we are today drawing to a close our series, Generous God.
The thrust of this series has been that God's generosity to us
in the Lord Jesus Christ produces a life of generosity,
pervasive generosity, generosity in all areas of life,
generosity with our time, with our talents, treasures,
our testimony, with our relationships, hospitality,
with forgiveness, all of life, all of life.
And one of the challenges has been is that it's possible to be generous
in one area of life without being generous in another area of life.
It's quite possibly generous here but stingy over here.
It's possible to give away large portions of our finances and assets
while not willing to serve in a ministry.
What that tells us is that our time is more valuable to us
than anything else.
or to not draw close to others,
not to spend time but to share our hearts,
to share our emotions, our feelings,
because our privacy is more valuable to us
than our time or our possessions.
The radical generosity of God to us in Jesus Christ,
it is a holistic salvation,
produces a holistic, pervasive generosity
in all of life of those who follow him.
Radical generosity is so much more than money
but it's not less than what we do with our money.
That's why we've not really focused on the issue of money
in this entire series right through,
I dabbled in a little bit earlier on,
but right through this whole term,
we've not really touched on the issue of money
until right today, right at the end.
Because I didn't want you to think it was all just about money.
And I know you've been busting,
waiting for the money one to come.
And so here it is today,
just to complete the whole series for you.
Now, why are we doing it right now?
Why are we doing it?
There's three reasons I want to talk about money.
Number one, it's because I actually want us to celebrate today.
While we have had,
and you've been aware of this in communications,
we've had some significant financial challenges
this year as a church,
due to the childcare centre not coming off earlier this year.
and we've, however,
continued to give as a church,
which has been fantastic.
Back in 2014,
can't believe it was only 10 years ago,
part of the funding to redevelop our entire site here
was for us to take out a mortgage
of about a bit over $400,000.
We started this year
with about $93,000 or so left to pay off on that mortgage.
As of the end of last month,
that is entirely paid off.
St. Paul's is now debt-free
for the first time since 2014.
That's a celebration moment.
That is a phenomenal effort.
So as I talk about money today,
I'm talking about it with a heart of celebration for us as a church.
I think it's a phenomenal response that we've had this year.
Secondly,
I want to talk about money
because in Luke's gospel,
Jesus talks about money, possessions, greed, and wealth,
a whole lot.
One third of his parables in Luke
are about this issue.
He warns of the dangers
and what it looks like to have a life of pervasive generosity.
So Jesus talked about it
and we want to talk about it.
Thirdly,
crucially,
our perspective on money and possessions and wealth
and how we handle them
lie at the very heart of the Christian life.
At the very heart of the Christian life,
at the very center,
the core of the Christian life.
If you think that's an overstatement,
it is not.
I'm not using hyperbole here.
The Bible emphatically demonstrates
that what we do with our finances
significantly influences eternity.
Not just to other people's,
yours.
God has recorded in the Bible
everything we need to know
about his investment priorities,
his high standard of management
and the rewards he offers
his faithful stewards.
The issue of riches and wealth and money
come up again and again and again
as Jesus takes his journey towards Jerusalem.
And as he draws near to Jerusalem,
he's asked a question by a man known for centuries
as the rich young ruler,
which is our text this morning.
And with this interaction with Jesus,
there are three things to learn about money,
wealth and possessions.
And if you've got the St. Paul's app in front of you,
I'd encourage you to open it up
and you see the three points there in front of you.
And the first one that he highlights
is the danger of money and wealth.
And that's our first point.
We see it in the middle of the passage.
We're at Luke 18.
So I open that up if you haven't got it in front of you.
Luke 18 verse 24.
Jesus looks right at this rich young man
and he says to him,
how hard it is for the rich
to enter the kingdom of God.
Indeed, it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle
than for someone who is rich
to enter the kingdom of God.
Now, John touched on this last week.
He strayed into my passage, unfortunately,
but that's okay.
I'm not correcting him on anything that he said.
I'm just gonna remind you of what he said
because it's so essential.
Jesus is using the metaphor of impossibility.
The camel was the largest land animal
the people knew at that time.
The eye of the needle was the smallest hole.
It is impossible, in other words,
he's saying here.
It is impossible for the rich to get into heaven.
Now, as I was writing this out,
the richest person in the world at that time
had a personal fortune of $251 billion.
I don't know if it's gone up or down since then,
but it probably doesn't matter to him a whole lot.
I personally do not appear on any of the published rich lists.
And yet, when Jesus says this,
he's talking to me.
He's talking to you.
Everyone sitting in this room here,
he's talking to us.
He is saying that it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle
than it is for us
to get into heaven.
Notice the reaction of those who are listening to this.
Verse 26.
Well, who then can be saved?
