God's Economy | A Generous Life | Trinity Sermons

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This week we are welcoming special guest

Scott Cochran who works with World Vision and

is going to be sharing with us about how God's

economy is different than the world's economy.

What does it mean for us to sell everything that

we have and give it to the poor? And how can

we even do that? What does God have in store

for us? Our reading for today is from Luke chapter

Luke 12 · chapter mention

12. verses 13 to 21 and verses 32 to 34. Someone

in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother

to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied,

Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between

you? Then he said to them, Watch out, be on your

guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not

consist in an abundance of possessions. And he

told them this parable. The ground of a certain

rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought

to himself, what shall I do? I have no place

to store my crops. Then he said, this is what

I will do. I will tear down my barns and build

bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus

grain. And I'll say to myself, you have plenty

of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy,

eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him,

you fool, this very night your life will be demanded

from you. Then who will get what you have prepared

for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever

stores up things for themselves, but is not rich

toward God. Verse 32. a treasure in heaven that

will never fail, where no thief comes near and

no moth destroys. For where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also. The word of the

Lord. If you've been around Trinity for any length

of time, you'll know that there's a couple things

that we're especially passionate about here at

Trinity. One is our partnership with World Vision

Canada and the hundred or so families and children

that we sponsor and support in the region of

Nueva Frontera, which is this community in Honduras.

If you've been around any length of time, you

know we were always talking about them and praying.

for them. And it was just this past June, we

went down and visited them. Another thing that

you'll know about Trinity is Trinity is very

passionate about developing leaders. And whether

it's our discipleship year students, whether

it's our amazing camp program and leader in training

program, or the mentoring opportunities that

are happening all the time around Trinity, leadership

development is also very, very close to our hearts,

which is why when you take those two things,

I am so excited. to welcome Scott Cochran as

our guest speaker and preacher this morning.

Sally and I had the opportunity a few months

ago to have lunch with Scott, and it was such

a pleasure to get to know him, and now you're

going to get the chance to get to know him as

well. But here's the thing you need to know about

Scott. On the one hand, Scott currently is Senior

Manager of Church Relations in World Vision Canada.

But on top of that, Scott spent more than two

decades of his life serving with the Global Leadership

Network, where he was supporting leaders in churches

all around the world. I think I read something

like in 70 countries, he has traveled around

helping to support and develop leaders. So Scott

brings together these two passions that we have

here at Trinity, which makes him the perfect

person to come and be with us this morning, especially

as we bring our series, A Generous Life, to its

conclusion. So would you join with me and let's

all give Scott Cochran a very warm Trinity welcome.

and thanks to each of you for making me feel

so welcome here. I was saying to Pastor Rob just

a few minutes ago, I was looking back and trying

to remember the very first time I was here with

you, and I realized it was 1998. Now, I was about

five years old at the time, but... Now, if I

remember, I got to meet Harold Percy, who was

leading the church at that time, had a wonderful

time of fellowship, and I've repeated visits

over the years. And in many ways, when I come

to Ontario, this is one of the places that I

consider a home away from home. My own home is

in Kelowna, British Columbia. And in fact, I

want to bring you greetings from the church where

I worship, which by wonderful coincidence is

also called Trinity Church. And so the folks

at Trinity Church in Kelowna are bringing their

greetings to Trinity Church Streetsville as well.

Well, I love this series that you've been doing

here as a church. I love the theme that you've

been developing around generosity. And it leads

me to ask you a question I'd like you to consider

for a few minutes. And that's this. Have you

ever found yourself that perhaps you have missed

out on something? Because perhaps you didn't

know the full picture. Have you ever found that

you've missed out on an opportunity, perhaps,

because you really didn't know what was going

on maybe behind the scenes? Well, as Pastor Rob

mentioned, I served for many years in the Global

Leadership Network, developing Christian leaders

and pastors around the world. And on one of these

visits, I was in Burundi, a small little country

in East Africa. And when I arrived, I knew that

I would have to purchase a visa upon my arrival.

