WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:03.839 Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:12.240 Newsong is a gospel-centered community-serving Anglican church in Port Perry, Ontario, and the parish of the Anglican Network in Canada. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:13.759 We'd love to connect with you. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:19.760 If you'd like to reach out to us, you can find our contact information at Newsongportperry.ca. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.879 God bless you through the ministry of the Word. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.160 A reading from the Book of Proverbs. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:34.240 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:40.640 Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:44.560 One gives freely, grows all the richer. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:48.719 Another withholds what he should give and only suffers want. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:56.640 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:04.079 The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:11.920 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.079 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:19.680 But the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:23.920 Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:28.000 But blessed is he who is generous to the poor. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:33.120 Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:37.200 But he who is generous to the needy honors him. 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:44.159 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:51.680 It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:58.640 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:01.920 The rich and the poor meet together. 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:04.879 The Lord is the maker of them all. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:12.159 Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:16.000 Do not toil to acquire wealth. 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:19.199 Be discerning enough to desist. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:23.120 When your eyes light on it, it is gone. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:27.840 For suddenly it sprouts wings flying like an eagle toward heaven. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:31.599 Two things I ask of you. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:34.560 Deny them not to me before I die. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:38.879 Remove far from me falsehood and lying. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:42.080 Give me neither poverty nor riches. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:50.479 Feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, Who is the Lord? 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:55.520 Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.080 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:02:59.680 Thanks be to God. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:07.439 Lord, we pray, give us neither poverty nor riches. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:17.759 Feed us with the food that is needful for us, lest we be full and deny you, or poor and profane your name. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:22.159 Lord, we desire to be rich toward you today and every day. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:24.719 Provide for us through your word and Holy Spirit. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:25.919 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:26.800 Amen. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:28.319 Please be seated. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:46.319 The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:48.560 Greed is right. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:50.240 Greed works. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:55.759 Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:03.840 Greed in all its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.800 And greed, you mark my words, will save this country. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:10.960 Anyone recognize that? 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:13.280 Not from the Gospels. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:33.519 That is 1987's Michael Douglas in Wall Street, playing Gordon Gecko, this multi-billionaire Wall Street tycoon, in a very famous speech and perhaps one of the most memorable movie quotes of the last several decades. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:43.199 It so perfectly sums up his character, his drive, his ambition, his desire to come out on top. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:52.000 It justifies his driving greed, so to speak. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:57.759 And he's mentoring, of course, Charlie Sheen in the movie and training him up to be greedy much the same. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:05.839 It's a fascinating speech because immediately it hits you in an absurd way, doesn't it? 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:10.879 You hear greed is good and you think, yeah, right, his mama didn't raise him right. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:13.600 My mama raised me right, right? 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:16.560 We all know that greed is bad. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:19.600 We were all told as children to don't be greedy. 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:21.040 Don't be greedy. 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:29.519 And yet, in this very short speech he's delivering to the crowd, it suddenly starts to make sense. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:31.439 At least a little bit, doesn't it? 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:32.639 Is that just me? 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:34.480 That's not just me, is it? 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:36.639 Greed works. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:41.759 It clarifies, it captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit in all its forms. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:47.920 Life, money, love, knowledge, all of this is marked the upward surge of mankind. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:50.959 It's our drive, it's our engine. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:54.639 Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:01.680 And the best of our worldly wisdom would tell us to go and get yours, wouldn't it? 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.639 And yet Wall Street, if you've seen the movie, is a cautionary tale. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:24.800 Gordon Gecko delivers this uh speech, is found out for all of his incriminating activity, and is sent to spend many decades in prison until the sequel came out in, I think, 2010 or something like that. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:26.720 Not as good as the original. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:34.000 It's a cautionary tale that resonates a lot with our gospel reading this morning in Luke 12, doesn't it? 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:44.000 It's a cautionary tale that greed, which all of our immediate wisdom tells us is good, it drives us, it drives us towards success. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:47.199 Greed never pays off in the long run. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:49.199 That's the point of Wall Street. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:51.040 That's the point of our gospel reading. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:59.040 And as we've been working our way through Proverbs, it's capturing God's wisdom, his design for best living that we want to grasp. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:10.879 We want to grasp God's design for the world that we live in and for all of the world that we live in, including how we regard our wealth and our finances and our money. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:15.120 Living wisely by God's design. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.000 That's the first thing we need to consider when we think about Proverbs. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:28.319 Proverbs has a lot of great one-liners, has a lot of great sound bites, but if we think of it simply as a collection of one-liners and sound bites, we will miss what's going on deep below the surface. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:32.240 The real profundity to the book of Proverbs that we've been journeying through. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:43.040 It is suggesting to us that the world we live in is not by accident, but it is actually created by God through his wisdom. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:45.920 It's designed by God through his wisdom. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:50.639 It is sustained by God and governed by God by his wisdom. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:59.759 And therefore, we, created in God's image, can live into God's best design for the world by discovering his wisdom and by living into it. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:01.040 You see that? 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:19.920 The best worldly wisdom that puts us at the center of everything, that organizes the world around our desires or our wants or whatever that is, would basically tell us that, well, whatever it takes to be ambitious, whatever it takes to be successful, even if that's greed, is probably a good thing. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:27.519 And yet when we step back to consider the world as God designed it, we start to see, well, maybe this formula starts to fall apart. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:31.360 We want to live wisely by God's design. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:36.720 And when we think of God's design for wealth and money, we start to notice some interesting things. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:50.879 First off, that the book of Proverbs and the Bible generally, it might surprise you to hear, is generally quite positive about finances and wealth and investment and using money well. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:54.960 Often misquoted as 1 Timothy chapter 6, right? 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:58.480 We've probably heard someone quote, money is the root of all evil. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:00.399 But that's a misquote, isn't it? 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:02.240 What was the reading this morning? 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:06.320 The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:11.360 Now, you're on the right track, but we should catch the difference there. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:24.320 The love of money, the idolization of money, making it the ultimate thing, making it the thing I love more than anything else, the thing that drives me, the thing I'm pursuing most with my life. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:27.200 Maybe like Gordon Gecko in that way. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:30.399 The love of money becomes the root of all kinds of evil. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:30.720 Why? 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:33.679 Because I'll do whatever it takes to accumulate. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:39.519 I'll take whatever, I'll do whatever it takes to grow my wealth. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:45.440 And this is where the book of Proverbs flips our best wisdom on its head. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:56.799 The book of Proverbs would suggest that God's wisdom for wealth is founded not upon greed as the measure of our success, but on generosity. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:04.559 God's wisdom for wealth is founded upon generosity, which displaces our greed. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:14.080 So one commentator writes: one great gain of generosity is that it protects us from the sole destructive preoccupation with greed. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.720 And that's exactly what Proverbs wants to do. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:21.120 It wants us to live well, to live wisely by God's design. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:30.720 And so it's going to address that part of our life that is so easy to think in terms of accumulation, not in terms of sharing. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:45.039 So the goal of today's sermon, as we walk through our passages in Proverbs this morning, is to make each and every one of us, myself included, richer without adding a single dollar to our bank account. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:46.240 That's the goal here. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:48.879 That's my cheesy line for the sermon, by the way. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:51.919 We want to discover what true riches are. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:58.639 So if you have your bulletin, let's uh follow through the readings in the book of Proverbs this morning. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:07.759 Let's discover God's wisdom for wealth, which centers us upon generosity, and we discover what makes us truly rich. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:08.960 We'll see three things. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:13.360 God's wisdom sees abundance, not scarcity. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:18.159 Number two, God's wisdom gains by giving, not accumulating. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:24.240 And number three, God's wisdom knows what lasts and what doesn't. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:26.960 So let's walk through these three principles of wisdom. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:31.759 God's wisdom sees abundance and not scarcity. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:34.559 Chapter 3, verses 9 and 10. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:46.240 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce, then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:48.480 So a couple things. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.399 Number one, wealth is an opportunity, isn't it? 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:56.080 It's an opportunity first and foremost to honor the Lord. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:03.120 The Hebrew literally means it's like weight, to give weight to the Lord, or to esteem, or to pay tribute. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:15.200 It's a way for us to relate ourselves rightly, gratefully, with this God who's created us, to honor the Lord with our wealth, with the first fruits, it says, of all your produce. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:19.519 And this very firmly roots us in the story of the biblical narrative. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:46.960 For those who would be reading this proverb and its original audience, they would immediately call to mind Deuteronomy chapter 26, where the people of Israel have been led out of Exodus from slavery and bondage and poverty in Egypt, are now entering into, they're on the precipice of God's promised land, and they're receiving instructions for how it is they're going to relate themselves rightly to this God who has so generously redeemed them from a hopeless situation. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:53.440 And Deuteronomy chapter 6 gives some instruction on how it is they're going to honor the Lord with their wealth. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:54.720 This is what we read. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:11.679 When you, the people, have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settle in it, take some of the first fruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land that the Lord your God has is giving you, put them in a basket. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:19.679 And then say to the priest, So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and signs and wonders. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:31.360 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and now I bring the first fruits of the soil to you, Lord, that you, Lord, have given me. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.840 So let's notice a couple of things here. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:38.000 Let's notice that the first fruits is the very best of the crop. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:41.919 It literally is the first fruits that come out of the ground here. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:46.559 The priority goes to honoring the Lord with the material benefits that he gives us. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:55.279 But notice this as well that the instructions on giving here place giving in a context of God's provision. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:57.600 This is not about earning God's favor. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:02.960 This is not about making sure you're not disqualified from his blessings. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:11.440 This is about recognizing that no matter how generous I am towards God, he has already been unbelievably generous towards me. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:17.759 For the ancient Israelites, it looked like God bringing them out of slavery and bondage in a hopeless situation in Egypt. 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:26.480 For us, we know the greater deliverance towards that that exodus points towards, that deliverance we know in Christ. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:36.559 Whatever generosity we may exercise towards God or others, it is always a response to the overwhelming generosity that we ourselves have received. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.759 That's what the first fruits is meant to remind us of. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:45.679 Our generosity corresponds to God's generosity towards us. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:47.039 Okay. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:52.240 Wealth is an opportunity to honor the Lord. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:58.080 Wealth is an opportunity to recognize that abundance comes from Him. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:14:59.679 Verse 10. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:07.200 Having honored the Lord, then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:13.919 So generosity precedes and presupposes abundance. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:24.720 Now, we need to bear in mind what I said on the very first week of looking at the book of Proverbs, that Proverbs is generally speaking a book of principles and not promises, right? 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:27.039 We need to remember the difference. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:30.960 A promise means we do this and God will then do that for us, right? 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:36.639 And that's not what's being communicated here, despite how it may sound to our English-speaking ears. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:44.720 We need to remember that things are a lot more complicated than just I give a little and I get back a pretty clean investment from the Lord. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.879 We need to remember folks like Job. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:56.080 Job, who the very first thing we learn about him is that he's a righteous man who pleases the Lord, and yet Job goes through this profound experience of loss. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:03.919 So what that means for us is when we go through a season of loss, it is not as clean-cut as, wow, I've really done something to tick God off, haven't I? 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:05.679 It's not that simple. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:20.080 We need to bear in mind that, yes, honoring the Lord with our wealth generally predisposes us or orients us towards God's blessing in our life, which may look like material blessing, but it's not a guarantee of that, right? 