You see, the disciples were confused by this
because in their culture, their day and age,
they thought it was the rich ones
who were particularly blessed by God.
Everything they had came from God.
So it must have been God
who had obviously particularly blessed them
because of their righteousness
or in some way.
And Jesus' response here is,
what is impossible with men
is possible with God.
Notice Jesus did not say,
what is impossible for rich people,
it's possible with God.
He says, what's impossible with men
is impossible.
In other words,
what is impossible for all people,
it's possible for God.
He's saying,
all salvation is a miracle.
It is impossible for anyone
to save themselves
because as Romans 3 tells us,
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
It's not possible for anyone
to save themselves
except for God intervening
and doing the impossible.
Now, the reason why Jesus raises that issue here
is because the same thing
that makes salvation impossible for all of us
is made worse
by wealth, money and possessions.
In the Old Testament book of Proverbs,
it's a great book
if you have never read it,
it's about,
really about primarily concerned
with how to navigate life
in God's world well.
The Proverbs talks a lot about money
and it talks,
it's particularly got two very important things
to say
about the spiritual power of money.
Firstly,
it says that money has the power
to distract you
from what's important in life.
Distracted enough
so that you actually don't ask
the really important questions of life
or why am I here
and what am I really meant to accomplish in life?
In fact,
it can even be so distracting
for Christians
that they don't think
about the deeper issues of life.
What are my priorities?
What is my next step?
Proverbs 11 verse 4 says,
wealth is worthless
in the day of wrath
but righteousness delivers from death.
What that's saying there is
money can't help you.
It can't save you.
When the troubles of life hit,
it can't help you.
It does try to give you
some sort of a delusion
into think that if you've got enough money,
it will help you in those moments.
I get the cancer diagnosis,
I've got enough money,
I can go to the best doctors
to try and get that solved.
I've got a leg up there.
Get myself in trouble with the law,
got enough money,
I can hire the best barristers
to get me out of trouble.
It gives you the illusion
that it will keep you safe.
But you're not safe.
You're not safe from grief,
from bereavement,
from illness,
from disaster.
Ironically,
you're not even safe
from financial ruin
if you've got lots of money.
Money can't stop death,
it can't stop tragedy,
heartbreak,
and when it comes,
if you've spent your life
pursuing it,
trusting in it,
living for it,
it won't give you anything back.
Money has the power
to distract us
from the important questions
of life.
The second thing
that Proverbs says
about money
is it distorts
your self-image.
In Proverbs 30,
verses 8 and 9,
it says,
give me neither poverty
nor riches,
but give me only
my daily bread,
otherwise I will have
too much
and disown you
and say,
who is the Lord?
To see a person
humbled under prosperity,
to see a person
humbled under prosperity
would have to be
one of the greatest
rarities in the world.
In fact,
I remember reading once,
someone said,
it's amazing how
the wealthy self-made person
becomes an expert
at everything
in life.
Not just their area
of expertise,
but everything
in life.
Only the self-made
wealthy person
seems to have
that problem.
It puts the person
into a place
where they say,
who is God?
Why do I need him?
That's the danger
of wealth.
So why is it so dangerous?
We're going to go back
to the beginning
of this passage
and unpack
the second point,
why wealth
is so dangerous
for us.
So again,
Luke 18,
verse 18.
A certain ruler
asked him,
good teacher,
what must I do
to inherit eternal life?
Why do you call me
good?
Jesus answered,
no one is good
except God alone.
You know the commandments,
you shall not commit adultery,
you shall not murder,
you shall not steal,
you shall not give false testimony.
Honor your father
and your mother,
all these I have kept
since I was a boy,
he said.
Now,
when we read that,
we should be shocked.
We should be shocked
by Jesus' answer
to the question,
what must I do
to inherit eternal life?
Because it appears,
in fact,
not just appears,
it's what Jesus says,
obey the Ten Commandments.
We should be shocked
by that.
The implication is
that's how on earth
you get salvation.
Be good
is what Jesus says.
This should shock us
because immediately
before this,
Jesus tells the story
the Pharisee
and the tax collector
where the obedient
religious man
went home
not saved.
But the sinner
is saved.
So,
what's Jesus do?
I mean,
come on Jesus.
Why did you not
just pull out
two ways to live?
You know,
take the guy
through Alpha
for goodness sake.
Why say that?
Why did he not say,
I am on my way
to Jerusalem
to die on a cross
to pay a ransom
to take the penalty
that you deserve
for your sin
and if you put
your trust in me
you'll have eternal life
and salvation.
Why did he not say that?
Given it's consistent
with the New Testament
and everything else he said.
that's because
to say to this young man
I've come to die
for your sins
would have been
incomprehensible
to him.
