Financial Security. Now there’s something that we all want, don’t we? Question is: How to get it. The world tells us to put our faith in money. God … God has a different way. It’s not nearly as seductive as the world’s way – but that’s not the only difference. The real difference is that God’s way actually works.   Winners and Losers Over the last couple of weeks we have been talking about money. Why? Because so many people had issues with money. Sometimes we don’t have enough; other times the desire for money and wealth and all that that brings can overwhelm us. So many of us are immersed in cultures that worship wealth: advertising that rampantly and without check promotes conspicuous consumption and governments keen to make their economies grow, who tacitly or explicitly, endorse excessive consumption. All that leads to a malady that sees us becoming enslaved to the idea of wealth and success, many people labouring so hard; so excessively on this treadmill, that it’s killing us. Any of that sound vaguely familiar? So, over the last few weeks we have been looking at that problem and how this love of and desire for money tears so many of us apart. On the one hand, we want to love God; we want to be generous and to do good in this world but on the other, many want to be wealthy and hang on to their wealth, so, becoming enslaved to it. They are like a dog with two masters. Today we are going to have a look at the solution. Now, I come to this whole issue of money and materialism as one who has spent most of his life – at least the first thirty six years, before I met this Jesus somewhere along the dusty road of my life – as a rampant, extreme, committed, born again materialist. I wanted to be rich. That’s where I came from. And perhaps you have heard me say it before, but as hard as I worked at that – and man, I worked hard and I was well on the way, you know – but as hard as I worked at that, it simply never, ever delivered the satisfaction and the contentment that I was looking for. It promised satisfaction; it promised contentment, it just never delivered. Over the last decade and a half of walking each day with Jesus, far from perfectly some days, I have to say, but just walking with Him the best way I knew how, I’ve discovered a different way; another way of handling wealth and money and it’s the only way that I have been able to find that actually delivers. And that way goes back to a simple and yet radical and, to me, challenging, even repugnant principle of life that Jesus talked about. We touched on it briefly in the first programme of this series, “Money Matters – A Kingdom Perspective.” And that principle is this, Luke chapter 9, verse 24: For those who want to save their lives will lose them, but those who lose their lives for my sake will save them. Now, there was a much broader context within which He made that statement. The context was about winning and losing and we will look at that in a moment. But the principle here is this: it’s this paradox that by hanging onto our lives – and that includes our money – eventually we will lose everything but by letting go, we will save ourselves. In other words, winning leads to losing but a deliberate choice to lose, leads to a win. I know it sounds a bit bizarre but the first part of that is something that I have already proven in my life. By trying to win; by trying to be wealthy; by serving the god of wealth, what I have discovered, beyond any reasonable doubt, is that it just doesn’t work. Now, let’s look at the broader context of winning and losing that Jesus was talking about, because when we do that, all of a sudden it starts to make sense. Now, this comes at a time when Jesus had been wandering around, healing people, preaching with power and authority and relevance in a way that rang true for the people. Crowds, huge crowds are following Him. We are looking at this, beginning at Luke chapter 9, verse 18. So if you have a Bible, grab it and read this with me: Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Then he said to them all, “If any of you want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." So, His closest disciples had figured out who He was – the Messiah, the Son of God; God Himself in the flesh. And I don’t know about you but, at this point, if I’m one of the twelve I’m thinking, "Boy am I on a winner here? Son of God, WOO HOO!!" And then He launching into this whole suffering bit, that He’s going to have to go through and the suffering that they are going to go through themselves. This miracle Man, Jesus, as we know, ultimately gets Himself nailed to a cross. He becomes the ultimate loser so that you and I can become the ultimate winners. That’s what happens to Him and that’s what He says has to happen to His disciples – you and me included – if we want to follow Him. By suffering and sacrificing, He was glorified. That’s the principle and you and I, we’re called to take up our cross daily and follow Him. Not to follow a worldly path of success. Does that mean we have to go round poor as church mice – all of us? Well, now later in the programme, we are going to meet one person that Jesus encountered who was as poor as a church mouse and one who was wealthy, and we will see the contrast. But what it does mean – here’s the underlying principle – is that when we are prepared to lose our wealth for Jesus, that’s when we discover true wealth. Friend, there are so many different ways of doing that. The choices we make on where we live and what we drive and how much our lifestyle will cost us. Will I have a high flying job that earns me lots of money but demands a hundred and twenty percent of my life? Or will I have a lesser paying job so that I can do some of the things in my family and my community that Jesus is calling me to do? When it comes to supporting God’s work, will I throw my loose change into the hat or will I give sacrificially; will I give in a way that truly costs me something? That’s where the decisions are made; that’s where the rubber hits the road and that’s when we choose to lose (great phrase that) we choose to lose in the money department when we get into the business of giving through the cross. In other words, giving sacrificially and that sort of giving is the sort that hurts. That’s where we discover the satisfaction and the contentment we have been looking for because then, all of a sudden, we gain mastery over our money. Instead of us worshipping wealth, now our wealth serves us – and not just us but God. And when we lay it down like that, our heart changes. As Jesus said in Luke chapter 12, verse 34: For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.   The Widow Gives All We live in a pretty conventional world where the more you have the more you are worth. Let...

Released on 15 Nov 2020