WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.040 So we're going to look back to the parable of the shrewd or the dishonest manager, which 00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:15.439 causes some people some concern, which we will hopefully look at and hopefully see what 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:16.440 God is saying. 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:20.359 If you haven't been with us over this period when we've been looking at the parables, we've 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:27.320 explained the parables, or we've done a little bit of explanation behind the parables, because 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:33.119 I think sometimes we think the parables are just simply illustrations, that Jesus, like 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:37.000 any good preacher, has good illustrations and uses parables. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:42.719 But we know that that's not simply the case when we look at Luke 8, 9 and 10. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:51.799 We saw that Jesus, there in fact, we'll look back at that, Luke 8 and verse 9 and 10, Jesus 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:56.359 says, and when His disciples asked Him what this parable meant, He said, to you it has 00:00:56.359 --> 00:01:00.679 been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:05.879 so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. 00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:11.599 And so it wasn't really just a parable, it was an illustration to make truth simpler. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:16.200 It was actually that it wasn't a moralistic tale. 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:21.640 The parables were given so that when He told them, people would ask questions if they were 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:27.680 searching spiritually, that they would ask questions what was the meaning behind the 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:29.920 parables, and Jesus would tell them. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:36.400 In other words, telling the parables revealed something about the hearers who listened to 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:37.400 them. 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:43.400 If they just went, wow, that's a nice story, and walked away, then there was this recognition 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:46.760 that they didn't really want to learn from Jesus what He had to say. 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:49.480 But the disciples would come and say, what do they mean? 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:51.600 What does this parable mean? 00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:53.680 And Jesus would explain. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:57.960 And we've seen that they're never moralistic tales. 00:01:57.960 --> 00:02:01.719 In other words, they're never just telling us how to act outwardly, although they do 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:03.359 talk about that. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:10.520 But rather, they are wanting us to dig deeper, to find out about our spiritual motive, about 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:17.719 our gospel understanding, about whether we understand grace, and what it means to live 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:19.599 by grace. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:23.359 And that's what we'll remember as we look at this parable. 00:02:23.359 --> 00:02:27.079 Because on the surface, it's a difficult parable. 00:02:27.079 --> 00:02:33.840 If you've read through it and been thinking, then you'll think, this is a difficult parable. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:38.039 So because what we've got is we've got a rich man, and we're going to call him the owner, 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:45.800 okay, whose manager, and we'll call him the boss, okay, his manager is being wasteful with 00:02:45.800 --> 00:02:49.360 the owner's money, and the owner has realized that that's the case. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:51.960 So he's going to do an account check. 00:02:51.960 --> 00:03:00.760 He's going to check on how this manager, this boss is being dishonest or cheating. 00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:06.560 And so the boss realizes that he's going to be found out because he has been cheating. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:12.880 And so what he decides to do is he thinks quickly, and he goes to all the creditors, 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:18.639 all the people that owe money to the owner, and he says, look, how much do you owe? 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:23.079 Right, cut it in half, give me that, and the deal's done. 00:03:23.079 --> 00:03:28.280 And he did that with several people in order to get at least some of the money back, and 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:32.199 also to make friends in case he got the sack. 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:37.639 So he could go to these people and say, hey, wasn't I good to you guys, and you'll be good 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:40.120 to me in return. 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:43.680 He makes the deals, in other words, in order to be popular. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:50.920 Interestingly, as the parable unfolds, and the owner finds out about this, the owner 00:03:50.920 --> 00:03:53.240 congratulates him. 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:55.039 Good job. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:04:01.439 Well done, boss man, because that's exactly what I would have done. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:03.240 I would have done the same. 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:09.800 You've been shrewd, you've been sharp, you've showed foresight, and you've showed urgency. 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:13.719 And he commends the guy for doing that. 00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:18.040 Now, we don't know what happened, and they then go on and sack him. 00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:21.280 That probably would be difficult in the context of the parable. 00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:22.840 We're not told. 00:04:22.840 --> 00:04:29.280 But if you've been reading this carefully, then you'll have asked the question, because 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:32.040 I asked the question, I'm sure we've all asked the question. 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:35.519 Firstly, is Jesus commending dishonesty? 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:37.120 In verse 8. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:42.240 The parable were told, the master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:46.519 So is Jesus commending dishonesty? 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:54.240 And then secondly, even more worryingly, is Jesus saying that we can buy our way to heaven. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:56.280 In verse 9. 00:04:56.280 --> 00:05:01.600 The master commended, sorry, and he goes on, I tell you, make friends for yourselves by 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:07.520 means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal 00:05:07.520 --> 00:05:08.520 dwellings. 00:05:08.520 --> 00:05:11.200 That has caused people a great deal of difficulty. 00:05:11.200 --> 00:05:13.879 That verse. 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:19.080 I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it 00:05:19.080 --> 00:05:23.520 fails, you may receive, they may receive you into eternal dwellings. 00:05:23.520 --> 00:05:28.640 It's Jesus saying we can buy our way into heaven by using the wealth that we have. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:34.479 Well, let's take a closer look at this parable for a few moments this morning. 00:05:34.479 --> 00:05:39.159 The first thing that we need to notice is that the parable is about contrasts. 00:05:39.159 --> 00:05:41.879 It's not about similarities. 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:44.399 What do I mean by that? 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:51.039 Usually the parables are taking a situation and saying, the kingdom of God is like this. 00:05:51.039 --> 00:05:54.879 This is what it's like in the kingdom, and it is almost an illustration, but with a deeper 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:56.039 message. 00:05:56.040 --> 00:06:01.080 But this parable is not about similarities between the behavior of the people in the 00:06:01.080 --> 00:06:03.640 story and Christians. 00:06:03.640 --> 00:06:09.120 It's about contrasts and how different they should be, not how much the same they should 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:10.760 be. 00:06:10.760 --> 00:06:16.200 Jesus says that in verse 8, the second half of verse 8, He says, for the sons of the world 00:06:16.200 --> 00:06:21.000 are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.280 So He's talking about the sons of the world. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:27.479 People are not believers and people who are Christians. 00:06:27.479 --> 00:06:32.559 And He's saying one group are working in a certain way, and they're working by their 00:06:32.559 --> 00:06:39.639 own principles, and sometimes Christians don't work by the principles they should work by. 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:50.799 So basically what the parable is saying is saying the boss and the owner are making decisions 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:54.400 playing by the rules and the principles that they live by. 00:06:54.400 --> 00:06:55.400 Okay? 00:06:55.400 --> 00:06:58.280 The boss is playing by the rules that he lives by. 00:06:58.280 --> 00:07:00.280 What rule does he live by? 00:07:00.280 --> 00:07:02.960 Looking after number one. 00:07:02.960 --> 00:07:06.920 That's the most important thing for the boss and indeed the owner. 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:14.000 That's the principle of their life, looking after number one. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:20.240 The boss probably recognizes the owner is already exploiting his creditors. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:23.400 He's probably already taking too much off them. 00:07:23.400 --> 00:07:29.079 And so he knows if he makes a deal where they're going to lose, where the owner's going to 00:07:29.079 --> 00:07:34.199 lose some money, that the owner will not kick up a fuss and expose him because he's already 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:38.000 cheating because he looks after number one. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.800 And so the boss is looking after number one. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:45.879 Now this parable is given in the context of Jesus with Pharisees and religious leaders 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:51.959 around him and tax collectors and sinners also in the audience. 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:57.159 And the tax collectors, we see that in the previous chapter, the tax collectors and sinners 00:07:57.159 --> 00:07:58.759 were all drawing near to hear him. 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:00.240 They would have loved this story. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:03.279 It's a great story for a tax collector. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:07.680 It really, it would have resonated with them very powerfully because that's exactly what 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:09.159 they were like. 00:08:09.159 --> 00:08:11.120 And that's the kind of principles they lived by. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:16.199 They lived looking after number one so much so they didn't care. 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:20.160 They didn't care if everyone hated them because they were making lots of money exploiting 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:25.399 the poor and working from the pockets of the Roman leaders. 00:08:25.399 --> 00:08:31.680 So this boss man, we're told in Versailles, acted shrewdly. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:33.720 And he was commended for acting shrewdly. 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:41.399 Now we get the word diaphragm from the same root as this word that is the word for shrewd, 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:44.000 fronos, diaphragm. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:53.800 And that just means the kind of what protects or what helps us, our inner bodily functions 00:08:53.800 --> 00:08:56.600 to work from the inside out. 00:08:56.600 --> 00:09:03.120 And so it really has the meaning of, shrewdly here, has the meaning of the inner motivations 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:07.440 that prompt our outward actions, you know? 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:14.039 And so he acted shrewdly because his inner motivation was self-preservation and self-love 00:09:14.039 --> 00:09:19.960 and money, profit. 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:28.720 And if he has no God in his life, then it means that he will do anything he can to self-preserve 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:32.600 and self-love and become wealthy. 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:36.120 Even if it means exploiting other people. 00:09:36.120 --> 00:09:44.960 And you will do your best to be popular and you'll do your best to be accepted as long 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:48.399 as you don't get a hard time, which is partly what he was doing here. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:56.200 And so he was commended for being sharp and for acting according to his worldly principles. 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:59.440 The owner has this kind of grudging admiration, you know? 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:02.800 That's my boy, that's what I would have done. 00:10:02.800 --> 00:10:07.160 And that's the way of the world, the world they were living in. 00:10:07.160 --> 00:10:13.760 Now that is to be contrasted with the way we are to live our lives with respect to money 00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:18.480 and with respect generally to how we deal with people. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:21.320 Self-preservation is not our motive. 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:24.840 Love for money is not our motive. 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:28.440 It may be the motive of other people, but it's not the motive of Christians. 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:38.200 So Jesus here is speaking about love of money, but beyond that to our motives for doing what 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:40.080 we do. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:46.360 So what the, because it's a contrasting, not a similarity parable, what does it look like? 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:50.840 Well the key to this parable is what Jesus says about the heart. 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:51.840 That's the key. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:58.560 In fact, it's the key for all the parables, it's what Jesus is trying to expose is the 00:10:58.560 --> 00:11:00.080 motivation of our heart. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:08.759 Just as the boss and the owner had their self-preserving motive for what they did, the Christian has 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:10.320 a motive too. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:14.320 And we need to always seek and look for that in the parable. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:17.920 And there's two key verses that explain what Jesus is getting at. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:27.039 Verse 13, where he's speaking in almost unpacking the parable, he says, no servant can serve 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:31.360 two masters for either he will hate one and love the other, or will be devoted to one and 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:32.360 despise the other. 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:34.879 You cannot serve God and money. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:35.879 Okay? 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:37.439 So that's the first key verse. 00:11:37.439 --> 00:11:43.319 He's talking about the motivation of our heart, what moves us to serve in this world, the 00:11:43.319 --> 00:11:44.679 motivation of the heart. 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:50.000 And then in verse 15, God says, Jesus says, He said to them, you are those who justify 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.759 yourselves speaking to the Pharisees because they loved money before men. 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:59.719 But God knows your hearts for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of 00:11:59.719 --> 00:12:00.719 God. 00:12:00.719 --> 00:12:01.839 God knows your hearts. 00:12:01.839 --> 00:12:05.679 So these are the key verses because they tell us what the parable is about. 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:12.399 They tell us that Jesus is interested in exposing the hearts of the Pharisees and others around 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:15.759 them with regard to money. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:17.840 It's about idolatry. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:23.319 He's exposing the fact, we've seen it often in the parables, that he exposes the religious 00:12:23.319 --> 00:12:28.639 leader's hearts, the self-righteous religious Bible believing as it were, hearts of those 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:34.519 who thought they were better than Jesus and they didn't need to be saved. 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:37.799 They were self-righteous. 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:43.559 And as Christians, we take from that that when we became Christians, we gave our hearts 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:45.679 to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:49.159 And that doesn't mean we give our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ and then just tread 00:12:49.159 --> 00:12:54.159 water until Jesus comes to take us home. 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:59.719 It means that He gives us new desires, new love, new worship, new obedience, and that 00:12:59.719 --> 00:13:03.959 constantly idols are being knocked down in our hearts. 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:11.840 We have a spiritual relationship that changes what we think, yeah, even about money, what 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:14.160 we think about everything. 00:13:14.160 --> 00:13:18.080 God knows your hearts, He says. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:22.400 Christ could see in this parable that the Pharisees were trying to justify themselves. 00:13:22.400 --> 00:13:27.879 They were sneering at Jesus because He had time for the tax collectors and the sinners. 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:34.519 They hated what He had to say about money and Jesus is exposing what they loved. 00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:38.120 He's exposing their hearts. 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:43.960 And as Christians, we need to recognize that meaning behind the parables, that He wants 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:49.639 us to examine our hearts to see what our motive is for the way we live, for example, with 00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:51.539 regard to money. 00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:53.679 We have a new worldview. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:58.559 We too are to be shrewd. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:13:59.559 You know what that means? 00:13:59.559 --> 00:14:05.519 What we said earlier, we're to be shrewd in that our outward action reflects our inner 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:10.319 motivation and our inner motivation is grace. 00:14:10.319 --> 00:14:15.399 It's the love of God who has transformed and renewed us by His saving work. 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:19.479 And that is to be what motivates our life. 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:23.960 So it's about the heart, okay? 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:30.360 And in this parable, Christ commends three contrasts, three opposites to the behavior 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:35.000 of the boss and the owner, particularly the boss. 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.519 And the contrast, remember, it's opposites. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:41.720 And He's talking about children of light and children of the world. 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:47.120 And so He's not commending, inversely, He's not commending dishonesty. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:56.360 That's what the owner was doing with the boss in their worldview, which was without God. 00:14:56.360 --> 00:15:02.240 But what He is doing, He's exposing that we should be the opposite of that. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:09.840 The basic characteristic of the believer is driven by the beauty of Jesus Christ. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:16.120 And by the beauty of Jesus Christ in our hearts revealed in three ways, opposite to the three 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:19.240 ways that the boss had acted. 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:24.360 So it's trustworthy, honest, and generous. 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:29.039 So if we're looking at the deeper meaning of this parable, that's the deeper meaning 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:30.039 of it. 00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:36.039 He's contrasting how the world acts with money and the motivation beyond money. 00:15:36.039 --> 00:15:40.519 And He's saying, we should not be like the boss. 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:42.279 We shouldn't be dishonest. 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:43.680 We shouldn't be untrustworthy. 00:15:43.680 --> 00:15:46.039 And we shouldn't be mean. 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:52.959 And these are three very beautiful, important, significant characteristics that you will 00:15:52.959 --> 00:15:57.639 take and I will take and walk out of here and live this week. 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:02.819 If Christ is the motive, if grace and Christ is the motivation of our lives. 00:16:02.819 --> 00:16:07.159 Not that we have plugged into the gospel and were saved and we can skip about and live 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:14.639 any way we like, but that grace transform us so that we are the opposite of this behavior 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:15.639 in the parable. 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:22.000 So the boss wasn't trustworthy and the owner recognized that. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.759 Couldn't be trusted. 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:26.759 And probably the owner couldn't be trusted. 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:27.879 They couldn't trust each other. 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:31.399 They were just probably fiddling each other in the books. 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:37.120 But the Christian should be very different from that because our owner is trustworthy. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:38.559 Our boss is trustworthy. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:40.960 The Lord Jesus Christ. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:43.080 He says it as it is. 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.759 He is completely honest and he is completely trustworthy. 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:50.639 And if you're a Christian, you've laid your life at the fruit of the cross and said, Lord, 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:52.200 you're worth it. 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:53.200 You're trustworthy. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:54.200 You are gracious. 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:55.200 You're glorious. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:57.560 You're beautiful. 00:16:57.560 --> 00:16:59.800 Therefore so should I be. 00:16:59.800 --> 00:17:04.900 So if we go away from anything today, with anything today, take away these three things. 00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:10.120 As a believer in Jesus Christ, I should be trustworthy, honest and generous. 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:14.079 I should be trustworthy as a Christian. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:21.439 The Christians in this world should be the most trustworthy people on the planet. 00:17:21.439 --> 00:17:28.000 You should be the most trustworthy person in your work, in your university, in your accommodation, 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:29.299 in your home. 00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:33.000 People should look to you and say, I could leave anything with them because they are 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:41.119 absolutely trustworthy, absolutely worth knowing and loving because of Jesus Christ 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:43.480 in their lives and hearts, trustworthiness. 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:48.400 And the second thing is honesty, and it's kind of related, isn't it? 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:54.240 We trust, we've laid our lives before Jesus Christ because He's been honest with us. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:55.880 He's told us who He is. 00:17:55.880 --> 00:17:57.519 He's told us why He's come. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:04.079 He's told us about our diseased, dead, lost hearts, and He said, but I've come to redeem 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:06.720 you and I love you. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:09.480 And grace is the most glorious thing. 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:17.200 Therefore we too have entrusted our lives to this honest Savior and the beauty of that. 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:22.160 Now I think honesty is a vice in some circles. 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:26.119 It may be a vice in your workplace, to be honest. 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:29.679 It may be something that you shrug your shoulder with, I don't need to be honest. 00:18:29.679 --> 00:18:34.279 As long as like the boss, I don't get found out. 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:39.239 But is that how Jesus wants us to be as believers? 00:18:39.239 --> 00:18:43.479 Because first and foremost, we have to be honest with ourselves if we're going to come 00:18:43.479 --> 00:18:45.479 at Christ at all. 00:18:45.479 --> 00:18:50.859 We have to be honest about our need and the darkness and the deception and the desperately 00:18:50.859 --> 00:18:54.799 wicked hearts that we have beyond understanding. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:59.639 You can understand them except God alone and then come to Him for grace and forgiveness 00:18:59.639 --> 00:19:01.519 and peace and hope. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:02.720 Honesty. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:07.200 So the Christians should be known in the workplace, in the home, wherever they are, wherever we 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:15.319 are as being trustworthy and as being honest, full of integrity, people that other people 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:18.159 can trust. 00:19:18.159 --> 00:19:22.599 He speaks here about dishonesty and the word really is a spiritual word. 00:19:22.599 --> 00:19:25.159 It stems from unrighteousness. 00:19:25.159 --> 00:19:27.679 He talks about unrighteous wealth. 00:19:27.679 --> 00:19:34.799 Without justice, that is making money without recognizing God's parameters. 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:41.159 In other words, there's a spiritual dimension to even our dealing with money. 00:19:41.159 --> 00:19:42.159 Honesty, trust me. 00:19:42.159 --> 00:19:44.559 So the Christians should be trustworthy and honest. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:50.839 Two of the things that the boss and the owner weren't contrast. 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:54.799 And the third thing is generous. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:20:02.839 And this is implied more than spoken of here, but neither of these guys were really generous 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:04.959 for the right reasons. 