Generosity with Wealth
Sermon Notes
Today’s the last week in the teaching series we’ve been doing called Outward, which is about developing a culture of generosity. Next week we’ll be back in The Story series, we’ll finish the year going through the rest of the biblical narrative. But today we’re finishing our series on generosity, and we intentionally haven’t talked about generosity with our wealth, to show you that a biblical view of generosity entails so much more than our wealth. It entails living a lifestyle of generosity. So we’ve talked about generosity regarding things like hospitality, forgiveness, relationships, serving others, even using our power and influence to help others. We’ve talked about generosity in so many different areas, to show you that generosity entails much more than our wealth. It entails living a lifestyle of generosity.
But you can’t live a lifestyle of generosity, without being generous with your wealth. You can’t be a greedy generous person...You can’t be a greedy generous person. It’s an oxymoron...If you’re truly a generous person, you’ll also be generous with your wealth, and that’s what we’re talking about today. We’re talking about being generous with our wealth, and if you’re a skeptic of pastors talking about being generous with wealth, then give somewhere else instead of this church. I mean it when I say that, because we treasure your heart more than your wallet. We treasure your heart more than the treasure in your pockets...So we’d rather you give your wealth somewhere else, than miss what Jesus is about to teach us on generosity, because the fact still remains. You can’t be a generous person, without being generous with your wealth. So let’s turn to Luke ch 16 and see what Jesus says about being generous with our wealth. If you open the bible to the middle, keep turning right, you’ll find Luke. We’ll be in Luke 16:1-13, and title of today’s message is Generosity With Wealth. The big idea is generosity entails using your wealth beyond yourself...Generosity entails using your wealth beyond yourself...
Context:
Here’s your context. In Luke 15 some Jewish religious leaders are grumbling about Jesus welcoming sinners. So Jesus tells them a series of parables, which are short stories meant to teach a lesson. They’re short stories that aren’t meant to be taken literally, instead the 1-2 truths they’re teaching are what’s meant to be taken literally. Now in ch 16 Jesus tells another parable, but this time he’s speaking directly to his disciples, to his followers. It's a parable focusing on the topic of wealth, and how Jesus wants his followers to use their wealth. He'll teach us to value three things when it comes to our wealth, and it’s to: #1 value Stewardship over Ownership, #2 value the Eternal over the Temporal, #3 value Friendships over Finances. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Luke 16:1-13 states, “Now he said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who received an accusation that his manager was squandering his possessions. 2 So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’” So what we’re dealing with is a rich man who has a manager overseeing all his possessions. A manager back then was more like a COO and CFO combined, meaning they oversaw all the operational and financial decisions of the person who hired them. So the manager in the text is overseeing all the daily operational and financial decisions of the rich man’s investments, businesses, possessions, his entire estate. As a manager he had access and authority to invest the rich man’s wealth in whatever ways he wanted. Whatever decisions he made would’ve been considered just as binding, as if the rich man made those decisions himself. But Jesus says the problem with this manager is he isn’t doing his job, he isn’t managing the rich man’s money well, and so he’s asked to give an account of his management. He’s basically being audited, which every company and church should do, so we have honest accurate records of where the money’s going. When I was an atheist I was skeptical of churches and money, and we know there are lots of people in our city who are skeptical. So here at City Awakening we intentionally have external people, an accountant outside our church managing our finances. We want that extra accountability from an external accountant to suppress skepticism, and to hold us accountable to accurate records of our church finances. But the manager in the text is being audited because he's doing something wrong, something dishonest, and so the rich man fires him.
Vs. 3,”Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I’ll do, so when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first one. 6 ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said. ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’ 7 Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe?’ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said. ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘and write eighty.’” Okay so the manager gets fired and starts freaking out about how he’s going to make a living. If you’ve ever been fired or resigned from a job you know it’s very scary, especially if you have to provide for a family. You start freaking out over how you’re going to pay the mortgage, keep the lights on, put food on the table, provide for you and your family. You start freaking out like this manager. But he knows since they’re auditing him, he still has a little time to make some moves to secure his future. His plan is to give customers a discount on the debts they owe, so they’ll welcome him in their homes. He’s giving them paid in full invoices, so in the future he can say “Hey remember when I helped you and wiped out your invoice? Well now I’m in a situation where I need help.” He’s wiping out as much as 50% of their debt, which some scholars say was over $150,000 worth of debt! He's hoping these people will remember this and help him when he needs it later.
Vs. 8, “The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.” This is a very confusing verse, because we don’t expect him to praise the manager, we expect him to be furious with the manager. Some scholars say it’s because of the increase in cash he now received from the manager collecting his debts. Others say it’s because the manager was charging higher interest rates on the debt to give himself better commission checks. Such high rates would’ve given the rich man a bad reputation, people would’ve viewed him as a dishonest businessman taking advantage of people. So when the manager discounts this debt it would’ve restored the rich man’s reputation which is why he praises him. But the point of the parable isn’t to figure out why he’s praising the manager. The point Jesus is making is that we need to be good stewards. The manager started out as a dishonest steward doing things the rich man didn’t like, but now he's being a good steward doing some things the rich man is praising him for.
