Money Matters!?

Please join us in a time of prayer.

Father, we come to you with humble hearts

and praise you for being our God.

You created heaven and earth.

You shaped everything in it with your own hands.

You parted the sea and rescued your people

from the hands of their oppressors.

You went before David in every battle.

You healed the sick.

You raised the dead.

You are God of all these awesome wonders

and you are our God.

You are the God of watermark.

We praise you.

Thank you for your son Jesus

for all that he has done to bring us back to you.

Thank you that in Jesus,

in his sacrifice,

we see your perfect love fully displayed

and in his resurrection,

we have a perfect hope to hold on to.

Thank you for your mercy

that in your forgiveness,

we are set free from the bondage of our sin

so that we can now live in freedom

to serve and love you.

Thank you for your faithfulness,

shown not only through the stories in the Bible

and our individual life experiences,

but also abundantly evident in the life of watermark.

From the days when planting this church was just an idea

to where we are now with this wonderful congregation,

you have guided and provided in every step.

You have so generously blessed us in every way,

bringing people of many different gifts and talents to serve you,

giving us a place to meet every Sunday,

changing lives through the ministries of this church

and providing us a gospel-centered community.

this church,

which we can call home,

and these brothers and sisters,

our family.

We see your hand here working in watermark,

and we thank you for letting us be a part of your amazing plan

to redeem this city.

Lord, you have been faithful,

and I pray that we will never forget your goodness.

So with grateful hearts,

we thank you,

and we bless your name.

In Christ we pray.

Gracious Father,

we thank you, Lord,

for drawing us into your presence.

We thank you for allowing us to come into your presence today to worship.

We thank you for allowing us to come here

and just to worship you openly and freely.

Lord, we remain astounded week by week

for the goodness that you continue to shower on watermark.

We praise you continually

for faithfully making a place for us,

and despite all things,

we find ourselves here again at Cyberport.

Lord, we lift up a sacrifice of praise

for your love never fails.

It never ceases.

In this Thanksgiving season, Lord,

we are reminded of the utmost source of our everything

that is in Christ Jesus.

Father, we thank you that while we were still sinners,

you loved us.

Before time, you loved us.

And this love amazes me

just to see that

it's so fit to demand a ransom of your son

for our redemption.

Father, we thank you for the work of Christ on the cross

that reconciles us to you,

that draws us into your family.

Father, you sent your son to save us

and your spirit to guide us

even when we are unworthy.

I am grateful.

We are grateful, Lord,

and we thank you, Father.

We love you, Father,

for what you have done for us.

Father, we praise you for what you are doing,

not only for us, but through us.

We thank you for the community that you are building here.

And Lord, we pray that you will continue to allow us

to reflect your glory in this way.

And as we make steps out into our community

to love and to serve the people around us,

we pray that you would bless us

as you have already done.

We pray that the endeavors we make

be a blessing to those who receive.

Not, Lord, for our sake,

but for yours.

For your name we gather

and for your fame we serve.

For you, Lord, we lift up our souls

in worship and thanksgiving.

For you are a God who provides abundantly

for your children

and for Watermark Church.

In the name of Christ our Savior, we pray.

Father, we are so grateful

that you pursue us,

know us personally,

and want what is best for our lives.

You have brought us all to Watermark

for a purpose,

whether it is our first time here

or if we're here each week.

Thank you for bringing us to this community.

Thank you for creating

a Watermark family

that is united together by faith,

by the faith we have in Christ.

No matter our nationality,

job, our stage in life,

we feel and know

that you are building

a strong spiritual family here,

and we thank you.

For the community groups

that have been established

across Hong Kong,

we also thank you.

We are hearing about groups

that are reaching out

to their neighbors,

co-workers,

and the local poor and needy.

Thank you for giving

our community groups

a passion for service,

and a desire to walk

on this journey together

through support and encouragement.

We were amazed

as we watched 10 of our church family

baptized last week.

We are grateful

for what you are doing

in people's hearts

and for celebrating with us

as our brothers and sisters

symbolize their commitment

to be your followers

in front of family,

friends, and you.

We give thanks to you

for providing a meeting place

for our services each week

and for all our volunteers,

our worship team,

and staff that serve weekly.

You have always provided

comfortable locations

and given us a place

to worship collectively.

We are humbled

by what you are doing

through the work

of your hands at Watermark.

