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In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a story about three instant billionaires and one life-changing truth. What you do with what God gives you reveals who you truly serve. This Sunday, join me, Pastor Richard, as we unpack what real stewardship looks like because money isn't the goal, it's the tool. Let's learn how to invest in what lasts forever.

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Good morning, Church. This morning's reading is taken from the book of Matthew, chapter twenty five, verses fourteen to thirty. The parable of the talents. For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted them to his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more, but he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts to them, and he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, Master, you delivered me to me two talents. Here I have made two talents more. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much, entered to the joy of his master. He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid. And I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. But his master answered him, You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents, for to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away, and cast the worthless servant into out the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of the teeth. This is the word of the Lord.

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We are on a journey together, church, from superficial to being spiritual, and it means we're moving away from being uh self-centered and selfish to becoming God focused and God pleasing. And it's a long journey, but it is one that we've already begun. And the journey began when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and began to say no to the problem areas in our lives and to say no to sin. In America, we have a culture of road trips, all right? And we enjoy going for a long, long drive to somewhere new. And we don't just look forward to the destination that we're going to, but we look forward to the journey. It's kind of a cultural thing that we have. And we enjoy the whole trip together. And this journey from superficial to spiritual is a road trip that we are taking together as a church family. We're not just looking forward to the destination, which is being made perfect in Christ Jesus, but we can enjoy the journey together. And I want to invite you this morning, you know, would you would you just join us on this road trip? Is this a trip we can take together? Because we're going somewhere new. And the very first step to this journey, this road trip, is to willingly accept Christ as Lord and Savior. And if that's a step you haven't taken yet, I want to invite you, when the service is done, would you just please uh come straight ahead and find me and we can pray together to take that first step. Today's message is on stewardship and charity. And we're especially focusing on how we use our money. The superficial person is focused on using money selfishly. All right. For them, money has really probably two purposes to make my life more comfortable and pleasurable, and to give me more power, control, and security. For all of us, this is once how we used money. But now that we're in Christ, money has a different purpose. And if you remember nothing else this morning, I want you to remember this. Money is a tool. I will use this tool to build God's kingdom. Money is a tool. Would you repeat this with me? It's right on the screen. Money is a tool, and I will use this tool to build God's kingdom. But what exactly is God's kingdom? We don't have a monarchy here in Singapore. We don't actually have a kingdom to consider. What is a kingdom? Well, we can break the kingdom down into three parts. The first part is that God is king over everything. There is a supreme ruler, there's a supreme one, there is a king, and that is the creator God of the universe. The Bible says that the Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. The second part, Jesus brought this kingdom to earth. In Mark chapter 1, Jesus proclaims the gospel, saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. And the third part is that the kingdom is it's both now and it's also future. In Luke 17, when the Pharisees asked when the kingdom would come, this is how Jesus responded. And so it if we're just going to make it really simple, okay, the the the short, short version was the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is God's reign over the lives of men and women. Because when Jesus came, he removed the need for this whole priesthood system and sacrifices and intermediaries, and he made a way for us to approach God directly. Now, not everyone is acknowledged Jesus as King, and many do continue to rebel against him. And so we see that the kingdom of God, it's arrived. Jesus said it's here, but it's also not fully here yet. So we we have this tension. We have this tension here. And so with this understanding, uh, we're going to look at our passage. And today we're in Matthew chapter 25, beginning in verse 14, and uh, as we had read for us just a moment ago. And so uh with our understanding of what is the kingdom, the context is simple. Jesus is gonna return. He's gonna return one day. We're not just here doing this forever. One day, Jesus is going to return. We need to be ready, and we demonstrate