Like most people
he didn't think
he had a problem.
His culture told him
he didn't have a problem.
Look at what he says
in verse 21.
All these I've kept
since I was a boy.
In other words
I don't need
a rescuer.
I'm a good person.
I may not be perfect
but I don't need
a rescuer.
So what Jesus is doing
in his response here
is he's trying
to target the heart.
He's trying to dig deeper
into this man's heart.
Deep down
despite his goodness
he must have been
feeling unsettled
in some way.
That something
wasn't right.
something was missing.
Otherwise why would he
come to Jesus
with a question
in the first place?
It's understandable
really his predicament.
If we think
that we can get
right with God
by being good
we will always
feel insecure.
Even those
who project
an image
that they've got
it all together
on the outside
deep down
on the inside
they know better.
We know better too.
We all know better.
We know the things
that we've done.
We know the things
that we've thought.
We know the things
that we
would work
our entire life
to hide
from everyone else
so that they
do not see
the true us.
The things
that we cannot hide
from our own
consciences.
Jesus is reminding
this man
that his first
and his fundamental
problem
is that he
is in fact
not good
at all.
No mere
mortal
is.
And then
Jesus starts
to prime
us to show
him where
he's not good.
Verse 22
when Jesus
heard this
he said to him
you still lack
just one thing
wouldn't that be great
just one thing.
Sell everything
you have
give to the poor
and you will have
treasure in heaven
and then come
follow me.
should be crucial
to point out
again that
Jesus has
never
suggested
to another
individual
that the way
to be saved
is to give away
all of your money
to the poor.
He's never done
that before
and never does
it after this.
He's doing it
here
as a brilliant
strategy
to help
this young
man see
that he
has a need
of rescuing.
he targets
his heart
his idol
is what he
does
the core
of his life
that he's
living for
the thing
that he's
looking to
to ultimately
make him
approachable
to God
or God
to like him
in some way.
You see
money for him
is not just
a tool
it's his
scorecard
it's his
security
it's his
hope
this is
the thing
that he's
squeezing
God
out of
his life
and when
Jesus
presses him
on this
one issue
he finally
sees that
in fact
he's not
obeying
the commandments
at all
he can't
even get
past the
first one
you must
have no
other gods
before me
his money
was his
God
because he
walks away
sad
refusing to
surrender it
and that
puts Jesus
up
where he
puts money
up as the
alternative
God
he could have
used a whole
range of
things but he
only ever
puts money
up as the
alternative
God
you cannot
serve both
God and
money
you're devoted
to one
or the
other
but it
can't be
both
that
is why
wealth
is so
so
dangerous
which brings
me to the
last point
how do you
therefore
escape
the danger
my landing
point here
is you
escape the
danger
through a
life of
radical
generosity
the first
thing
to escape
the danger
is to
assume
that you
are in
denial
just
assume
it
Jesus
is so
blunt
with this
guy
because he
was in
denial
and that's
the very
nature of
addiction
the very
nature of
addiction
is that
you're
in
I'm not
addicted
I don't
have a
problem
I've got
it under
control
the first
thing that we
need to do
is to
assume
that we're
under the
influence
especially
living in
a society
that is
deeply
committed
to
materialism
where
your
personal
scorecard
is
your
assets
your net
worth
is your
self-worth
that's
our
materialistic
culture
so assume
that you
are marinating
in that
culture
all the
time
and it
is
having a
significant
influence
on your
priorities
assume
that the
amount
of money
that you
think
you need
is more
than what
you really
need
and assume
also that the
amount of
money that you
think you can
give away
is less
than what you
actually really
can give away
assume both of
those things
assume it
the bible
says that
money makes
us blind
in a way
that other
sins don't
no one
commits adultery
and doesn't
realise that's
what they're
doing
they know
exactly what
they're doing
but not
when it
comes to
money
we're
blind
to this
issue
the second
way to
escape
and the
key way
to escape
the danger
of wealth
is to look
to the rich
young ruler
as your
hope
your salvation
and your
motivation
salvation
why would
you do
that
when this
rich young
ruler walks
away
and rejects
Jesus
why would
we look
to him
for our
hope and
our salvation
well it's
because I'm
not referring
to him
I'm referring
to the other
rich young
ruler in
this passage
there's two
of them
Jesus is
around 30
to 32
when he
is headed
to Jerusalem
the bible
says that he
existed with
God for all
of eternity
he's the
God who
made
everything
he's the
God who
rules
everything
he's the
God who
owns
everything
sustains
everything
and he
left that
came from
heaven to
identify with
the spiritual
poverty of
humanity
he is on
the way to
Jerusalem to
