of this parable,
19:38
Speaker 1: I felt like Jesus was addressing me directly, and today
19:41
Speaker 1: he's addressing all of us directly. Here's what he says.
19:44
Speaker 1: A little bit confusing. He says, four, the people of
19:50
Speaker 1: this world, let me explain, in ancient times, there was
19:54
Speaker 1: very little hope for there to be any kind of afterlife.
19:57
Speaker 1: When you died, that was the end. You went to
19:59
Speaker 1: sheehole she or you went, you went to the place,
20:03
Speaker 1: the realm of the dead. You went to Hades. If
20:05
Speaker 1: you were a Greek or a Roman, there was just
20:07
Speaker 1: the place of the dead. Everybody assumed that with the
20:10
Speaker 1: end was the end. And if there was a place,
20:12
Speaker 1: it was a nasty, awful place, and everybody went to
20:14
Speaker 1: the same place. So he says, the people of this
20:17
Speaker 1: world who don't have any thought that anything in this
20:20
Speaker 1: life impacts anything after this life. The people of this world,
20:24
Speaker 1: for whom their lives are just bookended by birth and
20:28
Speaker 1: then death. No afterlife, he says, those people who live
20:31
Speaker 1: their life within that context are more shrewd. There's the
20:35
Speaker 1: word again. They're more thoughtful, they're more shrewd, They're more
20:40
Speaker 1: forward thinking, they're more dialed into the fact that one
20:43
Speaker 1: thing leads to another. They're more shrewd and dealing with
20:46
Speaker 1: their own kind. That is, other people who only think
20:49
Speaker 1: in terms of from birth to death and what happens
20:52
Speaker 1: in this life has no impact on the afterlife, because
20:54
Speaker 1: there probably isn't an afterlife. The people that are always
20:59
Speaker 1: thinking in terms of and those of you in the
21:00
Speaker 1: marketplace and in business, you get this, he says, the
21:03
Speaker 1: people who are always thinking in terms of what do
21:05
Speaker 1: I do with my limited time and my limited opportunity?
21:07
Speaker 1: What do I do with my limited time and my
21:09
Speaker 1: limited opportunity? What do I do with my limited time?
21:12
Speaker 1: He said, those people are more shrewd than are than comparison,
21:18
Speaker 1: than are the people of the light. And now he's
21:22
Speaker 1: talking about people who believe that what happens in this
21:25
Speaker 1: life impacts the life after this life. The people of
21:29
Speaker 1: the Light believe in an after life. People who believe
21:33
Speaker 1: that what we do in this life impacts what happens
21:36
Speaker 1: in the afterlife. And then Jesus applies the parable to
21:41
Speaker 1: me and to you. So now he just drills down.
21:45
Speaker 1: He says, there's a lesson to be learned from this
21:47
Speaker 1: dishonest money manager because this dishonest money manager did everything
21:52
Speaker 1: he could to take advantage of his limited time and
21:55
Speaker 1: his limited opportunity, to which we say, okay, Jesus, that
21:58
Speaker 1: we get that part. But what does that have to
22:01
Speaker 1: do with us? And how do we apply this parable
22:04
Speaker 1: that you stuck around to explain? And Jesus says, I'm
22:08
Speaker 1: about to tell you. I tell you. He says, that's
22:11
Speaker 1: how he starts it. I tell you, use worldly wealth.
22:16
Speaker 1: That is everything you own, everything you possess, what you have,
22:20
Speaker 1: and that's again anything that belongs to you in terms
22:23
Speaker 1: of cash money. He says, just use everything that you
22:25
Speaker 1: would consider your possessions. Use worldly wealth to gain friends
22:30
Speaker 1: for yourselves so that when it is gone. Little point
22:35
Speaker 1: of clarification, he's not talking about when we run out
22:38
Speaker 1: of money, as he's about to make clear. He's talking
22:40
Speaker 1: about when we leave this life and leave it behind.
22:43
Speaker 1: It doesn't get taken away. We get taken away that
22:46
Speaker 1: when we're gone. Because he understands what's true for most
22:49
Speaker 1: of us, which was not what's true was true for
22:52
Speaker 1: most people in the first century. That most of us
22:55
Speaker 1: because we're responsible people, because we live in the United States,
22:59
Speaker 1: because we save, because we have, you know, retirement plans,
23:02
Speaker 1: and we have we plan for retirement, and most of
23:05
Speaker 1: us hopefully have a will. Most of us are planning
23:09
Speaker 1: to run out of life before we run out of stuff.
