Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This week we are welcoming special guest
Scott Cochran who works with World Vision and
is going to be sharing with us about how God's
economy is different than the world's economy.
What does it mean for us to sell everything that
we have and give it to the poor? And how can
we even do that? What does God have in store
for us? Our reading for today is from Luke chapter
12. verses 13 to 21 and verses 32 to 34. Someone
in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother
to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied,
Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between
you? Then he said to them, Watch out, be on your
guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not
consist in an abundance of possessions. And he
told them this parable. The ground of a certain
rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought
to himself, what shall I do? I have no place
to store my crops. Then he said, this is what
I will do. I will tear down my barns and build
bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus
grain. And I'll say to myself, you have plenty
of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy,
eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him,
you fool, this very night your life will be demanded
from you. Then who will get what you have prepared
for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever
stores up things for themselves, but is not rich
toward God. Verse 32. a treasure in heaven that
will never fail, where no thief comes near and
no moth destroys. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also. The word of the
Lord. If you've been around Trinity for any length
of time, you'll know that there's a couple things
that we're especially passionate about here at
Trinity. One is our partnership with World Vision
Canada and the hundred or so families and children
that we sponsor and support in the region of
Nueva Frontera, which is this community in Honduras.
If you've been around any length of time, you
know we were always talking about them and praying.
for them. And it was just this past June, we
went down and visited them. Another thing that
you'll know about Trinity is Trinity is very
passionate about developing leaders. And whether
it's our discipleship year students, whether
it's our amazing camp program and leader in training
program, or the mentoring opportunities that
are happening all the time around Trinity, leadership
development is also very, very close to our hearts,
which is why when you take those two things,
I am so excited. to welcome Scott Cochran as
our guest speaker and preacher this morning.
Sally and I had the opportunity a few months
ago to have lunch with Scott, and it was such
a pleasure to get to know him, and now you're
going to get the chance to get to know him as
well. But here's the thing you need to know about
Scott. On the one hand, Scott currently is Senior
Manager of Church Relations in World Vision Canada.
But on top of that, Scott spent more than two
decades of his life serving with the Global Leadership
Network, where he was supporting leaders in churches
all around the world. I think I read something
like in 70 countries, he has traveled around
helping to support and develop leaders. So Scott
brings together these two passions that we have
here at Trinity, which makes him the perfect
person to come and be with us this morning, especially
as we bring our series, A Generous Life, to its
conclusion. So would you join with me and let's
all give Scott Cochran a very warm Trinity welcome.
and thanks to each of you for making me feel
so welcome here. I was saying to Pastor Rob just
a few minutes ago, I was looking back and trying
to remember the very first time I was here with
you, and I realized it was 1998. Now, I was about
five years old at the time, but... Now, if I
remember, I got to meet Harold Percy, who was
leading the church at that time, had a wonderful
time of fellowship, and I've repeated visits
over the years. And in many ways, when I come
to Ontario, this is one of the places that I
consider a home away from home. My own home is
in Kelowna, British Columbia. And in fact, I
want to bring you greetings from the church where
I worship, which by wonderful coincidence is
also called Trinity Church. And so the folks
at Trinity Church in Kelowna are bringing their
greetings to Trinity Church Streetsville as well.
Well, I love this series that you've been doing
here as a church. I love the theme that you've
been developing around generosity. And it leads
me to ask you a question I'd like you to consider
for a few minutes. And that's this. Have you
ever found yourself that perhaps you have missed
out on something? Because perhaps you didn't
know the full picture. Have you ever found that
you've missed out on an opportunity, perhaps,
because you really didn't know what was going
on maybe behind the scenes? Well, as Pastor Rob
mentioned, I served for many years in the Global
Leadership Network, developing Christian leaders
and pastors around the world. And on one of these
visits, I was in Burundi, a small little country
in East Africa. And when I arrived, I knew that
I would have to purchase a visa upon my arrival.
