And we were a good devastating us. What would you think about such a substance? Understandably if I were to to ask you about it You would have some mixed feelings. What if I were to say not only what do you think about such thing?
But what if I asked you to be in charge of handling this extremely powerful yet highly vulnerable? Substance I think many of us given its power for good and evil might take a pass Yet what what if I told those of you who would say thanks, but no thanks that you actually have no such choice you have to I Would imagine because most of you are smart and know your limitations given the power of the substance I described most of you would say look if I'm gonna have to manage something that powerful I'm gonna need some help some guidance some wisdom so I don't hurt myself and my family and others Here's the deal. You probably put it together. You do have control over such a dangerous substance It's called money money money money and money can build hospitals and build schools it can get children out of poverty It can get children educated it can transform entire communities around their globes and families for generations It can do in a measurable amount of good when it flows in the right direction yet if you look over history at war Poverty if you just examine the leading cause of divorce among us, it's money an Untold amount of human suffering has been unleashed on the globe fueled by the mismanagement the misdirection and the misguided pursuit of money It's a resource that literally can bring life or death it can be constructive or destructive and so we must Learn how to handle it every single one of us in this room every single one of us must learn to manage money And we need help we need wisdom.
We're not good at this Last week I gave you fair warning that every couple of years though I don't want to because I'm aware of the baggage that the church has relative to money every couple of years I return to the topic First because it is literally impossible to be true to the teachings of Jesus and not deal with money Jesus talked about it a lot as I shared last week I believe that it was his second most prevalent topic the most being the kingdom of God and why well Because Jesus it is Jesus who came to give us life and to win our hearts and nothing competes for them and steals them away like money If you miss last week I really would encourage you to go back and listen the entire talk was about the oft repeated Scriptural warnings about money the dangers of money stealing our lives from us today given it power for good and for evil I want to talk last week was about warnings this week I want to talk about wisdom money and wisdom now If you've been around the church for any amount of time whenever you hear wisdom kind of as a principle that's being taught There's a book in the Old Testament that is a very practical book related to wisdom It was written by supposedly the wisest man who have ever lived Solomon and it should come of no surprise given its importance to life And our predisposition for its lust money comes up a lot in this book of wisdom by some counts over 130 mentions I Solomon tries to lay out practical principle ways to live Solomon gave warnings to last week we look at Jesus's but here's what Solomon said He said the name of the Lord is a fortified tower the righteous one to it and they're safe The wealth of the rich is their fortified city. They imagine it a wall to hide the scale number one warning from last week Right? My chief takeaway from last week is our greed will turn our money into our God We will begin to look to it for our security. We will look to it for our beauty We will find it believe we believe our identity and that is a bad idea Why well here's what Solomon said don't wear yourself out to get rich do not trust your own cleverness Cast but a glance at riches and they're gone for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to this guy like an eagle Money fleas money flies and money lies.
It cannot give you what it promises to give you Solomon Also one of the wealthiest men to have ever lived he understood that a good name He wrote is more desirable than great riches to be esteemed is better than silver or gold You and I know that we would tell others that we preach it We struggle in the practice not it's not just warnings though Solomon is incredibly practical and if you read proverbs they are incredibly practical when it comes to wisdom regarding money Here's what he said dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grows makes it grow We have lots of financial advisors in our congregation. Why do does there seem to be a prevalence of financial advisors? Everywhere well as we discovered in the opening we need help in wisdom regarding our money And I bet if you ask any one of these folks They will tell you that this is true whoever gathers little by little makes it grow the greatest get rich reality The greatest get rich truth is the power of compounding interest over time If you don't believe me go home and play with it. It will blow your mind Solomon speaks not just about power, but about purpose whoever is kind to the poor lens to the Lord And he will reward them for what they have done or as Jesus would say about a thousand years later What you've done for the least of these you have done for me There is perhaps the most powerful verse in the scriptures related to debt It's in the Proverbs the rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender the borrower is slave to the lender We literally sign ourselves up.
