Theme: You cannot serve God and money
Text: Amos 8:4-7; 1 Tim. 2:1-8; Lk. 16:1-13
God is concerned about our future and teaches us to also show that same concern. Our concern should lead us to make the right decisions in life. When God created the tree that yields fruit, the Scriptures declare that its seed was in it according to its kind and the Lord saw that it was good. The fruit was to be a source for food and the seed was to be planted to yield fruit for the future. Man therefore should also prepare for the future. Today most people prepare for the future by making various investments. But unfortunately, for very many people their understanding of future relates only to time and only a few people understand that the future extends beyond time and into eternity. An average person invests 10-30 years of his or her life preparing for a working life that will last at most 70 years. But that same person spends very little time preparing for eternity although the time we spend on earth compared to the time we will spend in eternity is but a moment. Preparing for our real future that is preparing for eternity is to submit to the Lordship of Christ. It is to accept His love and grace to transform our lives. It is taking God and His Word seriously and living a life that honours and imitates Christ and displays godly character. This life is the responsibility of every individual and we should stop behaving as if life is only here on earth - that is in time. We need to always keep in mind that we cannot live and do what we want and that we are only being allowed to use the resources that belong to God. We should never forget that the Psalmist teaches, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein”. God owns everything and has entrusted man with its supervision and management. As stewards we are responsible for and accountable to God for what happens to His Creation. Each one of us will be required to give an account of our stewardship to God. You belong to God and are His steward and you cannot serve God and money.
This is clearly illustrated in the parable about the unjust steward who was only concerned about himself. He therefore squandered his master’s possessions. Today we would describe such a person as a crooked accountant who used creative bookkeeping techniques to enrich himself. This parable does not single out one particular person or one particular business but applies to every person no matter his or her profession. Such people are not interested in the reason for their employment and the success of the business. Their only interest is in what they can get out of the business. Whereas they were employed to make profit for the business, they see their employment as a means of enriching themselves. They see their employment as a way to amass wealth and possessions. They forget that when the business prospers they will also end up prospering and that when the business goes bankrupt they will be without a job.
This is the story of many businesses especially the state owned enterprises in our country. The businesses are run down and collapse, as those who destroy them believe they only existed to make them rich. In today’s parable the unjust steward decided to enrich himself at the expense of the business and his master. The boss eventually caught on with what was happening and decided to give him his termination notice. No person would tolerate such a situation since we all want proper use and management of our resources. He asked him therefore to give an account of his stewardship. The accountant immediately sought a solution to the problem he was about to face. He was not sorry for what he had done. He was only sorry for what he was going to lose – his source of wealth. He had probably not considered that he was too old and lazy to do any physical work like filling potholes. He had probably also not considered that he was too proud to beg. But now that he knew his days were numbered he looked for a solution and found it in an unethical but ingenious way. He decided to falsify the books. So he called some of the people who owed his boss and told them to change the copy of their invoice while he changed his. The debtor who owed a hundred measures of olive oil changed the amount to fifty and a second who owed a hundred measures of wheat changed it to eighty. The unjust steward used what did not belong to him, what belonged to his boss, to build up a reserve of personal favours he could use later on. He used money to make friends. This has always been a very common practice and politicians often use money to get the support they need. We all know that those with money usually have a lot of friends because people know how to gravitate around money. You only know who your real friends are when you no longer have any money. The unjust steward made deals to make friends and when his boss realised what he was doing, he had a most unusual reaction. He praised the steward’s ingenuity and shrewdness. He praised him because when he realised how desperate his situation had become he took steps to prepare for the future. As the unjust steward saw the urgency to prepare for the future, so too must the disciple see the urgency and imminence of death and judgement and prepare for it by changing his or her behaviour accordingly. We do this by writing off all debts, forgiving everyone and forgoing all self-centred interests before it is too late.
Neither Jesus nor the boss in the parable ever praised deceitfulness, dishonesty or creative bookkeeping. But both of them recognised the unjust steward’s vision. When faced with a problem, he did not hide or blame someone else, neither did he run to the bottle or jump off a cliff. Instead he faced the problem and came up with a shrewd way of solving it. This is what Jesus praised him for. Jesus praised him because as soon as he saw the problem he became solution orientated. He used money to make friends who would be forced to receive him into their homes when he needed them. They would feel obligated to also help him since they owed him a favour.
