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Resource Management
Luke 16:1-15
February 22nd
Cody McGrath was a happy, healthy 7-year-old who loved playing hide and seeks. Then, tragedy struck last July when a golf-ball-size growth developed overnight in his neck. The biopsy came back with the worst possible news: lymphoma, stage four. Even with chemotherapy, Cody's oncologist said he had a 0% to 2% chance of survival and no more than 12 months to live. But all hope is not lost. Thanks to a new bone marrow treatment at North Carolina State University, Cody's chances of survival may rise to 30%. He will also be only the fourth patient in the entire nation to receive the transplant. By the way, I did I happen to mention that Cody McGrath is a seven year old Golden Retriever?
Cody’s owners, Joe and Susan McGrath of Naperville, drove more than 600 miles on February 14th to deliver their beloved pet into the hands of Dr. Steven Suter at the NCSU School of Veterinary Medicine. Using leukophoresis machines, Dr. Suter harvests healthy stem cells from the patient's blood, negating the necessity of a donor. The cancer-free cells are then reintroduced after total body radiation. While this kind of transplant has been available to humans for years, it was not clinically available to dogs until last September. NCSU's third canine patient, a 6-year-old Weimaraner named Maverick, was pronounced cancer-free this month.
Cody the Golden Retriever’s transplant was scheduled to take place last Tuesday (2-17-09). The procedure costs $15,000, not including travel expenses or the $10,000 worth of chemotherapy Cody has already undergone. "It's incredibly expensive," says Susan McGrath. "But at the same time, I never had a second thought. Short of cloning my dog, there is no price tag. After all the love Cody has given our family, I want to give him this."
Now I happen to hear that news report at a very inopportune time this past week. I heard it on the radio about fifteen minutes after I’d scheduled our beloved Golden Retriever, Dakota, to be put to sleep. And while I would never invest that kind of money in a pet, as much as we loved Dakota, if I could have found a reasonable way to get her healthy and extend her life, I would have done it.
When most of us hear $25 thousand for a dog, we shake our heads and think, “How stupid! What a waste of money!” But if you had the money, why not? Remember a pet is with you 24/7. There are folk who have collectible cars in their garages that they maybe drive a few times a year that also cost a chunk of change. Or, how about owning a cabin or timeshare that costs thousands that you use for a week or two a year? Or, a boat, a motorcycle or jet ski or snow mobile that you can only use for a few months a year? At Piatt Lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where our family has vacationed several times, folk will build several hundred thousand dollar summer homes on land they can only lease. So ultimately, the home is really not really theirs but leased from the organization though they paid megabucks for its construction.
This morning as we continue our series, The EssentialChurch, we want to talk about Resource Management. And I want to focus in on the two areas that God has entrusted to each of us that we all also struggle to some degree to invest wisely in His Kingdom – time and money.
Folks, we will never have a God-honoring healthy church, you will never be a healthy Christian unless you see your resources from a Biblical worldview…from God’s perspective. This morning let me start with some observations about the contemporary church and then share some important principles about Resource Management.Observation #1: We’ve failed to understand that we are managers of God’s time and money. In Ps. 31:5, the Psalmist speaking to God, acknowledges, “My times are in Your hands.” Psalm 90 teaches that our days are completely in God’s control. Read the Parable of the Talents and you will quickly see that everything that we have – our time, our money, our stuff – all are entrusted to us from God. Paul asks the obvious question in 1 Cor. 4:7 “What do you have that you did not receive?” Everything we have, every minute on this earth has been given to us by God. A. W. Tozer wrote, “Time is a resource that is nonrenewable and nontransferable. You cannot store it, slow it up, hold it up, divide it up or give it up. You can’t hoard it up or save it for a rainy day–when it’s lost it’s unrecoverable. When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.”
Most of us are much more willing to give God what we don’t value. It’s a common human temptation, Malachi 1:6-14 (p. 675). Someone captured what is going on here in a poem called Leftovers:Leftovers are such humble things,
We would not serve to a guest,
And yet we serve them to our Lord
Who deserves the very best.We give to Him leftover time,
Stray minutes here and there.
Leftover cash we give to Him,
Such few coins as we can spare.
We give our youth unto the world,
To hatred, lust and strife;
Then in declining years we give
To Him the remnant of our life.
That’s what these Jews were doing in Malachi 1. They knew that they were commanded to bring a sacrifice, so they brought the sickly one, the lame one. It was easier to give to God what they did not truly value…and we do the same thing.
Those who feel that they have enough money will willingly give money, but please don’t ask them to give their time to serve the Lord. And those who have a hard time giving money are typically willing to give of their time. In the end we give God second best, what we value less. It’s the same sin as our friends in Malachi and God knows, and He’s not impressed.