We we continually indenture ourselves into slavery and then to me I think the most powerful proverb on money. I must reflect on this proverb I discovered it years ago and I must reflect on it once a week. So wise Here's what Solomon wrote give me neither poverty nor riches But give me only my daily bread otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say who is the Lord or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my God Three thousand years ago that was written how brilliant is that three thousand years ago? I was working on these verses this weekend and thought through this wisdom I was reminded of one of my first jobs that I had as a kid I was a little boy I had two dreams of what I wanted to become the first was inspired by Barry Manilow the man who makes the whole world sing I I wanted to grow up to be a singer if you sit by me here in the first row and Mary only can attest to this during worship You will understand why this dream today has gone on fulfilled It's hard to believe I'm yet to be discovered.
That's the way I like to think about it The other the other aspiration I had had was I wanted to be a gas station man a dream I realized early in my teen years and In working as several years at Panther Valley Shell. There was another kid there. He was a co-worker and this kid was really bright Like like really smart quickly I figured out that this kid was was smarter than I was and it's interesting right I was thinking about him this week because when you think of all these warnings about what wealth and the mismanagement of wealth can do to you Right, I began to think about this kid if you're old enough You might remember that we didn't always just like tap our phones or tap a credit card for to pay something We used to have to remember these things and leave that up for a minute Lauren as I described described his kid I'm talking about there was a time when you went to buy something you handed the vendor your credit card And he disappeared for a few minutes with the card right he'd go into the back room or whatever the gas station We would go back into the office and we would take your card with us And that's what this kid was doing I was doing it to and running it through those machines now if that machine's still up what many of you don't know is When you ran this there were some things that you would adjust on it that would actually print in one of those boxes the amount of the sale So if you got $32 of gas, I'd move one lever to a three I'd move one lever to a two I'd swipe it and in one of the corners of that receipt It would say $32 and then what you would do is you would then physically just write in $32 right and you'd give it to the person that was in the car and they would see that you wrote in $32 and they would sign that Yes, I agree. It's $32 But what my brilliant friend was doing is he would adjust the knobs to $42 So when you ran there a seat in the upper right-hand corner, it said $42 He would write in pencil $42 in the little thing You would see it and you would sign with the penny gave you for $42 right once he took it back inside He would talk for $32 once he took it back inside he would erase it and write $42 which agreed with the amount that he had Run in the top corner.
Well, what are you gonna do to make the books balance? He would take $10 of cash out of the cash register drawing every car that came in he was taking $10 of cash out of the cat This kid was driving a Porsche around Panther Valley, right? And I'm just you know, I'm 14 years old and I'm going that's wrong and brilliant And if I'm honest, there's a little apartment that's gone Why can't I be as smart as this kid that is until the police showed up one afternoon and perp walked him out of the Panther Valley Shell and I thought to myself if only that genius could have been used for good Jesus spoke lots about money and what it can do to us and like Solomon on on this one occasion He specifically that we're going to talk about this morning on this one occasion He specifically speaks about money and wisdom It's a teaching that you don't hear in church often because the teaching is kind of unsettling doesn't make for good life Versus it can be a little bit confusing a lot of people would never want to share it with their kids Because they could they could get misguided with it, right? But it is it is again just brilliant and there is if you understand there's no better guide to understanding wisdom with money And again, Jesus is he so often did he taught it in a story for him.
He's each one of the form of a parable Here's how we began. He said there was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possession That's the set up. There's there's a couple things I want you to notice just initially There's two people the stories about two people you have a rich man This man is so rich in fact that he's unable to manage it manage all of his affairs himself And so he hires a manager to help them manage his riches But Jesus want you and I understand one thing about the money that the manager is managing It's not his Jesus said the manager was accused of wasting quote his possessions the accusation that Jesus is making is that the man was wasting the Rich man's possessions. They were not his possessions He was simply the manager and as a manager he had a duty and a responsibility over those things granted to him by the rich man And so he the rich man called to the manager and said him What is this that I hear about you?
