Money, Relationships, and God: The Interface
(Luke 16;1-31)
An angel appeared at a faculty meeting and told the dean that in return for his unselfish service, he will be rewarded with his choice of wealth, wisdom, or beauty. Without hesitating, the dean selects wisdom. "It is done!" the angel said, and then disappeared into a cloud of smoke. All of the other members of the faculty stared at the dean with amazement. Finally one of them whispered, "Now that you have infinite wisdom, Dean, say something." The dean looked them and said, "I should have taken the money."
It’s a good joke, isn’t it? But I—and probably you-- disagree. Proverbs tells us that wisdom is more precious than gold. It is crucial that we Christians convince ourselves of this. But this joke does the job of getting us to think about the relationship of wealth to life in general, and to our relationship toward God in particular.
Let me ask you a question: In what ways does our culture pressure us to love money?
Let me ask another: Why is it so difficult to keep a proper perspective on money?
Many Pharisees at the time of Jesus thought that wealth meant God’s favor. They read the verses in Deut. 28 and made some wrong conclusions:
NIV Deuteronomy 28:1-12
1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you.
11 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.
12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.
These verses deal with Israel’s national blessing when they walked with Him in sincerity. You cannot take the general direction of a nation and apply it to each individual. But Israel was not walking so zealously with the Lord. Individuals were rich or poor, not necessarily based upon their own righteousness. Their spiritual condition would be clearly revealed by their indifference or rejection of Jesus as the Messiah.
Since many Pharisees thought that wealth evidenced God’s blessing, and since many Pharisees were concerned about their image, not their substance, they went through great pains to attain wealth. In our society, wealth has become a social status symbol. In ancient Israel, wealth was considered a spiritual status symbol.
MAIN IDEA: Whether we are talking about spiritual status symbols or social status symbols, Christ destroys all tokenism and says it is substance—who we are underneath it all—that matters to God.
TS------------- Christ shatters all attempts at achieving status through wealth with the hammer of truth. Let’s look at three truths Christ used to hammer away at the status-seeking.
I. Relationships Are More Valuable than Excessive Wealth (1-9)
1. Abraham Maslow came up with a pattern called, “Maslow’s Pyramid.” According to Maslow, human needs are arranged from the most urgent to the highest levels. At the bottom are physiological needs: air, food, water, etc.. Next come safety needs: security, freedom from anxiety/chaos, law and order); then come Belonging needs (acceptance, intimacy, affection), then Esteem needs (self-respect, recognition, independence, dignity), and then at his pinnacle he places “Self-Actualization” (reaching your potential).
---my simpler division is this: physical needs, relational needs, spiritual needs
(any of these can be pursued to an infinite level---a balanced person pursues all three)
2. Obviously, if you are starving to death, you are not worried about your self-esteem at that moment….but once your most essential needs are met, once you have reached a reasonable threshold, you can choose to focus on becoming extreme in the realm of material things & security, or you can choose to focus on the deeper things of life…
3. This is where most people fail: they assume more of the same kind is better…
rather than getting into the deeper things of life…superficial & materialistic go together…
4. Parable of unjust business manager….( Luke 16:1-9)
(1) manager (we’ll call him Manny) is corrupt---owner gets wind of it
(2) Manny knows termination is imminent
(3) not able to do physical work, too proud to beg….
(4) he decides on a scheme to make friends---then they’ll provide him with work more in his line…
(5) Manny cuts everyone’s debt way down….rewrites the bills…
(6) the owner has to take the loss, but he is impressed with Manny’s shrewdness…
5. The lesson is found in verses 8-9: Use what God has entrusted you to build relationships with others…..then they will welcome you into heaven (at least, those you have reached for Christ)
(1) God blesses us so we can bless others…
(2) Jesus is not approving of the man’s dishonesty, but of the man’s shrewdness in realizing the importance of making friends and building relationships…. He built relationships to earthly rewards, we, for heavenly….
(3) God blesses you with a big house, use it; abilities—use them; finances, invest them in eternity…God blesses us so that we can bless others!
The first truth is this: Relationships Are More Valuable than Excessive Wealth (1-9)
The second truth is:
II. Management of My Resources Is a Heart Issue (Luke 16:10-17)
1. Some of us are good at stretching money.
A sideshow strongman was exhibiting his prowess and as a final trick he squeezed the juice from a lemon between his hands and then offered ten dollars to anyone in the audience who could squeeze a single drop out of it. Several husky men tried, to no avail. Finally, a small bespectacled man came forward. He took the lemon in hand, and to the delight of the audience, managed to squeeze one more drop from the lemon. As the strongman paid out the ten dollars, he asked the man, "What is the secret of your strength. How did you manage to get that last drop?" "Oh," the man replied, "I was the treasurer of Highland Park Church for 30 years."
2. The biggest factor in handling our three main resources: money, time, and energy, is our heart’s attitude.
(1) some people do not handle money, time, or enegry well because they do not know how.
(2) most people who struggle in any of these three areas do not want to do what it takes…they orchestrate failure because their values and priorities drive them to debt, wrong priorities, or exhaustion…
3. Note these realities
(1) if you are not faithful with little, you won’t be with much (10-12)
---if you don’t job with your 4.99 sneakers, you won’t with $75 Reeboks
--if you don’t support the Lord’s work with an average paycheck, you won’t when you bring in more, either
--if you aren’t regular in church now, you probably won’t be when you retire
--this isn’t nuclear physics or quantum theory—this is basic sense…
---this is true regarding rewards and stewardship in eternity---God will demand an account from each of us regarding how faithful we were with what HE gave us…
(2) someone or something has to be number one…. God or mammon (13)
--this is an issue of priority…
(3) God’s Word exposes your condition; the cause of your condition—be it good or bad—is determined by the status of your heart….not your pocketbook (14-17)
The first truth is this: Relationships Are More Valuable than Excessive Wealth (1-9)
The second truth is: II. Management of My Resources Is a Heart Issue (Luke 16:10-17) There is a third truth Jesus teaches to shatter attempts to achieve status through wealth:
III. Our Bank Account Does Not Impress God (16:18-31)
1. A fable, a parable, or an event?
2. I favor this as a parable. If so, then it is based on something that COULD happen…then the compartments of Hades mentioned here are actual….but we must be careful…explain the theory…
3. Rabbinic belief at the time of Christ was that Paradise and Torment/hell were separated by a great river…they could see one another…Jesus seems to accept this…or at least use it…
4. Here is the story: Lazarus, poor beggar, Rich Man shows no compassion…
Read 16:22-31
5. What matters is a good relationship to God, not money/prestige….
CONCLUSION
1. Nothing makes us more shallow than the endless pursuit of wealth….there IS more to life than money…this is true in the here and now, and true in eternity…
2. Money is not evil….enjoy it by building relationships with it…manage it faithfully, use it to serve God because you cannot impress Him.
3. All status and status symbols will disappear,…but our service for Jesus Christ will bring eternal benefits….
4. How do you think God wants you to change the way you handle your resources?
5. What can you do during this next week to become a better steward of the resources God has given you?
