The Dishonest Manager

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay at 10:00 on 18 September 2022

Introduction

Of all the parables, this may be the one that causes the most discussion. It doesn’t seem straight forward – it appears that Jesus is suggesting to his hearers that they should be like the dishonest manager, but is that what he is really saying?

Other parables have explanations for the disciples who are sometimes a little slow, but this one doesn’t, so we look at it and assume what Jesus was saying must have been completely obvious to them.

Activity

The dishonest manager is clever – shrewd, but he is not honest. So to see what we think honesty is all about here is an activity. For each of these questions, I want you to vote to tell me what I should do.

Q1

My mum gave me two cookies to take to my next door neighbour. This is my favourite kind of cookie, and it smells so good! My mum said after I come back from my neighbour's and eat some lunch, then I’d get four cookies, but I’m hungry right now.

Should I eat one cookie on the way – mum would never know, or should I take both cookies to my neighbour and stay hungry?

Vote Now

[Comment]

Q2

What would you do? Grandma gave you £10 to buy her a drink at the fayre. After you do, you notice you have enough money leftover to buy a cool toy you saw. Do you bring the change back to grandma, or do you use the money to buy the toy before you go back to her?

Vote Now

[Comment]

Q3

You’re at the arcade, and you find a wallet with £30 in it, but there’s nothing in it that says the name of the owner. Do you put the £30 in your pocket and leave the wallet where it is, or do you turn the wallet and it’s contents into the lost-and-found?

[Comment]

Vote Now

What did Jesus say

So what did Jesus say?

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?”

[comment]

We’re all good

or

Some of us might want to re-think our votes (and perhaps our actions too).

Charging Interest

Let’s look at the story and see if we can make a bit more sense of it. In Jesus’s world, loaning money for interest was not allowed. So people got around this by loaning goods instead. That explains why the manager is asking people how much they owe, and they are talking about grain and oil. These were the things that were commonly used for loans. He knows how much was originally borrowed, so it is likely that that is the number that the dishonest manager suggests is the new debt. The borrowers are, of course, very happy to have their interest payments forgiven.

Jesus doesn’t approve of either of them

But, you’re all asking, "What about the dishonest manager?" Well, Jesus doesn’t approve of what the dishonest manager has been doing to get himself sacked, but know what he has done is the right thing. There would be little harm to his master, who would only lose the profit that he really shouldn’t have made.

Jesus doesn’t approve of the Master’s actions, although these might be called a ‘grey area’. He was still cheating the system, and charging interest on loans when he shouldn’t have been.

The Master

The master does not represent God in this parable. If that were real, I’m betting the master's approval would be a rather grudging. He might say something like, “Oh, that was clever, well done for being so cunning”, and he’d be thinking “I’m glad I’ve got rid of you when I did”. He can’t make a big show of it and take the manager to the authorities because that would expose his own cheating.

Shrewdness

What Jesus is really saying is that we should be aware of how the world works, that we should be shrewd, we should be clever, but in all that we do we should be honest and focussed on the things of true value – the things that will last eternally, because those are the true riches.

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

It’s a similar message to our reading today.

If the disciples are not shrewd, if they don’t understand how the world works they will get conned, or robbed. If they do understand how the world works their message of salvation will more likely be received by those they meet. If they are innocent they will also be trustworthy. If they are trustworthy, they will be taking the true message with them and not corrupting it for their own ends.

Our Riches

If we have riches, we should use it to make friends with the sort of people who can help us get to God, so that it will not corrupt us and lead us away from God. Then, when it is used up, we will still have the favour of those around us. Jesus is not saying that we can buy our way into heaven.

God and Money

Finally, we are reminded that we cannot serve God and Money. If we are shrewd, we will know that the whole financial system is corrupted by people’s greed. How often has someone offered to work for you for cash, so that neither of you pay tax? There are lots of ways of cheating the system. Some are illegal, some are just ‘grey areas’. Either way, if we are focussed on money, we will be part of a corrupt system, and we will not be able to serve God.