Give an account of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer Somehow we're just like on my friend at the gas station reach the authorities Right it reached the owner and the manager that the manager was being less than responsible with the rich man's money And so there is a time that comes for the manager it came for the manager and an hour you was not prepared for there was no warning Suddenly there came time at an unexpected point when this manager was going to have to give an account for his management And I don't know if you noticed it at the end the rich man wants an account He wants to see the books but the rich man has already weighed in and made a decision You cannot be my manager any longer the guy is already fired Jesus continues and so the manager this now soon to be an employee manager said to himself Well, what shall I do now key word now? My master is taking away my job Key to understanding and making any sense of what Jesus is going to teach here is this idea of time and urgency Because before the manager had absolutely no urgency he managed the money as if it were his to manage as if it were his And he was going to manage it it seemed to him forever, but suddenly time is of the essence He's running out of it. He's been let go. He's been fired and he's got to go get the blocks and go over them with the master And so with this limited amount of time suddenly he thinks to himself well, you know what?
I'm not strong enough to dig like I'm a white-collar guy look at these soft hands And I'm ashamed to beg I mean after all I have a reputation to protect never mind on my thief I know what I'm gonna do. I know what I'll do so that when I lose my job here, which I already have People will welcome me into their houses He hatches a plan right to ensure that he is a place to live when this is all over and his plan involves calling in all of the people In the books that he has to go back and present and so he called in each one of his master's debtors Hundreds of them potentially that was it. I don't know Yes, the first how much do you own my master? 900 gallons of olive oil you replied with a manager told him you know what take your bill sit down quickly because time is of the essence and make it 450 down quickly the manager understands time is short when he understood the time was short He acted in regards to the master's money suddenly when he understood time was short in regards to the master's money He begins to operate very differently his understanding catch this his understanding of time change practically how he handled his money Interesting the Psalmist wrote teach us to number our day so that we may gain a heart of wisdom That's true of how we handle our money.
So he cuts a deal with the guy You know you owe 900 you know what make it make it four right? Hey, yeah, I managed to imagine the debtor I mean you know many of us if not most of us have a mortgage in the room right imagine the mortgage company calling you calling you in You're going to oh right like I miss a payment or something you get in there You're a little bit apprehensive maybe a little bit defensive and he goes you know I see here on the books that you owe you owe five hundred thousand dollars on your house You get two loans home equity. I don't you know I put the kids to school well Let's just say between you and I let's make it like 200 you'd be like what? Like really you serious like you're just gonna write off three hundred thousand dollars like I mean that's unbelievable Why are you doing that?
Oh, you know, I just I like you I always kind of like you really I don't even know you know me. Oh, no, I've been watching you know over the years you're good dude Oh, wow, man. Thanks like there's anything I can do for you like let me know You know then he went the manager and he asked a second person that was on the books that he was going to have to present Well, how much do you owe and and he answered a thousand bushels of weed he replied and so the manager told him you know it Take your bill and I make it It again and by implication since Jesus said that he brought in all of the people right He's doing this over and over and over he's making huge friends for himself and he is just completely ripping off the master Who and we don't know how but your sins will find you out somehow the master gets wind of this too I love how Jesus sets up the audience for the story because the audience and maybe you if you don't know how the story ends You would make what would be a pretty educated assumption that when the master shows up this guy is dead screwed right like like going to jail right? I mean if you got fired for being wasteful what's gonna happen to him with this outright?
Fevery blatant mismanagement if I Jesus begins the story that way He says the master and you get a picture of the audience is leaning in right? This is where the music would change in the story the master the master Commended the dishonest manager as my kids used to say to me in high school. Wait. What wait what what?
