Wary of Wealth

greed, wealth, a lot, which is in Luke's Gospels where we're going to be in the next month.

One third of his parables are on this topic.

He warns of the dangers and what it looks like to live a life of pervasive generosity.

He wants us to see how the good news of what he has done for us changes everything in our world,

including how we see wealth and possessions.

The second reason is we've just finished our pledging project for Mission Month.

Our vision series, which is our annual pledging time, is six months away,

and we don't have any capital fundraising program on right now.

So that's the reason why we're talking about money.

When there is a sermon or a series of sermons during any sort of fundraising campaign at all,

it's way too easy for us just to think about the thing.

You know, it's the pledging for the next year, the budget for next year,

or raising a target for Mission, or raising money to build buildings.

We focus on the thing we are raising the money for.

When our minds and our hearts engage with the Bible on the issue,

we default to the value of the thing we're raising money for,

rather than the spiritual life and the habits and the values of the gospel of the Lord Jesus calls us to.

We concentrate on the thing of the campaign and not our hearts.

And so this is a deliberate focus on heart work in the next four weeks.

Our perspective on money and possessions and wealth,

how we handle them, lie at the very heart of the Christian life.

Does that sound like an overstatement?

I want to say it's not at all.

The Bible emphatically demonstrates that how we view our money and our possessions is of utmost importance.

What we do with them will influence eternity.

God has recorded in the Bible everything that we need to know about his investment priorities,

his high standards of management,

and the rewards he offers his faithful stewards.

So this sermon series won't be about how to achieve your financial goals.

But it will provide the light in which your financial goals should be evaluated and formulated.

And that's why the central focus of this series is not insurance, but assurance.

It's not securities, but security.

It's not trust funds, but faith.

It's not principle, but principles.

It's not real estate, it's your eternal home.

That's the focus.

You will not find any net worth calculations in the next four weeks,

which we easily mistake for self-worth calculations,

but you will see how God measures your life's worth.

The issue of riches and wealth and money come up again and again as Jesus walks this journey from Jerusalem.

Sorry, he walks the road to Jerusalem on his way to his death for the salvation of humanity.

And as he teaches his disciples again and again and again,

what does it mean to be on the road with him?

What does it mean to be his disciple?

What does it mean to declare him as Lord?

And we find one of these encounters in Luke 18.

Grab your Bibles.

Luke 18.

Young man comes up to Jesus and asks him a question.

In verse 18, it says that the person is a ruler.

And we are told that he's rich in verse 23.

And throughout the centuries, he's been known as the rich young ruler.

Not known by his name, but by all of his classifications.

Rich young ruler.

And with this particular interaction with Jesus,

there are three things that we learn about wealth and money and possessions.

And if you've got one of the outlines, you can follow it along this morning on paper form or in the St. Paul's app.

You'll also find it there and you can take your notes and type them in.

So three things.

First of all, the danger of wealth.

That's the first thing we see.

It's in the middle of the passage.

Verse 24.

Jesus looks right at this young man and he says to him,

how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Now, Jesus is using a metaphor here.

It's what is known as a metaphor of impossibility.

The camel was the biggest land animal that people knew at that time.

And the eye of the needle was the smallest hole that people could imagine at that time.

It's a metaphor of impossibility.

It's the metaphor where we might say they've got a snowball's chance in hell.

Metaphor of impossibility.

No chance whatsoever.

Virtually impossible, it says here, for the rich to get into heaven.

Now, from my Google attempt the other day,

the world's richest person at the moment has a personal fortune of 145.3 billion US dollars.

Amazingly, he's also given less than 1% of his wealth away.

So, you might also call him a greedy man as well, possibly.

Now, I don't appear on that rich list.

I went down the list, and I'm not there anywhere.

I'm not published on any rich list, not even published on the Chatswood rich list.

But when I put my wealth, and I've told you this before,

and you can do exactly the same thing.

You go on a website called Global Rich List,

and I type mine and Nat's combined income, we put it in that rich list.

I'm ranked, or together we are ranked,

in the top 6 million richest people in the world.

The top 6 million people in the world.

That is, we're in the top 0.09% of the world's population when it comes to wealth.

And as a financial advisor said to Nat and I a little while ago,

you're a teacher and you're a pastor.

You're not giving me much to work with here.

When Jesus speaks about rich people, he's talking about me.

He's talking about you.

Even if you are a student in this country, he's talking about you.

And he's saying it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of an eagle

than it is for you and for me to get into his kingdom.

See the reaction of those who were listening to this incident?

Verse 26.

Well, who then can be saved?

Who can be saved?

Izzy, can you get me my water bottle, please?

Sorry, I've had a throat infection this week.

You wouldn't notice it.

But I feel it.

Who can be saved?

You see, the disciples in this moment are confused by the words of Jesus.