23:13
Speaker 1: That's why you have a will, and hopefully that's the
23:16
Speaker 1: case with you, because you've been responsible. And he says,
23:19
Speaker 1: because you're going to leave stuff behind. This is why
23:24
Speaker 1: this is so important. Because your time is limited and
23:27
Speaker 1: your opportunity is limited. I tell you use your worldly
23:30
Speaker 1: wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it
23:33
Speaker 1: is gone, when you're gone, then this is amazing, you
23:36
Speaker 1: will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Now I don't know
23:42
Speaker 1: how this works, but Jesus said this. And when somebody
23:47
Speaker 1: predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off,
23:49
Speaker 1: you just take anything they say seriously, whether you understand
23:52
Speaker 1: it and can explain it or not. Okay, I'm a
23:54
Speaker 1: simple man. So Jesus the implication, not just the implication
23:57
Speaker 1: of what he's saying is this is that we have
24:00
Speaker 1: an opportunity, and he says, if you're one of my followers,
24:02
Speaker 1: you have an obligation to use your worldly wealth in
24:07
Speaker 1: such a way that there are will be people in
24:11
Speaker 1: heaven that welcome you because of how you use your
24:15
Speaker 1: temporary worldly wealth. He's saying this, use what you have
24:20
Speaker 1: to influence people towards the king and his kingdom. So Jesus.
24:26
Speaker 1: For Jesus followers. Again, if you're not Jesus follower, this
24:29
Speaker 1: is all optional. If you're a Jesus follower, he's telling us,
24:32
Speaker 1: use your worldly wealth. Here's the point. His point is this,
24:35
Speaker 1: he sees Jesus views our stuff. Jesus views our wealth.
24:41
Speaker 1: Jesus views our money as a temporary means to an
24:46
Speaker 1: eternal end. He says, there is a way for you
24:49
Speaker 1: to use the stuff that you will eventually be separated
24:52
Speaker 1: from anyway in such a way that there is something
24:56
Speaker 1: to show for it for e Now, if that seems
25:03
Speaker 1: like a foreign concept to you, here's some good news.
25:06
Speaker 1: If you are sitting in church today, if you're sitting
25:10
Speaker 1: in another church, that, if you're sitting in any one
25:12
Speaker 1: of our campuses, you are actually an illustration of what
25:17
Speaker 1: Jesus is teaching. If you came to faith through a
25:21
Speaker 1: local church. If you came to faith through a local
25:24
Speaker 1: church event, if you came to faith through a camp
25:27
Speaker 1: that some people paid to create so that you went
25:30
Speaker 1: to when you were in high school or college. If
25:32
Speaker 1: you came to faith through a local campus ministry that
25:35
Speaker 1: was supported by Christians who donated money to a nonprofit
25:38
Speaker 1: organization so that organization could be on your campus, you
25:42
Speaker 1: are an illustration of the very thing that Jesus is teaching.
25:45
Speaker 1: Because here's what happened. Somebody gave their stuff, Somebody created
25:51
Speaker 1: an environment, and you became a Jesus follower as a
25:55
Speaker 1: result of that environment. They turned their stuff into something
25:59
Speaker 1: that impacts your life. Specifically, this is so inspiring to me.
