WHAT DOES OUR USE OF MONEY REVEAL ABOUT US? LUKE 16:1-18 AUGUST 26, 2007

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1 WHAT DOES OUR USE OF MONEY REVEAL ABOUT US? LUKE 16:1-18 AUGUST 26, 2007 In looking at my family history, every medical professional I have encountered is concerned about my risk of stroke. Both of my grandfathers died of a stroke. And 11 years ago, my dad suffered a stroke which cost him the use of the left side of his body. As a result, my doctor watches a couple indicators -- my blood pressure and cholesterol level. They are just numbers, except for the strong connection doctors have found between these numbers and the risk of stroke. Just as I have inherited a propensity to suffer a stroke, so we all have inherited a tendency to live for ourselves. God created us to live for Him. But in our sin nature, we reject His design for our life. This choice to live for ourselves causes a separation in our relationship with God. Jesus Christ died to restore our relationship with God and empower us to live for Him. But all of Christ s followers are at risk of living for self instead of God. How do we know how we are doing in living for God? Just as my blood pressure and cholesterol level are indicators of my physical condition, so our use of money is an indicator of our spiritual condition. God watches our use of money not because He needs our money but because of what it says about the condition of our heart. So, what does are use of money reveal about us? If you have a Bible please open it to Luke 16:1-18. We will look at this passage and answer the question, What does our use of money reveal about us? Our passage opens with Jesus telling a story. Let s read verses Now He was also saying to the disciples, There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager. 3 The manager said to himself, What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes. 5 And he summoned each one of his master s debtors, and he began saying to the first, How much do you owe my master? 6 And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty. 7 Then he said to another, And how much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. He said to him, Take your bill, and write eighty. 8 And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. I once heard a speaker say that this is the most difficult parable to interpret in the Bible. There was a manager who had access to his master s wealth in business affairs. This was a position of status. But because he squandered his master s wealth, he was losing his position. With his loss of position, this manager had two options manual labor or begging. Neither option was attractive to him. So what was he to do? He decided to use his last few days on the job to win favor with people. He cut people s bills. You owe my boss a hundred dollars? Make it eighty and we ll call it good. You owe two hundred bucks? Give me one 1

2 hundred fifty and I ll take it off the books. And with his debt slashing plan, this soon-to be unemployed manager won himself a place in people s hearts and homes. Now here is the shocking part about this parable: the master praises the unrighteous manager because he acted shrewdly. We would think the master would be furious. First, the manager squanders his resources. Then after the master fires him, the manager spends his last few days on the job using the master s resources to win himself favor in order to provide for himself after he leaves the job. If the parable is not confusing enough by itself, Jesus commentary on the parable confounds us. Let s read verses For the sons of this age are shrewder in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. 9 And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. What is Jesus commending here? Is He commending the manager s poor business practices or his unethical behavior? No, of course not. However, Jesus is commending and recommending this man s shrewdness to us. In fact, in verse 8, Jesus laments the fact that people who don t follow Him are shrewder than those who do follow Him. And how are we supposed to live out this shrewdness? We are to act like the manager in the parable by using money entrusted to us by God to win favor. Just as the manager used his master s money to secure earthly dwellings, we are to use the money God entrusts to us to secure eternal dwellings. It is interesting that Jesus values our shrewdness. He laments the fact that His followers are not shrewder. Jesus calls us to be innocent as doves and shrewd as serpents. Often people buy into the innocent as doves but forget the shrewd as serpent part of that saying. Often Christ followers think that innocence and shrewdness don t go together. According to Jesus, they do. So whether it is the use of money or time or buying and selling or parenting or whatever, Jesus wants us to be shrewd. Everything we have is from Him and Jesus wants us to use His resources well. In earlier passages in Luke, Jesus is clear that He wants us to give without expectation of return. Jesus criticizes the Pharisees because they invite people to their gatherings in the hopes they will get a return invitation. Jesus rejects the Pharisees practice of using invitations to meals as a way to enhance their social status. Jesus told His followers to invite people who were too poor to return an invitation. So, Jesus is not calling us to use the resources He entrusts to us to gain an earthly dwelling, rather He is calling us to use those resources to secure a heavenly dwelling. Verses will help us understand Jesus point. 10 He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 And if you have not been 2