To you be all the glory.

Thank you.

Amen.

Good morning again,

Watermark.

My name is Chris.

I'm helping to oversee

some of the community groups.

And I don't know

if you read in the newspapers

this week,

but there was a survey

that was done

to find out

which countries

were the most emotional

in the world.

And they did this survey

and they asked a number

of questions

to evaluate.

They asked,

could you evaluate

how your life is

at the moment

and what you think

your life will be like

in five years' time?

From zero to ten,

where would you mark yourself?

They asked questions like,

do you smile a lot?

Do you laugh a lot?

Things like that.

And do you know

what country came out

as number one

as the most emotional country?

Anyone know?

No.

The Philippines

came out as number one country

for being most emotional.

Do you know

which country

came out as the bottom?

Correct.

Singapore

came out as

the most emotionless people

in the entire planet.

Now,

I'm not convinced

about the reliability

of the findings.

I know some Singaporeans

and they're not all emotionless.

But there was

a very interesting comment

by the Gallup spokesperson

who did the poll.

He said this,

if you measure Singapore

by the traditional indicators,

indicators like wealth,

prosperous economy,

good education,

low crime rates,

Singapore looks like

one of the best run countries

in the world.

But if you look at everything

that makes life worth living,

they're not doing so well.

That's a fascinating statement.

If you measure Singapore

by the traditional indicators,

they look like

one of the best run countries

in the world.

But if you look at everything

that makes life worth living,

they're not doing so well.

And I think

as we take that

and we look into Hong Kong

and we even look into

our own lives,

I wonder whether

that's also true for us.

That those things,

the traditional indicators

that we kind of pursue

and run after

the wealth,

status,

education,

titles,

all of those things.

Whether,

actually,

in our lives,

when we think about

what's really worth

living for,

whether we're doing

quite so well.

In 2 Corinthians 8,

2 Corinthians 8:6

verse 6,

Paul is speaking

to the church there

and he says to them,

You know the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that though he was rich,

for your sakes

he became poor,

that through his poverty

you might become rich,

that through his poverty

you might become rich.

What is he talking about?

He's talking about the cross.

He's talking about the cross

where Jesus came down

and poured out his life.

He emptied himself.

He poured out himself

so that we could become

rich in him.

We could actually have

what life is really

worth living for

in him.

And as we come to communion

we're going to celebrate

that actually the cross

is the place

where we can find

the true things of life.

That peace,

that joy,

that meaning and purpose

in life

for which we were made.

Because in Hong Kong

many people

are driven into the ground

through work,

not just because of the work

but they're trying

to prove themselves.

They're trying to prove

that they're worth something.

They're trying to prove

that they're acceptable

to their friends,

their family,

their parents,

their boss.

And yet it's a crushing weight.

But at the cross

what we see is

Jesus says

you're already approved.

You're already accepted.

You're already,

I've done everything

that you can be accepted.

At the cross

we also find

that those of us

who struggle with guilt,

who struggle with shame

because we feel like a failure

from the things of our past,

we find at the cross

Jesus says

forgiven.

It's finished.

Accepted

completely.

And so

I want you to remember

those things

and I want you to

just before you come up

and take communion

I want you to be thinking

about your life.

Are you living your life

for the traditional indicators?

Is that where you're

putting your hope in?

Or have you realized

that as we come to this

reminder of the cross

that actually this

is the fountain

of everything

that life

is worth living for?

Communion is

something for the family

of God.

What that means is

if you're not yet a Christian

you are so welcome

but we'd ask you

to stay in your seats

and just observe

what's going on

and ask questions.

If there's someone

who's brought you along

just nag them

about what this is all about.

Don't go away from here

until they've told you

about what it's about.

If you've got kids

you know where your kids are

spiritually.

And

what that means is

if they've not yet

professed faith in Christ

we ask you

bring them up

don't let them take

of the elements

but use this

as a teaching time

to teach them

about what it means

to build your foundation

of your life

on Christ

on what he's done

because then you'll be able

to live a life

that's truly worth living.

So if the communion students

could come up

take your places

so just have a minute

just to reflect

maybe confess

where you have put

your foundations

in anything else

and then when you're ready

come up

and take the elements.

Thank you.

I'd like to do something

slightly different

and

we're going to take

the elements

in a minute

but what I want you

to do

as we take them

I'd like you to look

around at each other

because actually

here today

you are

a people

if you know Christ

who are accepted

and forgiven

because of the cross.

