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Biblical
references in Gahanna-Jefferson Church of Christ's nondenominational sermon
outlines are linked directly to text of the King James version of the Bible.
Introduction.
The idea of giving away
our money elicits a wide range of emotions. Some cringe, some experience guilt,
fear and joy. Some people look at it as since they are giving AT church,
therefore they must be giving to THE church. So they use their money like
casting votes. If they like what is happening they give money and when they
don't like something they withhold their money. We also have people who feel
that it's a win/lose situation. I lose because I'm giving my money and the
church wins because they get my money.
Today we'll look at an incident when Jesus told a story about money. His goal
was to help us see money and possessions from His perspective, so we'll do as he
says.
Body.
I. The Money Waster
1. Turn in your Bibles to
Luke 16.
a. Jesus is telling a parable to his disciples something that we need to learn
from today.
b. "And He also said to His disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a
steward. And he was accused to him, that he had wasted his goods. And he
called him and said to him, What is this I hear about you? Give an account of
your stewardship, for you may no longer be steward."
c. So here’s the situation.
d. There’s a very wealthy man whose got so much money that he doesn’t have the
time to pay all the bills.
e. So he hires an accountant to take care of all of his wealth.
f. However, the man is doing a lousy job and is wasting the man’s money.
g. The wealthy man learns about it and tells him to close out the books because
he’s fired.
2. Let’s pick up the story in
verse 3:
"And the steward said within himself, What
shall I do? For my lord is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I
am ashamed to beg."
a. Suddenly the manager realizes that he’s got to do something and he’s got to
do it now.
b. My master is taking away my job.
c. I’m not strong enough for physical labor and I’m too proud to beg.
d. He realizes that he does have two things:
i. He’s got a little bit of time.
ii. He’s got a little bit of opportunity.
e. He needs to figure out how to use this time and opportunity to his best
advantage.
B. Fast thinking –
v.4-8
1. v. 4
a. So he comes up with a plan.
b. Verse 4-7:
"I know what I will do, so that when I am put out of the stewardship
they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's
debtors and said; to the first, How much do you owe my lord? And he said, A
hundred baths of oil. And he said to him, Take your bill and sit down quickly
and write fifty. And he said to another, And how much do you owe? And he said,
A hundred cors of wheat. And he said to him, Take your bill and write eighty. "
c. He cuts all the bills.
d. The people who owe are grateful and you can just hear them say, “Hey if
there’s anything I can do for you, just let me know.”
e. To which the shrewd manager says, “Don’t worry-I will.”
f. And he does the same thing for all who owe the master.
2. As the story continues the master eventually finds out what he is doing.
a. Look at verse 8:
"And the unjust steward's lord commended him because he had
done wisely. "
b. Doesn’t this shock you?
c. The master praises the dishonest manager.
d. Why? – because he acted cleverly.
e. I don’t know about you but while I’m reading this story I’m wanting the
accountant to get what’s coming to him.
f. When the master finds out what he did I want him to really give it to this
guy.
g. But what he basically says is, “Your dishonest, but I’ve got to hand it to
you.”
h. “You took the time and opportunity handed to you and leveraged it in such a
way that these people will welcome you into their homes.”
3. Of course, now Jesus’ audience-including us, are confused at this point.
a. Is Jesus telling us that being bad is good?
b. No, because the lesson isn’t over.
c. Look at the last part of
verse 8:
"For the children of this world are in their
generation wiser than the children of light."
d. The word “mammon” means more that just money-it includes all your
possessions.
e. The point of the parable is this: Those who live in this world deal more
effectively in handling mammon than the people of light.
f. Those who live in a temporary world are more shrewd about handling their
mammon than people who live with an eternal perspective handle their mammon.
4. “What do you mean Jesus?”
a. He’s going to give us insight into how God views our possessions.
b. And here’s why we should take a lesson from the unjust money manager.
c. Because, like him, here’s what you have today.
d. You have a little bit of time and a little bit of opportunity to leverage for
your future.
e. And we need to learn to take advantage of it.
A. Look at what Jesus says in
verse 9.
1. "And I say to you, Make friends by the mammon of unrighteousness for
yourselves, so that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting
dwellings."
a. And Jesus adds the description “unrighteousness” to this mammon.
b. What Jesus is referring to is all this mammon that is temporary in nature and
is of no eternal value.
2. Here’s his lesson.
a. Use your temporary mammon (not just your money-everything you have) in such a
way as to influence people for the Kingdom.
b. Use the mammon that God has blessed you with for the benefit of God.
c. Eventually your going to run out of time and opportunities to use your mammon
but it won’t be a problem because you’ll be welcomed into reward.
d. By using your mammon in the right way you’ll influence people and they could
become Christians because of it.
3. What Jesus seems to be saying is that when you and I get to paradise we’ll
have people who will be waiting on us because we used our mammon for the glory
of God.
a. We’re going to have people waiting on us in paradise who we’ve never met.
b. They’re going to come to us and thank us for supporting people in mission
fields because they were able to teach them the gospel because we used our
mammon to support them.
4. But it’s not just our money that we need to use for God, it’s all of our
mammon.
a. You need to look at every single thing you own and see it from God’s
perspective.
b. And you need to look at all of it and think about how you can use it for God.
c. And if you do that, one day people will be saved because of how you used your
mammon.
d. Go home and think about how God can use your house and your cars and your
things as a tool for God.
e. If you do that you’ll turn something that has no eternal value into a tool to
give someone something that is of eternal consequence and value.
f. You might say that I care about my mammon and I don’t want it to get messed
up and trashed.
g. God’s point is that they’re going to be destroyed in time anyway so why not
use it for something that has eternal value.
h. And don’t just think about the big mammon like a house or a car, think about
how you can use something as simple as your dinner table as a tool for God.
5. Jesus wants us to make friends now while we have a little bit of time and a
little bit of opportunity.
a. Make friends for yourself now so that in paradise, you’ll be welcomed because
you used you possessions in a way that had eternal consequences.
b. Imagine, if somehow, as a church, we could begin thinking, not in terms of
ten percent and dollars in the collection plate, but in terms of;
i. Everything belongs to God.
ii. Everything comes from God.
iii. Everything is distributed by God.
c. God, here’s all that I have so show me how to use it for your kingdom.
B. It appears that Jesus changes the subject.
1. Like He goes off in another direction in
verse 10.
a. "He who is faithful in the least is also faithful in much. And he who is
unjust in the least is also unjust in much. Therefore if you have not been
faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you?
And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who shall give you
that which is your own?"
b. Here’s what Jesus is saying.
c. If you can’t be trusted with the mammon you have, then, in My kingdom, why
would I trust you with more?
d. And if you can’t be trusted with things which are going to burn up and go
away, how can I trust you with something that has eternal value?
e. The idea here is that God is looking to see how you use the mammon He’s given
to you.
f. He’s looking to see how well you’re going to do with that which is His and
not even yours.
g. It’s like God is saying that not only is everything you have a tool, but it’s
also a test to see what you’ll do with it.
2. What if we as a congregation of God’s people, started thinking that way?
a. What if we really began to view all that we have as a tool and a test?
b. And we began to say, “How can I use it for God’s kingdom?”
c. Not just, “How can I give more money?”
d. Because one day all of us will have to stand and give an account for all that
God loaned to us while we were on this earth.
3. Then we have verse 13 that we all know pretty well.
a. "No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love
the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and mammon."
b. Remember, mammon means more then just money it includes all of your
possessions.
c. Literally what Jesus is telling us is that we can’t serve God and our mammon.
d. What you do with your mammon does more to indicate who you really belong to
then anything else.
e. If you use your mammon for God then He knows your serving Him.
f. However if you use your mammon entirely for yourself then God knows you serve
your wealth.
g. The question comes down to: Are you a servant to your mammon or are you a
servant to God?
4. The truth is, all of us in our past or present have been slaves to our
mammon.
a. Let me prove it to you.
b. Have you ever over-extended yourself financially for something you wanted to
own?
c. Sure you have and if you don’t believe me then pull out your credit card
statement and tell me how many times you’ve bought something because you wanted
to.
d. It didn’t matter that you didn’t have enough money to pay for it just pull
out the plastic and worry about that later.
e. Some of us end up with a credit card bill and we can’t even remember what we
bought.
f. You know what that means?
g. It means you are a servant of mammon.
5. Let me ask you another question: Have you ever overextended yourself
financially for God’s kingdom?
a. I’ve yet to run unto anybody who came to the church asking for help on their
house payment because they gave too much.
b. It’s amazing – we’ll get extremely creative when it comes to getting more
mammon.
i. If I don’t eat lunch out for a month then I can afford . . .
ii. If I use coupons and watch my spending then I can afford . . .
6. And the when it comes to God’s kingdom, “Well, I wish I could do more.”
a. When it comes to giving to God we suddenly lose all of our creativity and our
willingness to sacrifice for a while.
b. The reason we can’t do more is because mammon is our master.
c. You’ve racked up credit card debt because mammon is your master.
d. And you’re living this great lifestyle because mammon is your master.
e. And your driving something you really can’t afford because mammon is your
master.
7. All of us, including myself, need to examine who is truly the Lord of our
lives?
a. Is it really God or have we been cheating on Him and it’s really our mammon.
b. Jesus will tell His disciples that He can tell where a person’s heart is, by
where their treasure is.
c. The last thing I want you to do is to leave this morning feeling guilty.
d. I believe that God has blessed you with things so that you can:
i. Take can of your family
ii. Enjoy yourself.
iii. What we need to do is learn the lesson that we need to stop letting mammon
be our master and start investing in God’s kingdom.
8. Now, let me tell you what you have in common with the unjust steward.
a. You’ve got a little bit of time left.
b. And you’ve got a little bit of mammon.
c. Then just like the unjust steward, why don’t you take advantage of the
opportunity to leverage your little bit of time and mammon into something that
has eternal consequences.
d. What an incredible opportunity that is!
e. Are you going to take advantage of this opportunity?
Conclusion.
All the mammon God has loaned to you is a tool and a test. It’s evidence of
whose you really are. Remember all of our mammon belongs to God, comes from God,
and is dispensed by God. That means that one day I’ll give an account for what I
did with the mammon He loaned me in this life. Use it to your advantage for
something that matters for eternity.
-- Andrew
Perkins,
April
2003 -- |
