Thursday, October 27, 2016

"Managing God’s Gift of Money" Psalm 112, Ex. 35.4-29, 2 Cor. 9.6-15, Luke 16.1-13, stewardship # 4 Oct. ‘16





1.                   Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.  The message from God’s Word this morning is taken from the Bible lessons that were read a moment ago, it’s entitled, “Managing God’s Gift of Money,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.                   Let’s just get it out in the open, now we come to the dreaded “money sermon”! Actually, we have to. Not only is money something that we as individuals and a society hold in high regard, but money is also one of God’s gifts to us, and He wants us to manage it with wisdom. You see, God does have something to say about how we use and manage this means of exchange, not only to provide for our own needs, but also to serve our neighbor and to promote His Good News of salvation in Christ Jesus. In fact, you could say that it’s really God Himself who preaches the “money sermon.” 
3.                   We’ve considered God’s gift of the created order, His gift of other people around us, and His gift of time. God gives us these gifts to manage for His glory and for the service of our neighbor. So, yes, in this final installment of Managing God’s Gifts, we look at God’s gift of money. Our gracious God is and always will be the “lord of the manor.” We are and always will be His “stewards,” or “managers.” The whole estate belongs to Him. Truthfully, nothing belongs to us. That includes money. 
4.                   Our Gospel, from Luke 16, plunges us into the heart of stewardship and management of money. Jesus tells this parable about a manager who had mismanaged his master’s possessions. Charges were brought against the manager, and so he had to figure out how to support himself. Suffice it to say, the manager was smart. He put his MBA-like skills to good use, which was only for himself. As Jesus tells the tale, “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness” (Luke 16:8). No, his dishonesty didn’t win the acclaim, but his shrewd management did.
5.                   Then Jesus gives us His purpose for the parable: “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9). If you are unfaithful in managing “unrighteous wealth,” how can you expect to be entrusted with God’s true riches? If you are unfaithful in what belongs to someone else—namely, God—how can you expect to have your own estate? 
6.                   Jesus also says, “You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 10:13). He’s not teaching us to avoid money. Instead, He’s teaching us not to idolize money, bow down to it, or serve it. St. Paul said it this way: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:10). Notice, the love of money—that’s the root of all kinds of evils. It’s a First Commandment issue. Luther said, “To put it very briefly, God does not want us to serve money and possessions. Nor does He want us to worry. But He does want us to work and leave the worry to Him” (WLS § 3075). 
7.                   Money is just a means of exchange, a convenient instrument we use for purchasing clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, and so on. Having more money doesn’t make you a better person, and having less money doesn’t devalue you, especially in God’s eyes. And contrary to common notions in our culture today, being wealthy doesn’t make you evil, nor does being poor somehow make you more virtuous. How you manage money and what you do with it reveals who you are, what your priorities are, and what kind of manager you are.
8.                   What priorities does God give us for managing His gift of money? We can sum them up in three categories: first, for ourselves; second, for our neighbor; and third, for His Church.  The first priority is for ourselves. We know we need to eat and drink, wear clothing, have a place to live, have transportation, and so on. So God provides our “daily bread” for the support and needs of the body. The same Lord Jesus who said, “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on” (Matthew 6:25), also provides us with work and wages to provide for ourselves. God gives us His gift of money to provide, first, for our families and ourselves. 
9.                   The second priority is for our neighbor. In our Western culture, we do enjoy a pretty high standard of living. Even the poorest among us in the United States are often better off compared to the poor in other parts of the world. Once we provide for our families and ourselves, we are then free to help our neighbor in need. Many are the Bible’s exhortations to help the poor and those less well off than we are. Who can forget Jesus’ words that He promised to speak on the Last Day: “For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me” (Matthew 25:35)? Yes, as we are able, our Lord gives His gift of money so that we will help and serve our neighbor.