So look at each other

and rejoice

that because of Jesus' death

he's made us one family

accepted

and forgiven.

So on the night

that Jesus was betrayed

he took bread

and he gave thanks.

He broke it

and he said

to his disciples

this is my body

that was given for you

do this

in remembrance of me

the body of Christ.

And on that same night

he took the cup

and he said

this

is my blood

of the new covenant

which was shed for you

shed to forgive you

for all of your sins

drink this

in remembrance of me

cup of Christ.

Father

we thank you so much

for your body

for your blood

that you have made us

one family

who are secure

and accepted

in you.

Father

I just want to thank you

also for

all of the kids

that you've given us.

I want to thank you

so much

that they're a blessing

to us.

I pray Lord

that as they go

to their classes now

that they would

learn

to build

on the foundation

which is you.

That they would learn

that you are

what makes life

worth living for.

Please bless them

bless their teachers

as they go

and praise in your

amazing name.

Amen.

All the kids

youth stay in

all the kids

and teachers

you are dismissed.

See you later kids.

If everyone just wants

to stand

and worship with us

sing with us.

So this morning

my name is Charles

I'm a volunteer

here at Watermark.

This morning

Tobin starts a series

on questions

that we've all had

as a community

about church

about life

about different things

and as you remember

last week

he invited us

to send in letters

or questions

that we might have

about certain things

and so we've taken

those questions

and we've put them

into different buckets

and today

we're going to be addressing

or Tobin's going to be addressing

things that are centered

around money

around finances

around stewardship.

So we've got a couple

of letters

we wanted to share

some of those

with you

so you can kind of

see where we're

going today.

The first letter

we got says

Pastor Tobin

whatever you talk

about in this series

please do not

talk about money.

I just came

from a church

that talked about it

and asked for it

all the time

as they built

a large church building.

I like it that you guys

try to keep it

low key.

Here's some more letters

take a listen.

Dear Tobin

as a new Christian

how much money

does this church

need me to give to them?

I'm still learning

about this tithing thing.

Dear Pastor

my question is about money.

As a person

who is not a Christ follower yet

but who comes to Watermark

I have lots of questions

on this issue.

Last Sunday

we had baptism

and you said

that baptism

was an outward sign

of an inward reality

and that the people

were getting baptized

because they had already

become Christians.

It seems to me

that tithing

and giving money

to the church

is the same

for you Christians.

An outward sign

on an inward reality

that Christians

are supposed

to think of money

and wealth

differently.

So my question

is this

honestly

I cannot

as I watch

my Christian friends

around me at work

they seem to desire

view

pursue

handle

spend

serve

worship

waste

and rely

on their money

no differently

than my friends

who laugh

at the claims

of Christ

and the thought

of giving up

their hard earned money.

How am I supposed

to handle

this apparent

contradiction?

Cheers!

Dear Gorilla

I know that

as a Christian

I'm supposed

to tithe

but I use my money

to take people

out to lunch

and do nice things

for them.

Is that the same thing?

And is God

okay with that?

I promise

I do not

spend it on myself.

Pastor

last Sunday

was the first time

I actually heard

you talking about

giving and tithing

at the end

of the worship time

though I was told

you mentioned it

that way

every so often.

To be honest

with you

even though

we've been coming

to Watermark

for many months

we still have not

decided

if your church

is worthy

enough to receive

money from us.

There are still

a few more things

we would like

to see happen

and a few more

opportunities offered

for us

before we think

you are worthy

to receive our money.

Please do more.

The scripture reading

today comes

from the book

of Psalms

and the gospel

of Luke.

Please follow along

in your bulletin.

The earth

is the Lord's

and everything

in it.

The world

and all its people

belong to him.

Now

he was also

saying to his

disciples

there was a rich

man who had

a manager

and this manager

was reported

to him

as squandering

his possessions

and he called

him and said

to him

what's this

I hear about you

give an account

of your management

for you can

no longer be

manager.

The manager

said to himself

what should I do

since my master

is taking the

management away

from me.

I'm not strong

enough to dig.

I'm ashamed

to beg.