26:06
Speaker 1: They turned their stuff into a story. They turned their
26:11
Speaker 1: stuff into your story. You became a Jesus follower because
26:16
Speaker 1: somebody gave money and created a thing that impacted your story,
26:20
Speaker 1: and not just your story. If you're a parent, if
26:23
Speaker 1: you're raising your kids into faith, if you're raising your
26:26
Speaker 1: kids in church, they're giving their generosity, their understanding of
26:31
Speaker 1: this principle impacted your story, which is impacting your children's story,
26:35
Speaker 1: which may impact your grandchildren's story. Their generosity has impacted
26:40
Speaker 1: your family, maybe for generations. When I understood this all
26:47
Speaker 1: those years ago, when I seed my kind of first
26:49
Speaker 1: deep dive into this, I was forced to ask myself
26:53
Speaker 1: a question along these lines, Andy, do you want more
26:58
Speaker 1: stuff or do you want more stories? Any you have
27:03
Speaker 1: an opportunity to leverage your dining room and your home
27:08
Speaker 1: and anything you own, and your cash and your income
27:12
Speaker 1: to create stories that will impact that are not just
27:16
Speaker 1: temporary stories, eternal stories that could potentially impact a family
27:21
Speaker 1: for generations. My family is one of those families. So
27:27
Speaker 1: if you're a Jesus follower, you got to wrestle with
27:30
Speaker 1: this question. And I know the answer and the implications
27:32
Speaker 1: are between you and God. But do you just want
27:36
Speaker 1: more stuff or do you want to be a part
27:40
Speaker 1: be part of more stories? And your heavenly Father is saying,
27:47
Speaker 1: what an opportunity, But you got limited time because at
27:52
Speaker 1: some point you are separated from the stuff you could
27:55
Speaker 1: use that could impact somebody and a family and a
27:58
Speaker 1: family system for generations. And most of us listening today
28:03
Speaker 1: and most of us sitting in church today, you are
28:06
Speaker 1: the product of somebody's generosity. This morning at first Service,
28:14
Speaker 1: there's a woman here whose husband Bob, When we first
28:18
Speaker 1: started the church, he said, Andy, you guys don't have
28:22
Speaker 1: any place to meet. My office is over in Dunwoodie.
28:25
Speaker 1: You're you're most of y'all live over in that area.
28:27
Speaker 1: I just, I just, I just want you to use
28:31
Speaker 1: my office when y'all need a place to meet. I
28:33
Speaker 1: did his funeral a few weeks ago. Then a little
28:36
Speaker 1: time after that, he said, Andy, you don't have a
28:38
Speaker 1: place to study. You got three little ones at home.
28:40
Speaker 1: You don't have offices yet. In a private he handed
28:43
Speaker 1: me a key, said, this is the key to my house.
28:44
Speaker 1: But late land here. You just tell me when you
28:47
Speaker 1: need to be up there and have a study day
28:49
Speaker 1: or two study days, and we will clear out you.
28:51
Speaker 1: Just here's the key to my lake house. He got it,
28:58
Speaker 1: He gets it. I know so many people like that
29:01
Speaker 1: who said, you know what, it's not just my leftover money.
29:04
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give to the church. I'm gonna do that
29:05
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. But God, how can I use
29:09
Speaker 1: my stuff to create more stories. The other illustration of
29:16
Speaker 1: this is a good funeral. We don't even call them
29:18
Speaker 1: funerals anymore. We just call them celebrations of life. Around
29:21
Speaker 1: here at a celebration of life. What if people talk
29:24
Speaker 1: about they talk about they tell stories, Hey want to
29:27
Speaker 1: you know, my husband wants to wanted to get up
29:30
Speaker 1: and say something. We got his kids and grandkids and
29:32
Speaker 1: best friend and his boss, and we're gonna tell stories.
29:35
Speaker 1: And I've done hundreds of these. I guess do you
29:37
Speaker 1: know what? No one ever talks about this stuff. In fact,
29:42
Speaker 1: not only do they not not talk about stuff, they
29:44
Speaker 1: don't even really talk about accomplishment. They talk about personal
29:49
Speaker 1: impact and character and faithfulness and compassion and generosity. So
29:57
Speaker 1: here's the reality, whether we decide to embrace it or not.
30:03
Speaker 1: We all have a little bit of time, and we
30:06
Speaker 1: all have a little bit of wealth, and we all
30:09
Speaker 1: have a little bit of opportunity, and we have an
30:11
Speaker 1: opportunity to turn more of our stuff into more stories
30:16
Speaker 1: to play off of Jesus' words. We have an opportunity
30:19
Speaker 1: to turn wealth into a welcome And then Jesus goes on.
30:26
Speaker 1: He says this, He says, whoever can be trusted with
30:29
Speaker 1: very little, because that's what we think, Well, I don't
30:32
Speaker 1: have very much, because I get it. Whoever can be
30:35
Speaker 1: trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. Oh, well,
30:38
Speaker 1: I'd like to have much because we think. The reason
30:41
Speaker 1: we think, and Joe talked about this a couple of
30:42
Speaker 1: weeks ago, we think if we had more, we give more.
