Worldly Wealth and Eternal Dwellings

Luke 16:1-13

November 1, 2015 (All Saints) • Mount Pleasant UMC

Video: “Greed is Good” (1:00)

Sermon Study Guide

It’s an iconic scene in the 1987 film Wall Street, where legendary Wall Street player Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, confronts shareholders of Teldar Paper, a company he is planning to take over. The film, and that scene in particular, represented for many the attitude and mindset of the 1980’s. Accumulation was the name of the game. Money was king and greed, as Gekko says, was good. Gekko’s speech in the film seems to have been inspired by a commencement address given by Ivan Boesky at the University of California Berkeley. Boesky said, “Greed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.” Of course, if you remember, Boesky was later convicted of insider trading and spent time in prison.

Even though that film is almost thirty years old, there is still an underlying assumption for many around us that greed is good. Love of money and the pursuit of money has led people to do all sorts of stupid and life-destroying things. As Jacob Needleman (a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University) once put it, “[Money] has a wonderful power to bring people together as well as tear them apart. You can’t escape money. If you run from it, it will chase you and catch you. If we don’t understand our relationship to money in this culture, then I think we’re doomed. If you don’t know how you are toward money and really understand that relationship, you simply don’t know yourself. Period” (qtd. in Harvard Business Review, May 17, 2011). It’s because of that truth that we’re taking these weeks this fall to examine a Christian worldview of money and our relationship to it. It pervades our lives, and we have to have it in some measure to survive. So how should a Christian approach the topic of money?

It is a touchy subject. Sometimes, as Christians, we try to hide behind a veneer of spirituality and say we are “just going to trust God” rather than do any financial planning for our lives. I’m not convinced it’s “trusting God” to ignore the wisdom God wants to give us for every area of our lives, including this one. It’s sort of like the preacher who says he’s not going to prepare a sermon but just trust God to give him something to say when he stands up on Sunday morning. I think God asks, in both situations, why didn’t you use the brains I gave you? There are also congregations that don’t have any financial plans. I knew a congregation that simply took up an offering and then paid whatever bills they could that week with what came in. No foresight, no plan. The pastor, who was a friend of mine, only got paid each week if there was enough left over. He was told he shouldn’t be doing it for the money anyway. As Pastor Jim Harnish writes, “Regardless of the sincerity of their faith, sooner or later those individuals and congregations always end up in some sort of financial crisis” (cf. Harnish, Earn. Save. Give., pg. 47). Wisdom calls us to have a right relationship with money.

We’re calling this series “Pocket Change,” and we’re focusing on the heart attitudes that need to change if we’re going to have a right relationship to that stuff in our pockets. Last Sunday, we began this series by talking about our need for wisdom in approaching our financial dealings, and by wisdom, you remember, we’re not talking about what we might call “book smarts.” Biblical wisdom is not just knowing what is right but actually living it out. Biblical wisdom comes first and foremost from God. So to be wise about our money, we’re going to look into the Scriptures over the next three weeks and talk about three principles for pocket change. John Wesley talked about these principles in his sermon called “The Use of Money,” and the first principle is as shocking to hear from the pulpit now as it must have been in Wesley’s day. The first principle of a Biblical view of money is this: gain all you can.

Does that surprise you? Many of us have grown up quoting what we think the Apostle Paul said, that money is the root of all evil. But that’s not what Paul said. If you look at the verse in 1 Timothy, Paul actually says that the love of money is the root of all evil, and the reason for that is because, as he writes, “some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10). Money itself is neutral, neither good nor evil. It’s what we do with it, and even more importantly, what our heart attitude toward it is, that causes either good things or bad things to happen. Wesley even encouraged the early Methodists to learn to use money to their greatest advantage because, by itself, it is “an excellent branch of Christian wisdom” (qtd. in Harnish 47).

Having a right relationship to money is highlighted in one of the strangest parables Jesus ever told. We read it this morning in Luke 16, and depending on who you consult, this parable has different names. The NIV calls it “the parable of the shrewd manager.” One respected Biblical scholar calls it “the parable of the unjust steward.” But one title I think really highlights what’s going on here is “the parable of the desperate manager.” Everyone in the crowd listening to Jesus that day probably knew a man like this manager. He was in charge of managing the financial dealings for a large estate. Literally, he is called a “house manager,” and such men in those days were generally well-trusted, often considered a part of the family.