I know what

I should do

so that I am

when I'm removed

from the management

people will welcome

me into their homes

and he summoned

each one of his

master's debtors

and he began

saying to the

first

how much do you

owe my master

and he said

a hundred

measures of

oil

and he said

to him

take your bill

and sit down

quickly

and write

fifty

then he said

to another

how much

do you owe

and he said

a hundred

measures of

wheat

and he said

to him

take your bill

and write

eighty

and his

master

praised

the unrighteous

manager

because he

had acted

shrewdly

for the

sons of

this age

are more

shrewd

in relations

to their

own kind

than the

sons of

light

and I

say to

you

make

friends

for

yourselves

by the

means

of wealth

of

unrighteousness

so that

when it

fails

they will

receive you

into the

eternal

dwelling

he who

is faithful

in a very

little things

is faithful

also in

much

he who

is unrighteous

in a very

little thing

is unrighteous

also in

much

therefore

if you

have not

been faithful

in the use

of unrighteous

wealth

who will

entrust

the true

riches

to you

and if you

have not

been faithful

in the use

of that

which is

in others

who will

give you

which is

yours

no servant

can serve

two masters

for either

he hate

the one

and love

the other

or else

he will be

devoted to

one

and despise

the other

you

cannot

serve

God

and wealth

now the

Pharisees

who were

lovers

of money

were listening

to all

these things

and were

scoffing

at him

this is

God's

word

how you

guys

doing

hey

well

one

let's

try it

again

how you

guys

doing

good

hey

thanks

for those

who wrote

in the

letters

the number

is still

in your

bulletin

and so

there's

opportunity

for you

to write

in more

questions

we're actually

gathering up

like Charles

said

and I like

how you

said it

put it

in a

bucket

and so

we're

kind of

mixing

them up

in the

bucket

and seeing

which

ones

gravitate

towards

the same

ideas

and so

my

question

is

who

wants

to come

up

and give

the sermon

today

yeah

my real

question is

did everybody

get a piece

of Thanksgiving

turkey

or turkey

who ate

turkey this

week

raise your

hand

okay

so we're

going to have

opportunity

on December

15th

we're doing

an outreach

at the

community

center

with Michael

Ramston

and we will

have a turkey

dinner there

and so

on December

15th

you are

welcome

to join

us

and eat

that turkey

that you

missed

for Thanksgiving

because there's

something about

turkey that is

I think is

amazing so

it's probably

the best

meat around

hey we are

we're

talking

about

topics

and we chose

to call it

gorilla

sermons

and some people

are like

what do you

say that

because it

sounds like

it's the

elephant in

the room

type topic

and it is

I think

the difference

between

the elephant

in the room

type topic

in a gorilla

sermon

is you

all know

the gorilla

is sitting

at the table

right

you know

it's there

it's eating

your food

it's messing

with your

relationships

it's making

your life

uncomfortable

you don't feel

like you

could share

everything

that you

need to

share

it's just

weird

and elephants

like that

sometimes too

and you want

to point it

out but you're

afraid to

and the difference

between a gorilla

and the elephant

is the elephant

you can point it

out and people

kind of get

shocked

but when you

point the gorilla

question out

or the topic

out

what usually

happens is

the gorilla

just comes

up and

rips your

arms off

and beats

you with

it

because it's

such a

sensitive

topic

that no one

wants to

talk about

sometimes

gorilla

topics

or sermons

or ideas

can be

people

they can

be

relationships

they can

be

ideas

they can

be

politics

they can

be questions

of priority

in marriages

they often

deal

with money

and questions

of who's

spending so

much money

and why is

our money

disappearing

so quickly

and you know

that that's

always going

to enter into

a fight

and discussion

ladies

when you come

up to your

husband

and you

say something

like

does this

dress

make me

look fat

the proper

response

guys

is just

to stare

and don't

say anything

because that's

what you do

when a gorilla

walks in the

room

you just

kind of

freeze

and you

try to

pretend

like you're

not there

okay

so don't

ask those

type of

questions

because those

are questions

that cause

discussions

because there's

something in

a guy's

brain that

we just

cannot

process

that

question

or any

question

like that

properly

and so

the only

correct

response

for a guy

is to

vapor lock

and to

shut down

and so

that's a

huge gorilla

question

not that

that's ever

asked in

our family

I love you

honey

in every

dress you

wear

but that

could be

one of

those

things

and those

questions

and I

think that

you know

everybody

has

topics

in their

world

that they're

afraid to

talk about

and so

I think

as Christians

we often

are really

afraid to

