Scripture Reading: Luke 15:1-10
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Money as God's Tool to Serve People
Sermon by James Huenink
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today Jesus tells us one of the strangest parables in the entire New Testament. There is an unrighteous manager who is wasting—even stealing—the possessions of a rich man, and Jesus commends him. One of my professors back in seminary talked about this parable, and he gave some advice when it comes to this lectionary. He said, "Choose a different story." I'm ignoring that advice because Jesus is giving us something here that needs to be talked about every once in a while: What do we do as Christians with money?
I think the key that Jesus gives us are a couple of the things that he says at the end, where he says, "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings."
The question here is: What is money? What is it for? Why do we have it? And I'd like to give us a basic definition: Money is God's tool to serve people. Pretty straightforward—money is God's tool to serve people.
Money is God's, Not Ours
Let's begin with the first piece: money is God's and not ours. That is a basic theology of everything that we have. God owns everything—not just our money, but our time, our lives, our very bodies. Everything belongs to God.
There are two reasons that everything belongs to God. First, because God created everything. He holds everything and sustains everything. All things are His throughout all of history because He made them.
But I think even more importantly, we are His because He saved us. Jesus came to offer His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death to purchase you from sin, death, and the power of the devil, to make you His own so you can serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.
The Bible tells us that Jesus gave His life as a ransom, so that you would no longer belong to sin, death, and the devil, but instead to Christ. By His death and resurrection, He paid that ransom so that you could live forever with Christ. This means everything that you are, everything that you have, truly is God's—as Creator, but also as Redeemer. You are His.
This is why in Romans chapter 12, St. Paul reminds us to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and blameless. Everything that we are is for God, which includes our money.
But too often we act as if the created things that we have are our own—whether it's our bodies, our time, our homes, or whatever it is, including our own money. Very often when we talk about the things that we have, our stewardship of God's stuff, we act as if Christians own a portion and then give a little to God, whether it's in our offerings. Churches say, "You get 90%, just give 10% to God." Or in our time, sometimes they will say, "You get six days a week, give up one for God."
That's not how it works, is it? Can you imagine a Christian who would say, "God gets Sunday. The rest of my week, I can do whatever I want"? That's not how it works. That's not how life is. We were purchased with the blood of Christ. You were bought with a price—all you are.
That includes our money. We are just stewards of the money that is God's—all resources, all things. God calls on us to use everything that we have for His purposes.
Money is a Tool, Not an End
God's money is also a tool and not an end in itself. Jesus warns us: "No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money."
If money is a tool, it is always a means to an end and not an end in itself. It is not a master, but something that serves. But too often money does become a master for us—a thing that we serve simply because we think it is important in and of itself.
When I do new members classes, we go through the Small Catechism, and we always go through the Ten Commandments. In the very first commandment, Luther explains "You shall have no other gods," and he says it this way: "We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things."
I always ask people, "What kinds of things do we fear more than God, love more than God, and trust more than God?" And the one answer that happens for all of those, no matter who we talk to, is money—because we use it for so many things. We fear not having enough. We love having as much as we can get. And we trust money to give us security.
But in the end, it is not a trustworthy master. Money—Jesus tells us that it will fail. He says, "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings."
That's because the only trustworthy master is God—the one who saved you, the one who died for you and rose for you to give you eternal life, the one who will return on the clouds with power and might and call you up from your grave. Money can't do any of those things. In fact, the only thing money can do is get passed on when you die, and if you're not good at estate planning, half of that will go to the government. That's all.
Money is for the only true, good master is God, who spent His holy, precious blood and innocent suffering and death on you to give you eternal life. Following Him will do just that—He gives you true riches.
And so then, if money is simply a tool, it is neither good nor bad on its own. It simply is there to accomplish something—a medium of exchange, a way to make our work and our labor abstract so we don't have to trade your time for food. It's just certificates of appreciation with presidents' faces on them.
Money is God's Tool to Serve People
So if it's a tool, then what is it for? It's God's tool to serve other people. And this is where the unrighteous steward is commended—not because he is wasting money or stealing from his master (don't do those things), but because what he does is he uses money to serve and help them. That's the thing that is commended. The master's debtors are helped, and God uses our money. We are to use our money for service and the good of others.
Now many people will hear that and say, "That means I have to give my money away, right, Pastor?" That's not what I'm saying. That is, again, saying just a portion is for service, because no one's giving all their money away.
We use our money in our vocations to care for the people that God has given us. This means when you go to the grocery store and buy food for your family, you are serving your family and the people at the grocery store. When you use your money to care for the people around you by purchasing the things that you need or the services that you need, that is a way of using money to care for people.
It isn't just charity or giving, but as we accomplish all our needs of vocation. No one would say you should give all your money away and not feed your children, right?
And so our decisions for money—they come from the love of God flowing and working in our lives. We who are Christians and receive God's grace, who have been purchased by the blood of Christ—it's His love then that directs how we use our money, not just in our giving, but in everything, in every aspect and portion of our lives.
Our money is a tool to serve—charity or in purchasing the things that you need from day to day in our families, our communities, and our congregation. We remember that money is just like our good works: God doesn't need our works, but your neighbor does. The same thing is true for our money. God doesn't need your money, but your neighbor does, and the people around us. We use these things to care for the people in our lives because that's what God does for us. He cares for us so much that He died on a cross for us to give us life that lasts forever.
And so whatever it is that we're doing in our daily lives, every situation, every part of our life, we are called to use all that we are for God's purposes.
Grace in Our Failure
Which gets to the joyful part: when we fail—which we will, which we do every day—we know that we have forgiveness. We know that we have a Savior who forgives our sin and gives us life despite our failure, and then He calls us to give it another shot, one more time, every day, to turn to Him and manage His things.
That's because God is a gracious God who loves us, and He even still gives us sinful people His money to manage, because that's what it is—God's money, the tool.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
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