He commended him why we don't read this one to our kids right? They're like oh wait, so this is a good idea now he he commanded him So I went I looked up in the Greek you know what that word meant it's not actually used very much in the scriptures But it means that he praised him he congratulated him he applauded him give a high-five What for ripping him off doesn't make any sense It's why we we read the prodigal son a lot and we skip this one why in the world Would the first of all why would Jesus? Tell this story and why would the manager commend him the manager commended the dishonest manager and then Jesus gives us the why because he had acted Shrudley there's that idea of wisdom for the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light Jesus says the master glorified that's another translation of that word he glorified the manager because the manager acted shrewdly meaning he acted sensibly Given the situation and then Jesus comes out of the parable and he looks around at the crowd if Jesus were here with us This morning telling us the story he would look around and make eye contact with every single one of you in here And he would say to you and I For the people of this world he would say to you and I the people of this world that don't believe or trust in God They are more shrewd they act with more sense in dealing with their own kind than all of you do And if his followers are the light of the world he's talking to many of us Why is the manager commended? It wasn't for his dishonesty In fact, I think part of the argument here is the dishonesty pales in concern in comparison to the reason that he actually is Commended that's why it's not even not even mentioned That's not the story the managers impressed by the fact that once the money manager knew once he understood that his time suddenly was limited That the opportunity for kind of making hay what was now was now sure It was an understanding that where that he gained enough wisdom to use what was made available to him to what was given to him To make the most out of it and then Jesus compares that mindset to ours What Jesus is saying is that people who think that all there is to this life is this life that once you die it all goes back in the box He says look because that's their understanding because they believe that they act in accordance with what they believe to be true They act in conjunction with their beliefs about their future This makes perfect sense that he would do such a thing They manage what they have in light of what they believe about their future and that's what this guy did And then Jesus looks at you and me and he goes You guys don't do that Like almost none of you are doing that you don't manage what you've been given to manage By Jesus you don't manage it in accordance with what it is you say you believe about your future Because you believe in eternity and heaven and life forever and ever and ever But you don't use the resources you've been given that way And so he goes on Jesus says I tell you Use worldly wealth which is an interesting term right because that would insinuate there's a different kind of wealth other than worldly wealth Right there's some kind of otherworldly wealth.
There's some kind of heavenly wealth use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself That's what this man did so that when it's gone and it's going to be gone You will leave it behind one way or the other you will either give it away or it'll be taken away use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself So when it's gone, you'll be welcomed into eternal dwellings not temporal ones I want you to use what you have like the shrewd manager did he did so that when he lost his job He would be welcomed into the homes of those that he was in a sense blessing Jesus wants you and I if you believe if you trust to live like we do to understand our time is actually quite short It's running out and there will be an accounting for our management likely at a time for which we are unprepared to give it and In understanding a limit opportunity and time We should use our wealth in this world to benefit right to benefit so many that when we get to the kingdom to come It will be both the master and those who were blessed with his money that will welcome us into this eternal kingdom Live Jesus says like you believe this is going to happen live Jesus says like this is true Live like it like you like it matters to you Live like you believe time is short and an accounting is coming due Again, he begins to rehash a little bit of the warnings from last week. Here's what we learned last week that money is a great tool But it's a terrible God money for most of us Wines up becoming an ends, but money is not an ends Even people of this world understand that to a degree, right? They use money for a means to their end and so should you Jesus said But your end is different So the way you use your money in this life It means that you should match your ends, right? Your ends is not the grave the manager was managing as if he had this short little life And that's all that managed and whatever happened what you know It all went back in the box and so he was just going to live that way Don't live like that Jesus says in fact to hammer this home It's kind of eternal versus temporal mindset The ends with our stuff in a sense He goes on he says whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much and whoever is dishonest Is not a good manager with very little will also be dishonest with much So if you have not been trustworthy and handling worldly wealth, there it is again by the way second time, right?
Who will trust you with here comes the opposite true riches the other kind of riches true riches real riches And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property in the story the rich man's property in our lives gods Who will give you property of your own? There are two huge wisdom principles on money in one sentence there and they are powerful tools money can be used for such good I read a sad a few years ago that the evangelical church has enough enough wealth to pretty much solve all of the crises on earth water food clothing education It can be used for such good But it's often used for such evil and if you look to Jesus for his wisdom on what we should do There are two things here that he says we must understand the first thing I think is the key next to understanding Last week if you were gonna take away one thing I've learned about money over my many years is that money Wines up becoming for almost all of us a god. It gives us our purpose It gives us our identity it gives us our security all of the things God wants to be for us money lies and says it can be Next to that I think this this is the next most important thing that you can understand when it comes to money when it comes to money We are managers and not owners And if you have have been trustworthy and if you've not been trustworthy and handing someone else's property Jesus said it was the rich man and the manager over and over in the story Jesus refers to him as the manager the manager the money Was not his money? He was managing it he was supposed to be using it investing it on behalf of as a reflection of the will and the desire of the owner of the rich Man friends as people of the light we are managers We are with God's money managers of it what he's entrusted us with some some of us have bigger amounts than others But all of us no matter the amount right all of us have been trusted to use it to reflect the will and the desire of the owner of it To manage it on his behalf for his glory to reflect his ways and his purpose is to reveal his heart In fulfillment of his desires.
