I Chronicles 28:10 (MSG)
Look sharp now! God has chosen you to build his holy house. Be brave, determined! And do it!
GOD is MOVING, but he MOVES through YOU.
MONEY is not the MEANING of life.
Money can add meaning to your life, but money is not the meaning of life.
Money is a much better means than an end.
Using money as a means to an end is what makes money meaningful.
If you want to live a meaningful life, you have to figure out how to become a means to an end that’s not you.
Luke 16:1 -2 (NIV)
Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
Luke 16:3-7 (NIV)
The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ 7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
Luke 16:8 (NIV)
“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
Jesus said the master COMMENDED the DISHONEST manager.
The money manager was commended for taking full advantage of his limited TIME and OPPORTUNITY.
There is MORE to this LIFE than this LIFE.
Colossians 3:1-3 (NIV)
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
Viewing wealth through the LENS of ETERNITY loosens our grip on it and its grip on us.
Luke 16:9 (NIV)
I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
There is something we can do with TEMPORARY wealth that makes an ETERNAL impact.
Money is a means to an end that goes beyond us and beyond this life.
Do I want more stuff or more stories?
Money can add meaning to your life when you use it as a means to an end that goes beyond you.
Money is a TEST.
Luke 16:13 (NIV)
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Luke 16:10-12 (NIV)
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. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
We’re all MANAGERS not OWNERS.
Money is a means not an end.
Money is a tool and a test.
Money can add meaning to your life, but it’s not the meaning of your life.
If being a means to an end is what gives your life meaning, to what ends do you want your life to be a means?
Luke 16:14 (NIV)
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.