our readiness by how we live. And so I want to paraphrase for you that that teaching story, that parable that we had read for us from Matthew. I'm gonna just paraphrase it for us. King Jesus entrusted his wealth to three men, then he went away on a trip. Two of them, they used the money to start up businesses registered in his name. They worked hard and the businesses were profitable, very profitable. And when King Jesus came back, he was pleased with how they had invested their time, treasure, and talent. He promoted both of them on the spot. But there was still that third person that Jesus had entrusted some startup funds to. He was lazy. He stuffed the money into a safe, and then he spent all his time on his mobile phone playing games, scrolling social media. When Jesus came back, he was not pleased. Oh, you call yourself a Christian, do you? I entrusted you with startup funds, but you didn't draw up any business plan. You didn't even put it in the bank to earn interest. I'm taking it back from you every last cent. And I'm gonna give it to those who work hard and have my interests at heart. But you, you lazy person, too busy with social media to do anything with what I entrusted to you, this is your eviction notice. There is no place in my kingdom for you. And so today we're asking what what this parable teaches us about handling money in the light of the kingdom of God. On the one hand, we have two people, one was entrusted with five talents, the other one with two talents. And on the other, we have the villain of the story. He is entrusted with one talent. A talent here in the text is not about a special skill or innate ability, it's not about the talent to do figures in your head or to do woodworking, it's not that kind of a talent. A talent was a unit of money, a lot of money. Uh, anyone here like to perhaps guess how much a talent was worth? And if you're on the live stream, you can perhaps type it into the chat right now. If you're on site here and you can get within even just 10% of what a talent is worth, I have a small gift for you. Anyone? Any guesses? Guesses are free. How much was a talent worth, anyway? Anyone at all? Everyone very afraid to say, huh? Anyone? Any extroverts among us? One million! Hey, that's that's close. That's not too bad. But it's still not more than two thousand, thank you. Three million, a bit less than three million. Two million. Oh, we're so close, so close, so close to receiving this, huh? Okay, not gonna draw this out. Five hundred, a talent, wow, a talent was worth a lot more than five hundred, did you know? A talent was worth in Singapore dollars today, 1.4 million dollars. Wow. See, a talent was a weight of measurement of precious metal currency, and in Jesus' time, a standard talent represented 20 years worth of wages uh for a basic worker. 20 years worth of working in one talent. So we don't normally recognize that when we read the story. Maybe we sort of understand a talent is supposed to be some kind of money. Wow. In this story, they were each made millionaires. Can you imagine? So, a quick bit of math, it tells us that if you wanted to retire and you want to just live off the interest, you would need about $1.9 million invested. You could just live off the interest, all right? You could just live carefree, don't have to worry about a thing. This was a lot of money. And in this parable, this teaching story, uh, knowing how much money was entrusted, it changes things just a little bit. We begin to see the drama that was put into this story. King Jesus didn't give them some pocket chains to start up a lemonade stand. He didn't give them uh $500 was a good guess. It was a lot more than that. He entrusted them with real wealth. And the first two men, they doubled what was given to them. They didn't have a stock market to play, they didn't invest in cryptocurrency. Uh the people who heard this story, they would have understood, oh, the way that they could have worked so hard is they must have they must have started up a business. They must have grown the business in the story. The point was that they had worked very hard with the money that they had received so that they were ready to give an answer when the king came back. This parable, this teaching story is in a series of stories that's all about readiness. Jesus is saying a few stories to tell people to communicate, the king is coming again. They didn't even realize he was the king yet, but the king is coming again, and you need to be ready. And how are you ready? You're ready by making use of what he's entrusted to you. And so the first two in the story, they were kingdom-minded. But the other guy, he too received an incredible amount of money. But he didn't do anything with it, he didn't invest it even in the bank. He was lazy, he is looking out only for himself, and the king condemned him to outer darkness, to a place of suffering. I don't know about you, but as I'm reminded that we serve a holy God, it strikes what I hope is a healthy fear of the Lord in me. Wow, I better not be that one that he entrusts something to, and I do nothing with it. In this story, that person was cast into outer darkness, a place of suffering. And that person, he was self-minded. So two men in the kingdom, uh, two men were kingdom-minded, and one was self-minded. And so uh, you know, we can learn a lot of things from this parable. But today we're focusing on money and the coming of the kingdom of God. And before