30:45
Speaker 1: That is not true. The more a person has, the
30:47
Speaker 1: less they give in terms of percentage, just across the board.
30:50
Speaker 1: And he says, no, you don't have to wait. Anybody
30:54
Speaker 1: that can be trusted with a little can be trusted
30:55
Speaker 1: with much, And whoever is dishonest with very little will
30:59
Speaker 1: also be dishonest with much. And now he said, when
31:02
Speaker 1: he talks about dishonest, we look at what the money
31:04
Speaker 1: manager did. We thought that was so dishonest. He's like, yeah,
31:07
Speaker 1: if you're dishonest, if you're unfaithful with the little, you
31:10
Speaker 1: can't be trusted with much. And then he goes on
31:12
Speaker 1: and he says this, So he says, so if you
31:14
Speaker 1: have not been this is just goes right at us.
31:17
Speaker 1: If you have not been trustworthy in handling, not owning,
31:24
Speaker 1: if you have not been trustworthy in handling, managing worldly wealth,
31:29
Speaker 1: the temporary wealth that you're gonna leave behind anyway, who's
31:33
Speaker 1: gonna trust you? And the life beyond this life with
31:37
Speaker 1: true riches. We're like, whoa, whoa whoa, wait, wait, little
31:43
Speaker 1: and much and true and worldly wealth and true. Okay,
31:45
Speaker 1: what are you talking about here? Here's what he's saying.
31:47
Speaker 1: This was so impactful to me all those years ago.
31:50
Speaker 1: Not only does my heavenly father view everything I own
31:54
Speaker 1: as a potential tool, he sees it as a test
31:59
Speaker 1: as well. In other words, what we do, what we
32:04
Speaker 1: do with what we have ultimately indicates who's we are,
32:12
Speaker 1: whose kingdom were most devoted to. It's evidence of ownership.
32:21
Speaker 1: And then this Jesus's end, if you have not been
32:25
Speaker 1: trustworthy in case we missed it, if you've not been
32:30
Speaker 1: trustworthy with someone else's properties, like what do you mean
32:34
Speaker 1: someone else'sn'ts Like, oh yeah, we're the money manager in
32:37
Speaker 1: the parable, that wasn't his stuff. He was being dishonest
32:41
Speaker 1: and being untrustworthy with somebody else's stuff. And even though
32:46
Speaker 1: it made sense within the context of the life that
32:49
Speaker 1: he was living, it did not make sense in the
32:51
Speaker 1: broader context. He says. If you have not been if
32:55
Speaker 1: you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, he says,
33:01
Speaker 1: then what do you expect because like the money manager,
33:05
Speaker 1: like him, we have a little bit of time, and
33:07
Speaker 1: we have a little bit of opportunity that essentially, it's
33:11
Speaker 1: not our stuff. We don't give God. I love what
33:13
Speaker 1: Joel said two weeks ago. He said, we don't give
33:16
Speaker 1: things to God. Every time we think we're giving something
33:18
Speaker 1: to God or the Kingdom of God, we're regifting because
33:22
Speaker 1: ultimately it was placed in our hands by God in
33:24
Speaker 1: the Old Testament. Everything in the heavens and earth is yours,
33:28
Speaker 1: Old Lord, and this is your kingdom. So here's the
33:31
Speaker 1: thing for all of us. We individually and collectively, we
33:35
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to invest in what we have, an
33:38
Speaker 1: opportunity to invest what God has entrusted to us, and
33:41
Speaker 1: invest what He's entrusted to us in what he is
33:44
Speaker 1: doing in the world. And Jesus finishes the statement this way.
33:49
Speaker 1: And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property,
33:52
Speaker 1: who is going to give you property of your own? Okay,
33:56
Speaker 1: here's the bottom line, as if it isn't clear already, right,
34:00
Speaker 1: we all have a little bit of time. We all
34:02
Speaker 1: have a little bit of opportunity. We have a little
34:05
Speaker 1: bit of time and opportunity and to invest and use
34:07
Speaker 1: our wealth to impact what Jesus values most. And what
34:11
Speaker 1: Jesus values most is people and God has given us collectively.