00:20:04.959 --> 00:20:08.439 They wanted, they were preserving themselves really. 00:20:08.439 --> 00:20:12.759 Although the boss seemed to be generous to the others, it was really for his own benefit 00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:14.519 he was doing it. 00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:20.119 And yet the implied reality here is that the Christian is to be generous because God is 00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:21.119 generous. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:24.679 Verse 10 says, one who is faithful and a little is also faithful and much. 00:20:24.679 --> 00:20:28.959 One who is dishonest and very little is also dishonest and much. 00:20:28.959 --> 00:20:32.799 If then you've been faithful with the unrighteous, if you've not been faithful with the unrighteous 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:37.079 wealth, who will entrust you to you true riches? 00:20:37.079 --> 00:20:43.239 And that's hinting at the generosity of the living God. 00:20:43.239 --> 00:20:48.679 There's no greater generous act in the history of the universe or in spirituality or divinity 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:52.039 than a savior nailed to a tree. 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:55.560 That is the deepest riches that there is in this universe. 00:20:55.560 --> 00:20:59.279 And that's God giving Himself for us. 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:02.560 God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. 00:21:02.560 --> 00:21:04.360 God is a generous God. 00:21:04.360 --> 00:21:05.880 It's revealed in everything that we are. 00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:10.880 We sung about it in that amazing song about grace. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:17.519 And it's the opposite of what we are by nature, which is mean, tight-fisted and self-interested. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:21.839 Not generous, not generous in anything that we are or do. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:25.279 So Christ commends three opposites in this parable. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:32.440 If you don't remember anything else, try and just burn them into your mind and heart. 00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:36.639 As a Christian, Jesus wants me to be trustworthy, honest and generous. 00:21:36.639 --> 00:21:42.559 I guarantee you'll have an opportunity to put that into practice tomorrow, somewhere. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:47.440 Somewhere in your workplace, somewhere in your home, somewhere in your family. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:50.320 As you look at your bank account, maybe even. 00:21:50.320 --> 00:21:52.200 Trustworthy, honest, generous. 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:58.000 And very briefly, can I just apply it in the same...there's three characteristics, and 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:02.000 I'm going to apply it in three ways, because I think Jesus applies it in three ways in 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:03.240 this parable. 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:07.640 The first is financially. 00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:15.480 He's simply talking about the way we deal with money, that we're to be trustworthy, 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:17.839 honest and generous. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:24.079 It's underlying here, but it's also spoken of throughout the New Testament. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:30.200 That financially, every day, you will deal with money today, probably, or certainly tomorrow. 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:34.279 The way you deal with it will reflect the motive of your heart. 00:22:34.279 --> 00:22:36.160 It will reflect what you love. 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:40.480 It will reflect what comes first in your life, whether it's money or whether it's the Lord 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:42.079 Jesus Christ. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:48.199 Every day, love for God as a Christian should be the foundation of your living, not love 00:22:48.199 --> 00:22:49.199 for money. 00:22:49.199 --> 00:22:50.639 That's what he says in this parable. 00:22:50.639 --> 00:22:51.639 That's what he says. 00:22:51.639 --> 00:22:55.519 We're to hold loosely to the pursuit of wealth. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:57.960 It's hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. 00:22:57.960 --> 00:23:03.319 That's what he says, because he recognized those who love riches, who hold on to riches, 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:04.319 have an idol. 00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:05.319 We all have idols. 00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:06.319 We all probably have money. 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:09.879 It's an idol to one degree or another, but we all have these things that God wants to 00:23:09.879 --> 00:23:11.359 root out. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:20.240 In all our dealings financially, he's saying, be trustworthy, be honest, and be generous. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:27.279 Financially, but also generally in life, these characteristics should go beyond how we deal 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:29.039 with money. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:34.479 In everything we do in life, we should, in the practical things of life and in the way 00:23:34.479 --> 00:23:40.000 we interact with one another, be trustworthy, honest, and generous. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.519 Our whole characters inside the church and outside of the church should be marked by 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:47.480 trustworthy, honest, generous dealings. 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:50.279 Now, I know we're all unique. 00:23:50.279 --> 00:23:51.279 We're all different. 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:55.759 God's given us all different characters, and none of us are going to be the same. 00:23:55.759 --> 00:24:00.680 But these fundamental pillars should be part of all of our lives. 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:05.200 So in St. Colombo, we should be a people who are known to be trustworthy with each other, 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:15.200 generous with each other, and generous with each other in our lives, in the intentionality 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:19.720 of our lives, because of what Jesus has done for us. 00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:24.319 In other words, what Jesus is saying here is when you come to Christ, it changes the 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:25.319 way you live. 00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:30.080 Now, we see that very clearly in the story of Zacchaeus, don't we? 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:35.039 When he became a Christian, when he came to Christ, it changed his attitude to the money 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:39.199 that he'd been stealing of his brothers and sisters, and he repaid them. 00:24:39.199 --> 00:24:43.439 He didn't only repay them, he gave them more than they had before because he'd found true 00:24:43.439 --> 00:24:44.439 wealth. 00:24:44.439 --> 00:24:50.599 He'd found the peace and love of God in Christ, and it changed his attitude practically to 00:24:50.599 --> 00:24:54.759 how he lived, trustworthy, honest, and generous. 00:24:54.759 --> 00:25:00.400 I was reading this week very briefly about a revival in Belfast in Northern Ireland 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:02.559 in the 1920s. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:09.519 W. J. Nicholson was the preacher, and a huge amount of people came to Jesus Christ in Northern 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:13.039 Ireland, Belfast, in some of the outlying areas at that time. 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:16.720 And Harland and Wolfe was a huge, big shipbuilders in Belfast at the time. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:19.839 I think I've told his story here before, but it's a lot of visitors, so they might not 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:20.839 know it. 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:26.319 Harland and Wolfe was one of the biggest shipbuilders in Europe at the time, and they had to build 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:33.159 a special warehouse after the revivals to house all the tools that were brought back 00:25:33.159 --> 00:25:39.000 by employees who had stolen them before they became Christians. 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:45.480 Because Christ Jesus transformed the way they lived, and they wanted to be honest and reparative 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:49.279 in their lives, and they wanted to give back. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:51.839 Most were they honest and generous. 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:56.119 When Jesus touches and changes our hearts, we live differently. 00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:58.319 We shouldn't be the same. 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:06.359 All of us, even if we are naturally, we struggle with trust, and don't we all, but we trust 00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:07.359 Jesus. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:12.519 Naturally, we all struggle with honesty, but we've come face to face with the honest one. 00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:16.480 And naturally, maybe we're a bit mean. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:22.839 And yet God transforms that and asks us to be different financially, generally, and to 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:30.200 show these three characteristics also spiritually, spiritually in our lives. 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:38.880 So that link between these three characteristics financially reveals our understanding of grace 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:47.200 and really importantly, gospel usefulness. 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:56.320 So Jesus says, the way you deal with your wallet, the way you deal with your wallet, 00:26:56.320 --> 00:27:03.000 and what's in it, will be the way I judge whether you're useful in my kingdom or not. 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:05.600 And that's a hugely significant thing in verse 10 and 12. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:11.159 Jesus says, if you've been faithful in a very little, you'll also be faithful in much. 00:27:11.159 --> 00:27:15.199 If you're dishonest with a very little, you'll be dishonest in much. 00:27:15.199 --> 00:27:19.919 If then you've not been faithful with the unrighteous wealth, that just means your day-to-day 00:27:19.919 --> 00:27:22.319 money that you get. 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:23.919 Who will entrust you with true riches? 00:27:23.919 --> 00:27:31.240 Now that's a really solemnizing thought that our gospel usefulness is linked to whether 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:36.240 money for us is an idol and whether we're willing to be trustworthy, honest, and generous 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:37.240 with it. 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:44.359 And that's a link between our attitude to cash and the handling of cash and our attitude 00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:50.519 to the handling of God's riches that He's given us in grace. 