Please listen carefully: You will never be a mature Christian, you will never be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, until you realize that you are just a manager of the time and money that a Sovereign God has entrusted to you and you are managing them His way. Yet there’s something in me and there’s something in you that wants to divorce these two issues. I want to have a spiritual life but I want to have my own time and use my money my way. Time and money are spiritual issues. Purchases, time choices are spiritual issues. If that scares you, it shouldn’t because no one ends up in the wrong place who manages their resources God’s way. So this is really a good news thing!Observation #2: We’ve learned what we know about time and money management from all the wrong places. 2 Chronicles 30:7 has a powerful warning, “Do not be like your fathers and brothers, who were unfaithful to the LORD, the God of their fathers…” Though we have a new Father, when it comes to time and money, most of us practice what our parents did or what the culture around us does. That’s why so many of us have bought into the lie that satisfaction comes from bigger, better, brighter. We buy that dream house to discover six months later, it doesn’t satisfy. And we see a world filled with discontent and somehow we think that we can do the same things and have different results. If your parents did not have a Biblical worldview when it comes to time and money, then why would you emulate their wrong example?
Observation #3: We’ve failed to understand that every believer has community responsibilities. There’s a powerful verse in 1 Timothy 5:8 that says, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” We have responsibilities to our immediate families. But most of us do not realize that we also have responsibilities to our local church family. Acts 2:44-45 says, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” While God does not expect us to live in a spiritual commune, those early believers realized a Biblical fact, they were responsible to that local church and one another.
1 John 3 reiterates this truth, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (vss. 16-18). One of the primary reasons that we do not acknowledge this responsibility is that we see the local church as a franchise, rather than a family. It’s a place where we go for our spiritual high each week but it’s not a family reunion. Thus, we have little understanding of our spiritual familial relationships. The end result is that we often endure each other rather than enjoy each other.
We see the local church more like a “sacred” restaurant. If I get a good meal, I pay for it…and I might even tip a bit extra if the service was extra special. But if I miss, or I didn’t get anything out of it…then I have no responsibility. And I might just start looking for a better “sacred” restaurant if I think that there are better options. Such thinking is completely foreign to the New Testament and a Biblical worldview.Observation #4: We’re secular and shortsighted in our worldview. Secularism is all about man and this life. That this life ends with a period, not a semicolon. It’s essentially the view that THIS is all that there is, so live for THIS! Jesus warned us, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt. 6:19-21).
Our hybrid secularized Christianity has resulted in a Sunday only kind of Christian. And we fail to integrate God into all areas of life or essentially reject God completely as a non-essential for daily life. If we do not see what it does for us today, in the now, then we consider it irrelevant. We’ve sacrificed the future on the altar of the immediate.
Most of us, who have been in the Church for any length of time, would sadly have to acknowledge that those things are true. But let’s try to fix that today…and I don’t want to beat you up and I don’t want to tick you off. As your pastor, I truly want these things to help you. So with the time we have left let me share some vital principles with you.Principle #1: The only way to get where we want to be is to know where we are at. One of the hottest new gadgets is a GPS system. GPS stands for “Global Positioning System.” A GPS will tell you first where you are at, and then it will give you directions for where you want to go. But obviously, before you can get where you want to go – you have to know where you are at.
It’s kind of like the redneck who called 911. Emily Sue passed away so Billy-Bob called 911. The 911 Operator told Billy-Bob that she would send someone out right away. "Where do you live?" asked the operator. Billy-Bob replied, "At the end of Eucalyptus Drive." The operator asked, "Can you spell that for me?" There was a long pause and finally Billy-Bob said, "How 'bout if I drag her over to Oak Street and you pick her up there?"
Any budget counselor, any time management consultant will tell you, that if you do not know where you are at, you will never be able to get where you want to go. And since time and money are the core factors of our lives, let me encourage you for a month to keep track of everything that you spend money on. Keep every receipt, track every debit, check and charge. At the end of a month, you’ll have a pretty good picture of where your money is going.
Then, keep a log on how you’re spending your time. Don’t just estimate. Write down when you leave for work, when you get home. Write down when you watch TV, surf the web, talk on the phone, go to the gym, church, etc. After a month you’ll have a pretty good picture of where your time is going.Principle #2: When we see as God sees, we’re more inclined to do as God says. Since time and money are major parts of our lives, then we need to know what God’s Word says about them. We need to have a Biblical worldview. Did you know that Jesus talked more about money than He did either heaven or hell? Time and money are important to us, so why would we think that they’re not important to God?