And so I went into the airport and I found the
visa counter and the person behind the counter
said, that'll be 200 US dollars. I handed my
credit card and he just looked at me stone -faced,
handed back my card and said, no credit card,
cash only. I realized I was about to miss out
on connecting with all these leaders in Burundi
because I had no cash left on me. and I did not
know what I was going to do. All I knew was that
there was something wonderful waiting for me
on the other side of the airport. There were
some wonderful people and leaders and pastors
I wanted to meet with so badly, and I was going
to miss out on that because I hadn't understood
the big picture that I needed cash to get into
the country. By the way, as a footnote to that
story, someone standing next to me in the aisle
heard what was going on and actually gave me
$200, and that's how I got into the country.
But sometimes, sometimes we miss out on something
wonderful because we don't really understand
the big picture. We don't really understand what's
going on. And that's actually a theme that Jesus
develops in the parable that we had read for
us today. is that sometimes we are so focused
on the things that we can see. We can be so focused
on the things that are in our immediate surroundings
that we can miss out on something wonderful that
God wants to do well beyond that. That leads
us into this parable that's sometimes called
the parable of the rich man. And let's dive into
one of the key verses that kind of gets the parable
started. This is Jesus talking. And Jesus said,
he told them this parable, the ground of a certain
rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought
to himself, what shall I do? I have no place
to store my crops. Then he said, this is what
I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build
bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus
grain. Well, what's going on in this parable?
What's Jesus describing here? Well, here's a
businessman, and his business is doing very well.
So he's in the agriculture business, and it's
booming. So he's got lots of crops coming in.
He has lots of grain coming in. And you can see
the problem he's got. He says, my barns just
aren't big enough. I'm going to have to do something
about this. So he says, I'm going to knock down
those little barns, and I'm going to build these
big barns over here, and now I will be set. And
that way of thinking is a way of thinking that's
very familiar to us. That way of thinking is
said that what we want to do is get as much as
we can, and we want to keep as much as we can.
And the term we use for that is that's the world's
economy. The world's economy is all about what
can I get. But God's economy is different. You
see, God's economy is not driven by what can
I get. God's economy is driven by what can I
give. And through that giving, what is the bigger
picture that God might reveal to me? Through
that giving, how might God not only bless me,
but how might God bless those around me, and
indeed, how might God bless those on the other
side of the world? God's economy versus the world's
economy. God's economy all about giving. The
world's economy all about getting. Many of you
will know the legacy of Nelson Rockefeller. Nelson
Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men who
ever lived, and throughout his life, he consistently
and he just was always accumulating more. He
built onto his wealth until the day he died as
one of the richest men in the world. He was once
asked, Mr. Rockefeller, you are still adding
on to your fortune well into your senior years.
And they asked him this question, how much money
does it take to make a man happy? Do you know
what he said? Just a little bit more. That's
the world's economy. Just a little bit more.
But God's economy is not like that. And not only
is God's economy all about giving, it's all about
the blessings that we will receive when we have
hearts of generosity as well. And so in the time
we have this morning, what I'd love to do is
to take you on a journey. It's a journey that
Jesus lays out for us in this parable. It's a
journey that can take us from the world's economy,
step by step, into God's economy. The place where
generosity flows and where God's blessings and
his favor flows as well. Let's take a journey
together to see how is it that we can move from
the world's economy into God's economy. And let's
trace these steps. And the first step that Jesus
lays out for us in this parable is simply this.
We need to develop a heart of multiplication.
not division. We need to develop a heart of multiplication,
not division. You see, the world's economy is
defined by having a certain amount of money,
a certain amount of stuff, and we have to carve
that up because there's not that much to go around.
That's the world's economy. But God's economy
is so different. God's economy focuses not on
the limitations, but on the blessings of multiplication.
Look what happened at the very beginning of this
story that was read for us a few minutes ago.
