Luke 16:1-18. The Shrewd Manager. No-one can serve two masters. Recap of series so far, aim and repristination

Transcription

1 Luke 16:1-18 The Shrewd Manager No-one can serve two masters. Recap of series so far, aim and repristination Well, I hope you ve been enjoying the series so far. If you weren t here for the beginning, let me say that for the last couple of weeks we ve been looking at Luke chapter 15- the three parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, the prodigal son. Of course they re all kind of mis-named because the real star of each story is the person doing the searching, and they tell us wonderful things about the heart of God. Jesus was speaking to a mixed audience of self-righteous Pharisees and teachers of the law, and religious outcasts- sinners and tax collectors. The religious elite have been muttering and complaining that this would-be wise man is hanging round with the lowest of the low, and Jesus response in those three parables basically shows them that they really don t have a clue about the character and nature of the God they claim to worship. The picture in Luke 15 is of an amazing, searching God. The religious leaders are right- he does hate evil, his wrath does burn against wickedness, but that doesn t stop him from searching out the weak, and broken, and the lost. So as a shepherd he s prepared to leave his flock behind and venture into danger, the wilderness, rejoicing over bringing one lost sheep to safety. As the woman in the second parable he s prepared to search ceaselessly until he finds something which is of great value to him... and beautifully we heard last week that as the Father he s prepared to abandon propriety, and humble himself, as he goes to invite each of his lost sons back into loving relationship with him. They re pictures of a God whose heart is to search out and rescue his lost children, through costly, Tim would even say Radical, love. The shock to the righteous was that God would even search out sinners and tax collectors, maybe more surprising to us now as these parables are so familiar he s a God who even reaches out to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, the elder brothers in that story, although of course it s not clear how he eventually reacted and of course what should surprise us most if we stop and reflect a little is that this is a God who in his heart longs even to search us out- lost and sinful children far outside of Israel. Sadly we know that many, or maybe even most of Jesus audience that day didn t accept that message, they didn t respond to this picture of a God who at his heart longs and searches for his lost children. Many in fact set themselves in direct opposition to him, ultimately crucifying his Son. Jesus message polarises humanity- Paul describes it as the stench of death to people who reject it, but the aroma of life to those who re being saved.

2 So our question for the rest of this series is really what does it look like to respond to this God? how can we be like the younger brother, and joyfully receive his grace? That seems to be the thrust of Jesus teaching in Luke 16 and 17, what will his disciples look like, and how will that be different to the hardened hearts of Israel and its leaders? A word which was bandied about in our preacher s group was repristination, personally I think Peter made it up, I wouldn t try it in Scrabble, but it carries the idea of scraping away the accretions- all the additions, and rules, and obstacles and objections all the rubbish which we build up around our faith, to get back to that simple, pristine response of a lost child to God s grace. How do we respond to this searching heart of God? This morning we ll look at Jesus first message for his disciples, it s spelt out pretty clearly- no one can serve two masters Jesus polarises his audience to respond to this searching God his disciples will have to choose where they invest their loyalty, and their time, and their resources. Read parable, explore why it d confusing So- Jesus told his disciples... read v1-9 How does that story strike you, initially? I think in some ways it s quite confusing isn t it? Several of the people I ve spoken to about it have said that they found it difficult, or a bit uncomfortable. The manager here is clearly dishonest, what he does is wrong... he defrauds his employer for personal gain. It s essentially theft... but then he s commended, first by his employer, and then by Jesus, who says imitate this, learn from him. So what do we make of that? Is this an encouragement to defraud our employers? Where s God in the parable? How does this mesh with later instructions to live such good lives that no one can make an honest complaint against the gospel? Let me suggest a couple of reasons why we might find this story confusing. First of all most of us will come to it with plenty of past experience of parables, and so we ll have some initial assumptions. Probably the key one here is that when we see a rich man with servants, or a master, or someone in charge, our immediate response is going to be to equate them with God, because he s THE rich man, THE master, THE guy in charge. Often that works well, but in this parable it doesn t fit at all. The rich man here is emphatically not God, if anything he represents the exact opposite, and despite our expectations God is only loosely included in this parable, he s a bit part... barely seen on screen. So when the manager cheats his master he s NOT defrauding God, he s cheating someone else. A second assumption is that we expect to learn certain things from a parable. If behaviour is bad or foolish we expect to be told that it s bad or foolish... and similarly if it s