die on a
cross
and into
a poverty
deeper
than any
human being
has ever
ever experienced
in the entire
history of
humanity
he will know
and experience
a humanity
deeper than
anyone has
ever experienced
he will
experience the
abandonment
and loss
like no one
has ever
experienced
he will be
stripped of
everything
including his
life
and what
he has
done for
us
2 Corinthians
verses
chapter 8
verse 9
puts in
economic terms
for us
for you know
the grace of
our Lord Jesus
Christ
that though he
was rich
yet for your
sake he
became poor
so that you
through his
poverty
might become
rich
he was drained
of all riches
chose to do
that so that
we
though we
are spiritually
poor and
bankrupt can
receive the
abundance of
his riches
his bank
account has
been swapped
with ours
in Jesus we
get adoption
into God's
family
forgiveness
we get
pardoned
we get
eternal life
it is the
only wealth
that makes us
truly secure
even in and
beyond death
and so we
need to look to
the true
rich young
ruler
the true
rich young
ruler
until we
get excited
excited over
what he has
achieved for
us
what he has
gifted to
us
this is what
this series on
generous God
has been all
about from
start to
finish
it's been
about the
gospel
the good
news of
Jesus Christ
look to the
glorious news
of God's
grace and
riches to us
in the Lord
Jesus Christ
until it
drains all
the power
out of
money and
possessions
until it
no longer
becomes your
scorecard
until it
just merely
is currency
it is no
longer your
security and
your self
esteem
your hope
your salvation
salvation
and so that
leads me to
the third
thing that
we need to
do to
escape
and that
is a
life of
radical
generosity
have a
plan to
use your
wealth with
purpose
to use it
with eternity
in mind
as stewards
of God's
resources
and I got
four steps
here very
quickly
four steps
number one
investigate
what percentage
of your
income you're
currently giving
away
how much
goes to
Christian
ministry and
charity
Christian
ministry to
help people
out of
spiritual
poverty
charity to
help people
out of
physical and
emotional
poverty
investigate
what percentage
that's not
hard to
do
number two
if
that
percentage
is not
at least
10%
the very
least amount
that the
disciples are
to give
away
the very
least
biblical
amount
is 10%
work out
how you
could aggressively
move towards
10%
before the
end of
this year
which means
step three
work out
what sacrifices
you are going
to make
to get
there
selling
stuff
cutting
back on
expenses
if it
is not
sacrifice
to get
there
then it's
not radical
generosity
if you
don't need
to make
sacrifices
to give
10%
then you
aren't
giving
enough
sacrificial
giving
is not
about a
percentage
it is
about our
living standard
changing
in such a
way that we
feel lost
so that others
might gain
that's what
sacrificial
giving is
that's what
radical
generosity
is
it's not
a percentage
it's about
you feeling
lost that
others might
gain
let me add
to what
Jesus says
here at
the end
of these
verses
having seen
the rich
young ruler
walk away
Peter pipes
in verse
28
we have
left everything
to follow
you
what about
us
and Jesus
reassures
his disciples
that though
they have
sacrificed
many things
that they
have left
many things
they will
never fail
to receive
many more
blessings
now and
forever
truly I tell
you Jesus
said to them
no one who
has left
home or
wife or
brothers or
sisters or
parents or
children for
the sake of
the kingdom
of God
will fail to
receive many
times as much
in this age
and in the
age to
come
eternal
life
when you
choose to
lose for
others
you actually
gain
you actually
gain
in other
words when
you choose
to lose for
others
you're pursuing
your joy
step four
decide what
you're going
to give
and follow
through with it
make yourself
accountable
in other words
our giving
to ministry
and charity
is a spiritual
issue
and like all
spiritual issues
we're accountable
for it
to live radically
generous lives
with our money
our wealth
and our
possessions
you don't
need courage
as much
as you need
joy
you need
joy
you need
to understand
everything that
you have
in Jesus
what he
God has
already
provided you
with
we need
to be
relaxed
and at
peace
and secure
enough
to give
away
our
resources
and this
joy only
comes when
we look to
the true
rich young
ruler
who lost
everything
so that
we might
gain
absolutely
everything
for eternity
and the
more we
look to
Jesus
and the
riches
we have
in him
the more
we allow
the gospel
to be preached
to our hearts
and our minds
day in and
day out
the freer
we will
live
a pervasively
generous life
to have
2 Corinthians
8 verse 9
with you
every time
you go into
Westfield
to have
it in
front of
you
before you
choose to
upgrade your
house
or do the
next renovation
to have
that in
front of
you say
here is
my hope
not this
thing that
I'm
holding
from the
rack
Jesus
is my
hope
fill
yourself
with gospel
joy
before
you open
your wallet
phone
you
knew
good
okay
I
may
oy
but
I
don't
okay