Today on the Evangelist Podcast we ask, what are you living for? The Evangelists Podcast. Encouragement to speak life to a needy world. With Glenn Scrivener and Andy Brinkley.
SPEAKER_01This is the Evangelist Podcast and uh we're looking today at uh what are you living for? You've started it, Glenn. And it has to do with the uh the shrewd manager, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Of Luke 16. Yes. Yeah, so uh in our church, all souls eastbourne, uh where I go, uh we've been uh working our way through Luke's gospel, and um I don't think I've ever heard really sermons on Luke 16 until I went looking for them, you know, in desperation um uh for preparation for for me preaching on it. Um but it yeah, it's not often um spoken on uh the the parable of the shrewd manager because it's it's a bit of an odd one. You know, there's this manager who he's about to get the boot and uh and so what does he do? He he actually goes and uh alters the amount that these creditors owe to the um for his own good to the manager for his own benefit. And uh and then the manager of the and then the the rich man who owns the business is happy with him, which is a little odd. Uh and then what's even more odd is Jesus says, Yeah, it'd be like that. Um use money to make friends, and then they will welcome you into their home. So it's an odd one, and uh but actually as as I really pressed into it, I thought I saw that there's so much in it about how we live today, how we make Jesus our priority, how we how we make the gospel our pro priority, how we make um making friends into the business that we're about, which is really evangelism. So it's a it's a great parable actually about uh being evangelistic. So I thought it'd be good to to think about it here on the Evangelist Podcast.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well uh we're gonna have a a listen to that a little bit later. Um we did want to plug our Christmas campaign again. Because uh we've we've trying to push it out there as much as possible at the moment. We're doing a Christmas uh campaign which involves hopefully four videos, yeah, four episodes. Yeah. It's sort of alongside the Christmas story, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so it's the twenty-first century Christmas and meets first century Christmas. And we've got this story of twenty-first century Christmas in which a boyfriend is invited home by his girlfriend, and uh he makes a fool of himself in this family that he doesn't feel like he belongs in. And there's a father figure and there's a stepmother, and uh they've all got their own stories, but in each of the episodes they encounter the first century nativity in ways that I can't tell you about right now. But trust me, they're pretty awesome. Yeah. In these secret ways, and the the 21st century uh Christmas encounters the first century Christmas, and actually each of these four characters uh realizes that they are empty-handed in terms of what they think they need. But they receive Christ in in an amazing way and uh in a transformative way. And so, yeah, we think it's gonna be really high quality, so we're getting great people in to do the the cinematography, great people in to do the music, great people in front of the camera in terms of actors. Uh we've got James Carey, script writer for the BBC, uh working on the scripts. And uh we think it's gonna be a really high quality outreach that we hope will reach millions. So we're just asking for people's help. We need to we need to raise uh a a good chunk of money. Yeah, but with that good chunk of money we think we're gonna reach a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01And we've we've already raised uh just over half so far.
SPEAKER_02Yep, over half so far. So uh yeah. You can go to give.net uh slash Christmasfilms and uh you can see our crowdfunding page there. And uh if you're a taxpayer, then the government will give us an extra twenty percent on what you give us. So that's that's a pretty good deal.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, great. Now we've had a review. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02Oh dear. Okay, finally a one-star review.
SPEAKER_01Actually, I haven't got how many stars it is here, but he says excellent. From a chap called Tony, wonderfully uplifting Christian encouragement for all those who believe, and a good example of describing a Christian worldview. He makes a comment on our recent podcast on racism. He says you made the very apt point that a Christian cannot be racist. A great point. However, on the subject of Charlottesville, you missed the opportunity to mention that General Lee was actually opposed to slavery. The historical reason for the Civil War was not slavery at all, but it was a much drawn-out trade dispute. As a Brit who lived in the USA, I can inform you I have experienced racism from both black and white peoples in North Carolina. Trump was right to say that both sides are to blame. If I could bring all of the people from America to London to show them how good it can be when people from all countries and representatives of all colours and communities come together in friendship, I would do so. When I get my green card and my bachelorette in theology, I fully intend to preach a gospel of inclusivity. Segregation was brought into law, and then the white and black farmers were not buying beers for each other and talking anymore.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I I think last to say about that. I I guess, you know, when Robert E. Lee has slaves of his own and is on the record as having treated them so poorly, that doesn't go well. You know, and and obviously there were more things going on in the American Civil War than simply the slavery issue, and and those who want to take the Confederate side uh want to say it was about states' rights. And you know, the Union wanted to kind of impose this sort of federalist agenda and the states wanted to, you know, maintain rights of their own. And you know, there's there's absolutely arguments to be made about that.
