The Good News According to Luke: Part 14
Pastor Rollan Fisher
This is a word to boost our confidence in God during a looming recession.
Focus: We need to allow God to show us what actually governs our lives that we might adjust to find our reward in Christ.
Who’s in Charge?
What’s Law Got to Do with It?
Where’s Your Reward?
Who’s in Charge?
Follow the money to see who’s in charge of your life.
Luke 16:1-15
“He also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.' And the manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.' 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. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. "One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money."”
“The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”
God cares about providing for his children but wants to teach his children how to handle his money the right way (Luke 12:)
God wants to teach us trust in him by how we handle our finances.
Why is wealth called unrighteous?
Wealth can be categorized as unrighteous for at least three reasons:
The money is acquired through unrighteous means
Selfish desires in the use of wealth lead to a life dominated by personal gratification and self-indulgence rather than for the care and well-being of others
The corrupting influence of wealth can lead to godless living (meaning in sin or without regard to God and his purposes)
God gives both miracles and wealth to be utilized as a part of his redemptive plan in creation.
“Christianity, therefore, is perhaps the most materialistic of the world’s faiths. Jesus’s miracles were not so much violations of the natural order, but a restoration of the natural order. God did not create a world with blindness, leprosy, hunger, and death in it. Jesus’s miracles were signs that someday all these corruptions of his creation would be abolished. Christians therefore can talk of saving the soul and of building social systems that deliver safe streets and warm homes in the same sentence. With integrity.”
-Timothy J. Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
Who is the one who has eternal dwellings with whom we should use the wealth “to make friends”?
It is God who, like the rich man, will evaluate and judge our use, like the manager’s, of the resources that he entrusted to us.
This is never more pertinent than in times of layoffs and recession.
We have the invitation in these, and really at all times, to develop our trust in God who is ultimately the provider of all things - including our jobs, income and retirement.
We develop this faith in God by understanding who our wealth actually belongs to in the first place.
In the parable above, the term “another man’s possessions” reinforces the concept of stewardship - that none of our earthly possessions are ultimately our own, but are God’s, and it is our responsibility to distribute them with Biblically mandated wisdom, for Christ’s Kingdom purposes.
Our focus in doing so in our lifetime is with the expectation of our heavenly reward that will not be stolen, and is in no danger of perishing, spoiling, or fading (Matthew 6).
When we live as stewards and not owners of our resources, it demonstrates where our faith truly lies.
We have peace when we know that our source is the Lord, we are stewarding things according to his pleasure and he will therefore provide for our needs.
Example of home ownership.
In the parable above, when challenged on their idolatry regarding money, notice how the Pharisees’ opposition evolves from grumbling (Luke 15:2) to ridicule of Jesus.
The point is that human achievement can seem praiseworthy before men but be detestable before God.
God knows our hearts and that for which we are truly living - those who often seem justified in their pursuits in the eyes of men are not necessarily in right standing with God.
Any human achievement can be exalted amongst men, but if not done for the glory of Christ, can be an abomination in God’s sight.
What pursuits and lifestyle choices have you been attempting to justify before God, but are incongruent with his Word?
What’s Law Got to Do with It?
The law of God keeps the plumb line straight even when our circumstances change.
Luke 16:16-18 ESV
“"The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”
The Law and the Prophets were affirmed by Jesus as perpetual standards for the way that we should live and govern every area of our lives.
Jesus references marriage because it is practical and hits us where we live.
You find the heart behind the law of God which forges such references to daily life from Scripture such as the following -
“The Seven Social Sins are:
Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.”
-From a sermon given by Frederick Lewis Donaldson in Westminster Abbey, London, on March 20, 1925.
The Law of God is a direct reflection of his character and eternal desires for his people.
It is a plumb line pulling us out of excuses and into the higher way of Christ, despite our selfish reasonings that would convince us to lookout solely for “numero uno” - ourselves.
This is what we see reflected in Jesus’ commandment about marriage, but it was interesting as a parallel sandwiched between Christ’s direct teaching on wealth and how to handle it.
There are over 800 verses in the Bible on money with God giving instruction about everything from prosperity to poverty, saving to investing, work and stewardship to tithes, offerings, care for the poor and radical generosity.
About 25% of Jesus’ teaching ministry was about finances because he knew it is such an idol in people’s lives.
This is also why in the Old Testament God gave the law about giving the tenth, the first and best ten percent of your income to God, to counteract the stranglehold of fear and greed in our hearts, while developing the muscles of trust and generosity.
The New Testament brought the law from a mere exterior obedience to an internal motivation that increased, rather than decreased, the expectation of godliness from us (Matthew 5-7).
Thus the law of the Old Testament becomes the floor and not our ceiling in our devotion to Christ and his purposes.
Because of the law of the Spirit of life, God has empowered you to be more, not less generous in the freedom of Christ.
Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law for us in obedience to the commands of God that he might be a perfect substitute at the cross for the ways that we have fallen short.
We are forgiven our sins through repentance and faith in Christ’s atoning work giving us the opportunity for eternal life through his resurrection from the dead.
In doing so, Jesus not only reconciled us to God, but now expects us to live a life of faith by which we follow his example not for justification, but for sanctification leading to glorification (Romans 8).
“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
William Wilberforce
Where’s Your Reward?
Don’t Sell Out Now - hold out for (order your life around) the reward of God.
Luke 16:19-31 ESV
“"There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"”
The lesson of Lazarus and the rich man is don’t burn up all your rewards, comfort and pleasure now when there is exponentially more to come.
Don’t simply live for this life - live for the next one since it lasts forever.
Everything about Christ’s moments of suffering in exchange for eternal glory after his resurrection from the dead points to such a promise.
Too many people cash in too early on life’s rewards.
Don’t find yourself in Hades because you live in self-indulgence today.
God would deliver us from self-absorbed living that we might turn our eyes to Christ and those in need around us.
Remember, the essence of the Kingdom of God is that you are blessed to be a blessing.
“I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace? She replied something like this: "If I was saved by my good works -- then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with rights. I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace -- at God's infinite cost -- then there's nothing he cannot ask of me.”
Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher