This is the Key

Reading

Luke 10:25–37 (NIV)

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

This is the Key Introduction

For those of you who did not know, my background is in business. I have a degrees in Business Management and Supply Chain Management, and all that really means is that I am a bit of a business nerd. I love to read about how businesses have succeeded. What makes a business successful. Do they have an underdog story? Were they an overnight success or was it a long, and slow journey to the top?

Those are the things that excite me, and I’m sure bore most of the room.

Bear with me as I explain to everyone that there is a transcendent behavior in business that goes by many different names, but accomplishes the same results.

Some call it a Key Stone Habit.

Others call it a Catalytic Behavior.

It’s also been called a Breakthrough Behavior.

But each of those names describes the power of doing one thing that changes everything.

No, it is not a hack because sometimes it is not fast and it is certainly not easy.

No, it is not a potion or magic elixir.

No, it is not a short cut.

It is one thing that changes everything.

And, as a matter of fact, it is the one thing that only the successful people commit to doing.

You see, it’s not 10 things to do, but it is one thing! And since it is only one thing, why doesn’t everyone do it?

Because not everyone can see the one thing, and even if they can, they cannot commit to doing the one thing.

Transition

Lighthouse, today I want to talk to you about the one thing that I am calling the key. This is the key that has the potential to change everything in your life.

Are you ready?

Text

Let me read to you a new text now, and I will synthesize our main text throughout the rest of this sermon. But this passage of scripture gives to us an illustration of doing the one thing. The passage of scripture is in Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30, but in the interest of time I’ll just summarize the text. It is known as the Parable of the Talents.

A man was going on a long journey and he called three of his servants together and let them know that he was going to give each of them a talent to manage while he was gone. To one of his servants he gave him 5 talents, to the other 2 talents, and finally to the last one, 1 talent.

When the master returned from his journey he discovered that only two of the servants faithfully managed what they were given, and one completely missed the assignment. To the man he gave 5 talents, he turned it into 5 more. To the man he gave 2 talents, he turned it into 2 more. But to the one he gave 1 talent to… rather than find a way to manage what he was given, he buried it. When his Master found out that he did nothing to manage what he was given, not only was the talent taken from him, but it was given to the one who was given 5 talents, and the servant was punished for his negligence to manage what he was given.

Now, this was a story that Jesus told. It wasn’t a real life event.

Whenever Jesus told stories he did so to reveal Kingdom Principles.

So we have to read that story with heightened awareness that Jesus is teaching us a timeless truth—a principle that was not just for the people who heard him, but also for us who are now reading his words.

So what is Jesus teaching us?

Just as successful businesses focus on one key habit to drive their success, we too can focus on one key principle in our spiritual lives—stewardship.

Stewardship is about faithfully managing what God has entrusted to us, just as the servants were expected to manage their talents.

[Transition]

I know that word is not common in our vernacular, but let me remind you why this is a weighty word.

Stewardship is not just management. It is not just guardianship. No, those words fall short of what stewardship is.

Stewardship is the word we use to describe the things that God has given us to manage. When it comes from God, he doesn’t ask us to manage it, he asks us to steward it.

[Transition]

So let me talk to you about three areas of our life that require us to become stewards.

Time

We must first learn to steward our time. God gives us the gift of time, and we need to learn how to manage it wisely.

God gives us the gift of time, and we need to learn how to manage our time. There are too many people who fail to manage their time adequately, and they constantly say this - “I just wish I had more time.”

Well, the thing is, you have the same amount of time as the person who you think has more time than you.

They don’t have any more time that you, and you don’t have any less time than they have.

What is most likely the problem is that you fail to manage your priorities, and therefore you feel as though you don’t have enough time.

Let me give you a hard truth that you need to carry with you - People make time for what is a priority.

So whenever someone tells you, “I didn’t have time,” what they are really saying to you is it was not important enough for them to make time.

Please keep that one tucked away… it’ll protect your sanity and help you make better decisions.

What I have found with people who are able to manage their time is that they seem to have more time. But, is it really more time? Absolutely not, it is just the illusion of more time.

And that’s exactly what this parable explains to us. The two servants who managed their talents were given more of it. And to the person who failed to manage their talent, they had their talent taken away from them.

If you do not learn how to prioritize your time you will always feel like you are out of time. And this will rob you of your peace.

So how do I know better steward my time?

Well, the easy answer is to get your priorities in order, but that’s kind of general, so let me give you a better way to set your priorities.

The Clock Determines the Play.

You see, in a game of sports, depending on how much time is left on the clock, that determines the most important play. In life, you need to know how much time is on the clock so you can ensure that you are doing the right things.

For example, did you know that 23-29% of your child’s life will be spent living under your roof? That means that the overwhelming majority of their life will be spent outside of your home as they become adults and eventually raise their own family. So parents, you don’t have a lot of time with your kids under your roof. You can’t act like you are going to have them for the next 50 years. You have them for 18-22 years, and then they are gone, and it will be their choice to come back after that based on how you did during those 18-22 years that they were with you.

You need to know the time on the clock so you run the right play!

Do you want to know how many years you’ll be working? You will work 40-45 years of your life. Significantly more than the time you have with your children.