Amen.

 

References

https://www.jesusfilm.org/blog/parable-shrewd-manager/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/godly-principles-for-financial-money-management-hylton-davidson-sermon-on-money-174388?page=5&wc=800

https://sermonwriter.com/sermons/luke-161-13-the-dishonest-manager-anders/

https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/the-parable-of-the-unjust-steward-in-luke-16-video-discussion

https://www.askdifference.com/shrewd-vs-wise/

https://sermons4kids.com/dishonest_manager.htm

 

It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay at 8:00 on 18 September 2022

Introduction

This morning we're going to think a little about the Queen's reign and how her death has affected us. We will then move on to the writings of Jeremiah – our OT reading, and lastly to our Gospel reading from John.

QEII

During the last few days, I've been listening to and reading things that have been written about our late Queen.  Every one seems to agree that her life was dedicated to her duty and that she carried out that duty in an exemplary way.  Many times I have seen “well done good and faithful servant”, which I assume comes from Matthew 25:23.  It is well known that she had a strong Christian faith and that she was not shy of talking about it.  That was true to the extent that someone said of her that “The greatest evangelist of our generation has died”.  She didn't strike me as an evangelist, but it's clear that she made a connection with people, and that is certainly a first step.  There was an interview on the radio of various people who had met her. One man told of the conversation he had, and how she had been interested in what he was doing – that was one of her traits.  The conversation ended, and she was directed to the next place she had to be.  As she went, she turned back to him and said, “keep up the good work”.  That was completely unnecessary, she had already done her job, but that's the sort of person she was.

Her Reign

She reigned for nearly seventy years – that's a whole lifetime.  Psalm 90:10 says:

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away

It's also long enough that only a few of us will remember the former king, so the only head of state that we have known is Queen Elizabeth.  It's not surprising then that her death has come as quite a shock and has unsettled many.  Kier Starmer described her as our country's “stillest point, its greatest comfort”.  And now that comfort has gone.  It's happened at a difficult time politically, and her wisdom will undoubtedly be missed.  She was seen as a settling influence on a number of Prime Ministers, I'm led to believe.  We are worried about what will come next.

Succession

England has almost 1000 years experience of managing successions, this one is one of the most straight forward there has ever been, so we shouldn't have any worries there. But we might be concerned about the new King and how life will be under his influence. Things will be different. Despite his pledge to carry on his mother's legacy, he will have his own style and his own emphasis on different things.  He will not have years of experience to call on, either. So we may have some concerns there.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah lived at a very unsettled time in his nation's history.  He had been warning the powers that be for ages that they were going against God's ways, they did not listen.  Here's what one commentator wrote about the book of Lamentations.

“Written as a series of dirges, elegies, and laments following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., Lamentations attempts to put into words the heartache and despair of the prophet Jeremiah, who had survived the siege of Jerusalem and subsequent captivity at the hands of Babylon. If Jeremiah’s first book (Jeremiah) was the prophetic warning anticipating the fall of Jerusalem; its sequel (Lamentations) was Jeremiah’s reflection upon it.”

Our Old Testament reading for today, is, apparently, one of the most hopeful passages in the whole book – such was the pain that Jeremiah felt.  His country, his people, are gone.  Everything about the way society was organised has changed.  His homeland is no longer his, but belongs to others, to the conquerors, the Babylonians.  In Chapter 29 of Jeremiah, he writes to the exiles, encouraging them to live in the new society in which they find themselves.   To establish families and to make a positive contribution to the Babylonian world.  He knows their exile won't last forever and is looking to future generations who will one day return.  

Alive – so loved

At the start of the exile, though, it is enough to be alive.  To be alive means that the Lord still loves His people.  They have not been consumed, they have not been annihilated.  The Lord's compassions are new every morning. He recalls how the promised land was established.  Each tribe was given a territory, 'a portion' of the new land that they were to occupy.  The portion they were given would support them and allow them to put down roots (real and metaphorical), to establish their families, to produce future generations.