And so I went into the airport and I found the

visa counter and the person behind the counter

said, that'll be 200 US dollars. I handed my

credit card and he just looked at me stone -faced,

handed back my card and said, no credit card,

cash only. I realized I was about to miss out

on connecting with all these leaders in Burundi

because I had no cash left on me. and I did not

know what I was going to do. All I knew was that

there was something wonderful waiting for me

on the other side of the airport. There were

some wonderful people and leaders and pastors

I wanted to meet with so badly, and I was going

to miss out on that because I hadn't understood

the big picture that I needed cash to get into

the country. By the way, as a footnote to that

story, someone standing next to me in the aisle

heard what was going on and actually gave me

$200, and that's how I got into the country.

But sometimes, sometimes we miss out on something

wonderful because we don't really understand

the big picture. We don't really understand what's

going on. And that's actually a theme that Jesus

develops in the parable that we had read for

us today. is that sometimes we are so focused

on the things that we can see. We can be so focused

on the things that are in our immediate surroundings

that we can miss out on something wonderful that

God wants to do well beyond that. That leads

us into this parable that's sometimes called

the parable of the rich man. And let's dive into

one of the key verses that kind of gets the parable

started. This is Jesus talking. And Jesus said,

he told them this parable, the ground of a certain

rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought

to himself, what shall I do? I have no place

to store my crops. Then he said, this is what

I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build

bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus

grain. Well, what's going on in this parable?

What's Jesus describing here? Well, here's a

businessman, and his business is doing very well.

So he's in the agriculture business, and it's

booming. So he's got lots of crops coming in.

He has lots of grain coming in. And you can see

the problem he's got. He says, my barns just

aren't big enough. I'm going to have to do something

about this. So he says, I'm going to knock down

those little barns, and I'm going to build these

big barns over here, and now I will be set. And

that way of thinking is a way of thinking that's

very familiar to us. That way of thinking is

said that what we want to do is get as much as

we can, and we want to keep as much as we can.

And the term we use for that is that's the world's

economy. The world's economy is all about what

can I get. But God's economy is different. You

see, God's economy is not driven by what can

I get. God's economy is driven by what can I

give. And through that giving, what is the bigger

picture that God might reveal to me? Through

that giving, how might God not only bless me,

but how might God bless those around me, and

indeed, how might God bless those on the other

side of the world? God's economy versus the world's

economy. God's economy all about giving. The

world's economy all about getting. Many of you

will know the legacy of Nelson Rockefeller. Nelson

Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men who

ever lived, and throughout his life, he consistently

and he just was always accumulating more. He

built onto his wealth until the day he died as

one of the richest men in the world. He was once

asked, Mr. Rockefeller, you are still adding

on to your fortune well into your senior years.

And they asked him this question, how much money

does it take to make a man happy? Do you know

what he said? Just a little bit more. That's

the world's economy. Just a little bit more.

But God's economy is not like that. And not only

is God's economy all about giving, it's all about

the blessings that we will receive when we have

hearts of generosity as well. And so in the time

we have this morning, what I'd love to do is

to take you on a journey. It's a journey that

Jesus lays out for us in this parable. It's a

journey that can take us from the world's economy,

step by step, into God's economy. The place where

generosity flows and where God's blessings and

his favor flows as well. Let's take a journey

together to see how is it that we can move from

the world's economy into God's economy. And let's

trace these steps. And the first step that Jesus

lays out for us in this parable is simply this.

We need to develop a heart of multiplication.

not division. We need to develop a heart of multiplication,

not division. You see, the world's economy is

defined by having a certain amount of money,

a certain amount of stuff, and we have to carve

that up because there's not that much to go around.

That's the world's economy. But God's economy

is so different. God's economy focuses not on

the limitations, but on the blessings of multiplication.

Look what happened at the very beginning of this

story that was read for us a few minutes ago.

