King & Kingdom Come: Invest In What Lasts

Welcome to an audio teaching from Windsor Park Baptist Church in Auckland, New Zealand.

If you would like to look at the message notes or see some questions for reflection that take their lead from today's teaching, head to our website, windsapark.org.nz and head to the online tab where you'll see services and series and you can download different resources from there.

Thanks for joining us, and we hope you're encouraged by today's teaching.

The gospel according to Luke.

We've had a one-week break since we were in the series, but we're back into it.

As we've been journeying through Luke's gospel, we're encountering Luke's understanding of the kingdom of God, expressed primarily through the words of Jesus.

Now, I always want to explain the kingdom a little bit.

The kingdom of God is where God's values shape life and the way we live life, as opposed to the kingdom perhaps of our world, where other priorities like power or wealth or status become king.

Through the gospel, we're seeing that the kingdom of God constantly overturns our assumptions about the world.

Again and again, Jesus challenges the values of the surrounding culture.

The outsider becomes the insider, the lost becomes the found, the humble are lifted up, and the powerful are brought low.

Throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus invites us to see life, not through the lens of earthly kingdoms, but through the lens of God's kingdom.

Today's passage is perhaps one of the most enlightening and challenging examples of that.

In fact, many people, including me, regard Luke chapter 16, verses 1 to 15 as one of the most difficult passages in the entire gospel, as it feels confusing when we first read it.

Luke 16:1–15

Jesus tells a story about a manager who is accused of dishonesty, so much so that he's going to get sacked.

Facing an uncertain future, he goes out and contacts people who owe debts to his master or his boss and reduce what they owe.

Let's read the passage.

Jesus told his disciples, there was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions, so he called him in and asked him, What is this I hear about you?

Give an account of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer.

The manager said to himself, What shall I do now?

My master is taking away my job, I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg.

I know what I'll do, so that when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.

So he called in each one of his master's debtors.

He asked them first, How much do you owe my master?

900 gallons of olive oil, he replied.

The manager told him, Take your bill, sit down quickly and make it four hundred and fifty.

Then he asked the second, and how much do you owe?

A thousand bushels of wheat, he replied.

He told him, Take your bill and make it eight hundred.

Now these are not insignificant amounts.

The values here represent years of income.

But then comes the surprise in the beginning of verse eight.

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.

Read that slowly.

The master commended the dishonest manager.

The natural question is why?

Why would Jesus appear to praise someone who seems dishonest?

And that's why this is a difficult passage to get our heads around.

It's so difficult that people have wrestled with this passage for centuries, and trust me, it feels like I've been wrestling with it for a century to get to where I think it lands.

The interpretation and explanation that I find the most compelling is that the manager is not actually continuing to steal from his master at all.

Rather, he's sacrificing what ultimately belonged to him, his own commission, his own future profit, his own margin, in order to create friends that will sustain him once he's unemployed.

In other words, he's giving up short-term gain for long-term benefit in order to create goodwill with those who owe his master money, as he recognized that his circumstances have changed and that his future is approaching quickly.

His opportunity is limited, and so he acts decisively while he still can.

Jesus says, in effect, now that's shrewd.

Not because he was dishonest and not because he manipulated the system, but because he understood that sometimes wise people sacrifice short-term advantage to secure a greater future outcome.

And that sometimes now is the time to act.

What I need to clarify is that the word shrewd doesn't actually have a negative connotation to it, even though it probably does to most of us, it certainly did for me.

Luke here uses the Greek word phronomos, which is the same word Jesus uses in Matthew chapter 7, verse 24, when he says, Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise or phronomos man who built his house on the rock.

Matthew 7:24

The actual meaning of phronimos carries the idea of being wise or prudent or sensible or able to see what matters and to act accordingly.

It's about the ability to perceive reality and make decisions that align with that reality.

So in Luke 16, the manager is called phronimos because he recognizes his current situation has changed.

He understands his future is uncertain, and so he acts decisively while he still has the opportunity and uses the resources available to him to prepare for what is coming.

The manager was not commended because he was dishonest, he was praised because he was phronemos, he saw clearly, he understood what mattered, and he immediately acted accordingly.

