June 14, 2009 Sermon

The Wise Steward
Luke 16:1-15

In last Sunday's sermon I made a joke that involved criticizing country music. I have since been reminded that some of you do not share my taste in music—and a few of you country lovers would prefer it if I kept my opinions to myself. Fair enough. I do not want to create hard feelings. This week, our scripture passage refers to a topic even more sensitive than music: money. But neither that passage nor this sermon is about money. They are about life. God gives us everything. God asks us to take care of everything. God asks us to serve as faithful stewards. Be a good steward.

In Luke 16 we read a complicated parable Jesus told a touchy audience. He had just finished his parable of the Prodigal Son. In that story Jesus dramatized how God the Father rejoices when we turn away from our sins and come home to God. “Then,” Luke tells us, Jesus continued with a parable about a shifty business manager. A rich man heard that his number two guy was “squandering” (the same word appeared in the Prodigal Son) his property. He demanded an accounting. So the manager went to his rich employer's debtors and arranged to have them pay less than they owed. And Jesus concluded with the advice that we, too, ought to cut deals in order to preserve as much as we can of our master's property.

How could Jesus say such a thing? The answer lies in the next verse. There Luke tells us that Jesus addressed an audience of Pharisees, “who were lovers of money.” Jesus summarized with the words, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” We can truly worship only one thing. We cannot have more than one ultimate master. Who or what is your master? Is it money? Power? Security? Popularity? Or Jesus? God has given us all that we have and are. Take care of it all. Use your gifts lovingly. Be a good steward. Confess your sins. Thank God for what God has given you. Take faithful care of those gifts. Be a good steward.

This week the news broke about three northern Michiganians who conspired to embezzle more than two million dollars from Great Lakes Energy, a Boyne City-based electric cooperative. They charged the utility for tree trimming along electric power lines they had not done. I heard this story on the radio. The DJ said exactly what I thought: why in the world did these people get so greedy? Not that I condone cheating the public out of any amount of money; still, if you are going to embezzle, does it seem like a good idea to go for two million? But greed is not an intellectual thing. Greed does not spring from the cool, calculating parts of our brains. Greed springs from our hearts. Greed is one of the many sins common to all human beings. Not all of us try to cheat the public out of a couple of million bucks. But all of us want more—more money and more of whatever we want to do with that money.

Jesus told us to worship God and God alone. But by our nature, our sinful human nature, we are drawn to worship many other things. What can we do? If we think of this whole section of the Gospel of Luke as a unit, we can find our answer. The parable of the Prodigal Son tells us that God rejoices when we return to God. But in order to turn toward God, first we must turn away from whatever has taken us away from God. We must repent, confess our sin, and receive the love of God as proven to us in Jesus Christ.

We always want more. You may want a bigger truck. You may want control over a neighbor, a child, a boss. I may want a better-looking face. We will never be satisfied until we confess our need and, yes, our greed to God. In the New Testament letter of I John we read that “when we confess our sins (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” God rejoices when we come home. But God does not stop at being happy. God gifts us. All that we have and are comes from God. Accepting this may prove tougher than accepting our sinful nature. Last week I spoke of my grandma. Now I must speak of the man she married. Granddaddy Riggins was an intimidating, complicated man. At times I get a look on my face that communicates big anger. I may not be conscious of it; I may not mean it. But it's there. My daughter Laura has it. Those who know us both call it her “Mike Look”. In truth, we should call it the “A. Pat Look”, for we both inherited it from Granddaddy Riggins.

I remember Granddaddy Riggins instructing his grandsons that he was a self-made man. He had earned what he had. Oh, his father and grandfather had worked hard to make something of themselves. He had gotten a head-start from them. But that, in his view, only proved his point. A man needs to be a man. A man has one job: make a living for himself and his family. Can you see both the truth and the falsehood of this? Yes, every man (and every woman) should work hard. Every person should use his or her gifts to care for what God has given him or her. But there is no such thing as a self-made man. Even the most admirable, hard-working person has received gifts from God that make his or her success possible.

We all have gifts. We all have personalities. We all have property. We all have hopes and dreams. Will we use them? Will we use the gifts God gives us to grow spiritually and to minister to the world? How can we be good stewards?

Jesus told the parable we read today for a reason. He wanted his followers—including us—to worship God alone. We struggle to do this. But our mistake comes in making God into just another competitor for our affections. If we see God as belonging to the same category as a new car, or the satisfaction of believing ourselves to be self-made, or power, or whatever: if we diminish God into being just another commodity, then we cannot worship God alone. But when we believe that God gifts us with everything we have and are we cannot help but worship Him.

Jesus referred to “true riches” in his explanation of this parable. Those true riches are life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus preached that this kingdom is now, and is coming. We experience life in the Kingdom now when we experience healing and hope. We will experience eternal life in the Kingdom. What a gift! Now, steward it. Care for the faith that makes it possible. Pray for your own faith. Pray for the faith of others. Pray constantly. I saw a bumper sticker the other day: “Get there safely. Hang up, pray and drive.” The word pray leaped out at me. I did not expect it, but it belongs in that message. We say are too busy to pray, yet we seem to have time to use our cell phones—even when it endangers us and others. Pray instead. Pray for thirty seconds if that's the best you can do. Sometimes that's all I can do. Just pray.

God's Holy Spirit is at work everywhere, all the time. That spirit empowers our prayers. Pray first for forgiveness. Turn away from your prodigal sins. Pray next for the power to use the amazing, gracious gifts the Father has given you. Here are two possible paths for you to take as a wise steward of your gifts: the men's breakfast and the Vacation Bible School we will offer in early August. The men's group will hear spiritual testimonies and messages; surely it will also get involved in hands-on mission, in home repair, in concrete projects that change the lives of both helpers and helpees. Is God calling you to use your gifts in this ministry? VBS offers the chance to do something meaningful with a very short commitment. We will minister with and to all ages (emphatically including adults). Pray to see whether God might be calling you to use your gifts in either of these, or in any of hundreds of other ways. Just pray. Confess your sins. Return to the Father. Use his gifts wisely. Be a good steward.