SPEAKER_01Um I suppose we should have said a disclaimer that neither of us are American or deeply involved in American history. Yeah. Um but you know, I mean I I I I grew up loving the TV programme The Dukes of Hazard and it had a Confederate flag on the top of the the General Lee. I never thought twice about it, but Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Isn't that interesting? And and you know, and we we never want to be rewriting history. Never want to be re-rewriting history. Um but yeah, currently, and and I'd be really happy to sit down with a beer with with Tony and and and think about this sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_01I mean I think I think you know, the the point that we made last time still stands is that we're we're all racist.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, the f yeah, the problem of the flesh is not just those nasty white supremacists over there. I was listening to a sermon by a guy just this morning. Um and I'd just kind of forgotten that he passed a church in Charlottesville. I've I've been, you know, following a guy called David Zal, who heads up a ministry called Mockingbird in the States. And um it was only really on his podcast that he preached a sermon the Sunday after the the riots and and that sort of thing. And um I thought, oh yes, he's from Charlottesville, Virginia, of course. And he he made a very interesting point. He's he said as he as he uh began the sermon that everyone in Charlottesville, Virginia wants to say that actually these racists came from out of town, that they're not one of us. That we could never do such a thing. They've come from across the United States into our town and they brought violence and hatred, you know, with them, and we are not like that. He said, But watch yourself. As you say that, that is that is very similar to the to the ideology of the white supremacists. We're not like that. Our kind are the righteous kind. Those who do wrong are from elsewhere, right? And and I thought that was a very, very interesting point. But as soon as you want to say, uh no, it's it's the other guy. The other guy is the problem. Our kind, we're all right. Well you betray the very same kind of supremacism.
SPEAKER_01I remember my a joke, my brother Matt said, uh I can tell who's judgmental just by looking at the money. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Or you know, you know, the same as the the the Pharisee and the tax collector, you know, the parable Jesus tells in in um Luke uh 18, you know, the Pharisee and the tax collector goes up and uh and the Pharisee says, you know, I thank you God that I am not like other people. I tie give a tithe, you know, and I'm not like this this sinner over here, this tax collector. And uh there's a story of a Sunday school teacher who uh you know teaches the children this this very lesson about the idiocy of the of the Pharisee. And then she leads the children in prayer. I thank you God that I'm not like the Pharisee.
SPEAKER_01But uh thanks Tony for submitting. If you want to leave us a rating review, you can do that. And or if you want to comment separately from uh the review thing, you can go to the podcast page and uh on each of the episode you can leave a question there and you know, genuinely ask a question and we'll try and address it on the podcast if uh if necessary.
SPEAKER_02And or on Facebook. So yeah, if you follow us on Facebook, that that's a that's a pretty good place for online discussion.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Good. Okay, well, let's dive into Luke 16 then.
