Luke 16:1-13.                     Serving two masters???                                                18/9/16

Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. ² So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

³ “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— ⁴ I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

⁵ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

⁶ “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’

⁷ “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

⁸ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. ⁹ I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Serving two masters!  This is a challenging thought, isn’t it? Yet in our world today we are quite skilled in the art of doing so. At least we think we are. We think we can ’have two bob each way’ and it won’t hurt us. We think we can live as if money and what this world has to offer is the be all and end all of life. At the same time the view is that when life is up here on earth then we automatically are up there in heaven.

We think we can lead a double life without any great impunity. After all, God is a loving God. So in the end it doesn’t matter too much how I live here; as long as I am not an absolute rotter. Too often we live our life every day without any consideration for God, while at the same time living as though money and the good things of life is the only thing that is important. Yet in the end, we think, we all, except a few really evil people, will be up there in heaven.

With that in mind we need to consider carefully Jesus telling statement at the end of our reading here today:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

So it is obvious that we can’t have it both ways. We know that in the work place for instance. If there are two bosses each giving different instructions for the work to be done, it is disastrous. We are torn between the two and in the end seek to please either the one who makes the easiest demands on us or the one who holds the purse strings. Usually it ends up us doing what is easiest at a given moment to hang with the long term consequences.

When it comes to our relationship with God things get even worse. For here we all too often are trapped into going along with the world around us and what we can see, rather than a God we cannot see. We think of the here and now and what is easiest at the moment. We will take God seriously later in life when we have more time.

Also our wealth and what we can have here and now is what we focus on. Having the modern cons and pleasurable life is what we see as important. What I think I want and need for here and now is what is central to us. So we use our wealth and other gifts that we have to ’shore up’ our life here and now so that we can enjoy ourselves for the moment and for our future here on earth. Because we are so self-centred that is all we think of.

We think of the here and now without any great consideration for the bigger picture. Eternity is a long, long time. It is forever. On the other hand, here and now, and our whole life here on earth for that matter, is but a blink of the eye in comparison. In the bigger picture there are only two alternatives, either eternal life with God in heaven with the very best of everything. Or on the other, in eternal damnation with the absence of anything good. They are poles apart – day light and dark.

The question is which do we really want? We can have and do as we want here on earth living for self and ignore God for the moment. However, then God’s Word is quite clear that our eternity then is one in hell. The other alternative is to live here and now in preparation for the eternity that God has in mind for us. Which do we want? A critical question for us all.

Too often however, as I have already said, we want to live for the here and now as I please, with the attitude, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. We will play life fast and loose with our selfish, self-centred thinking, hoping that the future will work out okay.

Then we justify our thinking by telling ourselves that God is a loving God who accepts us anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. Anyway God wants us to be healthy, wealthy and happy, so what is the problem. We focus on those passages of the Bible that speak this way and ignore the rest. We twist, change and overlook what he says to suit ourselves, and we think we are doing God a good turn.

 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

The parable that Jesus uses here speaks of how we operate in a worldly sense so that we can get by. We too can be very shrewd and dishonest in our dealings in our worldly life so that our future in this life is secure. Yet when it comes to God we are as thick as two planks. We don’t even give a thought as to how we might use all the resources that we have at our disposal, to ensure that our eternity is secure.

Here we have so much available to us. So much promised to us. So much offered to us as a free gift. Yet we turn our backs on it or give it token acknowledgement, and then go on living our worldly life. We love our wealth here and serve it dearly.

Here remember that Jesus is talking to his disciples. He is warning then so that they too do not get caught up in this thinking and acting. Instead to recognise and appreciate who God is and what he has done for us and promised us. Then use everything at our disposal to ensure that we do not lose out as we face the rough and tumble of life in this world.

We are encouraged to be just as shrewd in insuring that we never lose sight of Jesus Christ and all that he has won for us. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Use everything that we have at our disposal to gain friends that can help us through this life and into heaven.

Now yes, Jesus has done it all for us through his death and resurrection. He has paid the penalty that we deserve so that we can be forgiven and have the assurance of eternal life in heaven. We have been extended the greatest gift that we could ever hope to have. So, now we will seek to ensure that nothing in all creation can separate us from this love.

As we look around us and see how so many have fallen away from God and no longer take him seriously, we will be shrewd enough to do all that we can to see that we do not lose out. We will make friends with those who help us to see that we do not lose sight of Jesus Christ and what he has done and won for us. We will gather around people who will regularly encourage us to week by week join with our Lord in his house. We will use our wealth and other gifts to maintain and support God’s Church so that it can give the support, encouragement and help that we need in order to maintain our focus and faith in him.

Most importantly however will be, that we will do all that we can to maintain our friendship with our Lord. We will endeavour to be the people that he would have us be. When we fail, as we regularly do, we will readily turn back to him for forgiveness and the help to do better in the future. We will constantly be looking to him, seeking to be in a right relationship with him, and listening to him and receiving from him all that he has to offer.

Now this message is one of law – Jesus telling us what we need to do if we are not to lose out on this wonderful gift that he has for us. This is the message of the text that we have before us. So let us take seriously what he is saying to us.

But let us remember that he has saved us. He has forgiven us and has won eternal life for us with himself in heaven. All this and more is there for us. Won for us by Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection. So we have a great and wonderful Lord and master who has for us a magnificent inheritance as a guarantee.

So let us not turn our backs on all of this and serve the masters of wealth and this world and lose out. Let us continue to look to Jesus Christ alone as that which is all important for us and our lives here on earth. Let us use worldly wealth to gain friends for ourselves, so that when it is gone, we will be welcomed into eternal dwelling. Then all glory will go to where it truly belongs, our great God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For to him alone belongs this glory now and forever. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish