The Parable of the Unscrupulous Manager

Transcription

1 The Parable of the Unscrupulous Manager Over the summer session of Sunday school, the Junior Varsity youth completed a study of the Gospels. And as part of that study, we looked at the parable of the Unscrupulous Manager found at the beginning of Luke 16. For you kids who may not know what unscrupulous means, it means to be dishonest, crooked, corrupt. As we studied through that parable, I thought about how helpful it was in forming a Biblical world view of material wealth and how pertinent that is in the current economic environment being experienced throughout the world today. Around the globe, economic uncertainty is on everyone s mind. Will Greece default on its loans? Will Ireland s economy collapse? Can the European Economic Community survive? In our own country, we saw congress and the White House get bogged down in partisan bickering over how to handle our own crisis. What will be the long term effect of raising the debt ceiling? What additional measures need to be taken? And what will be the result of Standard and Poor s lowering the nation s credit rating? Have I depressed any of you yet? I know this isn t a real up beat way of starting a sermon. But this is the sort of stuff that was coming to my mind as we studied the parable of the unscrupulous manager. I thought about some of the individuals and companies that dealt unethically with the resources they had been entrusted with by their investors. Bernie Madoff, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs just to name a few. I was struck by just how pertinent this parable is to the events taking place in our world today. In a time when stresses over money seem only to increase, never decrease, Jesus wants us to heed His teaching. So when Mark asked me to preach in his absence, I thought a sermon on this parable would help bring some biblical perspective to everything going on around us, remind us of the reasons God provides us with material wealth in the first place, and to consider how He wants us to use those resources. So, that was my original reasoning behind preaching on this passage, but God seems to have timed it for us in this particular season of our church s life for His own purposes. As you heard from Mark last week, we are experiencing ever greater needs for space in our building. More space is needed for classrooms, for events and activities, and even here in our sanctuary. As this local church body grows, we need to position ourselves now to be able to follow God s leading in meeting those needs for additional space. And we know whatever that direction looks like, there will be a great opportunity for us individually and corporately, to display Godhonoring unity, faith and giving in response to His lead. 1

2 But no steps we take will be in true obedience to God unless first our heart motives are godly and our thinking is biblical. And I believe this parable can help us with that. So as you think about Labor Day sales, as you cut coupons from the Sunday paper, or plan your monthly budget deciding how you are going to spend, save or manage the money God has entrusted to you, Jesus has some vital reminders for us. Kids and teens, one day you will need too will need to get a job, pay for education, pay rent or buy a home or a car, and certainly you will need to by food and clothing. How should you think about that? How should you plan for that? Well, with all those things in mind, turn with me to Luke 16, where Jesus instructs us on the proper use of the wealth we have been entrusted with. Luke 16: 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.' 3 "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.' 8 "And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. 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. 10 "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? 13 "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." 2

3 Now, before we get into the details of this parable, it is always wise for us to step back and see the big picture of the setting and the audience to whom this teaching was first given. If you look back to chapter 15:1 3 you will see it says there 1 Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him [Jesus] to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." 3 So He told them this parable So, the initial audience is made up of tax collectors and sinners who are eager to hear Jesus teaching, and Pharisees and scribes who are upset with Jesus for showing acceptance to the tax collectors and sinner. Now, Jesus addresses their criticism by telling them a string of 3 parables: He tells them the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, in order to refute the Pharisees objection to His ministering to tax collectors and sinners. And the parable that we are looking at today in chapter 16, immediately follows the parable of the Lost Son. We will see this morning how that is significant. But in between the first 3 parables and this fourth parable is chapter 16 verse 1 which says, Now He was also saying to the disciples That little phrase is a transition point. It marks the end of Jesus defense of His own actions to the scribes and Pharisees, and the beginning of a command to His followers. Now, I should probably add as well that this parable is considered by many to be one of the most difficult, if not THE most difficult, of Jesus parables to understand. Think about it the hero of the parable, if we can call him a hero, is a guy who is accused of wrongdoing, and subsequently is fired by his boss. Then, thinking only of himself, he does still more harm to his master. And Jesus tells this parable so that we would be like him. Do you find that summary a bit disturbing? I do! That just doesn t sound like something Jesus would say. How could Jesus want us to be like this man? In what way are we to emulate him, and in what ways are we to be very different from him? Well, let s go through the parable a bit at a time to get a better understanding of what is happening, and why Jesus would use this man to teach us how He wants us to be. Starting with verse 1 "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. Jesus starts by introducing us to two characters. And the relationship of these characters in not that of equals or peers. They aren t friends or golfing buddies. Rather, one is employed by the other. One is rich, the other is his servant. And so, the rich man has authority over the manager, just as God has authority over us. 3