And that principle sits right at the heart of kingdom living.

Because throughout Luke's gospel, Jesus has been teaching us that the kingdom of God requires a different way of thinking about the future.

The difference is that in our society, we are generally taught to organize our lives around immediate rewards, immediate comfort, immediate security, immediate benefit.

But kingdom people are called to live differently.

Jesus is suggesting that kingdom people make present decisions in light of God's future.

This is one of the recurring themes throughout Luke.

Whether Jesus is speaking about prayer or discipleship or generosity or forgiveness or service, he continually calls people to look beyond what is immediately visible and invest in what will ultimately last.

It seems that the manager in this story understands that principle remarkably well.

Faced with uncertainty, despite his dishonest past, he asks himself a couple of simple questions.

What can I do today that will create a better future tomorrow?

It's actually a question that in certain contexts people do ask today.

Athletes ask it when they choose training over comfort.

Students ask it when they choose study over entertainment.

Parents ask it when they make sacrifices for their children.

Investors ask it when they defer spending for future returns.

The manager asks the same question.

What can I give up now because of what I believe lies ahead?

And there's another dimension here.

The manager responds, in the present, he's urgent.

His window of opportunity is closing.

He knows that he will not always have the chance to act.

And perhaps this is where this parable begins to challenge us most deeply.

Because Jesus then says a very direct statement in verse 8b as he draws away from the parable and moves into talking about its meaning.

He says, For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

That's a bit of an ouch statement.

Jesus is effectively saying, if people can think carefully about their earthly future, why are my followers sometimes so casual about eternal realities?

The manager acts because he knows time is short.

The kingdom of God calls us to live with the same awareness.

We know that life is fleeting.

One phone call can change the future you thought you had, one diagnosis, one redundancy, one funeral, one conversation with a child who suddenly leaves home.

The manager thought he had years, but by lunchtime he had hours.

We know that opportunities don't last forever, and we know that God's kingdom is coming in its fullness.

We know that people matter eternally.

The question is whether those realities shape the decisions we make today.

Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly calls his people to be intentional stewards of the opportunities that he places before them.

Think about Joseph storing grain during years of abundance in Genesis 41.

Think about the whole book of Nehemiah and how Nehemiah carefully planned the rebuilding of the Jerusalem walls.

Think about Paul developing missional strategies to reach key cities throughout the Roman Empire in Acts chapters 13 through 19.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

None of these people were passive.

They understood that faithful discipleship often involves prayerful planning, wise stewardship, and intentional action.

And so the question for us is this are we thinking as intentionally about God's kingdom as this manager was thinking about his future?

Because every one of us has been entrusted with resources, not just money, but time, relationships, skills, influence, experience, networks, and opportunities.

The issue is not how much we have, the issue is what are we doing with what God has placed in our hands for the sake of the kingdom of God.

And this is where verse 9 becomes so important.

Jesus says, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Jesus is not telling us to buy friendships.

He's teaching us that temporary resources can have eternal impact.

He's teaching us that money is temporary, that possessions are temporary, that opportunities are temporary, but that people are eternal, and kingdom people should use temporary reserves resources to create eternal opportunities.

Jesus is suggesting that kingdom people should invest in people, that kingdom people should invest in relationships, that kingdom people should invest in the mission of God, that we should invest in things that help others encounter Jesus.

One of New Zealand's largest Christian philanthropists or a giving agency is an organization called Trinity Lands.

Some of you will know about them.

The Trinity purpose is driven by faith and a shared objective of never tiring of doing good in the community.

The original trust was founded in 1951 by one man who cleared a small paddock for sheep farming just in from Pataduru with the goal of being able to support a Christian ministry.

Today that organization farms over 7,500 hectares of land carrying 16,000 head of livestock, as well as 215 hectares of kiwi fruit farming and a range of other investments.

One farmer, one paddock, one kingdom vision.

Seventy-five years later, more than$10 million each year is being invested to Christian mission in our nation.

One day, according to Jesus, there may be people in eternity whose lives were influenced because we chose generosity over accumulation, mission over comfort, and investment over consumption.

