23 Jan

9/30/18       LUKE 16:1-13   “EVEN YOU GET A 2^NDCHANCE!”

I hate to say it but I think that dishonesty and crime have become a way of life here in America and the world.  We have an election coming up and it will once again be the lesser of two evils.  I want you to think about that.  The lesser of two evils is still evil.  Our political system is totally broke as you can see as one candidate lies about the other and visa versa.  I hear lots of complaints about what is going on in Washington and how bad it is there.  We can only blame ourselves as we keep putting inferior candidates into office.  This will continue until we realize that we aren’t in control.  Last week I made a comment on Facebook stating that Jesus belongs everywhere including our government.  You wouldn’t believe some of the hateful responses I got.  Satan is alive and well on Facebook.  We have to do something about this and it all begins with Jesus.  I decided to talk about this passage from Luke because it deals with this subject.  It almost seems like Jesus is praising someone here for being crooked but that is not the case.  We are going to see what the praise is for and then how we can apply this lesson so maybe we can begin our way back to a civilized society.

Last week we spoke of the lost sheep and the lost coin.  Today we will continue to look at the lost, but from a different perspective.  Christian Cheong tells the story of two brothers who were convicted of stealing sheep, which isn’t uncommon even in our world today.  There are many places where this is quite a serious crime.  Their punishment for this crime in their community was to have each of their foreheads branded with the letters “ST,” which stood for sheep thief.

One brother knew that he could not face the neighborhood looking like this so he up and ran away to a different country.  Even in this new country, people kept asking him what did the “ST” burned into his forehead mean.  He tried to start a new life but he just couldn’t settle down with his brand.  He continued to wander from place to place and finally when he could bear the burden no longer, he committed suicide.

The other brother was different.  He said to himself, “I can’t run away from the fact that I stole the sheep.  But that is in the past.  I can stay here and win back my self-respect and the respect of my neighbors.”  The years went by and he built a solid reputation of integrity.

One day years later a stranger saw the letters “ST” branded on the forehead of the brother who was now an old man.  When he got to the town, he asked a resident what the letters stood for.  The townsman answered, “It happened a long time ago and I’ve forgotten the particulars, but I think the letters are an abbreviation for Saint.”

I’m going to show you in a few minutes how changing your ways applies to this morning’s Scripture.  But first we have to get an idea of what Jesus is talking about.  He is talking to his disciples so this is a teaching moment for them.  He is talking about a rich man who had hired a manager to run his business.  The rich man had heard that his manager was squandering his money so he calls him in to account for it and fire him.

The manager was in a tight spot to say the least.  He was a manager and not a laborer or a beggar.  He couldn’t see himself doing those things.  So he comes up with a plan.  One of the problems he had was that he had charged other Jews interest +on the loans and then pocketed the money.  In other words he charged them too much and kept the difference.  It was against the law to charge fellow Jews interest as it is against the law in Muslim countries today to charge each other interest.  They could charge others interest but not each other.  He figures that if he forgives these people some of their debt, then they will be more accepting of him after he is fired.  So he puts everything back right at a cost of all the money he would have made on the overcharge.

I don’t think that it is too hard to find this at work in our world today.  To put this principle in Biblical terms, Satan was working through this manager.  As long as the manager was stealing, Satan was happy.  When we look into the world, we see him stealing many people and worse yet, many corporations.  He is working in religions that say it is ok to kill anyone who doesn’t believe their way.  He is working in countries where women are held in subservience.  Satan dances for joy when these people are successful.

We can even look in our own country.  There are things happening in this country that at amazing.  It is amazing because no one will believe that Satan is responsible for these acts because there are so many people who really don’t believe in God, especially in the media.  I just read a startling statistic where something like 65% of churches today don’t even believe that the devil is real!  So let’s just talk about one or two things today because there are just too many examples of this.  Satan wants our young people.  And he is getting them too.  He loves it when we have the misinterpretation of separation of church and state.  Our founding fathers never intended that the church stay out of the government.  They only wanted the state to stay out of the church so we can have the freedom to worship.  And Satan loves it when we can no longer utter the name of Jesus Christ in our schools or any other government building.

Satan also loves Hollywood where they get to show our young people all the different sinful lifestyles as if they were great things to be followed.  If these things are so great then why do people who live together and then marry have a higher divorce rate than those who marry first?  Why do homosexuals have a life expectancy that is so much lower than the rest of the population?  Why do drugs and alcohol kill so many people and yet we do little or nothing about them?  Why do we appear to be having so much fun on the outside when we are so miserable and wretched on the inside?

The answer to all of these questions is that we have forgotten Jesus Christ.  We have been leaving him out of everything.  When that happens to a country or a society, then bad things will follow because the Prince of Darkness is in control.  But let’s look at the rest of this passage and see what Jesus has to say.

The owner in our passage tells the manager that he is shrewd.  He is not shrewd because he was dishonest.  No.  He is commending the manager because he finally sees what should have been done all along and he makes restitution.  He has been doing wrong for a long time and now he is doing right.