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:24.480 So we need to bear in mind this is a general principle for wise living. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:36.000 We want to predispose ourselves towards living in this reciprocal relationship of blessing with God, but we want to bear in mind that that's that it's complicated. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:39.679 So when we honor the Lord, abundance follows. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:45.200 Either that's material blessing we can point towards, or it's a mindset. 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:47.679 It's a mindset of abundance. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:53.440 I wonder if we are predisposed in our 2024 moment to a scarcity mindset. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:57.600 Every time I look at my CIBC banking account, you know what I think? 00:16:57.840 --> 00:16:59.039 There could be more. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:00.639 Right? 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:06.400 When's the last time you opened up your banking account and thought, yeah, that that seems like too much in there? 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:07.759 Right? 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:17.759 We are predisposed, I think, to a scarcity mindset, which means we do something like this deep in our souls. 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:20.559 We we cling and we grasp. 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:23.279 We refuse to let go. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:26.079 Because there's some security here, right? 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:28.319 We don't want to let that go. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:36.079 And yet the book of Proverbs would say greed, which would cause us to cling to, is not where wisdom is to be found. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:41.119 Wisdom is instead to be found, strangely enough, in generosity. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:45.599 One of my heroes of the faith is named George Mueller. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:48.480 He lived in the 19th century in Bristol. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:50.799 Good German fellow who moved to England. 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:52.160 God love him. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:58.400 He ran an orphanage for thousands upon thousands of the poorest children in England. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:04.079 And he never had more than three days' worth of money in the bank account. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:08.480 He could never provide beyond three days at best for these children. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:15.039 There are many, many times where they gathered for breakfast and there was no food to be put on the table. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:19.039 And so George Mueller would say, kids, it's time to pray. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:33.680 And they would get down on their knees and they would pray for their daily bread, and every time in George Mueller's testimony, something like the baker would knock on the door and say, My cart has broken down. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:35.519 I need to get rid of this bread. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:37.200 I thought you could use it. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:43.200 Or the milkman would do the same, or some way God would provide for their need when they most needed it. 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:47.039 George Mueller knew what it is to have an abundance mindset. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:47.440 Why? 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:50.079 Because he trusted in the God who provides. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:58.720 And so we can write this: After the Lord has tried our faith, he, in the love of his heart, gives us an abundance. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:07.759 For the glory of his name and for the trial of our faith, he allows us to be poor and then graciously supplies our needs. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:19.279 See, as Christians, as those living into God's best design for living by wisdom, we need to recognize we have every reason to have an abundance and not a scarcity mindset. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:19.839 Why? 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:21.920 Because we have a God who provides. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:24.240 And it's this God who's designed the world. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:28.480 And it's this guy, God who will not forget us in our time of need. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:35.680 Wisdom sees abundance where we might otherwise see scarcity. 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:44.160 Continuing on, God's wisdom gains not by accumulating, but by giving. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:46.960 This is very much related to what we're just talking about here. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:49.279 Chapter 11, verse 24 to 28. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:53.519 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:58.079 Another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:04.240 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and the one who waters will himself be watered. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:11.039 The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:17.599 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:25.039 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:29.920 So, again, a couple things we can notice here. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:34.079 Well, let's just look at verse 24, because what the heck is going on there, right? 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:44.319 One gives freely, this guy gives freely, gives generously, gives without withholding, and yet he grows all the richer, says the author of Proverbs here. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:47.839 And another withholds what he should give, but only suffers want. 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:49.440 What is going on there? 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.079 Wouldn't you expect it to be the opposite? 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:59.279 You know, the guy who opens up his CIBC bank account and thinks there's not enough in there expects the opposite. 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:01.920 This guy should give freely and yet suffer want. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:02.240 Why? 