A good way to start then would be to get a Bible concordance and look up every time the words time or money are used in Scripture. That will begin to give you discernment on what God says about time and money. You will be amazed that Scripture is filled with wisdom on how to handle your time and money – on Resource Management.
With the time we have left this morning, I want to look at a parable that Jesus gave that powerfully unpacks this for us. We want to see how God views our resources. So we’re going to look at this parable together that shows us how God views our resources. This is an incredibly important parable. And please know this, this is not about what I want from you today…it’s about what I want for you; because there is incredible freedom and fulfillment when we see our resources as God sees them. Turn to Luke 16:1-15 (p. 740).
Let me tell you what’s going on. This is a firing. This guy is getting sacked. He works for a rich guy who has so much money he has someone else handling it for him. This rich dude though hears that the guy handling his stuff is goofing off. In fact, he’s wasting the rich guy’s wealth, so the boss pink slips him. But before he has him clean out his desk, he has him finish whatever accounts he’s working on…and then he’s done!
Look at verse 3 again. “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now?” Did you catch that? Here’s a time word. He knows that he has limited time and money, that he has limited resources. So he says, “‘My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—I know what I’ll do so that, when (another time word) I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’”
What’s he saying? “I have a little bit of time, a little bit of money – a few resources with a limited opportunity. I want to set myself up so I have something for the future…because I don’t want to beg or do manual labor. I’ve got to have some friends out there who will take me in.” He realizes that he has just a little bit of time, money and opportunity – and he must use it to provide for himself in such a way so that he has a secure future.
Look at what he does, vs. 5. “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ “‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly (cause I don’t have much time), and make it four hundred.’ The guys leaving and he turns around and says, “Listen, if I can ever do anything for you, then let me know.” And the money manager says, “Oh, I will…sooner than you think.”
“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’” He calls in account after account and does the same thing. And it’s blue light special day. It’s bargain day at the bank. He has a little bit of time, a little bit of money, a limited opportunity and he leverages it for his own good.
Now the people standing around Jesus are thinking what a crook. He really is a bad man. He’s just ripped his master off big time. Now Jesus is the master story teller and they’re listening and thinking when this guy’s boss finds out, he’s going to throw him in jail or have him taken out. But they’re in for a big shock! Nothing goes as would be expected. Remember this is Jesus telling the story.
Verse 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.” And they go, “What?” He pats the guy on the back and says, “You are one shrewd dude. Look what you did! You knew that you had limited time, money and opportunity – and you used it wisely to prepare for your future.”
And everyone listening is totally confused, but unlike most of Jesus’ parables, Jesus explains exactly what He’s saying and He makes this astounding application, “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” What’s He saying? Pagans, people who don’t believe in heaven or hell are wiser than God’s people when it comes to resource management. Because they know how to take a little bit of time, a little bit of money, and a little bit of opportunity and invest it in the future. Jesus is saying that the people of light need to learn from this dishonest money manager.
Then Jesus says, “I tell you, use worldly (temporary) wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” What’s He saying…Principle #3: We need to see our time and money…our resources… as tools to gain you friends in eternity. That simply means use your time and money so that when you meet people in heaven, people you’ve never even met, they’ll come up to you and say, “Remember when you used to use your car to take kids to youth group. Well, I went and one week I got saved. I’m here because you used your car.” Or, someone will come up to you and say, “Remember when you had that Bible study in your home. Well, I came and I got saved at one of those Bible studies.” Or, “Remember when you gave at Grace Church. Well, your church hired a youth guy and he met me and led me to the Lord.” In other words, use worldly temporary wealth and time in such a way so that the Father can use your investment to have eternal consequences.
Remember how you came to Christ? Think about this. Look back at your own spiritual story. You’re here because someone understood this principle. No one comes to Christ without another believer using their time and money for Kingdom advancement. If you got saved at church, there were folk who paid for that building. If you got saved through a Christian TV or radio broadcast, believers funded that. If someone shared the Gospel with you, they took time that they could have been watching TV to share God’s plan of salvation with you.
Imagine this conversation. Instead of arguing with your spouse about your schedule or money, how about this? “Honey, let’s pray and think about how we can use our time, our money – our stuff – for Kingdom purposes!” Now that’s a positive, proactive conversation.
The reason our church is where it is today is that folk have understood this very principle. They saw time and money as tools to be used for Kingdom advancement. And many of you have gotten a hold of this. But many of you need to reevaluate your time, money and stuff – and figure out what can’t be used for Kingdom advancement. You might even sell what is unusable and then say, “Let’s buy things that can be used for Kingdom purposes! Let’s liquidate the unusable stuff and take the cash and use it for what can advance the Kingdom!” There’s an infusion of God’s joy when you and I begin to see our time, money and resources as tools for Kingdom advancement, to impact people for eternity!
