Blessed to Be a Blessing
Scripture Reading: Luke 16:1-21
1 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an
accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and
said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can
no longer be steward.’
3 “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the
stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do,
that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’
5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do
you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your
bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you
owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write
eighty.’ 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For
the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.
9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail,
they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful
also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you
have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true
riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is
your own?
13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or
else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided
Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God
knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of
God.
16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been
preached, and everyone is pressing into it. 17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass
away than for one tittle of the law to fail.
18 “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries
her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.
19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared
sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who
was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table.
Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
The sermon this morning is about money but not in the way it's usually spoken about
in church. This will be all about our finances and nothing about tithing. This first
parable I've heard preached many different ways but it's always been kind of a
difficult one to understand, on the surface. It seems like He was commending this
unrighteous steward for being unrighteous but that's not it at all. Basically, it begins
with the steward being found out. He's been unfaithful to his master, wasting that
which is his master's but there's a lot more to this story than what's on the surface.
One thing that may get lost in the shuffle is his reaction. He's like, what am I going to
do, He can't dig and he's ashamed to beg. Why would he have had to beg? He
mentions that he can't dig so he's probably got some age on him. He has a good
job, at least he did, he's evidently older because he says he can't dig. A young or
middle-aged man should be able to do that. Shouldn't he have had some money
saved? However, it's obvious that he must be broke in the way he reacts. Jesus
spoke so much about money that I think it's high time the church started paying
attention, but we'll get back to that point.
So, the steward comes up with a great idea. He's going to call his masters debtors
and bless them so when he's out of a job, they'll let him come to their house. He's
going to bless them so they'll feel obligated to him. Then Jesus says something that I
think is so important for us to hear. He said that the master commended him for
being shrewd because the sons of this world are more shrewd than the sons of light.
This is so important for us to hear and understand. He's telling us that we should be
shrewd with our finances. If the wicked are able to use their money to gain influence,
so should we. Now don't get me wrong, we would not use the same devious and
deceitful methods to gain that influence, but it seems evident by the Savior's words
here that we are supposed use our blessing to bless others for the sake of the
kingdom. We learning a lot about being kingdom minded in all things. Today we will
learn about being kingdom minded with our finances. In Genesis 12 the LORD
YAHWEH told Abram that not only would He bless him but also that he would be a
blessing to all nations.
Many Christians, including myself, have been looking for their blessings. We've read
about the blessings. We've been believing for the blessings, but we can't miss the
reason for the blessing which is so we can be a blessing. Jesus says that if we're
faithful in little we will be faithful in much. Well, in the kingdom being faithful is to
bless others with what you have, even if it's just a little. We know that man was made
in the image and likeness of God. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells his disciples that
whatever we do to the least, we do to Him. How can we, in good conscience say,
"Bless the Lord, O my soul." and not bless those he puts in front of us who are in
need? They are made in the image of God, right?
So, Jesus tells them that we can not serve God and mammon (money), The
Pharisees didn't like this because they loved money. Dr. James Dobson from 'Focus
on the Family' tells a story of playing the game Monopoly when he was a child and
being very cut throat. Buying property, putting house on them, then hotels and
basically taking everyone else's money until they were all broke. He's very happy
that he has won and he's feeling very good about himself. Then his mother folds up
the game board and starts to put away all the money to put back into the box when a
thought hit him. When we're all done with this game we call life, everything we've
acquired is going to be gather together by someone else and put back into the box.
He says that he never looked at money the same after that day. We can not be
lovers of money but we do need to be users of money. We have to learn to be
shrewd with it. When Jesus told His disciple the parable of the talents in Matthew 25,
it was the two servants who invested the masters money that were told 'well done'.
The one who dug a hole and buried it because he was afraid of losing it was himself
cast out. It seems clear to me that He expects us to gain some sort of return on the
things He's blessed us with. When Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow, He's
not telling us not to plan. In reading Luke 14:28-29, it's clear that He intends for to
'count the cost'. Sure, on the surface this scripture is referring to the cost of our
salvation, however, I believe the Bible is multi-dimensional. In the example He uses,
the one who does not count the financial cost is mocked; considered foolish. How
many foolish Christians are there who are not counting their cost, financially?
This scripture reading seemed to end in the middle of a thought with verses 19-21,
but I felt that I needed to bring the rich man and Lazarus into this. Verse 19 make it
clear that the rich man lived sumptuously. Then it mentions that a certain beggar,
covered with soars that the dogs would come and lick (not very appealing) was laid
at his gate just hoping for the crumbs from his table. This beggar was laid at his
gate. Any time he went out or came in he would have seen this pathetic sight.
People are going to be laid at our gate, as well. Just hoping to be blessed with our
leftovers. How will we receive them? If we are not blessed, how will we be able to be
a blessing. Our motivation for blessings has to be for what we can do to bless
others. Proverbs 27:23 tells us to 'Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, And
attend to your herds' Now, we might not have flocks and herds nowadays but we do
have a net worth and a checkbook. It's important that we know what we have and
what we're spending. It's important for us to be putting something aside with which
we can be a blessing. We must learn to use our blessings to be a blessing.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: January 22, 2006