Jesus was in a crowd of people, and then one

of them said, someone in the crowd said to him,

Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance

with me. Jesus replied, Man, who appointed me

a judge or an arbiter between you? So what's

going on here? So here you've got a man in the

crowd who obviously he and his siblings have

come into an inheritance. Now, under the law

of Moses, what that meant is that the older brother

would receive the lion's share. He would receive

most of the inheritance, but this fellow, he

is entitled to a portion of that. And he had

a real concern because he said, Jesus, there's

only so much in this inheritance. There's only

so much money here that's available, and it has

to be divided fairly. It has to be divided in

such a way that I'm going to get my portion of

this. He's reflecting the world's economy. But

you see, the reason God couldn't even enter into

this is because his kingdom is not about dividing

limited resources. God's economy is about multiplication.

You see, in the world's economy, we say, well,

we only have five loaves and two fish. How are

we going to divide that among so many people?

But in God's economy, Jesus can say, I'm not

going to divide the loaves and fish. I'm going

to multiply them so we can feed everybody. It's

the difference between the world's economy and

God's economy. The world's economy, we always

think of its limited resources. There's only

so much, and we have to divide this up. But in

God's economy, he says, no, no, there's so much

more that you have no idea about. Not just more

money. There's more bounty. There's more blessing.

There's more that God can do because God is a

God of multiplication, not a God of division.

When I spent those years with the Global Leadership

Network, one of the countries I was very privileged

to spend a lot of time in building up leaders

was in Cuba. And I'll never forget the very first

leadership conference we put on in Cuba. It was

in a small church in downtown Havana in the old

city. And on the very first morning of the conference,

before we'd even started, there was a knock on

the church door. and one of our head volunteers

there in Cuba, her name was Nancy, she opened

the door. I was standing over to the side, and

there was a local policeman standing there. And

he introduced himself. He said, I'm on foot patrol

in this area today. This was interpreted for

me later. I don't speak Spanish. But then he

asked this question. He says, do you have a Bible

I could have? Now, that was an interesting question.

Bibles in Cuba are not illegal, but they're very

difficult to get. And this policeman thought,

perhaps I can get one from this church. Now Nancy,

she now had an interesting problem that she had

to think through. Because she turned and looked,

and I could see there was a stack of every Bible

that that church owned on the table right here.

There was 10 Bibles there. That was it. That

was the entire stock of Bibles for this church.

So Nancy, if she was thinking through the lens

of the world's economy, she would be thinking

of division. Okay, I've only got 10 Bibles. If

I give one to this policeman, now I've only got

nine left. Can I manage that? That's the thinking

in the world's economy. That's the thinking of

division. But thankfully, thankfully, Nancy understood

God's economy. She understood that somehow, through

generosity, God could multiply his blessings.

And so she gave a Bible to the policeman. Over

the two days of that conference, I would see

this policeman at the end of the block. leaning

on his motorcycle and reading his Bible. Fast

forward, I'd love to tell you what happened with

that policeman. He threw the gift of that Bible.

He gave his life to Christ. He became a member

of that church. He was discipled and grew in

his faith. Today, he's an elder in that church,

and he has led many, many people to Christ, including

many of his fellow police officers. That's the

power of God's multiplication. See, God can multiply

our generosity in ways that we can't even think

or imagine. We think in the world's economy of

division, God thinks in terms of multiplication.

And that's the invitation that we have today,

is to think through the lens of multiplication.

And you know, what that means for you and me

is that we can move into a place where we are

understanding God's heart for multiplication.

And one way that we can do that is to simply

pray every day that God would open up our hearts

in that way. This is the kind of prayer that

you may want to think about if you want to open

up your heart to have a heart of multiplication.

We'll just put that up on the screen. I'll come

back to that. If you can just go to the prayer

for a moment. That's on the next one. Say, Lord,

I want to participate in your kingdom economy.

I lay all of my earthly possessions before you,

my finances and my possessions, and I ask that

you take them and you break them and you multiply

them to build your kingdom here on earth. Consider

a prayer like that, and a prayer like that delivered

in faith on a regular basis. You watch as God

changes your heart from a heart of division to

a heart of multiplication, a generous heart,

where God can perform his miracles in your life

and in the lives of those around you. The first

step, if you want to move from the world economy

into God's kingdom economy, is to develop a heart

of multiplication. But there's another step that

we can take along the way that Jesus tells us

about in this parable, and that's this. We need

to develop a heart for the things that are timeless.