The point Jesus is making is about stewardship. He’s saying when it comes to our wealth we need to #1 value stewardship over ownership...It’s to value stewardship over ownership...In fact the original Greek word for manager is also translated as steward. So this is really about us being good stewards with the wealth we have, and a good steward realizes the wealth they have isn’t their own. But owners are like “I earned it, I worked hard for it, so it’s all mine. I get to do whatever I want with it.” Jesus is saying “No it isn’t...No it isn’t your wealth, it’s my wealth, and I want you to be a good steward of it.” Look you didn’t create the air you’re breathing to be able to work and earn your wealth...You didn’t create the skills, talents, abilities you have to be able to work and earn your wealth...If you’re intellectual, analytical, mechanical, athletic, you didn’t do anything to wire your DNA to have those abilities. You might have improved those abilities with education and training which is good stewardship. But you didn’t create the genetic abilities in your mother’s womb that are allowing you to work and earn your wealth. The air, skills, abilities you have, are all gifts God’s given you to earn your wealth, and he wants you to steward it well. Jesus wants us to wrestle with the question are we being good or bad stewards with his wealth? Another great question is what would change in your budget, if Jesus set your budget?...What would change in your budget, if Jesus set your budget?...If you’re a steward, then let Jesus audit your budget. If you value stewardship over ownership, then let Jesus audit and set your budget.
Vs. 9, “Jesus said, ‘I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth, so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.” Notice Jesus doesn’t say if it fails, but when it fails...He says when our wealth fails, which is the 2nd things he’s teaching us. He’s teaching us when it comes to wealth we need to #2 value the eternal over the temporal... We need to value stewardship over ownership, but we also need to value the eternal over the temporal. Jesus says eventually our wealth, our money will fail us. Eventually inflation hits, gas goes up, food goes up, insurance goes up, everything goes up except our salaries. Eventually the economy crashes or you crash going 6 ft under where you can’t take any of it with you anyways. When you study history you learn every great empire, every great kingdom eventually fails. The Persian Empire, the Mongolian Empire, the Roman Empire, the British Empire were some of the greatest empires in history, but they aren’t great anymore. Eventually their economic wealth, their empires collapsed like Jesus said. In our arrogance we often think the American Empire will last forever, but a time will come when the American Empire will collapse like every other empire in history. It’s because everything that’s not eternal has an expiration date. Jesus is saying don’t put your hope in any kingdom except his eternal kingdom. Be a good steward who invests in eternal things, who values eternal things over temporal things, or else the wealth and financial kingdom you’re building will get washed away like sandcastles on a seashore. It’ll eventually fail you.
Again vs. 9, “Jesus said, ‘I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth, so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.” What Jesus is saying here is when it comes to our wealth we should #3 value friendships over finances...We should value friendships, over finances. The manager in the text could’ve taken whatever money the people paid and ran off with it, instead of giving it to the rich man. It would’ve been a nice security blanket for him. But instead of seeking short-term gain he invests in something long term which is friendships. The point is we need to be good stewards by investing in eternal things, investing eternal friendships, and that’s something we can get behind. That’s something we can invest in, because we want our friendships and families to last beyond this life. The reason we grieve at funerals is because we want those relationships to last, and Jesus is promising that everybody we lead to him will have eternal relationships. Here’s how I know you want this more than money. It’s because you’d give up all your money and wealth, if it meant being able to spend eternity with those you love. You’d give it all up, if it meant you could see them beyond the grave. Most of us value friendships over finances. But Jesus is pointing out that we often live as if we value finances over friendships. We often live as if money’s our god, which Jesus mentions in vs 13.
Vs. 13 states, “No servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Jesus says you can’t serve both God andmoney, meaning there’s only room for one God in your life. You either worship Jesus, or worship your wealth, but you can’t worship both. So what about you? Do you worship God, or worship money?...Do you worship God, or worship wealth?...Some of us worship wealth because we feel it gives us significance, status, a sense of accomplishment. It allows you to live in certain neighborhoods, drive certain cars, eat at better restaurants, wear designer clothes, and it makes you feel significant, it makes you feel a sense of accomplishment...Some of us worship wealth because we feel it gives us comfort. It can give us a comfortable life, an easy life, a hammock on the beach life, not having to worry about paying your bills. So you can sit back, relax, enjoy nice vacations, sipping on drinks with an umbrella, while listening to Jack Johnson and Bob Marley...Some of us worship wealth because we feel it gives us security. If you or your family gets sick, you can afford better healthcare. If inflation hits like what’s happening now, you don’t have to worry about cutting back on driving to save gas money, or switching from organic to generic food to save grocery money. If you lose your job like the manager, you want enough financial security to not worry about paying your bills... These are 3 primary ways we tend to worship wealth. It’s to give us significance, comfort, security.