3 good and desirable we expect that to be spelled out. But in this parable it s not immediately clear what s good behaviour and what s wicked. The Rich man commends his servant, even though his actions would clearly make them into implacable enemies... but that s not because he likes the servant, or owes him any favours- it s more commending him through gritted teeth well done, you ve pulled a good move, I ll get you back if I can - the way you might congratulate someone who you don t like much who s just crushed you in a game of squash. And again- Jesus seems to tell his disciples to imitate what is clearly wicked behaviour. It s important to note then that the manager doesn t represent a Christian disciple... Jesus describes him as a man of this world. The point isn t that he s righteous, it s that he thinks about the future, and prepares for it, he works out where his loyalties lie, and acts accordingly. Those are the lessons we can learn from him without actually imitating him too closely. So we don t have a clear picture of God or his kingdom in this parable, and we don t have a good example of discipleship to follow... what do we have? Well Jesus tells us the point in verse 13: 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. Christ s disciples and his opponents will approach the world from completely different perspectives- their loyalties are in completely different places, and they should act accordingly. It s obvious one way round isn t it- to a Christian the life of a non-believer will seem wrong. When we sit down and think it through we find our value in God, in his kingdom and grace. By comparison worldly priorities seem foolish. We try and fail to leave them behind. But I think sometimes we forget that the reverse is true too to the world around us Christians look like they re basing their lives on absurd misconceptions. I think it was C. S. Lewis that said if we re wrong we re more pitiful than anyone else. That might usually only come through in gentle mockery and confusion, but honestly we don t have to look far to find the scorn and contempt that Christianity inspires in some. Christianity isn t normal life plus a little bit- it s a totally new set of priorities. You cannot serve two masters- their positions and priorities are diametrically opposed. You cannot believe Christ s message, and respond to him, and yet dabble in the world. You cannot cling to your former master, and just dip your toes into Christianity. It doesn t work, says Jesus- you will have to choose. And so it is with this manager- the accusation has been made that he s wasting his master s possessions, and whether that s true or not he s going to be out of a job. This is of

4 course a culture without a dole line, or much by way of state provision, for him to lose his job is to lose everything- unless he s already got grown up children he ll have no one else to provide for him- so of course his immediate worry is what do I do next? How do I keep bread on the table? Perhaps through a mixture of pride and a realistic knowledge of his capabilities he doesn t have many options- he doesn t feel cut out for manual labour, and he can t even consider the possibility of life as a beggar, that would be too great a fall to contemplate. It doesn t even occur to him to look for another job as a manager- he s probably not going to come with a great reference! He has no hope at the moment, his former master will not sustain him, and he cannot provide for himself... but fortunately he hits on a solution- for a brief while he is still in the Rich man s household, but he decides he no longer owes this Rich Man any loyalty. It s no longer important for him to preserve his master s investments, or to follow the old priorities. All that matters now is for him to impress new friends, to impress someone who will provide for him. The best targets, the people who are easiest to contact, and who he can be the most useful to are his master s debtors, so he phones them up, calls them into the office, and serves them well. He doesn t seem to be able to cancel their bills, maybe that wasn t legally possible, but he certainly cuts a lot off their interest doesn t he? He halves one bill, and knocks a fifth of the next saves about 6 tons of wheat. I confess I don t know how much money that equates to, but I think it s safe to assume that if he s doing this to many debtors rather than just these two examples then he s probably buying a significant number of favours for the future. But that s not really the point- the key is that the only way for him to impress his new friends, is to utterly betray and short change his former employer. He cannot look to the future and still serve his boss, benefiting one has to mean hurting the other. Loving his current master would mean losing future friends. Gaining future security means despising his master s investments. He cannot do both, he has to choose. Perhaps you think it s a far fetched situation, but I ve heard very clear modern analogues- friends of friends who work in city firms and in the course of normal career progression have taken jobs with the current opposition. The minute they hand they re notice in they re told to pack their stuff and they re escorted from the premises, sent home on full pay for the remainder of their contract. Why? Well precisely to stop this, to stop them currying favour with their new bosses by gathering details about their current business plans. The employers of this world are more shrewd even than the characters in this parable. They think where their loyalties lie, and act accordingly. That s the story then, what s Jesus saying to us? Well straightforwardly it s verse 13 again- you cannot serve two masters, you will have to choose between God and Money, or between God and wealth, the riches that the world has to offer us Jesus certainly extends

