God and Money

Did you ever think your mother had eyes in the back of her head? Somehow she was able to know things that happened even if she wasn’t facing you. Often times I have found that my kids did things that they thought we never knew about. I’m sure there are things that escaped discipline, but we parents know a lot more than teens give us credit.

My mother had a saying that I thought was just a quippy way of summarizing a Biblical truth, but I found out later it is a direct quote from Numbers 32:23

Numbers 32:23 (ESV:2016) be sure your sin will find you out.

You may not get caught the first time, or every time, but eventually decisions of rebellion against God and authority that He has established will catch up with you.

Today’s lesson begins with a parable of a man who got caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, then Jesus applies the parable to some of the “hidden” sins of the Pharisees. Indeed their sins of mistreating God’s people is found out.

Transition: The chapter starts with a parable in which…

A Dishonest Middleman Comes Clean (1-13)

The Parable (1-9)

1. At first reading, I find a man who gets caught stealing from his boss, then steals from his boss 2 more times by cooking the books of 2 borrowers. But would a landowner ever commend someone for stealing from him?

2. The word shrewdness does not imply dishonest, but rather – To give sustained thought

a. Some people act on instinct

b. Others act on reason.

Myers-Briggs is a tool used in business to evaluate personalities. The results are 4 letters that result from 8 options: Introverted/Extroverted; Sensing/iNtuitive; Thinking/Feeling; Process/Justification. My personality type is very attracted to this description of being “shrewd” because my bent is to look at the available data then make a reasoned response.

3. See if this reading of the story makes sense to you and is faithful to the text.

a. Landowner Larry hires Roger to manage his ranch and farmland. Landowner Larry finds out that Roger has not been burning appropriately so cedars are taking over the pasture and he’s been neglecting the creeks and failing to dredge the ponds so that the land is losing value. So Landowner Larry notifies Roger that he needs to move out of the manager’s house. Now Roger is not only lazy, but he is also greedy. Roger is so greedy that he has been overcharging the tenants (Tim and Tom) who sharecrop the land he managed for Larry. Since Landowner Larry doesn’t deal directly with Tim and Tom, he doesn’t know how inflated the rates were that Roger was charging. Roger goes to Tim and Tom and restructures their contracts so that so that they still cover the fair use of the land, but no longer have to pay Roger the extortion rates he had been demanding.

b. Now you may wonder why Tim had his oil reduced 50% and Tom only got his wheat reduced 80%.

c. Craig Keener writes, “The measure of olive oil was worth about 1,000 denarii, no small sum. The measure of wheat was worth about 2,500 denarii. The percentages of debt forgiven differ, but roughly the same amount of money is forgiven in each of the sample transactions (about 500 denarii)”.[i]

d. If a denarius was approximately 1 days wages, Roger didn’t gain anything from restructuring Tim and Tom’s contracts, but he now has about $150K worth of favors that he can draw upon.

4. Now let’s reconsider the names. If Landowner Larry is the Lord, and Roger represents the religious leaders. The Lord is saying it is commendable when religion stops extorting the people!

5. Verse 9 is telling us to use our resources to be kind and merciful to humans who bear the Lord’s image, because this world is going to pass away; and we need to be mindful of the eternal.

The Profits of Integrity (10-13)

1. V.10-12 - Greater Influence. This is not a 1:1 promise as the prosperity preachers who challenge you to sow a dollar to reap $10, but is a principle that those who are faithful reap rewards of faithfulness.

2. V.13 warns of the divided heart. The reward of singlemindedness is a Pure Heart/Single purpose/undivided loyalties

I continue to be amazed when I consider our students who compete in 3+ sports plus arts and academics. In my High School, few athletes were involved in the arts and most athletes only chose to compete in 1 or 2 sports. They devoted the off-season to preparation and training to excel during their limited season of competition. I had the opportunity to watch the final Varsity game of our Bulldog baseballers, then less than 24 hours later many of those same young men were in Wichita competing at the State Track meet.

Who/What is your God/god?

1. NASB is consistent with wealth (vv.9, 11, & 13); ESV & NIV both have wealth 2x then money in v.13. KJV uses mammon (3x) which is a transliterationrather than a translation.

2. I’ve told you before that having wealth is not a sin. There are many people in the Bible and throughout church history who have been entrusted with significant resources. The problem is when wealth has us.

3. You know what it says in 1 Tim 6:10 and Heb 13:5

1 Timothy 6:10 ESV:2016

10 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.

Hebrews 13:5 (ESV:2016)

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have,.