4 The other thing we learn in this opening statement is that an accusation has been brought against the servant and he is in the process of being relieved of his responsibilities. In other words, he s being fired. Why was this manager fired? Verse 1 says he was squandering the rich man s possessions. Now, I mentioned before that this parable immediately follows that of the Lost, or Prodigal, Son. That word prodigal means wasteful. And that has become a popular title for that parable because the Prodigal Son was wasteful. He squandered his inheritance on loose living. Well, the word translated as squandered or wasted in the parable of the Prodigal Son (diaskor pi zo) is the same Greek word used here in the parable of the Unscrupulous Manager. So that is the link that is the bridge between these two parables: Just as the Prodigal Son wasted the possessions entrusted to him by his father, this manager has been wasting the property entrusted to him by his boss. You see the parallel? Really, that provides us with the overarching theme of this parable. It is about Stewardship how should we use the resources that have been entrusted to us by God? And the parable begins with the rich man demanding that the manager give an explanation of how he has used the rich man s property. 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.' Now, in several other parables, we find servants being reprimanded by their masters, and typically, the servant pleads with the master or tries to say something in his own defense. But in this parable, the servant says nothing. Probably because he knows the allegations are true. He can t refute them. He has to give an accounting for what he has done, and the numbers don t lie. He knows from what his master has told him already that, once he gives his report, and the rich man sees what he has done, his position as manager is going to be taken away from him. But notice that, while judgment is eminent for this servant, it doesn t happen immediately. He remains the manager until he gives an accounting of how he has used his master s wealth. The manager is facing what is known as an Eschatological Crisis. Now, that s a big term so what does it mean? Well, eschatology refers to the end times to the Final Judgment. So, how does that term apply to this man? Well, this manager knows he is facing judgment for his actions. He knows that the truth about him is going to be revealed, and he knows he can only be found guilty and condemned. And so he is living under the prospect of future punishment. Judgment Day is upon him! What in the world is he going to do? That is an Eschatological Crisis. 4

5 The thought of losing his position means great suffering to him. In verse 3 he says he is too weak to dig, and too ashamed to beg. And of course, though it isn t stated explicitly, who is going to want to hire this man when they find out he was fired from his prior employer for mismanagement? What is he to do? But this wily servant comes up with a plan to secure his future. In verse 4 he states 4 'I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.' He decides to do what he can now to put himself in good standing with people, so that when he is removed from his position, people will feel kindly towards him, and be predisposed to helping him. How is he going to do that? Read with me verses "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.' So, here he is using the authority he still has over the rich man s property, to substantially reduce the amounts people owe his master. Kids, it s like if you owe me 5 donuts, but I tell you, you only have to pay me 3 donuts, and we ll forget the other 2. That is what this manager is doing. He is cancelling a portion of the tenant s debt that they owe his master. Now, on the one hand, it s an act that will please his master s tenants, and endear him to the them, so they will be inclined to be merciful to him when he is removed from management. But on the other hand, this is a pretty gutsy move, because this man still has to stand before his master and give an accounting, and his master is going to see exactly what he has been up to. Now, if the master was angry enough to fire him before, how should we expect him to react to this latest betrayal? He just lost half of what was owed him by one tenant, and 1/5 th of what was owed him by another! We might expect him to call the police and bring the manager up on charges of fraud. Or find some way to punish him or seek revenge. At the very least, we would expect him to give the manager a good tongue lashing to chew him out. Well, the rich man doesn t do any of that. Instead, he praises the man! What?! Are you kidding me?! Isn t he angry over being cheated out of even more of his wealth? Well, Jesus doesn t say the rich man was happy about what the manager did. He doesn t thank him for reducing what is owed to him. Nor does he reward him by restoring the manager to his former job. But Jesus says in verse 8 that the master 5