talk about

certain things

because we

just don't

know

we're a new

Christian

we're learning

we're growing

we're afraid

that we're

going to look

stupid

and someone

always knows

more information

or the latest

quote

or happiness

index

or things like

that

and so we

we kind of

stop talking

about those

but we want

to be a family

here

and we want

to be a family

in the house

where we discuss

everything

and so

I don't know

if we'll have

question and answer

time afterwards

we'll see

but please

head in

and ask

more questions

you know

where we're

going as a

sermon series

we're talking

on this

passage today

which I think

is one of

my most

challenging

passages

in all of

scripture

it's hard

enough

just to read

it and understand

why Jesus

is making

this guy

a hero

to us

or it seems

to be that way

as he's

sharing

with his

disciples

but it's

even harder

as a

pastor

to talk

about these

things

let me ask

a question

I'll ask

the question

you're never

supposed to

ask as a

pastor

is anybody

here for

the first

Sunday

would you

raise your

hand

do you have

any courage

if you have

courage

okay

one

two

three

four

five

six

five

ten

people

wow

okay

well

I

apologize

to begin

with

but I

don't

apologize

because

often

there's

a

stereotype

that

when

you

come

to

church

the

pastors

just

talk

about

money

and

this

happens

to be

your

first

Sunday

at

this

church

and

we

are

talking

about

money

but

in

our

family

as a

church

here

we

want

to

talk

about

everything

and

we

talk

about

money

often

because

we

feel

like

it's

one

of

the

greatest

idols

in

our life. And Christ talked about money often. Christ talked about money more than the kingdom

of God coming back. He talked about it about 24% of the time that he went up to share in the

gospels. There was an issue of stewardship. There was an issue of money. There was an issue of stuff

and how we use it. And so I just want to briefly look at this thing. Where we're going today is I

want to share this story. I want to share this story from a cultural standpoint. So look at your

scripture and I'll talk through it and give some cultural nuances as we talk about it. And then I

want to share these three points that have been sticking out to me over and over and over again.

So Jesus is telling this story to his disciples and it's about money, resources, and stewardship.

The story is of a very, very wealthy landowner. We know that because the amount of money that's

involved in here. The amount of money that he's lent out is massive. It's 10, 20, 30, 40 years of wages.

It's important to remember that in Jesus' day, people received a wage for their day's work. And so

there wasn't a large accumulation of wealth. You just worked for one day and you got that back. And so

people usually live day to day. And so this amount of money that this manager or this owner has, the

master, is massive. We're told that in this story the landowner has a steward. Now the steward is in charge

of managing the master's money. He's overseeing the property. Often he often takes care of the kids

and the children. In relationship, in Roman society, he often wore the master's ring and he

was able to transact business for the master. It's reported to this master that the steward

is squandering the master's resources. This squander is the same word that's used of the younger son in

the running father story that we just talked about earlier. So it's not that he's using them on bad

things, but he's just using them on things beyond his means. They're really expensive things.

We're told in this story, and there's an implication that the master is an honorable man,

that the master is a righteous man. And as he hears this report, he brings the steward in contrast to

him. The master is righteous. The steward is unrighteous. He brings the steward in and he calls

him in. The story tells us that the master looks at the steward and he shares the charges and the

steward says nothing. Now the people listening to this story would have been incredibly surprised

because in Jesus' day in culture, the first thing that this person would have done would have been

trying to shift blame or deny that it was his fault. I know that none of us do that today in our world,

but in Jesus' world, the steward would have shifted blame and he would have said, it's not my fault.

But instead, he says nothing. Everybody would have been incredibly shocked by what they'd heard.

By being silent, he's basically saying, I'm guilty. The master knows the truth. I've been disobedient.

I'm in trouble. The passage tells us that the steward is fired on the spot and all of his authority

is terminated immediately. The language and everything that's said is he's fired and he goes

out to lunch and he's coming back into the building and the swipe card doesn't work. His computer access,

I know none of us have experienced that here in Hong Kong, but in this culture, in this day,

that's how it happened. He is terminated immediately. The master says, turn in your books.

