Page 15 - Contact Winter 2015

Secondly we see that we Finally Jesus ends by are to use our money teaching a simple principle wisely. to his disciples in verses 10 and 11. Jesus goes on to command, “make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness.” As we live in the present If we are trustworthy or faithful with the little the Lord gives us on earth, in the present, we will be THE IMPORTANCE OF NOW world we are to ‘make friends.’ How are we faithful with the so much more the Lord will give to do this? We are to use the ‘wealth of us in the future in heaven. Sadly if we are not unrighteousness’. The manager had no wealth of his own, it was all his master’s. For us, this faithful now, we will miss out in the future. is a reminder that we have no wealth of our own, all that we have is the Lord’s. In a real sense Are we trustworthy, using the wealth of the money, wealth and property we have now unrighteousness to build the Lord’s kingdom is worldly wealth; it is treasure on earth and as on earth? As we do this we build up treasure in such we could call it wealth of unrighteousness, heaven. How can God give us the true riches in as opposed to treasure in heaven. heaven if we aren’t faithful with what he gives us here? This wealth doesn’t last long. When we realise that it is going to be taken away from us Verse 13 says “No servant can serve two masters.” someday, this should challenge us to think about We hear this so much but sadly still so many of how we use it now. The manager used it to make us seek to live on the fence between the two. As part of our Harvest Thanksgiving, we were thinking about the theme of Firstfruits. We are urged in the friends, this was selfsh on his part as he wanted This is impossible to do, when we live for a Bible to give of our frst and best to God now, here in this life. After all, He has given us of His best. Here to be looked after. We are called to use it to future in heaven we serve God not money. How Stephen Orr gives us a refection on Luke 16 and handling earthly wealth. make friends also, but this time with a different we use our money will show us who we are motivation, so that in the future, when it is gone, serving; remember God knows our hearts. when our lives are ended, we will receive a Tom Wright in his book ‘Surprised by Hope’ Firstly we see that we are good heavenly welcome, having won over those So as Tom Wright challenges us, all that we do is says : friends - “They may receive us into the eternal for God’s future, building God’s kingdom. Let us to deal with the world dwellings.” ensure that we see the importance of wisely in- “What you do in the present – by painting, vesting our gifts, time and money now, which are preaching, singing, sowing, praying, teaching, wisely. Remember Jesus was primarily addressing the from God and for His glory. This will mean that building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning disciples here. Jesus is encouraging his disciples, we need to rethink our service within the church for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, Christians, to use the wealth we have on earth to and fnancial giving to the church. The question is, loving your neighbour as yourself – will last There is a sense in verse 8 that Jesus is saying, make friends, not so that we will get into heaven will we? into God’s future. These activities are not simply “I wish the people of light, Christians, were per se - that is through faith in Jesus - but so that ways of making the present life a little less shrewder and wiser in their dealings with the the friends we make will get to heaven and we 2 Corinthians 9:6 – 7: Remember beastly, a little more bearable, until the day world.” Could it be that the people of light are will see them in heaven, because through the this: whoever sows sparingly will when we leave it behind altogether. They are more inward looking, not really dealing with the friendship they came to faith in Jesus. part of what we may call building for God’s world as it is but focusing more on themselves. also reap sparingly, and whoever kingdom. They are also central to our mission How we live in the present impacts the outcome At the HTB leadership conference in 2014 sows generously will also reap of showing the world grace.” in heaven. We are to be wise in our dealings with Nicky Gumbel said: “Friendship is the key to generously. Each man should give the world - simply put - we are to make friends evangelisation.” Jesus is saying look at how We see the importance of now in ‘the parable of with the people around us thus bringing the light important the future is, use what the Lord has what he has decided in his heart to the shrewd manager’ from Luke 16:1-15 (please of Jesus into the world. given you in the present more wisely and even give, not reluctantly or under take time to look it up). As we look to the shrewdly to make friends in the world so that compulsion, for God loves a future, this tough parable challenges us to see they will be saved and you will see them in our present - what we do now- in a different heaven. cheerful giver. way. Jesus is challenging us to use what we have now, here and now, when it comes to thinking about heaven. See pictures from our Harvest Services in the next pages