Second Presbyterian Church

"Torn Loyalties
Preaching From the Gospel of Luke"
April 24, 2005

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2005 » Sermons for April 2005 » Sermons from the Series on Luke

#48 in the Series on Luke
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Deuteronomy 6: 4-9
• Luke 16: 1-17

The parable is complicated; the point is simple. I shall begin with the point, so that if we get lost in the complications of the parable, then it won't matter so much. The point is simply this: the wealth and possessions we enjoy come to us from God. And how we use our wealth and possessions reflects whether or not we are bound for the Kingdom of God. This right use of our possessions is to enhance our devotion to Jesus Christ. The wrong use of our possessions is to make them more important than anything else - even God!

This is true in this parable about the dishonest steward (manager); this is true also in the parable about Lazarus and the Rich Man (Sunday after next).

You might recall a few Sundays ago, we studied how Luke told those who desired to follow him that they would have to place everything in their lives below Jesus Christ and the Gospel. In all that we say, do and even whom we are, we belong first and foremost to Jesus Christ! Our lives belong to Jesus Christ. Our possessions belong to Jesus Christ. Even our bodies belong to Jesus Christ. In fact all that exists, in all creation, ultimately belongs to Jesus Christ.

Let's now turn to the complicated part of this passage, the parable of the dishonest steward, or manager. Right off the bat we have struggles with the fact that Jesus uses as a positive example someone who is a cheat and scoundrel. Of course this isn't the first time we encounter scoundrels in the Bible who are heroes or heroines. Abraham hides his marriage to Sarah and reports that she is his sister when they go to Egypt (she was his half sister!). Jacob cheated Esau out his birthright. Rebecca, Jacob's mother, plotted so that Jacob would get Isaac's blessing instead of Esau. Judah's daughter in law disguised herself as a prostitute and had a sexual relationship with Judah, her father in law, in order to maintain the family bloodline. And I haven't even gotten out of the first book of the Bible, Genesis!

So, this rich man had a steward, or manager, about whom accusations have been made that he has squandered the rich man's property. The Master called the steward in and asked for an accounting and let him know that he was to be fired. The steward wondered (out loud in the text) what he is to do. He is too weak for manual labor; he is too proud to beg. So he developed a plan to go to all the master's debtors and revamp what they owed. One debtor owed the master 900 (875) gallons of olive oil. "Quickly, scratch that out and make it 450 (437.5) gallons you owe!" Another debtor owed the master 1,000 bushels of wheat. "Quickly," said the steward, "scratch that out and write down 800 bushels of wheat." And on and on the steward went through all those who owed the master. Please note that we are talking great quantities here.

Then comes the response of the master. Now we would expect him to hit the ceiling, and put him away for good. Not so! The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness! All the debtors had believed that the steward had acted in good faith on behalf of the master. The dishonest steward knew that the master could not go against what he had done. And the dishonest steward had established favors so that he had places with sufficient provisions to live.

"So, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings." For us, this can be badly misunderstood. This lesson is NOT telling us to lie and steal so that we can get things dishonestly, and then use them for the kingdom of God! The point, again, is this: use what God has given you (your material possessions = unrighteous wealth) and use them for the Kingdom of God while you still live on earth!

Our human tendency is to do the opposite. We tend to use our material possessions to garner security and to save for a rainy day. This is not all bad, but it becomes evil when our desire to use material possessions becomes our primary means of security. Only God is our primary means of security. When our material possessions take that place we have ceased to worship God and have begun to worship mammon! We either are going to hate one and love the other. Or, we are going to love one and despise the other.

This is really scary stewardship stuff! If we become too anxious about money and our financial situation, then we are despising God! And it is possible to be in this situation without even realizing it! That is why Jesus is trying to respond and warn the Pharisees about their way of viewing money. Their love of money caused them to hate God, in that they despised Jesus and could not perceive or understand how he could ever be the Messiah.

We tend to do the same thing. We tend to view wealth as proof of God's blessings for us, how much God has rewarded us for our goodness. This is a dangerous misunderstanding of the Old Testament, a misunderstanding that was caused some the Pharisees to lose their loyalty to God and to place it upon the blessings of material wealth. We tend to see the poor as those whom God has cursed and the rich as those whom God has blessed. Luke is turning that completely around, "For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God."

How about it? Which do we place first? Do we place our material wealth before God? Or do we place God first and dedicate our (borrowed) material wealth to the service of Jesus Christ and the Good News of the Kingdom of God? If we choose, it's best to choose before it is too late. Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.