3 faithful in the use of that which is another s, who will give you that which is your own? In verse 10, the very little thing refers to money and earthly resources. Jesus calls the world s resources a little thing because He doesn t think that they are important. But He entrusts us with money to see if He can entrust us with greater things. In verse 11, He repeats the idea. He says If I can t trust you with unrighteous wealth, worldly resources, how can I trust you with true riches? In verse 12, Jesus says, If I can t trust you with My money and earthly resources, how can I someday give you your own wealth? From God s perspective all that we have is His. Everything we own, our house, our car, our clothes, is given to us by Him. As He observes our lives, the question He asks is, What are you going to do with my resources? Are you going to spend My resources on yourself? Or will you use My resources to fulfill My purposes -- advancing My kingdom and taking care of the poor? If you show yourself faithful in this little thing, then I can trust you with greater resources with true riches. We do this all the time. If our kids show us they can handle a little freedom, we give them greater freedom. If an employee shows he can handle a little responsibility, we give them greater responsibility. God doesn t need our money. He owns everything. He uses money to see if He can trust us with greater riches. In the end, money is a test of our heart. Either we will use money to serve our own desires and purposes or we will use money to serve God s purposes. Look at verse No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. We can seek to gather money and things. And in the process we might sacrifice our family, our health and our integrity. Or we can seek to serve God. When we serve God, instead of gathering money and things, we use our resources to expand God s kingdom and to help people in need. You can t serve God and money. It would be like a track star training for the 100 meter dash and the marathon. You can t do both. You either train for sprints or for endurance. What does our use of money reveal about us? Our use of money reveals whether our priorities and desires are for God or for self. Our use of money reveals whether our priorities and desires are for God or for self. This subject makes us uncomfortable. We live in a culture that encourages us to live for money and things. People work incredible hours and put themselves under incredible pressure so they can have more money, a bigger house or a newer car. Those that love money resist this message. Jesus has such people in His audience. They are the religious leaders. Look at how they respond to Jesus in verse Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. 3

4 Because they were lovers of money, they scoffed at Jesus. Look at Jesus response in verse And He said to them, You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. What is the Pharisees problem? They seek to justify themselves in the eyes of people. That is our culture. We seek the approval of people with our cars, homes, clothes, etc. Look at my stuff, aren t I something? Jesus says, I know. I can see your heart. He goes on to say that their value system is detestable in the sight of God. According to Jesus the reason we go after stuff is that we are seeking human approval. Maybe if we understood that we have the approval of God through Jesus Christ, we wouldn t be so inclined to go after stuff. I think it is a good time for all of us to consider, What does our desire for money and things say about our understanding of God s approval of us? Are we trying to fill a need for God s approval by getting a bigger home, a newer car, a better job? These things aren t bad in and of themselves, but when we set our heart and affection on them something is wrong. A while back, I heard one of my favorite professors, Craig Blomberg, give a message on stewardship. I had him for numerous classes at Denver Seminary. Before working there, he went to Aberdeen, Scotland to get his Ph. D in New Testament. While there, he and his wife got connected with some Christians who were committed to living simply. A few years ago, several of those friends from Scotland were in the U.S. and called him to visit. He admitted that he was nervous for them to see his house, cars and lifestyle. Though by our standards he was living a modest lifestyle, he knew his Scottish friends would view his lifestyle as extravagant. This example reminds us that our culture expands our understanding of what we need. So as we consider whether or not we are living a Godly lifestyle, let s not make our culture our gauge. Let s not make our neighbors our gauge. Let s come before God and allow Him to show us what we truly need. In verses 16-18, Jesus tells His listeners that He brings a fresh and expansive view of the grace of God. As we see throughout Luke s Gospel Jesus is reaching out to those rejected by the religious leaders, the poor, the sinners, and the rejected. With Jesus arrival, everyone is being urged to enter the kingdom of God. Yet, Jesus arrival doesn t mean that He is doing away with the law. He is not replacing the Old Testament with some new teaching. Rather, as Matthew 5:17 says, Jesus came to complete the law. As an example, in verse 18, Jesus declares that He is still pro-marriage and anti-divorce. I know the topic of divorce and remarriage is a complicated subject. In a few weeks, I will devote a sermon to the subject of divorce and remarriage. This morning, I am asking you to consider the use of the resources that God has entrusted to you. Specifically, I want to ask you to consider supporting God s work here at North Pointe. Over the past year, God has faithfully met our needs. But we want to run passionately toward our vision of seeking God together through knowing Him deeply, 4

