Title: ON TRUST AND TRUSTWORTHINESS

Focus: In the commandment  “You shall not steal” is a call to live as stewards worthy of the Lord’s trust.

Text: Luke 16:1-15

Confession: Lord’s Day 42

 

INTRODUCTION

            Today’s story in Luke 16 is a strange story. When you place this story in the context of God’s will expressed in the 8^th commandment (“You shall not steal”), the story may seem even more puzzling. So, let me give you a key to understand Jesus’ teaching and God’s will for us. Here’s the key:

 

            A wealthy father with a beautiful, rich estate wants to prepare his son for inheriting the estate. The son needs training to handle the father’s business. As the son grows up, the father provides the training, so that his son will truly manage the business well once he inherits the estate from his father. There’s much at stake, for the father is very keen on his son using the estate’s wealth—not on himself, but on the very business and mission of the Father’s estate. Will the son pass the test?

 

More importantly, will you and I pass the test that comes our way in the 8^th commandment and in Jesus’ parable? You see, in the commandment  “You shall not steal” is a call to live as stewards worthy of the Lord’s trust.

 

THE CATECHISM: LORD’S DAY 42

            When God said, “You shall not steal,” he spoke to a large band of refugees from Egypt, huddling together at Mount Sinai, trying to get ready to inherit a beautiful estate, called Canaan, the Land of Promise. This band of refugees needed to be organized into a stable, structured nature, with laws and rules and regulations ordering social relationships that would lead to peace and prosperity. So, God gave them his 10 commandments. Now ask yourselves:

• What’s so bad about stealing?
• What is God saying about owning property? And respecting someone else’s property?
• How must I view your wealth, my own wealth, and how must we handle all these riches that come our way?
• Also, in what ways are our possessions  ours  if all things—the earth and its riches—belong to our heavenly Father?

 

            The Catechism, in L.D. 42 treats the 8^th commandment like a coin, having two sides: On the one side, God forbids; on the other side, God requires. God forbids:

• outright theft/robbery
• cheating and swindling
• greed and pointless wasting or
• squandering of God’s gifts.

 

God requires that you and I consider our

·        -neighbor’s good

• -neighbor’s dignity/person (golden rule)
• -neighbor’s need

 

            It’s with these insights from the Catechism and these questions raised earlier, that we now consider Jesus’ parable. Slowly but surely, I trust, it will dawn upon us that the Lord is teaching us a hard truth: In the commandment  “You shall not steal” is a call to live as stewards worthy of the Lord’s trust.

 

THE PASSAGE AND PARABLE

            As we enter this strange story about a steward cooking the books of his master, we must first note who the listeners are. In verse one, we note that Jesus told this story to his disciples. In verse 15 we note that the Pharisees also are part of the audience. The disciples listen to the Lord Jesus and receive his instructions when he applies the story saying: (v.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.” The Pharisees sneer at Jesus, for his story exposes their love of money and their mismanagement of God’s riches: (v.15) “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but god knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”

So listen up. The Pharisees and the disciples, you and I included, are the hearers of the story. I wonder what it is you are hearing?

 

            At first sight, it’s a strange story. For example: Consider

• The Steward’s Use of the Master’s Wealth: We learn that he was accused of wasting his master’s possessions. His master gives him the boot. Yes, but instead of firing him on the spot he gives his manager a short time to give account of himself, to show the books and make sure that everything is in good order.

            The steward is in a tight spot. Soon, he is out of work; he does not like physical labor; he is not strong; and he hates being on the dole and beg. Now what? He dreams up a plan, really it’s a scam, but a plan nevertheless.