Levites

One tribe, though, was not given any land.  The tribe of Levi – the Levites – were told the Lord would be their portion.  Their life would not be dedicated to agriculture, husbandry, or mining, their life would be dedicated to the Lord, and the Lord would provide for them.  He would do this by providing them with a share of the surpluses that the other tribes created.  It had worked very well, and no doubt by Jeremiah's time, it was the way the prophets were supported.  So Jeremiah, as he is reflecting on the disaster that has overtaken his people, knows that the Lord will look after him – although he may not have a clear idea of exactly how that would work.

Cast off

So he will wait for it to happen: “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”, he says.  He is waiting because he believes that the Israelites have been cast off by the Lord.  He cannot see how this disaster can be anything but the Lord letting go of them.  That view may be partly, at least, generated by his grief and his shock, but even in this emotional state he cannot help but know that the Lord still loves them. So, He could not have brought this disaster on them willingly.  The only thing to do is wait.  Waiting quietly does not mean sitting still and doing nothing. As we have already seen, Jeremiah wanted the Israelites to be a part of their new world.  If they wait quietly and patiently, one day the Lord will rescue them.

Same Message

Jesus's words, in our reading from John, echo the same message.  "I am the bread of life", is the equivalent of "the Lord is my portion".  Jesus is promising to sustain those who come to Him and believe in Him.  His promise goes further than the promises that Jeremiah understood and relied on.  Jesus promises that none of those who follow him can be lost, and that they will be raised up from death to eternal life on the last day.

Rely on

It's the promise that we all rely on, it's the promise that our late queen relied on, and that, so many have relied on through the ages.  With her and all the saints we wait quietly because as Jeremiah said "It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Amen.

 

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cnJP_jSXA4

At Pensioners Praise, Caring for Creation.

Reading Romans 8:18-24a

Connected

I think it was James Burke who first made me realise that everything is connected. Do you remember his TV series Connections – where he showed us how one development is connected to the next and so on until we get where we are today. While that was primarily about science, engineering and mass production, the idea that everything is connected was the most valuable lesson to me.

It’s not just our discoveries and inventions that are connected. Each of the environmental systems we know about – the water cycle, the carbon cycle, and all the others are also connected and depend in some way on each other to support the environment we live in. Those things feed into the weather systems, which are supported and sometimes generated by the ocean and it’s currents.

Oceans

The ocean currents are affected by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun, which cause the tides. The constant movement of the oceans caused by the tides provides unique environments on the coast which support different types of life and provide food for birds and other animals.

I could go on, but I hope, by now, that you’re getting the picture. Literally everything we do has some effect on our environment. Climate scientists will tell you that they can even see the Roman Empire in the climate record.

So what we do, or don’t do makes a difference even if that difference is very small.

5 Marks of Mission

As a Christian and an Anglican, I have a particular calling, as do each of you. That calling is defined as the 5 Marks of Mission. Here are all five.

1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers

3. To respond to human need by loving service

4. To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation

5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth

It’s the last one that we are looking at today. I hope you can see that all these are connected too.

Integrity of Creation

If we are to safeguard the integrity of creation, we will have to challenge violence and pursue peace. War, and any other sort of violence against the person is hugely wasteful of resources. Just watch any reality program about ambulances or police and you will see how much time and effort goes into dealing with drunken fights. War is much more wasteful, England was partially deforested to build ships to defeat the Spanish. If we look at Ukraine, we see modern buildings destroyed, all of which will have to be re-built when the war is over.

Unjust Structures - environmental racism

We will have to transform unjust structures to allow areas that need to remain wild to be untouched by greedy humans. Have you heard the term ‘environmental racism’. It means that those in particular environments are discriminated against and that rich countries and corporations, by their actions, keep it that way.

