Anne Graham told of a story about a man who bought a bird that can sing. But after bringing the bird home, he discovered that the bird can’t sing. So he went back and ask the shopkeeper. “I am sorry”, said the shop keeper, “you need to buy a ladder and put it in the cage. The bird needs to climb the ladder to the top and then it will sing”. So the man bought the ladder, brought it home and placed it in the cage. He watched. He waited. Nothing happened. He went back and confronted the shopkeeper and was told this time that the bird needs a mirror. “OK, give me the mirror”. Said the man. He placed the mirror on top of the ladder and waited. Still no song. He went back to the store and this time was told that the bird not only needed a ladder, a mirror, it also needs a bell. However, after putting the bell, the bird still didn’t sing. He went back to the store and asked the owner what was the problem. The bird needs a swing. The man bought the swing and happily installed in the cage. He watched excitedly as the bird climb up the ladder, take a good look at the mirror, ring the bell and jump onto the swing and swing. Before it could open its mouth to sing, the bird fell to the bottom of the cage, broke its neck and died/ Furious, the man brought the dead bird to the shop and asked for a refund. “What do you mean it is dead? Did you feed him? The bird needs food to sing”. How often it happens to us that we forgot to feed ourselves but tirelessly pursue the thing of this world. Climbing the ladder, equip ourselves and making a name for ourselves and pursue the pleasure of this world, we forgot to feed on spiritual food. In search for the song, many ended dead.
To many of our youths here, when you leave school and begin work, you will join many others in search of your song. You will pursue money, happiness and pleasures in this world. Just make sure that you have your priority right, you need the right food.
Society places a great deal of importance on physical wealth. If we are not careful, it is easy to get caught up in material pursuits such as that new car or that new pair of NIKE tennis shoes. Even though having nice things is enjoyable, it is not where the greatest importance should be placed. Money itself is not a bad thing. It is the attitude towards it that makes the difference. I do not deny that money is important. While money cannot guarantee you happiness, no money will definitely make you unhappy.
The Scriptures has a lot to say about money. In fact, 16 out of the many of Christ's parables, deal with money. More is said, did you know, in the New Testament, about money then about Heaven and Hell combined? Five times more is said about money than about prayer. On the subject of prayer and faith there are 500 plus verses, on the subject of money and possessions there are 2,000 verses.
Because there are many verses touching on this subject, on the surface the Scripture would seem to be confusing. For example, proverb 21:20 says a wise man has a surplus in his home while a fool has bare cupboards. Another Proverb says that a poor man has God’s blessings, and a rich man is a fool. The Lord himself also mentioned about how difficult it is for the rich to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And at the same time we also read about him dining and feasting in the rich people such as Lazarus’s home and the tax collectors (Luke 6:29). In Luke 9:3, when the Lord sent out the 12 disciples, he told them: Take nothing for the journey, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money. Yet, we read about they carry purse, They even have a treasurer, Judas who is in charge of money. Then in His parables, one He rebuked a rich fool who built larger barns to store his surplus and in another he rebuked the man who failed to invest a large surplus wisely. So which is correct. Of course we know that the Scripture is always right and is never in conflict. The most important thing is that we read the Scripture with an open heart and the Lord will show us the way.
Because of time constraint, what I will do this morning is to quickly go through 3 parables of the Lord on the subject of money and from there pick up a few simple yet vital truth that all of us can learn. Bearing in mind that today is Youth Sunday and the message is gear towards them, although it is also applicable to the older youth like you and me.
The parable of Ten Minas (Luke 19:11-27)
- The money are entrusted to us, like a master putting money in the care of the servants.
- The money does not belong to us. The servants said it clearly, Your minas (16,18) and the third servant (20) said “Here is Your mina.”
- Don’t hide the talents given to you. Don’t be lazy. Or you will be called wicked.
- Even though all servants are given the same amount, each gained different amount based on their ability.
- As long as there is effort, there is reward.
- The master praises them for being faithful and not shrewd or smart entrepreneurs. He said you good servant and because you are trustworthy in a very small matter, I give you more. The reward was great.
- But what is the purpose of gaining more money. We move on to the next parable
The parable of the shrewd Steward (Luke 16:1-13)
- The master commented the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. He was impressed by his ingenuity and craftiness.
- Non Christian behave better as non Christians compare to us Christian behave as Christians
- Use the money and resources given to us to help others and to gain soul
- When Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle for God to dwell in, we read about the people came forward with materials and skill. God raised up skillful craftmen that were filled with the Spirit. Bazalel and Ohalieb. They gave so much that Moses had to ask them to stop. EX 36.
- A few generations later, when David was preparing the temple for Solomon to build, he asked the people to offer money, materials and everyone gladly did it. Although it was not God initiative, we read that at the completion of the temple, the holy presence of God was in the temple.
- Fast forward again, just about 2000 years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ gave the great commission and he said: “I will build my church”. Yes, the church is growing, today we are an imperfect church, but the Lord added daily to the numbers those who were saved as we read in Acts. Since then, money and lives were spent for the advancement of the gospel. The world we are in today is definitely more affluence and no excuse for not using our resources to advance the kingdom.
- The message is quite the same as the previous parable. Again our faithfulness counts. Even with little things
- No servant can serve two masters. God demands our steadfast faithfulness.
- Suddenly the message is clear, Yes, we want to gain more money but that is not our main objective in life. We certainly cannot let money replace our God.
- This lead us to the next parable
The parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21)
- A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (v15)
- To store up treasure in heaven and rich towards God
- Don’t trust in our wealth
- Be content. In hotel we say “if there anything else you need that or do to make you happy, please let me know.” . “ Is there anything you need or do to make you happy, we will show you how you can live without it.”
