Use Worldly Wealth Wisely

Luke 16:1-15

I have a simple question for you. Who is your God? Yeah, I would hope and pray that every one of us sitting here today would say, well, I believe in the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus is my savior, he’s gonna take me to heaven. That’s my God. Awesome. I thank God for that, encourage you in that. Let me ask you in a different way. If a total outsider who did not know you, did not know anything about you, looked at how you use and spend your money, what would they conclude your God was? (congregation chattering) That’s not such an easy question to answer, is it? And that’s why believers in Jesus have to talk about and think about money and the use of their money. Because did you hear what Jesus said at the end of the account? You cannot serve both God and money. There isn’t either or on this one. If outsiders were looking at my bank account, looking at my checkbook, and where my money went to, what would they conclude is my God? Oh, that one cuts me to my heart. You too. (congregation chattering) Jesus puts the parable of the dishonest manager in front of us to help us to deal with these things. What is our God? The parable was hard. I was telling Damien back in the office before that I was reading a guy named Snodgrass on this. Snodgrass is considered kind of the preeminent guy on parables in 21st-century America. And he lists, I think it was, 17 different ways to understand this parable. I won’t take you down every road. I’m just gonna choose one. The way I think is the most simple and what the main point is. The main point is pretty clear. You’ve got this guy who is dishonest. What is dishonest he was? We’re not sure. But the master has decided he’s gonna let this guy go and the guy says, I don’t know what I’m gonna do now. I am too weak to go dig so I can’t do physical labor. I’m ashamed to go out and be a beggar. Good, I guess. What am I gonna do? And he comes up with this scheme by which he can ingratiate himself to a bunch of other people who will hopefully then welcome him into their homes after he’s let go. He cuts their debts and he cuts them significantly. Now we do not know what the deal was on that. There are two options. It’s possible that he was cutting their interest payments. And if he was cutting their interest payments, that would be completely consistent with what the Old Testament said. On the other hand, if he was cutting their principal, then he was stealing even more from his master. Which was it? Don’t know. But then comes a huge surprise. What does the master do? He praises him. But notice what he praises. He does not praise his actions per se. He praises the shrewdness. It’s kinda like if we met a person who had come up with this Ponzi scheme and it had worked for that person really, really well and he’d made lots and lots of money and then the thing as they always do collapsed and hurt a whole bunch of people, we would not approve of the Ponzi scheme. But we might say sort of grudgingly, that was pretty smart to be able to come up with that. That seems to be what the rich man is saying about the manager. That he’s saying, not approving what you did, but I gotta hand it to you, it’s clever. Then Jesus takes it up a whole nother notch. What he’s taught to this point is basically this, be shrewd, be wise. But now he takes it up another level by talking about it in terms of eternity. Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself so that when it is gone, maybe the wealth, more likely life because of the way Jesus goes on. So that when it is gone, they may welcome you into heavenly tents. Sort of a funny way to talk about heaven as a tent, but that’s the way it’s talked about in this parable. What is Jesus reminding you and me of? He’s reminding you and me of the fact that we are mortal. That none of us are going to live forever on this side of eternity. Every single one of us is going to die and after that to face the judgment, to be sent either to heaven or to hell. And at that point, what is it that’s gonna matter? There’s gonna be one thing and one thing alone that matters, whether or not we were believers in Jesus, amen? That will be it. When you get there to heaven, you will not care if your 401k was maxed out. You will not care if you were wearing ratty old shoes and you couldn’t afford the Nikes. You will not care if you had the best cell phone plan or you’re still using some old flip phone or didn’t even have a cell phone. You just won’t care. And neither will any of the people around you. What they will care about is that they’re in heaven. And here’s where it gets really cool. You and I get to play a part in that. And you and I get to do that using something as common as money. Can you imagine? God takes your wealth, my wealth, whatever amount that may be. And as we give our offerings, God uses that to extend the eternal kingdom of God. Let’s just think of some of the ways it’s happening here. There are all kinds of Bible instruction classes being taught right now. People are learning about Jesus, either for the very first time or getting to know Jesus better. What is a part of causing that to happen? Your offerings. Can you believe it? God is using your offerings to bring people to know Jesus better. Oh, and then we’re also part of bigger things like Wisconsin Lutheran High School. Don’t remember the exact number, but last year near the end of the year, there was something like 30 or 35 kids who were baptized. Now, will all of those kids stay faithful to the word of God their entire life? I don’t know. I hope so, I pray so. Some will. And when they get to heaven, can you imagine how thankful they’re going to be for the ministry of Wisconsin Lutheran High School and their baptisms? Do you think they might even come up to some of us personally and say, “Thank you for giving your offerings?” Said I could one day be baptized and be brought into the family of God. How cool is that? Oh, and it gets bigger. You and I support through our congregational mission offerings, our seminary, and our college and our preparatory schools so that young men and women can train to be pastors, teachers, staff ministers so that the word of God can go on to the next generation. You imagine people who live far, far longer than you, who live long, long after you and me, are gonna hear about Jesus, and a part of it is because you supported the worker training system right now. Isn’t that cool? And through our synod offerings, we support home missions, world missions, so that more and more congregations can be planted, so that we can go to more and more countries, so that more and more people can hear the word of God. Can you imagine? You get to do that with your offerings. You are touching lives of people you’ve never even met, and you probably will never meet on this side of eternity, but you’re gonna meet them someday in heaven. Could there possibly be anything more valuable to do with our money than that? And I know what you’re thinking. Oh crap, I haven’t even come close to that. Me either. Who is your God? Your God is a God of love. Your God is the God who is willing to leave all the richness of heaven behind, so He could come to this earth and rescue you and me. Your God is the God who is willing to become a real human being, just like you, just like me, so He could live perfectly in your place. Jesus always used His stuff perfectly, always used His money perfectly. And now can you imagine, in the eyes of God, God thinks you’ve used your money and your stuff perfectly too? And someday, when our money and stuff and our life is gone, your God is gonna welcome you into eternal dwellings to live forever with Him and with all the other believers who have ever lived and who will ever live. That’s who your God is. And that’s what He’s done for you and that’s what He’s done for me. And now He gives us a mission, to grow in His Word, to take His Word to others. My brothers and sisters, may we be encouraged to use our worldly wealth wisely, not focused on self, but focused on God, focused on God’s kingdom, focused on God’s work. Because in the last day when you get home to heaven, that and that alone will be what matters. Amen? And amen.