How to Get Rich Slowly

[0:00] What does that mean, Ed Rae? Money is really the topic for the morning. And I wonder if you please would participate a bit. What does come to your mind when you either see...

[0:13] I'm sorry, it's American money. This is not so good. No, cheap money. Do you remember the time when the Canadian dollar was more valuable than the American? But what does come to your mind when you hear the word money or see money?

[0:30] Low in value nowadays compared to like the 60s maybe? Low in value, yes. Thank you. I'm embarrassed to say this, but pleasure... Because neither of these are true or valid, but pleasure of security?

[0:43] Yes, yes, okay, the pleasure of security. Does the thought never enough ever come to your mind? Or does the thought too much?

[0:57] I wonder if there's anybody here who thinks that. There's lots of thoughts we have around money, and I'm going to try to say a little farther along that Jesus spoke about money so much, as much as about heaven.

[1:10] So it's very remarkable. It has a big place in scripture. The outline of where we're going to go is I'm going to start with one of Jesus' parables, the rich fool. I'm going to give a very short biblical theology of money, and I put this on your outline.

[1:27] You can follow the outline if you want, but I think you might be better just to... Whatever you wish. Then I want to talk about Jesus and money. And then I want to develop what it really wants to be, rich towards God, or how to store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

[1:46] And I'm sorry, I think I've ruined this microphone here. And then to ask in the closing moments, what is really true wealth? And that's not an easy question to answer.

[1:58] It isn't easy, even scripturally. But I will try. So, the rich fool is the parable found in Luke 12, verses 13 to 21.

[2:13] And here's how it goes. Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. As you well know, inheritance has always been a complicated thing.

[2:26] Jesus replied, Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you? And then he said out to them, Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

[2:40] Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. And he told them this parable. The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.

[2:51] He thought to himself, What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, This is what I'll do.

[3:02] I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, You have plenty of grain laid out for many years.

[3:14] Take life easy. Eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, You fool. This very night, Your life will be demanded from you.

[3:29] Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves, But are not rich towards God.

[3:47] Well, You know there are certain good things about this rich man, That Jesus in his wonderful storytelling way, With a few brush strokes, Pictures this person who could easily be a 21st century capitalist, Investment person, Business person, He was industrious.

[4:12] He was not lazy. Okay? And that's a plus, isn't it? And secondly, He, In some sense, Was a steward. He cared for his possessions. You know, Some people get things, And they just let them get spoiled.

[4:26] But he was concerned to preserve the surplus of his crops. His land was good, And he made a lot of extra grain, And he had to build more barns to look after it.

[4:38] And he didn't leave it to be stolen, Or to rot, And so on. So, That's a pretty plus thing. And thirdly, He enjoyed life. Now you could say, Maybe he wanted to enjoy life too much.

[4:51] But, I think that this is something that's good about him. You know, Some people don't have vacations. It's your first vacation in 20 years. Relax, Henry.

[5:04] You'll get the gist of it. Yeah. And here's a guy on the psychiatrist's couch.

[5:15] My son-in-law is a psychiatrist. My Protestant work ethic made me a bundle, But my puritanical guilt complex won't let me enjoy it. I have a pretty wealthy friend in Singapore, Who actually has made a lot of money, And he said the other day, He said, I think I'm going to enjoy some of it.

[5:33] But to enjoy life, It's not necessarily a bad thing, Is it? But, Jesus says, He was a successful fool. And why? And I think there are three things again.

[5:47] First of all, He was very self-centered. It was for himself. For himself. And that, of course, Gets to the root of the human dilemma.

[5:59] Starting in Genesis 3 in the garden, Right through to Friedrich Nietzsche, The German philosopher who said, If there were gods, How could I stand not to be one? The autonomy of the person.

[6:11] It's for me. I remember, Before I became a Christian, At 16 years of age, Maybe just before, And who knows whether this wasn't a big factor, In cracking me open a bit.

[6:21] My father took me aside, And he said, It's all for number one, Isn't it, Paul? I drove a car, I had a boat, I built things, I had girlfriends, I had a boat, I had a boat, I had a boat, I had a boat, I had a boat, All for number one.

[6:34] And it was all for number one, For this person. And secondly, He found his security, In material possessions, Laid up for many years.

[6:46] So he could sort of look into the future. I remember a wealthy person saying to me, After I said, Well, What about inflation? He said, Inflation can't touch me. But you know, Death can.

[7:00] Inflation can't touch you, But death can. Laid up for himself, For many years. He found his security, In material possessions. And then thirdly, He seemed to have been sensually focused.

