Sermon - Trinity IX 2020 - Luke 16:1-13

“There was a rich man who had a manager , and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.” In this parable the rich man, the master of the house, is God our heavenly Father. What are the riches which belong to the Lord? “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Everything created by God, from the concept of time to the atoms which makes up everything, all of it is the Lord’s. 

The house-manager, the steward in the parable, is each and every person on earth. We all share the charge given to our first parents, Adam and Eve: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” Typically, a rich man hires a steward to take of his stuff because the rich man has too much stuff to take care of on his own and needs to employ others because he’s not sufficient for the task. 

That’s not the case with God though. God is more than capable of taking care of all of this earth Himself. So the reason God makes us to be stewards over His creation is for our sake. Firstly, He blesses us when He commands us to have dominion over the earth. Secondly, He tests us and prepares us for our true treasure by first making us stewards over this lesser worldly treasure.

Now, whenever we talk about stewardship today in the church, I suppose one of the first things that comes to mind is money and the offering plates. At mention of that, you stop up your ears and roll your eyes, since you hate being told to give money. And while money and giving offerings is a part of stewardship, the truth is money is only a small part of stewardship.

You remember that long list of things in the explanation to the first article of the Creed in the catechism? Everything belongs to the Lord and we are but stewards, caretakers of everything around us. Money is only a part of that. Every second of time, every breath we inhale, every bite of food and parcel of land, our bodies and our minds, all belongs to God. To some God has given more, to others less, but all is the Lord’s. If God has given us more than what we absolutely need, we shouldn’t think that it’s mine, because it all belongs to God and we’re merely the stewards of it for a short while until we die.

So, since we are but God’s stewards, how ought we to care for God’s abundant treasures He’s blessed us with? “It is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” This is the thing about being a steward, since none of it belongs to us, we don’t get to decide how it’s to be used. We’re not permitted to squander our Master’s property according to our pleasure and our whims, it’s not ours, it’s God’s, we’re just stewards. 

For what does God desire us to use His possessions? Here the woman at Bethany is illustrative for us. During Holy Week, when Jesus was at Bethany at Simon the leper’s house, “a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.””

Based upon that account, the Master’s property is to be used for two particular things, in a particular order. First, they’re to be used for the glory of Christ, and second for our neighbors in need. We should use our possessions and everything at our disposal to spread God’s Word, preserve our congregations, support our Lutheran schools, and support other such projects which are engaged in proclaiming Christ to the nations. After that, we must give our possessions for the support of our neighbors. 

Part of this does mean tithing our money to our local congregation. The Old Testament Levitical law requires tithing, “A tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, is the Lord’s and is holy.” Proverbs says “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.” In the Old Testament it was required by law that you tithe 10% of your income and give it to the Lord. 

Today we live in the New Testament, and Christ has freed us from that Levitical law of having to give 10%. But that doesn’t mean we’re free to be stingy and miserly, rather that we’re free to give as much as we can, which very well might be more than 10%! Christ has given all for our salvation, why, if we can give more, would we only want to give 10%?

But money is only a part of it. Money is actually the easiest part of stewardship because it’s so passive, you don’t have to do anything, you just give some money and someone else does all the work. The more difficult thing to be a steward of is yourself.

You have only so much time in the week, but what do you invest your time into? Playing? Entertainment? Working? Our time is in God’s hands and each day could be the last, so we need to be sure that our time is prioritized towards God’s Word and our neighbor’s needs.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so what do you fill your mind with? They say idle hands are the devil’s playthings, so what are you doing? So the best use of our time, mind, and hands would be to spend our time most often with those of our own household, filling our minds with God’s Word, and using our bodies for the sake of the Gospel and our neighbor. 

But what usually happens instead? Just like in the parable, we stewards are found wasting our Lord’s possessions. Afterall, we’re descendents of Adam and Eve, the first stewards who did a poor job of that as well. Usually when a steward is found taking advantage of his master’s property, the steward is trapped in his wrongdoing and punished immediately. 

But here’s where our Lord and Master does things quite differently. Instead of secretly trapping us in our sin so as to catch us in the act and punish us swiftly, the Lord is merciful with us. He warns us not to be poor faithless stewards, He confronts us when we are faithless, and gives us time to repent. He doesn’t immediately take everything from us, strip us of life and limb, but He tarries and delays in punishing, just like the master in the parable.

So what ought we to do while our Lord tarries and permits us to continue in our stewardship? Here Jesus wants us to be like the steward in the parable. Not that we should be deceitful and steal from our master, but that we should be shrewd like the steward! “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.”

God tarries in His judgement right now so that we may be more shrewd and prudent with our mammon! He delays so that we would be given the opportunity to repent and bear fruits in keeping with repentance. So Jesus tells us: “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” What does this mean? It means that we are to use our worldly treasures not for worldly gain, but for eternal gain.

Consider how a worldly business man might use his worldly possessions. He is incredibly shrewd; the most successful businessmen take huge risks, so that they might have great rewards! They use their wealth very shrewdly so that they might become more wealthy! We Christians however are promised not just perishable wealth, but an imperishable wreath, eternal life, everlasting goods, at the end of our life! Should we Christians not be more zealous and more shrewd than the world around us?

For your hope and encouragement in this, look to Christ who shrewdly uses this world not for worldly gain, but for your redemption. He gave all that He had, which is this entire world and His own life, to buy you back. He takes your bill like the shrewd steward, and doesn’t merely lower your debt, but pays it off. When someone’s debt is forgiven, someone has to pay the bill, and in this case it’s Christ. Jesus gave all, He paid with His shed blood, to have your ledger wiped clean. He died so that you would live.

God created all of this world and the whole universe with your redemption in mind. Because at the last day, this whole earth with all of its vain unrighteous mammon will burn up, but you will be taken from here and placed in heaven. In the eyes of our God, you are the priceless treasure for whom He is willing to sacrifice this entire world, just so that you would be with Him eternally. 

Similarly, because of His crucifixion, Jesus is also our priceless treasure. 

What is the world to me!

My Jesus is my treasure,

My life, my health, my wealth,

My friend, my love, my pleasure,

My joy, my crown, my all,

My bliss eternally.

Once more, then, I declare:

What is the world to me!