But Jesus is teaching us our wealth will eventually fail us. He’s teaching us that money can be a great resource, but it’ll make a terrible god, because it'll eventually fail us. Jesus isn’t against using money as a resource to buy a nice house, nice car, nice cloths, or even to enjoy nice vacations. He isn’t even against you being wise with your money, saving your money for tough days like Joseph did in Egypt, when he was preparing for a famine. The issue isn’t with using money as a resource for those things. The issue is when you rely on money to give you significance, comfort, security over God. It also causes you to be greedy with your money trying to obtain the significance, comfort, security you want, instead of being generous with your money like Jesus wants. Jesus is teaching us that money can be a great resource, but it’ll make a terrible god. So you need to decide who you’ll worship. Will you worship Jesus, or worship money?...Will you value Jesus, or value your money?...Jesus is saying if you value him, then use your money to lead people to him, to build eternal friendships with him. Here’s what this looks like practically.
1st use your money to help meet people’s needs. Don’t just use your money to meet your own needs, use your money to help meet other people’s needs too. Skeptics are often more open to receiving our generosity, before they’re open to receiving our beliefs. When we do things like bring them a meal after surgery, give them gifts after having a baby, have coffee with them when they’re struggling, help pay their bills when they’re financially hurting. When we do things like that it causes them to ask “Why are you doing this?” It allows us to say “I’m doing this because I care about you, and because I’m just the steward Jesus sent to show you he cares about you.” It’s generosity that opens the door to sharing our beliefs. It’s what we’re trying to do with Winterfest. Winterfest is a way to meet people’s needs in our city, because we’re giving all the net proceeds to people facing hardships from hurricane Ian. We want people in our city to know we care, and maybe it’ll soften their hearts to accept our invites to hear the gospel at our Christmas Eve service. You can learn more about Winterfest at our next steps table, but the point is if you value people over your money, then use your money to help people. It can open doors to sharing our beliefs.
2nd use your money to build eternal friendships. Use your money to help build eternal friendships with Jesus. This is one of the reasons we give to the local church. It’s because in Matthew 28 Jesus commissioned the local church with the purpose of building eternal friendships with him. So we give to the local church since it’s the primary way he’s building eternal friendships, it’s the primary way he’s building his eternal kingdom. That means Jesus is building eternal friendships, building his eternal kingdom through this local church! If you’ve given financially to City Awakening this year, your financial stewardship was an eternal investment that allowed us to:
· Baptize 8 people, commission 4 sets of parents, welcome 20 new members in our church.
· We started a new small group, we have 80 people placed in small groups, and we have 72 people generously serving on a ministry team in our church.
· We have 106 people generously giving financially to our church, 25 of them are new givers this year, which is evidence that people are growing in their generosity and faith.
· We’ve also given to needs outside our church, having provided an entire palate of food to 2nd Harvest Food Bank...By the end of the year we will have given $4,500 to help start new churches, and we will have given $9,000 towards local and global outreach. b
· We’ve also utilized our digital platforms to spread the message of Jesus with our sermons reaching 700 views on Boxcast, 1500 views on YouTube, and 1000 podcast downloads.
· Our digital platforms have allowed us to spread the gospel message to several thousand people, in 41 states, and over 6 different countries. Some of those digital people, have become real people, who are actually sitting in our seats today.
I’m sharing all this because I want you to realize your financial stewardship isn’t just reaching our church, it’s reaching outside our church! Jesus is building eternal friendships, he’s building his eternal kingdom through the financial stewardship of people in this church, and we want it to continue in 2023. We’re calling 2023 Deeply Rooted, because we want to focus on building the theology of the eternal friendships in our church. We don’t just want to build new eternal friendships, we also want to build the theology of existing eternal friendships. So we’ll be spending most of 2023 in the book of Romans which is rich in theology. But we’ll also take breaks to dive deeper into questions like: “Why does God allow suffering and evil to exist?...If God knows all things, then why would he create people he knew would go to hell?...If God knows all things, then do we really have free will, or is it predestination?...” We’re going to address all kinds of questions like this in our 2023 Deeply Rooted year of theology! So you can give somewhere else like I encouraged you to do if you’re a skeptic. But if you give your wealth to this church, it’ll go towards meeting people’s needs, and building new and existing eternal friendships with Jesus.
The Big Idea:
The big idea of the message is generosity entails using your wealth beyond yourself... Generosity entails using your wealth beyond yourself...The primary message of the bible is that Jesus is a generous giver of grace, a generous giver of salvation. He’s the eternal friend who not only gave up his wealth, he gave up his entire life to die for our sins on the cross. He did this so we could have eternal friendship in heaven with him. His death on the cross proves he valued friends over finances, people over personal profit, and his resurrection proves his empire won’t ever fail like every other empire in history. But the question is will you invest in building his eternal kingdom, or invest in building your temporary sandcastle kingdom?...Will you choose to value stewardship over ownership, the eternal over the temporal, friendships over finances?... Will you choose to worship your wealth, or worship Jesus with your wealth?...Let’s pray.