Not things that are temporary We need to develop

a heart for things that are timeless not things

that are temporary You see in in our world in

the world's economy. Our focus is on the right

here and the right now It's a very limited view

that we have in our world We have a very short

attention span, it's often said, in this world.

And therefore, our focus tends to be on the things

that we can see and that we can measure, we can

touch, and we can feel right now. But in God's

economy, it's different. God's economy is on

the things that are timeless, that last throughout

the ages, and indeed that last for all eternity.

And that's what the man in the parable had to

learn. Have a look at what happened next. After

he was... thinking about this barn thing he wanted

to do, building up these barns, he said, I will

then say to myself, you have plenty of grain

laid up for many years. Take like Vesey, eat,

drink, and be merry. But God said to him, you

fool, this very night your life will be demanded

from you. Then who will get what you have prepared

for yourself? This is how it will be for whoever

stores up things for themselves. but is not rich

towards the things of God. You see, as far as

this man was concerned, all of his problems were

going to be solved by building these big barns.

And what Jesus wanted him to know is that that's

the world's economy, and it could be gone in

an instant. and when we put our stock when we

put our investments when we put our focus only

on the things that we can see right now things

that can vanish in just a minute we are going

to miss out on all the blessings that god has

when we can take a longer view taking a longer

view is recognizing that in god's economy the

best is yet to come And it may not be what you

can see right now, but you can trust in God's

faithfulness that the best is yet to come. Take

the long view. Focus on the things that are timeless.

Some of you will know the true story of a businessman

named Ron. And many years ago, Ron built a business

with two other partners. But after a short time,

Ron was unsure if the business was going to be

successful. And so he sold his shares. He had

10 % in the company, and he sold his shares back

to his two partners. And he received $800 for

those shares. The year was 1976. The man's name

was Ron Wayne. His business partners were named

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The company was

Apple. It's estimated that if he had not sold

those shares for $800, that today they'd be worth

about $95 billion. But Ron didn't have the long

view. Now, friends, please hear me. This is not

investment advice. I don't know anything about

stocks, when to buy, when to sell, anything like

that. The point is that it reminds us, the story

of Ron Wayne reminds us that the best is yet

to come. And what we need to do is to take the

long view. I think of my dear wife, Nora, and

for how many years she prayed for her parents

to come to faith in Christ. She and her siblings

had all come to Christ, but their parents had

not. And yet they prayed diligently. You see,

the world's economy would say, you know what,

if the prayers aren't working right now, stop

praying. But in God's economy, you know that

the best is yet to come. And it's God's economy,

it's understanding to focus on things that are

timeless that keeps us praying. And today, both

of Nora's parents are wonderful Christians living

a beautiful life of faith. Having a timeless

view can also remind us that when we are serving,

the results are not just what we see here and

now. I was so inspired to see what you as a church

did in the community last week with the Christmas

event down here in Streetsville. And you know,

there's one view that says the results of that

was a lot of people got hot chocolate, and there

was a great festive atmosphere, and people got

to understand the church. And that's all true.

But here's what we know in God's economy. There

were seeds planted that day that might reap a

harvest in 10, 20, or 30 years from now. People

perhaps for the very first time got a glimpse

of the love of God through what you were doing

out there. You see, in God's economy, we measure

things differently. We don't look only at what

we can see right now, like this man did with

his barns, but we take an eternal view. And the

work that you are doing as a church, the investments

you're making in your community, they can pay

off for years and years and years to come, and

indeed right into eternity. I think the same

thing is true with... the charity work that you

support around the world whether it's with world

vision or somewhere else you know the the world's

economy says well you've done this for a little

while and you know maybe the results have had

their best day let's move on to something else

but in god's economy you recognize that whatever

work you're supporting whether it's world vision

or somewhere else that there is fruit being born

that's going to last for generations and right

on into eternity Friends, develop a heart for

the things that are timeless, not for the things

that are temporary. And what that might mean

to you is that if there's been someone in your

life that you've been praying for, either to

come to Christ, or perhaps it's been a health

issue, the world might say, it's time to give

up and move on. But remember that in God's economy,

the best is yet to come. Keep praying. The world's

economy might say that, you know, you've been

serving a lot here at Trinity, and, you know,

sometimes it just gets hard. Maybe you need to

just take a break for a while. And sometimes

that could be true. But remember that the work

you're doing now can have an eternal difference

in the lives of somebody else. Keep serving.

