Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 18, 2016
Be Good Managers of God’s Earthly Gifts
Luke 16:1-13 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “ ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ 7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
A throne is generally a pretty impressive thing. A throne is where the king sits, and because kings are powerful and important, their thrones are often decorated with gold and jewels. There’s one other thing about thrones too: they are designed for one. They are not long couches designed for several or even loveseats designed for two. There is room for just one on a throne.
There is a throne in every person’s heart. By that I mean in every person’s life there is something that will be most loved, most adored, most revered, most served. Something will always occupy first place in a person’s heart and life. Today, Jesus wants to make sure that one thing is the right thing – God.
You see, as long as we believers are in this world and as long as we still possess a sinful nature, there will be rivals trying to knock God from the throne in our hearts. One of those rivals is money; God’s earthly gifts to us. So to help us combat such a rival, Jesus comes today and shows us how to be good managers of God’s earthly gifts.
In some ways, you could say that the words of Jesus before us are at the same time both easy and difficult to understand. It’s easy to understand what’s going on between the rich man and his manager. The manager wasn’t doing a good job of managing the rich man’s wealth. So, his boss warned him, “I’m going to fire you.”
With this unfortunate news the manager begins to fret, wondering, “What am I going to do?” But then he comes up with a plan. He resolves to call in all those who owed his master money and chop down their debt. In so doing he figures he will gain some friends. That way, after he’s fired, he wouldn’t be left out on the streets. These people would see that he’s out of a job and welcome him into their homes. Very smart. Not honest. But smart.
But here’s where Jesus’ words can become a little more difficult to understand – the master commends the dishonest manager. At first glance it looks like Jesus is praising dishonesty! But Jesus can’t be saying “Cook the books to get ahead in this world.” That would go against everything the Bible says about stealing, and we know the Bible never contradicts itself. So what is Jesus teaching us here?
As we look a little deeper, we realize that Jesus is not encouraging dishonesty, but instead he is using this story to get one main point across – be good managers of God’s earthly gifts; make wise use of our earthly wealth. That this is the case comes across in Jesus’ own commentary on his story: “the people of this world (unbelievers) are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light (believers)…use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
Now, when Jesus teaches us to be good managers of God’s earthly gifts, he’s doing more than giving us a moral and ethical approach to using our gifts. He’s not saying: “You’d be wise to set aside some money for a rainy day fund; remember to ask if you really need it before you buy it; and be sure to take good care of the things you have.” While these things may be true, what he is doing instead is making a point of comparison. He’s telling us that when it comes to business matters, the people of this world know how to put their money to the best possible use for their own advantage. That’s their goal in life. They live to serve self. To acquire wealth is considered to be their chief purpose. But that isn’t the way it is for the believer, for you and me. We have a different goal. Our goal is to glorify God. Our goal is to serve others. Since we have a different goal, we are to be good managers of God’s earthly gifts in ways that have the goal of serving God and of being a benefit and blessing to others.
So how do we do that? The truth of the matter is there are many ways we can do that. We do it with God’s gift of time, abilities and money. We do it when we use each of these gifts with eternity in mind. But is that what we are doing?
· Do we view God’s gift of time as the opportunity to finally do whatever I want – or do we see it as the chance to strengthen my faith by hearing the Word; to gently instruct a child in God’s truth; to win the lost, encourage a fellow believer, and meet the needs of hurting people?
· Do we see our abilities as nothing more than a way to advance ourselves in society and gain some earthly advantage – or do we see them as gifts from God to be used in service to him and our fellow man?
· Do we see earthly wealth as the goal in life? As we spend money for the necessities of life – for fun, convenience, and retirement – do we see these things as ends in themselves? Do our offerings reflect that we are more concerned about serving God and others or about serving ourselves?