we gave our lives to Christ, all of us were like that man. We feared God's judgment if we even believed in him, and we wanted to kind of hide from him. We didn't want anything to do with this God and the morality and the expectations and these sorts of things. We tried to pretend that he just didn't exist or that he'd never return. We chose to live for ourselves, and in light of God, we call that superficial. All right, that's just how we were. Perhaps we didn't even know any better, that's how we are living, and we are headed for outer darkness and suffering, an eternity of suffering and separation from God. But when we repented of our sin, thank you, Jesus. You know, at that point, Jesus forgave us and he removed our sin and our shame. And now, as followers of Christ, as Christians, we've become kingdom-minded and we're learning to live our lives today with a future of eternity in mind. We no longer view our days as a collision of random events, but instead we're learning to recognize the hand of God on all that we do. And in that light, we we begin to see parenting, it becomes a sacred duty that we do to raise our children to love and fear the Lord. We begin to see that our employment as an opportunity to do all things with excellence as worship to the Lord. Our retirement, well, it becomes an opportunity to invest in relationships, to encourage people and to point them to the Lord. And our finances become something that the Lord has entrusted to us to be invested wisely in ways that bring honor and glory to Him. Money is a tool. And anytime you see a spanner, a wrench, every time you see this in the future, I want you to remember money is a tool, and I will use this tool to build God's kingdom. Now, not everyone is familiar with the term stewardship. All right? Stewardship is it's a bit different from ownership. Stewardship is faithful management of what has been given to us. Stewardship, it recognizes that what we have, our health, our resources, our finances, is a gift from God, and that we are to act on his behalf in our use of them. And those of you here this morning who are perhaps domestic helpers, uh, you're already practicing stewardship, right? Your employer has entrusted something to you, uh, their home, their health, their children, and you're caring for these on their behalf. This is what stewardship is. This is how it works. And when it comes to God, all of us are to have a stewardship mindset. We're all to have a stewardship mindset. We treat what we have, including our income and our savings, as a gift from the Lord entrusted to us. Having this view was it was a bit difficult for me. You know, every year I'm required to pay income tax to the U.S. That's a good deal. I'm not living there, but I'm still required to do that. And it was and it remains a common practice that you you yourself have to estimate how much tax you're gonna owe for the year. The government doesn't do that ahead of time for you. And so the common practice is to set aside a larger amount just in case, because you don't want to come to the end of the tax year and find out, oh no, now I have to come up with more money to pay my taxes. And so at the end of the year, everything's calculated out. And for many, the end of the tax year, well, if we look forward to our tax refund, we're gonna get a refund. We overpaid, we're gonna get some money in. And it felt like free money with no strings attached every year. Wow, so nice. You know, I could spend it on anything, however selfish, and I didn't have to feel guilty, didn't have to have any second thoughts. I didn't tithe on it, I didn't pay expenses with it, I regarded it as a bonus. Well, well, friends, uh, you know, it wasn't until, sorry to say, far, far later, when I was married, that I realized this was not free money. I had been regarding this thing the wrong way. I couldn't just spend it on myself. My employment. And my income are a gift from God. And so the money needs to be used in a way that is pleasing to God, just like the rest of my income. No such thing as free money. It's all entrusted because I'm a steward of the resources he gives me. I'm not an owner. I must serve him and not myself. I have to go align myself to what he says, not expect him to align himself to me. And I had to change my relationship with money from a goal to a tool. From a goal to a tool. And I'm challenging you this morning to do the same. In the Old Testament, we learn about the practice of tithing. And the word tithe, if you didn't already know, it literally means a tenth. It literally means 10%. And so in the Old Testament, uh, God's people were, you know, they're instructed to give a tenth to support the temple and its workers. And if you were to do an in-depth study, you would find out that in many cases, there in the Old Testament, actually, it wasn't only a tenth, but there are other times that they were commanded to give. It's probably closer to 20% of what they received, they were supposed to give back to the Lord. In the New Testament, we see that in the early church, they actually gave well above and beyond 10%. They gave so generously because they wanted the needs of the church, the early church, to be met. One of the main concerns at the time was for widows and for orphans who had no means to earn a living. And so those who they held these multiple properties, some of them, well, they were so moved and touched by the Lord, they actually would sell some of these