Stewardship is our theme for the day.
The world seeks after wealth
And all that mammon offers
Yet never is content
Though gold should fill its coffers
I have a higher good,…my Jesus is my wealth…
My Jesus is my treasure, my life, my health, my wealth,
My friend, my love, my pleasure….
One more then I’ll declare
What is the world to me?
A steward is the same as a manager. Seven times that word is used in our Gospel Reading.
For example: “There was a rich man who had a manager, (vs 1)
Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager. (vs. 2).
That thought is carried through because a steward, a manager, is not an owner, he is a servant. And Jesus makes clear that we are always servants, whether we think it or not, and says:
13No 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 money.”
How is your health these days?
And how about your family?
You can tell me about your finances, while you’re at it.
Property, stuff, cash.
Any unpaid bills?
If you don’t want to say it out loud, you can just write down you bank user name and password, and give me permission to talk to your financial advisor, and things like that and I can take a look later.
Or, is that none of my business?
I’d be pretty reserved to show you mine, too.
Share with you all the details about my finances, health and family.
Maybe you’ll judge me, see some mistakes, think you could have done better with what I was given.
Or maybe you’ll be jealous, covet, be angry in some way or make me shameful or something like that.
That’s pretty personal stuff. Only a select few know about things like that.
One of the places I used to take our family van had a sign up in the shop the said, “In God we trust. All others must pay cash.”
It really is hard to trust. Not just to take their word for things.
“All others must pay cash.”
But to trust people with our most personal things. Our money, our problems, our secrets about how things are really going.
“How are you doing? Good!”
That’s about all we want to say to most. Right?
So, it’s good for us all to gather together with our Lord, who knows all our personal things, who gave us all things, and in whom we really do trust.
One of the ancient Christian begins says it this way:
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.
The Lord truly does know everything.
And when it comes to stewardship,
This should be no secret for the Christian,
we truly can call nothing “mine.”
My money, body, my family, my mind, my time. Nothing is truly ours in the true sense of the word. We are managers, stewards, servants of God and all the things that He has given us.
And sometimes, this is no secret either, we don’t manage those things very well.
We waste our time.
We misuse our money.
We don’t receive the gift of our marriage or our children or our family or friends or church or work with thanksgiving and see all of these and everything as an opportunity to praise and serve God and be faithful to the duties He has called us to.
Turn in the account of your management, Jesus says today in the parable.
Could anything be more frightening?
We may be able to hide things from most others for fear of judgment or jealousy or what not, but we can’t hide from the owner of all things.
That’s what it means to be answerable to Him.
Our heart will always be looking for something to trust. If it isn’t not in God, it will find something else to trust.
If we hear the Word of Scripture correctly, we will understand that our heart cannot trust in stuff – stuff goes away.
We’ll leave it all behind when we die.
We cannot trust in people.
We’ll leave them behind when we die, too.
We are only manager to the stuff and people and the time and the talents the Lord has given us.
And we cannot trust in our management either.
In the man in the parable has been found to be mismanaging the owners’ things, then we have to join him, too.
The human heart is always seeking to trust in something.
When our Lord knocks all other things away, our own pride and self righteousness, our money and stuff, He is seeking to fill our that vaccuum with His very self.
You shall have no other gods.
Why? Because He is your God.
Your Provider, Your Savior, Your Sanctifier.
There is no unpaid bills with Him. He, the owner, is your Father. The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
He is your God.
You will only find rest and forgiveness and contentment and joy and strength in Him.
You cannot serve God and money, Jesus says.
And you cannot ultimately serve God and anything else.
God and yourself.
God and your health.
God and your friends, your loves, your pleasures.
You get it?
Your Jesus is those things.
Content with Him you’ll be.
That’s where He always wants your heart.
Because when all other things go away, He won’t.
He’s there. The owner of all things, also has purchased and owns you.
There is nothing more personal and beautiful and assuring than that.
Jesus calls you sons of light in this parable.
He faced outer darkness, forsakeness by God, and the deepest darkness this world has ever known while He hung on the cross, and it happened during the brightest parts of the day, all so that you can be sure you sons of light.
That’s who you are.
The Christian faith emphasizes first not what you have or what you are to do, but who you are and whose you are.
Elsewhere Scripture says, 1 Thessalonians 5: 5For you are all childrenb of light, children of the day.
And another place says, Ephesians 5: 8for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
The Son of God, the One through Whom are all things, came to pays your wages of mismanagament.
He, though rich, though the owner, became poor, to make you rich in Him.
While in the parable, this bad manager made us of his owner time and things to make friends for Himself, the Son of God used His body to make you His friends,
To give you confidence that He took your bill and hung on the cross and wrote, “Paid. Mine.”
You and I may feel reserved to tell most people about our personal stuff, but the Son of God held nothing back.
You are not sons of this world, you are sons and daughters of the King eternal.
And so we treat our stuff, our things, the people around us, and our very selves based around that truth. ….
Always rejoicing that as we consider our health, our wealth, our families and more, we first consider that we are Christ’s and He has allowed Himself to be ours. We get to say, “my Jesus.”
My Jesus, in whom I trust for salvation and life and all things.
I have a higher good, content with it I’ll be, my Jesus is my wealth, what is the world to me?
And while we don’t imitate the sin of the children of this world, Jesus does tell us in that parable that we are to imitate the energy and devotion the children of the world have about this life to have at least that much energy to the eternal life that is free in Christ.
Here’s what I mean:
There are two categories we Christians ought be constantly mindful of. The things that last and the things that don’t. We ought put more energy into the things that last.
And as focused as you may be to setting aside money for the new iPhone, purse, home improvement or vacation, be at least that focused on setting aside at least 10% for the preaching of the gospel in this church and in the mission field.
As disciplined as you may be to watching your favorite TV show, be at least that disciplined in praying and reading the Bible.
As dedicated as you may be to video games, be all the more dedicated to keeping the Lord’s commandments in love and honor and respect.
As much as you sacrifice for your work or for cheering for your favorite team, be at least that willing to sacrifice yourself for Christ and His kingdom.
As loving as you may be to your children and grandchildren, be at least that confidence and trusting in God’s love for you as His child.
As well as we all might know the lyrics of our favorite songs,
Jon Bon Jovi is my favorite artist who speaks of things below,
As well as we may know the lyrics of our favorite artists, we should at least that many Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs that sets your minds on things above.
It’s not as if all these things are bad, it’s just that we have to confess that there are things that are better and should be more important.
The first in the list are things that we will not have after we die, that is, they will be things that fail. The second on the list are things that last – righteousness, faith, joy and holiness in the Holy Spirit and blood of Jesus – with the focus of faith in God and love for the neighbor.
There are categories of things that only bless us and others only temporarily and then there are things that bless us and others eternally. So, a sons of light, as children of light, be wise and clever in your use of gifts with a mind set first-rate on the things of eternity.