9/30/07 - Pentecost 18 - Luke 16:1-13

ARE YOU A TRUSTWORTHY MANAGER?
- What you have is not your own
- You are to make friends for eternity

Our sermon text for today is the Parable of the Shrewd Manager that Jesus told in Luke 16. But have you ever wondered why he told it? Doesn’t this parable seem a little strange to you? Jesus tells us of a manager whose master accused him of wasting his possessions - and the manager lost his job because of it. But before he was officially kicked out of work he went around to those who owed his master money and took off a significant portion of their loans so that they would welcome him into their homes when he no longer had a job to support himself. And the master actually commended the dishonest manager for his actions! Not because he acted dishonestly, but because he had acted shrewdly (clever in practical things) by making friends for himself before it was too late.
So why did Jesus tell this parable? Well, just like any parable, there is a specific point of comparison. If I would tell you that you are as smart as Einstein, I wouldn’t mean that you are scatterbrained, speak German, and have frizzy white hair. My point of comparison is your intelligence compared to Albert Einstein’s intelligence. In the same way Jesus’ parables all have specific points of comparison. And in this particular parable he actually makes two of them.
His first point of comparison that we want to look at today is in verse 12: “If you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” Jesus’ point of comparison is: what you have is not your own. Just like the manager in the parable was entrusted with his master’s possessions, you have been given charge over God’s property. He has simply lent it to you for a while. That’s the first point. The second point of comparison is in verse 9. And I want you to look at this verse on the back of your bulletins because the last phrase should read something a little different than it does in the NIV: “Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.” Notice that the last phrase is: “they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.” Those friends that you are to make by means of worldly wealth will welcome you into heaven. That means these are more than just the normal, every day friends you make on this earth. These are spiritual friends, spiritual brothers and sisters you make on this earth that will last for eternity. And that is the second point of comparison that Jesus makes. Just as the manager made friends for himself with his master’s possessions who would welcome him into their homes later, we are to use our Master’s possessions to make spiritual friends who will welcome us in our eternal home. And so in this parable Jesus is not commending dishonesty in any way. He is not saying that we are to use money to bride people into becoming earthly friends for this life. What Jesus is saying is that he expects Christians to be trustworthy managers.
Are you a trustworthy manger? To be a trustworthy manager you are to make spiritual friends with your Master’s possessions, and you must understand that what you have is not your own. Your vehicles, your house, your family heirlooms, your wedding rings, your children… None of these things is actually yours. “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). So not only everything you have is the Lord’s, but that also includes yourself! Your time, your talents, your abilities, your skills, yourself - all that makes you you really belongs to the Lord. “You are not your own,” Paul says, “you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:20). The Lord has given you everything that you have so that you can take care of it for him. You are simply his manager. But have you been a trustworthy one?
To answer that question for yourself, a good place to start would be in your checkbook. Look at what you’ve spent your money on and why. Have you used God’s money in the way he would want it used? Look at your day to day schedule. What do you spend your time on and why. Have you used God’s time in a way he would want it used? Look at your talents and abilities. What do you do and help with and accomplish and why? Have you used the talents and abilities that God has given you in a way that he would want them used? Look at yourself. Have you honored God with the body, mind, heart, and strength he has loaned to you in every aspect of the life he has blessed you with?
Can you really claim to be a trustworthy manager of those gifts God has given you? I don’t think I can. Because my mind automatically thinks, “What do I want to spend my money on? What do I want to use my time for? What do I want to accomplish with my talents and abilities? What do I want to do with my body, my mind, my heart, my strength to make me happy?” Don’t you think like that? Isn’t that the way we all think all the time? It doesn’t even cross our minds that we are actually managers of God’s possessions, that we should do what God wants us to do, that his will is not only more important than ours, it is the only thing that is important. We are his managers entrusted with possessions that he has given us. But by the way we have selfishly spent, used, hoarded, and even wasted the things he has given us, we have not proved ourselves to be trustworthy in the least bit.