You're done with. Now, culturally, the master could have beaten the steward. He could have jailed

the steward. It was expected of him to humiliate him in front of the whole town in the village,

but he doesn't. And everyone listening to the story would have been amazed. By law, the steward must pay

back everything that he has wasted. By law, the steward had to pay back everything that he has wasted,

but the master in the story extends mercy. He extends grace. He extends generosity. And he doesn't ask the steward

to pay back anything. The master's actions in this passage that we read today are totally

countercultural. They're totally unexpected. And everybody in Jesus' day listening to this would have shook their heads

and said, there's no way this would have happened. The story tells us the steward, taking all of these things in,

processing what's going on, the seriousness of everything, he asks the question, what shall I do?

There's this implication that he's not just thinking about what happened here, but he's thinking far into the future.

He's thinking about what is going to happen to him when he doesn't have a job.

People are not going to hire him. He's not going to be welcome in anybody's home. His future is finished.

Then we're told in the passage in verse 4, he says, I know what I will do.

And in Hebrew, that terminology means a light bulb flashed into his head.

And this idea came into his mind,

this plan that he begins to formulate and he begins to work, but he realizes that the only way this plan is going to work

is if nobody, nobody knows that he's fired.

He realizes that the only way this plan is going to work is if he does what he's going to do very, very quickly

before the master finds out.

He realizes and he begins to think that there's a chance that his plan might just work

because he's already seen the master be incredibly gracious,

incredibly merciful,

incredibly forgiving.

He knows and everybody else listening to the story expects that the steward should be in jail right now.

He should be beaten and he should be in prison in chains.

And that has not happened to him.

So he realizes that the master is gentle and good and kind and forgiving.

And so he gets his plan and what he does is he summons all the master's debtors.

Now we're told by the amount of money in the master that these are very, very rich people.

I mean, the amount of money that's being transacted, the produce that's happening,

it's a lot of money.

And so he calls in secretively all of these people and he reduces the rent of two of them in verses six and seven.

But as you read the scripture and in the Hebrew and the Greek, there was an understanding that there was much more than two.

So the only thing that Jesus does is he tells us two of these examples.

But in your mind of the reader, you're thinking there's probably 20 or 30 or 40 of these examples out there

because the master is wealthy and that he has a lot of things to go and to share with it.

Now the whole plan only works as long as the debtors come in and they still believe that the steward is in charge.

The plan only works as long as the debtors come in and they think that the plan is the master's.

If there's any thought that the plan isn't the master's and this guy is fired,

they know immediately culturally that every transaction that he does is void and null.

So they're coming in there and they're saying, wow, what an amazing idea the master's come about.

Wow, this is incredible.

It's like Black Friday times 10.

I mean, everybody would assume that the whole idea was the master's.

But behind the scenes, they would have thought the steward put him up to this.

The steward is the one who really pushed the master.

And so in the passage, there was an understanding culturally that everybody would have loved the steward

and would have thought he was amazing.

But the two people that he's reduced, the two debts that he reduced,

was 10 years of wages.

10 years and just two of those reductions.

Now, the master already knows what's on the books.

The master already knows everything that he owns.

But culturally, the changes wouldn't have been unheard of.

I mean, if there was a drought, bad things happening,

often we're told that the masters reduced the rent of the land.

And the interesting thing is it wouldn't have been difficult.

Because all it would have been done is like, maybe the number is a T.

And the lender comes in and he takes that T and he swishes it into a P.

And that would have changed all of the numbers of the debt.

And so again, everyone in the village is thinking, man, this master is amazing.

This master is gracious.

This master is kind.

This master is noble.

And everybody would have been indebted for the rest of their life to the steward and his plan.

Now, whether it's because the steward comes in and turns in the books

or the master is walking through the village and someone just slaps him on the back and says,

you are amazing.

Man, give me a hug.

I can't believe you broke my rent down that much.

That's incredible.

Now, we don't know how the master found out.

But the master finds out.

He realizes what happened.

Now, remember, in this culture, the highest attribute a noble person can have,

the highest attribute that the master can have is to be seen as generous, gracious, forgiving, and merciful.

And we already know the master is that because in the very beginning of the story,

he could have put the guy in prison, but he didn't.

So now everybody is thinking that the master is generous, gracious, merciful, and forgiving,

is what he wants to be known as, but he knows the truth.

Now, he has a choice.

What's his choice?

His choice is either to go out there and say, hey, guys, I know that I gave you this break,

but, you know, I really didn't give it to you.

The steward did it.

In which case, all the people's joy will turn to anger.