[7:14] Take life easy, Eat, drink, and be merry. And that's where that phrase comes from. And of course, You maybe have seen the cartoons, Of so and so's name, Over the tombstone, He ate, drank, and was wearing.

[7:26] But he died too. So, I want to give a short, Biblical theology, From the scripture, To elaborate a little bit, Before I come back to this story, Of what I think the Bible actually says about money.

[7:42] And, Wish I didn't have to put it quite this way. Some people say, Scripture has two voices about money, And other people say, There's some ambiguity, In scripture about money.

[7:52] Money. And, It isn't, Absolutely between the Old, And the New, Testaments. But, The Old Testament, Certainly strongly affirms, That money is a blessing of God.

[8:04] I put on the text here, Deuteronomy 30, There's many others, The Lord your God will make you, Most prosperous, In all the work of your hands, And the fruit of your womb, And if you keep reading, It's if you obey the Lord your God.

[8:20] There's an F. And then in Proverbs 22, 4, Humility is the fear of the Lord, Its wages are riches, And honor, And life. So, First of all, Money is a blessing of God.

[8:35] It also has, I shouldn't be saying this in an Anglican context, But, It has a kind of sacramental impact. It can be, Indeed, A means of grace.

[8:48] God gives wealth, Freely and graciously, Without thought of merit. Well, That's what a sacrament does. God is the true owner, We're stewards. And as Job reflected in many other psalms, Particularly, Why does God give so much to the wicked?

[9:07] You know, Job said, Why do the wicked spend their years in prosperity? Which again is a kind of sign, There's something about, It's not that you've merited what you have.

[9:20] But rather, It's a grace of God. And, I think in a second sense, Wealth has some sacramental meaning, In that, Through it, We can bless others.

[9:32] And bless God's work, And so on. Which I'll come back to in a few minutes. By the way, Some of these thoughts did come from a very difficult book by Jacques Allot, Called Money and Power.

[9:45] Some of you may have read that. More of you will have read the book, Money, Sex, and Power, Which does have a very good section on money. But, Thirdly, Money is a temptation.

[9:59] And, Here you have a couple of Proverbs, But one of them is, Proverbs 18, 11, The rich imagine their wealth, A wall too high to scale.

[10:15] Okay? Inflation can't touch me. Okay? And, 1 Timothy 6, 6, To 10, There's a whole section, I won't read the whole section.

[10:27] Those who want to get rich, Fall into temptation. And that's the passage where, He doesn't say money is the root of all evil, But, The love of money, Is the root of all kinds of evil.

[10:41] It's not all evil, But all kinds of evil. And, I think, Going a little bit deeper, I think scripture would point to the truth, That money has become one of the principalities and powers.

[10:55] These are forces, And personages, And principles, Which were originally created by God, To give us a structured, Ordered universe to live in.

[11:05] Bishop Lightfoot used to say, We're in a cosmos, Not a chaos. Because of these principalities and powers, But they become intransigent, Fallen, Influenced by sin, They are inflexible, They make a claim on us, Which no principality or power should do, And yet they've been redeemed by Christ, The Colossians 2, And so on.

[11:28] And all of that to say, That money is actually not neutral. And I hear this all the time, People say, Money is neutral, It's just what you do with it. It's true, What you do with it, Is a hugely important thing.

[11:41] But it's not neutral. It claims to give security, It has many of the characteristics of deity, And inspires a kind of devotion, Even an idolatry.

[11:53] I just got back from Hong Kong two weeks ago, And they say the dominant religion of Hong Kong, Is money theism. And there are lots of churches there too, Of course, But you probably know what I mean by that.

[12:06] There's a fascinating book, And I brought two books, Neither of which was written by Christians, By the way. But one of them is Neil Ferguson's, The Ascent of Money. It's a financial history of the world.

[12:17] This one is worth reading a second time. This one is written by a Jew. It's called Jacob Needleman, And Money and the Meaning of Life. And I think in some ways, It's the best book I've ever read, On money.

[12:29] And written by a Jew. And in it, He's quoting from Kohalath, Or perhaps more familiarly to you, Ecclesiastes, The Old Testament book, Where the professor, Preacher, Leader, Whoever he is, Says money is the answer for everything.

[12:49] Wow. Is that in the word of God? But he also says, Whoever loves money, Never has enough. You know, And that's a profound statement as well.

[13:02] And so, Jacob Needleman, Wrestling with this, In fact, He wrestles with New Testament passages as well, Very interestingly, As a Jew. And, He comments on the fact that there's very few things in life, That cannot be solved with a finite amount of money.