6 " praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly What does it mean to be shrewd? It means to be smart, clever, discerning. To be shrewd means you see how things work, and you know how to use that to your advantage. Although the rich man wasn t happy about losing even more of his wealth, he respected the way the manager understood his situation, and used the resources that were temporarily at his disposal to provide for his future security and prosperity. Now, at this point, we might take everything that has been said so far and see it as a condemnation of this unrighteous manager. We might expect Jesus to explain how different we should be from this wicked man. After all, he squandered what was entrusted to him, he manipulated people to get them to treat him well, he cheated his boss, and he did all that, caring about no one but himself. Surely, Jesus doesn t want us to be anything like this man. But then Jesus adds at the end of verse 8 for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. In other words, Jesus is saying that worldly people are wiser in how they use worldly things than believers are. Understand, that is a criticism of believers, not a condemnation of this manager. Now, the point of this parable is not that we should respect either this unscrupulous manager or his worldly master. And yet, there are a few things about this wicked man s example that Jesus wants us to learn from. As we look at verses 9 13, we will see four principles Jesus wants us to understand and practice in regards to wealth. And the first one is this 1. Use unrighteous wealth to build Christ s righteous kingdom. Read verse 9 again with me 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. The first thing Jesus states here is an imperative a command make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness What exactly does Jesus mean by the wealth of unrighteous? Well, maybe it s best to start with what he doesn t mean. By unrighteous wealth Jesus does not mean money we have acquired through unrighteous means. He is not referring to ill gotten gains. Rather, He simply means the kind of wealth that has no inherent righteous value. In other words, it is worldly wealth earthly riches. And what are we to use it for? 6

7 make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. Now, the idea here is not that we make friends who will get us into heaven somehow. Nor are we to make friends merely for the sake of making friends. We have to consider the larger context of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son. When we consider the big picture of Jesus teaching, the implication is that we are using our resources to turn those who are lost who are not our friends in Christ, into believers who will then share with us the eternal dwellings in heaven. In other words, we are to use what is inherently unrighteous, to produce friends who are made righteous in Christ. That is really a glorious concept when you think about it, isn t it? This great contrast between the unrighteousness of wealth and righteousness imputed to those redeemed in Christ. What an incredible grace from God that we can exchange that which is unrighteous, to win souls for Christ and build His kingdom! make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness But there is a second contrast taking place here in verse 9. Notice that the wealth of unrighteousness will fail, while the dwelling place of the redeemed is eternal everlasting. And that brings us to our second point 2. Use temporary wealth to build Christ s eternal kingdom. Our first point was, Use unrighteous wealth to build Christ s righteous kingdom. Now our second point is, Use temporary wealth to build Christ s eternal kingdom. Looking back to the example of the manager in our parable, we might be tempted to think, Of course he was willing to part with the property under his stewardship. He was going to lose it anyway. And that would be correct. Part of his reasoning laid in the realization that what he had was going to be taken from him shortly anyway, so figuring out how to make the most of it in the time he had left was the foundation for his action. And that is one of the points Jesus is trying to teach us about the things we have stewardship over. All of our wealth is temporary. None of it will last. It is all in the process of turning to rust and dust. Amazingly, we Americans generally don t believe that. We assume that our savings accounts, investments, retirement accounts, pensions, Social Security, or what have you, will last. We count on them to be there to provide for us in the future, and even be able to pass some on to our children. 7

8 Now, to some degree, such future planning can be wise. But Jesus reminds us that it all could be gone tomorrow. And our nation s current economic troubles validate that as well. Every day on the news we see the trouble that comes to those who trust in worldly wealth for their security and their sense of well being. Knowing that these things don t last should break the strangle hold we have on them, especially given the gracious offer by God to exchange them for something better! It should spur us to invest what is fleeting in what is truly lasting. To use what is here today and gone tomorrow, to build up that which is genuinely eternal. When we consider what the unscrupulous manager did, he used what was going to be lost anyway, and invested it in a better future. That is Jesus point in telling us to use that which fails to build up that which is eternal. He continues on with 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? Jesus begins with the principle that the person who is faithful with the very little thing (something insignificant, petty, inconsequential) will be faithful with much (with things of significance, meaning and value). And in case we fail to understand what He means by those terms, Jesus clarifies for us in verse 11: 11 "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? The word therefore tells us this is the conclusion we should draw from the principle stated in verse 10. And here we see that the very little thing Jesus was referring to in verse 10 is the unrighteous wealth of verse 11, while the much He was referring to in verse 10 are true riches. Unlike the unrighteous wealth, the true riches are the ones that matter. When I consider all the gadgets, toys and stuff we spend our money on to entertain ourselves in this life, I m not sure how often we really believe Jesus value system. But this is the same spiritual economics Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:19 21 when He said 19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Clearly, repeatedly, our Lord Jesus wants us to believe the true riches are the spiritual treasures that are heavenly, lasting, eternal, and that everything else is rust and dust. And so, Christ instructs us to use temporary wealth to build His eternal kingdom. 8

