Pentecost 17. Luke 16

"It's not business. It's personal"

The Donald is at it again. His popular show The Apprentice aired its season premier this past Thursday with a new group of contestants set to take on the various challenges. Each week, viewers watch as the those contestants compete to earn the greatest amount of money at some assigned task. The winning team is safe, and the loosing team heads to the board room, where one member of the team will hear Mr Trump utter those dreaded words, “Your Fired.”
Donald Trump has made his fortune as a laser focused business man. He wants to earn a profit. Those who help him achieve that goal are rewarded. Those who cost him that goal are cut loose. And as the show says, “It's not personal. It's business.”
Not so with Jesus. As he illustrates for us here in our text through this parable what's good for business is not what's good for Jesus. It's not about the bottom line. It's not about making a buck. It's not about getting ahead. It is about love. It is about mercy. It is about the gospel. And the Gospel is about people.
In the end, Jesus is not impressed with money or wealth. And, in his mind, neither should we be impressed with money. Rather that money, that “unrighteous mammon” as he calls it, should be only and at its best a means to an end.
“And I tell you, says Jesus, make friends for yourself with that unrighteous mammon so that when it fails (and it will fail) they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.”
So money is a means to an end. What is that end?
In our text, Jesus offers a parable. He tells his disciples of the actions of an unrighteous steward, or manager. The man had performed poorly in his work and he was about to get fired. And when he discovered that his working days were through, he hit upon a plan to make things better for him when he was unemployed. He called in his master's debtors – his master was a business man, in real estate, not too different from Mr Trump in that regard. This master made his fortune renting out his fields to farmers who then brought some of the harvest to him as payment. It appears that this steward had not performed up to par for the master, and he was about to hear those dreaded words that Donald Trump has made famous, he was about to be told, “Your fired”. But the soon to be unemployed steward hit upon a plan. The steward gathered up the list of his master's debtors and he called these men into his office and gave each of them a discount. One owed 100 measures of oil, his bill was reduced to 50. Another owed 100 cores of wheat, his bill was reduced to 80. The renters went home happy with a reduced bill, and a favorable opinion of the steward. Perhaps he would find work with one of them.
Now this is a challenging parable. The seeming star of the show was a bit of a scoundrel. He was dishonest. Jesus calls him “unrighteous”. But it would appear that Jesus wants us to learn something from him. Does he want us to be dishonest? Does he want us to cheat? Does he want us to steal?
Obviously not. Jesus is not urging us to cut-throat business practices; nor is He commending the man's sin. The key to understanding the parable is to first understand what Jesus would have us know about the unrighteous man's master. In this parable, and really with any other parable, the main thing that Jesus wants us to learn, isn't what we do, isn't what we are supposed to do. Rather the thing that the parables are here to teach us is what God does. Instead of looking in the parable to see how God wants us to behave, Jesus wants us first to understand his character and the character of the Father. In that regard, this parable is less about the dishonest and unrighteous manager, rather it is about the merciful Lord.
The manager was dishonest. Not only that, he was also incompetent. That's why he lost his job. But he was shrewd. He was wise. He had the ability to size up the character or his master. He was able to predict how his master would react even when he was cheated. And this gave him an edge; he knew his master was kind and merciful and he hit upon a plan to take advantage of that kindness and mercy. The manager knew his master. He was a merciful man and the manager trapped him in his mercy.
The master had a reputation. The debtors didn't question or object when the steward gave them a break, they figured the master was being generous. And once the discount was given, the generous and merciful master wasn't going to take it back. You see, you understand, the master was more concerned to be merciful than he was to be rich. (Again, our tag line. “It isn't business, it's personal.”) So the steward, the manager, the first century apprentice, gave away his master's property, and then enjoyed the good fortune of being the hand that delivered the gift to the debtors, and reaped the benefits of their good will.
And there's the lesson. This is a parable about being faithful with those things that God has given to us. God gives us many things. And God is generous. And God would have us be generous. We are inclined to make decisions that are good for the bottom line. We are inclined to make decisions that are good for business. But God wants it to be personal. He wants it to be about the Gospel; the Gospel that is about His Mercy and His Generosity and His Kindness that he has set aside for people.
Now, certainly God gives us money. He gives us property. He gives us material things. But not so we can pile them all up and be impressed with how rich we are. Not so that we can build for ourselves a board room paneled with mahogany, furnished with a large table from which we can bark out orders and tell people they are fired. Rather He has given us that money as a means, as a tool, as an instrument for making friends with the world. “Money talks” people claim. The question is, what does your money say? Christ reminds us that the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
Consider the Starbucks Corporation. You go into a Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee and you will find little advertisements printed on their paper cups that tell you about their corporate responsibility. They purchase beans from struggling 3rd world countries and reinvest the profits to support the farmers. Proceeds from their Ethos bottled water helps to provide clean drinking water around the world. They make a profit, but they use their profit to “give back”. They use their profit to create a public perception that is favorable with their customers. And in turn, their customers feel good about spending $4.00 on a cup of coffee. Indeed the sons of this world are shrewd in dealing with their own generation.
So what does your money say? Does your money say, “I care about people.” “I care about mercy and kindness.” “I care about the gospel.” Or does your money say, “I care about me and what's mine”? My family, my house, my business, my bank account.
For the Christian, money is not about money. It's not our hope, it's not our salvation. It's not our safety or security. It is just a thing. A thing that God gives and that God takes away. It's just a means to an end. When we have it, God wants us to use, but not simply for ourselves. God wants us to use it for our neighbor. To show love and to show mercy. Because that is what Jesus has done for us.
Consider if you will the generosity of our Lord. He is generous in all things.
The Lord is generous in giving us possessions. Stop for a moment and think about your routine this morning. You woke up in a warm and dry bed. Got dressed, ate breakfast. Had a ride here to church. You had those things because God is generous with you. But those things are small things. Those are the unimportant, and worthless things. God has given you so much more.
Jesus asks the question, 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? And what is so very often lost on us is the fact that Jesus our heavenly father has set aside for us the gift of heaven. God is truly our heavenly father and he has given to us all the benefits of being his children.
In my own house, what's mine belongs to my children. They live under my roof and enjoy the fruits of my labors completely for free. I don't charge them. I don't send them a bill each month. I don't expect rent or compensation in any way. And someday, after I am dead and gone, everything I own will be left to them. My estate will be theirs.
God does this very thing for you. His estate. His heavenly mansion is yours. You stand to inherit heaven. Everything that is there. It's wealth. Its beauty. Its honor. Its glory. It will all be yours. You will walk through the kingdom of heaven, not as a bond servant. Not as an employee. As a son and a daughter of the King. God's servants will be your servants. Gods house will be your house. God's banquet table will be your banquet table. Gods celebration will be your celebration. And he gives it all to you for free.
It is so ironic that we spend so much time fretting and worrying and even arguing about something so simple and silly as money. God gives it. He knows you need it and he won't let you go without it so why worry about it? In the mean time you have neighbors who God has given to you and who you are able to help with that money and God wants you to do it. So do it. In the mean time, he will continue to give what you need. He will continue to provide what you need not only for this life, not only for your bills and expenses but also and especially for the next. He has paid for you with even his own blood. If you are worth all that to him, surely you can be confident that he will give exactly what you need.
And those neighbors, while they need your help and your assistance what they need more than anything is the gospel. The truth, the true riches. And just as God has given it to you, he would also give it to them. So share. Give. Be generous. Because God has been generous with you. And remember. It's not business. It is personal. It is about the Gospel.
Amen,