This whole story reminds us that nothing we possess is truly ours; it belongs to God. Since we are simply managers of what he has entrusted to us, we need to understand that he has commissioned us to use what we have in his service. And that means all that we have. Every minute, every talent, every last cent is God’s, and our goal, service to God and our fellow man, should direct and control what we do with them.
But there is a part of us that balks at this idea, isn’t there? “Spend my money on others! Give up my convenience and way of life! Set aside my wants for their needs!” A certain part of us doesn’t like it, does it? That part of us is our sinful nature. That’s because our sinful nature loves money; it loves money because our sinful nature wants us to do nothing but love ourselves. Jesus knows this, and that’s why at the end of this section he says, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
With God, it is all or nothing. We cannot love or serve two masters any more than we can walk in two different directions at the same time. There is room for only one to sit on the throne of our hearts. If we choose to serve money, then we cannot serve God.
It’s as plain as day in crystal clear words – “You cannot serve both God and Money.” That’s why Jesus comes today and tells us to be good managers of God’s earthly gifts. Because if we don’t manage them, they will control and ruin us! They will drag us right away from Christ all the way into hell.
That’s why it is good for us as Christians to spend a few moments thinking about how we spend our money. To ask ourselves, “Am I unknowingly worshiping money?” “How am I different in the way I use my money – different from an unbeliever?” “What is the purpose of money, for me - a Christian?” “Have I been a faithful manager in all things?” “Have I always used my resources with Christ firmly in my heart and eternity in my eyes?”
I know that when I ask myself these questions I must admit I have fallen short! Don’t you have to say the same? And God knows it! As the one who has entrusted these riches to us, he has the right to see the books at any time. Are you ready to open the books and show God a record of your management? Are you confident that God’s audit of your books will show flawless stewardship on our part?
That isn’t what he see though, is it? And we need to recognize that! We need to recognize these sins of greed and self-centeredness, of worshiping money instead of glorifying God; we need to listen to Jesus’ invitation to repent of them; and then we need to remember what God has done. And to see what he has done imagine this illustration.
Imagine that the richest person in the world says to you, “Here, take all my money – every last penny. And I’ll take on all your debt. Every bill you have – your mortgage, your car payment, your credit card bills – all your debt, I’ll take it on. And you can have all that I own.” Imagine that!
That’s exactly what Jesus has done for you. He takes your debt of sin and puts it all into his own account. Then he gives away everything in his spiritual bank account – his righteousness, his holiness, his good works, his status before God – and he gives it all to you to be received by faith. This is the transaction that took place on the cross. There Jesus paid our debt of sin and won our lasting forgiveness. And God the Father accepted this transaction – that’s why Jesus rose from the dead – to prove to you that this has really happened.
Through faith in Jesus, we know that when God opens the books to look at our management record, he is looking at a completely different ledger. It is a record of his one and only Son, Jesus. It is a record of Jesus’ perfect life, lived in perfect obedience to his Father’s will. It shows that he used every ability he had to perfectly love God and his neighbor. God, by grace has replaced our flawed and damnable records with the perfect record of his Son.
Years ago, gold miners learned to watch out for iron pyrite. Iron pyrite is better known by another name: fool’s gold. Iron pyrite is a gold-colored metal often found where people looked for gold. There was just one problem – it wasn’t gold. Though it looked like valuable treasure, it was worthless.
Worldly wealth is a lot like fool’s gold. It might look like valuable treasure. One may be tricked into believing he possess a fortune if he has worldly wealth. But when it comes to the most important matter in a person’s life – how am I right with God – worldly wealth is worthless. In fact, if not managed properly, worldly wealth can destroy a person’s faith.
There is only one currency that can pay the debt of sin. It is the holy, precious, innocent blood of Jesus. His blood was the purchase price, the ransom used to set us free from sin and damnation. And it is when a person believes that this donation of forgiveness and salvation has been deposited into their account that they have found true riches. Having found true riches, we view God’s earthly gifts as blessings to be used to serve God and our neighbor. Amen.