There's no more powerful wisdom on money management than understanding this You know how how we're managers? We don't this is how you know you're a manager You don't get to keep any of it like literally you know this you will not keep any of All of the things you have right now will very soon be somebody else's you are merely given a moment in time with which to Manage it we are managers and not owners the second Jesus is wisdom principle of money money is a great tool It's it's a terrible God, but here's the second of Jesus's kind of wisdom principles money is a great test But it is a terrible ends Money is a means it is not an ends the goal is not money the goal is not to be rich The goal is not to hoard up to pile up money is to be used towards and ends towards a goal. What's the goal? Well, it ends the line up with how we view time.
There also explains that idea of true riches Jesus explained it last week Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and venom destroy and worth these break in and steal But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermour Do not destroy worth these do not break in and steal for where your treasure is where you are investing that is where your heart will be Also, this goes against something that many of us have thought wasn't true But in the scriptures over and over again, we are taught to make our ends our goals are desires Heavenly riches How we use our money here? How we use our little amount of money in our limited amount of time is nothing but a test to see what you and I will be entrusted With in the eternal kingdom that is to come that doesn't seem Right, but it's brilliant. This is what Jesus is teaching. It is what the scriptures reflect over and over and over again These riches Jesus is saying are meaningless But another kingdom is coming and it is now begun and in the kingdom that is coming There will be a distribution of riches to be used and employed for the master's will and glory and how you used earthly Well here on earth is a test and how you do on that test will result in how much of the master's wealth You will be entrusted within the kingdom that is to come Jesus says people of the light live like you believe this My daughter Caroline went off She's in graduate school this year and we had agreed to help her a little bit And so she was writing us a thank you Thank you She knows that daddy has always dreamed of having a beach house and You know most of my beach house was spent at various academic institutions over the last 15 years And she literally wrote she's my last one and I thought I was done and she literally wrote in the card dad I really believe one day you will have a beach house in the coming kingdom You know there's some wisdom there build your beach house in the kingdom to come where moth doesn't devour rust doesn't destroy And then Jesus makes so clear what we've discovered over the last two weeks.
I think here's how he sums up what's happening He goes don't you understand it? No one can serve two masters Either you're going to hate the one in love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other But you cannot serve both God and mine and notice please if you will it's not God or the devil That's what we would think right? That's the choice. Well the choice is clear light and dark good and evil right?
But that's not what Jesus lays out and here's why because I think you and I are smart enough to not willingly give our lives over to evil We would see that coming a mile away But greed as we learned last week read highs money's a great tool. It's terrible God and you will serve you will serve Let me break out right now. You are serving one or the other So here's how the story ends the Pharisees who loved money, right? It means that money had become their master They heard all this and they were sneering at Jesus.
He said to them You're the ones who justify yourselves and the eyes of others, but God knows your heart Remember your heart goes where your money goes what people value highly is detestable and God's These guys the Pharisees some of you know, these are the religious guys in town. These are the guys that are following every law There is to follow there's not one that they're missing and you know what that means I want you to understand this that means they were following all of the commanded giving all of the legal legally required giving in Israel It wasn't just about for these guys one tithe of say 10% in Israel the total ties were about 23% annually when you piled them up They were giving away nearly a quarter of their income But they were doing it out of duty out of law and it had no impact on their hearts They did not use worldly wealth for the right reasons their heart was far from God They used it in a sense for their own glory. They made sure everybody saw them putting the money in the pot They used it for their own credit their own righteousness their own justification They made a show of their giving and as a result They received the worldly recognition that was do them that they missed out on true riches and So with Jesus's wisdom in mind, what does it look like to manage God's resources with God's wisdom? Well, I'll tell you first.