34:18
Speaker 1: This is what's so amazing about this initiative. He's given
34:21
Speaker 1: us collectively a little bit of time and a little
34:24
Speaker 1: bit of opportunity as well. And that's what deeper wider
34:29
Speaker 1: is all about. And He has entrusted comparatively a little
34:35
Speaker 1: bit to us, but collectively, collectively, it's not just a
34:40
Speaker 1: little bit. Collectively, we have a little bit of time,
34:44
Speaker 1: and we have an extraordinary opportunity to make an extraordinary
34:48
Speaker 1: difference for the Kingdom of God if we choose to engage.
34:52
Speaker 1: And so I just want to say this for those
34:54
Speaker 1: of you who have participated over this past year. Thank
34:57
Speaker 1: you for those of you who filled out a card
34:59
Speaker 1: last year and turned it in, which gave us permission
35:02
Speaker 1: and gave us the encouragement we needed to move forward
35:04
Speaker 1: with some of the things that we've done that we've
35:06
Speaker 1: reported on throughout the year. Thank you for those of
35:08
Speaker 1: you you were hesitant to fill out a card because
35:10
Speaker 1: it felt like a commitment, or like, oh, I don't
35:12
Speaker 1: know if you know what's going to happen this year,
35:14
Speaker 1: but you continue to give, or some of you began
35:16
Speaker 1: giving on a consistent basis for the first time. Thank you.
35:19
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. You are literally you are literally,
35:24
Speaker 1: to use Jesus' words, you are literally making friends or
35:27
Speaker 1: gaining friends for your self. Friends you may never meet,
35:31
Speaker 1: in places you may never visit, friends in this community,
35:35
Speaker 1: and friends all over the world. And I'm telling you
35:38
Speaker 1: it is amazing. So what I want to do at
35:42
Speaker 1: this juncture with at all of our churches, I want
35:45
Speaker 1: to give you just a few minutes to think about
35:48
Speaker 1: your card. And we're about to give you an opportunity
35:50
Speaker 1: at all of our campuses to turn your card in
35:52
Speaker 1: in just a minute. But we want to give you
35:53
Speaker 1: an opportunity to think about this and to think about
35:55
Speaker 1: what you're about to do. I know some of you
35:57
Speaker 1: showed up like I did, with your card all filled out.
35:59
Speaker 1: Some of you forgot your car. Somebody forgot we were
36:01
Speaker 1: doing this today. Some of you it's your first time.
36:03
Speaker 1: It's like, do I have to participate? Of course not.
36:06
Speaker 1: This is simply an invitation. We want you to think
36:09
Speaker 1: about the categories. There's three categories on the card. You've
36:11
Speaker 1: already looked at it. I'm sure one is to say, hey,
36:13
Speaker 1: I want to finish strong. I made a commitment last year,
36:16
Speaker 1: count me in. I'm still in For others of you,
36:18
Speaker 1: it's your very first opportunity to participate. Maybe you were
36:22
Speaker 1: here last year and skipped it, or maybe you've started
36:24
Speaker 1: attending one of our campuses since we did this last year.
36:27
Speaker 1: And then for others of you, you've had a financial
36:30
Speaker 1: event or things went better than you thought. Are you
36:33
Speaker 1: listening to a message like today, or you've seen these
36:35
Speaker 1: reports that we've rolled out month after month and you're thinking, Wow,
36:39
Speaker 1: I want to do more. There's an option. All three
36:41
Speaker 1: of those options are on the card. We're going to
36:43
Speaker 1: give you a couple of minutes, and then somebody at
36:45
Speaker 1: your campus is gonna come and tell you how to
36:47
Speaker 1: turn your card in in just a minute. So take
36:48
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes to think about this. This is
36:51
Speaker 1: kind of because I don't want to be too dramatic,
36:54
Speaker 1: this is sort of a holy moment because on the
36:58
Speaker 1: other side of the decisions, we're about to make our people, families,
37:07
Speaker 1: maybe generations, God only knows, but we've all been invited.
37:12
Speaker 1: So take a couple of minutes to think about it,
37:14
Speaker 1: and then we'll turn our cards into just a minute