That's why this passage follows Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

So naturally, Jesus, one chapter earlier, we saw a shepherd search for a lost sheep, a woman search for a lost coin, and a father run towards his son.

We saw the extraordinary heart of God for lost people.

Now Jesus turns to his disciples and asks, if that's what God is willing to do to reach lost people, what are you willing to invest in that?

Another of the recurring themes throughout Luke is that God's kingdom advances through ordinary people, faithfully using ordinary resources for extraordinary purposes.

A shepherd searches, a woman searches, a boy offers his lunch, a tax collector opens his home, a group of women support Jesus' ministry.

Again and again, God takes what people place in his hands and uses it for kingdom impact.

Kingdom thinking changes the question we ask.

Not how do we preserve what we have, but how do we deploy what we have?

Not how do we protect what we have, but how do we use what we have?

Not how do I hold on to what we have, but how can God use this to bless others and advance his kingdom?

And that changes how we view our finances, our homes, our retirement, our leadership, our businesses, and our church.

Even as a church, we're continually called to ask, not how might we just maintain ministries or keep buildings or run programs or hold structures, but how can we leverage them for kingdom impact?

How can our buildings serve our community?

How can our resources help people encounter Jesus?

How can we today become a blessing to future generations?

How can we invest today in ways that bear fruit long after we're gone?

These are kingdom questions.

These are shrewd, wise, phronemos questions.

And those are the kinds of questions Jesus seems to be encouraging his disciples to ask.

But at this point, Luke introduces a warning.

Verse 14 says, The Pharisees who loved money heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.

Notice Luke doesn't say they simply had money, he says they loved money.

The issue was not wealth, the issue was worship.

The Pharisees were probably very strategic people.

They were disciplined, organized, influential, they knew how to build systems, maintain influence, and protect their positions.

Their problem wasn't a lack of strategy, their problem was allegiance.

They had become very skilled at building the wrong kingdom, and perhaps that's the hidden warning in this passage.

Strategic thinking is not automatically a kingdom virtue.

We can strategically build our own reputation.

We can strategically accumulate wealth, we can strategically protect our comfort.

The question is not whether we have a strategy, the question is which kingdom our strategy serves.

This is why Jesus concludes with these unforgettable words that we would probably like to forget.

No one can serve two masters.

You cannot serve both God and money.

It's not difficult, it's not unlikely, it's impossible.

Every life is organized around something.

Every heart serves a master.

Every person places their trust somewhere.

Jesus is saying that money simply reveals where our allegiance lies.

He then says something equally confronting at the end of verse 15.

What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.

He seems to be saying that there is often a significant gap between what impresses people and what impresses God.

Our culture celebrates wealth, but God celebrates faithfulness.

Our culture celebrates prominence, but God celebrates humility.

Our culture celebrates success, but God celebrates obedience.

Our culture celebrates accumulation, but God celebrates generosity.

The manager understood that future realities should shape present decisions.

The Pharisees also understood strategy, but they attached their hearts to the wrong future.

And that leaves us with one last searching question.

What future are we investing in?

Are we primarily investing in comfort, security, reputation, and success in the kingdoms of this world?

Or are we investing in the advance of God's kingdom, the transformation of lives, the discipleship of people, and the mission of God in the world?

Because ultimately, every investment serves a kingdom.

Every plan serves a kingdom.

Every strategy serves a kingdom.

But the issue is which kingdom are we serving?

In this confronting parable, the previously dishonest manager was willing to sacrifice his commission because he believed there was a future worth investing in.

Jesus says his disciples should be even wiser because we know something the manager didn't.

We know that God's kingdom is coming in all its fullness.

We know that lives matter eternally.

We know that what is done for Christ lasts forever.

And we know that the king is building a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Well, the manager gave up his commission because he believed there was a future worth investing in.

Jesus gave up infinitely more.

He gave up the riches of heaven and embraced the poverty of the cross so that we might be welcomed into an eternal home.

The manager sacrificed for his own future.

Jesus sacrificed for ours.

And now he invites us to live in light of the future he secured.

And every sacrifice made for the kingdom is ultimately an investment in something that will last forever.

I want to suggest a few things for us to think about, to perhaps respond to.

