Invest Wisely

1
Invest Wisely

• Sunday, May 3, 2009

2
Economic Trouble

• Affecting our church a little, too (I will speak
  to this at the end of this talk)
• But perhaps this (personal or corporate
  shortfall) is not the worst of our woes . . .

3
Luke 161-14

• 1 Now He was also saying to the disciples,
  "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this
  manager was reported to him as squandering his
  possessions.
• 2 "And he called him and said to him, 'What is
  this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your
  management, for you can no longer be manager.'

4
Luke 161-14

• 3 "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I
  do, since my master is taking the management away
  from me? I am not strong enough to dig I am
  ashamed to beg.
• 4 'I know what I shall do, so that when I am
  removed from the management people will welcome
  me into their homes.'

5
Luke 161-14

• 5 "And he summoned each one of his master's
  debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How
  much do you owe my master?'
• 6 "And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.'
  And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down
  quickly and write fifty.'

6
Luke 161-14

• 7 "Then he said to another, 'And how much do
  you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of
  wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and
  write eighty.'
• 8 "And his master praised the unrighteous
  manager because he had acted shrewdly for the
  sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to
  their own kind than the sons of light.

7
Luke 161-14

• 9 "And I say to you, make friends for
  yourselves by means of the wealth of
  unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will
  receive you into the eternal dwellings.
• 10 "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.

8
Luke 161-14

• 11 "Therefore if you have not been faithful in
  the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust
  the true riches to you?
• 12 "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?

9
Luke 161-14

• 13 "No servant can serve two masters for
  either he will 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."
• 14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money,
  were listening to all these things and were
  scoffing at Him.

10
What does this mean?

• Difference between a parable and an allegory
• Key And I say to you, make friends for
  yourselves by means of the wealth of
  unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will
  receive you into the eternal dwellings
• (verse 9)

11
Interpretation

• Guy learns he is losing his job and he freaks . .
  .
• Then gets a great ideahe uses the resources he
  still has access to (not his) to (crookedly) make
  some friends who will be indebted to him and
  perhaps help him when hes on the street

12
And Jesus likes this!

• What???!
• Remember one main point
• Could it be this? Our situation is actually quite
  similarwere squandering possessions left and
  right (misusing, hording, consuming, destroying
  the earth, etc., etc.)
• Someday we will be held to account

13
Suggestion . . .

• Perhaps we should use whatever time and resources
  we currently have access to in order to win some
  friends in the life to come
• Key And I say to you, make friends for
  yourselves by means of the wealth of
  unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will
  receive you into the eternal dwellings
• (verse 9)

14
How should we go about this?

• Carefully, since a lot of good intentions seem to
  go awry
• Worth taking some time to think about since these
  will be the most important investments we ever
  make
• But not too much! We dare not face these
  realities with passivity . . .

15
Past attempts

• Share everything, be faithful in persecution
• Hermits in the desert
• Monks on mountain-tops
• Cathedrals in cities
• Beggars in society
• Churches on corners

16
Closer to home

• Business men at lunch hour
• Missionaries far away
• Revivals in tents
• Jesus People on streets
• Rock concerts in civic centers
• Bible studies in homes

17
Where do we go from here?

• Build worshiping, loving communities that
  connect well with older and newer forms, that
  help other communities get off the ground, that
  provide a place for people to meet God for
  themselves, that draw out the best in people,
  that connect people to healing and meaning and
  service in the world in the Spirit and Name of
  Jesus

18
A word about money . . .

• This parable invites this exploration, too
• What about tithing?
• Danger of doing, danger of not doing
• Not a law, an invitation to invest wisely as we
  build these kinds of communities together (none
  of them will be perfect, but isnt it better to
  try?!)