A DISHONEST STEWARD

Luke 16:1-13

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this mornings meditation is the Gospel lesson from Luke, chapter 16, verses 1-13, particularly these words, “Jesus told his disciples, ‘There was a rich man whose manger was accused of wasting his possessions. 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.’ and “You cannot serve both God and Money.”This is our text.

In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends. Today’s Gospel lesson presents us with a very confusing parable. Again we must remember that a parable is “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” But what is the heavenly meaning this time that we can relate to? Is it that we should be very wise and even crafty — maybe even a little underhanded in the way we deal with money?? After all, the dishonest servant is commended by his master for his “craftiness”. Jesus gets to the bottom line and the lesson in the last words of today’s text. He said, “You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Now, money is something that is very important. All of us have to deal with money. Whether we have a business to run, a job to perform, or just a checkbook to balance each month — all of us have to deal with money in our every day lives. With money we provide housing, food, transportation, and all the necessities of life. Money is important.

But, we can view this money in our lives several ways. One way is to see it as a gift from God’s hand — a blessing given to us from God to provide for your families and ourselves, as well as a means to serve God by serving other people. Money can be a tool which is used to accomplish good in our lives and in the lives of others — a tool used to serve God from whom all blessings flow.

Another way to view this money is to see it take control of one’s life. For a lot of people Money drives their entire world. Every decision they make, every action they take, every task they perform is based on how much money it will generate or loose. Money becomes an obsession. Money becomes their God!! The Old Testament lesson for today talked about this view of money and gave a very serious warning about it. It said, “Hear this , you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying ‘When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?’ — skimping the measure, boosting the price, and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.”

It is this obsession with money which Jesus is speaking of in today’s Gospel lesson and parable as he sums up his lesson saying, “You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Knowing the lesson, how do we now interpret this parable? Jesus makes a distinction between “the people of this world,”and “the people of the light.”Both the dishonest manager, and his master are examples of people of this world. The master is pleased that his servant is so crafty. They have a goal in life — to be comfortable in this life. Their only concern is about here and now, and meeting their own physical needs and wants in any way possible — even if that is by “hook or crook”. So the momentary gain is for this temporal life and is short lived. That was the goal of the dishonest manager. He said in the text, “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 — I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.”Would they welcome him forever — of course not!! But it would be a temporary situation until he could get something else worked out. He was seeking immediate relief in this world and this life.

When Jesus explains the parable he said, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into ETERNAL dwellings.”Who is it that offers ETERNAL DWELLINGS — certainly not this world and certainly not the people of this world!!! Only God himself offers eternal dwellings. So you could paraphrase that verse to say, “Use worldly wealth to please God, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into ETERNAL dwellings.”Of course the law reminds us that we are sinners and fall short of God’s expectations of us. And the Gospel reminds us that Jesus Christ lived, died and rose again so that we might have eternal life in heaven. Heaven is not ours because we spend our money wisely — heaven is ours because Jesus Christ is our Savior. This verse then deals not with our justification — but with our sanctification — with how we live our lives as the children of God – NOT how we become Children of God.

Jesus is saying in this parable, “Where are your priorities? Do you look beyond the moment and the gratification of very temporary wants and needs or do you look to the future — to Eternity?

I said before that money can be a tool — a tool that a child of God can use to provide for the basic needs of the individual and the family — and also to give glory to God’s holy name. The text said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.”And so in this world God entrusts to our care part of his creation. He puts us in charge of certain blessings that He himself bestows upon us. Today’s text deals with money — but being stewards, or managers, of God’s gifts to us reaches beyond the money God gives, to the time that he gives us, and to the talents that he shares with us, and to the abilities that he gives us, even to the very life that he gives. How do we use that which he gives? He is the master of all that we have and we are the managers — the stewards of his abundant blessings.

We can be selfish, like the dishonest servant in the parable and use God’s blessings to our own advantage — or we can be faithful stewards of the blessings of God and use them to God’s glory and to the welfare of others.

Remember Jesus warning in the text, “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.”

So where do your priorities lie? Are they with temporal matters of this world? Or are they with God? Are you worried about the here and now? Or the “here-after”? Is Money a tool which you use to serve God and others? or is money your master which rules over your life and controls your life?

May the grace and strength which God gives, guide and direct us as we manage the blessings and gifts God has given us, and may our Lord and King, forgive our short comings and bless our efforts as we give Glory to his Holy Name through all the gifts he gives to us. Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.