Jesus, aren't the rich ones the ones who are particularly blessed by you?

Haven't you particularly blessed them?

That's their cultural thinking.

Jesus responds, what is impossible with men is possible with God.

Now, notice that Jesus didn't say here, what is impossible for rich people.

He says, what is impossible with all people is possible with God.

He's saying that all of salvation is a miracle.

It is impossible that anyone would be saved because as Romans chapter 3 says,

Romans 3 · chapter mention

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

It is not possible for anyone to be saved unless God himself intervenes

and does the impossible for us.

But the reason Jesus raised it here with this rich man

is because the same thing that makes salvation impossible for us all

makes it worse when you've got money.

The Old Testament book of Proverbs is primarily concerned

about how to navigate life well in God's world.

It says a lot about money and in particular,

two really important things that it talks about

when it says about the spiritual power of money.

Firstly, it says that money has the spiritual power to distract you

from what really matters in life.

So distracted, we don't have time in fact to ask really the important questions like,

what am I really here for and what am I really attempting to accomplish with my life.

Proverbs 11 verse 4 says,

Proverbs 11:4

Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,

but righteousness delivers from death.

Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath means that money can't help us

when troubles hit us in life.

It does attempt to give us a deep delusion

that if we have enough of it, then we are safe.

It attempts to do that.

But we are not safe from grief and bereavement,

from illness, from disaster.

We are not even safe from financial ruin

when you've got lots of money.

Oh, the irony.

Money can't stop death.

It can't stop tragedy.

It can't stop heartbreak.

And when they come, we're not ready for it.

Money has the power to distract us

from the really important questions of life

and distract us to the point

to delude us into thinking that if we have money,

then these things won't hit us.

They become our security.

They become, in fact, Jesus says, our God.

Secondly, Proverbs says

that money has the ability to distort our self-image.

In Proverbs 30, verses 8 and 9, it says,

Proverbs 30:8

Give me neither poverty nor riches,

but give me only my daily bread.

Otherwise, I may have too much

and disown you and say,

Who is the Lord?

To see a person humbled under prosperity

is the greatest rarity in the world.

Let me just repeat that.

To see a person humbled under prosperity

is the greatest rarity in the world.

Wealth leads to pride.

I read this sometime.

I can't quote who it was,

but I remember reading some time ago

a philosophical paper on wealth

and what it does to you in terms of spiritual pride.

And it's interesting that a person

who's particularly skilled,

like a skilled engineer,

can take pride in the fact

they're a skilled engineer

and they're really good.

For some reason,

that when it comes to wealth,

a person who has become a self-made person,

built their own personal fortune,

has a delusion into thinking

that they are skilled at everything.

An engineer might be skilled in the engineer

and have certain pride in that,

but don't think for a moment

they're a great dentist.

But a person who has built their personal wealth

has for some reason

an inbuilt thing in them,

in their heart,

to lead them to pride in every area of life.

Give you advice on every area of life.

Wealth leads to pride.

And it puts us in a place where we say,

who is God?

Why do I need him?

That's the first point.

Secondly, why wealth is so dangerous.

Let's go back to the beginning of this passage

in Luke 18

and unpack why wealth is so dangerous for us.

So verse 18,

certain ruler asked him,

good teacher,

what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Why do you call me good?

Jesus answered,

no one is good except God alone.

You know the commandments.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not murder.

You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony.

Honor your father and your mother.

All of these I've kept since I was a boy,

he said.

Now,

we should be shocked,

first of all,

by Jesus' answer to the question,

what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus says to him,

go and obey the Ten Commandments.

And the implication is,

to Jesus' answer,

well, that's how you get eternal life.

You just obey the Ten Commandments.

This should shock us.

Because immediately before this,

Jesus tells the story

of this parable

and this tax collector,

this parable of the Pharisee and tax collector,

where the

obedient religious man

went home,

went home,

not saved.

He was not saved.

And yet the sinner,

the tax collector,

is saved.

And Jesus says,

again and again,

that we cannot save ourselves.

He says it right here.

It's impossible for any person

to save themselves.

So why does he say here,

obey the Ten Commandments?

Why doesn't Jesus just be consistent

to this rich young ruler?

Well,

I'm on my way to Jerusalem,

to Zion a cross,

to pay a ransom,

and to pay the penalty

that you deserve for your sin,

and if you put your trust in me,

you'll have eternal life.

Why doesn't Jesus do that?

I mean,

I could have done that.

That would be consistent

with what Jesus has said elsewhere

in the rest of the New Testament.

But to say,

I've come to die for your sins

would have been incomprehensible

to this young man.

Like the majority of people,

he doesn't think

he's got a problem.

Look at what he says

in verse 21.

I've done all that.

All this I've done.

I've kept them all

since I was a boy.

In other words,

Jesus,

I don't need a rescuer.

