Lie, cheat, do what ever it takes?

SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2013

A veritable treasure trove of wisdom

Luke 16:9-15 NLT

Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.  And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?  And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own? “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” The Pharisees, who dearly loved their money, heard all this and scoffed at him. Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.

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The stealthy wealth of wise statements above is Jesus summary of the story I pasted below.

(if you are unfamiliar with the story you may need to read it first below before reading my thoughts, otherwise you may not understand.)

Many people struggle with the story of the "shrewd servant." But I think it is because the parable told by Jesus was designed to reveal the misplaced love of money. People might say that it is the commendation of dishonesty that doesn't sit well with them. But rather than the dishonesty it is usually the collusion to deprive the owner of more wealth. I'm not condoning theft, white collar crime, lying or conspiracy to defraud. But actually neither is Jesus. So what is Jesus commending so voraciously? Firstly, I think the "shrewd servant"  believed in a coming judgment. He could read the hand writing on the wall and did whatever it took to avoid the penalty of judgement. Even before we get to the money issues we need to see the essence of the Gospel message begins with the problem of sin and the resulting coming wrath of God. The guy in the scenario took fully on board the impending dilemma and considered his options. Have you? Secondly, our intrepid manager understood he'd never have the resources to face the future alone. He wasn't a rugged indiviualist who by pulling himself up by his own boot straps (that bootstrap act never works by the way, defies the laws of physics and such.) was going to make it on his own. No man's an island and all that jazz. Nope, this sentenced fellow sought strength in numbers. He realised his future would be found in the kindness of others. All our resources, our money, our influence, or networks need to be leveraged towards one goal. Money and friends are worthless unless used for a greater goal. But the goal Jesus had in mind was far greater than the future comfort of this simple yet shrewd steward. Jesus says that if selfish people have the foresight to look ahead and pad things out for their retirement on earth because they can see the inevitable coming, how much more should we who believe in the Kingdom of God be using everything at our disposal to secure the future of as many people as can be? And you bet that means your money. Of course Jesus means your honestly earned or inherited money but your money should never be about your temporal comfort or personal accumulation. Your money (ha, nothing is yours really)  is and was always meant for you to further God's kingdom. All that you have been entrusted with is for heavenly purpose, first, last, full stop! Period!

It's not yours, it never was. So what are you doing with your master's wealth? Whose future are you securing? What friends are you making? How are you demonstrating you serve Jesus and not your own self interests?

Can you see that Jesus isn't condoning this guy at all? He's saying by comparison, do you believe in your future (actually God's) as much? What are you doing about it? How are you as a steward? Maybe like Janet Jackson, Jesus is saying to you today," what have you done for me lately? "

The little things are the common grace things afforded everyone by a gracious God. So what for his Kingdom are you doing with the air you breath and the food you eat? Want more? Will you use it to see more people into his kingdom? That's the question God is asking you? Even Job, who was excessively rich, used his wealth for the good of the poor and the weak. Job secured justice in the courts for those whose poverty would only work against them.

The question is do you love God? Do you believe that his kingdom is the most important thing is to seek. Show it by your use of your money, power, and influence, as little as it may be.

Like Rahab? Do what it takes! Save yourself, save your family and friends!

(some thoughts influenced by Tim Chester's sermon http://www.thecrowdedhouse.org/luke#)

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Luke 16:1-8 NLT

Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money.  So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’ “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg.  Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’ “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’  The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons. ’ “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels. ’ “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light.