Generosity Series - Treasures in Heaven

It's a generosity series and I've titled the message, what did I call it? In the Eye of the Beholder.

And I'll explain what that means in a moment.

But it's always an interesting subject to me when you come to talk about money.

Money.

And possessions and wealth and stewardship.

Because it's a big subject to talk about, particularly in the times we're living in.

We know it's tough times at the moment, eh? And people are struggling to put petrol in the car and food on the table.

Pay the bills.

And the church is talking about generosity.

Generosity.

I grew up in a home of two hard-working parents.

We lived in a state house in what you'd call a blue-collar suburb in Glen Innes, Panmure.

And I learned the value of hard work from them, even though, unfortunately, my dad had a gambling addiction, which made life very challenging at times.

Sometimes mum would announce dinner was cheese on toast.

And surprisingly, I still love cheese on toast.

So by the time I was 10, I had three part-time jobs at Intermediate so I could buy stuff and help mum.

And then buy stuff for my younger brother who was much younger than me.

Put him through primary school and I learnt the value of hard work.

And when I got to this place of Christ drawing me to himself and reading the scriptures, I realised that the Bible had a lot to say about stewardship.

That Jesus had a lot to say about not so much what we have, but how we hold it.

Not so much what we have, but how we hold it.

And for 30 years in pastoral ministry, I had the privilege of watching so many people from so many different economic status steward and how they held it.

And that became a huge challenge to me.

And I haven't always done well in the stewardship package, my wife would tell you.

I'm like the old guy called Erasmus.