The Pastor's PageRev. Helen S. Armiger |
| Luke 16:1-8a,
10, 13 Decisions about money make me nervous, especially if the stakes are high. When I filled out financial aid forms for my sons college tuition, I became anxious as I tried to complete the requested information – I had so little to report – no boats, no farms, no second homes, no IRAs, no 401Ks, no trust funds, no, no, no, no-thing. We did not have much of a financial safety net, yet my son was heading off to an expensive private college When I read the Scripture passage from Luke about the shrewd manager and his handling of money, my first reaction was to ask for another passage. This passage pushed some kind of money button for me – because I think I should be shrewder about money, less willing to give it away, more diligent about keeping track of it, more interested in money. Money has power and for many people there are issues surrounding how we accumulate, spend, and relate to the use of it. Our use of money is a good test of the lordship of Christ. In the Spiritual Formation Bible, it says: We are being trained to be trustworthy with Gods true riches when we are given little and prove trustworthy with it. Sometimes we struggle, however, to keep choosing true riches over worldly wealth. The accumulation of money is attractive – just think of all the things we can have if we just had enough money! Just think of the power and control we might have if we just had enough money! Just think of all the things we could do if we had enough money! The building of wealth can easily become a priority over our building of the Kingdom, especially in the US where commercial enterprise has become our addiction rather than our foundation. While the Scripture from Luke has some challenging passages, Jesus makes it very clear that we cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve both God and the pursuit of wealth. Money is a hard master and a deceptive one. Wealth makes many promises – power, control, security, position, and glittery things – but often it cannot deliver. Jesus, however is not condemning money per se, but rather he is helping us to learn about faithfulness in how we manage what we have. Money can be used in blessed and glorious ways – to serve the sick and hungry, to help bring people to Christ, to practice Resurrection. We do not need vast fortunes to bless the world. If we are Christ-like in our stewardship of small amounts of money, we will be like Christ in the handling of the eternal treasures of heaven. Have you ever heard someone say, "I would like to give more to the Church, but I just don’t have a lot of money."? The amount of money we have is not the issue. If we do not give sacrificially with the little we have, we will not give sacrificially with more money. In the parable of the shrewd manager, Jesus asks us to be faithful in small matters, so that we will be faithful in large ones. While the rich man praised the dishonest manager for his astute handling of a difficult situation, the managers unethical handling of his masters treasure reflected how the manager would handle weightier matters. Our stewardship, however, is not just about our pockets. Stewardship is also about how we care for one another. Each time we break a promise or our word, however insignificant, we lose a grain of sand from our personal beach – we erode our integrity. Bit by bit, the unfaithfulness in small matters adds up and we lose the trust – and respect - of others. |