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the parable of the talents or the moral
Story of a very large sum of money
because if this is a bit strange to come across another story that Jesus
tells in the Gospel of Luke
about a manager who is accused of wasting his
Master's possessions, knowing he's going to be fired
this fellow then goes off in cuts his losses by giving each to the debtors a
break on what they owe
for some reason Jesus then says the master commended the dishonest manager
because he acted shrewdly
today we are going to explore the lesson we find here
as Jesus explains exactly what he means follow along with me as I read from Luke
16 verses
9 to 13 use your worldly possessions to benefit others and make friends
then when your earthly possessions are gone they will welcome you to an
internal
home if you are faithful in little things
you will be faithful in large ones but if you are dishonest
in little things you won't be honest with greater responsibilities
and if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth
who will trust you with the true riches of heaven
and if you are not faithful with other people's things
why should you be trusted with things have your own
no one can serve two masters
for you will hate one and love the other you will be devoted to one
and despise the other you cannot serve both God
and money on the
Eve of my bachelor party seventeen years ago
a group of friends kidnapped me
and took me to San Francisco they
said Rick you been a missionary you are very resourceful person
tonight you're going to buy us dinner
I was given a guitar
and a little table which I could sit at and dispense
marriage counseling and I sat in the middle
the square near the BART station downtown San Francisco
speaking to tourists as they pass by
I tried out the guitar
First, it didn't go so well and since
panhandling wasn't my day job I figured I had a lot to learn
so I dispensed with the guitar sat at the table and again giving out advice to
those who would come up to me
again minutes passed and no cash was coming
I thought man, this is going to be a long night
but thankfully after
several minutes a few people came up I was able to
let them know that yes he would make a wonderful husband she make a beautiful
bride
and I thought you know I'm get the hang at this I'm starting to do well
but then I looked over and my friends
were spread out all over the square
I someone up reach into his pocket and handing
people money and point in my direction
See, they were funding the enterprise
but this was good
because as people began coming and giving more money
others saw and I saw people that were not getting the cash come up in and give as
well which was
really encouraging to me so finally after about a half-hour this
exhausting myself and everybody else I picked up the guitar
walked over to the cable car which was loading up with people
and gave my last plea that people would support my bachelor party
and thankfully I got the last 10 bucks that I needed from all these people
standing in line you see now I was resource
full and so
resourceful or resource full
not everybody can be resource full
but I think anybody can learn to be resourceful
and in the story we heard about today
the unrighteous manager is praised for his initiative
his creativity and for something Jesus calls
shrewdness that means to act wisely
sensibly and prudently
this person had shown the ability to act effectively or imaginatively
especially in difficult situations
now there is no indication from the story that the manager stole from his
employer
probably he wasted the money by laziness
but when he showed some initiative
began to cut his losses began to
look for creative ways to deal with his problem
that's when the master said huh
that's when he commended him
If you had shown that kind of initiative maybe You wouldn't have been fired
but he learned too late so there's a lesson for us today when it comes to
resourcefulness and I think the starting point that we all
can begin with this Christians is that God owns
the resource says in Psalm 24:1 the
earth is the Lord's and everything in it
the world and all who live in it
so God owns everything he created everything he owns everything
but here's the catch: God being God
he wants to use his resources for his plans
and when we grab a hold of that
amazing things can start happening God's resources
are to be deployed through God's people to accomplish
God's purposes
so God has decided in his goodness to make us messengers
and to make us managers and some of us miss
that important point many people in the world miss that important point
and they wonder about resources as a result
perhaps they use resources for their own ends and never think about what God's
ends might be
but God wants us to be
Resources and He wants to do great things though our lives and so I want to talk about
several principles today
how we can do that
first thing is that God commends
the wise use of opportunity commends it
that's what the story is about
Ephesians 5 says be careful how you live
don't live like fools but like those who are wise
make the most I've every opportunity in these evil days
now most about us when we think about opportunities
we love to have opportunities in the good days
in the times when things make sense we want to take advantage of the
opportunities that are around this and do good things with them
but life doesn't always work like that
and in fact the worst days the most evil days
can be the time greatest opportunity
in our story the Stewart the manager
he didn't get it, he didn't apply himself