4. You can add Luke 16:13 to this list of how to keep money in proper perspective.

Transition: The last 6 words of v. 13 exposed a problem with Pharisee religion.

It was nearly 23 years ago when our President told a grand jury, “it depends upon what the meaning of the word ’is’ is”. This is just one of what Time magazine labels the “Top 10 Unfortunate Political One-Liners” These 10 only go back to 1929, but political hypocrisy goes back WAY before then.

The Missing Ingredient: Repentance (14-16)

The Religious Leaders had carved out a Sweet Deal for Themselves (14-15)

1. Man’s justifications ignore God’s view of the inner man.

2. In Job, which is considered by many to be the oldest book of the Bible from a similar time to Abraham, Job addressed God after his calamity and admits

Job 10:4 ESV:2016

4 Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?

3. Later the Lord said to Samuel the priest

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV:2016

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

4. These words from Jesus to these religious leaders is good advice for many preachers today who prey on people and fly in private jets.

5. The words of Psalm 51 ring true for OT prophets, NT Pharisees, 21stCentury Pastors, and all who sit in the pews:

Psalm 51:17 ESV:2016

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

John called for repentance (16-17)

1. To the Jewish mind, the prophetic voice had gone silent with the conclusion of TaNaK, Jesus says that John opened the Messianic age with his cry in the wilderness to prepare the way.

2. Jesus revisits the message from chapter 13 that all people everywhere need to repent.

3. Without that change of heart, Jesus remains on the outside looking in.

4. The brokenness of PS 51 had been twisted into some cultural religion that was 180 degrees opposite of the good news of the kingdom.

2 responses to the Gospel Call (v.16c)

1. Back in Chapter 14 we were introduced to a Great Banquet and Jesus sent servants to compel people to come to the banquet. Chapter 15 showed the intensity and the urgency to seek the lost in 3 separate parables.

2. The ESV has a footnote attached to v.16 saying a possible translation of this last phrase is “everyone is forcefully urged into it”. I believe this is totally consistent with the context of the last 3 chapters.

3. However, when people are being urged to repent and accept the Gospel, some choose to change the message to accommodate their own desires.

Transition: This sets up the situation addressed in the next 2 verses.

Same selfishness, Different application (vv.17-18)

The same selfishness that prompted men to twist the law to accommodate their own love for wealth, rears its ugly head in another way. I believe that Jesus’ mention (2x) of adultery indicates that He is aware of the intimate acts of marriage.

Who defines marriage?

1. The religious zealots redefined marriage so that it was all about a man’s happiness. One school of Pharisees that Jesus addresses in Matthew 19 believed that a man could divorce a wife for anything she did that displeased him, even as small as a poorly prepared meal.

2. In that discussion Jesus points back to the Mosaic law of marriage, which was always between 1 man and 1 woman.

3. In this passage husbands/wives, (hes/shes) are the only parties mentioned in a marriage. It is clear to me that when Jesus says marriage, he is speaking of an exclusive covenant relationship between a man and a woman. A pluralistic legal system may allow for unions of other types, but that is NOT what the Bible calls a marriage.

4. I heard this week someone claim that since Jesus never said anything against gay marriage then it must be okay. However, Jesus DID specifically address marriage and when he did, he only spoke of a husband and wife. Just as when Jesus appointed Apostles, every Apostle was a male. Throughout the New Testament (the church led by those who were with Jesus in person and 1 generation later), every Pastor or Elder mentioned is male.

5. There were VERY important roles played by women! Jesus taught and visited with women. Jesus used women as an example to teach men, in the book of Acts women served the church in crucial ways, but they were never called Elders or Overseers.

6. The point of v. 17 is that we cannot rewrite God’s word to accommodate our whims. The point of v.18 is that marriage (between one man and one woman) is more important than the desires of a man.

Transition: Few things strike closer to our hearts than our wealth and out intimacy. In both of these situation, God has spoken!

Conclusion:

The manager in the parable had perverted the property of the Master into something for his own dishonest gain. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had twisted God’s blessings into something that only added to their selfish wealth and happiness.

Jesus calls them, and us, to faithfully steward the blessings of God for the good of others and to faithfully obey what He has said, and not change it into something that serves our desires.

In the Fellowship Hall S.S. class we’ve been looking at the ways that the world is trying to reshape the culture and our churches. In today’s text we see even how religion can be twisted toward wealth and personal happiness. But God is calling us toward faithfulness. Our final song is a reminder that Ancient Words are calling us toward obedience and faith.

Song of Response ....... “Ancient Words”

Benediction: 2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV:2016) —14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

[i] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 16:6–7.