Good evening, everyone. It's great to be in church with you tonight. If you haven't met
before, my name's Steve, a senior pastor here. And one of the highlights for me in our church
year is Vision Sunday. And the whole Vision series, in fact, this is my ninth one I've
led us through as a church. And for me, it just gets better and better. So we're almost
at the end of this one, but this is a crucial one for us tonight on our Vision Sunday. And
I want to begin our time together reflecting on the life of one of the greatest philosophical
thinkers, one of the sharpest political minds, most gifted artists, and I suspect most quoted
individuals of the past 100 years. Arnold Schwarzenegger was born the son of a low-ranking Austrian
police officer and was destined for a life of just total obscurity until his hands wrapped
around a barbell for the very first time at the age of 14. By 18, he was living in London
and traveling the world competing in bodybuilding championships. And at one point, his coach,
a guy named Wag Bennett, asked him, Arnie, what is it that you want to do with your life?
And Wag said that the response of this 18-year-old was remarkable. He said,
I want to be the richest and the greatest bodybuilder of all time. I want to live in the United States.
I want to be an actor, a movie director, own an apartment block, and dabble in politics.
As an 18-year-old, he saw the future, what he wanted, he just went for it. And Wag, as well
as those who trained with Arnie and competed with Arnie, said that they had never met anyone
who was so focused on what they want to achieve in the future. His training partner said that if
you ever beat him at anything, he would look at you and say, you will never, ever do that again.
And he said, doesn't matter how hard you're trying to man, what sort of training you put in,
you could never beat Arnie at it again. He was so, so focused.
And Jesus, in that passage that was just read out to us, tells a story, a similar story about a man
who saw the future, saw what he needed to do. He just went for it. Just went for it.
Have a look at it. You've got your service sheets there in front of you. Luke 16, verses 1 to 15.
Look at verse 1. Jesus told his disciples there was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting
his possessions. And so he called him in and asked him, what is this that I hear about you?
Give an account of your management because you cannot be manager any longer. And the manager said
to himself, well, what am I going to do now? My master has taken away my job. I'm not strong
enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg. I know what I'll do so that when I lose my job here,
people will welcome me into their houses. Now in Jesus' time, this manager person here was like a
chief operating officer and a chief financial officer rolled into the one. That is, they ran
the entire estate of the wealthy owner. And what they also did was that they would get the owner's
money and invest the owner's money as well. So they had a very, very high responsibility.
And this manager, as it says, has been a bit dishonest and he hasn't been doing such a great
job. And so he gets a termination notice. You're fired is his notice. And he knows now that he's in
trouble. You see, when word gets around, he's not likely to get another manager's job. He's not likely
to be in this kind of position again. And he's been sitting in an office for too long. His hands are
beautiful. And he's thinking, I can't dig trenches for a living. I haven't got a strong enough back
for that sort of stuff. And I'm not going to lie on myself. I can't go from this role down to begging.
And what's more, there's no social services. There's no Centrelink to fall back on. And so for this man,
this is a life and death decision. How's he going to live? How am I going to feed myself? Where's my food
coming from? I'm going to get my housing. And so what he does is he makes a decision now that will
pay benefits for the future. And that is the point of this whole parable. That's what it's all about.
And what he does next though, is the bit of the parable that can be a little distracting.
Verse five.
Notice what the outcome is from his decision.
It creates friendships that didn't exist before.
In acting for the future, he won the favor and obligation of his master's debtors.
And the really strange thing here is the master's response in verse eight says,
the master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.
It's an incredible response.
Why would the owner commend the manager for his action here?
I mean, it appears that he's ripped him off.
But one of the best theories is that the manager here was doing what the tax collectors used to do
in first century Palestine. And they would get the cut that the Romans required, and then they would add
their percentage on top. And it's most likely that that's what this manager is doing here is part of
his investment portfolio. He's investing his bosses.
He's the owner of the estate's investments.
And he's adding his percentage on top of it as well.
He's getting his interest out of the investment.
And so what he's doing here would appear that he's taking his investments off.
He's removing his fees.
And it makes his master's debtors happy.
They're paying a much smaller bill.
But he's also giving his master a great name in town at exactly the same time.
So it's like he's getting nothing out of this deal now.
Now, whether that's exactly how it worked is really, it doesn't matter.
It's not the point of the parable.
But Jesus' point here is that this man is using his opportunity, his wealth, with an eye on the future.
And the master commends him because he acted shrewdly.
You made a great decision there.
A wise decision, a smart judgment.
You're astute.
But see the rebuke of the second half of verse 8.
This shrewd, wise, astute action is one that Christians fail in.
It says,
For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are people of the light.
Jesus is saying that this manager's actions, he's wiser.
He's wiser in the youths of his wealth than his disciples are in theirs.
So what we're going to do is we're going to take a moment here to learn a couple of lessons from this parable
about what it might look like to be wise.
The first thing we learn here is that Jesus likens us, his disciples,
to a manager of someone else's estate.
Someone else's money.
The word manager here can also be easily translated as steward.
So this man is a steward.
He's a manager of someone else's money.
He's a fund manager.
When you manage someone else's money,
you can't do whatever you want with that money because it isn't your money.
You have to do it according to the terms of the person who owns the money.
And so first up, Jesus is reminding his disciples that if you understand anything,
if you understand that there is a God, then you'll know that whatever you have is in fact not yours.
We are stewards of God's money, of his resources.
And so the first thing is we've got to stop acting as if it's ours.
That's pretty hard hitting.
Because particularly in the Western world,
we have a strong attachment to wealth and possessions
because we've worked for it.
We love the idea of the so-called self-made man.
It's my money.
I've worked hard for this.
I've sacrificed for this.
And Jesus says, no, it's not.
It's not your money.
If you're a Christian, there is a much bigger, broader theological context
that you put this truth into.
As Christians, we believe that God made everything,
that he sustains everything.
We have life and we have skills and we have opportunities
that he has gifted each one of us with.
They are gifts from him to us.
And without those things, we would not make any money at all.
Without the life that he gives us every day,
and the Bible says he puts the breath in our lungs moment by moment,
with that breath that he gives us,
he gives us the ability to make money.
And if he chooses not to give that to us,
we have no ability to make money.
Without life, it's extremely difficult to do anything.
If you're healthy and you're able to work, that's a gift.
The fact that you were born in this time and this place
with its many opportunities, that's a gift.
If you were born in the 12th century on a mountaintop in Tibet,
you would think very differently about the resources that you have.
And so we work hard for what we have with the life,
the circumstances, the talents that God has given us.
We are stewards of every gift from him.
Listen to the prayer of the fabulously wealthy and powerful King David
from 1 Chronicles 29.
Everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Wealth and honor come from you.
You are the ruler of all things.
Who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give
as generously as this?
Everything comes from you,
and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
All this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple
for your holy name comes from your hand,
and all of it belongs to you.
So if we're stewards, it's not ours,
and God calls us to be radically generous.
And if we're not radically generous with the gifts that he's given us,
that includes time, emotions, and everything else,
then it's not called stinginess.
It's called robbery.
It's not a lack of compassion for the poor and the needy,
and it's actually a lack of integrity in our hearts.
Malachi 3.8 is pretty clear in this.
It says,
That is, the people in the Old Testament were told
that 10% of their income needed to be given away as the starting point.
That was the starting point.
And I'm not convinced that the standards of the people in the New Testament
are any lower,
especially when we have a greater hope,
a greater revelation, a greater grace, and greater benefits.
However, if we do think that 10% as a starting point is a lot of money,
then maybe we're thinking about it totally the wrong way.
We've got this whole thing upside down.
Don't forget we're stewards of someone else's money.
So imagine someone comes to you.
They're a billionaire.
They come to you,
and they say to you,
Please manage my wealth for me,
and here's the terms.
The terms are this.
Every year,
you get to keep 90% of the returns from the investment,
and you've got to give me 10% of the returns from the investment.
Would you want that job?
Come on.
Would you want that job?
Who wouldn't want that job?
Every fund manager would kill someone else to get that job.
In all seriousness.
And that is exactly how generous God is.
That is what God is offering us.
But if we love money more than we love God,
then those terms,
even those terms,
will not be good enough for us.
We won't be generous.
We won't give.
And it's not called stinginess.
It's called robbery.
We are stewards of money that is not ours.
That's the first thing we learn from this parable.
But there is something even more incredible that is being taught here.
Verse 9 is the goal that Jesus has in mind with our stewardship of his resources.
And the goal is our happiness,
our love,
our security forever.