he'd lost many opportunities it was when he was really threatened
the he woke up and started to act
and many times we need those kinds of things to help us
and even in the midst of tragedy or disappointment God can provide an
opportunity
I learned this lesson when I was overseas
near the end of the nineteen nineties we were in Albania and a war broke out
in Kosovo
many refugees came into our country and there we were
in Durres, Albania
in a position to now help people in
Grave need these were evil days
but God had provided an opportunity that was right before us that lasted several
months
to bless, to love, to care and to share Jesus with these people
what an amazing thing happened out of evil
because these people came in from Kosovo a place with virtually no churches
they came in they saw the love Jesus
and then they went back to churches were started
a great work of God came from difficult
and that is often how it works when it comes to resourcefulness
you see we are creative and apply ourselves
in difficult circumstances that's what resourceful means
when the disciples were arrested and put in prison
Jesus says don't look at that as a negative look at it as a positive
Luke 21-13 this will be your
opportunity to tell them about me
so you're arrested and questioned you this is your moment
this is your time to be resourceful and fact it says later that the Holy Spirit
help you
and tell you what to say is God provides the resources
now in our passage today Luke 16:9
there's a wonderful principal
that we can take to heart in says use your worldly resources to benefit others
and make friends and then when you're earthly possessions are gone
they will welcome you to an eternal home
the message in this particular passages that wealth
fails now for the sake of
the story we read the manager
got the message that his job was gone his wealth was going to fail
and he realized that he needed to find some friends quick
people who welcomed him into their homes so he went out any cut a deal with a
bunch of people and he got
help he realized that this wealth wasn't going to last
and that's really the message that Jesus trying to get out here and then
give a deeper significantance as we know that wealth
fails there's plenty of people that were formerly rich who died in poverty
they re actually people today who are very rich
who have decided to give the bulk of their money to helping the needs of the
poor look at Bill Gates
who several years ago I had way more money they need it and decided to create
the foundation
that helps people around the world but there's a deeper
message here Jesus wants to get at
and that is that the people of God
last for eternity so they are the best investment
one to input your resources into
and giving is often the mechanism
I saw that with these refugees coming into Albanian
where giving, loving
turn their hearts back to God
and God is the author of giving
we say by grace you have been saved through faith
It's a gift of God, God's the originator
and the origin of giving
and he is called us to be
Part of that it's no mistake that the Great Commission comes at the end Matthew and
he says go into all the world
make disciples teaching them to obey all I have commanded
he is given us the task of giving out His grace to others
going and make disciples going translate the Bible
go and share in the world he has
asked us to be those ones who give
grace he's charged us with that
put us in charge so what I want to ask you to do if you have a pen
or pencil its circle this verse
Use your worldly resources to benefit others
and make friends and then when you're earthly possessions are gone
They'll welcome you into eternal home the reason I ask you circle it is I bet you haven't memorize
this verse
Muslims have John 3:16 may be memorized
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life
I wonder if you got this verse written out somewhere
yet use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends
and then when your earthly possessions are gone to welcome you to an eternal
home
you know most of us don't internalize this or practice it
and in fact when people do, it becomes newsworthy
some of you have heard of Rick Warren and The Purpose Driven Life
we went to that as a church several years ago
and that book sold 30 million copies
as of last year and it was translated into
56 languages
when Rick Warren was interviewed about that book he said that
that he decided when that money started coming in that he would give
most of the money back to his church and to World Missions
Didn't increased his standard of living at all Still drives the same car he drove before
but what most people don't know is that
when Rick Warren
decided to do that he had many, many years
previous to that where he had given quietly sacrificially and not told
anybody
any said in an interview later that God knew
how he was going to use the money so when that blessing came
from that book God knew and had already tested him
and so there's another principle here that is very important when it comes to
resourcefulness
and being resource full and that is that God
tests us first he always tests us
first your faithful in little things
you'll be faithful in large ones but if you're dishonest in little things
you won't be honest with greater responsibilities
I first learn this lesson
in college I went to UC Davis
and we would have to rent our apartment for the entire twelve months of
the year because most of the students left for summer
they took off during that three months and they would of course would
not want to have to pay money for rent during those three months
