Ninth Sunday after Trinity - August 9, 2009

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Ninth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 9, 2009)

“ALL OUR DEBTORS”

Readings:
Psalm 51:1-12
2 Samuel 22:26-34
1 Corinthians 10:6-13
Luke 16:1-13

Sermon Form Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the New Testament Lesson from 16th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 16:1-13 (NIV)

1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ 7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13 “No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

A certain rich man had a steward, a manager, who oversaw and took care of his goods. This rich man found out that his steward was squandering his possessions and mismanaging his affairs. So he told the steward that he could no longer work for him. There was to be an audit. The books were to be opened and examined.

The steward then thought to himself, "What am I going to do? I can't do manual labor. It would be too embarrassing to beg." (v. 3) Then he decided what to do so that people would receive him into their homes and provide for his needs. He went to all of his master's debtors and reduced the amount that they owed. One person’s debt he cut by 20% another by 50%. In this way he ingratiated himself to these people and curried their favor so that they might return the favor to him when he was out of a job.

Now this steward had cheated his master twice–once by his wasteful mismanagement, and again by forgiving portions of the loans that were owed the master. But the Gospel says, "The master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly." And Jesus goes on to say, "The sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light."(v. 8) We could say, ‘What are we to learn from all of this?’ But better still, we are what we learn from this.

Well certainly Jesus is not promoting corruption. Rather what our attention is drawn to here is the shrewdness of the steward. The point of comparison is how, at least in a worldly sense, he acted very wisely. He used his master's riches as a way of seeing to it that he would be provided for. Jesus' point is that the people of this world do a better job of using the resources at their disposal for selfish and temporary purposes than we do at using the resources at our disposal for loving and eternal purposes. We are to follow the example of the steward's shrewdness and use the possessions our Lord and Master has given us to do good to our neighbor and for the good of Christ's church. Our hearts are to be set not simply on an earthly home but an everlasting home which He is preparing for us.

You see, there will come a time when every single one of our possessions, even our favorite stuff, will become utterly meaningless. Our possessions cannot provide for our eternal future. They will fail us when death comes into view and probably before. God is concerned about how we use our bodily life and the material belongings He has entrusted to us in the meantime. Jesus said, "If you have not been faithful in the worldly wealth, who will commit to your trust the true riches?"(v. 11) His conclusion is that we "cannot serve both God and money."(v. 13)

The children of the world, like this unjust steward, do indeed set a good example for the Christian in terms of their diligence and zeal and shrewdness. We who are the baptized children of God also ought to try applying ourselves to eternal things.

Jesus said, "Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home."(v. 9) Like the unjust steward, we are to be shrewd in our use of material things; however, not in the way of the world but in the way of Christ, not selfishly but in love. Proverbs 19:17 says, "He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord."

That's the sort of investing we do as Christians–using our efforts and our goods to help build up your neighbor, especially those in need, and to promote the mission of the church. God has made us all stewards. Everything belongs to the Lord; He's the master and the owner. We are simply managers of the possessions He's given us. And in a very real sense He wants us to be like the unjust steward, squandering His possessions, using them "recklessly" for the good of our fellow man and to support and help the church's proclamation of the saving Gospel of Christ.

It is the way of faith to use material things, for in so doing you are trusting that your Maker can and will provide for you. And you are showing that your desire is to have what is eternal. We are not saved by such works. But such works give evidence that our hope is fully in the salvation won for us by Christ.

So also, we trust that our God is a God of mercy who will forgive our debts through Christ, that we may be received into an everlasting home. We stake our salvation and our future on the generosity and forgiveness of our God. It is that faith God desires and praises. We believe that God the Father will be merciful to us because of the debt He paid on our behalf through His Son Jesus Christ.

In the end Jesus Himself is the Unjust Steward, who is unjustly good to us. Accusations were brought against Jesus, too, that He was too free with His mercy, consorting with tax collectors and sinners, squandering God's grace on such miserable wretches. But Jesus didn't concern Himself with that. For it was His mission to bear every accusation, to take all that we are justly accused of and make full payment for our debts. Jesus made eternal friends of us, not by hoarding things for Himself, but by living as one with no home of his own, no place to lay his head. The material things of this world He used entirely in the service of others, having nothing but literally the clothes on His back. He became poor so that we might know and receive the riches of His mercy. He even gave away His own body into death, that through His atoning and all-sufficient sacrifice we might be cleansed from all unrighteousness. Jesus relied on His Father's mercy. He trusted that the Father would honor His death in our place to cover what we owed.

What debts do we owe because of sin, what do our bills say? What impossible debt do you we think owe because of our sin? Jesus tells us to Sit down, take your bill, and write 0, paid in full. Jesus already paid the bill for us. In His triumphant march to the cross He gathers all the debt of our sin and heaps it upon Himself and carries it to the cross. On the cross Christ gave us the most gracious gift, freedom from our sin and the hope of eternal life in His name. He promised us that “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” What comforting words from our Lord and good Shepherd. Thank God that Jesus came to this earth and dwelt among us, gathered all our sins and paid our debts. For in Christ there a new life, a new life free from all the debts of our past, and present. Free to live with Him in everlasting peace in His heavenly kingdom. Amen.

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