Author: TechCommittee

September 22, 2019                                                                         Text:  Luke 16:1-15

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Money can be a temptress.  It gives you freedom but it also paralyzes you.  When you have it you think you can relax and enjoy it.  But it calls the shots.

            The manager in our parable this morning understood this better than most.  He had been cooking the books, skimming some funds, breaking the 7^th Commandment.  He worked to justify it – overworked and underpaid.  He needs it more than his master.  It is going to help him solve his dilemma.  Or is it?  It is a good question to ask ourselves . . .

“DO YOU TRUST THE MOOLAH OR THE MASTER?”

            You can’t trust false gods and money is a false god.  It doesn’t care about you or love you.  It will leave you.  This is what happens to the manager.  His money is abandoning him and so what now?  He has to find something else to put his trust in.  What will it be?

            This manager is desperate.  He’s stuck.  “I can’t dig, I’m ashamed to beg.”  He worked a lifetime, even if crooked to get to this point.  Even if you haven’t been in his position, you understand this could be you by tomorrow morning or by this time next year.

            The manger gets fired.  No longer legally authorized to conduct business.  Notice something here; the master does not throw him in jail.  He could have but he doesn’t.  This guy could have been escorted out the door by security like in today’s world.  Instead the manager meanders back and gets the books.

            This generosity by the master gives him a little time.  He has choices at his disposal.  The best option – bank on the master’s reputation for being exceedingly generous.  Trusting in the master’s money is gone.  He must now trust the master, the one thing he should have trusted in all along.

            He calls in the master’s clients.  They don’t know he’s been fired.  With each person in debt he cancels about eighteen months of wages.  But did you notice he has them change the amount?  It happens in their handwriting, not his.  This is important because when he returns the books to the master, the master will notice two things:  first, the debts have been lowered, and second, his debtors know about it, because it is their handwriting.  Genius.

            The master sits back in his chair and figures he is going to win businessman of the year.  He is the most generous landowner in the county.  Facebook and Twitter are on fire with the news of this swell fella.

            What will a normal landlord do?  He will walk into the celebration party and announce, “I didn’t authorize this.  This man is a crook.  I will be expecting your regular payments at the beginning of the month.”  Most creditors would do this.  It is what you would do, right?  But this master doesn’t do this and the manager’s plan doesn’t collapse.  This master is generous.  It is part of who he is.

            He commends the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.  Well-played Harris.  When the ship was sinking he knew where to jump.  He used the master’s generosity to his advantage proving that “it’s not what you know; it’s who you know.”

            What is the moral of the story for us?  What point is Jesus making?  “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into eternal dwellings.” (v. 9)  You’ve got money.  Many of us have significant amounts.  Use it wisely, Jesus says, for the work of His Kingdom so that more souls can go to heaven.  There will be people in heaven who are there to thank you and welcome you because God used your offering and the work of the Holy Spirit to get them there.  He made it so your money would have eternal returns.

            We don’t labor under a master who is hard and cruel.  We labor under a generous master.  Whether you have been faithful in your use of money or have wasted it, your Master is still good.  He loves you and sees you through.  You will be saved and have your eternal reward because of the generosity of your Master.

            Your Master?  Jesus Christ.  He loves and forgives sinners.  We receive more than earthly wealth and goods.  He gives you His body and blood on the cross to save you.  You don’t have to make back payments to receive this bounty.  You don’t need to do anything; you don’t even need to be wise.  You just need to know which way to jump when your ship is sinking.  You jump and let the grace of God in Jesus catch you.

            If your stuck and don’t know what to do or where to go – too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg – don’t trust your moolah but turn to the Master.  Grab hold of the generosity of your Father in heaven.  Truly shrewd stewards are Christians who trust in the generosity of the Lord.  Plead the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, his death and resurrection, and it’s yours.

            You are going to be okay.  You are going to make it, dear Christian.  Your Master loves you, indeed.

                                                Amen.   

September 15, 2019                                                                              Text:  Luke 15:1-7

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Fred Rogers – also known as Mr. Rogers had a program on Public Television for a number of years called, “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.”  “Won’t you be my neighbor.”  I read that someone was blaming Mr. Rogers for the selfishness of a generation because he told children “they were special.”  The thought being that the world owes them something because they are “special.”

            The reruns of the show still show up on PBS.  I find the show, just like watching Bob Ross paint quite relaxing.  It is a stretch to blame Mr. Rogers for selfishness.  It is easier to point at Mr. and Mrs. Parent, but that theory also has holes.  The simple reality is this, we are sinful, which shows itself in our selfishness and blaming everybody for the way I am.

            You can rant and rave about this world all you want.  Heartburn today.  Heart attack tomorrow.  Subject to change without notice.  You can get mad.  You can deny it.  But one thing you can’t do . . .

“YOU CAN’T BLAME MR. ROGERS FOR WHO OR WHAT YOU ARE”

            We always point to the Scriptures when discussing these themes because it applies to everyone.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23)  “No one living is righteous before you,” writes the Psalmist. (Ps. 143:2b) 

            Everybody has the same two choices.  They are quite clear in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  We can either see ourselves as more wonderful and less sinful than others or we can get on our knees, look up to heaven and say, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

            Which are you?  Where do you stand?  Self-righteous or a sinner in his or her sin?  Who do you blame for . . . well . . . whatever has brought guilt and inner conflict in your life?

            “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus.  And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” (v. 1-2)

            You can’t read the Gospels and not see that Jesus is reaching into the lives of those with a sense of guilt and sin.  He is there for those dealing with discouragement and death, suffering and pain.  Jesus said this:  “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Lk. 19:10)

            Stan Mooneyham years ago was walking a trail in East Africa with some friends when he became aware of a wonderful odor.  “He looked up in the trees and around at the bushes in an effort to discover where it was coming from.  Then his friends told him to look down at the small blue flower growing along the path.  Each time they crushed the tiny blossoms under their feet, more of its sweet perfume was released into the air.  Then his friends said, ‘We call it the forgiveness flower.’

            “This forgiveness flower does not wait until we ask forgiveness for crushing it.  It does not release its fragrance in measured doses or hold us to a reciprocal arrangement…it merely lives up to its name and forgives – freely, fully, richly.”

            I find that an illustration of Christ’s love for us.  “He receives sinners and eats with them.”  The people that marched Him to Calvary are welcomed.  We – whose sins crushed Him – are forgiven and embraced by God forever.  Here in His Word and at the Holy Supper and at the baptismal font.  We come with the unworthy and undeserving and He grants forgiveness of all our sin and He has secured a place for each of us in eternity.

            “So he told them this parable:  ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.  Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.’” (v. 3-7)

            Ever think of heaven rejoicing over you when God brought you into His fold?  Christianity isn’t some psycho-babble to help us get comfortable with the world.  Its repentance, friends.  It’s daily repentance.  It is also a struggle sometimes we forget that.  In the struggle we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

            Ancient Greek poetry tells of a warrior, the hero of Troy, dressed in all his military armor, stretching out his arms to embrace his son before going into battle.  His child was frightened as he looked at the helmet and full military dress, and instead of falling into his father’s arms he screamed in terror.  However, under all the battle array was hidden a heart of fatherly love.  The warrior threw off his armor, gathered his little boy in his arms, and held him tightly against his chest where he could hear the beating of his father’s heart, as if saying, “I love you, I love you.”

            That is how God revealed himself to us in the person and work of Jesus.  He still does in Word, water, bread, wine.  Christ rejoices over us.  When things don’t go the way you want, or thought, or expected – don’t blame Mr. Rogers.   Be thankful you belong to God through faith in Christ.           Amen.