Jesus is telling us that we cannot have two masters.  We cannot serve both God and Money.  Please don’t misunderstand this.  Jesus isn’t telling us that we cannot have money.  He is telling us that we need to use the money we make in a way that is pleasing to Him.  If we use our money or property to steal from others like our manager in our story, then how can we be trusted with anything else?  If you tell a so-called white lie to your spouse or girlfriend or boyfriend or anyone else, then how can you expect to be trusted with anything else?  If you tell one lie, then you need two more to cover it up.  It is not long before you are living in a sea of lies.  Do the math.  I suppose you were told there would be no math but this is easy.

As we move on, Jesus isn’t telling us that He wants all our money.  He would like 10% and we can keep the rest and use it in a Godly way.  Just out of curiosity, how many people here today own a house?  How many people own a car?  Raise your hands.  Or how many people own something?  Most of us own something.  I’m here to tell you today that you do not own anything at all.  God owns everything.  There is not a thing in this world that God does not own.  And this gracious, kind, wondrous God lets you use His things while you are in this world.  He only asks that you give back ten percent that can be used to minister to the poor and hungry of the world and our neighborhood.  You can have the rest.

You can have 90% or what you need.  God only asks that you use this money in a way that is pleasing to Him.  You are not to be like the greedy manager.  Our God is a God of plenty and God has seen to it that there is more than plenty for all people of the world.  That is what He wants for you.

As I was reading about this passage this past week, I kept seeing that this is a passage on trust.  It is about whether or not God can trust you.  I hope that you are all in the position where you trust God.  The Bible is full of verses about how you can trust God with anything including your lives.

But can God trust you?  We have all these distractions floating around like money, power and sex.  These things can derail a Christian.  Jesus is saying that the more trust you build with God, the more that will be entrusted to you to take care of.  It is not any different than earning the trust of the people around us.  But Jesus isn’t done.

I have left the most important lesson for last.  This crooked manager was commended for leaving his crooked ways and trying to make things right.  And that is where we are today.  There is not a person here today that hasn’t or doesn’t have some crooked ways about him or her.  That is our broken human nature.  We are a broken people living in a broken world.

Jesus is telling us today that He doesn’t care what you have done in the past.  He doesn’t care if you lied to someone right before the service today.  He doesn’t care if you have cheated someone in a business deal.  He doesn’t care if you have used His name in vain.  He is willing to forgive you for all of that and more.  He is willing to forgive you for all of your past sins if you just come to Him.  That is the beauty of this story.  Jesus was willing to forgive that manager.  He would be willing to let him start over like our sheep thief.

And that is what He will do for you.  All you have to do is confess your sins to him and ask for His forgiveness.  All you have to say is, “Lord, you know all the sins I have committed.  I ask you to forgive them and I ask that you come to live in my heart.”  It is that simple!  This isn’t complicated.  It isn’t rocket science or even computer science.  Your life can change in an instant and I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.  Don’t be afraid to get in touch with me right now or right after the service. We can talk.  Or you can ask me questions at any time.  I try to be available most of the time.

Our job as Christians is to love the Lord and help Him to reach other people around us.  As I was just saying, the Lord will trust you more and more as you prove yourself.  I know all of you know people who are hurting.  There are people who have lost jobs, their marriages are on the rocks or they just can’t seem to settle down.  These people don’t need to be Christians before you to help them.  Go to them and try to help in the name of Jesus.   And let’s not try to limit God to these areas.  He is too big to limit to anything or place.  Let’s see if we can make your whole area a cathedral for God.  And no matter who you’re trying to help always tell them that you are doing this in the name of Jesus.

Whenever I’m speaking there are almost always a few non-believers around.  They will try to derail you in many ways.  Don’t let them do it.  If we read the next verse after our reading today it says, “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.”  Please don’t sneer at my Father and don’t let anyone sneer at your Father, either.

Jesus loves you and wants you to have a good day today and every day.  His love is without end like the love in the following story.  A family had a twenty year old son who had become very rebellious.  He spent every night going from one drinking party to another.  He was wasting his life away on things that are not unlike our manager in today’s reading.  He was constantly spurning his parents love.  He had only one direction and that was down.

One night he came home in a total drunken stupor.  He stumbled through the door, fell down and passed out on the floor.  His father was about to wake him and throw him out, when the mother gently knelt down beside him, placed his head on her lap and caressed his hair.  The father began to speak but the mother said, “Shhhh!  This is the only time I get to hold him.  He’s still my son.  I want to hold him.”

This morning as we are done, let’s throw out the ways of the drunken son and the crooked manager.  Place your head on the lap of Jesus Christ.  You are His child and He wants to hold you.  Please place your lives in the hands of the one who has loved you since before time began.  Please place your trust in Him so He can place His trust in you.  His plan is remarkable.  All we have to do is work it His way and not yours.  I praise the day when I can do the little things for my Father.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.