5 the analogy to Status doesn t he, that s what the Pharisees seem preoccupied with. In many ways we are like the manager in the story- our contract with the world is coming to an end. Obviously there s the universal, slightly morbid sense of that in that there will come a time when the powers and riches of this world will not be able to provide for us any longer we will die, how will the world provide for us then? If you re not a believer you might well say well that s just life, it does end, make the best of what you ve got now, but by this stage in Luke s gospel Jesus has already stated way back in chapter 9 verse 22 that he intends to die and then rise again, and he goes on to invite his disciples into that life. A key claim of Christianity is that there is a resurrection, and that there is more to life than our three score years and ten and we would point to Jesus death and resurrection as our guarantee of that. Now, I can t fault you if you re sceptical about that, but why not at least look over the last five or six chapters of each of the gospel accounts, and look at the evidence presented? Or maybe chat with one of the Christians here today, ask them why they re convinced that there s more to life than just this? Jesus says look to the future- the world will fail you- who will provide for you next? Even if you re not convinced by him, that s an important question to be dealing with. Of course, if you re a Christian then there s a second way that we resemble the manager- he s accused of wasting his master s riches, and to be a Christian is to start down that path. The Bible claims that in rejecting God we ve ended up completely enthralled by sin. That s the rich man in the parable. We re ensnared and tangled up, and not pleasing to God in any way we re under his rule, we re his slaves. But when by grace God begins to break us out of that mould we start to see the hollowness of the things which dragged us down, we start to serve different priorities- we become bad servants, disobedient slaves to the world and so where Christians can t be persuaded back to normal worldly priorities they get rejected instead, and experience opposition and persecution, varying from petty mockery to violence and hatred. The rich man tells his servant give an account of yourself because you cannot be manager any longer, so he shrewdly makes friends who will provide for him. The wealth of this world will fail you, it will reject you, it will not meet your needs or provide lasting satisfaction, how will you shrewdly gain sanctuary? Jesus says that we no longer owe allegiance to our former worldly masters- Money, Popularity, Success, Comfort- and we cannot love God without abandoning their priorities. In fact we may even need to Squander their wealth deliberately like this servant did in order to be faithful to our new purpose.

6 He s not simply saying that worldly wealth is valueless compared to heavenly treasure, although that message comes through clearly from other sections of the New Testament. He s saying that the value of worldly riches is that they can be spent now for heavenly gain. So the question to ask ourselves now isn t where s my security? What s my treasure? Is it my income, my bank balance, is it my family, is it my clothing, is it my car, or is it Jesus? That s a great question, but what this parable is pointing us towards is How are my income, my bank balance, my home, my family, my car, my clothing, my friendships, my status, my time how are these things going to be put to work to please a new master? I should of course be absolutely clear that it s not the things we do that earn us safety and relationship with God. In the parable of the lost sons that was the stance of the older brother, and it didn t gain much. It s God who searches us out, and it s by his power and costly love that anyone who trusts in Jesus will have their sins wiped away at the cross. But if we re going to receive that grace it means living in a whole new set of priorities not holding on to our old master. And uncomfortable though it can be there re also pretty clear indications that some Christians will have great rewards in heaven, while we re told that others will be saved like people pulled from a burning house, having foolishly held on to the wrong things for as long as possible, and so ending up with nothing more than the skins on their backs. Look at verses From a worldly point of view everything we have now is ours to use- eat, drink and be merry but from God s perspective we ve been entrusted with a few small riches and talents which could be put to work for his kingdom, how shall we use them? The potential rewards are great- the joy of encouraging and building up Christ s church. The joy of fellowship with them and with other Christians who might have heard and responded to the gospel in part due to our efforts. The apostle Paul describes the churches he plants as his crown of glory in heaven, and who knows what wonders and honours God has in store for his servants. Or would it be better to hold onto the world as best we can, and enjoy a few years of whatever security we can buy then enter heaven with nothing? The only value that Jesus claims for a Christian s wealth is in working towards our new master s goals. So we can t really kid ourselves can we? We can t simply live nice, comfy, western lives, providing for ourselves, and worshipping God. There s no middle ground in verse 13 is there? Living for God and living for wealth and prosperity are incompatible, I know that when I try to do a bit of both I find it unsustainable. I can t realistically offer Sundays to God, but Saturdays just to myself. Or offer time but not money, or vice versa. We can t offer our heart but not our lives. Either we ll grow better understanding of God s character, and other things will pale beside him, or possibly more likely resentment at the loss of our treasures will seep in and colour our thinking against