I'll tell you what it doesn't look like last week Jesus explained it this way he said and do not set your heart which follows your money for where your treasure is there your heart Will be do not set your heart on what you're gonna eat Isaac just talk about this What you're gonna eat your drink don't worry about it for the pagan world runs after such things Your father knows that you need them but seek his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well See if you think you are an owner here if you think you're an owner This is how you will live when it comes to what it got is given you you will spend and then you will save and in third and priority You will give our treasure here at church re-closest every time read comes up to talk to us about our money He always goes over this idea these owners priority priorities This is what people who don't trust and believe in God. This is how they live they live like owners This is my stuff. I will do with it what I want. I understand the time frame the time frame is birth to death There's nothing afterwards.
It all goes back in the box So with that in mind here are my current priorities. I'm gonna spend it on what I need then I'll spend it on what I want Think about how an older budgets This is gonna sound familiar first. I write down how much I make Then I write down all of my expenses Right, and then if I have anything left Which more than half of the United States households don't if I have anything left then I'm gonna put some away And I mean heck if I ever get to the place where I have built I've built all the barns like last We can have gotten to the place where I I've got enough I even built bigger barns and I've got enough that now I can look at it and go you know what look at me. I'm fat and happy, right?
I'm rich. I'm powerful. I'm successful. Nothing can touch me.
Nothing can harm me. I've got things stored up for many years I'm going to say to myself like last week. I I I've achieved it. I don't need to worry and so now now I can I can maybe I can give a little bit of a way I'll have a little leftover Most of us even followers of Jesus live this way We might spend responsibly, but let's be honest right when we build our budgets We build our budgets like owners.
We start with our expenses. This is the money I plan on spending This is not how managers begin their budgets if anybody manages a budget in your office or at your workplace You know this is not how you manage it managers understanding They're managing the assets on behalf of another and so as a result his purposes must come first the achievement of his goals and desires Must be the priority how we spend reflects his will The Apostle Paul wants a Pharisee himself at one time he too loved money He was trying to to explain this to his prodigy Timothy in a pastoral letter telling Timothy how in Timothy's new kind of role as being a Pastor over these churches how how did he was to explain to people how in this new covenant they should treat their wealth Here's how we command to Timothy. Here's what he told Timothy to tell you and me he starts with this word command Command those command those who are rich in this present world NMR's County, New Jersey in 2025 It would be hard to say there's not one person in here in the history of the world does not qualify under that one Most of the world is living on two dollars or less a day Not to be arrogant in order to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain But to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment money is a great tool It's a terrible God when you put your hope and wealth when you get it you will become arrogant But instead he says Timothy make sure you tell them to put their trust and their hope in God everything they're looking for he will give them And he gives another kind of next next sentence it starts with that kind of same word that same kind of harsh beginning command them Like you must cannot may I command you and do good Be rich in good deeds and be generous and willing to share Here it is again If you didn't believe me earlier just see his Paul telling Timothy to tell you in this way They will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age So that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. This is the wisdom of God This is the wisdom of Jesus of Nazareth the resurrected one the one that hundred saw arise from the grave This is the wisdom of Jesus who says do not lay up your treasures here build them up in the coming age How do you do that be generous be willing to share and when you do you will find life?
Don't waste your one and only life believing that money in itself is an ends and not a means it is a means to the life God has for you It is a means to eternal blessing and joy, but only as we steward it for the glory of its owner How do managers manage money? They invert the script the first thing they do when they budge it they don't treat right the master's money casually They budge it they don't just go huh. I don't really know where any of that guys money went really don't keep track of it They budgeted out they are responsible for it. They will have to give an account imagine that Live down here 75 80 years over those 80 years.
You know, you can just see the Lord up there with the little green shade on right? Let's see here What'd you do with that 4.5 million you made over your life? I have no idea right like That's what this is talking about Their budget doesn't begin with wants it doesn't begin with needs because they trust the master with that They begin with his priorities. They begin with building his kingdom and not their own Every time I do teachings on money I always do them at this time of year because we're coming up on a new year and there are a few better resolutions to make There are a few things that will change your life change your heart change your eternity Like deciding in the coming year as I begin to think about this next year as I begin to hopefully budget that out To flip our budgets on their heads and begin with you know How much of this stuff that the Lord has entrusted me to manage on his behalf how much of it will I prioritize for his purposes?