so the landlords being savvy landlords said no, too bad
you're in there for a year you pay for a year
so I had this three months that every year I was a college I had
to fork over money that way even though I wasn't staying there
for the three months
one day a probably a week before summer started I
knew I was planning to leave and go somewhere else I had this
thought I said to God you know
Lord if you provide a renter for just those three months for me
I'm going to give all the money that I give to the landlord to commissions
I have to say I didn't put a whole lot of thought and planning into that great
idea
this is a week before school is out I'm a typical college student going to finals
and I think I probably should do something to let people know there's a
room available
so on a little piece a paper I rode out you know
room for a three-month and I walked over to a public bulletin board with probably
a thousand other notes on it
and put that one note up a week before school was out
now that is not have being very resourceful or trying too hard
but within a day I got a call
person called said I want to take the room for three months I said
really okay I guess I'm going to be giving that money to missions
what was remarkable though was he came into our apartment I had several
roommates who are Christians
who were staying around that summer by the end of summer I came back and he was
a permanent roommate and
a believer and part of our church
God used a really silly thing and even a Kind of a silly idea
to do a great blessing and here I have even try too hard yet
but for me that was a wonderful lesson that I took with me and began to
think you know God is so much bigger
that I think I know every year comes around
and we're dealing with the idea of giving a tithe
to the church and the other ministries and
I know for myself I struggle with this each and every year
because we're trying to balance the budget we're trying to discern how much
to give
and sometimes I'm sitting there and the Lord says give a little more
each and every time I struggle with that I think all us do when we're
trying to do that
I have to say that every time but I've had that struggle at had that thought
and I have written that extra check
God has provided in ways that I didn't expect
because he wants us to trust him
and especially trust him when it's difficult
that's how He works that's how he shows he is real
in our lives so He does test us
and a third principles even more remarkable we manage much more than we
think
so be trustworthy
first Corinthians four two a person who was put in charge as a manager
must be faithful
so one of the great lessons of this passage is that we think about
what has God put us in charge of
our work, our family, our connections
and how resourceful for the Kingdom
are we with these, how much we think about it
do we define ourselves by what we have and what we consume
or about what God would like to see happen in people's lives
Do we try to increase our standard of living or standard in giving
do we worship our money or worship with
our money now there is one
very big difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world
and the biggest difference between those two is the kingdom of God
is eternal the kingdom of God laugh because it deals with people
king of the world fail eventually ends
so trustworthiness with our worldly wealth is very
important
Says in Luke sixteen if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth
Who will trust you with the true riches of heaven if you're not faithful with other
people's things why should you be trusted
with things of your own
Right out of college I was an engineer I worked for Hewlett Packard
and on their dime I got to travel to Asia on several occasions
I wasn't in the country for very long
when Christians or missionaries
came into my sphere of contact I saw people that
that were ready to hear about Jesus here I was on the company's dime in Asia
and God was giving me cross-cultural experiences
that were imprinting in my life and he was using
Each of those experiences to eventually
push me out to have faith that he would provide resources were I would never
even know where they're coming from so I later I became a missionary had asked
for money
not an easy thing to do but as time has shown
God said you are you know able to trust me because I will provide the resources
so I did that several years and then I came back
and the Lord put me in a position to help
others who were doing that to raise their money
so the last ten years or more I have been involved
in the side of the church ministry helping resource
missions and the Lord brought all those things about
Over time he grew those things in my life
its amazing when you begin to see the world
as God owns the resources and especially when you see it as God's got a plan in
I with the mission a people who were mostly
poor we raised about seven hundred dollars a month
to go and travel the world in these old Ford vans all over Europe a bunch a
single people for the most part
but these folks figured out
faith and they were a bit crazy even in the beginning years in the nineteen
seventies there were a group of
People who were a part of my mission who
got around a map during a prayer meeting and we're praying for the countries in
the world
one night and somebody said hey look at all those
ports around the world what if we bought a boat or a ship
And we traveled from port to port and sold
Bibles and literature, this is like the 1970s
They didn't know anything about boats they Didn't know anything about ships