But this man is not as trustworthy as he appears. Or maybe he once was and then something happened in his own family and he became desperate. He needed a little more money. And so, apparently, he began to add his own “tax” to the debts that were owed to his master. How he kept the land owner from finding out for so long we’re not told, nor are we told how long he has been pocketing this illegal “tax” for himself. But, as in most every one of those cases, someone finds out and they report him to the land owner, and the land owner calls him in to make an accounting for what he has been doing. Actually, he calls him in to fire him. It’s a devastating moment for the house manager, one that perhaps some of you have experienced. Maybe (hopefully) not for dishonest dealings, but to lose any job is a kick in the gut. You can sense that as the house manager talks to himself in the next paragraph. (By the way, in Luke’s Gospel, talking to yourself is never a good sign. It’s always a sign that something bad is going to or has happened.) So he’s trying to figure out what to do. He isn’t strong enough to work in the fields, he says, and he won’t beg because he’s too proud. What else might be available to him?

Then a thought occurs to him and he wastes no time in putting his plan into action. After all, he hasn't yet turned in the books, so before someone comes and takes them away from him, he calls in the estate’s debtors one by one and privately, and he asks each of them how much they owe. The first owes 900 gallons of olive oil, and the manager tells him to cut it in half. The value of that is about 500 denarii. The next comes in and says he owes a thousand bushels of wheat. The manager cuts that bill by twenty-five percent—again, a value of about 500 denarii. It appears that’s how much he’s been adding to every bill: five hundred denarii, which was about the wage of a farm worker for a year and a half in those days. And Jesus only describes two situations; who knows how many others there might have been. But notice two things about this situation. First, he has each debtor reduce the debt in his own handwriting so that the estate owner, when he finally gets ahold of the books, can’t blame the manager. Smart guy! And second, his goal in this is to get another job being a manager. If one of these debtors perhaps is appreciative of not owing so much money, they might hire him, or “welcome him into their own houses” (16:4). Now, why they would hire him when he tried to rob them is anyone’s guess, unless it would be the attitude of, “Better have him on my side than on someone else’s side!” (Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, pg. 190; Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, pg. 339).

Now, Jesus does not commend what the house manager does. One of Jesus’ statements here is rather confusing. In verse 9 he seems to suggest you can buy your way into eternity, into heaven. “Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves,” he says, “so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Jesus is not suggesting, however, that money is in any way how we get into heaven. He’s using the steward as an example of the way the world works, and contrasting that with the way his kingdom works. What Jesus does commend is the fact that this man knows how to use what the world values to his benefit. What the man does is shady, but he knows money is valuable and he knows how to use it. However, when it comes to God’s kingdom, you can’t buy your way in, but you can use your money in such a way that it honors God. Money is fleeting. One day it will be gone. And when it is gone, you’ll want to have used it in such a way that you find yourself in the kingdom and not outside. Jesus says those who are faithful generally don’t do very well in handling money—but they should be (cf. 16:8). We have God’s wisdom at hand, so why don’t we do better? Why does the church have such a troubled relationship with money? Why do we hate to hear sermons about it? Jesus’ conclusion is very practical: if you can be trusted with a little, you will be trusted with more, but trust involves making sure you understand the role money plays. “You cannot serve both God and money” (16:13), so serve God first, and then you will understand money’s place.

Money is a tool, a necessary tool. We need money to function in our world, and so this first Biblical principle is very important—but remember that “earn all you can” is not the only principle. A lot of people like to stop there! These three sermons are meant to be taken together! So don’t just stop with the one we really like! It’s also true, though, that we can’t live out the other principles if we don’t live out this one. So how, then, do we “gain all we can”?