9 But Jesus goes further in verse 12 saying 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? And that statement brings us to the 3 rd point of our outline 3. Use God s wealth to gain heavenly riches. Again, thinking back to the unscrupulous manager, we might be tempted to think, Of course he was willing to part with the property under his stewardship. It was never really his to begin with. And that too would be correct. The property he managed never really belonged to him. It always remained the property of his master. But again, that is the point Jesus is trying to teach us about the things we have been given stewardship over. It s not ours. It is God s. So we should freely use it for His kingdom s sake. If you think about it, although the property the steward managed didn t belong to him, he had been given the authority to make decisions regarding the property. He also benefitted personally from his position as steward. That s why he is so distraught over the prospect of losing it. Being the steward had been a position of honor, trust and provision for him. But, along with those privileges had come great responsibility. His chief duty was to use what he had been given to produce profits for his master, right? We see that idea of stewardship confirmed in other parables where servants were entrusted with talents of silver. The master expected the servants to be good stewards and return to him not less than they were given, not the same amount they were given, but more than they were given. Stewards were expected to increase their master s holdings. In fact, the reason this man faces judgment is because he has abused his position by wasting his master s property. And what is implied here by the term squandering is not that this man was simply unwise in his management. Remember, the attribute this man is praised for is his shrewdness. He s no fool. He s not unintelligent or unskilled. No, as with the Prodigal Son, the manager squandering refers to his wasting of his master s property on himself on pursuing his own pleasures. And it wasn t that benefitting from his position, or enjoying the blessing of the things he was entrusted with was wrong. That was one of the perks of the job. He was welcome to enjoy the fruits of what he was entrusted with. However, this man had gone too far. He had forgotten that the primary reason for him being in the role of steward was to work to expand his master s estate, not waste them on the fulfillment of his own pleasures. He misused what was entrusted to him, and THAT is why he fell under the judgment of his master. 9

10 Now, similarly, we too have been given a position of stewardship from our Lord. God has entrusted us with a very little thing. He has entrusted us with unrighteous wealth. And the wealth we possess doesn t belong to us. It belongs to the Lord. As with the manager in our parable, what we have been entrusted with is a blessing to us. We have the benefit of being able to enjoy the wealth we have. That is evidence of God s grace to us. We are given the authority to make decisions regarding its use, but with that authority comes great responsibility. Like the steward in the parable, we too can be tempted to forget the reason we have been entrusted with such things. God has provided us resources that we might use them to grow His Kingdom. And when we forget that, we will be guilty of squandering God s possessions on our personal, selfish pursuits. So what gets in the way of our faithfulness? In a word, greed. In essence, greed is wanting to keep what God has created for His glory, in order to use it to glorify our flesh, instead to indulge our desires, and provide ourselves with pleasure, comfort and security. We may profess with our lips that everything we have belongs to God and we are just stewards but when put to the test, greed tempts us to clench our fists around what we have been entrusted with, we say It s mine! and we refuse to let go. As Jesus states in verse 13, We cannot serve two masters. Our heart can t be divided between love for God and love for wealth. That will only lead us to either resent God for coming between us and our money, or cause us to become like the ascetics, despising wealth and seeing it as evil. Neither of those positions is biblical. Jesus is not advocating the love of money, nor the hatred of it. Rather, He is teaching us the proper use of it. When we remember that what we have been entrusted with belongs to the Lord, it positions us to use wealth wisely for the growth of His Kingdom. And that should bring us great joy! You know, when I was in the business world, one of my favorite responsibilities was handing out end of year bonuses to my employees. Like the manager in our parable, I was distributing wealth that didn t belong to me it belonged to the company, but I got the privilege of representing my employer, and seeing the thankfulness and joy on people s faces, at receiving something that would make their lives a little easier. That was really a great blessing. How much more joy should we feel when we are given the opportunity to use the wealth of our God, to minister to someone, and see the blessing God produces in their life! To give to God s church, and His work, and His kingdom! What an incredible privilege to be used by God in that way! What grace that is to us! 10