They bought the oldest ship in the world
Older than the Titanic called the Doulos
they fixed it up they recruited a captain
every year who is a professional captain a volunteers at the time they got fuel
donated
and they started that ministry and for thirty-plus years
traveled around port to port and
blessed people with the love Jesus bought two ships eventually actually three now
okay all based on this assumption that God would provide the resources for his
tasks they didn't have anything in themselves but they were resourceful
and what a wonderful thing it is when you're resourceful for God
there's a great quote from the president of Coca-Cola
he says what separates those who achieve from those who do not
is in direct proportion in their ability
to ask for help
president a Coca-Cola when
I went into Albania in 1992 it was a very closed country
It was communist it was like North Korea's today very closed
the only company in Albanian 1992 from the outside was guess what
Coca-Cola they had a plant already established by the time I got there
so really the only foreigners in the very beginning where the missionaries
and Coca-Cola
you knew the people that knew how to ask
of course ask God and ask a lot of other people to move forward
so God wants us to be resourceful and says each have you should use
whatever gift you have received to serve others
as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various
forms because of God we are resource
full and we have a place to direct our attention
so be thinking about
your gifts
be thinking about what God has given you and what was he doing with our
employment
or roles in the family roles in the church or in society
think about your social networks it's amazing with the computer these days
how wide your social network can be
and the things people raise money for or
get involvement for just by using their
available friends God has given us incredible
resource base he wants us to trust Him He wants us to ask
now God knows our weakness
and that we love to get gifts
We love to relish the gifts that God has given us
Some of us love to be entitled thinking we deserve it
and that's why he says be undivided
no one can serve two masters for you will hate one and love the other
you'll be devoted to one and despise the other
you can't serve both God and money
so how do I know who I serve
well the answer that question is very simple
do we ask ourselves am I doing
good to others to reap the harvest
that's the first question to ask my doing good others to reap a harvest
that's what the verse that we circled is about
about reaping an eternal harvest and then the second question
am I managing my own appetites so I am free
to give because if we don't let
the Lord manage our appetites there will be anything left
For giving so we'd have both those things in balance
and when we care enough about the eternal things
he helps us with managing our appetites
as Scott always says we start with the local church in our tithes
but God wants us to go much bigger than that
he wants us to have our hearts set on his plans in fact there's a
a passage from Matthew 23:23 always remember that Matthew 23:23
Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and he says you get a tenth of your spices your
mint
your dill your cumin but you neglected the more important things of
the law
Justice, mercy and faithfulness
you should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former
from this you can get is very clear tithing is a test
A starting point but what God wants
is our hearts and he's going to use that first starting point actual
practicality when it comes to giving
to increase our desires and our faith in him
tithing shouldn't be necessarily easy
it's meant to challenge us that we have faith
and then God wants to capture our hearts for his
plans and his purposes and asking for huge and wonderful
things just to sow what the Spirit wants to do
and that's why it says in Galatians
whoever sows to please the flesh from the flesh will be destruction
Wealth doesn't last, whoever sows to please the Spirit and the Spirit will reap
eternal life
let's not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a
harvest if we don't give up
therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all people especially to
those who belong to the family of believers
same messages either verse if we sow
for eternity we will reap a great
harvest in our lives and through our lives
so not all of us are resource full
but we have a God who is resourceful
and if we are created if we ask
if we turn our hearts toward God desires
he is going to fill us
and use us in amazing ways
so use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends
and then when your earthly possessions are gone to welcome you
to an eternal home that
is wisdom let us pray
heavenly father you don't want us to waste our lives
to miss opportunities and Lord it is a precious thing to know our
gifts and our calling in life and especially in difficult situations to
realize that you are much bigger
than we can ask or imagine and I know all the opportunities in the world don't
mean a thing if our hearts are right with you
Lord we can serve both you and things
or money so Lord I pray for you to ignite
our hearts for your desires
for a passion for a dream that really comes from the heart
Of You give us holy discontent Lord
about the things around us help us never to see I can't do this or that
for lacking resources because you Lord are the great provider
you are the God of miracles Lord help us with that
Help us to multiply your grace in Jesus name
Amen