5 connecting with each other richly, and influencing our world broadly. We believe that we ll be able to accelerate that journey by bringing some part-time staff onto our leadership team who can come alongside us in strategic ways as we trust God for this vision. For example, as I look at the young men and women who are a part of our youth group, I m so encouraged because I realize that that group represents the future leadership of our church, and these are the people God will work through in years to come to influence our world broadly for Christ. Ray and Kara and Chad and Kelly have been doing a bang-up job of investing in these kids. But we think to ourselves, What would God do, and what kind of deepened and expanded impact would He have through us if we were able to call a part-time youth director to give even more focused attention to our youth than the LeMoines and Hamiltons are able to do because of their job responsibilities? That s just one example of how we see God moving us toward our vision as He leads us in this congregation to invest His resources shrewdly for the sake of the kingdom. If you are not giving to our general fund, would you consider starting to do that? Also, we are in the process of the Journey Home. We are looking for a permanent home for two reasons. First, we can t rent space here at North Star forever. Second, a permanent home will help us reach people. Two weeks ago, Amy and I had lunch with a man who planted a church about 10 years ago in Lincoln. They spent their first 7 years meeting in a school. He told us that as soon as they move into a new building, they had the opportunity to minister to more people. Apparently, having your won building gives a sense of permanency and people are more apt to come to a church service. So, this investment in the Journey Home is an investment in people. Our own place to meet is a tool in reaching people. Last January, we asked people to consider making a 3 year pledge over and above what they are giving to the general fund. If you made a commitment, we ask that you continue to fulfill that commitment. If you were not in a position to make a commitment last January or if you have joined us since last January, would you consider being a part of the Journey Home? Would you take a couple weeks to pray and see what God would have you do? And if God would lead you to be a part of this, would you turn your commitment card in the offering by September 30? You will notice that there is not a place for your name on the commitment card. We will not use this card to track you. We will not come looking for you if you don t turn in a card. This is a commitment between you and God. We just ask that you let us know how God is leading you by turning in your card. In the summer of 1983, as a college student, I spent 12 weeks in Panama City, Florida on a summer mission with Campus Crusade. About the second week, we went on a day-long tubing trip that was miserable. It started to rain, it was cold and we just wanted to be done. There was a lot of complaining and griping among the students. Half way through the summer, the staff team leaves and turns over leadership of the mission to the students. Before he left, the staff director told us that the staff team made many of their leadership decisions based on student s attitudes during that tubing trip. They knew that leadership of the mission would be challenging. Before turning over a leadership position to a student, they wanted to be sure they could trust the student in a little difficulty, like the tubing trip. In the same way, God judges our use of money as to whether or not, He can trust us with greater richer, with spiritual riches. Before trusting us with something valuable like spiritual riches, He wants us to show our self trustworthy with little riches like money. What does our use of money reveal about us? Our use of money reveals whether our priorities and desires are for God or for self. 5