I'm a good person.

Might not be perfect,

but I don't need a rescuer.

And so Jesus is just going,

he's just digging deeper

and deeper

into this young man's heart.

Deep down,

he must have some feeling

that something wasn't right.

Something was wrong.

Something was missing.

Otherwise,

why was he there

in front of Jesus

asking this question?

You see,

if we think

that we can get right with God

by being good enough,

we will always feel insecure.

We will always see someone

who's more righteous than us

and we'll always be left

with a question,

have I done enough?

Have I done enough?

Even though

those who project

an image

that they've got it all together

on the outside,

on the inside,

they know better.

And on the inside,

we know better too.

Every single one of us

knows the things

that we have done

and thought

that we could hide,

but we can't even hide them

from our own conscience,

let alone God.

And Jesus is reminding

this young man

that his first

and fundamental problem

that is

that he is in fact

not good.

No mere mortal is,

which is the point

of verse 19.

And so Jesus goes on

just a little bit further

just to push him

to help him to see

where he is not good.

Verse 22,

when Jesus heard this,

he said to him,

you still lack

one thing,

one thing.

Sell everything

that you have,

give it to the poor

and you'll have

treasury in heaven,

then come follow me.

Jesus has never suggested

to anyone else

that the way

to be saved

is to give all

of your money

to the poor.

Never suggested

that to anyone else.

So why here?

He's doing it

because it is

a brilliant strategy

to help this

rich young ruler

to see that

he needs rescuing.

Jesus targets

this man's idol,

the one of his heart.

This is the thing

that he's looking to,

to give him

that only God

can give him.

You see,

money is not just

a mere currency

to him.

It's not just

a tool for him.

It is an identity

scorecard.

It is his security

and his hope.

This is the thing

that is squeezing God

out of his life.

And when Jesus

presses him on it,

he sees he,

in fact,

hasn't obeyed

the commandments

at all.

He is not good

at all.

Jesus pushed him

to give it all up

for the poor.

Give it all up

for God.

Give it all up

and follow me,

he says.

And he couldn't.

Verse 23 says

he became very sad.

He was deeply

grieved.

He was deeply

distressed.

His money

is not just

money to him.

His money

to him

is, well,

just simply

more important.

And he did not

want God

to get in the way

of what was

more important.

He wasn't good.

In fact,

he didn't actually

obey the Ten

Commandments.

He couldn't even

get past

the very first one.

You shall have

no other gods.

You couldn't

even get past

that one.

And when you

break the first

one, you've

broken them all.

His money

was his God.

Money can so

easily become

a pseudo-savior.

Of all the things

that Jesus said,

you cannot serve

both God

and he chose

money.

Could have chosen

anything else,

but he chose

money.

Because he knew

it is the pseudo-savior.

It's the false

savior.

Jesus sets

it up.

There's the

alternative God.

We are devoted

to the one

or the other,

but you can't

have both.

Wealth is

that dangerous.

And so

for two-thirds

of this sermon,

I just wanted

to raise that

issue for us.

Do you

realize how

dangerous

your wealth

is?

Just think

it's important

to raise it,

how dangerous

it is.

Do you

see it

as dangerous

as it

slips through

your fingers

and your

bank accounts?

How do we

escape the

danger?

That's the

third point.

The first

thing,

first thing

here is to

assume that

you're in

denial.

That's the

first thing.

Always assume

you're in

denial.

Jesus is

pretty blunt

because this

rich young

ruler here

was in

denial.

That is

the very

nature of

addiction.

An addiction

will say,

I'm not

addicted,

I don't

have a

problem.

And so

the first

thing here

is to

assume that

we are

all living

in a

Western

materialistic

society

under the

influence.

Assume that

the amount

of money

you think

you need

is more

than what

you really

need.

Let me

just say

that again.

Assume

that the

amount of

money you

think you

need is

more than

you really

need.

And

secondly,

I'll say

this twice

as well,

assume that

the amount

of money you

think you

can give

away is

less than

what you

really can

in fact give

away.

I'll say

it again,

I said I

was going

to assume

also that

the amount

of money you

think you

can give

away is

less than

what you

actually can

give away.

Assume

it.

The Bible

says money

makes us

blind.

That's the

first thing.

Assume

you're in

denial.

The second

thing to

do here

to escape

the danger

of money

and wealth

is to

look to

the rich

young ruler.

Now

why do

that when

the rich

young ruler

walks away

sad and

rejects

Jesus?

Surely

he's not

someone to

follow here.

You're

absolutely

right.

I'm not

referring to

him.

I'm

referring to

the other

rich young

ruler in

this story.

Jesus is

around 30,

32 when

he is

heading to

Jerusalem.

The Bible

says he

existed with

God for

eternity.

He made

everything.