[13:23] But the problem, He says, Money can buy almost everything we want. The problem is, That we tend to want only those things that money can buy. And so, There's a very, Very interesting reflection in there, On Ecclesiastes, Who, Hell, Is the Hebrew name.

[13:41] And to kind of sum up a little bit, Of what I'm calling a short, Biblical theology of money, Giving as a way of profaning mammon.

[13:51] By the way, That word, Mammon, Has the same Aramaic root as Amen. So, If you're in a sleepy prayer meeting, You know, People are, You know how it often is.

[14:03] Very embarrassing to fall asleep in a public meeting. I find pinching, Getting enough pain, That helps. So, If it's a sleepy prayer meeting, And they come to the end of the prayers, Just say, Mammon!

[14:14] And you're on the right track, Because both Amen and Mammon, Mean that which, You want to be definite, Secure, And permanent, And so on, Because that's the root meaning of Amen.

[14:29] But I think in terms of profaning mammon, Or turning mammon into a sacrament, Perhaps would be a way of saying it differently. Relinquishing ownership to God.

[14:43] Now we all know that. But how far have we gone, In really saying, This is God's. And then, Living with a theology of enough.

[14:55] You know, The whole world around us, Wants us not to do that. To not be satisfied, Content, With what we have. But living with a theology of enough.

[15:07] Practicing thanksgiving. I got a small royalty last week, And my first instinct was, Thank you God. You know? It was lovely. It's a gift.

[15:19] It's thanksgiving to God, For what we have. Paying our taxes, It's too late now to do it, But paying our taxes, With a glad and generous heart.

[15:30] It's a little harder. But you know, We lived our first seven years in Montreal, And our next door neighbor, Was a French Roman Catholic tax lawyer. He's become a lifelong spiritual friend.

[15:42] This goes back 40, 50 years now. And we correspond, And share our pilgrimage together. And whenever I'm in Montreal, We have time together. But we had a little small group, In our home in Montreal, And he said, Next week I want to talk about, A rich man's view of poverty.

[15:58] He was a rich man, He thought. And it's true. I am too. And in it, As a tax lawyer, He said, Pay our taxes, With a glad and generous heart.

[16:09] Not all of it is going to be used wonderfully. But a lot of it, Is helping others. And providing an infrastructure, In which our society can thrive.

[16:20] And so on. Giving directly to the poor, With no strings attached. That's a tough one. There are very few, Wealthy people, Who give, Without strings attached.

[16:33] I can name some. But they're rare. And then, Giving to God's global work. I put here, In Corinthians 8 and 9. Because it's fascinating, Really.

[16:45] Particularly in Paul's correspondence. All those passages about giving, Are not giving to the building, Or to the pastor. But really, A giving to, Relieve, The poverty, Of Jewish Christians, In Judea, Who either had been, Excommunicated from the synagogue, Or were out of work, Or in some ways, Impoverished.

[17:06] That whole, Fundraising, Campaign that Paul went on, Throughout the Gentile world, Was for that purpose. Giving to God's global work. And being ready, If commanded, To sell all.

[17:20] And follow. If commanded. Now, I want to do a little section, On Jesus and money. Jesus said, You cannot serve, God, And, Amen.

[17:33] Mammon. And, And recognizing, The tendency of money, To become one's ultimate, Loyal, Loyalty, And final security. I read an Old Testament, Chapter, Every day.

[17:46] I read a Psalm, Every day. And I read, A New Testament passage. The reading for this week, In Sermon on the Mount. Where your treasure is, There is where your heart will be.

[18:00] And I just sat there, And I said, Where's my treasure? What is it that I most treasure? That's a profoundly, Proving, Disarming, Invigorating, Word from Jesus, Where your treasure is, Where your heart will be also.

[18:22] And then Jesus said, Get to Caesar, What is Caesar's, And to God, What is God's. You know, In the context of paying the taxes, To Caesar, Which, Of course, Disarmed, We could expound this whole situation, But, Needleman actually, Uses this as a kind of rubric, For his whole, Reflection of, How can we, Use money for our, Temporal responsibilities, And at the same time, Which is Caesar, And at the same time, Use our money for God, For a divine and eternal purpose, At the same time, And then, Use money, This is Luke 16, A passage that, I've only heard one pastor ever preach on this, It was, Tim Keller recently, Did a sermon on this, In the Redeemer Church of New York, It's that crazy story, Where the steward is about to be fired, And he goes to all the boss's creditors,