First of all, we gain all we can by pursuing our calling. Don’t miss that important word: calling. As United Methodists, we stand squarely in the Protestant tradition of believing that all Christians are called, not just those who stand in the pulpit. God has a calling on your life as well as mine. God has gifted you and equipped you for a particular purpose. For many, that was a revolutionary idea promoted by Rick Warren in The Purpose-Driven Life, but in reality, it’s an idea that goes back centuries, rooted in the Scriptures. The question we have to be asking first and foremost is this: what has God called me to do? For some of us, we may be fortunate enough to be financially compensated in following our calling, and for others, you may make a sacrifice financially to pursue your calling. The Bible and Wesley were quick to point out what the parable has reminded us of: following God is more important (and more rewarding) than making a lot of money. So Cathy and I have two friends, husband and wife, who are both medical doctors. Family practice doctors. They are very skilled and tremendously talented. Went to a good medical school. But they have both known since they were in medical school that their primary calling was to serve the underprivileged and to raise their family. They have made choices along the way that, they tell us, their medical school colleagues don’t understand. They moved to a city where there is a high immigrant population and they both work in a clinic that doesn’t bring in much money. The clinic seems always on the verge of closure. They also chose to, at various times, both work less than full time so that they could raise their children. They know their calling is more important than making tons of money, and their choices make little sense to those around them.

I also think of those mothers who make the choice to stay at home to raise their family, giving up a good income they could be making. But they know that, at this point in their lives, that is God’s calling on their lives. I also knew a man who rose through the ranks to become a CEO of a major corporation here in Indiana. He was, by most every standard, a wealthy man. But, as he shared with me, he knew his calling was not to make money but to be able to “earn all he could” to be able to support the ministries of his church and of missionaries around the world. On the other side, I’ve known pastors who gave up six-figure salaries to answer God’s call on their lives. One, a friend of mine, says he has never found in the business world the same kind of contentment he has found in serving the church. The first essential piece in earning all we can is to make sure it lines up with our calling, with God’s calling on and intention for our lives (Harnish 50-57).

The second piece of earning all you can is this: gain all you can by common sense. That’s something that seems to be in short supply today! Common sense is what we learn from experience, the things that have been taught to us and passed onto us from the previous generation. I talked a bit last week about the book of Proverbs, and while it’s more a collection of sayings than it is any sort of formal book, there is much collected wisdom there. Proverbs is the result of observing how life works. And so, in that collection, we find common sense like this: “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (14:23). Or this: “A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied” (13:4). I have to wonder if such common sense observations were in Paul’s mind when he told the Thessalonians, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). If we’re going to earn all we can, it will require us to not just rely on those book smarts, but on common sense, on learning from those who have gone before us. John Wesley put it this way: “You should be continually learning, from the experience of others, or from your own experience…to do everything you have to do better to-day than you did yesterday” (qtd. in Harnish 58).

So…earn all you can by following your calling, using common sense, and thirdly…earn all you can by not sacrificing things most important to you. Four quick things I would mention to sort of explain that one. Earn all you can by, first, not sacrificing your health. Early on in my ministry, I knew a pastor who was, by all outward measurements, a huge success. He was one of the first pastors in our annual conference who had a “second campus” ministry. He was in demand to speak at gatherings and consult with local churches; we had him come and consult with our staff at one point. I don’t think he ever said no to a single request. Not long after we were with him, I learned he had a heart attack and died. And I heard so many people say things like, “Oh, well, he worked himself to death for Jesus.” And I wanted to say, “No, he just worked himself to death.” I have always wondered how many more lives he could have reached for Jesus if he had taken care of himself. That danger doesn’t just exist among clergy. It’s present in every field, because the one who works longest and hardest gets the most recognition. They may even advance in their business faster. But you have to ask if it’s worth it. Is earning all you can worth the loss of your health? Proverbs says no: “Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich; be smart enough to stop” (23:4, CEB).

God himself gave us the model in the very act of creation. God gave us the gift of sabbath rest. One day out of seven is to be set aside for rest because God, we’re told, “rested from all his work” (Genesis 2:2). It’s not because God was tired; it’s because he knew we would get tired. God was setting us an example. And sabbath rest is not about legalisms or whether or not the stores are open or football games are played. Sabbath rest is a gift to us, to remind us that the world can exist without us, to help us be better people and more present to others on the other days. I take Friday as my sabbath, and while I’m not legalistic about what I do or don’t do on that day, I am pretty legalistic about taking the day. Cathy will affirm: I’m a better husband, father and pastor when I have a day to rest. Earning all we can, even following our call is not to be done at the expense of our health—mental, spiritual or physical.