Jesus was in a crowd of people, and then one
of them said, someone in the crowd said to him,
Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance
with me. Jesus replied, Man, who appointed me
a judge or an arbiter between you? So what's
going on here? So here you've got a man in the
crowd who obviously he and his siblings have
come into an inheritance. Now, under the law
of Moses, what that meant is that the older brother
would receive the lion's share. He would receive
most of the inheritance, but this fellow, he
is entitled to a portion of that. And he had
a real concern because he said, Jesus, there's
only so much in this inheritance. There's only
so much money here that's available, and it has
to be divided fairly. It has to be divided in
such a way that I'm going to get my portion of
this. He's reflecting the world's economy. But
you see, the reason God couldn't even enter into
this is because his kingdom is not about dividing
limited resources. God's economy is about multiplication.
You see, in the world's economy, we say, well,
we only have five loaves and two fish. How are
we going to divide that among so many people?
But in God's economy, Jesus can say, I'm not
going to divide the loaves and fish. I'm going
to multiply them so we can feed everybody. It's
the difference between the world's economy and
God's economy. The world's economy, we always
think of its limited resources. There's only
so much, and we have to divide this up. But in
God's economy, he says, no, no, there's so much
more that you have no idea about. Not just more
money. There's more bounty. There's more blessing.
There's more that God can do because God is a
God of multiplication, not a God of division.
When I spent those years with the Global Leadership
Network, one of the countries I was very privileged
to spend a lot of time in building up leaders
was in Cuba. And I'll never forget the very first
leadership conference we put on in Cuba. It was
in a small church in downtown Havana in the old
city. And on the very first morning of the conference,
before we'd even started, there was a knock on
the church door. and one of our head volunteers
there in Cuba, her name was Nancy, she opened
the door. I was standing over to the side, and
there was a local policeman standing there. And
he introduced himself. He said, I'm on foot patrol
in this area today. This was interpreted for
me later. I don't speak Spanish. But then he
asked this question. He says, do you have a Bible
I could have? Now, that was an interesting question.
Bibles in Cuba are not illegal, but they're very
difficult to get. And this policeman thought,
perhaps I can get one from this church. Now Nancy,
she now had an interesting problem that she had
to think through. Because she turned and looked,
and I could see there was a stack of every Bible
that that church owned on the table right here.
There was 10 Bibles there. That was it. That
was the entire stock of Bibles for this church.
So Nancy, if she was thinking through the lens
of the world's economy, she would be thinking
of division. Okay, I've only got 10 Bibles. If
I give one to this policeman, now I've only got
nine left. Can I manage that? That's the thinking
in the world's economy. That's the thinking of
division. But thankfully, thankfully, Nancy understood
God's economy. She understood that somehow, through
generosity, God could multiply his blessings.
And so she gave a Bible to the policeman. Over
the two days of that conference, I would see
this policeman at the end of the block. leaning
on his motorcycle and reading his Bible. Fast
forward, I'd love to tell you what happened with
that policeman. He threw the gift of that Bible.
He gave his life to Christ. He became a member
of that church. He was discipled and grew in
his faith. Today, he's an elder in that church,
and he has led many, many people to Christ, including
many of his fellow police officers. That's the
power of God's multiplication. See, God can multiply
our generosity in ways that we can't even think
or imagine. We think in the world's economy of
division, God thinks in terms of multiplication.
And that's the invitation that we have today,
is to think through the lens of multiplication.
And you know, what that means for you and me
is that we can move into a place where we are
understanding God's heart for multiplication.
And one way that we can do that is to simply
pray every day that God would open up our hearts
in that way. This is the kind of prayer that
you may want to think about if you want to open
up your heart to have a heart of multiplication.
We'll just put that up on the screen. I'll come
back to that. If you can just go to the prayer
for a moment. That's on the next one. Say, Lord,
I want to participate in your kingdom economy.
I lay all of my earthly possessions before you,
my finances and my possessions, and I ask that
you take them and you break them and you multiply
them to build your kingdom here on earth. Consider
a prayer like that, and a prayer like that delivered
in faith on a regular basis. You watch as God
changes your heart from a heart of division to
a heart of multiplication, a generous heart,
where God can perform his miracles in your life
and in the lives of those around you. The first
step, if you want to move from the world economy
into God's kingdom economy, is to develop a heart
of multiplication. But there's another step that
we can take along the way that Jesus tells us
about in this parable, and that's this. We need
to develop a heart for the things that are timeless.