I tell you,
use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself
so that when it is gone,
you'll be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
So what this manager does here
is he puts aside some short-term financial gain
for the sake of gaining something
that is long-term and infinitely more valuable.
And that's what a wise investment is.
A wise investment is where you put your money
into something that is going to increase in value over time.
So what can you put your money into
that will really last?
Not this world.
Because Jesus gives a really helpful perspective in verse 9.
He says,
so that when it is gone,
what Jesus is saying there is,
there is no investment
that is in this world
that will last.
Not one.
There's no material thing.
There's no asset.
There's no place
where you can put your money
that will really,
really last.
And he's calling his disciples here
to make a wise investment
to put their money
into something
that will literally last forever.
Put your money,
he says,
into building the kingdom of God.
Use your money in such a way
that there is glory in heaven.
Put your money
into something
that will last forever.
Now,
what I love
about the way
that Jesus puts it here
is that he doesn't just stay
at that abstract level.
Because I'm the sort of person
who's logically convinced
for the argument
for long-term investment.
You know,
immediate pain
for long-term gain.
I'm totally,
totally in for that,
logically.
But what Jesus says next
is what moves my heart
and causes me
to open my wallet.
This is what moves my heart.
And I hope it does for you too.
Look at how Jesus describes
eternal dwellings
in verse 9.
This is how he describes heaven.
Friends.
Use your money now
to gain friends
who will welcome you
into eternal dwellings.
In other words,
to get eternal friends.
Let me quote one commentator
who wrote on this verse,
and it's the main point
of this whole parable.
He wrote,
although these things,
your property,
your ability,
your time,
belong to this life only.
Jesus says,
yet what will happen to you
when,
then,
when you pass into that life
will depend on what you are doing
with them here and now.
Make sure that your use of them
brings you into a fellowship
of friends
which will survive beyond death.
That is definitely what Jesus is saying here.
We look to money
to give us security,
significance.
As I said last week,
it's the identity scorecard for us
and the possessions that we have.
But genuine security and significance
is not material.
It's actually relational.
In the end,
the most important thing
that everyone needs
is love.
We feel truly wealthy
when we are loving people
and are surrounded
by people loving us back.
You can get someone
who is an absolute pauper
and yet they feel so rich,
feel so rich
when they are surrounded by people
who love them
and who they love.
That's because wealth is relational,
not material.
That's when you feel really alive
and yet
the love that we really need
is out of reach for us
in this life.
We get a taste of it now.
We get a foretaste of it
but the best
is yet to come.
The thinking that heaven
is a place of harps
and halos
and crowns
and gold streets
doesn't kind of move me
in the same kind of way
as heaven being
a world of friendships
and relationships
and perfect love.
That moves me.
A place of deep relationships.
A place of real love.
A place where we love
and are loved
without any barriers
at all.
That is a place
to really hope for
and invest in now
because
the love that we experience
in this world,
the friendships,
the relationships we experience
in this world
are a foretaste
of what is to come
but they fall
so far short
of what will be in heaven.
love in this world
both the receiving of it
and the expressing of it
is often a source of pain.
There are barriers
to loving
and being loved
in this world
that will not exist in heaven
and that's what makes heaven
such an incredible prospect.
that's why
if you can make
investments now
to increase
your experience
of that
that's a wise investment.
See one of the barriers
we face now
that won't be there
is that we are often
as individuals
not loved
for our own sake.
It's painful
when we discover
that people
are not loving us
for our own sake
but actually
using us
to get something else.
it's very rare
for any of us
to love
another person
totally
for their own sake.
Most love
is a love
in order to receive love
and in heaven
we will be loved
absolutely
completely
fully
for who we are.
Another barrier
for loving this world
which is
just a foretaste
of what we become
is the inability
for us to express
our love
for others
without any hindrance
whatsoever.
Things like pride
selfishness
defensiveness
pettiness
coldness
means that we cannot
fully completely
express our love
for another person
even those
who are the
closest to us
in this world.
Even for me
I mean
I said this morning
for me
for Natalie
I get to the end
of each day
and I realise
how much
I've failed
to express
the love
that I've got
deep down
there somewhere
it's like
there's this ocean
of love
it's got it
coming up
through a straw
you know
like it's just
just not coming
out the way
it's meant to.