[19:23] And ranges for the loan to be, Substantially reduced, When he's fired, They all take him into his homes, And Jesus says, And this is Jesus, He says, Use money, Unrighteous mammon, To make friends for yourselves, So that when, The money fails, Your friends, Will receive you, Into their eternal habitations, I've brooded on that, For about three years, It's, It's, It's wonderful, But, But very disturbing, Very, Invigorating at the same time, And then, To a person, Who had made money, His idol, He said, Sell everything, And give to the poor, And come, Follow me, Don't forget that, Come, Follow me, Now, That's specific, To a person, And to persons, Even today, I think, For whom, Money has become their God, But I think, There's a general word, There to us, About some form, Of voluntary impoverishment, Now,

[20:23] I know that's a Roman Catholic phrase, But, You know, Frankly, I'm 75, And I observe people, In my generation, Going for bigger, And bigger houses, When they're empty nested, And at this age, I think, What the fat are they doing?

[20:36] I mean, This is a, This is a, This is a, This is a, This is a, This is a, This is a, This is a, This is a, This is a, This is a, Time of our life, And of course, It's the reverse, And then Jesus' words in Acts chapter 20, It's more blessed to give, Than to receive, And that's in the context of, Paul, Arguing that he provided his service as an apostle, And a pastor, As a gift, These hands, Work night and day, Because it's more blessed to give, Than to receive, It's a fantastic text actually, Now, I've had the privilege in this last year of mentoring a group of 15 Chinese businessmen, Who live in Point Grey, But have businesses in China, And, It's really fascinating, Because I ran into these guys in Chicago, And taught about the kingdom of God in business, And they just, It was transformative, They just said, Come and mentor us when we get back to Vancouver,

[21:37] And I've spent many days with them now, And, It's really fascinating, Because I am self-employed, So, And they said, Well, How much, You know, Would your honorarium be for a day?

[21:48] And I told them, And, And they all thought it was just not enough, But, I thought it was okay, But, Apparently, The treasurer said, We thought you were going to be like Jesus, And by that, She meant, Like, You don't do this for money, You know?

[22:08] So, Here's a bit of a reflection, The indirect thing, For 20 to 30 years, Jesus actually supported himself, And probably his family, Exchanging his service, As a, Probably, Tecton means, Carpenter, Or a builder, Or an entrepreneur, Someone who can design, And build a house, Or a boat, And make it happen, He did that for 20 to 30 years, Supported himself, I've done that for a few years, In business too, And then as a traveling missionary, And this is a, A greatly, Understated, Fact, He was supported by, Women of means, Read Luke 8, 1 to 3, Women, Of, Substantial wealth, Provided for Jesus, And his disciples, He had to have money, And then, He blessed the woman, As we heard, I think it was last week,

[23:09] With, The sermon here, Blessed the woman, Who broke the alabaster jar, Of ointment, Even though, It could have been used, To help the poor, You know, That's an extraordinary act, Which says something about, You know, This is not just something, To be calculated, And so on, But, There's a kind of, Abandon, Blessing, And abundance, Now, Now, Some related questions, That I can't explore, We've got less than an hour, But, The history of money, Is a fascinating, My, The book that I've, Just brought, You can, Look at it if you wish, Right afterwards, But, Going from a barter, Society, Through, To a market economy, You know, And to trace that whole story, It's fascinating, Then, How has money been viewed, In the history of the church, And, You may not know this, But, One of the most, Significant, Controversical, Theological issues, In the history of the church,

[24:10] Is, Not just the doctrine of the trinity, But, Usury, Which is, Lending money, At, What today we would call, Excessive rates of interest, But, Endangering, The livelihood, And life, Of a person, Through, The way in which, You're lending money, But, Usury was a huge issue, And Calvin and Luther, Even, Didn't see the same thing, About that, And so on, And then, Another question, Which is, Does scripture actually say, That we should all live, The same way?

[24:42] I don't think it does, But that's, An important question, Because there are a lot of people, Who say, We all should be living, The same way. Does the new, Capacity, Of humankind, To create, New wealth, Make the call, For redistribution, Somewhat, Obsolute, Now here, I refer you to, A Jewish, Rabbi, Middle Ages, Medieval, His name is, Maimonides, Absolutely fascinating, Thing that, You know, Way back in the, 13th century, He said, There's charity, Where you give your money, Directly to the poor, And the lowest form is, You don't really want to do, But you have to, And the highest form is, You do it without, Any strings attached, But he said, The very highest, Is, That you help, The poor person, Gain a marketable skill, Or start a business, So that they can become, Self-sufficient, And not be reduced,