Not things that are temporary We need to develop
a heart for things that are timeless not things
that are temporary You see in in our world in
the world's economy. Our focus is on the right
here and the right now It's a very limited view
that we have in our world We have a very short
attention span, it's often said, in this world.
And therefore, our focus tends to be on the things
that we can see and that we can measure, we can
touch, and we can feel right now. But in God's
economy, it's different. God's economy is on
the things that are timeless, that last throughout
the ages, and indeed that last for all eternity.
And that's what the man in the parable had to
learn. Have a look at what happened next. After
he was... thinking about this barn thing he wanted
to do, building up these barns, he said, I will
then say to myself, you have plenty of grain
laid up for many years. Take like Vesey, eat,
drink, and be merry. But God said to him, you
fool, this very night your life will be demanded
from you. Then who will get what you have prepared
for yourself? This is how it will be for whoever
stores up things for themselves. but is not rich
towards the things of God. You see, as far as
this man was concerned, all of his problems were
going to be solved by building these big barns.
And what Jesus wanted him to know is that that's
the world's economy, and it could be gone in
an instant. and when we put our stock when we
put our investments when we put our focus only
on the things that we can see right now things
that can vanish in just a minute we are going
to miss out on all the blessings that god has
when we can take a longer view taking a longer
view is recognizing that in god's economy the
best is yet to come And it may not be what you
can see right now, but you can trust in God's
faithfulness that the best is yet to come. Take
the long view. Focus on the things that are timeless.
Some of you will know the true story of a businessman
named Ron. And many years ago, Ron built a business
with two other partners. But after a short time,
Ron was unsure if the business was going to be
successful. And so he sold his shares. He had
10 % in the company, and he sold his shares back
to his two partners. And he received $800 for
those shares. The year was 1976. The man's name
was Ron Wayne. His business partners were named
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The company was
Apple. It's estimated that if he had not sold
those shares for $800, that today they'd be worth
about $95 billion. But Ron didn't have the long
view. Now, friends, please hear me. This is not
investment advice. I don't know anything about
stocks, when to buy, when to sell, anything like
that. The point is that it reminds us, the story
of Ron Wayne reminds us that the best is yet
to come. And what we need to do is to take the
long view. I think of my dear wife, Nora, and
for how many years she prayed for her parents
to come to faith in Christ. She and her siblings
had all come to Christ, but their parents had
not. And yet they prayed diligently. You see,
the world's economy would say, you know what,
if the prayers aren't working right now, stop
praying. But in God's economy, you know that
the best is yet to come. And it's God's economy,
it's understanding to focus on things that are
timeless that keeps us praying. And today, both
of Nora's parents are wonderful Christians living
a beautiful life of faith. Having a timeless
view can also remind us that when we are serving,
the results are not just what we see here and
now. I was so inspired to see what you as a church
did in the community last week with the Christmas
event down here in Streetsville. And you know,
there's one view that says the results of that
was a lot of people got hot chocolate, and there
was a great festive atmosphere, and people got
to understand the church. And that's all true.
But here's what we know in God's economy. There
were seeds planted that day that might reap a
harvest in 10, 20, or 30 years from now. People
perhaps for the very first time got a glimpse
of the love of God through what you were doing
out there. You see, in God's economy, we measure
things differently. We don't look only at what
we can see right now, like this man did with
his barns, but we take an eternal view. And the
work that you are doing as a church, the investments
you're making in your community, they can pay
off for years and years and years to come, and
indeed right into eternity. I think the same
thing is true with... the charity work that you
support around the world whether it's with world
vision or somewhere else you know the the world's
economy says well you've done this for a little
while and you know maybe the results have had
their best day let's move on to something else
but in god's economy you recognize that whatever
work you're supporting whether it's world vision
or somewhere else that there is fruit being born
that's going to last for generations and right
on into eternity Friends, develop a heart for
the things that are timeless, not for the things
that are temporary. And what that might mean
to you is that if there's been someone in your
life that you've been praying for, either to
come to Christ, or perhaps it's been a health
issue, the world might say, it's time to give
up and move on. But remember that in God's economy,
the best is yet to come. Keep praying. The world's
economy might say that, you know, you've been
serving a lot here at Trinity, and, you know,
sometimes it just gets hard. Maybe you need to
just take a break for a while. And sometimes
that could be true. But remember that the work
you're doing now can have an eternal difference
in the lives of somebody else. Keep serving.