10.               This goes back to Luther’s saying that God doesn’t want us to serve money and possessions. Instead, Luther says, God wants our money to be our servant, to do what we tell it to do, not the other way around. Luther paints this picture of a Christian using money as his servant to help his neighbor:  He, then, may use the possessions, as Abraham, David, Job, and other wealthy people did. . . . When he sees a man who has no coat, he says to his money: Come out, young Mr. Gulden! There is a poor naked man who has no coat; you must serve him. Over there lies a sick man who has no refreshment. Come forth, Sir Dollars! You must be on your way; go and help him. (WLS § 3075)  Luther helps us see how to manage our money according to God’s will. He says, “People who handle their possessions in this way are masters of their possessions. And, surely, all honest Christians will do this” (WLS § 3075). As Psalm 112 proclaims about the one who trusts our gracious giver God: “He has distributed freely; He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever” (Psalm 112:9). 
11.               The third priority that God gives us for managing His gift of money is for His Church. Yes, in this fallen world, driven by economic realities, it does take money to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is free, of course. Christ’s atoning death on the cross is free. Our salvation and forgiveness from Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is free—no strings attached.  But, we know that buildings are built to proclaim this precious Good News. Bread and wine must be purchased for receiving our Lord’s body and blood. Light and heating and cooling bills must be paid. Materials for outreach and publicity efforts must be purchased and printed and distributed. For those churches that operate Day Schools, teachers must be paid, books and supplies must be provided, and utilities must be paid. Yes, it takes money to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus. Remember, Jesus Himself spoke of using “unrighteous wealth” for eternal purposes, namely, proclaiming and spreading the Good News of His eternal salvation.
12.               Our First Reading, from Exodus 35, gives a picture of the joy of using “unrighteous wealth” for God’s holy purposes. The children of Israel had just fled from Egypt after over 400 years of slavery. I doubt they had as much money  as we wealthy Americans have! And yet, these freed children of God provided for the construction of the tabernacle, the place where God Himself would dwell among them and shower them with His grace and blessing of salvation. Those who had different colored yarns gladly brought them. Those who had silver or bronze brought them. Those who could weave the cloths did so. Those who could build joyously did so. “All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord (Exodus 35:29). See how they were gladly and joyously managing God’s gifts for His glory! 
13.               What’s not in our First Reading is what happened next. Exodus 36 gives us the fruit of the freewill offerings. Bezalel and Oholiab organized the work crews of craftsmen, and people kept bringing their “unrighteous wealth” for service in the Lord’s tent. Bezalel and Oholiab met with Moses and said, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do” (Exodus 36:5). So Moses actually had to stop the collection, because the people were giving so much! What generosity! What marvelous managing of God’s gifts of money and possessions for God’s purposes!
14.               In 1932, John H. C. Fritz gave this instruction to pastors in his Pastoral Theology: “If the Christians of our day would give ten percent of their income, as the Jews did in the Old Testament (in the New Testament this is not obligatory), or if the Christians of our day would support the Church to the extent of their power and even beyond their power, as did the poor Macedonian Christians . . . the treasuries of the churches would always be filled to overflowing, and there would no longer be the proverbial church deficit” (259–60). Part of managing God’s gift of money is indeed using it to support the Church in her work of extending the reach of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
15.               Which, finally, brings us to our Second Reading. St. Paul used the example of the poor Macedonian Christians, and their cheerful giving, to inspire the wealthier Corinthian Christians. Though poor, the Macedonian Christians found joy in giving to Paul’s famine relief efforts for the Jerusalem Church. So Paul sought to spur the Corinthians to show that their love was genuine (2 Corinthians 8:1–8). Then he said, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
16.               There’s the motivation for managing God’s gift of money with wisdom and faithfulness. Christ Jesus was rich—the Son of God, owning and ruling over all things in heaven and on earth. But He became poor for you—humbling Himself in His incarnation and humbling Himself even more by going to the cross for you. Christ’s poverty makes you rich. Christ’s death makes you alive. Christ’s forgiveness frees you from slavery to self and to wealth. Christ’s generous giving makes you a generous giver.  St. Paul drives his point home: “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:6–7).