And remember: the untrustworthy manager in our parable today lost his job because of his incompetence. Why shouldn’t we lose ours? Why should the Lord keep on giving his possessions to us when we continually waste them and use them for selfish gain? There is no reason for the Lord to keep on giving us blessing upon blessing upon blessing! He has every reason to stop. He has every reason to fire us from our job as managers! And if we were never to receive another blessing from the Lord as long as we live we would have nothing to complain about. Because we don’t deserve another blessing to squander. And the scary thing is: Jesus says in our text today, “If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” If we have not proven trustworthy with the temporary blessings God has given us on this earth, why should we expect that he will entrust us with the true eternal riches of Paradise? If our future was based on how well we managed God’s property on this earth, we would be in a hopeless situation. There would be nothing on our résumé that would be impressive to our Lord. After all, all things are God’s possessions. He knows exactly how they have been misused.
Thankfully our future is not based on our job performance. Our future is based on the job performance of Christ. When he was on this earth he used all of his gifts responsibly, conscientiously, perfectly. He used, spent, and handled his talents and abilities without a fault. He prayed to his Father, listened to his Father, and did exactly what his Father wanted him to do at all times. “I have come down from heaven not to do my will,” Jesus said, “but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day” (John 6:38-39). Jesus’ goal while he was on earth was not to gain glory for himself, but for us. Because that was his Father’s will. Jesus was determined not to lose any of those who believed in him. And despite what we have done, regardless of our disobedience and abuse of responsibility, Jesus says that he will raise us up on the last day. He will bring us to heaven. We will share in the glorious rewards of perfection because of the perfection Jesus displayed on earth. Yes, we have failed to be the managers we are supposed to be. But Jesus didn’t. And so because he rightfully earned eternal glory, we who believe in him will be lifted up with him to his Father’s right hand.
That’s not the way things normally happen, is it? Usually in life if your neighbor or coworker or friend does something well, they get the credit, they are honored, they are promoted, they are recognized. Not you. You gain nothing from what somebody else has done. But no one on earth is quite like Christ. No one on earth has the authority to transfer a flawless record to you. But Christ does. No one on earth has the power to wipe away everything you have ever done wrong. But Christ does. No one on earth has the kind of love it takes to want to sacrifice himself in order to do the first two. But Christ does. Jesus has the authority, the power, and the love to do all of those things - and he has. And so it is no longer necessary for us to look back at how we have mismanaged God’s possessions. It is only necessary for us to look to him in whom we believe.
Are we trustworthy managers? Definitely not enough to earn us any kind of promotion. But that doesn’t mean we do not strive to be trustworthy. We, as Christians, who have been forgiven and saved and allowed to keep our managerial positions, jump at the chance to be trustworthy for our Lord. Not to earn brownie points, but to thank him for his patience and his love and his Son. We live our lives out of love for him.
And so if that is the attitude of Christians who are overflowing with joy from God’s grace, how are we to use the possessions that God has given us to his glory? Jesus gives us a very specific and important way: “Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.” And like we said before, if these friends are going to welcome you into heaven, they are much more than earthly acquaintances in this life. We are to use God’s possessions to make spiritual friends - fellow believers in Christ who will one day receive us into the eternal home of the saints, the angels, and the Lord himself.
How are you going to do that? How are you going to use God’s possessions to carry out his will of bringing people to the knowledge of their Savior? It’ll be different for everyone here since God has given charge of different possessions to different people. How are you going to use God’s money? How are you going to use God’s time? How are you going to use the talents and abilities he has blessed you with? How are you going to use yourself? Can it go beyond throwing a couple dollars in the offering plate and calling it good? Maybe being a trustworthy manager for you will take revamping your budget. Maybe for you it’ll take reevaluating your schedule. Maybe for you it’ll take a concerted effort on your part to help and volunteer and lend a hand when things are needed to be done within the congregation. Maybe for you it’ll take swallowing your pride and saying to your friend, “Listen, you are my friend. I care about what happens to you when you die. Please hear me out…”
There are hundreds, thousands of ways you can manage God’s possessions to make spiritual friends in this life. Not only within the congregation, but within your own personal life. I want you to think about this. Seriously, patiently, prayerfully think about this. How can you be a trustworthy manager of the things the Lord has commended to your care? How can you use God’s possessions to bring others to their Savior? What a task! What a responsibility! What a joy! Because the spiritual friends - the believers that you are privileged enough to lead to their Savior in this life will be waiting for you in heaven! They will be standing at the gate with open arms as the Savior brings you home! You will not only live and worship with all believers of all time, but also with those whom the Lord brought to faith through you. Can there be a greater fringe benefit than that? Can there be anything more important on earth? Manage God’s possessions well, my Christian friends. For the sake of the lost and to the glory of the Lord.
Amen.

“May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us - yes, establish the work of our hands.” - Psalm 90:17