 

            Instead of stopping to mishandle his master’s wealth, this steward decides to further rob his master by winning over the master’s debtors. All those who owe his master money, will have the opportunity to reduce their debt by cooking the books: “How much do you owe my master?” “Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,” is the answer. The steward responds: “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.” In other words, “let’s cook the books, swindle the master, and enrich our pockets. And don’t forget: You now owe me a favor. When I lose my job in a few days, I want you to be my friend. I want you to welcome me into your houses.”  Clearly, this steward’s use or abuse of the master’s wealth is striking. Consider another strange thing:

 

• The Debtors’ Willingness to Go Along: Was there no one among the debtors who protested this scam? Were they all keen on reducing their debt, and thus enriching themselves at the expense of the master? Were they all corrupt at heart? Did none of them have a backbone and some sense of decency and honesty? The debtors all seem willing to rob the rich man. How odd! Or is it? Here’s another strange thing in the story:

 

• The Master’s Response: It’s hard to believe, but the master commends the dishonest manager because he had “acted shrewdly.” I would not have been surprised to hear that the rich man would have been livid, outraged. If he was, Jesus does not tell us. Jesus only shows the spotlight on the master’s commendation.

Of course, Jesus does so on purpose. He now has our attention. And so, Jesus drives home the lesson in the story—a strange lesson, so it seems: “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” What shall we make of this strange story and Jesus’ lesson to his disciples and Pharisees and us?

 

            Here’s a way of getting at Jesus’ point of the story:

• The steward is accountable to his master—he must show the result of his stewardship; he must show the books. That will be on “judgment day.” But in the mean time, the steward has an opportunity to do things right. And so do we, as followers of Jesus. On Judgment Day God will ask us what we have done with the resources he has given us. We will have to give account of our stewardship.

 

• The master commends the steward for being shrewd in making friends by using worldly wealth. Followers of Jesus must show a similar shrewdness, a similar approach when it comes to using the resources or treasures of our heavenly Father. As Jesus says: “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone (when we stand before God on Judgment Day) you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

 

You see, God entrusts us with his resources to use them to promote his business: the business of love and care, the business of the kingdom of God, the business of inviting people to inherit the eternal riches, eternal life, the new heavens and new earth. It’s the steward’s business to advance his master’s business; it’s our business to promote the Lord’s business: reconciling the world to himself; welcoming sinners to the table of forgiveness and life in Jesus Christ; clothing the poor, feeding the hungry, protecting the weak—and thus making friends who will stand with us and welcome us on the Day of Judgment, when God will open up his estate, his riches, the new heavens and earth, for all his children.

 

Is not this what the apostle Paul also teaches in I Timothy 6:17-19? “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” As part, then, of obeying the 8^th commandment, Christians must learn to live as stewards worthy of the Lord’s trust, using the Lord’s resources to win people over to the Lord and to advance his causes.

 

            Christians are “people of the light.” Our actions as stewards of worldly riches (which really come from our heavenly Father’s hand) will determine whether we shall be stewards of our Father’s new creation, the eternal dwellings. If we are trustworthy in small things today, our heavenly Father will reward us with eternal treasures when Christ comes again and offers us the inheritance, the real estate of eternal life lived on the renewed creation.

 

If we are trustworthy today with our heavenly Father’s riches or property today, we shall have property of our own, or to put it in Paul’s words to Timothy: we shall “take hold of the life that is truly life.”

 

            But here is the clincher: we must make a choice as stewards of all God’s riches to us today: “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.”

 

            God and Money: Both are powers. Money, however, represents the power of the one who is a usurper, a false god, the devil. Will we serve our heavenly Father and use his wealth, his riches for bringing people into his marvelous estate—both now and in eternity? Or will we serve Money, and thus ourselves, and thus—in the end—stand under judgment having cooked the books and robbed our heavenly Father’s estate?

 

            Remember the key I gave you earlier? A wealthy father with a beautiful, rich estate wants to prepare his son for inheriting the estate. The son needs training to handle the father’s business. The father provides it, so that his son will truly manage the business well once he inherits the estate from his father. There’s much at stake, for the father is very keen on his son using the estate’s wealth—not on himself, but on the very business and mission of the Father’s estate. Will the son be trustworthy with the estate of his father?

 

The Pharisees sneered at Jesus’ story. But the disciples listened—and later on began to practice the lesson—a difficult lesson indeed. Lord, have mercy on us! We want to pass the test and serve you as trustworthy stewards.

 

Therefore, we shall not steal, but use all the resources of our heavenly Father to invite people into his eternal dwellings.

 

            In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.