And then once I've kind of come to an understanding of what it is the Lord wants me to do with that money Then I'm gonna put some away Right, so it's not not so much that I use it as a God for security But enough so that I don't wind up becoming a burden on others and then I spend on myself what I have left This is what shrewdness looks like Jesus commended the manager not for his dishonesty dishonesty, but for his shrewdness for his judgment is inside his intelligence regarding his current situation He understood his limited time and his limited opportunity and he made the most of them He made a wise choice a wise decision based on what he believed his future to be the question is Will we I close with that challenge and this truth my mom? Is moving in a couple of weeks she's she's selling the house that her my dad brought brand new and in 1972 I think she paid $32,000 worth in 1972. I wouldn't tell you that except it's on Zillow. I remember as a a four-year-old kid We pulled up to the house and it was just the framing of it and I remember like they had like a ladder and we went My dad was you know trying to make a man of me and take me upstairs to walk around on the second story of that's why I remember it at four years old Just walking around upstairs in this framed building when you live in a house for 53 years When you raise four kids 14 grandchildren and now three great-grandchildren in a house you tend to pile some stuff up So my siblings and I've been helping my mom kind of sort this out over over the last few weeks truth is most of us And this is hard most of the stuff that my mom has given her her money in time to because she's just like all the rest of us It piles up and when you get to the age my mom is and you empty out the house The next stop for many of those things is the dumpster things that my mom treasured for decades displayed in cabinets and shelves for all to see If you walk into my mom's house, you will see it all Actually won't see all because two-thirds of it's in the attic But a lot of it is on display and over time all the things that were so meaningful they become stuff and eventually garbage We are not owners.
It is not yours It's getting left behind to someone to go somewhere anyway up in the attic. Um this week we came across these two It's pretty cool These two pictures So these were who I don't know how long they've been up in my mom's attic You're welcome to come take a cover and dust just to be authentic Betsy looked at them and said you couldn't clean it So I wanted it to be authentic for the moment. So Let me introduce you to who these two are here. This as I understand it is Walter Hiddig Walter is this was my grandmother's grandfather So I believe this is my great great grandfather.
Is that right? One more so this is my great great great grandfather Which means it is the cameraman here's great great great great great grandfather And many of you see me hang out with my grandchildren in the front row This is Landry and Caleb and our Mandarin Kennedy and and Charlie's great great great great great grandfather This is his wife. We don't know her name, but she was up there with Walter too It's pretty cool As you think about it, right? I don't nobody knows who what her name is.
I don't really know anything about any of them In fact is I bought them home and I put them on the on the counter and Joan said what are those? I said oh, it's all excited. This is my great great great great. She said they're creepy take them to the garage right now And so I took them out of the garage on the way here this morning If I didn't save them from the dumpster, it's very likely they would find a way to a cracker barrel wall somewhere I don't I these are real human beings that I'm related to I have their DNA coursing through my body right now But I don't know where they lived what they did when they were born.
I don't know when they died There are no obituaries to look up. I don't know if their life was full of joy or pain I don't know what they valued or loved. I don't know where they're buried This is all that's left with Walter Hiddig and this woman I hope I'd like to believe they were wonderful people who gave their lives to trust and follow Jesus and that I will see them again Some day I hope but I don't know friends. I want you to understand This is how it will be for every single one of you in the room today someday really relatively soon Someone else will be living in your home Someone else will be working our jobs and very soon.
No one will know our names Best case scenario best case scenario Maybe somebody finds some photos up in an attic of you and wonders about you Maybe they wind up with a great great great grandchild that becomes a preacher that can show pictures But this is how it will be for each of us and so the question lingers How will you spend your one and only life? What will you give it away to? Our time is so short The opportunity is so limited How will we live in light of what it is that we believe? Will we live like owners?
Trusting in and hoarding up earthly riches or will we live like managers putting the priority of the owner on display and trusting believing That how we invest our lives in this world is nothing more than a direct test about the responsibility and the blessing we will receive in the next You and I have been given a great trust And therefore we're undergoing a great test Friends live like children of the light children who believe and make the most of our very short and very limited opportunity Make much of the king with all that he's entrusted you with I think of Walter could speak This is what he would want you to know Let's stand and close this on