Dear fellow redeemed: Last week we reflected upon the joy that our Lord experienced when even one of us came to faith and became a true Christian. We tried to get inside the head of a shepherd who found his lost sheep, or a woman who found her lost fortune, we tried to get a sense of the great joy that God has when people seize hold of His mercy- or when He captures us with it.
Jesus was talking to the Pharisees about how they should think of God’s mercy, and His message was, “Be merciful and forgiving and rejoice over a sinner’s repentance.”
Here Jesus turns to His disciples and catechizes them (and us) about how we, who HAVE come to know His mercy are to make use of it, to be stewards of the means of grace, the instruments of God’s mercy. We are to use all things prudently
Prudence and a View to the End of All Things
I. Be Like That Guy
II. Use Unrighteous Mammon for REAL Benefit
III. Use the True Thing Also
I. Be Like That Guy
The first thing about this text is that Jesus tells us we are to be like that guy, the crooked steward. We know there must be something wrong with that, but this is what Jesus said. 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.
We are to do like he did – but not like everything he did, just some things, so let’s review what he did. First, as steward he had use of his master’s possessions. But he wasted them. When the master found this out, he was merciful and just fired the steward. The servant had no real options open; he was facing poverty or even starvation, so he took advantage of his master’s reputation for mercy and called in his debtors and gave each of them a break. This put the master in the position of either honoring the terms of these new agreements or coming off as NOT being the merciful guy people thought he was. The debtors got the break so they owed the steward big time and would take care of him.
He is NOT commended for wasting his master’s wealth or for stealing to curry favor with the debtors. He is commended for his wisdom and prudence with a view to his final situation. What Jesus wants us to do is to see how the steward used the merciful lord’s possessions to watch out for himself at the end and turn people to appreciate this lord so the servant would have friends. That was prudent of him.
That is what we are to do – have wisdom and prudence. We are to use our Lord’s possessions as prudently. We are to use them with a view to the end of all things and thus make friends that matter in the eternal scale of things.
II. Use Unrighteous Mammon for REAL Benefit
First, how do we use the possessions that God has entrusted to us? Jesus calls them “unrighteous mammon” here. It just means the money and wealth of this world as opposed to heavenly things. Just as the unjust steward used the wealth of his master to take care of his next life, so we are to use this world’s wealth with a view to eternity. Jesus says, And I tell you, [I myself, to you I say] make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Does your view of the world include eternal things?
Here is our typical day. You have some money. With it you go grocery shopping. You go to buy a hamburger at McDonald’s. You think about what you can do with your money. Skip McDonald’s, think big, go to Portillo’s! There are the bills, too. You are responsible, so you pay your electric bill and your gas bill. You pay the mortgage to keep a roof over your head. You make the car payment. You also think of things that you would just like to have. You would like a new car, a new house, a vacation, or some toys. It might be great to have a REALLY big TV to see the Cubs win the series. And there are some expenditures that you don’t think about much, like taxes, social security and retirement.
Now this is interesting. We all know that we don’t think much about stuff that is a long way off, do we? That is the whole point of making social security mandatory – otherwise people would spend everything on the here and now and ignore the future. We don’t tend to think about the culmination of all things, do we? We don’t tend to think about final judgment, ultimate accountability, or that point in life where only one thing matters.
So you see Jesus is pointing at the dishonest but wise man who kept his focus on the things to come. Jesus isn’t telling us to buy an annuity with Prudential or bulk up our 401(k). He is talking about more important things. And I tell you, [I myself, to you I say] make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
I remember sitting with my father when he was dying. He was a doctor, so he knew the general course things would take that would lead to his death. He made decisions that were crucial for getting him the care he needed and for taking care of my mom for the rest of her life. This was one type of prudent management of the unrighteous wealth.
But he used the unrighteous wealth for other things as well. Together we reflected on the fact that right then all that we believed came into sharp focus. In our view of the world, and by “our” I mean all believers, in our view of the world there is an end. The world ends. It ends in fire on the last day, or it ends for us when we take our last breath. This is how we live. It effects the way we spend our time, the way we keep our priorities, the way we spend our money
If it doesn’t, it is very sad. What you will face at the end of your life will test you (if you get that opportunity). There are many who don’t use the time and resources, the unrighteous mammon, to attend to the end of all things. So when the end comes, they are weak in the faith or have lost it. They view the future without hope as the end comes crashing down upon them. If they haven’t used the simple things of this life to prepare, and to share with others who will see and know, (John always presents those who walk in the light as “testifying.”) if they haven’t made friends by living their faith with a view to the end, then they may be left desolate. It’s a real thing.
III. Use the True Thing Also
The error is to think that we can focus on ourselves and our wants and our stuff and our wealth and still be faithful. It cannot be done. You would be wise, right now to think about your end and the end of all things. “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, [using it to serve with a view to the end of all things] who will entrust to you the true [the true thing] 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.”
Now it is no hardship to be faithful in the unrighteous wealth, to live our lives with a view to the end. Because the end is the culmination of the death of death itself. God invaded this dark and dying world to bring light and life. Every miracle, every healing, every return to life, and finally His own resurrection was a turning back of the devil’s work, the death brought in by our old murdering enemy the Devil.
Christ brought light and life into the world, and so do we whenever we are faithful in the use of both worldly wealth and the heavenly riches of the gospel, for Christ Himself is present and works though His word and sacrament.
How many of us are here because people put their worldly wealth to work sharing the riches of God’s grace with others? How many of us have rejoiced in sharing the joy with others! However much we have in terms of “unrighteous wealth” prudence means that we use it rightly – not for its own sake, but with a view to the end of all things.
However much we have in the “true things” of the gospel (an incalculable treasure!) we also use it rightly when with a view to the end of all things we share the light and life it brings.
AMEN.
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