SPEAKER_02Father, we praise you that we have your word open in front of us, and we want you to speak now to us into the depths of our being. Would you arrest us with your word? Show us again Jesus. And in his face, help us to see you rightly, help us to see the world rightly, help us to see ourselves rightly. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We have the next slide on, thanks. Do you ever wonder what happens the day after the prodigal son returned? Last week we thought about the most famous story that Jesus ever told: the story of the prodigal son, this rebel who wished his father dead, took all his money and ran off to squander it. The money ran out, the boy ends up in the pig style. Amazingly, though, the father still loves this boy and still receives this rebel back into the household. All is forgiven, and the son is received back with extravagant welcome and celebration. But do you ever wonder what happens the next day? The day after the night before. The party has been thrown, the younger son is back in his old bedroom, he wakes up the next morning as his eyes adjust to the light. He starts to retrace his steps in his mind. He can't quite believe the last 24 hours. He feels his father's robe still around him. He looks and he sees the ring is there, the ring that his father gave him last night. He looks around and the room is just the way that he'd left it all those years ago. He can smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen. His father is up making the breakfast. And so he pads into the kitchen. And there's dad making eggs. It's just the way he remembered it. He tries to say, morning, in a chipper kind of a way, but it just gets caught in his throat and he just croaks. And his dad says, Ah, there you are. Just in time. Breakfast's ready. I thought I'd let you lie in a little bit. Last night was. And then he trails off. Last night was it was something else, he manages. And the younger says, the younger brother says, Yes, it was, it was unbelievable. I can't thank you enough, Dad. Once again, let me just say how very, very sorry I am. I don't, and then the father just cuts him off. He says, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. We've been through that, it's done, it's forgiven, it's forgotten. You're my boy. The past is the past, and that's that. Eat your eggs. And so they munch on their eggs in a companionable silence. And then the father turns to him and he says, So, what do you want to do today? That's a good question, isn't it? So now, now that you're home, now that you've received this extravagant welcome, this extravagant love, now that you are found, now that you are alive, now that you're secure, now what? What do you want to do? Well, that's the position of the Christian, isn't it? The Christian is someone who has repented from their life of independence. They've come home to the Father. We are now secure in his love, secure in his household. Now what? Now what do we want to do? I imagine the son in that situation as he munches on his eggs, he says to his dad, I don't know. What do you want to do, Dad? What needs doing? Let's work on it together. That's what happens the day after. The redeemed child of God says to his dad, What do you want to do? What needs doing? Let's do it together. That's what Luke chapter 16 is all about. How do you live once you've come home to the Father's love? What's next? Well, on the next slide we'll see. Luke 16 tells us, here is what's next. You gladly serve in the Father's household. You work. You don't work for the Father's love, you work from the Father's love, and you work harder than you've ever worked before. You work harder than the elder brother ever grudgingly slaved. You give yourself with joy to the father's work, the father's ways, the father's world. Through his forgiving love, you now belong to the Father, body and soul, and you are glad that you belong to him, body and soul. So you serve, and in serving, you've never felt so free. What is the shape of this new life, this life that we've been given? What's the shape of this service? What will it look like? Well, it will look like, according to Luke 16, three things. It will look like living for friends, it will look like living for the future, and it will look like living for the fountain. In Luke 16, we get told of friends that are around us, a future that is ahead of us, and a fountain that is above us. Let's first think about the friends that are around us. And that's the parable that Jesus tells here from verse 1. The parable Jesus tells goes like this: there's a fund manager, and he's about to lose his job. He has a performance appraisal with the boss, and the boss tells him, I'm sorry it's not working out, you are out the door. Now, in modern corporations, if you are sacked like this, security will escort you to your desk. They will supervise you for every second. They will not let you out of their sight as you pack up your box, pack up all your belongings, and you carry everything out with you, out the front door, you hand in your security pass, and you are never allowed back in the building again. Why? So that you don't do what this manager does. What does this manager do? He knows that he's out the door, and so he just makes a couple more phone calls before he leaves. He phones up a couple of the debtors. In verse 3, you see, he realizes that he is pretty much unemployable as it