WHAT DOES OUR USE OF MONEY REVEAL ABOUT US? LUKE 16:1-14 JANUARY 18, 2009

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1 WHAT DOES OUR USE OF MONEY REVEAL ABOUT US? LUKE 16:1-14 JANUARY 18, 2009 A businessman in a service industry grew weary of being yelled at. He tired of getting sprayed with angry spittle from dissatisfied customers who expected five-star service at Motel 6 prices. One day, he became oddly detached during yet another customer tirade; he felt as though he were watching a movie. In fact, he couldn't help but think that the angry woman's antics made her look like a monkey. That observation gave him a brilliant idea. He posted a giant mirror behind the front desk and the customer tirades all but ceased. When people saw how rude and hateful they looked while yelling and screaming, they stopped yelling and screaming. Like that mirror, imagine if we could find something that showed us the condition of our heart. God gives us something that reveals our inner condition as clearly as that mirror revealed those customers outer condition our use of money. That s right, from God s perspective, our use of money tells us about our heart. Just as a glimpse in the mirror led customers to reconsider their behavior, so a glimpse at our heart might lead us to consider some changes. What do you think your use of money reveals about your heart? What does my use of money reveal about my heart? We ll explore that this morning. If you have a Bible please open it to Luke 16:1-15. We ll look at this passage and consider the question, What does our use of money reveal about us? When Jesus wants to make a point, He often tells a story. That is the case here. But He tells a story with a surprising plot. Let s read our opening in verses Now He was also saying to the disciples, There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager. A rich man has a manager in charge of his possessions. But this manager isn t doing a good job. In fact, he squanders his boss s possessions to the point that he s fired. Now the recently fired manager has a dilemma. He needs to figure how he ll get along in life. And we discover his plan in verses The manager said to himself, What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes. 5 And he summoned each one of his master s debtors, and he began saying to the first, How much do you owe my master? 6 And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty. 7 Then he said to another, And how much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. He said to him, Take your bill, and write eighty. 1

2 This manager decides to go to people who owe his former boss money and cut their bills. In cutting their bills, he hopes that in the near future they will reciprocate his favor by taking him into their homes. He wants to avoid manual labor and begging by getting people to provide for his food and shelter. Here s the surprise of the story: The rich man praises the recently fired manager for his shrewdness. We d think the rich would be furious, but no, he praises this man s cleverness. Look at the first part of verse 8. 8 And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. Jesus doesn t let this shocking response sit. He adds His own comment on the story. Let s read the second part of verse 8. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. I think Jesus laments the fact that people of the world are more shrewd than His followers. Jesus told us to be innocent as doves but shrewd as serpents. Jesus values shrewdness. He commends it. Some think there is spiritual value in being ignorant or naive. No, Jesus calls His followers to be shrewd. Being shrewd doesn t mean Jesus followers are slick or unethical. Rather in calling us to be shrewd, Jesus wants us to be wise or astute or discerning. This story has a specific application of shrewdness. Jesus wants His followers to be shrewd with their use of money. Look at verse 9. 9 And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. Just as this manager used money to gain favor, Jesus wants us to use money to gain favor, but not earthly favor, eternal favor. What does that mean? That means we are to use our money for God s priorities making His name known, caring for the poor, securing justice for the powerless, etc. Maybe the biggest surprise related to this story is Jesus comments about the parable recorded in verses Let s read verses He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another s, who will give you that which is your own? We think our money is our own. That is not God s perspective. Our money and possessions belong to God. Like the manager in this story, we are overseers and stewards of these resources. God looks upon our management of our resources as a test as to whether or not He can entrust us with greater riches and responsibility. In verse 10, the little thing is money. If we show that 2

3 we can use money wisely, God can put greater things under our care. In verse 11, the unrighteous wealth is the wealth of this world. If we haven t been prudent with our money, how can God put more valuable treasures in our charge? And in verse 12, if we haven t been faithful with God s money, why would He ever give us control of anything else? We practice this principle all the time. If our kids show us they can handle a little freedom, we give them greater freedom. If an employee shows she can handle a little responsibility, we give her greater responsibility. God doesn t need our money. He owns everything. He uses money to see if He can trust us with greater riches. What is it that God wants us to grasp as we consider our use of money? Look at verse No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. We can t set our heart on God and money. Just as a runner can t train for the 100 yard dash and the marathon at the same time, so we can t give ourselves to pursuing God and accumulating wealth. We ve got to pick one or the other. What does our use of money reveal about us? Our use of money reveals how much our heart is given to God. Our use of money reveals how much our heart is given to God. Please notice I m not saying a person can t become wealthy while pursuing God. Sometimes, God blesses His followers with wealth. The question then is what does the wealthy person do with his money? Whether we re rich or poor, the problem comes when the accumulation of wealth consumes our time, energy and thoughts. Or we dream of our next purchase. Or we risk our family and health working for more money. Sometimes when it comes to managing the money that God has given us, we become so caught up in strategies like paying down our mortgage or saving 10 percent that we forget why we do these things. These strategies free up money to give to God s work. These strategies free up money so we can personally invest in people, buy them a book, take them to a concert, or provide them a meal in the hopes that God will use these acts of kindness to draw people to Himself. Let s make sure these strategies don t unknowingly keep us from being generous toward God and His priorities. In contrast, we can look for ways to advance God s kingdom with our money. Or we can meet other s physical needs with our money. Our perspective on money and our use of money tell us whether we serve money or God. And Jesus says we can t serve both. There are some people listening to Jesus words who don t like what they hear. Let s read verses Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. 15 And He said to them, You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. The Pharisees love money, so they scoff at this teaching. And why do they love money? Verse 15 says that they seek to justify themselves in the sight of other people. So they raise their own reputations instead of first looking after god s reputation. Rather than caring about God s priorities, they use their money to buy nice clothes, nice shelter, and nice vacations so that they 3

