“And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” (Luke 16:9)
Jesus told a story in Luke chapter 16 of a man who had wasted his master’s goods and was being called in to account for it. A “steward” in the Bible is like an agent or a manager today who would be in charge of administrating all or part of the business of another person, while that person tended to other matters. Quite often professional athletes or entertainers will turn over the management of their assets to someone while they focus on their skill and profession that earns them the money. In the story in Luke 16, the administrator had mismanaged the owner’s goods, and the “jig was up”. So he concocted a plan to try to get out of the problem by giving all of the man’s customers a “deal they could not refuse”. He settled their debts for pennies on the dollar, hoping that when he got fired, one of them would hire him as a favor for cutting them a sweet deal. That looks like a pretty good strategy on the surface. In fact, Jesus even commended the man for such a shrewd decision. Then he drew the lesson at the end of the story in the verse I quoted above. The stories in the Bible are not just for grins, there is always a point. It appears that Jesus is telling us to “go ahead and make friends of money” and get all we can by whatever shrewd and cunning means we can come up with, even if it is “unrighteous”. The ends justify the means, we all have to make a living, and ethics can be sacrificed if the bottom line stays black. But if you cannot see the sarcasm dripping from this verse, you need to look closer. Jesus has his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, as he does in many places in the Bible.
Jesus is saying, “So you want to make money your god? Go right ahead. When you fail at that venture (not if), you will be received into an everlasting habitation.” I am not sure you want to be in that type of “habitation”. It is described in Isaiah 34:13 and Revelation 18:2 as a habitation of dragons and devils. Any guess what place Jesus might be referring to?
Right now we are in political season again, with the main issue as always “the economy, stupid”. It seems everyone has their own ideas on how to get things rolling again, and the rancor of the ads just continues to grow. But while we are all consumed (pun intended) with the drive for wealth, we miss the point. I am not suggesting that we all sell everything and live in a tent and eat roots and berries. There is nothing wrong with an honest living, and a good one at that. But there is a much deeper issue involved that is illustrated by this story.
You have been given the goods of your master Jesus to manage. First of all, he gave you life in the first place. Just that by itself is enough to thank God for. But then he gave his life for your sins, when he didn’t have to do it. By trusting Jesus as your Saviour, you have been given eternal life, which is even more to be thankful for. Then God gave you his Spirit to live inside you and be your guide and comforter through this life. Add to that all the blessings of a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is a massive “estate” to accomplish his will for your life. In the story, the “goods” of the master were oil and wheat. Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit, and wheat is used to make bread, a picture of the word of God. The two greatest resources you have are God’s word and God’s Spirit in your life. They are not yours – they belong to your master. He has entrusted them to you to manage in a wise and prudent manner, while he continues to work his main “profession” of drawing the world to the saving knowledge of his Son. Your management of those assets works toward that same objective. God is not just off dunking basketballs while he leaves you to crunch numbers. He gives you the privilege of participating in his mission with his goods. He will call you into account some day on your management of those goods. Are you ready today to give an account?
No comments:
Post a Comment