Our Great Striving for Wealth
Preacher: Marcia C. Wilkinson

Sunday, Septebmer 23, 2007

Luke 16:1-13

Have you ever been in a situation where you really had to scramble for your life?  If you have then you know the one thought is to survive and get to safety.  I’ve only watched the Survival show on TV once- twice at most, because it left me disheartened by the ways men and women would do underhanded things to make sure they would not be cut out of the group.  The prize at the end was too great for the competitors to play by nice rules.  Strategy and cunning were both necessary and acceptable to win the million dollars.

Then there are the personal life stories like Martha Stewart who struggled for her survival with total commitment and an abandonment to fight her case against indictment.  Yes, she went to prison, but she used strategy, her business acumen to win new approval.  Her business is still going strong today.

The gospel lesson is also about survival, about commitment and doing what is necessary to win the prize.  The parable told by Jesus is a funky piece, strange in that the parable uses shrewdness in the worldly sense to point to the truth about real wealth, and doing what we must do to win it.  Jesus uses the story of the shrewd manager who is underhanded by western standards and sense of fairness, as a way to approach life with God in the kingdom.  The parable points to the central focus of Jesus’ teaching.  What Jesus was saying then, and says today- how we live in everyday life does relate to the way we will gain eternal things of God.

Steve Arpee was explaining a bit about his years of experience in the Middle East.  He reminded us that good business practice there is not about fairness, or even necessarily about honesty as we understand it.   Sealing a deal is determined by what one agrees to pay and what price one is willing to sell.  If you pay too much, the seller is not cheating.  You are just a fool to pay that price.  On the other hand, if you get something for a real bargain, a steal, you are clever. To take advantage of a good deal by either the buyer or seller is the way of life in the mid eastern culture.

The manager in the parable made the best of his situation and took advantage of making a good deal.  It was a win- win situation for all parties concerned.  And, his boss commended him for his clever actions.  He not only saved face and saved his position, but he made his boss look good in the eyes of the debtors.

Our teaching this morning is about being a scrambler.  It is for you and me to decide and understand what is of highest value to us.  Like the shrewd steward we are to be committed to go after it with abandon.  Why this parable?  To ask the question of ourselves:  What are we totally committed to, what do we scramble for?  Is there something of such great value that we give our all to it?  Jesus uses the example of possessions.  If the temporal things in our lives are not measured with purpose and commitment, why should we be entrusted with the things of God and eternal life?  Why didn’t Jesus just say those words?  Why didn’t he just say take care, be bold in the ways of God.  Do the right things in God’s way, trust me and I will give you all that you need.

He could have just said those words, but there is another important aspect here.  In Jesus’ time and culture and now for us, it is important that we be wise regarding the things of the world.  We must be wise so we will not act foolishly.  We must have our eyes and ears open to the scams, and alert to how the world operates.  It’s like Jesus saying: in order for you and me to know what real wealth is, we must know how the world sees and uses money and possessions, and then reflect on our own lives, advancement in life, how we value possessions.  We must evaluate because the greatest wealth is not the way the world sees it.  Rather, the great wealth is the prize of belonging to God, and our priority with possessions is to use them to serve God’s purposes.

I believe Jesus is talking in this parable about the difference between the god of wealth (small letters) and the wealth of God (large letters).  Yes, God wants us to know the ways of the world and be wise in understanding them.  As his own we need to realize that the children of the world have creative strategies.  Jesus mentions this because God wants this kind of response from us for His kingdom.  Like people in the world, we can scramble to live, we can be totally committed to taking risks or we can be prudent.  We can be bold with clever enterprise.  But, when all is said and done, as children of light- God wants us to be responsible and accountable for wise actions and wise use of possessions.  God wants generous abandon of us for Him, for others.

Jesus spoke of mammon.  This is more than an old fashioned word to speak of wealth.  Mammon is aggressiveness that competes with God for our allegiance.  Money holds a visible and an invisible power.  It is not a passive medium of exchange.  The invisible power takes on a life of its own, first directing our thoughts and disciplines, then controlling our desires and actions, and finally possessing us, driving us to do more to get more, on and on.  We cannot be naïve about the power of mammon.  This has to be one aspect of what Jesus was saying:  possessions can possess us, and can drive us to scramble in all sorts of ways, to be so committed to scrambling for self gain that we abandon ourselves to get the desires of our hearts.  The ending is to lose the prize, to lose everything eternal (Synthesis, Sept. 23).

As followers of Jesus who hear this parable and his word on possessions, we must ask the question:  How then does Jesus want us to live?  What does commitment to him look like and how can we let go and give freely without restraint?  I believe it is only by having faith in Jesus and his understanding of true wealth.  This wealth is being so passionate for the things of God, that we are willing to give up ourselves.  We become like the shrewd manager who fears losing his life- then, concentrates on what has to be done to be heading in the right direction towards the future.  Commitment to the things we believe in is the beginning.  Going all out for others, radically sharing our possessions is the work of the gospel.

Stewardship is about growing in giving ourselves away to God and his kingdom building.  Stewardship is not first about what the church needs.  Stewardship is about what we, God’s people need.  We need to grow in our faith.  We need to grow in our commitment to the things of God.  We are called to increase our commitment to caring for others.  The giving of money is to flow from our personal commitment to Jesus Christ because he is the giver of all life, all real wealth.  To give of ourselves is good for us.  To give of self is to live.  When we focus on people and things outside of ourselves we want to scramble for the life and well being of all people (William Willimon).

I believe ASC is called by God to be about this kind of wealth.  Taking what we have as individuals, recognizing that it is gift, and returning it to God with abandon for his purposes.  And, because we have received God’s abundance as people of faith, we need to give back to God what we’ve been given.  Can we be godly, honest, prudent people and generous with extravagance to God and his church?  I believe we can and God calls us in faith to do so.  Next Sunday is commitment Sunday, and together we will bring our gifts before the Lord- and as a Body of Christ with grateful hearts we will present ourselves, our pledges and tithes.  May the Lord Bless us. Amen.