And certainly, if you've been supporting, whether
it's World Vision or some other worthwhile organization,
and you may not see the results you want right
now, Just remember that in God's economy, the
best is yet to come. Keep supporting the work
that you're committed to. Because to take a step
from the world's economy into God's economy,
it means remembering, focus on the things that
are timeless. Well, there's a third step that
takes us into God's economy as well, and that's
this. Develop a heart of open hands, not closed
fists. Develop a heart of open hands, not closed
fists. You know, there's a Jewish expression
that says that we are born with a closed fist
and we die with an open hand. And what that means
is, I'm sure you've all seen this, when a beautiful
baby is born, have you ever noticed that for
a while they always keep their fist clenched
like this? And really that's what the Jewish
expression speaks to is... That points to the
lives that many people will live afterwards,
which is that we hold very tightly to our things.
We hold very tightly to our stuff. But the expression
says that we die like this, meaning we can't
take anything with us after we leave this earth.
And what Jesus is calling us to through this
parable is to live our lives like this, not with
clenched fists. Listen to the words of the man
in the parable. And listen to how tightly his
fist was clenched. He thought to himself as he
was processing what he wanted to do with all
his wealth, he thought to himself, what shall
I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then
he said, this is what I'll do. I will tear down
my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will
store my surplus grains. Boy, you talk about
a clenched fist. My grain, my barns, and my surplus.
That's the language of the world's economy. But
open -handed living, kingdom living, is different
than that. You see, as citizens of God's kingdom,
we recognize it's not my barns. It's not my surplus.
It's not my grain. It's not my job. It's not
my car. It's not my money. These are all things
that God has graciously provided to us. These
are all things that come from the gracious, loving
hand of God, and we are simply stewards of them.
I don't have a job at World Vision. God has provided
me with an opportunity to serve. I don't have
a house in Kelowna. God has provided me with
a dwelling. It's come from Him, and I hold it
with open hands. Everything that you and I have
is not ours to hang on to tightly. It's ours
to recognize that it's come from the loving hand
of God, and we serve like this. We open our hands.
And friends, if you want to thrive and serve
and live in God's economy, we need to develop
a heart of open hands. One of the countries that
we served when I was with the Global Leadership
Network, was Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a place you
may know. It's a small island off the coast of
Tanzania. And it's a place that's 98 % Muslim
with about a 2 % Christian population. And it's
been fraught with tension between the Muslim
majority and the Christians who are there. Well,
one day, one of the government officials from
Zanzibar was traveling in South Africa and saw
an advertisement for the conference we were doing
down there. And she wanted to attend, but she
didn't know if she was allowed to because she's
Muslim. And so she called our office in South
Africa, and that's exactly what she said. I'd
like to attend your conference, but I don't know
if I'm allowed to because I'm not Christian.
Well, there would be two ways for our office
to have answered that call. The clenched fist
way would have been, this is our conference,
this is for Christians, this is for pastors.
and only people in that category can come to
our conference. But I'm so grateful that the
person who answered the phone understood having
a heart of open hands. And she said, of course
you can come. In fact, she said, bring as many
friends and colleagues as you'd like. You'd be
more than welcome. Well, when this government
official had finished the conference, she went
back to Zanzibar, and she reported to the government
about her experience in South Africa. And she
said, the power of the experience to me, she
said, was not just in the content of the conference,
it was in the way I was treated. She said, the
Christians treated me with love, with kindness,
and with respect. She said, they even set up
a prayer room for me, because, you know, Muslims
have a scheduled prayer system that they follow.