Run the right play. Make sure that you are prioritizing the right things.

Ability

The next thing that we have to learn to steward is our ability. These are the gifts, the talents, and your capacity that God has given you to produce and make a difference in this world.

I want you to hear me well - God created you to work!

When you look at creation, God created a garden and put mankind in the garden and what did he tell them to do? Produce! Not just reproduce… they had to do that. But he told them to care for the garden. To name the animals. To have dominion over what God had created for them.

And there has been some contempt for work, which I do not understand, but there has been this contempt that work is bad and painful and must be endured…

Listen, that was not God’s design. He created man to enjoy their work. To apply the gifts and talents that God has given them to work hard, produce, and to enjoy what they produce. It wasn’t until Genesis 3 and the fall of mankind that work became burdensome. But I want you to hear me - it was burdensome until the curse of work was broken. When Jesus came, he broke the curse of sin, and the curse of work is also lifted if you would redeem your work as unto the Lord.

You see, that’s the problem with some of you. You have such contempt for work because you haven’t redeemed your work.

What does it mean to redeem your work?

Start seeing your job as something not that you do for your boss, but as something that you do unto the Lord.

Your work is your worship!

And if it is not, it may be that your work is not aligned with your assignment. And there are ways to get aligned. But let me tell you, when you know that your work is your worship you’ll begin to do it with your whole heart!

And do you want to know what happens when you start doing it with your whole heart?

You get more work!

Yes, the reward of your good work is often more work.

When I was in my career, I left the public sector to work in the private sector because I felt like my performance would reward me and I wouldn’t have to get in the seniority line and wait my turn. So when I got into the private sector I was what my company called, “A Shooting Star.” So they fast tracked me. I was attending conferences and trainings in my 2nd and 3rd year that some people hadn’t attended after being in the company for over 10 years!

Why? Because there is a reward when you steward your work!

The reward is more responsibility, more authority, and with that also comes… more money!

Finances

That’s the perfect segue into the final thing that I believe we need to steward and that is our finances. Now in order to see our finances as something to steward, we need to first identify that it all comes from the Lord.

That’s a shift we have to make. Remember what we talked about last week and the selfish heart?

It’s mine! You can’t have it, it’s mine!

That’s a show stopper right there. And that is why in this parable there were two men who were very successful. They knew that the talents weren’t theirs, they belonged to their masters, and so they treated it as their responsibility to steward.

When I start looking at my money as God’s money I don’t spend without boundaries.

When I start looking at my money as a gift from God to be managed I have a deeper responsibility to get it right.

I can’t be foolish with what he’s given me, and I can’t be selfish with what he’s given me.

What does that look like? I have a plan for my finances, and because I have a plan, I am able to be generous with my finances.

One of the things that I’ve heard so many times from people is that if they only made more, they would be better with their money. The truth is, if you made more you’d waste more.

Most people don’t have an income problem, they have a spending problem.

There is this simple saying that would do a lot of people good - “Act your wage.”

Don’t buy things you can’t afford to impress people who don’t pay your bills.

This goes back to why I want more of you to sign up for Financial Peace University. There are a lot of people who are spending money they don’t have and putting burdens on your family that they aren’t meant to carry.

Create a budget that reflects your values and priorities. Allocate funds for giving, saving, and necessary expenses. Avoid debt and live within your means. By doing so, you honor God with your finances and position yourself to be a blessing to others.

Living in the Overflow

So what is the key to living in the Overflow?

It is me being a better steward of what God has already giving me.

So that I position myself to receive more from Him.

(Conclusion) The Good Samaritan

Let’s close with the story of our Good Samaritan, because I am going to make the application that he is the man who showed us what Living in the Overflow looks like.

When we read the story we read that there was a Priest and Levite who passed up the man who was in need. These are the two people who should have stopped to help him, but they didn’t. Instead, a Samaritan man stopped and tended to him.

Here’s what I see in the text…

First off this Good Samaritan had the time. He was living his life in such a way that there was margin on his calendar. He wasn’t too far stretched in his life that he didn’t have time to stop and provide care. When we steward our time God will put people in our path so that we can make an eternal difference in their life. But if you’re always in a rush, and seemingly always out of time, you can’t live in the overflow.

The next thing we see is that this man had the ability to take care of this man. We read that he came to this wounded man and he’s pouring oil, and wine and bandaging him. He’s using the his ability to treat and care for this man to make sure that physically this man who had just been beaten and robbed would make it on the journey to the town.

Finally, the Good Samaritan had the finances to be a blessing to this man. He takes the man into the town and pays the inn keeper what ever is needed to make sure that the man’s needs are met. Listen, that’s like letting someone stay at a hotel and order room service! And then taking care of that bill.

The Good Samaritan shows us what I life of living in the Overflow can look like. And I love this application because Jesus tells this story in response to someone who asked, “what do I do to have eternal life?”

Eternal life is not about a destination that we go to, but a way of life that we live here and now.

Living in the overflow brings heaven into your life today. Right now. Here on this earth.

But this is a way of life that we have to walk into, and I believe God has already given us everything we need. We just need to apply the key.