4 will look good in front of others. How often do we use our money to impress other people? We buy the new car or new house or new shirt not because we need it, but because we want to look good. That is indicative of a person living for self instead of for God. And living for self is revealed in our use of money. This passage reveals a heart s resistance toward God s perspective on money. Like the Pharisees we can scoff. C mon, do we really need to be so hard core about money? What do you want me to do, God, go sell my house and live in a shack? We scoff because we don t want God to put His finger on our finances. As you think through your use of money, what does it tell you about your heart? Ask the Holy Spirit to examine your use of money and what it says about your heart. If that examination reveals you fall short of a full commitment to God, ask the Holy Spirit to move in your heart so that you live for God and that commitment to God would be reflected in your use of money. If God has our heart, one of the things that follows is that we ll use His resources, the money He has entrusted to us, for His purposes. On the flip side, if we re going to cheerfully use our money for God s purposes, Jesus must do a work in our heart. Second Corinthians 9:8 reminds us that though He was rich, Jesus became poor for our sake. When we treasure the One who loved us that way, the Spirit empowers us to release our resources so that people who are spiritually poor might become rich, experiencing God in a fresh way. There are all sorts of applications to consider when it comes to how our use of money reflects the condition of our heart, but I d like to focus our thoughts on some things that relate to us as a church body. Last week, I shared of how with your input, we sense that God has given North Pointe a distinctive calling in offering a fresh experience with God. This experience is relational, applicable, and vibrant. This fresh experience with God gives us a wellspring for life. Maybe our difficult circumstances won t change, but we are reminded that God is at work in the midst of those circumstances. We believe that God could use a permanent home to enable us to more effectively share this Fresh Experience with God. I believe a permanent home would help us in a couple of ways. First, it would give us a place to share this experience. As you read through the Gospels, so much of Jesus communication of this Fresh Experience with God was done in the context of unhurried relationship. At North Star High School, we have a limited time to meet. A permanent home gives us a chance to gather and relate without having to worry about the clock. Second, a permanent home gives us greater chance to make the fresh experience with God known. You ve done a great job of letting your friends, family members and co-workers know about the Fresh Experience of God at North Pointe. Yet, because we lack a permanent home, we are virtually invisible to someone who doesn t have contact with a North Pointe attendee. A permanent home gives us greater opportunity to share about the fresh experience with God. Last fall, we closed on land at Fletcher and 23 rd. Our next step and challenge is to construct a building. Full details are enclosed in the brochure you received with your bulletin. Our quest for a permanent home has been quite an adventure. We started looking for land for a permanent home almost 4 years ago. But with the purchase of land, we feel like God has brought us a long way on the adventure. We d like to take the next step by constructing a building. I d like to ask you to consider joining us in helping people have a fresh experience with God. If we could see God provide $50,000 for a down payment by March 31 st and an additional $180,000 in the next three years, we believe that we can construct a building that will help people in our community have a fresh experience with God. Would you take the next month to seek God and see if He would have you join us on this adventure? We are asking people to make 4

5 a three year commitment. So, the question is, in light of this passage, How would God work through you as a shrewd steward of His resources to join us on this adventure? After you have taken time to seek the Lord, would you fill out your financial commitment card and drop it in the collection or in the completed forms box at the information table? We would like to have all the financial commitment cards by March 1. We are giving you a month to turn in those cards, because we would like you to truly seek the Lord. This is a commitment between you and God. You will notice that there is not a place for your name on the financial commitment card. We want everybody who gives to give willingly. We feel to put a spot for your name might cause some people to give under duress. We don t want that. Obviously since there is not a place for your name, this card will not be used to track you. You will not receive a call asking where your financial gift is. Your card will simply help us discern how to move forward. Many of you are giving regularly to our general fund which supports the ongoing mission of North Pointe. When you are filling out the financial commitment cards, we ask that whatever you give be over and above what you are giving to the general fund. As of right now, we are about making expenses, so to take away from the general fund to give to The Journey Home would hurt our mission. Two years ago and again last year, we asked you to make a 3 year commitment to help us purchase land. We never thought we d be in a position to take these steps this quickly. So as you make this 3 year pledge to help us construct a building and reach the unreached, we re asking that you replace that land pledge and seek the Lord s leading as to how He would have you be involved in giving to help us take these steps. For those of you who are not giving to the general fund, I ask you to consider doing that. Your giving would allow us to expand the mission and ministry at North Pointe. In the future, we would like to expand our investment in people, in children and youth by offering part-time compensation to ministry leaders in those areas. Your giving to the general fund helps us expand our influence in impacting people s lives with the Gospel. We desire that everyone who gives at North Pointe would do so willingly; none of us on staff know who gives. So no one will ever track you down to ask, How come you re not currently giving to the general fund? But I do want to ask those of you who are not giving to the general fund, would you consider starting to give that we might touch more people lives? When I lived in Colorado, each year before receiving new license tags, every car had to pass an admissions test. The test was simple. An indicator was used to read the engine s output. If the read out indicated too many pollutants were being discharged, the owner of the car had to hire a mechanic to work on the engine. Output was the indicator of the engine s internal condition. In the same way, our output of money reveals the condition of our heart. What does our use of money reveal about us? Our use of money reveals how much our heart is given to God. Our use of money reveals how much our heart is given to God. 5