7 service or generosity. How many times have you found yourself resenting an obligation to church because of the way it encroaches on your life, instead of rejoicing at the service you share in? I know I ve felt that many times. Like the servant we ve got two entirely contradictory sets of priorities to follow that s what s going on with the Pharisees, they scoffed at Jesus- we re told in verse 14 they love money, and Jesus says they love to justify themselves in other people s eyes. Their priorities are all wrong, their hearts are detestable to God, and in turn they sneered at Jesus teachings. His audience was polarised. We cannot love the world and its wealth and God. So let me ask some of the difficult questions- this servant short changes his master to win new friends. Are you doing that to the world? If you stop and assess your possessions and your talents, what are they being used towards? Is it the priorities of the old master- worldliness- or the new- building God s kingdom, serving his church, reaching out to the lost? I have to confess that the majority of my energies are essentially being used in ways that are pretty indistinguishable from the normal ways of the world. It s not that there s anything wrong with having a car, a flat, a television, an impending marriage that s all nice and good, but are those things just there to serve my current needs and desires? Or like the accounts that servant managed could they be put to better use? One of the normal applications to draw out here is our attitude to money- is our wealth there for our benefit or do we put it to good use? What s the state of your giving like? Are we being trustworthy from God s point of view? Are we using this small amount that we ve been entrusted with well? Or are we clinging onto it and depending on our wallets for life confidence? Well fair enough, but I think the implications stretch much further than our money I m sure you ll need to think it through for yourself, but an example occurred to me- What about our homes and families? It s great at the end of the day isn t it to be able to go home and change gears, maybe not relax if you ve got children, but at least to have that divide between work-life, or public-life, and home-life, a sort of sanctuary for yourself. A pleasant home and family is a great thing, a blessing, but has that been entrusted to you for a purpose? I have my own flat, and plenty of time that s lovely for me, but do I put it to good use? Am I faithful with what I ve been given? I know for my part that I ve experienced huge blessings through other Christians, whether single or married, showing me hospitality and sharing their homes with me. But I m also aware that my tendency is to be much more withdrawn, and inward looking. Staying involved in church, but tending to separate off my

8 home life for my own benefit, and I can imagine in a few years as a family develops I might well be tempted to close off even more. Partly that s down to personality- some people are more natural hosts- but I suspect that if I m to faithfully use what I ve been entrusted with it ll need to look rather different to that, and would mean working at hospitality and welcoming others... What about you, have you been blessed and trusted with a treasure, and how can you put it to use? That might just mean hosting your homegroup from time to time, it might mean inviting church friends over- building fellowship through hospitality. Or it might mean deliberately setting out to offer hospitality frequently, even to people you don t know well what better form of evangelism than to be welcomed into a Christian household living out the faith, warts and all. You could ask Richard and Catherine Weston about the opportunity to host international students, and the impact that can have. What would it look like for you to be trustworthy in handling your home? Or what about your use of your time and talents? Obviously we ve each only got finite energy, there are only so many hours in the day, and the obligations of work, and family, and rest do deserve to be given priority but at the same time the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. What would it look like to be trustworthy with the time and abilities that you have been given? Obviously, just within church there s great need for more workers in Junior church, as homegroup leaders, in the evening service, maintaining and improving the building or who knows what opportunities you have outside the church to put what you ve been entrusted with to good use- to invest your time and energy for God s purposes and priorities. Or do you say I m poor literally or metaphorically I just don t have much to give? Jesus says yeah you re right but whoever can be trusted with that little bit can later be trusted with much, much more. I m not trying to put you on a guilt trip, the motivation in the story is more positive than that- the servant is looking to his future gain, and Jesus is clear that there are great rewards to be had investing in God s kingdom seems a drag, but that s only because it s the expectation of the world, our ex-master, that we should work hard simply to carve out leisure time. On the other hand with the searching God of Luke 15 part of the prize he grants his lost sheep when they receive his grace is that he loves to equip them, and send them out to search with him, and he loves for them to join him in rejoicing over those who re found. Jesus is telling his disciples that to respond to the searching God, to be like the younger son and be welcomed back into relationship with the Father means choosing him

9 over money and wealth. It means investing their efforts for God s purposes, even if from the world s point of view it seems like a foolish waste. So: What would it look like for you to be a trustworthy servant of God, across all areas of your life? What are the things that you could be investing in his kingdom? How can your different forms of wealth, however great or small, be used for his purposes? Bear in mind that their only real value is in serving his kingdom. And what are the things that you re inclined to hold back? What would be asking too much, what won t you use up or relinquish? How can we be more like the younger son from chapter 15? How can we respond to a God who comes and searches us out, and invites us back to him? We choose him over everything else, and we invest all of our energies in Him. If that seems like a high price then just consider the rewards- the investment pays off with a chance to join in God s work of searching for his lost sheep. It yields the chance to rejoice with him as the lost are brought back to his kingdom. It builds you into a church, the glory of God, a body of people with common purpose and common joy. And of course it yields the riches of heaven to come. I think that s probably worthwhile!