- Continue reading this chapter, the Lord told the disciples, not to worry but seek ye first the His kingdom and all these things will be given to you.
Conclusions:
Our money, treasure, possessions do not belong to us. We are only the care taker.
We are to be faithful in using the money and possessions given to us
We are to use the money for God. It is for the advancement of His kingdom.
We are to serve God and not money.
We are to be content and be rich towards God so that we can give him the full Lordship.
Money is important. As we read in proverb 10:4, Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. Don’t stay poor but at the same time don’t make money your priority. Proverb 28: 19-20. He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.
Don’t be like the bird in the cage, in the pursue of money and richness, keep looking for the ladder, the mirror, the bell and the swing and forget about the important thing and mission here on earth. We will end up like the bird, exhausted and dead.
To many of our youths here, when you leave school and begin work, you will join many others in search of your song. You will pursue money, happiness and pleasures in this world. Just make sure that you have your priority right, you need the right food.
Society places a great deal of importance on physical wealth. If we are not careful, it is easy to get caught up in material pursuits such as that new car or that new pair of NIKE tennis shoes. Even though having nice things is enjoyable, it is not where the greatest importance should be placed. Money itself is not a bad thing. It is the attitude towards it that makes the difference. I do not deny that money is important. While money cannot guarantee you happiness, no money will definitely make you unhappy.
The Scriptures has a lot to say about money. In fact, 16 out of the many of Christ's parables, deal with money. More is said, did you know, in the New Testament, about money then about Heaven and Hell combined? Five times more is said about money than about prayer. On the subject of prayer and faith there are 500 plus verses, on the subject of money and possessions there are 2,000 verses.
Because there are many verses touching on this subject, on the surface the Scripture would seem to be confusing. For example, proverb 21:20 says a wise man has a surplus in his home while a fool has bare cupboards. Another Proverb says that a poor man has God’s blessings, and a rich man is a fool. The Lord himself also mentioned about how difficult it is for the rich to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And at the same time we also read about him dining and feasting in the rich people such as Lazarus’s home and the tax collectors (Luke 6:29). In Luke 9:3, when the Lord sent out the 12 disciples, he told them: Take nothing for the journey, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money. Yet, we read about they carry purse, They even have a treasurer, Judas who is in charge of money. Then in His parables, one He rebuked a rich fool who built larger barns to store his surplus and in another he rebuked the man who failed to invest a large surplus wisely. So which is correct. Of course we know that the Scripture is always right and is never in conflict. The most important thing is that we read the Scripture with an open heart and the Lord will show us the way.
Because of time constraint, what I will do this morning is to quickly go through 3 parables of the Lord on the subject of money and from there pick up a few simple yet vital truth that all of us can learn. Bearing in mind that today is Youth Sunday and the message is gear towards them, although it is also applicable to the older youth like you and me.
The parable of Ten Minas (Luke 19:11-27)
- The money are entrusted to us, like a master putting money in the care of the servants.
- The money does not belong to us. The servants said it clearly, Your minas (16,18) and the third servant (20) said “Here is Your mina.”
- Don’t hide the talents given to you. Don’t be lazy. Or you will be called wicked.
- Even though all servants are given the same amount, each gained different amount based on their ability.
- As long as there is effort, there is reward.
- The master praises them for being faithful and not shrewd or smart entrepreneurs. He said you good servant and because you are trustworthy in a very small matter, I give you more. The reward was great.
- But what is the purpose of gaining more money. We move on to the next parable
The parable of the shrewd Steward (Luke 16:1-13)
- The master commented the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. He was impressed by his ingenuity and craftiness.
- Non Christian behave better as non Christians compare to us Christian behave as Christians
- Use the money and resources given to us to help others and to gain soul
- When Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle for God to dwell in, we read about the people came forward with materials and skill. God raised up skillful craftmen that were filled with the Spirit. Bazalel and Ohalieb. They gave so much that Moses had to ask them to stop. EX 36.
- A few generations later, when David was preparing the temple for Solomon to build, he asked the people to offer money, materials and everyone gladly did it. Although it was not God initiative, we read that at the completion of the temple, the holy presence of God was in the temple.
- Fast forward again, just about 2000 years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ gave the great commission and he said: “I will build my church”. Yes, the church is growing, today we are an imperfect church, but the Lord added daily to the numbers those who were saved as we read in Acts. Since then, money and lives were spent for the advancement of the gospel. The world we are in today is definitely more affluence and no excuse for not using our resources to advance the kingdom.
- The message is quite the same as the previous parable. Again our faithfulness counts. Even with little things
- No servant can serve two masters. God demands our steadfast faithfulness.
- Suddenly the message is clear, Yes, we want to gain more money but that is not our main objective in life. We certainly cannot let money replace our God.
- This lead us to the next parable
The parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21)
- A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (v15)
- To store up treasure in heaven and rich towards God
- Don’t trust in our wealth
- Be content. In hotel we say “if there anything else you need that or do to make you happy, please let me know.” . “ Is there anything you need or do to make you happy, we will show you how you can live without it.”
- Continue reading this chapter, the Lord told the disciples, not to worry but seek ye first the His kingdom and all these things will be given to you.
Conclusions:
Our money, treasure, possessions do not belong to us. We are only the care taker.
We are to be faithful in using the money and possessions given to us
We are to use the money for God. It is for the advancement of His kingdom.
We are to serve God and not money.
We are to be content and be rich towards God so that we can give him the full Lordship.
Money is important. As we read in proverb 10:4, Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. Don’t stay poor but at the same time don’t make money your priority. Proverb 28: 19-20. He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.
Don’t be like the bird in the cage, in the pursue of money and richness, keep looking for the ladder, the mirror, the bell and the swing and forget about the important thing and mission here on earth. We will end up like the bird, exhausted and dead.
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