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.
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