All the people's loving of the master will turn to frustration and dislike.

Or the master can just say, okay, the steward has shown what I am.

I'm gracious.

I'm kind.

I'm forgiving.

The master brings the steward in in verse 9 and 8,

and we're told that he praises the steward for his shrewdness.

He doesn't praise him for lying.

He doesn't praise him for cheating.

He praises him for his shrewdness.

In Greek, the word is chokmah.

It's this word that means wisdom.

It's what we read about in the Proverbs.

Chokmah.

Chokmah.

Everybody wants it.

It's an understanding of life.

It's an understanding of where you're going.

It's an understanding of reality.

It's an understanding of your final destination.

And the master brings in his steward,

and he praises him for his chokmah

because he realizes that the steward understands very clearly where he's going.

You see, in this passage,

the steward, as he thought about this,

and he had this aha moment,

he realized that his current situation was impossible.

He realized that the only hope that he had of saving himself,

he realized that the only hope of his salvation

was the mercy,

the graciousness,

the kindness

of the master.

I mean,

from the very beginning,

the steward realized

that the only way this is going to work

is if the master's good.

Because if the master's not good,

he's going to come in and upset everything,

and I'm going to be in prison.

But I'm not in prison.

And so the steward

makes this elaborate plan,

but his salvation,

his future

is not protected

by his elaborate plan

and all his scheming.

His salvation and his future

is protected by the goodness

of the master,

his kindness,

his graciousness.

The passage basically tells us

that the master ate the debt.

The master ate the debt

at the beginning,

the master eats the debt

at the end,

and the only hope of salvation

that steward has

is the master's good.

That's the story.

There's a couple things

that I have been

reading through

and thinking about

and I want to put in front of you

before we finish today.

The first one is this,

and it's found in verse 1.

The earth is the Lord's

and all that is in it.

Who owned the property?

The master.

Who managed the property?

You and I.

Stewardship is a theme

that goes throughout Scripture.

The Bible talks about it

over and over and over.

As stewards,

we're entrusted with possessions,

we're entrusted with gifts,

we're entrusted with abilities,

we're entrusted with our bodies

and our health,

we're entrusted with relationships,

we're entrusted with time,

we're entrusted with money,

and I think the most important

is we're entrusted with the gospel.

And the question we have to ask ourselves,

guys,

today is,

do we believe this?

Do you believe it?

Do you believe it?

Do you believe that everything

that you have right now

is God's?

Everything.

Everything's the masters.

And we're just stewards.

Do we believe that everything

that we have is God's?

Because you see in this passage,

the problem began at the very beginning

when we begin to act like

it's ours.

When we begin to act like

we're going to do it on our own.

When we begin to do things

that are not in the master's best interest.

When we begin to do things

that are in our best interest.

The passage says

that we go from becoming

righteous stewards

to unrighteous stewards.

Because everything

is the master's.

And we just manage it.

The moment we forget

that the gift

is from the master,

we're in trouble.

The moment we forget

that we're accountable

for everything

that the master has given us,

we're in trouble.

The moment we say,

this is mine,

I want to do with it

what I want to do with it,

we're in trouble.

The minute we forget

that we're entrusted

with things

that aren't ours

and we're given a responsibility

to invest them

in a certain way,

we're in trouble.

We see this in the news

all the time.

Don't we?

How many traders

or bankers

or people buying homes

or countries

take what isn't theirs

and do and use it

for not what the owner

wanted it to be?

And this passage

yells at us

very clearly

that we're just stewards

and the minute we forget that,

we're in trouble.

the Bible says

that one day

God is going to come in

and he's going to audit

your account.

Did you know that?

We talked about him

being a venture capitalist

and he's giving money to us

and when he comes back

and he tries to see

the money he gave to us

and the resources he gave to us

and the relationships

he gave to us,

did we invest him well?

But this passage says

that one day

God's going to come in

and he's going to audit

our account.

And he's going to ask us

did we use the stuff

that he gave us

the way that he wanted us to?

I mean, I think it's amazing,

you know,

in the Old Testament

God gives us

all of his money,

he allows us to keep

90% of it,

he only wants

10% of it back,

that's a pretty good deal,

isn't it?

