Who Will Teach Us
Who Will Teach Us?
October 11, 1998
Luke 16:19-31
There are so many things to know in order to live. Our culture offers us a myriad of opportunities for learning its values and methods, especially when it comes to wealth. Lately, many people have been asking, “Where, or how, should I invest my money to keep it safe and growing?” And that’s what I want to talk about today, riches! Given the current economic climate, it seems appropriate to ask the question, “Who will teach us?” Indeed! Who will teach us about true riches? Who will show us how to use our money? What is the proper use of gifts that God gives us?
There is a statistic that indicates a majority of people retire with less than $10,000 saved. Having enough money in retirement is probably more important to us than we might care to imagine. Money does matter in life. But, the question for us is this, “When does money matter for the Master, and how can we learn how to handle it?”
1. The “Love of Money” Brings Death. Some time ago a man in Simi Valley, CA, killed his two children, his wife, and himself. A bad financial situation is the only explanation that could be found to explain why.
The OT lesson reveals a people who had forgotten their God—their source of well-being—and they ignored their fellow men because of wealth. The Gospel lesson tells us about a rich man who is the perfect picture of self-indulgence.
Jesus reminds us that “no servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
That thought brings us to a very important aspect of the mission and ministry of our congregation here at St. Paul’s. Next week the budget for 1999 will be discussed. A church’s budget gives an indication of its priorities. It tends to point to the heart of why a congregation thinks it exists. So, why do we exist? And what does that mean with respect to money and church budget?
2. Who Will Teach Us About True Riches? We could learn from the Pharisees who looked on wealth as a reward for righteousness and the keeping of the Law. Actually, this was a cover-up they used to try to hide the fact that their hearts were filled with greed. Jesus reminds them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” What makes such self-justification detestable to God is when people make anything more important than the work of mission and ministry that God himself has ordained.
We could learn from Dives who seems to have been a kind-enough person when it came to Lazarus. He didn’t order Lazarus to be removed from his property. He didn’t keep anyone from giving the poor beggar something to eat. He wasn’t deliberately cruel to him. His sin was that he just ignored Lazarus, considering him of no more value than a dog. What condemns Dives is not what he did, but what he did not do. He did not believe. He did not respond in faith. He was content to just keep what he had the way it was.
Dear fellow-redeemed in the Lord Jesus Christ, what is the emphasis of our congregational heart? Self-satisfaction and preservation; the status quo, or, progressiveness in the Lord’s mission and ministry? Who will teach us?
3. Jesus Is Our Teacher, Savior, and Lord. Who will teach us how to use our money? Jesus will, if we only listen to him. It all boils down to “Who is your master?” Who, or what controls your heart, your will, and your wants? Possessions are given to us as a trust to be used as an expression of his concern for the needy. Not just those who need food and clothing and shelter, but also those who are in need of righteousness, and salvation, those who are spiritually poor. If our focus is not here, then, clearly possessions, money, rather than God, is our lord.
The rich man ended up in hell and Lazarus ended up in Abraham’s bosom. The self-centered use of wealth was the sure expression that God’s lordship was not over his life. His desire that his brothers repent indicates that he had discovered that he was in hell, not because he was rich, but because he had failed to repent of self-lordship and trust in the gracious God from whom all his wealth had come. The rich man refused to live under God’s lordship.
He had to be reminded that his brothers had “Moses and the Prophets”, the Word of God, and that was sufficient for them to hear God’s voice. Startling signs were neither necessary nor effective. Not even the resurrection of Jesus brings forth repentance and faith on the part of some people; they live as their own lords, not as repentant, faith-filled, servants of God.
The Christ was rich, being one with God. But he became poor in order to provide us true riches. He chose poverty over riches! He never owned a house, a car, a share of stock, but yet He showed us where true riches are. He explains to all who have ears to hear that it is first necessary to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And when we have laid hold of these true riches, all that we need for sustenance in this life is seen for what it really is, his blessings poured out on us. Jesus came to pay the ultimate price for our self-centeredness, his own perfect and sinless life. He allowed himself to be cut off, as it were, so that we could be grafted into the inheritance of his own riches in heaven. Here is where we find true riches! His Word teaches us and fills us with delight and courage and faith. Who will teach us? Christ, our Savior and Lord.
May our congregational heart, will, and wants, be like those of our Savior and Lord. May we always provide for the mission and ministry of seeking and saving the lost. May our hearts reveal themselves as truly repentant and Christ-centered, lest it be “too late!” as it was for Dives. Amen.