[25:44] To begging, And asking, For money, Anticipating, What we today call, Micro economic development, Which in some ways, Is a very large hope, For the poor of the world, And one of our members, In the church, I don't know whether, You know this, That Dick Richards, Founded, Vision Fund, In World Vision, Which I believe, Is in 50 countries now, Whereby they lend money, And help people, With training, And how to start a business, And they, Help people, Actually become self-sufficient, Well, The rich man died, And, We're going to die, We went to our, Financial planner this week, And, You know, They have these, Amazing programs now, Given what you're taking out, Given, Everything else, And he has this chart, On the computer screen, You know, This is where you have, Now, And this is where, It comes to nothing, Holy smoke,

[26:45] I hope to live longer, Than that, It was really, Very, Very, He said, We're doing okay, But, But death will find us out, It finds out, What we are really, Living for, The question is not, Whether we will have, An eternal life, But how, And so this man, Was found out, Through his death, It's, Death is an interruption, It's, Definitely not planned, And it comes, At the most, Unexpected times, I have no idea, If I will live another day, I get up in the morning, I say, Thank you God, I'm alive, I have a pacemaker, So I run on 0.6 volts, It's, It's actually 2 volts, In the other chamber, But it's 0.6, And the one that really matters, Which is the pumping one, And, If the battery goes out,

[27:46] I die, Right away, I, I literally, Am totally dependent, On technology, I'm very thankful for that, And it's, It's been a blessing, Because I have a lot of energy, I, I was speaking in Hong Kong, A couple weeks ago, At a public event, It was a large number of people, And then I taught a course, On theology of work, And this lady said, I'm here to find out, How you could have so much energy, At 75, And I thought, Oh, That's a pretty funny reason, To take a course, But anyways, She did, Which leads me though, To reflect on, What does it actually mean, To be rich towards God, Don't you wish, Jesus had said, Now here's what I mean by it, You know, And elaborated five points, Or something, I think he does, If you take the whole, Gospel narrative, But he doesn't, In that passage, And then in the Matthew 7 passage, 6 passage, He says, Don't lay up for yourselves, Treasures on earth, Where mossed and rust, And so on,

[28:46] Deflation, And so on, But lay up for yourselves, Or store up, In the New Nature National version, Store up for yourselves, Treasures in heaven, What does that mean?

[28:57] And then, My title, How to get rich, Slowly, Well first of all, I think this means, And here you have to say, This is not inspired, Words, Okay, I'm wrestling, With scripture, To try to understand, What it means, To be rich towards God, I think it means, Investing, In the kingdom of God, Jesus said, Seek first, God's kingdom, And these things, Will be given to you, As well, Now what is God's kingdom?

[29:31] The kingdom of God, Is the rule, Of the sovereign, And the responsiveness, Of people, And things, Like, Iron filings, Lining up with a magnetic pole, Queen Elizabeth, Reigns, But does not rule, Which is how many people, Treat God, She has a palace, Mercedes, No, She has, What's the greatest car?

[30:00] Rolls Royce, Rolls Royce, Yeah, Rolls Royce, Yeah, You're right, So it's very interesting, I was in London, In 1948, And here was this, Volkswagen, Right in front of Buckingham, Anyway, So, She reigns, But she doesn't rule, Doesn't have an active sway, Whereas God, Is actively, Influencing, Persuading, And transforming, And bringing shalom, Into people, And more than people, And you know, One of the great ironies, Of the evangelical church movement, Is, That movement has tended to preach, The gospel of soul salvation, And Jesus preached the gospel, Of the kingdom of God, And I just read your notes this week, From your ecclesiology course, In which you talked about, The difference between, The church, And the kingdom, And what the kingdom really is, Because the kingdom, Is more than the church,

[31:02] And the kingdom, Includes soul salvation, The gospel, The gospel, Of the kingdom, Includes soul salvation, But it's much broader, It is spiritual, Because Jesus said, If you want to say it, Like a irony is, Did, That Jesus embodies the kingdom, He is the auto basileia, Which means the kingdom of God, In his own person, And so, You look at Jesus, And you watch him, You hear his words, And you see what he's doing, And he said to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, So it's spiritual, It's also personal, He said, I will bring rest, To your souls, Your person, So it's personal, But it's also social, Because when the followers of John, Were sent by John the Baptist, To find out if Jesus was the one, Or whether they should be looking, For someone else, He said, Go back and tell your master, That the blind recover their sight, The lame walk, The lepers are raised from, Are made clean, The deaf hear, And the dead are raised to life, And the poor are hearing the good news,

