Helping your friends for eternity

Sermon for Trinity 9

1 Corinthians 10:6-13  +  Luke 16:1-9

Often times in Jesus’ parables, He tells a story in order to walk us patiently toward a certain understanding, to draw a certain conclusion. Sometimes, He comes right out and spells out that conclusion for us. That’s what He does in today’s Gospel of the unjust steward. His first hearers had to wait till the end for the conclusion, but since we can read the whole parable now, let’s begin today with the conclusion Jesus draws and the main point He makes, and then go back and see how the parable gets us there.

For the sons of this age are wiser toward their own kind than are the sons of the light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that, when you become destitute, they may welcome you into the eternal dwellings.

What’s the problem Jesus is addressing in the parable of the unjust steward? What’s the sin He wants His people to recognize in themselves, to repent of, and to avoid and correct in the future? Well, He makes a comparison between the sons of this age and the sons of the light.

He calls unbelievers the “sons of this age,” people as they are naturally born, born of the flesh only. They’re the people who live only for this age, whose life centers around getting by in this world, having the best life possible here, enjoying life here. They’re so concerned with this life, in fact, that the threat of a disease, a virus that could end their earthly life “prematurely,” even the minimal threat Hisposed by C-19, makes them willing to upend society and life as we know it (or knew it) in order to preserve their earthly lives at all costs, even if it means trampling on the rights and the freedoms and the beliefs of everyone else. They are the sons of this age, and they will perish with this age.

Christ calls believers the “sons of the light,” those who have been born again, born of water and the Spirit, born of God, who is Light. As St. John says, God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. These are the ones who have come to acknowledge their sins through the preaching of God’s Law and who have come to believe the promise of the Gospel, that God will forgive us and accept us as His own, free of charge, for the sake of Jesus, and through faith alone in Jesus. The sons of the light (which includes both men and women, of course) know better than to live for this life. They know that this life is short, that our lives are in God’s hands, that our goal is not to prosper in this world, but to reach the life that is with God, the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. They know that they have to bear difficult temptations in this world, as St. Paul described in today’s Epistle, but that these things are for our good, to teach us, and that God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also create such an outcome that you are able to bear up under it. The sons of the light know that this world, this age, and everything in it is perishing. They know not to cling too tightly to anything here, because here is where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But the Lord has prepared treasures in heaven and a crown of life for those who remain faithful unto death. The saints know that “here” is simply a preparation for the life to come.

But…While the saints, the sons of the light, know all that and believe all that, we can still be influenced and even led astray by our sinful nature, so that we don’t live like that. And so St. Paul pointed to the horrific example of the Israelites, who began as sons of the light, but who gave into idolatry and adultery and ended up dead on the desert floor. Or as Jesus says in the Gospel, The sons of this age are wiser toward their own kind than are the sons of the light. How so? Well, look at the unjust steward, one of the sons of this age, as he deals with his own situation and the people he could affect with his use of mammon, that is, the earthly wealth he had at his disposal, the wealth that turns into a god for so many people.

The steward was a steward. The wealth at his disposal wasn’t his own; it belonged to the owner of the business, to the rich man for whom he worked. Now, whether the steward started out his job as a lazy bum or whether he became that later, we’re not told. He probably started out OK and so kept his job for a while. But he grew lazy, haphazard, careless with his management of the rich man’s wealth and was eventually called to account for it. He knew he deserved to be fired, but he also knew that being fired meant no income for himself, so he would end up begging or finding a job of hard manual labor, neither of which he found very appealing.

So the steward sat down and thought quickly. If the rich man won’t provide me an income anymore, then I’ll have to rely on others to do it. I have the rich man’s wealth at my disposal for a little while longer. How can I use it to make friends who will love me and invite me into their homes and take care of me after the mean rich man fires me? I’ll fudge the books and cancel some of their debt, anywhere from 20% to 50% of what they owe my boss.

Instead of being angry with the steward for basically giving away some of his money, the rich man commended him. Oh, he had lied and cheated and connived and, in effect, stolen from the rich man. The steward didn’t know anything of the cardinal virtue called Justice. But at least he was finally exercising the cardinal virtue called Prudence or wisdom. And, in the end, the rich man, by not firing the steward, would end up getting the credit among his debtors for being so generous with them.

But, Jesus laments, The sons of this age are wiser toward their own kind than are the sons of the light. Unbelievers often use worldly wealth to buy friends for themselves. Some people contribute to charity and give big, public donations to this or that good cause in order to gain favor and influence. Some do it simply for the sake of good karma! Politicians are famous for it, promising everything from debt cancellation to free money or health care or housing in order to buy people’s goodwill and votes. And shamefully, it often works, doesn’t it?

But Christians, who know better than to hoard up things for this life, who know that God has commanded us to love one another as Christians, to be devoted to one another, to live in service to one another, and to do good to all men, often become lazy, or haphazard, or careless about such things. We get wrapped up in our own stuff, we keep padding our wallets and stuffing our pantries and building up our bank accounts, and we don’t even think about using the wealth at our disposal—God’s wealth!— to do favors for fellow Christians, meaningful, substantial gifts that will make a difference in their lives, that will help take care of the earthly needs of those with whom we are to spend eternity, much less using our wealth to benefit those who are not yet Christians, in the hope that we might entice them to listen to the Gospel and so become sons of the light, together with us.

And so Jesus holds this parable before our eyes to bring us to repentance yet again, for our shameful, self-serving stewardship of His things. And to the penitent, Christ again holds out His blood as the price He paid for our mismanagement and apathetic service and calls on us to believe in Him for the forgiveness of all our sins. And then, just as the unjust steward wasn’t fired from his stewardship after proving that he could act wisely after all, so the Lord retains in His service those who have repented of their sins and who are now re-devoted to serving faithfully.

What does that look like? Jesus tells us very simply: I say to you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that, when you become destitute, they may welcome you into the eternal dwellings. God, the Owner, calls on Christians to use their wealth in service to fellow Christians and to those who might become our fellow Christians. Now, that includes your Christian family, of course. And it also includes your offerings given to support your pastor and the ministry that serves our members here. It includes support for other pastors and parishes of our fellowship. It includes a pastor’s family in Colombia, and soon it could include supporting mission work in the jungles of Peru and in other parts of the world. It includes also looking for opportunities to help the unbeliever, so that he may be drawn to hear the Gospel by your acts of kindness.

The point is, the wise manager watches out for laziness and selfishness and worldliness. He seeks to avoid carelessness and apathy about the wealth God has put into his hands. He makes it his daily and primary task to consider, how will I use these material things today, these temporary, passing away things that I have in my hands, to help my brothers and sisters in Christ, or to try to gain new brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I will spend eternity, whose favor and gratitude are worth far more to me than building up a huge nest egg for myself here on earth?

I’ll tell you, dear members at Emmanuel, I see you doing these things in how you provide for me and my family and for the needs of our church, how you’ve provided for Pr. Marin’s family and for others in our diocese when they’ve needed help. I see your willingness to bend over backwards to help one another in a time of need, and if any of you falls on hard times, you should know that you have Christian friends here who will gladly lend a hand. And I’ve seen you just waiting for a good chance, a wise chance, to help anyone and everyone. That help and that desire to help are pleasing to God through Christ Jesus. Just remember, you have enemies in this world—the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh—that will always keep trying to turn your focus away from generosity and back toward selfishness and self-centeredness and the service of mammon. So stay vigilant. Listen to Jesus’ correction and instruction. And become better stewards, day by day, of the abundant wealth the Lord has given us all, to use for His glory and for the eternal benefit of our neighbor. Amen.