This week we are looking at the third of the three ways a person who
is involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus will invest their
lives. We are discovering why consistently investing our treasure in a way that
reveals and reflects the generosity of Jesus through regular and proportional
giving results in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus.
To do that, I would like for us to look at a section of an account of
Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Yesterday we looked at the
reality that, unfortunately in the
American church, there seems to be two extremes when it comes to how the church
talks about the issue of money or finances. The first extreme is a stream of
Christianity which is called the prosperity gospel movement. Other churches,
responding to the false message that is the prosperity gospel, end up not
talking about the issue of money at all. The reason why these extremes of how some
churches talk about money or finances are inaccurate is due to the fact that
they do not reflect how Jesus talked about the issue of money and finances.
We then discovered that when
we read the four accounts of Jesus life in the Bible, Jesus talked about money
a great deal. Money and material possessions were a constant theme of Jesus
teaching. There are two reasons why money and material possessions were a
constant theme of Jesus teachings.
First, Jesus knew what we
know, which is that much of our life involves the use of money. Jesus talked a
lot about money because He knew that much of our lives revolve around its use. And
because of this reality, money and possessions often compete with the Lord for
our devotion. Jesus, understanding this, spent so much time talking about money
because He also knew that how we handle and spend money reveals our love and the
depth of our relationship with the Lord, because we spend our money on the
things we love don’t we?
And it is in this section
of the gospel of Luke that we are going to look at this morning that we will
see Jesus make a statement that reveals a timeless truth when it comes to how
our management of money and finances can impact our love of God and our
spiritual maturity. We see Jesus make this statement in Luke 16:10. Let’s look
at it together:
"He who is faithful in a very little thing is
faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is
unrighteous also in much.
Now to fully understand
what Jesus is communicating here, we first need to understand the context in
which Jesus makes this statement. Just before this verse, Jesus told a parable,
which is an earthly story designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. In the parable, Jesus revealed
the reality that those who are His followers will demonstrate the proof of
their faith and their relationship with Him by how trustworthy they are in
handling the money, possessions, and treasure of this world.
With that context in mind, Jesus, after telling the
parable, explained that when it comes to how we handle the money possessions,
and treasure we have been given, the issue is not about the amount of money,
possessions, and treasure. In other words, Jesus is explaining to His disciples
that the amount of treasure is not the issue.
Jesus point is that the amount of treasure that
one possesses does not make one more or less spiritual, because money,
possessions, and treasure are amoral; they are not inherently good or evil. The thing about money that makes it so powerful is
that money exposes the motives of our hearts. That’s why we can find ourselves
feeling so convicted, I mean uncomfortable when the subject of money is brought
up in church.
Instead, Jesus here is
revealing the reality that the issue is faithfulness. Maybe you are thinking
“if I only had more money then everything would be ok. If I only had more money,
I would be able to get out off debt and pay off my credit cards and make my
house payments.” Jesus, with this statement is saying “no everything wouldn’t
be ok”.
Jesus point is that the
reason that we are in the financial situation that we are in, whether good or
bad, is due to how we have handled the money that we have been given. Just adding
money to the problem does not solve the problem, because the problem is not a
lack of money; the problem is a lack of faithfulness with the money that we
have been given.
Jesus point here is that
if we are unfaithful, we are unfaithful; whether it is with $10, $100, or
$1,000,000. After exposing the problem, Jesus continued by explaining the
implications that our level of faithfulness with our finances and money can
have on our relationship with God in Luke 16:11-12:
"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 another's, who will give you that which
is your own?
In these verses, Jesus
reveals for us the reality that how we handle money, possessions, and treasure
here on earth impacts the depth of our relationship with God and our spiritual
maturity. Jesus uses two rhetorical questions to hammer His point home. First,
in verse 11, Jesus asks “if you have been unfaithful in the use of unrighteous
wealth, then who will entrust true riches to you?” Jesus was not looking for
the disciples to answer the question, because the answer to the question is
obvious.
Jesus point here is that
if we are unable to demonstrate faithfulness with the temporary treasure that
we are given while on earth, then we will be unable to demonstrate faithfulness
with the vastly greater spiritual treasure that flows out of a growing and
maturing relationship with Him. And so we can find ourselves in a place where
we are not growing spiritually in our relationship with Jesus because Jesus is
not going to give to us the true treasure that flows out of a growing and
maturing relationship with Him if we fail to demonstrate faithfulness with the temporary
things of this earth, including money, possessions, and treasure.
And to hammer His point
home, Jesus asks a second rhetorical question in verse 12: “If you have not
been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that
which is your own?” Again, Jesus is not looking for an answer, because the answer
is painfully apparent. Jesus point is that is we are unfaithful with someone
else’s treasure, we prove to be unworthy of being given anything of our own.
For example, let’s say
that you have a teenage son or daughter that continually uses your car. And they
want you to go out and buy them a car of their own. Yet every time they borrow
your car they leave it a mess; they use all the gas; they don’t take care of
it; and they get in several accidents. So are you going to give them thousands
of dollars so that they can buy a new car for themselves?
No you are not going to
do that because they have not demonstrated faithfulness with your car. What you
may do is go out and buy them a $500 clunker so that they stop wrecking your
car; but you are not going to reward their unfaithfulness by giving them a new
car.
Here is something to
consider: how many of us feel like we are driving around in
a $500 clunker when it comes to our spiritual life? How many of us would
describe our spiritual life and our relationship with Jesus in such terms?
Could it be that the reason that our spiritual
lives and our relationship with God stagnates and suffers is due to the fact
that we are failing to be faithful with what He gives us materially and
financially?
Tomorrow we will see Jesus make that point
unmistakably clear...
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