And certainly, if you've been supporting, whether

it's World Vision or some other worthwhile organization,

and you may not see the results you want right

now, Just remember that in God's economy, the

best is yet to come. Keep supporting the work

that you're committed to. Because to take a step

from the world's economy into God's economy,

it means remembering, focus on the things that

are timeless. Well, there's a third step that

takes us into God's economy as well, and that's

this. Develop a heart of open hands, not closed

fists. Develop a heart of open hands, not closed

fists. You know, there's a Jewish expression

that says that we are born with a closed fist

and we die with an open hand. And what that means

is, I'm sure you've all seen this, when a beautiful

baby is born, have you ever noticed that for

a while they always keep their fist clenched

like this? And really that's what the Jewish

expression speaks to is... That points to the

lives that many people will live afterwards,

which is that we hold very tightly to our things.

We hold very tightly to our stuff. But the expression

says that we die like this, meaning we can't

take anything with us after we leave this earth.

And what Jesus is calling us to through this

parable is to live our lives like this, not with

clenched fists. Listen to the words of the man

in the parable. And listen to how tightly his

fist was clenched. He thought to himself as he

was processing what he wanted to do with all

his wealth, he thought to himself, what shall

I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then

he said, this is what I'll do. I will tear down

my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will

store my surplus grains. Boy, you talk about

a clenched fist. My grain, my barns, and my surplus.

That's the language of the world's economy. But

open -handed living, kingdom living, is different

than that. You see, as citizens of God's kingdom,

we recognize it's not my barns. It's not my surplus.

It's not my grain. It's not my job. It's not

my car. It's not my money. These are all things

that God has graciously provided to us. These

are all things that come from the gracious, loving

hand of God, and we are simply stewards of them.

I don't have a job at World Vision. God has provided

me with an opportunity to serve. I don't have

a house in Kelowna. God has provided me with

a dwelling. It's come from Him, and I hold it

with open hands. Everything that you and I have

is not ours to hang on to tightly. It's ours

to recognize that it's come from the loving hand

of God, and we serve like this. We open our hands.

And friends, if you want to thrive and serve

and live in God's economy, we need to develop

a heart of open hands. One of the countries that

we served when I was with the Global Leadership

Network, was Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a place you

may know. It's a small island off the coast of

Tanzania. And it's a place that's 98 % Muslim

with about a 2 % Christian population. And it's

been fraught with tension between the Muslim

majority and the Christians who are there. Well,

one day, one of the government officials from

Zanzibar was traveling in South Africa and saw

an advertisement for the conference we were doing

down there. And she wanted to attend, but she

didn't know if she was allowed to because she's

Muslim. And so she called our office in South

Africa, and that's exactly what she said. I'd

like to attend your conference, but I don't know

if I'm allowed to because I'm not Christian.

Well, there would be two ways for our office

to have answered that call. The clenched fist

way would have been, this is our conference,

this is for Christians, this is for pastors.

and only people in that category can come to

our conference. But I'm so grateful that the

person who answered the phone understood having

a heart of open hands. And she said, of course

you can come. In fact, she said, bring as many

friends and colleagues as you'd like. You'd be

more than welcome. Well, when this government

official had finished the conference, she went

back to Zanzibar, and she reported to the government

about her experience in South Africa. And she

said, the power of the experience to me, she

said, was not just in the content of the conference,

it was in the way I was treated. She said, the

Christians treated me with love, with kindness,

and with respect. She said, they even set up

a prayer room for me, because, you know, Muslims

have a scheduled prayer system that they follow.

