The Message for Sept 18, 2016 Luke 16: 1-13 Are you a trustworthy manager, or not?
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The Message for Sept 18, 2016 Luke 16:1-13 Are you a trustworthy manager, or not? Rob Miller, Pastor We continue our three-week worship series on This Changes Everything. Last week we considered our view of God, seeing God as a parent not as a grown-up. Grown-ups only love us when we are good. Parents love us anyway. How we view God, as a loving parent, changes everything. This week we consider how we view ourselves, are you a trustworthy manager or not? How we view ourselves changes everything… Today’s gospel reading is difficult to understand. It’s confusing. Jesus tells a story – a parable – but it’s not a positive parable. It’s a negative one. A shady character – a cheater and a liar – is lifted up as the example for us when it comes to being a disciple. At first glance it doesn’t make sense… Read Text Luke 16:1-13 To help us understand this parable, consider these two stories… Story #1: There was a certain labor racketeer who had become rich on sweetheart contracts and by pocketing pension fund money. One day he found out that the F.B.I. was onto him. He knew it was only a matter of time until they would catch him. So he put a large sum of money in a Swiss bank account so that no one could touch it. He was caught, went to trial, sentenced, and served time in the Atlanta Federal Prison. After his release, he retrieved his money from the Swiss bank and moved to Miami Beach where he lived happily ever after. Story #2 Senator Huey Long was trying to get reelected to the Senate in the 1930’s. He was campaigning here in southern Louisiana when he was taken aside by a local politician and reminded that he would be speaking to a lot of Catholic voters. Throughout the day Huey told his audiences how as a boy he would get up at six o’clock on Sunday mornings, hitch the family horse to the buggy and take his Catholic grandparents to mass. After he brought them home, he would turn around and take his Baptist grandparents to church. At the end of the day, the local politician complimented Huey and expressed his surprise at learning he had Catholic grandparents, to which Huey replied: “Don’t be a fool. We didn’t even have a horse.” Aren’t these two stories inspiring? Don’t you want to be just like these two characters? No we don’t… They are rascals, crooks, liars, they are bad people. These two stories are not good examples of how we should live our lives. And yet, that’s the kind of story Jesus told, about a crook, a dishonest steward – who was then commended for his dishonesty. It doesn’t make sense… The guy in Jesus’ parable was a bad dude, a bad manager and was going to be fired. But before losing his job, he thought about how he might prepare for his future. He liked living the good life and couldn’t bear the thought of digging ditches or begging, so he decided that the people who owed his boss money would be grateful, if he reduced what they owned him. So, he invited these debtors to change their bill. His boss finds out and instead of being angry, his boss commends this guy for thinking fast on his feet. He still lost his job but his future was secure. Jesus was using humor and irony to make a point. We are not to be like this dishonest manager in his dishonest deeds. We are to be like him in how he got out of a desperate situation. Jesus is teaching his disciples that the people of the world are out-smarting the people of the light. This conniving two-faced cheater faced the facts, assessed his situation, and acted quickly and boldly. Jesus suggests that his followers should act the same way with when it comes to living the faith. If only… if only… Jesus’ followers were as eager and as creative in our attempts to live the faith -- as people of the world are in their attempts to get more. Jesus says that we are to act with the same intensity in our commitment towards him as the cheaters and crooks act in their commitment to get more money. It raises the question: if the crooks and shady characters of the world are so creative and act so decisively about things that don’t really matter -- then why aren’t Christians more creative and act more decisively when it comes to our own faith development? I am working on a five week worship series on five faith habits, coming later this fall. Do we work as hard at discipleship, as the two business men in the following story do in cheating people so they can have more? Story: Two partners had a men’s clothing store. One would stay in the back room while the other waited on the people. The one waiting on the people would pretend he was hard of hearing. When a customer would choose a suit he liked, he would ask the price. The clerk would call to his partner in the back room, "How much is this suit, Harry?" Harry would reply loud and clear so the customer would hear, "$149.00." The clerk would then say," He said it is $129.00." Many people would hurry and buy the suit for $129.00, thinking they were getting a good deal because the person waiting on them did not hear the right price. Little did the customer know that the same suit sold for $119.00 or less in other places… These two guys went to great lengths to assure themselves of a comfortable living by cheating and lying to the public. Do we as disciples of Jesus act with the same intensity, the same effort in living for him? In the Reader’s Digest there was a story about a golfer who wanted to make the professional golfers tour. The article said the man practiced so long and so hard that his hands would bleed at the end of each practice session. How many of us have bleeding hands because we’ve folded them in prayer for so long and with such intensity? Do we have the drive to do whatever it takes to communicate with God, like the golfer did in trying to put a little ball in a little cup so that he could make big money? Do you see the point that Jesus is making in this parable? If the crooks and cheaters and liars of the world will stop at nothing to get rich, if a professional athlete will stop at nothing to be at the top of his game, why aren’t we as committed to him with same kind of zeal, and ambition, and dedication? I’m just asking… Jesus says, “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” Jesus is challenging his disciples – to be committed to him with such shrewdness and dedication as the people of this world are in looking out for themselves? Let me clarify something… this parable is not about money, or commending someone for being dishonest -- this parable is about our dedication and our commitment to Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. Are we good managers of our faith, or not? I’m sorry that’s the wrong question… Are you a good manager of your faith, or not? That is the question… Those of us who call ourselves disciples are to be totally and absolutely committed to Jesus. The way we act, the way we think, the way we make decisions, the way we live our lives should reflect our relationship with him in everything we say and do. People should see Jesus in us… A young pastor was serving a church in a small town in Iowa. He had tried for several months to move the people to a live a more dedicated life of faith with Jesus. He visited with the members, worked diligently on his sermons and created the best worship possible. He tried to get people more involved in various ministries but to no avail. He felt his flock, the church was dead. They would come on Sunday morning and put in their one hour or so but nothing more. So the pastor placed a notice in the local newspaper stating that since the church was dead, it was his duty to give it a decent Christian burial. The funeral would be held the following Sunday morning. Out of morbid curiosity, it seemed the whole town turned out for the funeral. In front of the church the people could see a large casket covered with flowers. He read a moving eulogy then delivered a somber sermon on how the church had suffered a slow and painful death. Then he invited the congregation to step forward and pay their last respects to the departed. As they passed by, each one peeked into the casket and quickly turned away with a guilty sheepish look. In the casket, tilted at just the right angle, was a large mirror. Everyone saw his or her own reflection as perhaps never before! The following Sunday morning, the worship service was packed as the congregation realized that indeed the church, the body of Christ is all about people -- committed and surrendering their entire lives to Christ Jesus. A commitment to Jesus and a life lived by faith is what this parable is all about. Jesus finished telling this parable with a statement that strikes to the heart of the matter. He said: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” As for me and my family we will serve the Lord… I leave you with this last thought… John Ruskin, a famous preacher in the 1800’s, watched a lamplighter lighting the gas street light one evening and then said. "Now that is what I mean by a Christian. You ought to be able to see where a Christian has been by the lights that he or she leaves burning behind." Question: Is your light burning for Christ for others to see? If so, then this changes everything. Amen. Download 21.09 Kb. Share with your friends:
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