So much failure
we can't even
get close
to expressing
our love
fully
without some
kind of
hindrance
but in heaven
there'll be love
without any
impediment
all sin
pride
selfishness
pettiness
coldness
defensiveness
it's going to
be all gone.
We also
struggle in this
world to have
a mutual love
is there anything
more painful
than to love
someone more
than they love
you back?
It's very rare
to have a
mutual love
at the same
time.
In this place
this world
many of the
people that we
love
we love
more
than they
love us
back
and that
is nothing
but pain
but heaven
everyone
will love
everyone
mutually
and fully.
There's also
the barrier
of another
barrier of
love in this
world and
that's the
unhappiness
of those
we love.
Think about
this for a
minute.
This is for
everyone here
because you've
all been kids
and still
are.
Once you
start having
children
once you
start
if you're
a couple
and you
start having
children
for the
rest of
your life
your happiness
level never
increases more
than the
unhappiness of
one of your
children
or of your
unhappiest
child.
Once you
start having
children
your happiness
level never
increases more
than your
unhappiest
child.
Your unhappiest
child.
See what
you've done
to your
parents?
You know
we can
never be
happier
we can
never be
happier than
the people
we love
because their
heart becomes
our heart
and if you
love more
than five
people any
one time
in this
world you're
always going
to be
unhappy.
That's just
a fact.
C.S.
Lewis said
that if you
don't want
your heart
to be
broken then
just stop
loving
people.
Love is
such a
source of
pain but
of course
if that's
what you're
going to
do then
you become
a hard
person and
you're right
on your
way to
hell.
Love is
such a
source of
pain but
in heaven
everyone
will be
perfectly
happy filled
with a
never
ceasing
joy.
But the
greatest
barrier to
love in
this world
is the
separation
of love.
We want
a love
where we
will never
be separated
from the
people that
we love.
It is
painful knowing
that when
you marry
someone it
is highly
likely that
one of you
will bury
the other.
Highly
likely unless
of course you
both go down
the plane
crash or
something like
that.
In my
case I've
got five
people sitting
around my
dining room
table and
it's highly
likely that
one of us
will be
sitting at
that table
will see
everyone else
dead.
Highly likely
that one of
us will see
the rest
dead.
My mother
experienced
that in the
last two
weeks where
she is now
the only one
left of
two parents
and four
sisters.
This is the
way our
relationships are
in this
world.
But not
there.
Not there.
We are
made to
desire the
kind of
relationships,
the kind
of friendships,
the kind
of love
that is in
the kingdom
of God.
We have
been designed
for what
Jesus says
heaven is
going to be
like.
And knowing
and experiencing
the pain of
relation to
this world,
it is so
hard for us
to imagine
what perfect
relationships and
perfect love
actually looks
like.
what the
experience of
that is going
to be like.
Knowing and
experiencing the
pain of this
world, it's
hard to know
what it's
going to be
like.
Hard to
believe in
fact.
Just imagine
what it would
be like to
completely
believe it
though.
That what
Jesus says
about heaven
is actually
going to be
true.
Imagine what
it would be
to be completely
sure of the
future because
of Jesus
Christ and
what he's
done for
us.
Imagine that
to believe in
Jesus is to
be able to
live with
God and
friends in
absolute
perfect love
forever.
No barriers,
no hindrance
to joy and
love.
Just imagine
what that
would do to
the way that
you would
live your
life now.
would we
not use
our worldly
wealth now
knowing that
what really
lasts is
people,
relationships,
friends,
something
significant that
we all have
something to
look forward
to.
And so
don't put
your money
before people.
Don't put
your money
before people.
Don't put
things before
people.
Put your
money into
solving people's
needs in this
world, the
poor and the
needy.
Use your
money, as it
says here, to
create a
fellowship of
friends that
will survive
beyond death.
Friends who
you don't even
know.
You won't even
know that they're
your friends until
you get to
heaven.
And
when people
find hope and
faith and
love in
Jesus, they
will be your
friends and
they will be
your friends
forever.
They will
welcome you
to heaven.
They will
love you and
be loved by
you without
any barrier.
And so
this radical
investment is
to put the
money you're
a steward of,
which you've
been given
by, by
God, into
connecting
people with
their God who
loves them like
this without
any barriers.
that's the
wise investment.
Put your
money into
connecting
people with
their God
who loves
them like
this.
Because all
of this hope
and all this
joy is
possible because
we are
recipients of
the ultimate
love and
friendship.