00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:56.319 So the really challenging question for us today is, can God trust us to use the grace 00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.680 that He's given to us well? 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:02.560 Really trust us to use that grace well. 00:28:02.560 --> 00:28:05.039 Are we trustworthy through the Holy Spirit? 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:08.440 Are we honest and are we generous? 00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:12.880 Or do we have an attitude that we say is that, I'm a Christian, I'm all right, Jack, I'm 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:15.920 fine and there's a lot of benefit in it for me. 00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:22.920 And we walk away from the ethical and moral responsibilities to be trust, ethical and moral, 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:28.240 but they're actually really deeply spiritual and grace challenging. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:32.120 Grace worthy, honest, and generous. 00:28:32.120 --> 00:28:33.120 So God's given us all. 00:28:33.120 --> 00:28:37.319 And St. Columbus here, and if you're visiting with us wherever you are, wherever you live, 00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:41.880 if you're a Christian, God has given each of us gospel responsibility. 00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:44.079 We're partners in this kingdom. 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:46.799 We're to be growing as individuals and as a church. 00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:50.240 We're to be fruitful, as I mentioned in that, talking about the parable. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:56.960 We're to see conversions for Jesus Christ in this gospel generation kingdom coming. 00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:04.160 And that requires us as believers to be trustworthy, honest and generous. 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:09.240 Generous with our time, our gifts, our patience, our forgiveness. 00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:13.960 Generous together as a congregation with how we treat one another in grace. 00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:20.240 Honest with one another in love so that we are able to share our failings and our faults 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:22.240 as well as our blessings. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:27.200 And trust worthy and pointing people to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:34.599 And we're to use our money for gospel investment, and that involves risk and involves action. 00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:40.319 But we're to do it cheerfully and we're to do it lovingly. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:43.720 So it's not about buying our way to heaven. 00:29:43.720 --> 00:29:51.120 It's about using our gospel and material blessings to bless other people so that when we die and 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:58.000 you'll not even take the clothes you're dressed in with you when you go, naked we came and 00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.000 naked we will return. 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:01.399 We'll take nothing with us. 00:30:01.399 --> 00:30:06.799 And He's saying that when all of that is gone, however much might be in the bank, you've 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:11.919 lived your life investing in the people that you will share eternity with. 00:30:11.919 --> 00:30:16.519 That's really what He's saying in that verse in verse 9. 00:30:16.519 --> 00:30:23.039 So grace, the summary really is grace changes our hearts, therefore it changes our attitude 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.759 to money in our hands. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:30.400 Christ in our hearts, money in our hands. 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:32.480 Christ is Lord of all. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:39.359 You can't love money first and God second as a Christian. 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:43.039 And you can't let money be the motivation for your life because it will drag you to 00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:49.359 the grave empty like a skeleton because it can't offer you life. 00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:52.279 Money can't offer happiness or life. 00:30:52.279 --> 00:30:55.039 Jesus can. 00:30:55.039 --> 00:31:04.119 And if we can't be honest with God with regard to our attitude to money, don't be surprised 00:31:04.119 --> 00:31:09.319 if we're living in spiritual poverty. 00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:13.279 Don't be surprised if we can't cope with the blessings and the conversions that He 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:17.200 longs to give to us in Christ. 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:19.759 Remember we can't take any of it with us. 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:26.319 What we are investing, what are we investing in that is eternal value in your heart and 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:27.319 in your life. 00:31:27.319 --> 00:31:29.559 These parables really expose our hearts. 00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:31.159 They're never moralistic. 00:31:31.159 --> 00:31:35.720 They're never simply how to illustrations of life. 00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:41.160 They're always digging deep and if you're uncomfortable and I've been uncomfortable with that truth, 00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:47.799 it's only to point us to the grace and the riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:31:47.799 --> 00:32:07.919 So amen.