And the government was impacted deeply by that

experience. To the point that they contacted

our ministry and said, could you bring your Christian

ministry to Zanzibar? Because we believe this

could form a bridge between the Muslims and the

Christians in our nation. That's what happens

when we approach our lives with open hands and

we recognize this is not ours. This is what God

has graciously entrusted to us. And that's what

fuels our generosity. When we recognize we are

simply stewards of all that God has given to

us. And friends, I wonder for you today, is there

anything in your life that you are still hanging

on to with a clenched fist? You see, for many

of us, what we do is we think we want to have

a heart of open hands. We want to say, God, I

can offer before you the job you've given me

and the car and the house, but I'm not sure about

my money. Maybe that is still something we're

hanging on to with a clenched fist. Or maybe

it's our title. Or maybe it's some other area

of influence we have. Friends, here's what I'd

like to challenge you to do today. Would you

make an inventory of all the things in your life

that we would traditionally, in the world's view,

say, that's mine? And would you pray, Lord, would

you open my heart? Would you open my hand? Maybe

it is your job. Maybe it's your income. Maybe

it's your house. Whatever it is, say, Lord, would

you help me to release it to you? And when you

can do that, when you can develop a true heart

of open -handed living, you've taken another

step into God's economy. Well, what do we do

with this? Once we are now in God's economy,

once we've taken that journey from the world's

economy, step by step into God's economy, what

do we do now? What does life look like there?

Well, this is one of those parables and one of

those teachings where Jesus is beautifully clear.

Here's what he says. Sell your possessions and

give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves

that will not wear out. Well, what is a purse

that will not wear out? That's when you are generous,

when you are giving to the poor, that is credited

to your account in heaven. God is saying when

you are generous, when you give to the poor,

you are receiving a blessing that you may not

even fully realize for years to come. It's an

eternal blessing you receive when you are generous

to the poor. That's a purse that will never wear

out. But it's interesting that Jesus says, sell

your possessions. And that's in stark contrast

to the world's view of generosity, especially

generosity to the poor. Because here's what the

world says. Here's the world's financial plan

for giving to the poor. Go through the month,

pay all your bills, make sure everything's checked

off, and if there's anything left over at the

end, you can give some of that to the poor. The

world's economy when it comes to generosity is

based on surplus. But God's economy when it comes

to generosity, it's not based on surplus, it's

based on sacrifice. It should change some things

in our lives when we want to participate in God's

economy through hearts of generosity to the poor.

In other words, it doesn't mean that at the end

of the month we've made sure that all the recreation

we wanted to do and all of the nights out we

wanted to do, once all that is done, now we can

give. No, in God's economy, what it means is

maybe we're going to cancel two or three of the

streaming services that come into our house.

And out of that, we're going to give to the poor.

Maybe it means that we're not going to go out

for dinner every week. We're only going to go

out for dinner once a month or twice a month.

And the difference from that, we're going to

give to the poor. It means that we are going

to make sacrifices. We are going to change the

way we live so that we are freeing up resources

that God can put to use in serving the poor and

letting his blessings flow in our lives and around

the world. In other words, generous living in

God's economy is about sacrifice. It should mean

that we're going to change something in our lives

so that we can support the poor. But here's the

good news. Jesus beautifully wraps up this parable

with a wonderful promise to us. Because he says

that when you've done this, when you have given

to the poor sacrificially, you will be receiving

a treasure in heaven. that will never fail, where

no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For

where your treasure is, there your heart will

be also. There are blessings untold for each

one of us when we step into God's economy and

we sacrificially give to support the poor. And

that's my invitation for you today, that would

you join us as a full participating... member

of god's economy would you give sacrificially

to the poor your heart will be blessed and you'll

be a part of changing the world let me pray for

you our heavenly father how grateful we are that

we can gather in a wonderful church like trinity

a church that has such a heart for generosity

And Father, may that be true of each one of us.

Father, guide us into your kingdom economy. May

we be faithful to support the poor. And Father,

we do so out of hearts of joy, love, and gratitude

for all you will do around the world. We pray

these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank

you for listening to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This sermon was recorded at Trinity

Church Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario on

November 23rd, 2025.