We also must not sacrifice our souls. By this, I mean we must not sacrifice the things that make us who we are, specifically the things that make us Christian. We constantly ask how would Jesus call us to respond in each situation. For instance, I heard Pastor Adam Hamilton speak recently about a friend of his who was part of an executive team in a company facing declining profits. The company was going to have to let several employees go in order to balance the books. This man quietly listened to the discussion, praying and pondering in his heart, and finally he spoke up. He suggested they could each take a 10% decrease in pay and be able to keep the employees they were going to have to fire. He reminded them they could, as an executive team, afford a 10% decrease, but when the vote was taken, he was the only one who voted for the decrease. Everyone else voted to let the employees go. At that point, the man stood up and said, “Well, perhaps you can use my salary to help some of them stay employed, because I can’t be a part of this anymore.” He wasn’t willing to sacrifice his soul for the sake of earning all he could. He told Pastor Hamilton, “I don’t know what is next for me, but I knew in that moment what Jesus would have me do.” He couldn't sacrifice his soul. Neither can we; earning all we can is not worth it. I think that’s what Jesus was getting at when he asked, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36).

We must not sacrifice our health, our soul, or our neighbors. In the parable we read this morning, the house manager didn’t care who he hurt. He was set on earning his own money any way he could, so he added the tax he wanted onto the bills of his neighbors. Only when they could benefit him was he interested in helping them or caring for them. Jesus told us that the greatest commandment was not only to love God but also to love our neighbor as ourselves—and he wasn’t just talking about the narrow way we define “neighbor” as the person who lives next door to us. Remember when he was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Your neighbor is any person in need. Any person on the underside of life (cf. Luke 10:25-37). Most likely even a person who is very different from you. So any time we “win” at the expense of someone who is less privileged, or any time we benefit from racism or sexism or ageism or any other kind of “ism,” we are earning all we can at the expense of our neighbor. Especially today, in our global economy, we are bound together like no other time in history. If we take advantage of someone else, it affects more others than we can probably even count.

And, finally, we gain all we can without sacrificing our relationship with God. That should be self-evident, but when it comes to money, we can slowly slip away from God often without realizing it. Again, hear the wise words of John Wesley: “We are not at liberty to use what he has lodged in our hands as we please, but as he pleases, who alone is the possessor of heaven and earth” (qtd. in Harnish 68). We remember, again, that it all belongs to God in the first place. We are but house managers, stewards, of what is God’s. It’s been said that if we examine our checkbooks—or, today we might say, our credit card bills—it would be a better gauge of our heart and our faith than our giving statement from the church. Why are we earning all we can? What is the goal of our earning? And when we earn it, what do we do with it? If we come to completely trust in our own wealth or our own earning ability or our own possessions, we can quickly find that we no longer need God. Remember how Jesus finished today’s parable? “You cannot serve God and money” (6:13). So, as you earn all you can, be careful not to sacrifice your health, your soul, your neighbors and your God.

And that’s why, I believe, it’s wonderfully appropriate to come to the table this morning, to receive holy communion together. One thing communion does for us every month is bring us back to who we are and whose we are. This bread and this cup helps us remember why we do what we do. This bread and this cup is about a sacrifice that was made so the Son of God could follow his calling. He came to give his life to save us from our sin. In some way that we can’t ever really explain, Jesus died so that we can have eternal life. He willingly went to the cross to pay the debt we owed but could not pay, and all he asks in return is for our very lives, given in all-out dedication to him. That’s why he gave us this meal. On that last night before his death, when he knew what was coming the next day, Jesus gathered his disciples together. No more parables. No more stories or cute sayings. Just an act that would cause them to remember. Bread. Wine. And every time they saw those two things from that moment on, they would remember. The bread is his body. The cup is his blood. Taken together, they remind us of his sacrifice, his love for us, his call to us to serve him with everything we are and all we have. He gave us everything he had—how can we do any less? As we come to the table this morning, let’s remember who we are and whose we are. Let us pray.