Firstly, what about the range of things we talk about here at Windsor that are worthy of investment in?

Mentoring a teenager, fostering children through Open Homes Foundation, discipling grandchildren, volunteering at a ministry like Haven, opening our homes, creating ethical business, all things that keep the kingdom larger than just our church.

What's something that's on your mind?

Secondly, for several years now we've been suggesting that child sponsorship with tier funds and projects in Cebu in the Philippines is a great investment.

But it's more than just money.

When we first started sponsoring children in Cebu, I thought Joe and I would just help in someone out.

What I didn't expect was how much it would change me.

Every letter reminds me that there are realities beyond my own comfort, beyond Auckland, beyond my own concern.

Sponsoring has quietly reshaped my understanding of what matters.

And I know this after listening to the adults who have come out the other side of being sponsored.

I've heard their stories.

There is something very prophetic in embracing child sponsorship in ways that are more than just financial.

I know that something in me has changed as a result.

I have a bunch of profiles of children from the communities that we're involved with.

And I'm hoping that a few of you might start that spiritual journey of adopting a child and their family into yours, investing in lives for the sake of the kingdom of God.

Thirdly, at the end of last year, we introduced the Windsor Park Endowment Fund as a way of investing into the future of our particular church in a more substantial way than what most of us will see.

An endowment fund means we make fronomos decisions for the generations that come after us.

I want to champion that cause and suggest that if you're able, donating to that cause at some point is investing wisely for the future of the community of faith that we belong to and contributing to every future baptism, every child who comes to faith, and every person who is strengthened to thrive in Jesus through the ongoing ministry.

Lastly, I've thought about some things, but not all things.

Here at Windsor, we believe that God has gifted us with a whole range of people with all kinds of skills.

Some of you are skilled at making money, investing wisely, building business, or using all that phronymos in your own way.

I'd love you to think about the church in the same way.

What else could we be doing that invests in the future mission of this church for the sake of our children who will one day be the inheritors of what we sow today?

Blessed are those who plant a tree under whose shade they will not rest.

Maybe you've got ideas, thoughts.

I'd love to deploy them, hear about them.

Get in touch with me.

If I was to sum up the first half of Luke chapter 15, I'd say the manager invested in the future he believed was coming.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

The question Jesus asks us is what future are we investing in?

One day every investment account will close, every property title will pass to someone else, every career will end, every achievement will fade, but every person will still exist somewhere.

And Jesus will ask, Did you invest in what lasts?

The issue isn't strategy, the issue is which future we're living for.

If somebody examined our calendar or our bank statements or our conversations and our ambitions over this next week, which kingdom would they conclude we're living for?

May the Spirit guide us and unite us, and being wise managers of all that's entrusted to us for the sake of the kingdom of God.

Let's pray.

Father, we're honest.

This is super challenging.

To talk anything about money or stewardship of resources, our skills, who we are.

It's confronting.

In a Western cultural sense, it's hard for us to understand, and it's really hard for us to put things in place.

When all the messages that come towards us are talking about the kingdoms of this world.

Father, I would simply play pray that as we perhaps read Luke chapter 16 again, and we'll look at the second half next week, that you, by your spirit, might give us wisdom thronomos, that we would be shrewd, reflecting the brains and all the things that you have given us.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

That we would think about the decisions that we make and the kingdoms that we serve.

And Father, while us making big decisions is really hard, might we make small decisions today, tomorrow, next week?

As our lives continue to morph and change, might we think about what we're investing in that has eternal consequences?

Father, help us to continue to learn and to experience and to know and to see just how great the kingdom of God is.

So that we might continue to want to be a part of it, and we might want to see it continue to grow.

One relationship at a time, one investment decision at a time, one idea at a time.

So, Father, I pray that you'll give us ideas and dreams and visions and the courage to see where you might lead us.

So, Father, your scripture is very challenging at times.

I pray you'll give us enlightenment around this one as we head into our week in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for joining our audio teaching today.

If there are ways that we can continue to support you or help you in your journey, please reach out to us.

Head to our website, windsapark.org.nz, and you'll find various ways to contact us.

God bless.