He rules

and sustains

everything by

the power of

his word.

He owns

everything.

Everything

is his.

He left

that aside,

came from

heaven to

identify with

the spiritual

poverty of

the human

race.

He is

on his

way to

Jerusalem

to die

on a

cross

and into

a deeper

poverty

than anyone

else has

ever gone

before.

He will

be stripped

of everything

including

his life.

And 2

Corinthians 8

and 9

puts his

sacrifice on

the cross

for us

in economic

terms.

For you

know the

grace of

our Lord

Jesus Christ

that though

he was

rich,

yet for

your sake

he became

poor,

so that

you through

his poverty

might become

rich.

It's in

those songs

we sang this

morning,

because of

his poverty

we have

everything

in Jesus

already.

Everything

that we

are looking

to money

to give

us

and we

are

labouring

for money

to provide

for us,

security,

identity,

Jesus

gives it

to us

already

as a

gift.

he was

drained

of all

of his

riches

so that

we

through

his

poverty

can

receive

his

riches.

In

Jesus

we get

adoption

into

God's

family,

forgiveness

parted

eternal

life.

It is

the only

wealth

that makes

us truly

secure,

even in

death

and beyond

death.

We need

to look

to the

true

rich

young

ruler

until

we get

weepingly

excited.

Weepingly

excited

over what

he has

achieved

for us

and what

he has

gifted

us.

Look to

the glorious

news of

God's

grace and

his riches

to us

in the

Lord

Jesus

until

it drains

all power

out of

money and

possessions

until

they just

become mere

currency that

goes through

our hands

for the

glory of

God.

Just

money,

that's all

it is.

It's no

longer

eternal

security,

it's no

longer

identity,

it's no

longer

self-esteem,

it's no

longer

comfort.

The third

thing you

do is

to have a

plan to

use your

wealth with

purpose.

To use

it with

eternity

in mind

as

stewards

of

God's

resources.

So,

let me

get

practical.

A few

steps here.

Step

one,

investigate

today what

percentage of

your income

are you giving

away.

How much

goes to

Christian

ministry and

to charity?

Christian

ministry to

help people

out of

spiritual

poverty and

charity to

help people

out of

physical

poverty.

step

two,

if it's

not at

least 10%,

which is

the baseline

commandment in

the scriptures,

work out

how you

could aggressively

move towards

10% in the

second half of

this year.

Step

three,

figure out

what sacrifices

you are going

to make in

order to take

that step.

Number

two,

what are you

going to stop

doing?

If you

don't need to

make sacrifices

in order to

give away 10%

and the reality

is 10% is not

your benchmark,

you need to

go higher.

You need to

keep working

higher.

Sacrificial

giving is not

about percentage,

it's when our

standard of

living changes

in such a

way that we

feel loss.

That's

sacrificial

giving.

That's radical

generosity.

It's when

our giving

changes,

our standard

of living

changes in

order for us

to feel

loss as

we give.

That's

sacrificial

giving.

Just let

me add

what Jesus

says at the

end of these

verses.

Having seen

the rich young

man walk

away sad,

Peter pipes

in and says,

hey, we

have left

everything to

follow you.

In other

words, we're

not like

him, we've

given up

everything,

Jesus.

Do we

get eternal

life?

And Jesus

reassures the

disciples that

though they

may have

sacrificed many

things, they

have left

many things.

They will

not fail to

receive many

more blessings

now and

forever.

Truly I

tell you,

Jesus said to

them, no one

who has left

home or wife

or brothers

or sisters

or parents

or children

for the sake

of the kingdom

of God will

fail to receive

many times as

much in this

age and in

the age to

come eternal

life.

Step four,

decide what

you are giving

to and follow

through with

it.

Make yourself

accountable.

That's partly

one of the

reasons why we

do pledging

here.

It's a

spiritual issue,

it's not a

financial issue.

It's one of

the reasons why

we do pledging

here at St.

Paul's.

Giving is a

spiritual issue

and like every

single spiritual

issue, we are

accountable for it

in the same

way that I

am.

To live

radically

generous lives

with our

money, with

our wealth

and possessions,

we don't need

courage.

That's the point

here.

We don't need

courage.

What we need

is joy.

That's what we

need.

We need to be

relaxed and at

peace and secure

in Jesus enough

in order to live

a life of radical

generosity.

This joy only

comes when we

look at the

true rich young

ruler who lost

everything so that

we would gain

everything.

And the more

we look to

Jesus and the

riches we have

in him, the

more free we

will be to

live a life of

pervasively

generous life,

radical

generosity,

including giving

our money away

in eye-popping

proportions with

joy.

thoughts and

mooden Morgan

lost Apple

chanting

sorry

stor Musimy

laughed

awfully

roll

Pens by

madly

gratitude

Marvin

är

en kanje

dag

Vi

amb