And the government was impacted deeply by that
experience. To the point that they contacted
our ministry and said, could you bring your Christian
ministry to Zanzibar? Because we believe this
could form a bridge between the Muslims and the
Christians in our nation. That's what happens
when we approach our lives with open hands and
we recognize this is not ours. This is what God
has graciously entrusted to us. And that's what
fuels our generosity. When we recognize we are
simply stewards of all that God has given to
us. And friends, I wonder for you today, is there
anything in your life that you are still hanging
on to with a clenched fist? You see, for many
of us, what we do is we think we want to have
a heart of open hands. We want to say, God, I
can offer before you the job you've given me
and the car and the house, but I'm not sure about
my money. Maybe that is still something we're
hanging on to with a clenched fist. Or maybe
it's our title. Or maybe it's some other area
of influence we have. Friends, here's what I'd
like to challenge you to do today. Would you
make an inventory of all the things in your life
that we would traditionally, in the world's view,
say, that's mine? And would you pray, Lord, would
you open my heart? Would you open my hand? Maybe
it is your job. Maybe it's your income. Maybe
it's your house. Whatever it is, say, Lord, would
you help me to release it to you? And when you
can do that, when you can develop a true heart
of open -handed living, you've taken another
step into God's economy. Well, what do we do
with this? Once we are now in God's economy,
once we've taken that journey from the world's
economy, step by step into God's economy, what
do we do now? What does life look like there?
Well, this is one of those parables and one of
those teachings where Jesus is beautifully clear.
Here's what he says. Sell your possessions and
give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves
that will not wear out. Well, what is a purse
that will not wear out? That's when you are generous,
when you are giving to the poor, that is credited
to your account in heaven. God is saying when
you are generous, when you give to the poor,
you are receiving a blessing that you may not
even fully realize for years to come. It's an
eternal blessing you receive when you are generous
to the poor. That's a purse that will never wear
out. But it's interesting that Jesus says, sell
your possessions. And that's in stark contrast
to the world's view of generosity, especially
generosity to the poor. Because here's what the
world says. Here's the world's financial plan
for giving to the poor. Go through the month,
pay all your bills, make sure everything's checked
off, and if there's anything left over at the
end, you can give some of that to the poor. The
world's economy when it comes to generosity is
based on surplus. But God's economy when it comes
to generosity, it's not based on surplus, it's
based on sacrifice. It should change some things
in our lives when we want to participate in God's
economy through hearts of generosity to the poor.
In other words, it doesn't mean that at the end
of the month we've made sure that all the recreation
we wanted to do and all of the nights out we
wanted to do, once all that is done, now we can
give. No, in God's economy, what it means is
maybe we're going to cancel two or three of the
streaming services that come into our house.
And out of that, we're going to give to the poor.
Maybe it means that we're not going to go out
for dinner every week. We're only going to go
out for dinner once a month or twice a month.
And the difference from that, we're going to
give to the poor. It means that we are going
to make sacrifices. We are going to change the
way we live so that we are freeing up resources
that God can put to use in serving the poor and
letting his blessings flow in our lives and around
the world. In other words, generous living in
God's economy is about sacrifice. It should mean
that we're going to change something in our lives
so that we can support the poor. But here's the
good news. Jesus beautifully wraps up this parable
with a wonderful promise to us. Because he says
that when you've done this, when you have given
to the poor sacrificially, you will be receiving
a treasure in heaven. that will never fail, where
no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For
where your treasure is, there your heart will
be also. There are blessings untold for each
one of us when we step into God's economy and
we sacrificially give to support the poor. And
that's my invitation for you today, that would
you join us as a full participating... member
of god's economy would you give sacrificially
to the poor your heart will be blessed and you'll
be a part of changing the world let me pray for
you our heavenly father how grateful we are that
we can gather in a wonderful church like trinity
a church that has such a heart for generosity
And Father, may that be true of each one of us.
Father, guide us into your kingdom economy. May
we be faithful to support the poor. And Father,
we do so out of hearts of joy, love, and gratitude
for all you will do around the world. We pray
these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank
you for listening to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This sermon was recorded at Trinity
Church Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario on
November 23rd, 2025.