properties and entrust the money to the apostles so that the needs, the needy, these needs would be met. Later on, there was this terrible famine, uh, and it hit especially hard among the believers in Judea and Jerusalem, and a free will collection was taken up from believers in the surrounding area that they'd have something to give and sustain those experiencing the famine, something to get them through that time. Well, I mean, since then, we're not in the early church days, we're not in the Old Testament now, and the gospel is exploded across the world. Uh, you know, revivals are taking place even today, incredible revivals like you may not believe, especially in South America, in parts of Africa. You know what? Revivals taking place. People are turning, large groups of people are turning to the Lord. And with that, huge increase in believers. Uh, in many cases, there's been a huge uh investment in infrastructure needed as well. And that infrastructure, it often mostly looks like church buildings. Uh, in case you weren't a part of our AGM, you know, I don't know if you've ever wondered where the money goes to when you put it in the offering. Um, but I'll just break it down very simply for us this morning. And these are just estimates. If you want an exact figure, you need to see our treasurer. This is where our giving went last year. 55% of it went to personnel costs. All right, a little over half of everything put in that bag, it went to personnel costs, covering salaries, benefits, CPF contributions. Uh, a healthy church invests in its people. And this ensures that the team is able to uh carry out the ministry, to carry out their duties, uh, to seek the Lord's guidance and direction, to plan ahead, to visit those who are sick or homebound, uh, to spend their time counseling, preaching, and all these things. 55% went to personnel costs. 31% went to facilities, operations, and administration. Uh, as a church, we have utilities to pay, we have taxes, we have maintenance that needs to be done, upgrade programs like the third floor that we had renovated, the lifts which we recently had replaced. I don't know about you, I think our old lifts must have been the slowest in Singapore. They were so slow and old. And every time it broke down, it was a crisis. We couldn't even get parts for it anymore. Um, it also goes to fire safety compliance, uh, cleaning staff, joint council administration. Uh, this part of the budget, it keeps the doors open, the lights on. 10% went towards tithe, missions, and outreach. Uh, and this a lot of it goes to parachurch ministries, those who, in a sense, work alongside partnering with churches, uh, local outreach and uh missions. And so far, that is referring to our West Timor Medical Mission. The remaining 4% went towards our ministry programs here. And so this really goes to the core activities and events of the church: the Praised Land Children's Ministry, the Youth Ministry, uh, Connect Group resources and events, our worship services, discipleship resources, Christian education courses, and so forth. When we give to the church, this is where the money ends up going. And when we underfund any of these areas, we end up with problems. Poorly paid staff are distracted by trying to make ends meet. And those who with a higher skill set might they might look elsewhere. Not because they're very earthly minded, but because they also uh have to make a living to make ends meet. If we underfund our facilities, things start to break down much more often. We can't afford good workmanship, so we end up with shoddy work, which again results in more things breaking down. Uh everything begins to really look very worn out, and any equipment failure becomes a crisis. Now, decreasing tithe missions and outreach budget. Um one needs to say anything out loud, but I'm sure there's some here who are thinking to themselves, oh, that's a victimless crime. That's okay. Things will just keep going as per normal. I see a few smiles. Uh, but you know, if we abandon funding here, we are abandoning the very mission of the church because we are blessed to be a blessing. And if we stop in this area, uh my fear of the Lord makes me very uncomfortable with that idea. And then finally, uh the ministry programs that they don't have sufficient funding. Uh, sorry, no more church camp, no more children's camp, uh, no more youth camp, no more resources for inviting guest speakers from time to time, no more courses, no more seminars, no more resources for our connect groups, and so forth. And of course, on the other hand, when all these things are well funded, we're no longer focused on just the status quo, we're not focused on maintenance mode, but we begin to dream of possibilities. What if, what if on the rooftop, just there on the other building, we were to build up a whole nother area where we could have events, we could have worshiping the Lord, we could have additional rooms for meeting, even for connect groups. Uh what if, what if at the I zone we enclosed it all around with glass and gave ourselves some air con? Wouldn't that be nice? And we can invite people over. Well, I think we're never gonna want to leave that place. Um what if we what if we did something amazing once a week for the neighborhood, those who are poor? You know what? We're gonna sponsor a lunch every week. Well, do you think that's after God's heart to provide something? Not just the food, but to really see them and to have time with them and to chat with them. Wouldn't that be amazing? And so when things are well funded, we we have space to dream a bit. We can begin to think larger than just what we're doing now. We move out of maintenance mode and we begin to dream. We begin to ask the Lord, wow, what what more could we do? What more could we do as a church? In the five years that I've been pastoring here at YCCA, I have never heard a single sermon on money. Praise the Lord. I'm glad about that. I don't know about you. Uh and if you're a guest here today, guess what? We don't normally talk about this. All right? Um, and that's a good thing. I'm glad. But as we come across the scripture today, I find that you know what? Uh it is suitable to talk about it today. And to ask the question, is money your goal? Or is it your tool? Uh, every time you look at the spanner now, you're gonna think about this. Money is a tool. I'm gonna use it to build God's kingdom. And here at YCCA, we view when we give our tithes and our offerings. Uh, this is part of our worship to God. This is not a transaction. I'm not giving money so that I can stay in God's good standing and I'll be able to go to heaven. No, that's not what the giving of money is about. It's part of our worship, it's part of a recognition. God has blessed us to be a blessing. Um, I'm so blessed that God allows me to uh have gainful employment. I'm so glad that God's caring for, I'm so glad for my health. I'm so thankful. And out of that, it's just part of our worship. And so when we give him something that matters to us, we're saying you matter even more. There are some people who will say, you cannot beat God. God is the biggest giver, and if you give to the church, give more, and you just see he'll give. Uh people will say you give so you can receive back even more. I'm so sorry. I mean, if it were that simple, wouldn't we all just want to empty out everything? But I'm afraid that's not a biblical promise that we have. So sorry. God is generous, God beats our needs, um He does give a lot more than we can ever do, but this is not how it works. This is not a transaction. When we give, we are worshiping. It's a form of worship for us. And so this morning, I just want to challenge you, as part of looking at the scripture today, where it's all about being ready because Christ is coming back. Part of that, I just want to challenge you. Let's see money as a tool that we use to build God's kingdom. And so, in closing, I just want to suggest two action points for us for today. The first is if you are a regular attender of our services, you know what? Be a part of what we're doing and what we stand for by giving to the church. I'm not saying this because uh somehow I'm gonna receive more if you give more. That's not where we're at today. This is being obedient to scripture. This is about recognizing that God has blessed us, and this is understanding where that money goes uh when we do give it to the church. So if you're a render regular attender of our services, uh, you know, when you give to the church, you're supporting the ministries and the mission of the church and investing in our vision of growing more and more Christ-like, growing in spiritual maturity, and you're practicing stewardship of what God has given you. The second action point that I'd suggest for us is to create a shepherd's purse. Have any of you heard that that term before? Okay. Create a shepherd's purse for yourself or for your family. This is a set amount of money you're setting aside every month for giving when God places someone in need before you. Uh, this could be for someone who's selling tissues at the Hawker Center or over by the MRT. They're disabled and they have to rely on the charity of others. It might be you could do something extravagant for them, take them out for a nice meal. Wow, will that impact them? Will they feel cared for? Will they feel seen? Um, it could be that someone, if you're in a connect group and you know someone who's in between jobs or having difficulty making ends meet. Um, whatever it may be, this the shepherd's purse is just a set amount of money, so you can very easily give. Every week I'm setting this aside and I'm just gonna give it. This is just for giving. I don't have to think twice about it. I can just give it. And if you're a family, uh, this could be a teaching point too. You can make this decision together with your children. Hey, this month, who do you think we should bless? You know, we have this set aside and we want to honor God and bless others because we've been blessed. Who should we bless this month? And so a shepherd's purse becomes a tool. Viewing our money as a tool to build God's kingdom is part of our journey from superficial to spiritual. Recognizing that this is something entrusted to us, not free money, like the wrong view I used to have of that tax refund, but this is something God has entrusted to us, and we should use it to build his kingdom. We should be ready when he returns that we have an answer for what he has entrusted to us. Well, friends, we we're on the journey together. We're growing. Some areas are easy to grow in, some are a bit more painful, some are uncomfortable, but we're growing and learning to set every part of our lives and dedicate it to the Lord, to submit it to him, to receive his direction, to align ourselves to him and not expect God to align himself to us. Amen. We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.