Sermon "Totally to God"
Rev. Lonnie Richardson
Sunday, September 20, 1998
Totally to God
This parable introduces us to a steward who lived by his wits. He has no hesitation in pulling a fast one on his master in order to feather his own nest. A report came to his master that this man was guilty of certain shady practices -- certain kickbacks had come to light and there were high expense accounts involved -- and so it was reported that he was wasting his goods. Without any investigation, the master called the steward in and dismissed Him, but required an account of the stewardship before he left. And so the steward faced the bleak alternative of either having to go to work and dig ditches for a living, or to beg his living from someone else. Neither of these alternatives suit him at all. He has convinced himself that he is not strong enough to dig, and he is too ashamed to beg (though he wasn't too ashamed to steal). He cleverly decides to put his master's debtors in his own debt. Evidently they owned the master a certain amount of rent, which in these days was paid in kind, paid in goods. So he called those debtors in and reduced their debts.
All of this finally comes to the attention of the master who, instead of being angry when he hears what his clever servant has done, commends him. This indicates something of his own business standards! He commends him for this dishonest action. He admires him and regards him as a very clever scoundrel -- and who could appreciate a clever scoundrel better than he. Jesus said that he was commended for his shrewdness. Now, the focus of interest here is not in the characters of the story, it is focused upon the comments Jesus makes about this story. The real subject is money. Luke tells us, "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him." {Luke 16:14 RSV}
Perhaps you haven't thought of it before - but did you realize that over 1/3 of Jesus' parables and sayings concern the relationship between faithfulness and money? Jesus talks so much about money because when push comes to shove, loyalties are revealed by what people do with it. And how they feel about it. Recall the rich young ruler - who left Jesus because of his struggles with loyalty? Recall Levi - who left everything and followed Jesus? Recall the Sermon on the Mount - and the lilies of the field which do not spin or toil? Recall the camel and the eye of the needle?
The Pharisees ridiculed him because he suggested there was a link between money and spirituality. He is commenting on the universal temptation -- even among his disciples -- to love money, and he is showing how to handle money rightly and not let it handle them. It is not at all surprising that he should choose to deal with his disciples on this and help them understand how a Christian can view money, since he must live with it, work with it, and use it. Based on certain elements in the story, he makes some insightful comments.
The first is found in verse 9. "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon [his term for money], so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations." {Luke 16:9 RSV}
His advice is, use money while it still has value. Do not avoid it, do not evade it. Do not pretend it is beneath you, that it is something unspiritual. On the other hand, do not save it up as though it were an end in itself. The thing about this steward is that he understood that money is to be used. It was for something. It was not to heap up, to hold in an account and watch it. It was for something. He only had it for a little while, but he used it while he had it. It was not an end in itself -- he accomplished something with it. So, the Christian, is to use money as a temporary vehicle to accomplish permanent good. If this steward, Jesus says, on his level of understanding could use money to serve his own best ends, how much more can Christians do the same on their level of understanding of life. Make friends by the proper use of money while it still has value, for there is coming a day -- and it is absolutely certain -- when it will lose its value.
A young man said to a friend of mine, "My uncle died a millionaire!" My friend said to him, "He what?" "He died a millionaire." My friend said, "No he didn't." The young man bristled a bit. "What do you mean? You didn't even know my uncle." My friend said, "No, I didn't, but I know he didn't die a millionaire." The young man said, "What do you mean?" And my friend simply asked, "Who has the million now?" No, no one dies a millionaire; he dies poverty-stricken. All of us will.
I learned that morticians are sometimes called upon to provide suits for burial for those who have none of their own. They have special suits made up and the distinctive thing about them is, they have no pockets. They do not need any.
Yes, "It shall fail," said Jesus, and it will. Money, unrighteous mammon, cannot last. This steward only had it for a few days. That is the whole point of this story. He only had a few more days -- hours at the most -- to utilize this money, but he used it while he had it. He did not try to save it, or hang onto it. He could not, and he knew it, so he put it to work. That is the point Jesus makes. Soon it shall fail, shall forsake us; certainly at death, but perhaps even before then.
But while you have it, says Jesus, use it. Use it now for purposes that will transcend this life. Do not use it only for that which will help you now. Use it for that which will extend beyond life; it to help the weak, the poor, the ignorant; to spread the truth; to feed the hungry both in body and soul. Too soon money will be gone and then it be of no value to you whatsoever unless you have properly used it.
Jesus gives another comment in verse 10: "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much." {Luke 16:10 RSV}
This comment grows out of the fact that this dishonest steward was dismissed. His master let him go. Why? Because he found him unfaithful in a little, and he therefore suspected, not without good reason, that the man was unfaithful in everything. So, without instigation, he let him go -- just like that! What Jesus is saying here is that we must learn to view money as an indicator of hidden character . You have heard the expression, "Follow the money..." A financial statement even says a lot about a church.
You and I do not know what really goes on inside others. We hear their testimonies and see them at church, performing various ceremonies which give the impression that they are good, solid, dependable, trustworthy people. But watch, observe how they handle money, says Jesus. Because if one is faithless in these little things he will also be faithless in the important things, the spiritual matters that make a person a person. If he is slow in paying his debts, he will also be slow in obeying spiritual principles. If he is careless about his money, he will also be careless about truth, or love, or the great things of life.
Finally Jesus comes to his last conclusion: "No servant can serve two masters; for 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 God and mammon." {Luke 16:13 RSV}
The emphasis here is on the word "and." You cannot live as your ultimate supreme mission to make money and totally serve God at the same time. You can love God, and he can gift you to make money, and he has done this with many. There is not a thing wrong with wealth. But the proof that you love God first, and that money only is an instrument of your love for him, will be that you use that money for the help of others without seeking recognition for yourself. Have you noticed that we do not have memorial plaques displayed in this building?
As our lord reminds us in this parable, we are all pressing on to the inevitable day when money will fail, and we stand before God. We shall stand there without a cent, without a bank account, without property, without anything to recommend us, without reputation, with nothing whatsoever. Then the only thing that will count in our favor is the testimony of those who will say, "Lord, when I was really in need he gave me, at cost to himself, that which helped me along. He showed love to me, and proved it by giving of himself to me." At the close of the great Olivet discourse our Lord puts it on these exact terms: "Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me," {Matt 25:40}. God does not judge, as we do, by the moments of life when we are aware of what we are doing. The evaluation of God comes in moments of unconsciousness, when we act not out of what we want others to see, but what we have actually become. Thus, in the unconscious tests, the unconscious moments of life, we are demonstrating what money means to us in relationship to God. Those are the moments God sees and uses to show us where our hearts' lie. The one thing that is important, ultimately, is those eternal habitations where all that life has been here will find its expression and purpose there. And may it be totally to God.