17.              Our God is a cheerful giver. He gives us His world, He gives us other people, He gives us time, and, yes, He gives us money. He calls us to manage everything He gives, for His glory and to serve our neighbor. This is proper stewardship for all of life. This is Managing God’s Gifts.


“Managing God’s Gift of Time”—Psalm 90, Ecc. 3, Phil. 4, Luke 10, Stewardship #3 Oct. ‘16





1.                   Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word today is taken from the Bible lessons that were read a moment ago.  It’s entitled, “Managing God’s Gift of Time,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.                   Have you ever noticed how so many people are trying to catch up with their “busy schedule”? It’s as though their schedule were a New York City subway train that has just closed its doors and is starting to leave the station. And there they run, coffee in one hand and briefcase in the other, trying to catch the speeding train and hop on, but to no avail. Maybe your schedule makes you feel that way. Yet God has given each one of us the very same twenty-four-hour day and the same seven-day week.
3.                   In this installment of our Managing God’s Gifts stewardship series, we look at God’s gift of time. First, we looked at managing God’s gift of His created world, receiving it with thanksgiving, taking care of it, and using it to benefit other people. Then, we looked at managing God’s gift of other people by loving and serving them in our God-given vocations. Now, we look at time. God created time, and He has given it to us. As with His others gifts, our gracious “lord of the manor” wants us to manage time to His glory.  Wise King Solomon writes of time in Ecclesiastes 3. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). He then sings of many things that we do and endure during our days and years on planet Earth—perhaps more things than we ever dream of cramming into our already crowded schedules. But notice where Solomon leads us: “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man” (Ecclesiastes 3:11–13).
4.                   Not only does God give us time—our hours, days, months, and years—as a gift, but He also gives a purpose to our time. You may not find this purpose mentioned in the time-management books of your local bookstore. God wants you to find “everything beautiful.” He wants you to be joyful and do good as you manage your time. He wants you to eat, drink, and take pleasure in your toil as you practice good stewardship of His gift of time.
5.                   But, how can we find everything beautiful when we try to keep up with the speeding subway car of our overcrowded schedules? How can we be joyful and do good when we’re running late, have to shuttle the children to school, and then rush to work for another long day? Oh, and fit in a trip to the grocery store? What about those trips to the doctor’s office? How can we possibly take pleasure in our toil, let alone in eating and drinking, when we only have time for the McDonald’s drive-thru for supper? How can we possibly receive our labor as God’s gift when keeping the frantic pace is standard operating procedure?
6.                   When we can seem to fit some rest and relaxation into our hectic schedules, does it truly restore and refresh us? Maybe we pack our vacations just as full with activities as we do the rest of our time. Maybe we fill our one or two days off per week with so many chores and “honey dos” that we feel the need to return to work just to rest up a bit. Maybe we just “veg out” in front of the TV, binge watching our favorite show on Netflix, for hours at a time. But have you ever noticed that doing nothing in this way doesn’t always refresh?
7.                   We really are like Martha in our Gospel. When Jesus came to visit, Martha busied herself with the dinner preparations, while Mary merely sat at Jesus’ feet listening to Him teach. “Distracted with much serving” is how Luke describes Martha (Luke 10:40). Then Martha worried that Mary was not pulling her weight, and she tried to triangulate Jesus to her side of the conflict. But Jesus would not have it. He answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41). Our Lord might as well say that to us as well. Then Jesus gives the better way: “But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42).
8.                   What is that “one thing necessary,” that “good portion”? Jesus lets us figure it out from Mary’s action, which Martha thought was inaction. It was sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to His teaching. Let’s call it regularly attending the Divine Service or reading our Bible at home or praying at home together with everyone in the household or taking time to be fed on the bread of life Himself.
9.                   “But, Pastor, I don’t have time for daily devotions. Haven’t you heard how busy I am? Don’t you get just how many things I have to do? And come to church every Sunday? Sundays are my only days to sleep in.” And there lies the problem. We’re anxious and troubled about many things—things not related to the Word of God, things that do not, and cannot, give us the real rest we need.