The master praised the unrighteous steward not because of what he did, he was unrighteous, but because he acted shrewdly. He took steps to provide for his future. In this sense the Scriptures declare, “the sons of this age” outshine us, the sons of light. William Barclay explains “If only the Christian was as eager and ingenious in his attempt to attain goodness as the man of the world in his attempt to attain money and comfort, he would be a much better man.” Unbelievers because they believe in this life take steps to ensure their future in this life, whereas believers, who believe in eternity, do not take the necessary steps to ensure their future in eternity. Just as the unjust steward used money to ensure his future in time by making friends so the believer can use money to ensure his future in eternity by also making friends. What unbelievers’ use for temporal purposes believers are to use for eternal purposes. We are to make wise use of the financial opportunities we have, not to earn heaven, but that those we help will show their gratitude when they welcome us into heaven, our eternal home. Those who have used their money, time, skills, and opportunities in time to help those in need or to help others find Christ, at death will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Their earthly investments will bring eternal benefit. We should not forget that we are only pilgrims here on our way to our eternal home. Unfortunately many of us call the wrong place home and live our lives as if everything ends here. This place with so many troubles, pain, anguish and hurt cannot be home. The story is told of a missionary who returned to his country after spending forty years in China. On his arrival he saw large crowds waiting to meet their friends and relatives. By the time the old missionary had gone through immigration formalities he realised that the crowd had disappeared and there was no one to meet him. Tears came to his eyes as he began to ask the Lord why no one had come to welcome him home. In a moment he saw himself at the gates of heaven and there to welcome him were thousands and thousands of Chinese. Suddenly he realised his big mistake and began to smile. He had been calling the wrong place home. He was not home yet. As stewards are we using what God has given us to promote His Kingdom? The world uses what God provides to promote a certain lifestyle, status and power. Believers are to use God’s provisions for the work of the Kingdom. When the time comes when wealth will be useless, that is the day of eternity, what we have used our wealth for can ensure a friendly reception into heaven.
We cannot serve God and money but we can use money to serve God. How we handle money demonstrates our real character. God is not impressed by how good we look. He is impressed by who we are and whether we are fulfilling His divine purposes by being obedient and faithful to Him. The dishonest steward betrayed his masters trust by misusing goods that did not belong to him. In Jesus’ words such disciples will not be entrusted with heavenly wealth and responsibilities. If indeed we cannot take care of what belongs to others why should we think that we could take care of what belongs to us. The money we think we own is not really ours and we cannot spend it just any way we like. We are stewards holding it in trust. Yet how we manage it will determine whether we can be entrusted with true wealth that is heaven.
There is a story of a rich businessman who spent his money only on himself. He was so preoccupied with himself that the only ones he could call his friends were his doctor, his lawyer and his accountant. When the businessman realised he was about to die, he approached them and gave each of them one million Cedis to put in his casket to take with him. Just before the casket was closed, the doctor went up and put in an envelope containing 800,000 Cedis saying to himself, “I am sure he will not mind me keeping 200,000 after all I have done to keep him alive all these years. The lawyer then went up to the casket and placed in an envelope containing 600,000 Cedis saying “I am sure he will not mind me keeping 400,000 after all the legal work I did for him while he was alive”. Then the accountant also went up and also deposited an envelope in the casket. The casket was then closed and the burial went on. After the burial the doctor and the lawyer confessed to the accountant what they had done. The accountant replied, “You do not really need to feel bad at all. I left him a cheque for three million and collected the cash you had left behind.” The accountant knew what the other two could not quite understand. He knew that you could not take money with you when you leave this life. We are to live our lives with eternity in mind. We cannot take money with us but we can take with us those we have helped bring into the Kingdom of God. And if they go before us, they will be there to welcome us home. Let us, therefore use our time, energy and resources to promote the Kingdom of God.
You cannot serve God and money. If money and all it entails enslaves us, we will not be able to serve God. Serving God is no part-time job. It requires exclusive, loyal, fulltime service. It requires uncompromising honesty and generosity. When God comes first in our lives we can then be able to use money to serve Him. Money can then be used to meet the needs of the needy. Amos describes religious people who appear to serve God. Even when doing so they appear to be in a hurry to go back to making money. Their real interest is not in God but in enriching themselves even if it meant cheating or defrauding others. As believers we are to use our wealth, money, resources, energy, and talents in this present life with an eye on the future life. The steward in the time of Jesus owned nothing of what he managed. Neither do we. Like him we are entrusted with the Master’s goods. We can do what we wish to do with it but the owner would reward us if we used it the way that would please him. We can either spend it on ourselves or use it to help those in need. God wants us to use what He gives us to promote the Kingdom of God. No matter how free we may seem to be there will come a day of reckoning when our books will be audited. We will have to account for every penny we have spent, squandered or invested, indeed every minute we have lived. God has entrusted everything into our care and we are to use it in a way that pleases Him. We are to use what has been entrusted to us to save others and how well and wisely we have used God’s provisions will determine whether we will be promoted or let go. Are you serving God or money? We need to answer this question honestly as the answer has eternal consequences. Today we can make the right decision to let Christ come first in our lives and see money as a means to serve Him. Amen!