2 Corinthians
8, the
Apostle Paul is
encouraging the
church in
Corinth to give
generously to a
great need in
the same way
that other
churches are
done.
And he
doesn't order
them to do
it.
He says, I'm
not going to
order you to
do this.
I want you to
be compelled
by love.
And he
shows them how
to do it.
He says,
think about
this.
Think about
Jesus Christ.
Though he
was rich,
yet for your
sake he
became poor
so that you
through his
poverty might
become filthy
rich.
Relationally
rich.
experiencing
love like
you have
never
experienced
before.
You see,
Jesus is
the one
friend who
emptied
himself of
everything to
turn his
enemies into
his eternal
friends.
Jesus is,
in fact,
the true
steward here.
As recipients
of the ultimate
friendship, we
get to live
with him
forever in
perfect love.
And so use
your money in
a way that's
controlled by
that reality.
Guess what?
You and I,
here today,
we're in
exactly the
same boat as
the shrewd
manager.
I'm not
sure how
long he's,
how much
notice he
was given,
how many
days or
weeks he
had before
he had to
fold up the
books,
but in
this moment
the books
were still
open,
he still
had a
pen,
and he
was still
in control.
And he
acted.
He had a
chance to
act in view
of the
future,
and he
did it.
And I've
been calling
two previous
congregations,
I'm doing the
same here,
across St.
Paul's today,
calling us
all to make
a radical
investment.
That's our
vision.
Our vision
says we are
desperate for
the world
around us
to encounter
Jesus.
We are
desperate to
make eternal
friends.
who will
love us
and whom
we will
love for
eternity.
Now,
following on
from 1
Chronicles 29,
the process
that King
David led
Israel in
there,
for the
last,
this is our
ninth time
doing it,
in my time
here,
we have
followed a
process.
The process
is I
pledge what
my giving
is,
because I
believe if
you've read
what I wrote
and have
distributed to
the parish
in the last
week,
is that
giving is a
spiritual matter,
it's not a
financial matter,
and so there's
financial accountability
for the top
right down.
So Natalie and
I, each year,
we declare what
we're giving,
we're the only
ones who do
it, parish
council then
follow suit,
and staff
follow suit.
So Natalie and
I are seeking to
increase our
giving for next
year, and
we're committing
$1,400 a
month for our
vision, this
church's vision,
for people to
encounter Jesus.
We've also
contributed $1,000
to the $70,000
target.
So far, parish
council and
staff together
have pledged
$3,500 a
week, and
$18,200
towards the
$70,000
target.
That is a
significant lead
from your
leaders.
That is,
parish council
and staff make
up 10% of the
parish in
terms of
numbers.
And so
far, they
are giving
one-third of
our 2018
budget, and
a quarter of
the project
target.
10%, one-third
and a quarter.
They're leading
us in this, and
so I would
invite you, in
fact, I would
implore you to
follow us and
to make an
investment in
eternal
friends.
We have
got enormous
opportunities.
I would
encourage you to
see this project
of employing
someone for
children's
ministry.
There are
children coming
into our
neighbourhood all
over the
place.
Invest in
making friends
from the next
generation to
employ a
children's
pastor.
Takeshi, who
was here this
morning from
Japan, he is
a native of
the largest
unreached
people group
in the world,
and we've
got an
opportunity to
invest in
him.
Invest in
making eternal
friends on
another part of
the world who
will never
meet till we
get to heaven.
And he goes,
you are the
guys who
funded Takeshi.
I'm here
because of
him.
Make your
eternal joy
complete and
invest in
eternal
friends.
I'm going
to invite
Nick up.
What I'm
going to do
is Nick's
going to lead
us in a
song.
And as
he does
that, we
are going
to take
an opportunity
to sit and
reflect.
Because some
of us may
have come
prepared, some
of us are
not prepared
at all.
But if you've
come prepared,
you might go,
I need to
rethink what
I've just
done because
there's not
enough gold
factor on it,
there's not
enough sacrifice
in it.
For those of you
who haven't
prepared, this is
an opportunity
for you to get
these cards out,
take the
project card out
and take the
pledge card out.
We've already
looked at
serve, take the
project card,
the pledge card
out.
This is an
opportunity for you
and what the
gold factor is
going to be for
you in your
financial commitment
to this church.
And I'll come
back up in a
moment.