11 Now, I mentioned earlier that the unscrupulous manager had squandered his master s property. But when he was confronted with his own personal Eschatological crisis, when he faced imminent judgment and punishment, this wasteful steward acted shrewdly. He used what was at his disposal to ensure a better future for himself. Instead of trying to hold onto and fighting to keep the resources he had been entrusted with, he gladly used them to gain something much more important and lasting. And that brings us to the final point of our lesson today. 4. Use wealth with the future Judgment in mind. We ve seen that we are to use unrighteous wealth to build Christ s righteous kingdom; use temporary wealth to build Christ s eternal kingdom; use God s wealth to gain heavenly riches. And now our 4 th point is use wealth with the future Judgment in mind. Now, I want to be clear here. This parable is NOT about using our wealth to buy our way into heaven. Nor is Jesus threatening us with the loss of genuine salvation if we don t use the wealth we have been entrusted with wisely. The question of a believer s salvation is never a matter of their performance in such matters, never a product of their works, good or evil, but it is wholly and only through faith in Christ. Remember, Jesus said in verse 8, the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. The children of this age are the unredeemed. The children of the light are the redeemed. And Jesus is criticizing believers for not being as shrewd with our wealth as unbelievers are, but we are still referred to as children of light. That does not change. Not being shrewd with wealth, doesn t cost a believer their salvation. Please understand that. At the same time, Jesus has warned us that the day is coming when all those who have not trusted in Christ as their Savior and submitted to His lordship over them, will be condemned to eternal punishment in Hell for their rebellion. Judgment Day is coming. It was the realization of his own personal day of judgment that motivates the unscrupulous manager. It was his pending judgment that prompted a sense of urgency on his part. That urgency led to a priority of action. He didn t sit around waiting for the end. He acted And he acted quickly! 11

12 Back in verse 6 he told the tenant, Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty. There was urgency in preparing for the future, and he freely used what was at his disposal in light of what was coming. Similarly, the thought of countless souls facing Judgment should drive us to action. We should have a sense of urgency in seeking how best we can invest in the Kingdom. This is more than dutiful giving that Jesus is calling us to. You know, there is a temptation for our offerings to become rote and, may I say, even thoughtless? Christ is calling us to be vigilant in looking for opportunities, maybe in cutting or guarding our spending, so we will have more to give and invest for Him. To be constantly assessing and acting with wisdom. In a word, Jesus calls us to be shrewd to use wealth with the imminent Final Judgment in mind. So, how is your stewardship going? If God were to require an accounting of you today, how excited would you be to tell Him about your investments? Are you using the resources He has entrusted you with wisely, to build up the Kingdom? Are you spending what is perishing on what is eternal? Are you exchanging the wealth of this age for the true riches of heaven? Does the certainty of the coming Judgment have bearing on how you spend money? Let me say again, God graciously allows us to enjoy and benefit personally from the wealth He provides us. So this isn t a call to despise wealth or go live in a cave, wear burlap sacks and eat grubs. I don t want us to go to an extreme that Jesus is not teaching here. But the question this parable confronts each of us with is this are you squandering your stewardship, chasing after your own pleasures? Or are you using God s resources shrewdly for His glory, and to grow His kingdom? How will the Lord judge your stewardship? We have opportunities to invest in foreign missions, in local ministries, in our mercy fund, in supporting widows, orphans and those in financial need within the church, and now too, we have the opportunity to invest in the facilities where many of these local ministries take place. If an unscrupulous manager knows to use the wealth he has been entrusted with to win worldly friends and be welcomed into their earthly homes, how much more so should we as believers long to use the resources we have been entrusted with, to win souls to Christ so that when that day comes when we enter our eternal home, those we have ministered to will be there welcoming us! (concept taken from John MacArthur Study Bible notes pg. 1547) 12

13 In a few moments, we are going to celebrate the salvation we have received in Christ, by taking part in the Lord s Supper. This is a time of remembrance of what Christ s death on the cross has accomplished for those who trust in Him for their salvation, and have submitted to His lordship over them. If you have not experience the rebirth of salvation, we would ask that you not take part in this ordinance, but that you watch and observe. And as you do so, I would encourage you to consider further the judgment the man in our parable today was confronted with. Every human being comes into this world facing the reality of the Final Judgment. Every one of us faces the prospect of giving an accounting for our deeds, and when our deeds are examined by a righteous Judge, none of us can be found anything other than guilty. As scripture tells us "There is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) The human heart tends towards pride and self righteousness. We don t often contemplate the heinousness of our sins, or what it would be like to come into the presence of a Holy God, who knows everything we have done; to Whom nothing is hidden. So, in that sense, Eschatological Crises aren t a bad thing, because it is that crisis that brings the reality of future judgment before our eyes. And the sooner we feel the weight of our guilt and sin the better off we are. Contemplating our own Eschatological Crisis, coming to terms with the certain condemnation and punishment we are due, is what makes the Good News of the Gospel so incredibly amazing, beautiful and precious to believers. Our prayer for you is that you too would cry out to Chris for salvation, and that you would experience the wondrous grace of redemption in Jesus. 13