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:03.920 Because he gave away what he had. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:10.799 Whereas this guy, this guy withholds what he should give, but at least he's growing all the richer, right? 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:13.599 Not so in the book of Proverbs. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:17.599 Not so in accordance with God's design by wisdom. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:29.519 See, God's wisdom suggests that God's wisdom for wealth is founded not upon our greed, but on generosity. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:36.559 It's generosity that causes multiplication, not greed, not stinginess, not withholding. 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.039 Growing richer means scattering. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:45.759 Let's put let me put it this way, and Tim Keller's got a great one liner. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:49.440 He says, Scattering gathers and gathering scatters. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:51.440 Think about that for a second. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:55.039 Gathering scatters and scattering gathers. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.759 The idea is that the more we distribute, the more we will find God's supply. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.640 All the needs that we have, and abundantly so. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:10.720 And yet there's something about clinging to all our material substance that convinces us we never have enough and we don't have what it will take. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:17.759 There's something about the predisposition of our mind, the posture of our soul, that tells us these things. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:22.319 And yet it's God's best wisdom that exactly the opposite is true. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:24.640 And so we see this agricultural metaphor. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:34.319 When we take the time to water someone else, someone in need, so to speak, when we water a thirsty plant, we ourselves will be watered, is what it says. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:39.359 Generosity is that principle of what I give is what I will gain. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:45.279 And that's got to be remarkably different to our best wisdom here in 2024, isn't it? 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:55.039 And yet, God has designed his world to be, to hinge upon generosity and giving. 00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.200 And so we live into that. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:03.519 I'm not really an outdoor fella that probably surprises no one in this room. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:09.920 People brag about, you know, living outdoors and being knowledgeable about the outdoors. 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:12.720 No one brags about being knowledgeable about being indoors. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:16.559 I'd like to brag about my knowledge about living comfortably indoors. 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:21.039 I'm not really an outdoorsman, but I have learned a couple of facts along the way. 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:34.720 And uh one I was uh kind of surprised by, I was much younger than I was, and we were on some nature hike, and uh a buddy of mine stopped down to sort of scoop out some water from a fresh spring, and I'm a kid who grew up on, I'm a city kid who grew up on bottled water, right? 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:36.079 I'm like, ew, gross. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:38.400 And he goes, no, no, it's spring water. 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:41.119 That's that's perfectly fresh, that's great. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:47.039 Explained to me the difference, of course, between water that pools in a reservoir and water that's free-flowing, right? 00:23:47.359 --> 00:24:00.480 It's water that pools in a reservoir that festers and grows algae and bacteria and all the kind of stuff you don't want to ingest, and yet it's water that flows that provides the life-giving sustenance that you need. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:02.480 That's the design of the thing. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:07.680 You can't just make reservoir water clean by willing it to be clean, right? 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:12.960 You've got to do something to make it clean if you want to drink it at all. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:19.680 It's fresh water, it's flowing water, that gives you the life-sustaining material that you need. 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:22.640 And so too it is with our wealth and generosity. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:27.039 By God's design, it is not meant to pool in a reservoir. 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:32.720 For us to cling to it and find our security in it, it festers and stinks when we do that. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:49.200 And yet, it's when we see our wealth and material substance as an opportunity to flow into the lives of others and to bless those that God has put into our lives, is when it gives life and it gives us life, and it gives others life. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:52.960 And no one's saying you should be reckless with your wealth, by the way. 00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:59.200 Proverbs is not suggesting we should be delusional and in complete denial about our financial circumstances. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:08.240 I don't doubt that we struggle with debt and we struggle with difficult financial circumstances and we lose jobs, and there's all sorts of things to consider, for sure. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:17.759 But Proverbs wants us to bear in mind that accumulating wealth for wealth's sake is never a healthy thing to do. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:21.680 It never leads us to the flourishing life that we desire. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:25.759 It never pays off like Gordon Gecko expects it to. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:42.720 Instead, when we have a mindset of generosity that understands we gain by giving, not accumulating, that the material substance that God has given us is meant to bless others, even if it's blessing others in our immediate family by providing for their financial needs, right? 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:45.839 By providing a secure home and food on the table. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:51.519 God has given us wealth not to accumulate it, but to bless others with it. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:55.039 We're stewards of what belongs to God, right? 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:57.359 This doesn't belong to us. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:59.680 He's entrusted it to us. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:06.880 And we find we gain not by accumulating, but by giving, by letting it flow. 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:12.559 And so we practice meeting the needs of those that God has put in our path. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:15.920 God's wisdom sees abundance, not scarcity. 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:24.000 God's wisdom gains by giving, not accumulating, and finally, God's wisdom knows what lasts and what doesn't. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:27.839 Let's look at verse chapter 23, verses 4 and 5 here. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:34.160 Do not toil to acquire wealth, be discerning enough to desist. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:37.440 When your eyes light on it, it is gone. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:42.720 For suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle towards heaven. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:48.079 You'd say it's cliche if it wasn't just so true, right? 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:53.359 Don't toil, is what Proverbs is saying to us. 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:56.960 You know, that endless work that becomes a taskmaster. 00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:01.440 It's addressing the workaholic, right? 00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:06.319 Who just doesn't know when to quit, whose identity is tied up in what they do. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:09.359 They've become less a human being and more a human doing. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:12.319 That's the kind of person that Proverbs is addressing here. 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:21.519 It's the kind of person toiling to acquire wealth, endlessly running on the treadmill to try and gain a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:25.119 And Proverbs suggests a lot more than just, hey, desist. 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:27.279 You know, take a vacation every once in a while. 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:32.880 Proverbs is saying a lot more than that, which might be the first advice that we would think to give. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:40.559 Proverbs instead is asking us to take on a whole new perspective of the world we live in, a whole new attitude, right? 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:52.559 It's thinking about God's design for the world, which is premised on generosity and not greed, not accumulating, but instead relating ourselves rightly to our work, not to acquire wealth. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:53.119 Why? 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:57.119 Because wealth is gonna spring wings and fly away, right? 00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:02.319 I mean, the one thing we know about our wealth for sure is that it will not last. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:04.400 We do not take it with us. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:09.599 We know that for sure, and yet aren't we so anxious when it comes to our finances? 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:13.119 We know absolutely where it's gonna end up. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:15.680 And yet we're so anxious along the way. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:16.480 Why? 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:19.519 Because I think we toil to acquire it. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:26.079 Because our trust and security is found, my trust and my security is found on my CIBC banking app, right? 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:31.839 The book of Proverbs is asking us to reconsider who's who's my God here, really? 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:34.079 Is my God in my wallet? 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:38.720 Does that God provide for my needs and my security? 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:43.680 Or is there a God who provides money as means and not ends, right? 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:46.480 Wealth is fleeting. 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:48.640 We can't depend upon it. 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:55.759 And when we do, we find ourselves toiling endlessly like slaves in Egypt. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.440 One of my favorite uh stories is Christmas Carol. 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:00.880 Who's read a Christmas Carol? 00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:05.440 Do yourself a favor if you haven't read a Christmas Carol and read it this Christmas season. 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:06.960 It's wonderful. 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:08.559 So we all know the story. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:12.799 We've if we haven't read it, then we've seen The Muppets Christmas Carol or something like that, right? 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.519 Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:18.400 Of course, we know that. 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:20.720 Christmas past, present, future. 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:27.359 But before he's visited by those ghosts, he's visited by Jacob Marley, his business associate who passed away years earlier. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:32.880 And when Jacob Marley appears, uh, his ghost appears to Ebenezer Scrooge. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:40.400 Uh, he's got a chain, uh, a really thick chain that is uh shackled to him. 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:48.640 The chains worn by Jacob Marley symbolize the consequence of a selfish, greedy life focused on wealth and material gain. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:58.480 The chains are made of heavy, clanking objects like cash boxes, ledgers, padlocks, keys that represent the tools of his trade as a businessman. 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:08.720 They're metaphors for his obsession with money and all the unethical means he used to acquire it during his lifetime. 00:30:09.119 --> 00:30:14.240 And that's why he says to Scrooge, I wear the chain I forged in my life. 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:17.839 I made it link by link and yard by yard. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:24.240 I guarded it of my own free will, and by my own free will I wore it. 00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:26.799 That's the warning, isn't it? 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:28.960 And of course, that's Ebenezer Scrooge. 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:34.559 Jacob Marley wants to see, wants Ebenezer to see, look in the mirror and see himself. 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:39.200 Greed, we know, enslaves us. 00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:40.880 It's toilsome. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:42.559 It's a taskmaster. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:44.160 It's like Pharaoh. 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:57.759 When we recognize what lasts and what doesn't last, we predispose ourselves to use that wealth that God has entrusted to us towards his ends and not just my own. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:06.000 And when I do that, the wonderful thing is I'm unshackled from the slavery that that greed can bring. 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:09.039 Because it is slavery. 00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:12.559 That's Luke chapter 12 again, isn't it? 00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:17.519 Desist is what wisdom tells us. 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:18.960 And be content. 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:22.079 I love that reading in 1 Timothy chapter 6. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:23.599 It's not a coincidence that we read it. 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:24.720 I picked it. 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:32.400 There is much gain to be had in contentment. 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:34.319 Contentment is not delusion. 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:40.400 It doesn't, you know, pretend like we don't have problems, like there aren't challenges to sort out, like there aren't things to plan for. 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:45.200 But contentment recognizes it rests in a God who provides. 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:51.440 I might not know how that provision will come through right now, but I know that God will come through. 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:55.920 I know what I'd like that to look like, but God knows what that'll look like. 00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:01.200 D'ye see how living wisely in accordance with God's design changes our whole mindset? 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:02.799 D'ye see that? 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:10.160 Because boy, I gotta say, it's toilsome to think that we're the one when we have to be in charge of our wealth and our security. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:12.240 Boy, that's toilsome. 00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:19.599 But when we know just how generous God is towards us, well, suddenly it becomes means and not ends. 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:23.920 Suddenly we can see God do his thing and rest in him. 00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:27.759 So is greed our greatest good after all? 00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:33.839 God's wisdom for wealth is founded not upon our greed, but on our generosity. 00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:37.599 What makes us truly rich is the question. 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:46.160 I want to conclude with 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, which is one of my favorite verses in the New Testament. 00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:52.640 Paul is appealing to the Corinthian church to provide generously for other Christians in need. 00:32:53.119 --> 00:33:07.759 And he says to them, You yourselves know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:17.039 You see, the wisdom of God's generosity is not just a principle that works horizontally between us, it works vertically as well. 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:21.920 God is unfathomably generous towards us in Christ. 00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:24.160 There is nothing he has withheld from us. 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:26.240 He has given us his very self. 00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:35.119 He has taken our sins, he has taken our debts, he has taken our death upon himself to give us his life everlasting. 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:38.240 There is nothing God has withheld from us. 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:40.640 And that is to God's great gain. 00:33:40.720 --> 00:33:41.039 Why? 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:45.920 Because we are his treasured possession, his inheritance. 00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:53.200 He has gained us through his generosity, and he calls us to gain him through ours. 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:55.200 So we give of ourselves. 00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:57.519 We take up our cross, we follow him. 00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:03.599 It's with that mindset that we can pray the prayer in Proverbs chapter 30 and mean it, right? 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:06.640 Give me neither poverty nor riches. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:07.359 Why? 00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:09.920 Because you provide my daily bread. 00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:12.880 And we know God will provide it. 00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:15.199 Because the cross is proof. 00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:21.679 So, friends, where can we be truly rich towards God? 00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:26.719 Let's look to Christ, where our heart is found its treasure. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:27.679 Amen. 00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:32.239 Thank you for listening today. 00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:38.000 We follow a generous God who calls us to give willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially towards gospel ministry. 00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:44.320 Newsong is one hundred percent funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:52.000 If you'd like to learn more about how to give towards Newsong's ministry, you can do just that at newsongportperry.ca slash giving. 00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:54.559 God bless you and keep you today and every day.