10.               This is the reason God gives us the Third Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” This is also the reason Martin Luther tied God’s Word to this commandment in his Small Catechism: “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” Let that meaning change your view of life. Let it shape you and how you manage God’s gift of time.
11.               In his Large Catechism, Luther says that God gives us this Third Commandment for both physical and spiritual rest. Speaking of “holy days”—from which we get “holidays”—Luther says, “We keep them first of all for bodily causes and necessities, which nature teaches and requires. We keep them for the common people”—that’s us—“who have been attending to their work and trade the whole week. In this way they may withdraw in order to rest for a day and be refreshed” (LC I 83). Managing God’s gift of time includes withdrawing from the hectic, busy, pace and being refreshed in the body.
12.               It also includes being refreshed in our soul and spirit. Luther continues: “Second, and most especially, on this day of rest (since we can get no other chance), we have the freedom and time to attend divine service. We come together to hear and use God’s Word, and then to praise God, to sing and to pray” (LC I 84). Managing God’s gift of time starts with and circles back to hearing and learning His Word, not only in personal Bible reading but also, and especially, in the Divine Service.
13.               Luther’s catechism hymn on the Ten Commandments teaches us to sing this meaning this way:  “You shall observe the worship day, That peace may fill your home, and pray, And put aside the work you do, So that God may work in you.” Have mercy, Lord! (LSB 581:4)  When you actually push pause on your busy routine and your overcrowded schedule, and when you attend Divine Service and gladly hear preaching and learn God’s Word, God Himself works in you. God Himself gives you the rest that you need. God Himself works so that you may manage His gift of time, find everything beautiful, be joyful, and do good. 
14.               God works in you by giving you His own Son. Jesus knows how the body wears out and needs physical rest. He also knows how the soul needs spiritual rest in His Word. When He took His rest, He did so by observing the worship day and praying. For all of us who neglect His Word, for all of us who frazzle ourselves with our frantic, workaday pace, our Lord Jesus did His greatest work by suffering and dying on a cross. Consider how that wore Him out! Then He rested in His tomb of death on the Sabbath to restore the day of rest for our benefit. Then He rose victorious on the third day to restore us to proper Sabbath-keeping, to proper management of His gift of time. “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9–10). 
15.               Managing God’s gift of time is a lot like putting big rocks, medium stones, pea-size gravel, and sand into a gallon jar. All of them will fit into the jar. If we start with the small stuff—the sand—put it in the jar first, and then put the gravel on top of that, and then the medium stones on top of that, then, no, there will not be room for the big rocks. But when we begin by putting the big rocks in first—the most important things—followed by the medium stones, followed by the pea-size gravel, and finally the sand, then, yes, it all will fit. You see, the big ingredients—the important things—go in first, and the smaller ingredients work around them to fill in the gaps. And on top of that, we just might be able to squeeze a bit more into the jar. Pour in some water to fill in the rest of the gaps. 
16.               When it comes to managing God’s gift of time, learning His Word, attending the Divine Service, receiving the Lord’s body and blood—these are the “big rocks.” If you try to fit them into your busy schedule last, then, of course, there will not be room. So put them into your schedule first. Then put in the medium stones of other obligations, such as family, work, and so on. Then put in the less weighty stuff, such as social activities or outings with friends or reading a good book or a favorite hobby—the “gravel” and “sand,” if you will—to fill in the gaps. And you may just find that your “busy schedule” still has gaps to fill as you so choose. 
17.               God gives time as His gift, not so that you will feel frazzled or feel like you are chasing the departing subway. He doesn’t want you to be “anxious and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41). Instead, He wants you to spend your time on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable.” So, “if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8), and make them the “bigger ingredients” in the gallon jar of your schedule. 
18.               In managing God’s gift of time, our gracious Lord wants you to find “everything beautiful.” He wants you to be joyful and do good as you manage your time. He wants you to eat, drink, and take pleasure in your toil as you practice good stewardship of His gift of time.  Amen.