stands, and so verse 4, he resolves to approach a couple of these debtors. In verse 5, he gives one guy 50% off his debt. 50% off. The debtor must have been over the moon. 50%. He's thrilled. And then he phones up the next guy in verse six, and he wipes 20% off the debt. Obviously, he didn't like the second guy quite as much as the first guy. Only 20% off for him, but still he's thrilled. He'll want to be friends with this now redundant fund manager. This shrewd manager was on his way out the door, and he has just used his boss's money to make friends. Friends who will probably now invite him into their business, into their homes, once he is sacked. It's very cunning. Then in verse 8, you might expect the rich owner of the business to go ballistic. Why haven't you left yet? I thought I sacked you. Actually, in verse 8, the rich owner has to take his hat off to the shrewdness of the manager. He seems to respect in the manager a bit of financial nouse. The manager has used worldly wealth to make friends, friends who will last beyond this job. Well, verse 9, here's the moral. Jesus says, verse 9, I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. That's the moral of the story. The moral of the story is our time is short. We're about to be made redundant in this world. We're on our way out the door. We should use worldly wealth to make friends. There's no point investing in riches because they will not last. But we ought to invest in people because they will last. And if those people become friends of Jesus, then those friends will welcome us into their eternal habitations in glory. Use worldly wealth that won't last to invest in people who will last. That's the lesson. Now notice what Jesus is not saying here. He's not saying, use money well and make friends so that God will welcome you into heaven. If you're a disciple of Jesus, you've already been welcomed into God's household. Heaven is in the bag. What you now work for is not your own salvation. What you now work for is the salvation of others. So Jesus is not saying work hard and maybe God will welcome you. Not at all. God has welcomed you. But now he is a work of eternal significance for you to do. Make friends, and they can share in this salvation too. Inviting you to their homes in Christ's new creation future. The saying goes something like, you can't take it with you when you go. Have you heard that? You can't take it with you when you go. And that is very, very true and very, very sobering as it goes. You can't take it with you. Money, possessions, stuff will not outlast the grave. But there is one thing you can take with you. People. You can take people with you. You can befriend people, you can introduce them to the Savior, and you can enjoy their friendship forever. Really, it's the only clever investment in life. It's the only sure thing. This one truth should change our lives. Naturally, we are tempted to love things and use people. Isn't that how the way the world goes? We love things and we use people. And Jesus says, you've got it backwards. Use things, love people. So often we just want to make money and use friends. That's the wrong way around, though, isn't it? To make money and use friends. No, no, says Jesus, use money and make friends. That's the right way around. Use money to make friends. It's revolutionary to think this way. It means our question when big life decisions come up is not what money will I make, but what friends will I make? And it's not about what money will I make in this life, it's about what friends will I make for eternity. This is what life looks like in the father's household. It means embarking on the father's business. What is the father's business? Friendliness. Friendship. Friend making. Expanding the household. That is the father's business. So how can we use money to make friends? How can we use our resources to make friends? On Friday I saw some old friends who were visiting, and they've just recently moved to a new town. And they knew how easy it would be to simply fall in with only church people. To only spend their time with those who were at church. And they made a very distinct decision. He was going to join the running club, she was going to join a couple of choirs, a couple of community choirs, and they were going to make a conscious effort to make friends with those who are outside the father's household right now. To make those sorts of friendships. And to make that decision is costly. And the way they want to approach those friends is in costly. Ways, in hospitality, in opening up their house to make those friends, in offering to pay for dinner, pay for lunches, pay for drinks, offering to lend people various things, offering to do child minding for these new friends. They use money to make friends. They don't make money to use friends, use money to make friends. And that's what life in the father's household looks like. What can we do to make friends beyond all souls? What costs will be involved in terms of time and energy and resources? With friends and work colleagues, how might we be hospitable, generous? Among neighbors, how might we be the ones who lend out our tools, lend out our lawnmower, lend our car or our house when we're on holiday? What are the costly ways that we might switch our investment from things to people? And especially to people who don't yet know Jesus. One way to switch investments is to give financially towards friend-making institutions, like church. Church is the greatest friend-making institution that the world has ever seen. We're a community of two billion friends around the world. We are the largest friend-making institution the world has ever seen. One of the ways that you could describe the work of all souls here is that all souls exist to make friends in Eastbourne. Make friends for eternity. That is what we're about. We're all about befriending Eastbourne, sharing Jesus and sharing our lives with people that we might have relationship with them not just now, but for eternity. One way we can make money, one way we can use money to make friends is to give to our local church or to give to other friend makers like missionaries and mission agencies. How are we investing? Are we making money and using friends, or are we using money and making friends? You can't take it with you. But you can take people. You can take friends. So where's our focus? Because, and this is point two, we don't just live for friends, we live for the future. Verses 10 to 12. Here Jesus makes three comparisons between now and eternity that really shift our perspective. See if you can hear the three comparisons between now and then from verse 10. 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've not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you've not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? Did you notice the comparisons there? In verse 10, Jesus compares the very little of today's wealth with the much that God's people will inherit. That's an interesting comparison, isn't it? Think now about Bill Gates' net worth. It's very little. Very little. It's a pittance. Comparatively. Think of George Soros's fortune. Small change. It's pathetic, really. What's coming for the believer is so much that we will look on the billionaires of this life and we will consider them to be paupers. We really will. You know, there are some people who are so poor all they've got is money. That is extreme poverty. Think of the richest non-Christian you know. They are dirt poor. Think of the poorest Christian you know. Maybe you are the poorest Christian you know, okay? Think of yourself, all right? You are coming into a gargantuan inheritance. When we compare now and then, it's the difference between very little and much. It's also the difference between worldly wealth and true riches, verse 11. In the old King James Bible, worldly wealth was translated unrighteous mammon. It's a good phrase, isn't it? Unrighteous mammon. If the first comparison between now and the future was a comparison of the amount of wealth, this is a comparison of the nature of wealth. Worldly wealth is always tinged by unjust gain. Always. In this world, we will never have a pure economy where no one is exploited and where the source of your income is entirely free of injustice. We are to be trustworthy with the wealth that's been entrusted to us, but just as we are fallen, the economy is fallen, and there's something corrupt about the whole system. There is. In the future, though, there really will be economic justice. There really will be true, truthful, upright riches. Riches that are untainted by unjust gain. And there's a third comparison between now and then in these verses. In verse 12, Jesus says that now we have someone else's property. In the future it will be our own property. Isn't that interesting? That's a huge perspective shift, I think. Think about this: every penny in your bank account and every possession in your home actually belongs to Jesus. Actually. Does that change the way that you view your money and possessions? Think of the parable. The servant was managing the portfolio of the rich man. It was not his money. It was not his money to spend, it certainly was not his money to waste. He was accountable to his boss. Well, we are fund managers. Did you know that? If you go on holiday and someone that's passport control asks you for your occupation, you could quite rightly say you're a fund manager. Fund manager for Jesus. Every Christian is the money we spend, the possessions we buy and use, they're not really ours. They belong to Jesus. Right now we are fund managers. And Jesus wants us to use his resources trustworthily. That's the word that keeps coming up in these verses. The word trust or trustworthy comes up five times in these three verses. Everything we have has been entrusted to us, and we are to be trustworthy with it. Because it's not really ours. Not now. In the future, when Jesus returns, then we will share. Rather, then he will share it with us, and then we really will have our own property. We really will drink from our own vine and sit under our own fig tree, as Micah chapter 4 puts it. But right now, consider everything in your bank and everything in your home. Imagine it all bundled up together. Now imagine Jesus pressing it into your hands with a smile and saying, Here, I'm trusting you with this. It's very little, I know. It's worldly, I know. It's not really yours, it's mine, says Jesus. But I'm trusting it to you for now. Will you use it for the sake of friendships? And will you use it with your eyes on the future? And thirdly, will you use it in the service of the great fountain? That's Jesus himself. This is point three here. We live for the fountain. Let's read verses 13 to 15. Jesus says, No one can serve two masters, either you will hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. The Pharisees who loved money heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, You're the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight. As Jesus rounds out this teaching, he brings it all back to a surprising conclusion. He says that financial matters are really matters of the heart. Is that the way that we think? I think we usually think of money as something that's cold and calculating. Financial matters are cold and calculating, aren't they? Jesus says it's all about what you love. Some people love justifying themselves in the eyes of others. And here Jesus links that with loving money. To want to justify yourself in the eyes of others is kind of parallel to a love of money. Some people want to raise themselves up in this world, climb the ladder, get all that they can in this life. Respect, status, honor, comfort, stuff. It's the way of ladder climbing, of worldly stockpiling, of unrighteous mammon. All those things go together. So maybe we're surprised to hear that the Pharisees love money. Is that a shock when you read it? The Pharisees love money. We probably picture Pharisees as these pious religious types who are beyond the pettiness of greed. But no, these serious religious types, they too love money. For all their spiritual veneer, they too are in the way of ladder climbing. They invest in the things of this world. And if you're like that, you're at odds with God. Because the way of God, verse 13, is the way of Jesus, verse 14. Did you notice how Luke subtly shifts from comparing God and money in verse 13 to comparing Jesus and money in verse 14? Because Jesus is God. And the way of God is the way of Jesus. And the way of Jesus is not the way of climbing the ladder, is it? The way of Jesus is not the way of climbing towards wealth and status. It's the way of pouring yourself out for the poor and the weak. Jesus is a fountain poured out in this world. Think of the cross. There is the rich man, the rich man of all rich men, and he is poured out in poverty. That's the way of Jesus. And his disciples are those who have received from that fountain and flow out into the world. There really only are two ways to live in this world. You can treat life as a ladder to climb or as a fountain to be poured out. Which is it? Which do you love? If you love the ladder climbing way of the world, you must hate Jesus. But if you love Jesus, you will hate the ladder climbing way of the world. And instead of raising yourself up in this world, you will pour yourself out. It's all a matter of the heart. And since that's true, let me finish by preaching to your heart. Friend, everything you think you have does not belong to you. Every penny, every possession, every breath, it belongs to Jesus. You are a fund manager using someone else's resources. You have nothing of your own. And here's the thing: you and I have wasted what Jesus has given to us. You and I have been like the prodigal son, wasting our wealth in wild living. And the money runs out. We will lose our jobs. There is a day when we will be called into the boss's office for a performance review to answer for every decision we have made. And there's no getting around it. We have wasted the opportunities, wasted the wealth, wasted the resources that have been entrusted to us. By rights, Jesus should leave us in the pig styre of our own making. By rights, Jesus should shut us out of the Father's household. We should be forever let go by Jesus. But Jesus is a very different rich man. He's the rich man who came to pour himself out for we, the untrustworthy. On the cross, he carried the can for all his unworthy servants. He paid for all our negligence, all our deceit, all our ladder climbing and pride and self-justifying evil. Jesus was poured out, impoverished, desolate on the cross, paying for us sinners. And he rose again to be a fountain for you who have nothing. A fountain to bless and heal, and a fountain to overflow to the world. So come to the fountain. Receive his forgiveness. Receive his love and welcome and let him restore you to how you are meant to live. Not the way of the ladder, but the way of the fountain. And now, if we've come home to his love, now we know the way of freedom and the way of joy. Now we know the secret of life. Having received Christ's riches, we pay them forwards. Don't make money and use friends. Use money and make friends. Live for friends. Live for the future. Live for the fountain who overflows for you. This is the life. It does not earn the father's household. It gladly flows from the father's household. And this week we get to live free. This week we get to give. Let's pray. Father, it's a sobering truth to know that nothing we have is really ours. It's all been given, it's all been entrusted to us. Father, we take a moment now to say to you that all we have is yours. That we're glad. We're glad that we belong body and soul to you, Father. You are the one who loves us. In Jesus, we see that you love us to hell and back. And we pray that now, this week, you would help us to receive that love and pass it on. To use what we have to make friends. Friends for now. Friends for eternity. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Well that's it for this time. Let's uh let's rendezvous. Let's rendezvous next time. And uh keeping subscribe. And uh we'll see you next time on the Venus podcast.