[32:04] Where you talk about a comprehensive, I just love the passage, Where Jesus reached out his hand, And he touched the leper, Which is a thing you didn't do, But that man so desperately needed, To be touched, Having spent his life, Covering his upper lip, And saying to anybody who approached, I'm unclean, Don't touch me, And then to send him to the priest, Which is the only way, He could be included again, In the community, But the kingdom is also, Political and cosmic, And so Jesus attacked the powers of his day, One of them was money, But another was the whole system, The religious system, And he said of the Pharisees, They tie heavy burdens, And loads on people, But you know, They don't lift a finger, To help people, Carry those burdens, And then he went into the temple, And he said, You know, I'm not really pleased, About what's going on here, Listen, He overturned the tables, Of the money changers, And took a whip,

[33:05] And drove out the animals, That were being sold, At an exorbitantly high price, To true worshippers, And there's an economic dimension, To the kingdom as well, Because when he went into the home, Of Zacchaeus, Tax collector, Zacchaeus said, If I've cheated anybody, I'll pay back four times the amount, It brings an economic revolution, So kingdom work, Alleviates and creates, New wealth, It alleviates poverty, It brings well-being to people, It embellishes, And improves human life, It engages powers, Resistant to God's coming shalom, And invites people, Personally, To come under the rule, Of Christ, So I'd like to suggest to you, That not just the pastors, And ministerial staff, Of this church, Are doing kingdom work, But artists, And teachers, And retired volunteers, Homemakers,

[34:07] People in business, People in industry, Educators, I've mentioned, Are doing kingdom work, They're doing something, In line with God's purposes, So investing, In the kingdom of God, Secondly, Embracing the purpose of God, And here I think, Particularly from Ephesians chapter 1, We learn that God's purpose, Is the transformation of people, And all creation, Everything renewed, Everything renewed, Under the headship of Christ, And this takes, Faith, Hope, And love, What makes work Christian, Is not the religious character, Of the work, I could actually expound scripture, But not in a Christian way, It might not be Christian work, Unless that work is done, With faith, Hope, And love, And I can build, As I have, A cedar deck, My son-in-law just gave me,

[35:07] Two new pieces of beautiful, Yellow cedar, Without a knot in it, And a huge piece of, Of walnut, For carving, Because I do some wood carving, But you know, I can do that, With faith, Hope, And love, And believe it or not, That's going to be in the new heaven, And new earth, I think my books won't make it, But I think some of those carvings will, And maybe a cedar deck, Okay?

[35:32] So, We can do the Lord's work, In a hundred different ways, When you think of what God does, And I'm always thinking about, My friend at Singapore, At the time that, I went through all the ways, In which God works, Communicating, Organizing, Disciplining, Beautifying, And so on, And people put their hands up, If they were organizing in their work, Doing the Lord's work, And then I said, There's nobody here, Whose work is destroying, And this guy at the back of the room, Puts his hand up, And he says, That's me, I said, What do you do, And what's your job?

[36:01] And he said, Well, I'm in the Singapore D, And I'm on a destroyer, And my job is to destroy, I said, You're doing the Lord's work, I think.

[36:16] But thirdly, Treasuring, The priorities of God, Which are, People, And the people of God, I just find, Ephesians 1.18, So deeply, Moving, Actually, Where God speaks of, His people, That's us, As the riches, Of his glorious inheritance, In the saints, I mean, We're like, We're his inheritance, He's treasuring us, And so, Just as Jesus said, Make friends for yourselves, By means of unrighteous mammon, So, Paul says, Not just people, But the people of God, Are what God treasures, Priorities, Of God, People, And the people of God, I suppose, Many of us in the room, Are on the older side, And it's certainly true,

[37:16] As you grow older, I think it was, Actually, Harry, I didn't attend, St. John's, At those days, But, I remember once I did, And he said, He's never heard a businessman, On his deathbed, Saying, I wish I had spent more time, In my business, You know, It's something to think about, Isn't it?

[37:35] Treasuring the priorities of God, Which are people, And the people of God, And then, Hungering for, The presence of God, Wanting him, More than anything, Hungering for the presence of God, So, Canon, Stanley Evans, Who's a British, Anglican, Said, The Christian, Is a controlled drunk, Purposefully intoxicated, With the joy, Of the life, Which is perpetually, Created, By God himself, Isn't that a lovely, Quotation, You know, Just go home, And tell your family, You know what, I'm a drunk, But a controlled drunk, Being intoxicated, With the joy, Of the life, Which is perpetually, Created, By God, Himself, So, Hungering for the presence of God, Being rich towards God, What does it mean,