Here’s the principle – We must see our time and money…our resources… as tools to gain you friends in eternity. Not because you told them about Jesus but because you allowed God to use your temporary stuff. Isn’t that amazing? Can you see how this will change your view of time and money and stuff? How it will change the conversations that you have in your home? You will experience joy! Because there is very little joy in consumption, there is very little joy in collection. But there is incredible joy in eternal investment!
We have a little bit of time, a little bit of money, a little bit of opportunity and we must use them as tools for Kingdom advancement.
Verse 11, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” Did you catch this? This sounds like a test. God is testing us with the resources that He has already entrusted to us. Principle #4: We all have a little bit and everybody’s little bit is temporary and what God wants to know is: Can we be trusted with the little bit that He has already given us? This is a continual principle of Scripture. God is watching how we use the little bit of temporary stuff that is not even ours to begin with that He has already given us, to determine if He can trust us with more. How you use it will determine how God will honor you in eternity with true riches or eternal riches. And it will be a lot of bit compared to a little bit. Our stuff is a test to determine how God will bless and reward us in eternity.
God says, “How you handle your stuff – your time and money – indicates where your heart is and will determine how I reward you in eternity.” Now this isn’t about Heaven or Hell. It’s about rewards in Heaven. Everything we have is not only a tool to use for Kingdom Advancement, it’s also a test.
Can you see how this will change your perspective? When we really see that we are managers of God’s stuff and that God is evaluating how He will reward us with true riches in eternity with how we use His stuff, won’t that change how we use the time and money that He has entrusted to us? I mean, you can’t take any of it with you out of this world, so you need to invest it now!
Verse 13, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Principle #5: How we use our resources is an indicator of who we really serve and who is truly the lord of our lives. How we use our resources is not just a tool, or a test…it’s also a trademark of who we serve. God says, “You can’t serve Me or serve your money and time at the same time!” God will not be second!
When I make a purchase, when I plan out my calendar – I am demonstrating who I really am serving. I am demonstrating what my life’s priorities really are – no matter what I say they are. And God sees it. Now imagine if we started viewing our resource decisions as tools, tests and trademarks – and how that would change our decisions. Friend, look back over this past week. Did how you used the time and money that God entrusted to you indicate that He is Lord of your life, or did you use them in such a way that it indicates that someone else is in the driver’s seat?Conclusion: Let me tie this up for you. Verse 14 says, “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.” It made them uncomfortable, it even ticked them off. Does this make you uncomfortable? Does this scare you? Does this even tick you off?
Stay with me. Can you imagine if you had had a handle on this five or ten or twenty years ago, how different and more fulfilling your life would be today? But maybe you’re thinking, “I’ll never get a new car. I’ll never buy new furniture again…I’ll never have any more fun….I’ll never, I’ll never, I’ll never, I’ll never, I’ll never”
This all reminds me of talking to my sons about girls. Now if you want to make a positive impact in “that” talk, you always talk to little boys about girls long before they’re interested in girls. Which means that when I talked to my sons about girls, do you know what their response was? “Ooh! Yuck! I’ll never be interested in that. Never, ever, ever – kiss a girl. Don’t worry about it Dad, that will never happen!”
But you know what, I’ve been on both sides of this – and its better on my side, it’s more fun over here in married land. PS3, sports, all of those things are fun BUT they’re nothing compared to my side, the marriage side.
This morning, many of you are thinking, “Yuck! Ooh!” But you’ve never been over here! God’s side is better!! Once you get on that side of the equation, PS3, sports, all of those things are fun BUT they’re nothing compared to my side…they ain’t nothing like girls!
Do you know why this scares some of you? Because your whole life has been focused on the secular and temporal. You’re still on the wrong side of the equation. It’s been about collection and consumption…and you keep thinking that it’s going to get better and finally satisfy, but it never does.
I’ve never met anyone who lived that way and then embraced God’s way…and ever went back. They may be out there somewhere but I don’t think so, because God’s side is better.
And now they feel relieved and satisfied! They’re off the treadmill and now they’re investing for eternity…and they never want to go back. People do not think and live generously into financial and life tragedy. When we are generous with the resources that God has entrusted to us, God will reward us with real and eternal riches! We all have a little bit of time and little bit of money…what are we going to do with it?
Let me end this morning with a simple but powerful video of a young man, a grocery store bagger, who invested his life in something bigger than himself. And if he could do it, so can we!Video Clip of Grocery Bagger Story (Click here to view the video)
Let’s pray!