I mean, I remember

when I was sharing

with this guy

who was a banker

and he just came to Christ

and for some reason

this light bulb

came on in his mind

and we were talking

about this

and I said,

God's giving you everything,

he said,

yes, God's giving me everything

and I said,

and God's going to let you

keep 90% of it,

he said,

God's going to let me

keep 90% of it

but God just wants

to give back 10%,

just 10%,

just 10%,

he's like,

that's an amazing deal,

what investment do I get

where I get to keep

90% of it

and I just have to give back 10%?

And then he looked at me

and he said,

but it's still all God's,

right?

And I was like,

yeah,

it's still all God's.

The first thing

that sticks out to me

is stewardship,

do we know

that we don't own anything?

The next question

that we have to ask ourselves

as we come to this passage

is what kind of steward

are we going to be?

Are we going to be

shrewd stewards?

Are we going to be

foolish stewards?

Are we going to be

good stewards?

Are we going to be

bad stewards?

In the parable in here,

Jesus says,

for some reason,

this steward

understood something

that you and I

have a very difficult

time understanding.

He says it,

he says,

he's shrewd,

he understands things

that the children,

the sons of light

could not understand,

they need to understand that.

The question I ask is,

well,

what is it that he understands

that we don't understand?

Verse 9,

look at verse 9.

He says,

and I say to you,

my friends,

make friends for yourself

by means of the wealth

of the world

so that when it fails,

they will welcome you

into eternal dwellings.

In Texas language,

what he's basically saying here

is use your money

to build relationships.

And give people opportunity

to hear about Jesus.

The children of the light,

with all the resources

that God has given us,

God is saying,

this is what I want you to do.

Verse 9,

I want you to take

your resources,

I want you to use them

to create opportunities

to allow people

to hear the gospel

and so that when it fails,

in Hebrew,

when it fails means you die.

So if you go to a Jewish funeral

and they say,

what happened to him?

He said,

his money failed him.

His money failed him.

And you go,

what does that mean?

It means he died.

So the idea is that one day,

it,

your money or your resources

are going to fail you.

One day you're going to die

and when it fails,

these people

who you used your resources

to give them opportunities

to hear the gospel,

these people

are going to welcome you

when you get to heaven

and say,

thank you so much

for being a good steward

of what God has given you.

Have you ever thought about that?

Have you ever thought about

what it's going to be like

when you get to heaven

and as a good steward,

you used your money

to create opportunities

to hear people

so they can hear the gospel?

Do you ever think

what it's going to be like

when you get to heaven

and someone goes,

you know,

I'm really thankful

that you tithe that day

because you don't know it

but that money was used

to create an opportunity

for me to hear the gospel.

You know,

I'm really thankful

that you got that invitation

that the church

hands out next week

to take people

to the Michael Ramson talk

and then the turkey dinner

and then talk about Christianity

and Christmas

and apologetics.

I'm really thankful

that you picked one of those up

and you laid it on my desk

because you use that opportunity

and you don't realize it

in using that opportunity,

I'm here now.

The passage says,

and think about this,

how many things right now

do you and I invest in

that increased in value

and last for eternity?

The passage says,

the only thing that does that

is men's souls.

Men's souls in God's word

are the only thing

that are eternal.

And he looks at that guy,

the steward,

who is unjust

and he said,

you understand something

that Christians don't.

You understand you have a future,

a place you're going to,

you need to take care

of that place

and Christians don't understand

that.

Christians just live

as if their future

is here right now

and they don't realize

that I've given them

all these resources

to create opportunities

for people to hear

about Christ

so that when they die,

they fail,

the money fails them,

they get to heaven

and all those people

greet them

and thank them

for their stewardship.

Does that make sense?

When I get to heaven,

it's my junior year in college.

My parents were going

through a divorce.

My dad shut off

all of us

from any kind of money.

I was involved

in a campus ministry,

Campus Crusade.

They had a great opportunity

for an outreach.

I really,

really wanted to go to it

but I couldn't

because I just had no money

and so I went

to the campus director,

Skid Logan.

I still remember his name.

I was in his discipleship group.

I said, Skid,

I really want to go

but my parents

are going through a divorce.

There's no money

in my house.

I just can't go.

I'm sorry.

I went home.

The next day,

Skid called me up

and said,

hey,

someone gave you money

for a scholarship.

You can go.

And that trip

changed

my Christian life.

I'm going to be

so excited

to get to heaven

and meet that person

who scholarship me

to go on

a university outreach.

That's what the passage says.

How are we using

our resources?