Jeremiah 2:7 says:

I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.

As things go wrong we will need to respond to human need, recently we have heard that about a third of the population of Pakistan have been adversely affected by flooding – the rains made worse by global warming. They will need support to recover, and that effort will put more CO₂ in the atmosphere and cause other pollution, making things worse.

Proclaiming the Kingdom

We might have most effect though by proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and teaching, baptising and nurturing new believers. That way, we give the Holy Spirit that chance to change hearts and minds, so we have more people trying harder to sustain and renew the life of the earth.

Bible Verses

Of course, the 5 marks of mission were not simply dreamt up by some old archbishop, they have been carefully put together looking at the whole Bible.

So, let's take a look at the verses we read today, and see where that takes us.

Intro to Bible verses

Paul has been saying that we are co-heirs with Christ, if we share in his sufferings. Now, at the start of our reading he says that our current sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. It is not our glory that will be revealed, as though we are somehow equal with God, but it is God’s glory in Christ Jesus, that will be revealed in us through the Holy Spirit.

Creation Waits

The whole of creation waits for this, indeed it can’t wait, but it has to. It’s that sense of excitement that we all know when a great event in our lives is about to occur – like getting married perhaps. For creation, that great event is the glory of God being revealed in the children of God.

Creation needs that because it is under a curse. The curse is the result of Adam eating the fruit. Here’s Genesis 3:17b-19:

“Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful toil you will eat food from it

all the days of your life.

¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return.”

Amazing Idea

I find this whole idea truly amazing. How did a people come to believe that their ancestors messed up and as a result the whole of creation is cursed? Human beings are so good at deflecting blame, but somehow God’s powerful revelation got through to them enough for them to write it down – and so to share the guilt, to inherit the guilt. It’s our actions as fallen humans that cause the problem, not some random god who we’ve upset, who then punishes us.

Superior place of Humanity

That’s because we are not just another animal in the animal kingdom. God placed Adam just 'a little lower than the angels' as Psalm 8 tells, and He gave us responsibility for all of creation. Genesis 1:26-28 says humans are to rule over creation. Although we are created, the rest of creation is ours – it’s all for us.

So, because of Adam’s sin, and the sin of his descendants, right to the present generation, creation – all of it - is in bondage to decay.

Liberation

Look around you – everything decays. Nothing we make lasts more than a few years, few of the living things we see around us last for more than 100 years, and even the hills are eroded over thousands of years. If the scientists are right, even the earth itself will be gone in a few billion years, and the universe is headed for heat death, where even atoms will no longer exist.

But this is not how it should be. Creation is waiting for liberation from its bondage to decay.

Groaning

Paul says that creation is groaning – we’ve certainly seen some examples of that this year. Droughts in Europe, while in Pakistan one third of the population is devastated by flooding. I don’t know if you’ve tried to pray about all of this – if you have, I suspect your prayers are reduced to groans and sighs, it’s just too big for us. Sure, we can pray for the individual issues, those on our minds at a particular time, but it’s impossible to keep a complete list. Anyway, what to say beyond ‘make it stop’, which doesn’t sound very useful.

Sonship

Like creation,

we, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”.

Redemption will come, either when Jesus returns, or we are taken from this world. That is the hope that we have – and this passage is meant to be about hope.

Hope

Our hope is not that we can solve all the problems that we have caused, but that God has saved us.

So, while we should be concerned and actively doing whatever we can – reduce, reuse, recycle, but mainly reduce, we should not be worried and fearful. Remember what Jesus says in Matthew 6:34 “do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Paul reminded the Romans, and us at the start of the reading that “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Peter says a similar thing:

1 Peter 1:6-9 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Frugal

So, let us be careful, frugal even with the things of this world, and generous to those who have nothing. But also let us celebrate the promises of God, and the hope that the resurrection of Jesus gives us.