[38:35] Laying up for yourself, Travers on earth, It's a complex question, And as I say, I wish Jesus had said, I mean by that, And just definitively, But I think if you take, The whole New Testament, I think those things are, Perhaps part of, What it means, To be rich towards God, Brian Griffiths, In a classic book, Called, The Creation of Wealth, It has a, The kind of, Non-politically correct, Subtitle, Of, A Christian's defense, Capitalism, It's not politically correct, To have a subtitle, Like that today, But it's a classic book, And it has a number, Of very deep reflections, In it, Sir, Brian Griffiths, Actually, As I did, He says, There is no, Objective definition, Of the measurement, Of wealth, Wealth, Depends on a process, Of valuation, Which by its very nature, Must be, Subjected, Now it's a very interesting sentence,

[39:36] Because I'm talking today, About how to get rich slowly, Or how to become truly, Wealthy, Okay, How to become truly wealthy, And it's going to take time, That's why it's slow, So I want to end, With a few things, That are not in your notes, And the first is, I think we're truly wealthy, When we are able, To provide for ourselves, And our loved ones, With a theology of enough, If you like, Going back to something, I said earlier, But I think that, Is part of what it means, To be truly wealthy, You can provide, For yourself, And your loved ones, And secondly, Contributing to a kingdom, Which will never end, But will be transformed, At the coming of Christ, And thereby contributing, To the new heaven, And new earth, Some of our work, In this world, Will survive, And be transfigured, So Paul says,

[40:36] In 1 Corinthians 15, 58, Your labor, In the Lord, Is not in vain, Now, The immediate, First context, Is gospel work, But the larger context, Is resurrection life, In 1 Corinthians 15, And our labor, In the Lord, Is not in vain, Contributing in some way, Beyond our imagination, Perhaps, Investing, In the new heaven, And new earth, Contributing to it, I was in Taipei, Taiwan, And, You may not know this, Or you may, That, Shankar Shek, Brought all the treasures, From mainland China, To Taiwan, And they were in boxes, For a long time, Until, They developed the national, Museum, In Taipei, Which has, The treasures, Of China, And as I went through this, I thought, These, Are absolutely magnificent,

[41:38] And you wonder, Whether some of those, Also, Since the kings of the earth, According to John, In the revelation, Bring their glories, Into the holy city, The best of, You know, Will there be a McDonald's, In heaven, I don't know, But certainly, There's going to be, Some Chinese artifacts, I think, So, Contributing to the kingdom, Which will never end, And we can do that, In our daily activities, Our daily work, Thirdly, Belonging to a forever family, Of relationships, In Christ, Which will transcend death, I'm at the age now, Where people are dying around me, So you don't want to get too close to me, I'm serious, Too many funerals in the last month, So it's just reality, As you grow older, You start to lose friends, But you don't lose them forever, And there is a forever family, This is what I think it means, To be a Christian, Follower of Jesus, You're in a forever family, It's forever,

[42:42] I'm so wealthy, In that, You know, It's magnificent, The relationships, That will transcend death, That rich man, In the rich fool, He was a successful fool, But there was nothing, On the other side, And then fourthly, Having a multi-generational inheritance, This is emphasized so much in the Psalms, I think, But a multi-generational inheritance, Of values, Virtues, Purposes, Experiences, Work, And even some material assets, That can be passed on to others, As a blessing, As a blessing, I think that's part of, Being truly wealthy, Is having something, And not just material, But relational, And virtuous, Character, Spiritual,

[43:45] Realities, That can be passed on, And then fifthly, Knowing, And loving God, And being known, And loved by God, I love what Paul says in Galatians, Where he says, Now that we've come to know God, Or rather are known by Him, I hardly know God, But He knows me through, And through, And through, And loves me, And loves you, And knows you, Through, And through, And through, And you can't stop, Of loving you, And to know, That you're loved by God, And known by God, And you know Him a little bit, That's wonderful, Wealth, Very, Very, Privileged, Beautiful, It's really lovely, And then, Experiencing joy, And peace, And God, Joy, It's interesting,

[44:46] Jesus said, I came that you might have joy, And that your joy might be full, Interesting that, That's what He wanted for us, And to have joy, Which is not just happiness, Happiness is quite circumstantial, Whereas joy is really not dependent, On circumstances, It's a, I like to call it a kind of divine infusion, Of exhilaration, In untoward circumstances, Even, In which we know ourselves to be, Truly alive, And blessed by God, So, To have that, To have joy, And peace, With God, Because many people do not have peace with God, You know, I'm sorry to say, Many people, Even in evangelical churches, Don't have peace with God, They're still trying to win that peace, By activity, And their efforts, And, Some of you know the history of, Max Weber's,

[45:46] Controversial, Half truth thesis, That, In the post-reformation, He thought it was reformation, But post-reformation situation, That people were anxious, About their relationship with God, And therefore, Now that the monastery door was closed, By the reformers, The only place they could prove, That they're among the elect, When God predestines some to heaven, And some to hell, Is in their workplace, And they aggressively give themselves, To that, Which is creating the context, For capitalism, But, Then Calvinism taught thrift, So you don't spend everything you make, You reinvest, And that's also required for capitalism, And he said, Fundamentally it was anxiety, And Luther said, He didn't say it to Max Weber, Of course, Because there's a bit of a, Generational difference there, But Luther said no, He said, No, It's a bit like, A husband, And a wife, If they don't really know, For sure, That their love relationship, Is secure, The husband's tortured,

[46:47] And anxious, Trying to find, That gift, Or that activity, That will win a response, But if, They have, What Luther called, Gospel confidence, It doesn't matter, Whether you do a little thing, Or a big thing, For your spouse, Or for God, Because it comes from gospel confidence, You can sweep the floor, Preach to 20,000 people, It doesn't matter, It comes from gospel confidence, Experiencing joy, And peace with God, Wow, Have you got that?

[47:20] You're wealthy, It's wonderful, I mean, That's real wealth, And then, Having, A wonderful, And certain, Destiny, A future, With hope and promise, That will outlast, This world, And this life, The new heaven, And the new earth, A certain, Destiny, Destiny, Leslie Newbeking, Once said, That as a generation, We are without conviction, Without any, Worthwhile, End, To which the travail, Of history, Might be making, And leading, But in Christ, We have a certain, Destiny, To which the travail, Of history, Is actually leading, And our own, Personal stories, Which is to be with God, And God's people, What an amazing,

[48:23] Vision we have, In the last book, Of the Bible, I don't think you know this, But I became a Christian, In a funny way, But I planned, A prayer retreat, And the prayer retreat, I planned, Is where I became a Christian, But my first instinct, Was to open the Bible, The day I became a Christian, And it's a bit like, You know, The little animals, When they're born, Whatever they see, First, Is their mother, Which might be a cow, And so, There's something, About bonding, That happens, When you first become, A Christian, With maybe a part of this, So I was reading, Revelation, My first, Bible reading, Was, I made it to the sixth seal, But, You know, Magnificent vision, Of our, Final destiny, Which, I don't think, Is singing the same, Worship song, 6,432 times, I think, It's a picture, Of incredible growth, And, Wonderful, Richness,

[49:24] Of, Total life, With God's people, The English novelist, Charles Williams, Said, Nobody's ever sent to hell, They insist on going, And, I think, By, I think he's actually, Interpreting, Rightly, Something that Jesus said, Which is, This is judgment, That light has come into the world, And men love darkness, Rather than light, They judge themselves, Because, What's it going to be?

[49:52] Oh, A lot more of God, A lot more of God's people, A lot more of life, And, I'm a frustrated artist, But, You know, You are going to be, The first person I invite, To my gallery showing, Yeah, Go down the gold street, Turn left on platinum, Right on silver, Second mansion on the left, You'll see, Stephen Scali, You're going to be, Designing, New carburetors, For all the mobiles, In the, New heaven, And new earth, It's kind of crazy, Isn't it?

[50:29] But you know, It's, I'm not going to heaven, I'm going to a new heaven, And new earth, A totally renewed creation, I'm not going to be, A safe soul, I'm going to be, A totally resurrected person, With hair, And to have, That certain destiny, So, So, Are you rich or poor?

[50:56] You won't get rich quickly, That's right, But, Just a final quote, And then we'll have some, Comments and questions, John Wesley, In a very famous sermon, On the use of money, It's a beautiful sermon, Actually, Well worth reading, And he said, Three points, Say, Again, No poem, But three points, First point was, Gain all you can, But don't do it in a way, That damages your body, And so on, But, Be a servant, Get in there, Do something, Then save all you can, Oh boy, That's not a word for today, Is it?

[51:32] Why do the Chinese people save, And North Americans don't? That's an interesting question, I'm talking about, Mainland China, They're saving like crazy, And we're not, They're spending like crazy, They're spending too, And then give, All you can, Wow, You know, That's a fascinating, Sermon, And maybe, Putting into those, Three little phrases, Some very, Very insightful thoughts, About money, Well thank you very much, For listening, Let's have a few, Questions and comments, Inspired to do, So we're okay for time,